5 Resiliency Secrets From America's Top Founders

How do entrepreneurs create highly successful companies? After interviewing 45 of America’s leading company founders, I learned that it doesn’t take luck to start and grow a company that sells for $100 million or more, or goes public for $300 million or more, as each of theirs did. But it does take resilience — the ability to see an obstacle as something to climb over and move beyond.

Each of these entrepreneurs faced at least one major setback that should have stopped them in their tracks; instead, they rebounded stronger, smarter, leaner, and meaner than before.

Here are 5 ways they did it:

1. If you can’t hit home runs, go for singles.

In the pharmaceutical industry, your odds of getting a drug approved are 1 in 1,000. It takes 10 years and $800 million to get a “home run” drug approved — the kind of drug that becomes a household name. Jeff Aronin, founder of Ovation Pharmaceuticals, knew he couldn’t compete. But instead of giving up, he decided to focus on drugs for “smaller” diseases like epilepsy and Huntington’s disease that the big hitters weren’t interested in. He eventually sold his company for $900 million.

2. Turn disappointment into a discipline.

In the Internet age, we take for granted how relatively easy it is to start a tech company. But in 1974, Cyborg System’s Mike Blair was trying to start a software company at a time when there was no software industry, let alone the internet. Venture capitalists gave him blank stares, and banks couldn’t figure out what he was doing. That lack of funding forced a discipline on Blair and his team. It forced them to build the business slowly, grow organically, and be focused on making a profit and having positive cash flow. His software company was acquired by Hewitt in 2003 for nine figures.

3. Have something to prove.

Sometimes with startups, you’ve spent so many years talking about and working on the concept that your very reputation is on the line if it doesn’t go forward. When GE withdrew research funding from Rock Mackie’s radiation therapy project after four years, he had to lay off his entire staff and scramble to get funding for TomoTherapy during the dotcom bubble. But Mackie never gave up because he had something to prove — that a university professor and a handful of brilliant grad students could launch a world-class company. Now the company employs 600 people and was just acquired by Accuray for $277 million.

4. Don’t talk about a Plan B; have one.

Baxter Corporation’s president Bill Gantz raised $42 million in 1992 – a lot of money at that time – when he left to start Pathogenesis to develop what he thought was a perfect drug with no side effects. There was only one problem: After the clinical trial, they discovered it didn’t work. Luckily, Gantz had identified another drug along the way that worked really well, and had convinced the owners of that drug to license it to his company before he knew about the failed trial. He didn’t think he would ever need it, but as it turned out, that “Plan B” drug saved his company — and led to the sale of the company to Chiron Novartis for $720 million in cash.

5. Sometimes it’s OK to benefit from disasters.

The turning point for Lakeview Technology came when Bill Merchantz installed his company’s new software for a really big client — New York City Transit Authority. The software didn’t work. Worse, it even destroyed some of the client’s data. For some reason, his engineers were on vacation or out of town, so he and one team member spent 72 sleepless hours inventing disaster recovery software to solve the problem — only to lose the client. But it gave him a great idea, and he built the business on the new disaster recovery solution, which became wildly successful. Now Lakeview’s clients range from Allstate to McDonald’s.

http://www.bnet.com/blog/smb/5-resiliency-secrets-from-americas-top-founders/4705

How to configure a linksys WAP54G (access point)

This device offers 4 modes of configuration. But you have to be careful because we cannot just set this access point into any mode without checking first for its compatibility. I will show you how to configure the device manually. Before the steps, here are the four ways this device is capable of functioning.

First as a plain Access Point, needs to be connected into a wired device (e.g. router, switch).

Second, as a Repeater, now you have to take note that it only works as a repeater with another linksys wireless router, not any wireless router but specifically WRT54G all versions.

Another configurations, Access Point Client and as a Wireless Bridge, also take note that when set to “AP Client” and “Wireless Bridge” mode, this device will only communicate with another Linksys Access Point (WAP54G), preferably same hardware and firmware version.

Important Note:AP Client, Wireless Repeater, and Bridging modes, make sure the SSID, channel, and Security/WEP key settings are the same for all access points. WPA will not work with an AP Client, Wireless Repeater and Wireless Bridge modes. Device IP is 192.168.1.245.

ACCESS POINT MODE - this mode allows wireless client to connect to the access point and routes traffic between the wireless and wired interface. Use this mode to create a standard wireless Infrastructure network.

By default the AP mode is set to Access Point.

1. Push the reset button while it’s powered up, release the reset button then unplug and replug the power cord.

WAP54G back panel

2. If your router’s IP address is 192.168.1.x, you may just hardwire your access point directly to the router and on your computer launch an Internet Explorer or any browser. On the address bar type in 192.168.1.245, type in admin as password, no username.

3. If you are configuring the device without a router or if the router has a local IP address other than 192.168.1.x, get your computer and, hardwire the access point to it and assign a static IP address, eg. 192.168.1.25. Open a browser an access 192.168.1.245 on your address bar, password is admin.

4. By default in the setup page under Network Setup, Configuration type is set to Static IP, leave it as it is or if your router has different Network settings (ex. 10.10.10.1), you may change the IP address following the range of your existing network (10.10.10.245), default gateway should be the IP address of your router, save settings. Click now on AP MODE subtab, select on Access Point and save the settings.

5. Click now on Wireless and configure your wireless settings (WIRELESS SECURITY subtab and select the desired encryption (WEP, WPA-Personal, WPA2-Personal, WPA2-mixed, WPA-enterprise, RADIUS), these are the security supported on the latest version releases. Take note of your encryption and of course save the settings. Turn off the access point and unplug it from the computer, set the computer’s IP address back to Obtain. Connect the access point to your router/switch regular port and power it up. It’s ready now for testing. Should there be any problem, try to powercycle the whole network (modem-router-access point).

Wireless Repeater - This mode will turn the access point into a wireless repeater. Enter the wireless MAC address of the access point whose signal you would like to repeat.

Linksys WAP54G repeater diagram

- Do the same things you did in setting the device to AP but this time on the AP Mode tab, select on WIRELESS REPEATER radio button and make sure you know the WIRELESS MAC ADDRESS of your router or another WAP54G (STATUS tab > Wireless) since you need to input that in the blank field alloted. Save the settings and check if you can connect.

AP Client - this will allow the device to act as a wireless client. You can enter the Wireless MAC address of the Access Point or use the Site Survey button to select the Access Point you want to connect.
- Under the AP Mode tab, select AP Client and push on the Site Survey button to check for the wireless network you want to connect and select it, automatically it will copy its Wireless MAC or you can manually type in the wireless mac of your network source.

Wireless Bridge - This is to create a wireless connection between two or more wired networks. This mode connects the physically separated, wired network using multiple access points. Wireless clients will not be able to connect to the access point in this mode. Enter the wireless MAC address of the wireless access points that you would like to bridge together.

- Know the Wireless MAC of your other Access Point and input it on the blank field. And do the same thing to the other WAP, they just change Wireless MAC to ensure that they only recognize each other. No intrusion from another network.

That’s it!! If you are having hard time connecting after configuring everything, make sure you perform a complete power cycle.

4 Ways to Be the Boss That Your Business Needs

Leona Helmsley. Donald Trump. Mark Zuckerberg. You know their names. To some, they’re the epitome of the nightmare boss, associated with tyrannical tantrums, boardroom antics, and for threatening employees when things don’t go their way.

As a small business owner, you didn’t get into the game to crush egos or smash office printers. You got in because you had a passion for what you do better than anyone else. But it’s not just you anymore. You have a team behind you. And it’s your job to manage it.

But your team’s not responding. Now what?

Now, you act like the boss. You stop walking on eggshells with your staff, and start adopting positive leadership practices that will inspire excellence. You’re not there to be your employees’ best friend; you’re there to manage them, and to grow your company.

You’re there to lead.

If you’re unsteady on your new managerial legs, here are a few suggestions to help you build the right team.

1. Stop Promoting People

Want to give a crappy reward to someone who’s good at her job? Elevate her to a managerial position where she’ll get to do less of what she loves to do. The idea of running a flat company is gaining street cred among scrappy startup types because it works. It removes that old, inefficient managerial hierarchy where in-field experts are banished to corner offices, and rewards employees instead with things they really want — more days off, more control, and a greater chance to do what they love. Don’t reward with titles; do it with freedom.

2. Don’t Involve Employees in Sensitive Company Matters

You’re running a small business, not a daycare center. There’s no reason for you to get mushy and reveal your darkest fears to your staff, especially if those fears concern your business. (Consult a business networking site for that.) The only thing worse than worrying about your own business is being forced to be worry about a business someone else founded.

If you’re looking to your staff for emotional support, stop. If the company is in trouble, if there’s a partner shakeup in the works, if you’re unsure of how to be a manager, fake it until you make it and keep quiet about it internally. Filling employees in on financial issues or things that don’t concern them will distract, frighten, demotivate them, or make them question you as their boss. You take care of the business; let them focus on their jobs. If they wanted to run a business, they’d start one. You better hope they don’t.

3. Get Rid of Dead Weight

Small businesses are like families. The only difference is that in business, you can divorce the people who hold you back. Hiring and firing is tricky for small business owners because they let emotions get in the way. You get attached to team members, and become reluctant to let them go. Do not hold on to employees for sentimental reasons. You’re their boss, not their mother. Holding on to an employee that doesn’t fit into the company not only holds that person back from finding a job where he can excel, it’s demoralizing to the rest of your staff. Non-performing people create resentment and mediocrity. The moment you know someone cannot do what you need them to do, fire them. No exceptions.

