Why Some Companies Make the Leap…And Others Don’t,

Amazon

Purple Cow: Transform Your Business by Being Remarkable is a book by Seth Godin

This Book has been recommended to me by almost every single entrepreneur I have met up to date, I might aswell give it a try.

Purple Cow

“The best way to predict your future is to create it.” – Abraham Lincoln

“Every adversity, every failure, every heartache carries with it the seed on an equal or greater benefit.” – Napoleon Hill

The shockwave that’s been hitting the world economy demands that entrepreneurs react, and react differently than they have in the past. Unfortunately, the pathways toward effective action aren’t always clear. There’s no one set of rules to follow during turbulent times that say “This is the best way to go.”

Naturally, most executives worry more about sinking the boat than missing the boat, which is why so many organizations, even in flush times, are so cautious and conservative. You don’t have to be as bold as Kellogg or as daring as Steve Jobs. But don’t use the long shadow of the economic crisis as an excuse to downsize your dreams or stop taking chances.

The challenge for leaders in every field is weather to let fear dictate your attitude and actions. Are their opportunities during a recession? There are always opportunities. The question is where are they? What sort of changes will I have to make to take advantage of these opportunities? Just remember, someone is always makes money during a recession so grasp a clear-sighted confidence about the future, develop a plan and commitment how you’ll address the challenges that come.

We have to look at a recession as an opportunity to regroup, rethink, repair, rework, renew and recommit to being at your best for your company. It starts with attitude and it is translated in action in relationships and in future development plans.

Successful leaders possess:

An ability to see things as they can be and not as they are.

Leaders understand the importance of seeing the big picture and what can be accomplished with a little bit of hard work and smart work. By focusing on things as they can be and not as they are leaders make decisions that move their business forward and can be examples for their business partners.

The ability to stay upbeat even when those around them are not. Have you ever been around somebody who is always positive? These are the types of people that are fun to be around!

Leaders stay upbeat and put out positive thoughts which attract people to them. They take the glass is half full approach to everything they do.

A few Top Leadership Traits:

• Continuous Development – Smart people have always sought out useful leadership books and learning material that will help them along the path to happiness and leadership. Most these days tend to be rather disappointing, but one brilliant idea that has recently captured my attention is “Developing the leader within you by John Maxwell (in fact read all his books on leadership and team work, you can never go wrong with John Maxwell). A perfect complement to this is “The Ultimate Leadership Guide” which contains all the core teachings of 30 top leadership books, which is simply an essential ‘crash course’ in the principles you need to know to further your career and even find happiness in other areas of your life!

• Fairness/Equity – Fairness is one of the key criteria by which employees measure their superiors. Fairness is one of Herzberg’s ‘hygiene’ factors from his popular leadership theory. This means that if you are fair, employees will not be inherently motivated, but merely content. Very little upside if you possess this trait but large potential negative effects on motivation if you lack it.

• Adaptability and Flexibility – A clear fact in life is that many things you enjoy will change, and many things you despise will quickly improve. As a leader, you must be able to cope with negative change, and also be able to quickly grab opportunities as soon as they appear. Less hesitation and more asking the question “Ok, so how can I make the best of this situation”.

• Human Understanding – A leader that can understand their employees and really be able to emphasis with the workforce or team as a whole will ultimately be a far more effective leader. Only by being able to put yourself in the shoes of your employees will you be able to make decisions that will enthuse and motivate your staff.

• Charisma – The skill of oratory has been perfectly demonstrated recently by Barrack Obama’s surge in popularity en route to the white house and his continued popularity now that he has gained office. The ability to speak confidently and with meaning is a rare one, and carries much merit for those few who possess it. Increased influence and persuasion is just one of the positive benefits of being a leader with charisma.

• Ability to Listen – The fantastic leaders thorough history were also good listeners. Drawing upon the expertise and ideas of all those around you will improve your decision making. It follows that leaders who listen well simply make better decisions.

• Confidence – Confidence flows through a team just like cheerfulness or a hardworking attitude. If the leader shows hesitation, self-doubt, or a lack of ambition, it will infect the rest of the team. Enthusiastically following an unconfident will really test employee’s attitude, and this is something you don’t want to be doing. You want to make it as easy as possible for people to enthusiastically follow your lead.

