Saturday, April 22, 2006

Old Skool

A friend of a friend started this website called oldversion.com. It contains downloads for many old applications including original AIM, Skype, realplayer and many more. It is definitely a great idea and the guy is making a nice little allowance off of it. I would recommend a quick look!

Wednesday, April 19, 2006

Conversation with Dan Marques

Last week I had the chance to sit down with Dan Marques and get a better understanding of his approach to blogging and entrepreneurship. After observing many entrepreneurs, it seems to me there is a spectrum from those who wish to do whatever they can to make the most cash and those who want to truly innovate and offer something completely new to society. I asked Dan where he felt his own motivations are. He commented on how his goal is not to come up with money making schemes nor try to invent the cure for cancer but rather focus on developing innovative systems for his entrepreneurial ventures. Undergoing the development of multiple businesses through Invenio, Dan continues to shape systems that will allow him to simply press start and have all the necessary pieces in place.

I agree that system development allows entrepreneurs to maximize both their time and success rate. Currently, my biggest hindrance is probably researching potential business ideas. Hopefully I can develop some sort of system of research that can allow me to understand a market without having to spend weeks researching. Of course, this type of approach would be used for smaller scale ventures where extensive and scientific research would not be required.

"Marketing is the fuel that drives the business engine"
Dan Marques

I thought Dan's quote was pretty good!

Friday, April 14, 2006

Building Relationships

Yesterday, I attended Boston University's Net Impact Case Competition, and was able to meet and listen to the key note speaker, Mike Sears. Mr. Sears is the former CFO of Boeing, a little company that builds toy-planes, and I was really inspired by the emphasis on relationship building that he had in his speech. The general purpose of the speech was addressing ethics, however his focus on developing a relationship with all those involved in your business, reminds me that you cannot focus on making money first.

This applies perfectly to my DJ Business Liquid Point Entertainment. In a service business, building the customer relationship must come first, considering the customer has usually no tangible evidence of the quality of my service. Once I establish a relationship with my client, they place trust in me and in my services, which of course in the end leads to profits!

"If you build it (relationships), they will come (money)!"

Wednesday, April 12, 2006

Blogging is Investing

Lately I have been trudging through all of the resources available to new bloggers. One interesting article I came across compares blogging to investing. Written by "Mr Snitch," it focuses on identifying seven different styles of blogging which match up with seven different styles of investing. It is an interesting analogy and something very useful for all you trade-bloggers out there!

Path O' Blogging

Today I began my adventure in the blogging world a bit more in detail. I have been searching through google, blogger and all sorts of other links to help me find ways to get this blog up-to-date with feeds, links, format, adsense and all those goodies. One of the best resources so far has been good old Biz Stone at Blogger. He has pretty helpful hints for someone just getting into the blogging world like myself!

Resources for Young Entrepreneurs

A while back I contacted Scott Allen, a contributing writer at the about.com entrepreneurial resource center. Here is a brief bio:

Scott Allen is a 20-year veteran technology entrepreneur, executive, and consultant. He now writes, speaks, and trains individuals and organizations on building better business relationships on the Internet using online communities, social networking sites, blogs, mailing lists, discussion forums, and more. He is co-author of The Virtual Handshake: Opening Doors and Closing Deals Online and a contributing author to Blog!: Blog! How the Newest Media Revolution is Changing Politics, Business and Culture.

Experience:

Scott started his own software company while still in college. He has operated a retail CD store and several online ventures; been a senior manager with two startups; and spearheaded new lines of business with two other entrepreneurial firms. He has managed software developers, database administrators and architects, sales engineers, and consultants, implementing solutions for clients such as IBM and Amazon. In his last corporate role, he served as VP of Services and VP of Product Management for tech startup Mongoose Technology.

I asked his advice for potential resources a young entrepreneur could turn to. He actually made a post at about.com and threw me a little publicity, unfortunately only my college was mentioned! Check it out at Resources for Young Entrepreneurs.

Monday, April 10, 2006

Networks

Lately, I have been attempting to catch up on all of the interesting blogs out there. I just finished Michael Simmon's blog and now I am working on CollegeStartUp. The College Start Up link in particular, focuses on blog networks. It's something I definitely want to look more into along with creating networks outside of the internet for innovative collaboration. In my last post I talked about leveraging groups and networks to help enforce deliverables. The age-old advice of surrounding yourself with the right people is so amazingly accurate in terms of entrepreneurship.

I know these first few posts have been more on what I hope to research as opposed to what I actually have researched. However, some of the topics that I will cover for the future are:

Creating an Effective Elevator Pitch
Managing your Goals Vs. Your Tasks

Creating and Enforcing Personal Deliverables

Friday, April 07, 2006

It's all about Deliverables

It doesn't take too much to get me motivated towards entrepreneurship. Whether its building my business or building my skills, I just read a blog or two, read over a success story and then BAM, blood is flowing and I am on the move. Sometimes, however, I am too on the move and running a thousand different directions at once. So, how can I focus myself and my energy into actually producing results?

Deliverables, by holding myself up to certain deadlines I will force my energy into producing the necessary item. The only problem I am trying to figure out now is how do I enforce these deliverables. I feel like I am probably not as hard on myself as I should be, when it comes to setting and fulfilling requirements.

The method that seems to me to be the most successful is really sharing your journey and vision with others, thus, when you tell them you will produce, you better show it! I have been thinking of how I can bring others into even the smallest goals I would like to complete. Perhaps it is unnecessary to do so, but it is something to think about.

Wednesday, April 05, 2006

Bookmark Bonanza!!

My bookmarks have been overwhelming me! I checked and I have 273 sites bookmarked and only half of them organized. I can't even use the drop-down menu, there are so many! Anyway, I did a search on google and found a pretty good site that can help you manage your favorite links! It's called Netvouz and is very easy to use and allows you to import your existing list! Highly recommended!

Blogging Genesis

Dear World,

I have finally made the leap to the realm of blogging. It is something that I have been wanting to do since I have arrived here at Babson College, during the fall months of 2005. I imagine I should share a bit about myself and the reason I have chosen to create this blog...

Me:

I came to Babson College because I knew that entrepreneurship was the only way I would live a fulfilling life. It's funny how motivated I am to become an entrepreneur since there was no history of either business or entrepreneurship in my family. It seemed to have come out of nowhere and turned into a passion that I am thrilled to pursue. I am a freshman at Babson this year and came from central Massachusetts.

My Plan:

I feel that entrepreneurship is not simply about working your ass off simply making a ton of money for yourself. (although that really aint half bad!). I honestly feel that it is a way of thinking and living that thrives off of innovation, productivity, analysis, planning and passion. I hope to delve deeper into entrepreneurship beginning with my time here at Babson and the amazing people that I hope to meet.

Metapreneurship:

As far as I know metapreneurship is not a term that is in use today, however I plan to make it known around the world. Meta, as in metaphysics or metacognition, is the "theoretical consideration of a subjects foundations and methods" (wikipedia). I hope to explore entrepreneurship and its foundations and methods to see how it can be a lifestyle rather than just a means of making money.

I have met many very passionate people who feel the same way I do. Other young entrepreneurs who thrive off of the same core beliefs and who believe that entrepreneurship is a lifestyle. My goal of this blog is to talk about everything relevant to entrepreneurship and to communicate the meaning of metapreneurship.