4. Get Comfortable Acting Like a Leader

If you want to cultivate a work environment where employees are comfortable making tough decisions and demanding innovation, you go first. Lead by example, even if it sometimes means disrupting the status quo. Mark Zuckerberg knew that Facebook needed a News Feed to keep up with Twitter and the microblogging trend. He didn’t care that it upset users, angered app developers, and changed the mindset of the site. He knew it needed to be there, and he stuck to his decision. And it paid off. Every decision you make doesn’t have to be correct, but you need to have the confidence in yourself to make them, and to fail faster.

The strength of your small business will be determined by the strength of your leadership. If you don’t have the stomach for tough calls, maybe you can get your old job back.

Business Plans by the Numbers

When writing a business plan, here's how to run the numbers that matter without getting hung-up on those that don't.
Entrepreneurs are a courageous bunch—except when it comes to math. I've seen many notoriously tough senior executives shudder at the prospect of running financial projections for their business plans. So I've developed a much kinder, simpler guide to help you crunch the numbers that matter most.

Break-Even Analysis
The most important numbers for a start-up are often the most basic. Among them: Predicting what it will take to have more money coming in per month than going out. Get that wrong, and you could find yourself out of cash, and out of business.

Start by estimating the revenues generated by an average sale. Then subtract the costs that change with each transaction, like sales commissions and costs of producing the products sold. The result is your "unit contribution." Next, predict your monthly overhead, or expenses that don't vary directly with sales volume, such as rent, salaries, utilities, legal fees, and accounting expenses. Finally, divide your monthly overhead by your unit contribution. That number will tell you how many transactions you'll need per month to break-even.

Now for the analysis. Is that a realistic sales target? When do you think you'll hit it? What resources will you need to get there? How much cash will you burn through in the meantime?

Marketing Efficiency
If you reach customers directly—as opposed to selling your products to a wholesaler or retailer that will then sell to customers—then make sure each of them brings in more money than it costs you to get them in the door. Get that basic number wrong, and no amount of sales volume will save you.

First, estimate the cost of acquiring one customer, by researching similar companies, and forming a hypothesis you'll test and hone over time. Then, estimate the lifetime value per customer. Predict how long an average customer will stick around, and how much unit contribution they'll generate during that time. Ideally, the lifetime value of a customer should be three or more times greater than the cost of acquiring a customer.

Financial Projections
Projecting your financials will help you develop a sense for how to expect money to flow in and out of your business over the first few years. The numbers here are very difficult to predict, so don't waste too much time on them. Instead, run the numbers in a simple way, and adjust them as you get real revenue and expense data. If you don't understand the basics of finance and accounting, or know how to use a spreadsheet program like Excel, you should probably get help. But make sure you understand how the equations work, and what they mean for your business. Here are the most important takeaways from your financial projections:

Opportunity to scale: While it's nearly impossible to predict how big your company can get, it's helpful to make an order of magnitude estimate (Are you shooting for sales of $1 million, $10 million, or $100 million?). That will help investors, partners, and other stakeholders grasp the attractiveness of your opportunity and help them know that if things go well the rewards will be worth the risks. Also, make sure your scale is reasonable. One way to do this is to look at comparable companies. How long did it take them to reach a similar size, and how much did it cost them?
Capital requirements: It's important to estimate how much money you'll need over the course of the next year in order to break-even. That way, you can get enough cash in the bank to allow you to focus on running the business for a while before needing to spend your energy lining up more financing.

You can always go deeper, but understanding these basic numbers will help you make smarter choices without getting bogged down in analysis-paralysis.

http://www.inc.com/articles/201105/business-plan-financials.html

How to Deliver a Speech that Gets a Standing Ovation

Rebecca MacDonald, a Canadian immigrant born in the former Yugoslavia who started with nothing and is now executive chair of Just Energy, a $2.3 billion (market cap) energy firm, delivered such a vivid and passionate speech at the Womens’ Presidents Organization annual conference on Thursday afternoon in Vancouver, that the entire audience of 650 women business owners spontaneously leapt out of seats to clap, howl and cheer her on.

“I laughed, I cried, I almost had to leave the room when she spoke about her relationship with her mother,” said Nancy Lyons, president of Clockwork in Minneapolis, raving about the range of emotions MacDonald inspired just moments after the remarks.

So what can you do to make a speech that spurs your audience to similar applause and admiration?

Get personal. Rebecca MacDonald told her life story—and didn’t spare the details. First, MacDonald credited her upbringing in a socialist system as fundamental to her mindset that “women can do anything men can do”. Then she shared that her husband’s initial skepticism about her launching a Canadian natural gas resale business was a catalyst that spurred her on. “If he didn’t say, ‘Are you insane?’ I wouldn’t be standing here,” MacDonald said, smiling. When she landed her first customer and sought gas supply, but was thrown out of the Toronto Petroleum Club because she was a woman, MacDonald added: “I didn’t want to face my husband. I didn’t want him to say, ‘I told you so’.” Once her business started to take off, MacDonald’s husband came to her to suggest, “Darlink, let’s merge,” recalled MacDonald, with an accent. But MacDonald would only do so if he’d work for her. In 1992, after he helped expand her company into a new market, MacDonald’s husband was killed in a car crash. “That changed me forever,” MacDonald confided.

Be honest. When asked about her upbringing, MacDonald admitted she had a very strict and dominant mother. “I ran away from my mother,” she said. “I probably wouldn’t have survived her if I hadn’t moved to Canada,” and then revealed that her sister committed suicide. “My mother prepared me for life.”

Tell jokes. Although she touched on such intimate and serious subjects, MacDonald managed to keep the overall tone of her talk light and humorous. “Sometimes we get bitchy and catty,” she admitted, describing one drawback of women. She also spoke of a time her son told a friend visiting their home: “My mom’s actually nice and friendly—she just has cash flow problems.” Early on, she mentioned that after her husband died she devoted her life to her work and two children. But before she wrapped up her speech last week MacDonald was sure to announce to anymen attending, “I’m single and I’m available.”

Talk to your audience. Whether it was the serendipitous drink that turned into her first supplier relationship, becoming the first woman to take a company public in Canada—or the bout of rheumatoid arthritis that nearly kept her bed-ridden while doing so—throughout her speech, MacDonald related her business and life experiences to the particular crowd she was speaking before: entrepreneurial women.

Act as if each attendee is the only one. She invited the conference-goers to call her any time. She offered up her phone number (it’s on the Just Energy website) and availability (after hours). “I always answer the phone for a woman,” MacDonald said.

Forget notes, visuals or a PowerPoint presentation. MacDonald held our attention for more than an hour—just by being herself—and without relying on ancillary or distracting materials.

End on a high note. MacDonald wouldn’t get off the podium until she could respond to a question with an uplifting final answer—even if it meant risking missing her flight home to Toronto, where she was due at 5 a.m. the following morning to watch the royal wedding over champagne and biscuits with girlfriends.

Here are MacDonald’s pearls of wisdom you would have written down if you were there:

"Nobody got to a big business without starting small."
"Always pay your supplier even if you have no money to pay yourself."
"I made a lot of mistakes, but I never made the same mistake twice."
"Surround yourself with smart people."
"I love hiring the best and paying them more than the market."
"I never ask others to do something I’m not prepared to do myself."
"If Rebecca MacDonald can do it, everyone can do it."
"I thought $1 million was a lot, $10 million was a lot, $100 million was a lot, $1 billion was a lot. Now I want to shoot for $10 billion."

Now let me see if I can get my hands on the videotape of MacDonald’s address.

http://www.inc.com/how-to-deliver-a-speech-that-gets-a-standing-ovation.html

How Accountability Creates Success

The “list” gets longer and longer. Ideas and goals fall to the wayside remaining incomplete or never even seeing the light of day. There’s just no time; even less energy.

Sound familiar? You are not alone. I see it all of the time and I’ve experienced some of it myself. But why? We’re passionate about our businesses and our ideas. We believe we can manage it all. And we certainly have the drive and desire to succeed, don’t we? So with all of this going for him, why does a business owner fall into the frustrating and disappointing habit of letting himself down?

Working alone has many benefits, but just as many pitfalls. Entrepreneurial-minded people typically love the magic moment when an idea is born. We also enjoy creating the strategy. But implementation? Well, that’s another thing altogether, isn’t it? Structure, accountability, routine; these words may be foreign to your vocabulary if you are a creative, right-brained person. I’m not saying that hard-working entrepreneurs are incapable in these areas, but I do believe that implementing things from beginning to end and fine-tuning the process is often much more challenging – and yes, sometimes impossible for the entrepreneur. And if you are a solopreneur without a team to complete the details and some of the implementation, you might get pretty frustrated. It's like trying to fit a square peg into a round hole when you try to engage your brain in activities that just don’t feel natural to you.

While lack of resources is often a problem, there is another obvious drawback to being a solopreneur - the lack of accountability.

Learn more about help resources here.
Low and Cost Free Resources
Why Fly Solo? Delegate!