• Consistency – This is a similar point to fairness. If you fail to be consistent with your attitude, decisions or behaviour, you will be causing unrest in your team.

• Passion and Motivation – It goes without saying that a leadership trait that will be admired is your passion for what you do. Whatever your role, people will respect the fact that you take pride in your work, you enjoy it, and that you will therefore try your hardest to succeed. Passion and motivation will always trump formal leadership training or leadership coaching.

• Trustworthiness - Ethics and trust has to come right at the top of the most important leadership traits for one simple reason. Nobody will obey, follow, or be inspired by someone they distrust. A good reputation, likeability and respect will be absolutely impossible if you’re labelled as a liar. Regardless of their own mal-practises, people will never be able to associate with an untrustworthy character.

A simple definition of leadership is that leadership is the art of motivating a group of people to act towards achieving a common goal.

• Leadership is so important to business and indeed life as a whole that we are dedicating one whole day to learning High Performance leadership from leadership guru Brian Tracy at ILSG2010 (Innovation, Leadership, Sales and Growth in 2010), the recession is the best time for great leaders to emerge.

The economy will continue to grow as a problem and opportunity and there are risks that both innovation and the economy will suffer as companies engage in belt-tightening and concentrate on survival.

The current recession has had a severe impact on businesses in all sectors. You might think that this means that new ideas and inventions are falling by the wayside as everyone focuses on their core activities.

However, even when times are tough, creativity doesn’t stop – in fact, probably the opposite. Look at some of the great companies that were founded during a time of recession – IBM, Apple and Microsoft are a few examples – and you quickly realise that hard times can stimulate innovation.

Frequently, difficult times force people to make choices. For example, someone may lose their job and decide that they’re finally going to develop the business idea they’ve always thought about, but never had time to get off the ground.

I believe that good inventions will always win through, regardless of the economic climate. Open Innovation offers inventors an effective route to market in these difficult times and, when handled correctly, provides a win-win solution for both the innovator and the organisation sourcing ideas.

Here are the 3 worst mistakes you can make in a recession that will hurt innovation:

Fire talent. Cutting back on people, especially really smart, high-priced people, is a quick Way to cut costs but talent is the single most important variable in innovation.

Reduce Risk. Innovation requires taking chances and dealing with failure. Recessions push managers to be more conservative. They need to fight this instinct.

Retreat into Walled Castles. Cutting back on outside consultancies is seen as a quick way to save money. Yet one of the key ways of introducing change into business culture is to bring in outside innovation and design consultants.

• Winners always emerge out of recessions and they almost always beat their competition on the basis of something new. Apple worked on iTunes, iPod and its retail stores during the last recession and came out swinging once growth returned to destroy its competition. Apple didn’t make any of the top innovation mistakes.

I had to put this video up, it shows that more than anything innovation requires being daring, confident and fearless.

Boosting and focusing investment in innovation in areas where the UK has strength and potential future competitive advantage must be a key element of Government action during the downturn to ensure a successful recovery.

We want to make sure that Britain is the best place in the world to run an innovative business or service – this is critical to the UK’s future prosperity, our quality of life and future job prospects.

Innovation is hard to grasp, companies take different approaches to creating innovation and developing it into profitable products but Innovation will help determine how quickly companies can recover once the upturn gets under way.

While the results of innovation are often highly celebrated as in the case of Apple, Microsoft, IBM, very little is done to teach the innovative mindset in a practical manner, ILSG2010 (Innovation, Leadership, Sales and Growth in 2010) is the best opportunity to learn exactly how to be innovative,

