WSJ:Young Entreprenuers Face Bigger Challenges

Interesting advice I found on the net that may help if you are trying to get your business together...via Evan Carmichael Youngentrepreneur.com

The Wall Street Journal put out a story recently on how young entrepreneurs face greater challenges than their older counterparts when they are starting a new business.

The article mentions that with the success of YouTube and other dot come ventures, young entrepreneurs are flocking to get their own companies started but they are strapped for cash and often don’t have the financial stamina to succeed. According to one young entrepreneur they interviewed, “the most difficult challenge is convincing people that you’re savvy enough to do something even at a young age.”

They offer five suggestions for how young entrepreneurs can successfully pitch investors, partners, and customers to get them to believe in your idea and give you the money you need to succeed.

1. Be persistent - “Persistence does work,” says Ms. Darrah, 28, co-founder of Treesje, a handbag and accessory company in Los Angeles. “We wanted to be in Bloomingdales since the very beginning, but got the brush off for the first two years of business. They finally got back with us last year, and now our bags are in Bloomingdales.”

2. Partner up - For young entrepreneurs with no track record of success, the right connection can mean the difference between being in business or not. Unfortunately, most young entrepreneurs lack these all-important relationships. It can help to find a partner that does.

3. Hire the connections - If a partner isn’t readily available, another option is to hire a professional that does. A business consultant, marketing expert or publicist can bring a Rolodex of contacts that a young entrepreneur might not have.

4. Stand out from the crowd - “I think the main problem was getting people to take me seriously since I was so young when I started,” says Tina Wells, who started Buzz Marketing Group, a youth-focused marketing-services company, at the age of 16. “Be willing to take risks in your work,” she says. “For instance, Buzz Marketing published a report that said that college students did not think downloading was illegal, and they were not going to stop. This got a lot of attention for us.”

5. Launch it anyway - “If you’re young and have a great idea for a company or product, you probably won’t get far in pitching an idea that is just on paper to a large company or investor,” says Carlos Barrionuevo, director of business development at NPR (National Public Radio). “Set a vision for what it could be, and do as much as you can on your own. Demonstrate some amount of success. Even if it’s in a small way, others can see where it’s going.”

What have you done to convince investors, partners, or customers to believe in you despite not having a track record behind you?

Evan Carmichael

Inc.Com: 26 Most Fascinating Entrpreneurs

Inc.com has a list of their 26 most fascinating entrepreneurs


# 16 is Warren Brown, Cake Love and Love Cafe
because only in America will someone quit a secure job as a lawyer to start a bakery


Four years ago, Warren Brown walked away from a job as a federal litigator to bake cakes. It all started on New Year's 1999 when Brown, an able cook, resolved to become an expert baker as well. After work, he began to whip up cakes. He found that baking provided release from the workaday stress.

Soon Brown fell into the habit of throwing dessert parties -- "Friends were jumping on the bed," they were so happy, he recalls. Their joy combined with his job dissatisfaction led Brown to take a leave of absence in 2000. He wanted to see if he could support himself as a baker. He subleased a small commercial kitchen and found customers mostly by word of mouth. This went well enough that he moved into a 600-square-foot storefront that he christened Cake Love. He funded the business with credit cards and then a $125,000 loan backed by the Small Business Administration. When Brown officially left his day job, Emily McCarthy, Brown's friend since college, says she wasn't shocked but did think it was brave. continue reading at inc.com

Guess who was #1

1. Martha Stewart, Martha Stewart Omnimedia
   because she took one for the team

haha!!

Game Behind The Game

A clip of 21st Century Hustle Magazine's Ali Muhammad (Me) responding to questions on the Game Behind the Game Tour sponsored by Boost Mobile. The tour went to 10 HBCU's helping students to understand how to build alternative careers in media and entertainment.
Check me out talking on topics like:Determining your worth and Working for Free?!?

Education and the Entrepreneur

I got this comment from yesterday's post, Are Entrepreneurs Born or Made, regarding comments Barbara Corcoran made on the show The Millionaire Inside. I was going to respond on the comments page but since I get this same concern all of the time, about interviews in our magazine and on this blog, I decided it needed its own post.

Ronald said:

Seems like a neat show.

And what Barbara states, I believe it's true, yes... But I think it'll be taken way out of context by many viewers.

The way schools are run have problems, but that doesn't justify or glorify bad grades, which ultimately many listeners will do.