Successful business owners most often engage a coach and/or participate in Mastermind groups or the like. There are so many benefits to these relationships that I can’t even go into them all, but one that seems to be a common denominator for many entrepreneurs is the accountability factor. When the stumbling blocks are worked out and a plan in place, they feel more inspired to follow their tasks through to completion prior to their next coaching session. As one small success after the other leads to larger success and increased profits, the payoff really becomes obvious. This accountability seems critical to their success.

Making a commitment to yourself is a great start, but sometimes it feels OK to let ourselves down. You might find yourself making excuses (yes, they are typically excuses) and allowing things to elevate in urgency until you have so many fires to put out that the well runs dry. Instead of exhausting yourself like this, why not set up an accountability strategy?

If you believe that you can’t afford coaching, there are other methods. Try to find a group coaching environment that may be more affordable. A Mastermind group may raise the bar for you as you challenge and support one another. Or, how about a simple “accountability group”? Recently, a small group of my friends began such a group and each person simply commits to completing several tasks prior to meeting at the coffee house the following week. As a group of stubborn, like-minded ladies, no one is going to come to coffee having failed at their commitments!

Think about what motivates you to do the detail work and follow through on your ideas. Blocking out even one hour a week can make a huge difference if you block not only the time, but the interruptions as well. Turn off the phone, close your email application and focus on your “to do” list.

Who do you know who will hold your feet to the fire? Someone who will encourage you and offer up the occasional “atta boy” when you’ve stretched beyond your comfort zone? Success is a beautiful thing – even the small successes - and accountability could be the key!

http://www.inc.com/marla-tabaka/how-accountability-creates-success.html

How to Use Game Mechanics to Reward Your Customers

Your customers hoard airline miles and covet their status-symbol black American Express. What was once called "consumer incentives" is now known as "gamification"—and here's how to integrate it into your company and win consumers' hearts and minds while you're at it.
By Christine Lagorio | May 3, 2011

There's a green card. Then there's silver, gold, and platinum. And then there's the Centurion—the black American Express card. Which do you want in your wallet?

A handful of luxury brands have for decades used promises of status to encourage customers to spend more through loyalty to their brands. Today, brands of all stripes are experimenting with the psychology of status and power in rewarding customers. A generation raised on video games is wired to love incentives—and that doesn't just mean freebies.

Consider Foursquare, a company built entirely on a game-design model. Users earn badges—virtual reinforcing awards—for checking in at places they encounter when going about their daily life. As a bonus, they're alerted to money-saving deals nearby. Eight million people have downloaded the Foursquare app, and use it to check in. It is as if the company has tapped into airlines' frequent-flier rewards program possibilities—without itself offering a tangible reward.

The new rewards ecosystem is a marketer's dream. But the first thing to understand is that it's simply game mechanics at work. This strategy of applying game-design principles to things that aren't otherwise considered games has been dubbed "gamification." And the growing popularity of adopting gaming tactics—which are useful not only to encourage loyalty but also to gain metrics by which to track consumer behavior—means it's no longer just the realm of large companies with sizeable marketing budgets.

"Historically, customer engagement was something big brands did a lot better due to full scale loyalty programs," says Gabe Zichermann, a blogger who authored Game-Based Marketing and who hosts of the Gamification Summit. "That's because they had the budgets to do that. JPMorgan Chase can offer rewards miles, when your café on the corner can just do, say a buy-10-get-one-free card."

That's changing. Countless start-ups are incorporating game-design strategies, hoping to eventually grow revenue off of consumer data, or by using a combination of data plus game-mechanics to influence consumer behaviors. Here's how the experts suggest going about adding a game layer to your company.

Rewarding Customers Through Gamification: Why Game Mechanics?

People are hard-wired to enjoy positive reinforcement. And, well, play is fun.

Consider golf: Social interaction aside, why would anyone go to a course and attempt to hit a tiny ball into a far-away hole? "If we were thinking of standards of productivity, we would just invent a machine that stands over the hole and sort of shoots the balls into the hole," explained game designer Jane McGonigal, who studies the social and mental impact of gaming, at her South by Southwest Interactive festival keynote speech this year. "Instead, playing the game is something entirely different."

Gaming reinforces players through positive feelings generated by achievements, which are perceived through points, badges, discounts, or any award—tangible or not. Game mechanics are, simply, ways of generating those positive feelings.

"Foursquare was a really great early example of this happening," McGonigal says. Foursquare started this whole trend of making achievements and giving people badges for doing stuff."

Giving customers something positive encourages additional interaction with your brand, service, or product. For this very purpose, LinkedIn added a progress bar that documents user-profile completion. But that's not its sole purpose.

"Filling out your profile, that's a behavior LinkedIn wants to motivate. The progress bar is this total insight to your progress as a user," says game designer Gabe Smedresman, who designed the iPhone game Crazy Boat, and who is working on a social-interaction app called Gatsby. "That taps an innate human desire to complete things, and not leave things undone. That's what games do—they are systems that give people pleasure."

For LinkedIn, the benefits are straightforward. Giving users even perceived achievements harnesses users motivation in a way that gives the company more loyal users who are more invested in the service. As a bonus, it collects more data on its users.

Rewarding Customers Through Gamification: Status is Everything

Much of rewarding your best customers used to be done through giving them gifts, discounts, or freebies. Game mechanics are becoming so good at reinforcing customers that some experts are asking: Why reward customers by putting something free to them in their hands when so much of what feels good is in their heads?

"In the old view of things, we think, 'Well, if we do anything for our customers, we should just give them free stuff.' But free stuff is the old view," says Zichermann. "Now we know that status, access, and power are both easier to give and reward customers better."

Take the café on the corner Zichermann referenced earlier. What would happen if instead of giving customers a free coffee every now and then it made a priority lane for faster service to reward loyalty?

"It's not that free stuff isn't good, it's that the consumer can price the free stuff, eventually. They know that a coffee costs $2.00." Zichermann says. "They cannot put a value on status, access, and power benefits very well—and they tend to overestimate the value of these things."

Status rankings seem to be fundamental to humans' worldviews—and that's about feeling loved by something you've invested energy, time, or money in.

When JetBlue Airways was just starting out in the early 2000s, it didn't have a loyalty program. Instead, it offered a bevy of customer services that other airlines didn't consistently: Leather seats, customizable in-flight entertainment, snacks aplenty, cheap tickets, and consistently kind employees. That wasn't enough.

That lasted exactly two years before enough customer surveys mounted up begging for a frequent-flier program that the True Blue miles program was founded. "This is true with every industry. It's going from a nice-to-have to a must-have," Zichermann says. "It's a way for small companies to take advantage in their market vertical."

He posits that gamifying an aspect of your company could be more beneficial than was early-adopting social media. "How many more sales we get from our Twitter feed is still unclear to people," he says. "But as soon as you get someone hooked on your system versus someone else's, the harder it is to switch, and that's profits."

Any coupon-clipper or group deal-site aficionado knows that it feels pretty good to snag a deal the Joneses might not have spotted. Consider LevelUp, one of the newest group-deal websites. Its premise: Purchase a Groupon-like deal, say, $10 worth of ice cream at Toscanini's in Boston for $5. Instant win. After you purchase that deal, another is offered to you, perhaps 60 or 75 percent off ice cream from the same shop. Bonus point.

"It's kind of a re-molding of what was kind of a passive job of coupon clipping 40 years ago," says Samantha Skey, the chief revenue officer for Recyclebank, a business that works with communities build household incentives into recycling or saving energy. "It's an activist buyer who is gaming the system to get the best deal when she goes to buy those lemons. That consumer—and her desire to do the right thing and feel smart and get a good deal—is at the heart of what we do."

Recyclebank's business is to profit from cities actively processing less trash and doing more recycling, but go to its website, and it just looks like fun. "Earn points. Get rewards. Better the planet," it reads.

Rewarding Customers Through Gamification: Constantly Consider Your Customers' Motivation

In building a system to deliver rewards for your customers, it's important to consider first your goals. Are you primarily attempting to encourage brand loyalty—or are you trying to meet new customers? Are you trying to give customers something light and fun—or are you looking to amass more valuable customer data?

Next, consider within a system what specifically about your audience or customer base you can specifically reward. Simultaneously consider any aspects that could potentially turn them off. For example, if you're targeting a young audience of early adopters for whom sharing neat things or achievements with friends is natural, offer social-media sharing into your rewards system. But that might not work for everyone.

Brian Burke, the research vice president at Gartner, a global research firm that published a study on the expanding reach of gamification for companies, said that different people are motivated by different responses, so finding a good fit—particularly regarding social media and asking customers to disclose information—is key.

"There is some portion of the target audience that's likely to never engage because they find it creepy," he says. "Other segments of the population play games to develop relationships and find social interaction. Inherently, you're never going to reach 100 percent of the population."

Burke says his research into motivation and game-play, when conducting the study that determined that by 2015, 50 percent of companies that manage innovation and research will use gamification to drive innovation, he found that not all people play for the same reason. While he classified people into categories of explorers, achievers, and killers—those with an "I win, you lose" mentality—and those who play just for the social interaction. "There are some people out there who want no one else to know anything about them, and there are other people who want to push social interactions and foster bonds," Burke says.

For Games that Give, a company that builds Facebook games for brands, consumer-sharing is essential to a game's success. The goal for a Facebook game with heavy brand-integration is the same as any basic marketing: Eyeballs. So, going viral through heavy online sharing of scores, successes, and enjoyment of the game by players is key. But it's also a tricky thing to encourage.