• If you own a business and most of your income relies on selling products or services, you are no doubt in panic mode right now since very few sectors are truly “recession proof”, as the popular sales term of today implies.
• Some marketing experts say that financial hard times are one of the best periods to take your business to the next level. While one’s initial response to a deep recession may be to cut spending on advertising, in fact it may be better to increase spending and get more creative. It is also crucial to keep developing and innovating, since it will be harder to make that sale than it was during times of economic prosperity.
• The world does not stop because there is a recession, it keeps on moving, and you want to be in the best possible position increase revenue when the clouds finally do dissipate. The most successful business people know this, and they are the ones to emerge even stronger after the smoke clears and things are back to “normal” again.
• True, it may take us a lot longer than we’d like to get back to that place of prosperity but when we do there will be some sweet rewards for those who not only hung on, but also kept innovating, developing, advertising and selling through it all.
• One of the best ways to drum up more business, whether you are in a service business or good business, is to aggressively advertise specials or discounts. If you don’t have the funds to go for the more expensive advertising avenues, then get creative and think of ways to advertise and get the word out for free or for an exchange of services.
• At ILSG2010 (Innovation, Leadership, SALES and Growth in 2010) you will see a whole day dedicated to High performance selling tough markets. It will give practical and proven techniques to improve sales in the recession. Our Keynote speaker is world renowned Sales guru Brian Tracy.

• The recession is call to regroup and go back to the basics of business, one of which is sales and mastering sales in a recession will mean greater profits in the boom, which will inevitably return as the economy is cyclical in nature.

Having lived and worked in countries ranging from Haiti to El Salvador to New Zealand, Kyle, barley & birch’s founder, found herself wanting to continue to help the many organizations that she had worked with, all of which were working hard to improve their communities.

After earning her degree in environmental science, Kyle then also found herself wishing that the “organic” clothing that she was purchasing for the children of friends and family was a little cuter and a lot more environmentally and socially responsible. The solution soon became obvious: Kyle needed to create her own line, holding it to the highest social and environmental standards, and give the profits to organizations working to improve the lives of people all over the world.

How you doing Kyle, thanks for taking time to be with us on YHP

It’s my pleasure! Thank you for the opportunity!

Were you always a business person? What inspired you to start up your business?

No, I definitely wasn’t. My degrees are is philosophy and environmental science and I had only taken one course in economics! I was inspired to start the business after some scientific research into several different children’s products. I found that many of then, including children’s apparel, could be a lot better for the environment, the people making the clothing, and for the little ones wearing it! So I was determined to create a company with high standards across the board.

What were you doing before you start up your company?

I was in college. I started my company during my gap year between undergraduate studies and law school, which is what I am doing now.

I mean you’re still studying, and it’s law, and i know law students spend a lot of time reading, how do you cope, how do you balance your time?

It’s very difficult, because they both have highs and lows in terms of workload. When both are at a high, I just don’t sleep. Even when both are at a low, I am still swamped at all times, but I am just able to go to bed like a normal person.

Essentially, I am never done working. I am always frantically catching up doing something.

How did you finance your company?

I obtained a $10,000 business loan.

I’m sure they were days which you couldn’t sleep, what kept you focused and motivated?

Great question. I was motivated by my goals and mission of being able to donate money to organizations all over the world. But I think once you get to a certain point in your business timeline, all entrprenuers are really motivated by their idea and seeing it through, that giving up really isn’t an option. So it was a mix of both of those for me.

Do you ever think of taking a gap year to focus on your business for a while?

Yes—that is exactly what I did.

How many employees do you have?

We have 2 employees and 2 interns.

How has sales grown from the last year?

This is technically our very first year in business, which is wild and exciting!

How do you market your products or services?

We reach out to high-readership blogs and have been fortunate to have been featured in conventional and eco-focused magazines all over the world.

What has been your most effective marketing tactic or technique?

Sending pieces to mom-bloggers to review! We have a very high quality product, so they always like it and first hand reviews are really the best kind of advertising we can do.

What is the best advice you’ve been given so far?

Great question. I give lots of advice, but only rarely receive it. I think the best advice I have ever received was from my father, an accountant. He told me to be realistic about my budget and that it is easy to spend all of your money on lots of little things but that that has the risk of actually totally killing your business. It is so true and really the most important thing to remember while starting a business.

Who is your favourite entrepreneur at the moment?

Paul Newman in general. He knew how to create a high-quality business that made a lot of money to give to groups that did a lot to help people with it. A current entrepreneur I am always impressed with Blake Mycoskie, the founder of TOMS shoes, which gives a pair of shoes away for each pair you buy.

What do you do in your non-business hours?

I don’t really have any. But I do take my puppy (a German Shepherd mix) to a huge dog park along the shore every weekend. That is a great break from both school and work.

How does your business “give back” to the community or to society?