I Say:
We get a lot a of readers that get uncomfortable when someone has a problem with the school system.

I think Barbara is speaking from her own bad grade experience. She had problems working within that system. For me, I was good in the system but I realized that the system didn't align with what I saw in real life.

For the readers: School is important, but paying attention to Real Life and your Own Instincts is just as important. To add to what Barbara was saying: We are trained to listen to cues from an authority(Teacher, Boss, Newscaster, Journalist, etc). They tell us whats hot, what's not, what to be afraid of, what works, etc.

When you are out here on your own there are no assigned teachers, but there is a test everyday. You have to find the teachers, and filter all of what you hear and see through real experience. The people who are most in tuned with that process will be more equipped to operate in a free wheeling environment.

How do you feel about Education and the Entrepreneur? Is school needed?

leave comment or send email to 21hsutle@gmail.com

Lights, Camera, Action:The Kenny Burns Experience

"No matter where he worked, he was always Vice President...
Vice President of what exactly? I don't know..."
-Kanye West on Kenny Burns





If you don't know Kenny, I'll let you know one thing..."Aint no shame in his Game." He's the guy that is going for it ALL at ALL times. In a way, he approaches his business like Kanye approaches his entertainment--"You can't tell him nothing!" Hailing from the Sean Combs school of entertainment business, Kb is a hybrid (executive + entrepreneur + quasi-celebrity).

Yet at the core, he is the cat that is taking his dreams in his own hands and putting himself in position to make them happen. When I first encountered KB I was thinking to myself "is the camera on somewhere?" Then I realized that the Kenny Burns Show didn't need any camera's. All it needed was an audience. Whether it is an audience of 1 or 1,000, the "Show" rolled on,
and over time I got to see how the plot played out.

Jobs (VP RocA Fella,VP Monarc, )+ Businesses(2620,Ryan Kenny, Studio 43), + Consultation(Axe,Timberland, Heineken) + Resources=$$$ for Kenny and Plenty of others.


www.thekennyburnsshow.com

Go Get it Nation:Fortune Small Business Article

(FSB Magazine) -- Today entrepreneurs are America's role models. Almost everyone wants to own a business - from teens and college students, who are signing up for entrepreneurial courses in record numbers; to those over age 65, who are forming more companies every year;to recent immigrants, who in 2005 started 25% more companies per capita than native-born citizens did.

We are in the midst of the largest entrepreneurial surge this country has ever seen. According to Small Business Administration projections, nearly 672,000 new companies with employees were created in 2005. That is the biggest business birthrate in U.S. history: 30,000 more startups than in 2004, and 12% more than at the height of dot-com hysteria in 1996.

Read more

We know what's going on! people want in on the freedom train. Heads are tired of working all of their lives and having nothing but bills. The 21st century go getters are going after the dream....

American Dreamer: Ephren Taylor

Ephren Taylor CEO City Capital Corporation being featured on The American Dream on Fox News 31 Denver, CO. Ephren Taylor is the youngest African American CEO of a publicly traded company City Capital (Stock Symbol CCCN

Name: Ephren
Age: 24

At twenty-four, Ephren Taylor has had more business success then most people have in a lifetime. Already a history maker, Taylor is the youngest African-American CEO of a publicly traded company, City Capital Corporations; a business development firm focusing on making loans and equity investments in developing business enterprises. He owns three other companies and his empire oversees over $100 million in assets and growing. In his executive role Ephren utilizes an innovative model to raise capital and enhance client's ability to develop and manage wealth.

Check Ephren's Blog

Welcome to the Global Grind Culture

Welcome official blog for the Global Grind Culture(That is Go Getters around the globe doing what they do to make their living and live their life). Our mission is bring you content that will inspire you to follow your heart to the life you always wanted-Simple as that.

We also have a magazine that comes out 4-times a year-- 21st Century Hustle. Check that out if you can.(They sell out pretty quickly) I mean we’ve only put out one so far, and ‘it” sold out pretty quickly. The Mag is like the National Geographic of people on the grind. Since we’ve been out it has been a really amazing time.

It’s like a two-way discovery---the people discovering our magazine on the newsstand and us discovering them. The most beautiful thing in the world is to have your work received as you designed it. From the responses that we’ve gotten we are on the right path. The ones who were supposed to love it loved it and those who were supposed to hate-- hated [on] it. No in-between, just the way I like it. Go hard or Go home!!