"You really only have between five and 10 seconds to make an impression on people, so you use little tricks," says Adam Archer, one of the founders of Games that Give. "At what point do you ask people to share with their friends? They are most likely to share right after they've won something."

And sharing online might just be more valuable than word-of-mouth—because it's easy to track. But it's part of the same mission, Zichermann says.

"What you're trying to do with gamification as a business owner, is identify your most loyal fans, engage them to both generate more revenue for you and fire them up to become brand evangelists for you," Zichermann says.

Rewarding Customers Through Gamification: Don't Creep Out Your Customers

The danger of offending consumers' senses of privacy is a detail of which to remain consistently aware.

"With gamification, you have access to the underlying behavioral data in a massive scale way. Instead of flying blind, you can know exactly what people are doing on your site," Smedresman says. "After you have that, this non-blindness of what people are doing, you can start manipulating that. That's gamification."

GroupMe might offer group chat today, but tomorrow, it might suggest places for active groups to go meet, and spend money, Jared Hecht, one of the company's founders, told Inc.com at SXSW.

"It means that people who have a vested interest in manipulated consumers' behavior are going to be a lot more sophisticated about that," Smedersman says. "It's going to be our jobs as consumers to be mindful as to when we're being exposed to these incentivisers."

Rewarding Customers Through Gamification: Build in an Autonomous Feel-Good Aspect

With every consumer motivated by slightly different impulses and rewards, consider one of the most influential customer trends of the decade: Going green. Pushing customers toward feeling like they're doing good—either for themselves, or a greater cause—can be another powerful motivator. In the case of Recyclebank, it's lowering your electricity use or landing more of what comes into your house in packaging from the grocery store in your recycle bin.

"We've done side-by-side comparisons: If you integrate a socially responsible theme to the brand, you can see an increase by 40 percent in engagement—the time they spend in the game—over 40 percent in retention, and over 50 percent higher virality," Archer says. That means the user is more than 50 percent more likely to invite their friends to play, or, in other words, to become an ambassador for the brand.

While Games That Give develops entire autonomous game systems to represent a brand, Nissan has adopted just a few game mechanics for its Carwings, a system that keeps track of all of your car's fuel use, battery status, efficiency, and more. The program not only gives you feedback on your efficiency, but also puts your stats in competition with those of other Nissan Leaf drivers.

Is the big green pat on the back enough of a reward for your customers to continue interacting with a giving-back gamified system? Maybe not, says Skey of Recyclebank.

"I wish I could say the rewards are secondary, but I don't think they are yet," Skey says. With that in mind, Recyclebank rewards its users with grocery and goods coupons. "It would be great to get to the point where diminishing your footprint and increasing your eco-IQ was reward enough."

Rewarding Customers Through Gamification: Additional Applications

If Burke and Gartner are correct, the corporate applications for these game-design tactics are going to go way beyond customer rewards. Consider, Burke suggests, that Michellin uses online alternate-reality portal Second Life as a training program for enterprise architects.

"I believe that employee performance in a company environment is a growing use," Burke says. "Companies are starting to—instead of using a training manual or holding quarterly reviews—move toward a social-networking environment for performance and performance feedback."

It's not too much of a stretch to imagine a system in which an employee is awarded a badge or points for a speedy and well-crafted response to a boss's e-mail. But what about a system that tracks employees' behaviors in order to quantify work completed? What about crowdsourcing research and development? What about incentivising word-of-mouth promotion? Countless applications abound, both inside the walls of a company and out.

Now that companies are thinking outside of credit-card color-schemes and flight miles as rewards, not even the virtual sky is a limit to what can be done in this space.

http://www.inc.com/guides/201105/use-game-design-to-reward-your-customers.html

Are You CEO Material?

Ask yourself...
Sooner or later, every growing company reaches a point at which the entrepreneur behind it should start wondering whether he or she is the right person to be CEO. The answer has a lot to do with the company’s stage of development. The person who’s right for the start-up phase may not be right when the business reaches the management stage. Veteran entrepreneur Norm Brodsky found out the hard way that he was a terrible manager.

So how do you know...
Brodsky suggests there’s no tried-and-true formula for evaluating a prospective CEO. Ultimately, of course, the proof is in the pudding: How does the company perform? By the time you see the results, however it may be too late. That said, here are the five criteria Brodsky uses in evaluating a person’s ability to handle the responsibilities of a CEO.

Are you a leader?
First, a CEO has to be a leader, not simply a pied piper. Entrepreneurs are pied pipers. We play seductive melodies, conjure up wonderful images, and entice people into following us. Leadership is different. It calls for keeping a watchful eye on the business and making sure everyone understands what must get done. You need to create a sense of urgency about that.

Do you possess foresight?
Second, a CEO should have the ability to see around corners—that is, to recognize well in advance what has to be done for the good of the business—so that the company is always leading the industry rather than trying to catch up.

Do you love solving problems?
Third, a CEO needs a passion for problem solving. You have to be able to figure out quickly which problems require your attention and which don’t, and then focus relentlessly on getting the big ones solved. It helps to be sort of a person who feels acutely unhappy until a problem is fixed.

Is your ego too big?
Fourth, a CEO has to be able to put the company ahead of his or her ego gratification. Entrepreneurs enjoy the spotlight. That’s fine when the company is establishing itself in the marketplace, but it can become a problem later on. You need to be willing to do what’s best for the company at any given moment, which may include staying out of the spotlight.

Are you financially savvy?
Finally, a CEO must be financially literate in a way that goes beyond accounting. As CEO, you need to be able to use the numbers, not just to understand what has happened but to help you spot trends, identify problems, and head off trouble before it hits you.

What do you think?
Now, there are obviously many other traits not mentioned here, such as having a good strategic sense, working well with people, knowing how to delegate, and on and on, Brodsky says. “I value all those qualities, but the CEO has a special role to play. He or she is responsible for the success of the company as a whole. For that reason, I believe the five criteria I’ve mentioned are the ones to focus on. Do you agree. Lew me know.”

http://www.inc.com/ss/recognizing-what-makes-a-great-ceo

The 100 Rules For Being An Entrepreneur

If you Google “how to be an Entrepreneur” you get a lot of mindless clichés like “follow your passion” or “think big.” That’s not what you are going to get here.

Again, for me, being an “entrepreneur” doesn’t mean starting the next “Faceook.” Or even starting any business at all. It means finding the challenges you have in your life, and determining creative ways to overcome those challenges. However, in this post I focus mostly on the issues that come up when you first start your company. These rules also apply if you are taking an entrepreneurial stance within a much larger company (which all employees should do).

For me, I’ve started several businesses. As I’ve described in the rest of this blog, some have succeeded, many have failed. I’m invested in about 13 private companies. I’ve advised probably another 50 private companies. Along the way I’ve compiled a list of rules that have helped me deal with every aspect of being an entrepreneur in business and some in life.

[Btw, Claudia thinks I shouldn’t put this post up. This is going to be a chapter in a book I am self-publishing in a week or so: “How to be the Luckiest Man Alive”. But I’m trying to price the book for free on Kindle so why not? Plus, once I write something, I can’t help myself. I have to put it up.]

Here’s the real rules:

A) It’s not fun. I’m not going to explain why it’s not fun. These are rules. Not theories. I don’t need to prove them. But there’s a strong chance you can hate yourself throughout the process of being an entrepreneur. Keep sharp objects and pills away during your worst moments. And you will have them. If you are an entrepreneur and agree with me, please note this in the comments below.

B) Try not to hire people. You’ll have to hire people to expand your business. But it’s a good discipline to really question if you need each and every hire.

C) Get a customer. This seems obvious. But it’s not. Get a customer before you start your business, if you can. (see, “the Easiest Way to Succeed as an Entrepreneur”)

CA) Follow me on Twitter.

D) If you are offering a service, call it a product. Oracle did it. They claimed they had a database. But if you “bought” their database they would send in a team of consultants to help you “install” the database to fit your needs. In other words, for the first several years of their existence, they claimed to have a product but they really were a consulting company. Don’t forget this story. Products are valued higher than services.

E) It’s OK to fail. Start over. Hopefully before you run out of money. Hopefully before you take in investor money. Or, don’t worry about it. Come up with new ideas. Start over.

F) Be profitable. Try to be profitable immediately. This seems obvious but it isn’t. Try not to raise money. That money is expensive.

G) When raising money: if it’s not easy then your idea is probably incapable of raising money. If its easy, then take as much as possible. If its TOO easy, then sell your company (unless you are Twitter, etc).

H) The same goes for selling your company. If it’s not easy, then you need to build more. Then sell. To sell your company, start getting in front of your acquirers a year in advance. Send them monthly updates describing your progress. Then, when they need a company like yours, your company is the first one that comes to mind.

I) Competition is good. It turns you into a killer. It helps you judge progress. It shows that other people value the space you are in. Your competitors are also your potential acquirors.

J) Don’t use a PR firm. Except maybe as a secretary. You are the PR for your company. You are your companys brand. You personally.

K) Communicate with everyone. Employees. Customers. Investors. All the time. Every day.

L) Do everything for your customers. This is very important. Get them girlfriends or boyfriends. Speak at their charities. Visit their parents for Thanksgiving. Help them find other firms to meet their needs. Even introduce them to your competitors if you think a competitor can help them or if you think you are about to be fired. Always think first, “What’s going to make my customer happy?”