We donate at least 15% of our profits to environmental initiatives in order to make our line completely carbon neutral.

We donate at least another 15% of our profits to organizations all over the world improving the lives of others. We fund everything from girls schools in Haiti to sustainable agriculture education in El Salvador.

What should be expecting form you in the upcoming years?

A lot, I hope! We are introducing bedding, sweaters, and outerwear in our next few collections. We will also launch a new website and continue to add retailers!

What advice would you give to aspiring entrepreneurs out there?

I would tell them that whatever they do, don’t give up! You will absolutely encounter obstacles, everyone does. Your success will be how you handle and overcome them.

Thanks for your time Kyle.

Again, my pleasure!

Website: Barley & Birch

Jessica Cervantes is a 19 years born in Habana, Cuba and came to the U.S in 1990 when I was 6 years old old who graduated with a 4.0 GPA from John A. Ferguson Senior High School, currently studying Biomedical Engineering at The Honors College of Miami Dade with aspirations to become a corporate lawyer.

She grew up hearing family members dream about having their own businesses. She dreamed too, but she was leaning toward becoming a doctor until she signed up for an entrepreneurship program at Ferguson High in Miami, the rest is history.

Hello Jessica, how are you doing? Can you give me some background information about yourself?

My Name is Jessica Cervantes. I am 19 years old. I graduated with a 4.0 GPA from John A. Ferguson Senior High School. I am currently studying Biomedical Engineering at The Honors College of Miami Dade. I have aspirations to become a corporate lawyer.

I was born in Habana, Cuba. I came to the U.S in 1990 when I was 6 years old. I am an old child with an extended family.

Can you kindly tell the readers what you do? Tell us about your business?

I am the CEO/Founder of Popsy Cakes. I created my business when I was 16 years old as part of an entrepreneurial education program called NFTE.

Who inspired you to start your business? How did the process start?

NFTE and the Entrepreneurship academy at my high school inspired me to create my business. I began with my business plan as part of a class assignment and it took off from there.

When did you encounter your first entrepreneurial experience?

I think I’ve been business savvy from a young age. I remember when I was a child I would trick o treat duing Halloween, then wait a month and sell my candies at school (until one day I got in trouble). I would also sell my used books on Amazon when I was a child and I would make garage sales.

How did you fund your business?

The first $100 dollars I used to start my business was an investment from my parents. Later on I started competing in business plan competitions and with the prize money I would receive I would invest it into my company. Now I have an investor.

How are you coping with the pressure of being in the university and running a business?

It is insane! I try to stay focus and complete one task at a time. I first do all my homework before I start working on Popsy Cakes but it is very difficult. I also have a lot of support from my family and boyfriend who help me out with everything. I am also still in contact with NFTE and they are very supportive.

What has been your proudest moment so far?

My proudest moment was when I won First place in the 2008 NFTE National Business Plan competition out of 25,000 business students with my business plan Popsy Cakes.

Have you suffered any setbacks and how did you overcome it?

My major setback was time management. It came a time when I almost decided to stop producing Popsy Cakes because I had no time. Fortunately, I was able to come across an investor who has offered his time and staff and it’s been amazing ever since.

Who do you go for advice for business decisions?

I definitely rely on NFTE for their expert business advice. They have a lot of mentors who truly help the students. My mentor (and investor) Bill Hansen has helped me throughout my journey and I learn something new every day. I also rely on my parents a lot for their advice.

Apart from your business, what other business do you admire the most and why?

I truly admire BAWLS. I had the pleasure to meet and work with the owners. Their story is truly inspirational. Christina Staalstrom, the owner, is a great mentor.

What are your hobbies?

I love to dance! I wish I had the time to take some dance classes to learn about different styles and techniques. I am also a big animal lover. I love spending time with my dog Cindy. Unfortunately, I also love shopping! Worst hobby ever. I also love going to the beach and tanning.

What should we be expecting from you in the future?

I hope to grow and expand my business. I hope to have Popsy Cakes selling nationwide. I also hope to attend graduate school and become a corporate lawyer. You will see me on FORBES richest people pretty soon =)

I will be watching out for your name jessica

What advices would you give to young entrepreneurs out there?