M) Your customer is not a company. There’s a human there. What will make my human customer happy? Make him laugh. You want your customer to be happy.

N) Show up. Go to breakfast/lunch/dinner with customers. Treat.

O) History. Know the history of your customers in every way. Company history, personal history, marketing history, investing history, etc.

P) Micro-manage software development. Nobody knows your product better than you do. If you aren’t a technical person, learn how to be very specific in your product specification so that your programmers can’t say: “well you didn’t say that!”

Q) Hire local. You need to be able to see and talk to your programmers. Don’t outsource to India. I love India. But I won’t hire programmers from there while I’m living in the US.

R) Sleep. Don’t buy into the 20 hours a day entrepreneur myth. You need to sleep 8 hours a day to have a focused mind.

S) Exercise. Same as above. If you are unhealthy, your product will be unhealthy.

T) Emotionally Fit. DON’T have dating problems and software development problems at the same time. VCs will smell this all over you.

U) Pray. You need to. Be grateful where you are. And pray for success. You deserve it. Pray for the success of your customers. Heck, pray for the success of your competitors. The better they do, it means the market is getting bigger. And if one of them breaks out, they can buy you.

V) Buy your employees gifts. Massages. Tickets. Whatever. I always imagined that at the end of each day my young, lesbian employees (for some reason, most employees at my first company were lesbian) would be calling their parents and their mom and dad would ask them: “Hi honey! How was your day today?” And I wanted them to be able to say: “It was the best!” Invite customers to masseuse day.

W) Treat your employees like they are your children. They need boundaries. They need to be told “no!” sometimes. And sometimes you need to hit them in the face (ha ha, just kidding). But within boundaries, let them play.

X) Don’t be greedy pricing your product. If your product is good and you price it cheap, people will buy. Then you can price upgrades, future products, and future services more expensive. Which goes along with the next rule.

Y) Distribution is everything. Branding is everything. Get your name out there, whatever it takes. The best distribution is of course word of mouth, which is why your initial pricing doesn’t matter.

YA) Follow me on Twitter.

Z) Don’t kill yourself. It’s not worth it. Your employees need you. Your children or future children need you. It seems odd to include this in a post about entrepreneurship but we’re also taking about keeping it real. Most books or “rules” for entrepreneurs talk about things like “think big”, “go after your dreams”. But often dreams turn into nightmares. I’ll repeat it again. Don’t kill yourself. Call me if things get too stressful. Or more importantly, make sure you take proper medication

AA) Give employees structure. Let each employee know how his or her path to success can be achieved. All of them will either leave you or replace you eventually. That’s OK. Give them the guidelines how that might happen. Tell them how they can get rich by working for you.

BB) Fire employees immediately. If an employee gets “the disease” he needs to be fired. If they ask for more money all the time. If they bad mouth you to other employees. If you even think they are talking behind your back, fire them. The disease has no cure. And it’s very contagious. Show no mercy. Show the employee the door. There are no second chances because the disease is incurable.

CC) Make friends with your landlord. If you ever have to sell your company, believe it or not, you are going to need his signature (because there’s going to be a new lease owner)

DD) Only move offices if you are so packed in that employees are sharing desks and there’s no room for people to walk.

EE) Have killer parties. But use your personal money. Not company money. Invite employees, customers, and investors. It’s not the worst thing in the world to also invite off duty prostitutes or models.

FF) If an employee comes to you crying, close the door or take him or her out of the building. Sit with him until it stops. Listen to what he has to say. If someone is crying then there’s been a major communication breakdown somewhere in the company. Listen to what it is and fix it. Don’t get angry at the culprit’s. Just fix the problem.

GG) At Christmas, donate money to every customer’s favorite charity. But not for investors or employees.

HH) Have lunch with your competitors. Listen and try not to talk. One competitor (Bill Markel from Interactive once told me a story about how the CEO of Toys R Us returned his call. He was telling me this because I never returned Bill’s calls. Ok, Bill, lesson noted.

II) Ask advice a lot. Ask your customers advice on how you can be introduced into other parts of their company. Then they will help you. Because of the next rule…

JJ) Hire your customers. Or not. But always leave open the possibility. Let it always dangle in the air between you and them. They can get rich with you. Maybe. Possibly. If they play along. So play.

KK) On any demo or delivery, do one extra surprise thing that was not expected. Always add bells and whistles that the customer didn’t pay for.

LL) Understand the demographic changes that are changing the world. Where are marketing dollars flowing and can you be in the middle. What services do aging baby boomers need? Is the world running out of clean water? Are newspapers going to survive? Etc. Etc. Read every day to understand what is going on.

LLa) Don’t go to a lot of parties or “meetups” with other entrepreneurs. Work instead while they are partying.

MM) But, going along with the above rule, don’t listen to the doom and gloomers that are hogging the TV screen trying to tell you the world is over. They just want you to be scared so they can scoop up all the money.

NN) You have no more free time. In your free time you are thinking of new ideas for customers, new ideas for services to offer, new products.

OO) You have no more free time, part 2. In your free time, think of ideas for potential customers. Then send them emails: “I have 10 ideas for you. Would really like to show them to you. I think you will be blown away. Here’s five of them right now.”

OOa) Depressions, recessions, don’t matter. There’s $15 trillion in the economy. You’re allowed a piece of it:

PP) Talk. Tell everyone you ever knew what your company does. Your friends will help you find clients.

QQ) Always take someone with you to a meeting. You’re bad at following up. Because you have no free time. So, if you have another employee. Let them follow up. Plus, they will like to spend time with the boss. You’re going to be a mentor.

RR) If you are consumer focused: your advertisers are your customers. But always be thinking of new services for your consumers. Each new service has to make their life better. People’s lives are better if: they become healthier, richer, or have more sex. “Health” can be broadly defined.

SS) If your customers are advertisers: find sponsorship opportunities for them that drive customers straight into their arms. These are the most lucrative ad deals (see rule above). Ad inventory is a horrible business model. Sponsorships are better. Then you are talking to your customer.

TT) No friction. The harder it is for a consumer to sign up, the less consumers you will have. No confirmation emails, sign up forms, etc. The easier the better.

TTA) No fiction, part 2. If you are making a website, have as much content as you can on the front page. You don’t want people to have to click to a second or third page if you can avoid it. Stuff that first page with content. You aren’t Google. (And, 10 Unusual Things You Didn’t Know About Google)

UU) No friction, part 3. Say “yes” to any opportunity that gets you in a room with a big decision maker. Doesn’t matter if it costs you money.

VV) Sell your company two years before you sell it. Get in the offices of the potential buyers of your company and start updating them on your progress every month. Ask their advice on a regular basis in the guise of just an “industry catch-up”

WW) If you sell your company for stock, sell the stock as soon as you can. If you are selling your company for stock it means:

a. The market is such that lots of companies are being sold for stock.

b. AND, companies are using stock to buy other companies because they value their stock less than they value cash.

c. WHICH MEANS, that when everyone’s lockup period ends, EVERYONE will be selling stock across the country. So sell yours first.

XX) Ideas are worthless. If you have an idea worth pursuing, then just make it. You can build any website for cheap. Hire a programmer and make a demo. Get at least one person to sign up and use your service. If you want to make Facebook pages for plumbers, find one plumber who will give you $10 to make his Facebook page. Just do it.

YY) Don’t use a PR firm, part II. Set up a blog. Tell your personal stories (see “33 tips to being a better writer” ). Let the customer know you are human, approachable, and have a real vision as to why they need to use you. Become the voice for your industry, the advocate for your products. If you make skin care products, tell your customers every day how they can be even more beautiful than they currently are and have more sex than they are currently getting. Blog your way to PR success. Be honest and bloody.

ZZ) Don’t save the world. If your product sounds too good to be true, then you are a liar.

ZZa) Your company is always for sale.

AAA) Frame the first check. I’m staring at mine right now.

BBB) No free time, part 3. Pick a random customer. Find five ideas for them that have nothing to do with your business. Call them and say, “I’ve been thinking about you. Have you tried this?”

CCC) No resale deals. Nobody cares about reselling your service. Those are always bad deals.

DDD) Your lawyer or accountant is not going to introduce you to any of their other clients. Those meetings are always a waste of time.

EEE) Celebrate every success. Your employees need it. They need a massage also. Get a professional masseuse in every Friday afternoon. Nobody leaves a job where there is a masseuse.

FFF) Sell your first company. Don’t take any chances. You don’t need to be Mark Zuckerberg. Sell your first company as quick as you can. You now have money in the bank and a notch on your belt. Make a billion on your next company.

GGG) Pay your employees before you pay yourself.

HHH) Give equity to get the first customer. If you have no product yet and no money, then give equity to a good partner in exchange for them being a paying customer. Note: don’t blindly give equity. If you develop a product that someone asked for, don’t give them equity. Sell it to them. But if you want to get a big distribution partner whose funds can keep you going forever, then give equity to nail the deal.

III) Don’t worry about anyone stealing your ideas. Ideas are worthless anyway. It’s OK to steal something that’s worthless.

IIIA) Follow me on twitter.

Questions from Readers

Question: You say no free time but you also say keep emotionally fit, physically fit, etc. How do I do this if I’m constantly thinking of ideas for old and potential customers?

Answer: It’s not easy or everyone would be rich.

Question: if I get really stressed about clients paying, how do I get sleep at night?

Answer: medication

Question: how do I cold-call clients?

Answer: email them. Email 40 of them. It’s OK if only 1 answers. Email 40 a day but make sure you have something of value to offer.

Question: how can I find cheap programmers or designers?

Answer: if you don’t know any and you want to be cheap: use scriptlance.com, elance.com, or craigslist. But don’t hire them if they are from another country. You need to communicate with them even if it costs more money.

Question: should I hire programmers?

Answer: first…freelance. Then hire.

Question: what if I build my product but I’m not getting customers?

Answer: develop a service loosely based on your product and offer that to customers. But I hope you didn’t make a product without talking to customers to begin with?

Question: I have the best idea in the world, but for it to work it requires a lot of people to already be using it. Like Twitter.

Answer: if you’re not baked into the Silicon Valley ecosystem, then find distribution and offer equity if you have to. Zuckerberg had Harvard. MySpace had the fans of all the local bands they set up with MySpace pages. I (in my own small way) had Thestreet.com when I set up Stockpickr.com. I also had 10 paying clients when i did my first successful business fulltime.

Question: I just lost my biggest customer and now I have to fire people. I’ve never done this before. How do I do it?

Answer: one on meetings. Be Kind. State the facts. Say you have to let people go and that everyone is hurting but you want to keep in touch because they are a great employee. It was an honor to work with them and when business comes back you hope you can convince them come back. Then ask them if they have any questions. Your reputation and the reputation of your company are on the line here. You want to be a good guy. But you want them out of your office within 15 minutes. It’s a termination, not a negotiation. This is one reason why it’s good to start with freelancers.

Question: I have a great idea. How do I attract VCs?

Answer: build the product. Get a customer. Get money from customer. Get more customers. Build more services in the product. Get VC. Chances are by this point, the VCs are calling you.

Question: I want to build a business day trading.

Answer: bad idea

Question: I want to start a business but don’t know what my passion is:

Answer: skip to the post: “How to be the luckiest person alive”. Do the Daily Practice. Within six months your life will be completely different.

Question: I want to leave my job but I’m scared.

Answer: same as above question. The Daily Practice turns you into a healthy Idea Machine. Plus luck will flow in from every direction.

Final rule: Things change. Every day. The title of this post, for instance, says “100 Rules”. But I gave about 70 rules (including the Q&A). Things change midway through. Be ready for it every day. In fact, every day figure out what you can change just slightly to shake things up and improve your product and company.

Throughout the rest of this blog I have examples, ideas, rules, etc. In fact, it adds up to a lot more than 100 rules. Many of the rules above are repeated in other posts ahead but use this post as a cheat sheet. If you can think of more rules for me, add them to the comments. I’ll try and put them in the upcoming book.

http://www.businessinsider.com/the-100-rules-for-being-an-entrepreneur-2011-4

44 Ways to Reinvigorate Your Entrepreneurial Drive

Every entrepreneur enters the game rip-roaring and ready to go. Once the idea settles in that there is a lot of work involved — probably more than had been anticipated — some become burned out or feel they have lost that drive or spirit that once pushed them to succeed. It may be common, but it doesn’t mean that it’s time to hang up your hat and choose a new field. It means it is time to take action and get that drive back. Here are 44 ways that you can reinvigorate your entrepreneurial drive:

1. Read “Atlas Shrugged.”

2. Watch videos from TED.

3. Get a mentor.

4. Think about all the people your business helps — your family, your employees, your vendors, their families, etc.

5. Speak at an industry conference.

6. Go to another industry’s conference.

7. Tour a fellow entrepreneur’s business.

8. Share your dreams with a friend and let the conversation flow.

9. Take a vacation — the break will recharge the old batteries.

10. Be grateful for what you have already accomplished.

11. Take a marketing course.

12. Get a tattoo with your own company’s name or logo.

13. Teach an entrepreneurial class.

14. Meditate.

15. Recognize you are a rare breed. Really. Many people dream of being an entrepreneur, but only a select few actually pull it off.

16. Become a mentor.

17. Exercise regularly.

18. Regularly reward yourself for any and all progress.

19. Ask friends what good they think your business is doing for others.

20. Ask customers what you can do better, and what you already do great.

21. Have a party for all your customers. The “entrance fee” is simple: They must fill out a card on why your business is making a difference.

22. Think about having a “real job,” that will get your entrepreneurial drive going into overdrive.

23. Hire an intern to shadow you, and at the end of a few months report on their observations.

24. Repaint your office.

25. Introduce fun at the office — arm everyone with a Nerf gun!

26. Start a company-wide profit share. That will give everyone the entrepreneurial drive.

27. Volunteer your time and your staff’s time to help a needy cause.

28. Become your own “undercover boss.”

29. Keep a journal and record something you like about entrepreneurship every day.

30. Listen to “Eye of The Tiger” and exercise in a 1970s workout suit…doing windmills.

31. Read Fast Company magazine.

32. Take an accounting class.

33. Listen to an audio version of “Think and Grow Rich.”

34. Watch a video of Henry Ford’s biography.

35. Just know that you are the reason our economy will recover. It is not government, it is not even big business, it is you, the entrepreneur, who makes the economy grow.

36. List all the things you love about your work, and do it at the beginning and end of the day.

37. Have a daily company huddle — a five minute, standing, get charged up meeting.

38. Take a tour of Zappos.

39. Go to Berkshire Hathaway’s annual meeting and listen to Warren Buffett.

40. Read “The Toilet Paper Entrepreneur” (I know… that is self serving… but I promise it will reinvigorate your entrepreneurial drive!).

41. Surf the Harvard Business Review website.

42. Read the story of Gary Erikson’s Clif Bar company (called “Raising The Bar”).

43. Create a mastermind group.

44. Go work for someone else for a day.

This is just a partial list. I could go on and on listing things to reinvigorate your entrepreneurial drive. Do a different one every week or month if you need to, but keep doing them. It took a lot of courage, dedication, and dreaming to get where you are today. Oh, and don’t do #44, that one really stinks!

http://www.bnet.com/blog/smb/44-ways-to-reinvigorate-your-entrepreneurial-drive/4393

Today’s To-Do List: Fire Someone

Want to improve your business? Forget projects and initiatives and renewed focus. Firing your worst employee will accomplish a lot more in a lot less time.

And as a long-term bonus, you’ll realize the way you currently evaluate your employees is largely a waste of effort.

Try it. Pretend you have to fire someone today. Assume you have no choice.

How would you decide whom to let go? Easy methods are seniority (last in, first out), or pay grade (lowest on the totem pole is closest to the axe), or function (sales is an essential function; maintenance less so, at least in the short term.) But the easy way is usually the worst way. For example, your best employee may also be your newest. Can you really afford to let her go?

Another easy way is using performance review data. When I worked at a 250-employee manufacturing facility and layoffs loomed, our HR manager suggested using employee evaluations as a quasi-objective, Equal Employment Opportunity-defensible tool.

Each of the eight managers — including me — pushed back hard. How did we feel? Sure, evaluations are fine for providing employee feedback, but there was no way we could use them to decide whom to let go.

We were right for feeling that way: At least a few of the employees we could least afford to lose had received the worst recent evaluations. Of course we were also wrong for feeling that way, since we had all willingly used an evaluation system that failed to measure real, meaningful performance.

How will you decide who should go? Don’t base your decision on “interpersonal skills” or “teamwork skills” or “attention to detail” or other boilerplate employee evaluation categories that sound great but don’t measure tangible skills and achievements.

Choose the person who least contributes to business success. Use numbers, actions, and accomplishments. Focus on bottom line contributions. A high-maintenance prima donna salesperson may fall short in a number of “standard” evaluation categories, but if he is responsible for a major chunk of revenue you can’t afford to lose him.

So let’s introduce a little scope creep: Do two things today.

First, rank your employees by what they truly contribute to operations and profits. Use that exercise to help you create evaluations that measure what truly matters to your business: Results.

Then, if your lowest-ranked employee is dead weight, don’t wait: Terminate. He or she deserves it.

So does your business.

http://www.bnet.com/blog/small-biz-advice/today-8217s-to-do-list-fire-someone/101

Wealth Is What You Save, Not What You Spend

Want to be a millionaire? Don't overspend and use debt wisely.

We all may not be millionaires but there are plenty of financial and life-planning secrets we can learn from the well-heeled.

Most people know that wealth in the U.S. is in the hands of a small percentage of the total population. And, today, most of those folks with a net worth of $1 million or more have earned it themselves.

They're mostly entrepreneurs who create everything from high-speed networks to garbage haulers. They dig ditches and build houses and grow corn and make jewelry. They deal stamps or coins or artwork and control pests and cut lawns. They also cure people and give them new teeth. Others will defend their neighbors or even feed them.

And they're not big spenders. In fact, most of those with big bucks live well under their means -- think about Warren Buffett still living in that modest Omaha home -- and they put their money instead toward investments that help them stockpile more wealth.

"Wealth is what you accumulate, not what you spend," according to Thomas Stanley and William Danko, the authors of the seminal tome on America's wealthy "The Millionaire Next Door," first published in 1996.

"It is seldom luck or inheritance or advanced degrees or even intelligence that enables people to amass fortunes," the authors wrote. "Wealth is more often the result of a lifestyle of hard work, perseverance, planning, and, most of all, self discipline."