I definitely believe you should first believe in yourself and be confident that your business will be very successful in the future. Also, use all your resources! Get in contact with entrepreneurs from around your area and ask for help. You will be surprised to see how many individuals are willing to help you become successful. Networking is key to expanding your business and move forward. Great connections will come in very handy at one point or another.

Thanks so much jessica, we wish you the best in the future.

Popsy Cakes Website

Richard Ludlow is the founder and CEO of Academic Earth, a platform for full video courses from leading universities.

Richard graduated in 2007 with a BA and MA in Economics from Yale University and deferred admission to Harvard Business School in order to start Academic Earth.

Please, kindly give the YHP Readers some background information about yourself and what you do?

I suppose I could be labelled as a “serial social entrepreneur.” While in college at Yale University, I started a national student organization to promote organ donor registration, and a non-profit economics magazine aimed at making new developments in the field of economics more accessible to a general audience. A few months after graduating in 2007, I began preparing to start Academic Earth.

Can you explain to us what your company does?

Academic Earth offers free access to full video courses from leading universities such as Harvard, Yale, Stanford, and MIT. We use the power of the internet to give people all over the world access to high-quality learning opportunities that previously were only available to a very small number of students.

What inspired you to start your company?

As a student, I used materials from MIT to supplement my own education, but I believed that consumers would benefit from an easy-to-use centralized repository that brought together free educational resources from many institutions.

How did you finance your business?

I raised a medium-sized round of angel/seed funding from a group of individuals including several Yale professors.

What plans do you have now to expand your business further?

I can’t yet talk about some of the growth opportunities I consider to be most exciting, but in the short-term we plan to add additional videos and course materials and make improvements to provide a great online learning experience.

What systems have you used to automate your business to give you more time for business planning and development?

We have utilized outsourced work through sites such as eLance when we need assistance on large-scale repetitive projects.

How do you market your products or services?

We don’t spend much on marketing. Rather, bloggers and reporters have found the site and written about it, and most of our growth comes from word-of-mouth and social media sharing.

Do you believe business has any obligation to make the world a better place?

Academic Earth was founded with a social mission to extend educational opportunities to the world, but I don’t impose any altruistic obligations on businesses in general. So long as they are behaving responsibly (for example with regards to the environment and their workers), I think many businesses add value to society simply by meeting consumers’ desires, even if they don’t have what would generally be considered altruistic objectives.

How does your business “give back” to the community or to society?

Academic Earth provides free high-quality learning opportunities to people around the globe.

Do you believe there is some sort of pattern or formula to becoming a successful entrepreneur?

I have seen entrepreneurs follow many paths to success, but one thing I have noticed is that the romanticized notion of the entrepreneur as a risk-loving maverick doesn’t necessarily hold up. Most successful entrepreneurs I have observed are very intelligent people who pursue opportunities methodically and find ways to systematically reduce risk.

What have been some of your failures, and what have you learned from them?

I don’t have one or two big failures that make for a great story, but behind nearly every success I’ve ever had are a series of small failures along the way. I believe the key is to focus on getting better every day. Over a period of several years, the sum of all the small improvements you make to small failures adds up to very valuable progression.

If you had the chance to start your career over again, what would you do differently?

I’m not far into my career, but if I were to go back to when I first started Academic Earth, I would have invested more time learning about web programming so I could have been more hands on with the development of the site. I am just now beginning to do so.

What qualities have you developed as a result of running your business?

As an early stage entrepreneur I’ve had to wear many hats. I’ve raised money, determined our legal structure, hired, marketed, designed web pages, and more. The main quality I’ve developed is a confidence in my ability to learn the knowledge or skills needed to tackle a new challenge.

In your opinion, what is the most important quality an entrepreneur should possess?

Assertiveness.

In one word, characterize your life as an entrepreneur?

Unpredictable.

What are your hobbies? What do you do in your non-work time?

I’m a huge basketball fan and follow the NBA obsessively, in addition to playing the sport recreationally.

Excluding yours, what company or business do you admire the most and why?

I’m very impressed with Mint.com, which was recently acquired by Intuit. Their product provides a very clear value proposition to consumers, and their execution has always been superb.

Thanks for your time Richard, we wish you the best in the future.

Richard Ludlow: Academic Earth
Richard Ludlow on LinkedIN