Wealth is defined in many ways, though it's generally determined as the value of everything you own minus debts. But there's a difference between marketable assets -- things you own that could be liquidated rather quickly, like stocks, bonds, real estate -- and possessions like cars, clothing and household items that you use regularly and aren't likely to sell.

Income alone does not make one rich. It helps, of course, to build wealth, but the financially independent look to their salaries as a means to an end, which is that pile of cash.

"The wealthy don't spend their wealth on discretionary purchases," said Pam Danziger, founder of Unity Marketing, a consumer market-research firm specializing in luxury goods and experiences. "They get rich by maximizing the value of their investments."

That doesn't mean they don't pay big bucks for pretty shoes or outfits, but that most choose those items carefully and shop for value and quality. "They truly evaluate the purchase as an investment, not an expense," Danziger said.

What they do though is diversify those investments, which gives them more flexibility to ride out difficult times. "The wealthiest clients have very, very diversified portfolios that go way beyond just stocks and bonds into hedge funds, currencies, commodities and emerging markets," said Leslie Lassiter, managing director of the JPMorgan Private Wealth Management.

"There are many, many mutual funds out there that will allow you to get exposure to those types of asset classes," Lassiter said.

Among the biggest differences between those flush with cash and those wishing they were is in how they pay for things. Millionaires tend to use cash for most of their purchases, including cars, homes and boats.

For the average wage earner, of course, that's not always an option but it still holds this lesson: Don't look to debt to fund your lifestyle.

Most wealthy people use debt for investment purposes and are careful not to over-leverage themselves. "A prudent use of debt is an appropriate thing for anyone," Lassiter said.

They also plan very well and spend a lot of time at it. Many are compulsive savers and investors who often say the journey to riches was far more fun than the reaching the goal.

And they're patient, willing to invest in the long term and wait it out. "They stick with their investments and are more likely to have a financial plan," said Sanjiv Mirchandani, president of National Financial, a subsidiary of Fidelity Investments.

Many take the long-term approach to investing because they're working at being financial independent. When they retire, for example, many will know exactly how much they need to live on, to give away and to leave as a legacy.

"The best ones really understand how much liquidity they need to cover their expenses and make sure they have that much cash on hand," Lassiter said. "That's something the average person should do as well."

At the same time, she said most are very careful about leveraging debt. "The wealthy tend to balance between the two," she said.

Recommendations for accumulating wealth:

Live below your means: People with high incomes who spend all that money are not rich; they're just stupid.

Plan: That means plan for today, tomorrow and 30 years after retirement. Take time doing it too and spend time monitoring it every day. Use budgets and stick to them.

Diversify: As Lassiter said, look for mutual funds that allow you exposure to asset classes that aren't related to each other.

Reduce use of credit and turn to cash: It's easier, of course, for a prosperous person to pay for a house in cash than it might be for most folks, but credit-card debt for luxury purchases or extravagant vacations will never pave a road to riches.

Have access to cash: While the rich keep much of their wealth invested, they can get cash when they need it. "Have some kind of line of credit available, like a HELOC (home-equity line of credit) that you never use," Lassiter said. "It's a safety valve." She suggests a year's worth of cash to cover expenses; Danziger thinks three years worth is a better bet.

Spread cash around: When the wealthy pulled money out of the equities markets two and three years ago, they opened a bevy of bank accounts, all guaranteed up to $250,000 of deposits by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.

Bring your children into the mix, and remember the importance of estate planning: The affluent can go to great lengths to teach their children about money and how to manage it -- something every family should do. Though talking about money with children consistently ranks as one of the most dreaded conversations, it's important that your heirs know where all the bank accounts and safe-deposit boxes are -- even that their names are on them, too -- who the attorney is, where the will and trusts are filed.

Cisco Kills Flip Camera

Flip Camera, your fifteen minutes are up. Just a couple of years ago, it was the VW Bug of Camcorders. I got one. It was so cute, I wanted to hug it. Then Cisco bought Flip's maker, Pure Digital, for $590 million. Sadly for Flip, that 2009 deal is now sooo five minutes ago. Cisco announced this week it will no longer make Flip cameras and is pulling back on its consumer product strategy.

As an aside; the umi Telepresence product line, formerly marketed for the home market at outrageous prices, will now be shifted towards the enterprise market (which has no qualms about paying through the nose for tech goodies).

We'll never know, of course, what would have happened if Pure Digital had stayed pure. Perhaps the Flip would have survived with new features and innovations each product cycle to keep it a few steps ahead of the smartphone.

With Cisco as its distracted parent company, Flip simply flopped. Fewer people are interested in them, when they can point and shoot a quick video on their iPhone or Android and upload it to Facebook or YouTube seamlessly. I admit my Flip rarely leaves the back of my sock drawer these days. I just use my iPhone, instead.

In this brave new world of a bajillion apps, I believe the days of single function gadgets are all but over.

What's our takeaway from all this?

For Cisco: it's a $590 million "oops" and an admission that they need to stick with what they know—the enterprise market.

For the smaller, independent company: it's a cautionary tale. You may want to think twice about who you sell your baby too, if you truly want to see it grow up someday. No one will ever love the product you created more than you!

For the consumer: Cisco, who?

How To Calculate The Weekday For Any Date On The Julian Or Gregorian Calendar

The following formula is used to calculate the weekday for any date on the calendar:

Century + Year + Month + Day = Weekday

Each of the words century, year, month, and day represents a number that is used to offset all of the other numbers in the formula. The sum of the offsets yields a number that represents the weekday.

In order to develop the proper offsets, let us begin with the simplest scenario, the first day of the first month of the first year of this century. January 1, 1900 fell on a Monday.

Since this century is the 1900's, let us make the century offset 0 when Century = 19. In this way, we can ignore the century offset for all dates in this century, and so only need deal with Year + Month + Day.

To continue making January 1, 1900 as simple as possible, let us make the offset 0 when Year is 00 and make the offset 0 when Month is January. Thus:

	Century (19)	+ Year (00)	+ Month (1)	+ Day (1)	= Weekday
Offsets:	0	+ 0	+ 0	+ 1	= Monday

Since the offset for the century, the year, and the month all equal 0 for January 1900, we can forget about them for the present. We therefore only need to deal with the conversion of the day of the month to the weekday.

Day Offset

As the 1st day of this month falls on a Monday, let us assign Monday a value of 1. The 2nd day of the month has a value of 2, and as the day after Monday is Tuesday, we assign Tuesday the value of 2. In like manner, the first seven days of the month have the following values:

Day Offsets

Weekday	Numeric Value
Monday	1
Tuesday	2
Wednesday	3
Thursday	4
Friday	5
Saturday	6
Sunday	7

January 7 falls on day 7, and 7 corresponds to Sunday. On what day does January 8 fall? On any calendar you will notice that the 8th of any month falls on the same day as the 1st of the month, which falls on the same day as the 15th, the 22nd, and the 29th of the month. Therefore, if we subtract one week (7 days) from the January 8, we have January 1, which we know is a Monday. January 8 is therefore a Monday.

This process of subtracting weeks from the 8th, 15th, 22nd, 29th etc. to achieve a number equal to or less than 7 is called modulo ("mod," for short). The word modulo is usually represented in computer languages as %. To find a number such as 20 % 7, divide 20 by 7, and keep only the remainder. 20 / 7 = 2 remainder 6. 20 % 7 = 6. The 20th falls on the same weekday as the 6th.

(Please note that multiplication, which is usually indicated by an x in mathematics, as in 3 x 2 = 6, is usually indicated by an * in computer languages, as in 3 * 2 = 6. Multiplication will be indicated by an * here.)

January 28 falls on 28 % 7 = 0. Which day of the week corresponds to 0? Sunday. We assigned Sunday a value of 7, but 7 % 7 = 0, and so we will modify the weekday values as follows:

Day Offsets

Weekday	Numeric Value
Sunday	0
Monday	1
Tuesday	2
Wednesday	3
Thursday	4
Friday	5
Saturday	6

We can now calculate the weekday for any date in January. Let us now calculate the month offsets.

Month Offset

January is the first month, and so we assigned January an offset of 0. January has 31 days. January 31 falls on 31 % 7 = 3 = Wednesday. Whenever January 1 falls on a Monday, February 1 falls on a Thursday, 3 days later. The February offset equals 0 (January offset) plus 31%7 = 3 (number of days in January). 0 + 3 = 3. Thus, for example, February 2 would fall on 3 (February offset) + 2 (Day offset) = 5 (Friday).

February has 28 days (in a non leap year). 28 % 7 = 0. February 28 falls on 3 (February offset) + 0 (28 % 7) = 3 = Wednesday. Whenever February 1 falls on a Thursday, March 1 also falls on a Thursday, in a non leap year. The March offset equals 3 (February offset) plus 28%7 = 0 (number of days in February). 3 + 0 = 3. Thus, for example, March 12 would fall on 3 (March offset) + 12 (Day offset) = 15 % 7 = 1 (Monday).

Month Offsets

Month	Offset	Days	Days % 7	Add to next month's offset
January	0	31	3	+3
February	3 (0+3)	28	0	+0
March	3 (3+0)	31	3	+3
April	6 (3+3)	30	2	+2
May	1 (6+2=8,%7)	31	3	+3
June	4 (1+3)	30	2	+2
July	6 (4+2)	31	3	+3
August	2 (6+3=9, %7)	31	3	+3
September	5 (2+3)	30	2	+2
October	0 (5+2=7, %7)	31	3	+3
November	3 (0+3)	30	2	+2
December	5 (3+2)	31	3	+3

The month offsets, which can easily be remembered to enable quick calculation of the weekday, are as follows:

Month Offsets

Month	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
Offset	0	3	3	6	1	4	6	2	5	0	3	5

Year Offset

The month offset for December is 5. December has 31 days. 31%7=3. 5 (December offset) + 3 (number of days in December) = 8. 8%7=1. January, the month after December, has an offset of 1. Thus, if January 1 of one year falls on a Monday, and if it is not a leap year, then January 1 of the following year will fall on 365 % 7 = 1 (new year offset) + 0 (January offset) + 1 (Day offset) = 2 (Tuesday).

Each year begins 1 day later in the week than the previous year, if the previous year is a non-leap year. The year 00, as in 1900, was previously assigned a year offset of 0. The year 1 would therefore have a year offset of 1. The year 2 would have a year offset of 2. The year 3 would have a year offset of 3. The year 4 begins with a year offset of 4. However, in a leap year February has 29 days. We accommodate this by adding 1 to the year offset in leap years. When calculating the weekday for a date in January or February of a leap year, we must subtract 1 from the year offset, as the leap day has not arrived yet. As every 4th year is a leap year, the year offset can be quickly calculated as Year + Year/4. (Remember that a year that ends in 00 is not a leap year in the Gregorian calendar unless it is also a multiple of 400.)

Year Offsets

Years	Offset
6, 17, 23, 28, 34, 45, 51, 56, 62, 73, 79, 84, 90	0
1, 7, 12, 18, 29, 35, 40, 46, 57, 63, 68, 74, 85, 91, 96	1
2, 13, 19, 24, 30, 41, 47, 52, 58, 69, 75, 80, 86, 97	2
3, 8, 14, 25, 31, 36, 42, 53, 59, 64, 70, 81, 87, 92, 98	3
9, 15, 20, 26, 37, 43, 48, 54, 65, 71, 76, 82, 93, 99	4
4, 10, 21, 27, 32, 38, 49, 55, 60, 66, 77, 83, 88, 94	5
5, 11, 16, 22, 33, 39, 44, 50, 61, 67, 72, 78, 89, 95	6

Now, for some examples:

January 1, 1999:

Century offset:	0 for 1900's
Year offset:	99 + 99/4 = 99 + 24 = 123. 123%7 = 4
Month offset:	0 for January
Day offset:	1
Weekday:	0 + 4 + 0 + 1 = 5 = Friday

January 1, 1999 fell on a Friday.

February 14, 1920

Century offset:	0
Year offset:	20 + 20/4 -1 (this is a leap year, and leap day has not arrived yet)
	20 + 5 - 1 = 24. 24%7 = 3.
Month offset:	3
Day offset:	14. 14%7 = 0
Weekday:	0 + 3 + 3 + 0 = 6 = Saturday

February 14, 1920 fell on a Saturday.

Century Offset (for the Gregorian Calendar)

Each century has 100 years. 100 years has a total year offset of 100 + 100/4 = 125. 125%7 = 6. This calculation assumes 25 leap years in a century which, on the Gregorian calendar, is only true for centuries that are multiples of 400; i.e., 400, 800, 1200, 1600, 2000, etc.

Thus, since 1900 has a century offset of 0, 2000 has a century offset of 6, and so begins one day earlier.

Because the other 3 centuries out of every 4 do not have 25 leap years (the year 00 is not a leap year), they each have a total relative year offset of 124%7 = 5.

1900 has a century offset of 0 (by our definition).
2000 has a century offset of 0 + 6 = 6 (0 + 125%7).
2100 has a century offset of 0 + 6 + 5 = 11 % 7 = 4 (0 + 6 + 124%7).
2200 has a century offset of 0 + 6 + 5 + 5 = 16 % 7 = 2 (0 + 6 + 5 + 124%7).

The cycle is thus 0, 6, 4, 2, and it repeats every 400 years.

Gregorian Century Offsets

Century	Offset
300, 700, 1100, 1500,1900, etc.	0
400, 800, 1200, 1600, 2000, etc.	6
100, 500, 900, 1300, 1700, etc.	4
200, 600, 1000, 1400, 1800, etc.	2

A shortcut to calculate the century offset for the Gregorian calendar is ((39 - Century) % 4) * 2. For example, the century offset for the 1200's would be ((39 - 12) % 4) * 2 = (27 % 4) * 2 = 3 * 2 = 6. The reason that 39 was selected here is that this calendar is valid only until the 3900s, and therefore 39 was selected as the next highest multiple of 4 (40) minus 1.

The quickest way to determine the century offset for any given century is to find the next highest multiple of 4, subtract 1, subtract the desired century, and multiply the result by 2. For example, to find the century offset for the 1900s, the next highest multiple of 4 beyond 19 is 20. ((20 - 1) - 19) * 2 = 0, and 0 is the century offset for the 1900s. To find the century offset for the 2000s, the next highest multiple of 4 beyond 20 is 24. ((24 - 1) - 20) * 2 = 6. To find the century offset for the 7400s, the next highest multiple of 4 beyond 74 is 76. ((76 - 1) - 74) * 2 = 2.

We now have all of the information required to calculate any date on the Gregorian calendar. We can do it quickly in our head or on a piece of paper if we can remember the 12 month offsets.

Examples of dates on the Gregorian calendar

July 4, 1776:

Century offset:	((20-1)-17)*2 = 4
Year offset:	76 + 76/4 = 76 + 19 = 95. 95%7 = 4
Month offset:	6 for July
Day offset:	4
Weekday:	4 + 4 + 6 + 4 = 18. 18 % 7 = 4 = Thursday

July 4, 1776 fell on a Thursday (on the Gregorian calendar).

February 14, 2020:

Century offset:	(((24-1)-20)*2 = 6
Year offset:	20 + 20/4 = 20 + 5 = 25. 25%7 = 4
	(Subtract 1 because Jan/Feb of a leap year) 4 - 1 = 3
Month offset:	3 for February
Day offset:	14. 14 % 7 = 0
Weekday:	6 + 3 + 3 + 0 = 12. 12 % 7 = 5 = Friday

February 14, 2020 will fall on a Friday (on the Gregorian calendar).

Century Offset (for the Julian Calendar)

To calculate dates on the Julian calendar is very similar to calculating dates for the Gregorian calendar. There are two differences. One is that the year 00 is always a leap year. Therefore, the years 1700, 1800, and 1900 are leap years.

The other difference is that each century has a total of 100 years and 100/4 = 25 leap years. The relative century offset for the Julian calendar is always +6, as 125%7 = 6.

For the Julian calendar, each century begins 1 day earlier then the previous century, with no exception every 4th century as for the Gregorian calendar.

For the Julian calendar, the 1900s have a century offset of 6. The 1800s had an offset of 0. The 1700s had an offset of 1. And so on.

From this trend two facts can be noted. One is that as the century increases, the century offset decreases. The other is that as the 1800s have an offset of 0, and as 18%7 = 4, 3 must be added to the century to make 4+3 = 7 and 7%7 = 0.

Therefore, a quick method of calculating the century offset for the Julian calendar is to add 3 to the century and take the mod 7 (these two steps align the number with 0), and then subtract the result from 7 (to make the offset decrease as the century increases); i.e., 7 - (Century + 3) % 7.

Thus, the 1900s have a century offset of 7- (19+3) % 7 = 7 - 1 = 6. The 1800s have a century offset of 7 - (18+3) % 7 = 7 - 0 = 7, and 7%7 = 0. The 1000s have a century of 7 - (10+3) % 7 = 7 - 6 = 1.

The cycle is thus 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, 0, and it repeats every 700 years.

Julian Century Offsets

Century	Offset
500, 1200, 1900, etc.	6
600, 1300, 2000, etc.	5
00, 700, 1400, etc.	4
100, 800, 1500, etc.	3
200, 900, 1600, etc.	2
300, 1000, 1700, etc.	1
400, 1100, 1800, etc.	0

We now have all of the information required to calculate any date on the Julian calendar. We can do it quickly in our head or on a piece of paper if we can remember the 12 month offsets.

Examples of dates on the Julian calendar

July 4, 1776:

Century offset:	7 - (17 + 3) % 7 = 1
Year offset:	76 + 76/4 = 76 + 19 = 95. 95%7 = 4
Month offset:	6 for July
Day offset:	4
Weekday:	1 + 4 + 6 + 4 = 15. 15 % 7 = 1 = Monday

July 4, 1776 fell on a Monday (on the Julian calendar).

February 14, 2020:

Century offset:	7 - (20 + 3) % 7 = 5
Year offset:	20 + 20/4 = 20 + 5 = 25. 25%7 = 4
	(Subtract 1 because Jan/Feb of a leap year) 4 - 1 = 3
Month offset:	3 for February
Day offset:	14. 14 % 7 = 0
Weekday:	5 + 3 + 3 + 0 = 11. 11 % 7 = 4 = Thursday

February 14, 2020 will fall on a Thursday (on the Julian calendar.)

Conclusion

The algorithm for calculating the dates on the calendar is surprisingly simple. It is so simple that with minimum practice, and memorizing the 12 month offsets, it can be done in the head or on paper.

The algorithm is also very simple for a computer to calculate, as is demonstrated by this calendar program.

http://5dspace-time.org/Calendar/Algorithm.html