Be in the flow…
let go of your fear; of your need to be in control
for it imprisons your dreams.
Breathe deeply in the darkness…
an illusion cast forth by your light;
no other can take your place.
Let the world be blinded by your majesty…
a beacon to those struggling to find their way;
for it is your divinity to shine like the star you truly are.
Go; enter the dragon’s den and reclaim your heart.
***************************
© Cheryl Hopkins, 2nd Jan 2006
Inspiring you to do work you love
“It’s so easy to get caught up wanting to save the world, run a successful business, be in great shape, have immense wealth… success, no wonder we runs ourselves ragged.
When all is said and done, what we really want is to be happy, feel loved… for life to flow; and when that’s your aim is life everything else falls in to place; well, that’s what I’ve found.”
© Cheryl Hopkins, 15th Feb 2010 Change it live it http://www.bit.ly/blosG0
This can be very tricky because getting someone that believes in your company, ability and your vision can be very hard, especially getting someone that is passionate enough to be a part of your company, but i urge you to try and get a co-founder on board.
It can really depend on the nature of the business also, sometimes you might have everything covered and not need a co-founder, but bringing a co-founder can be hugely instrumental, especially someone that has skills needed in your company that you lack.
Emotional Attachment
At the start of the company, i was very hesitate to let anyone near my business, as it was my first baby, i grew some kind of emotional attachment, i had offers from different friends that wanted to be a part of it, i really dint care as i knew the type of person i wanted on board, i needed someone that had as much passion or maybe more than me in the business.
Decision Making
You must have a co-founder that you can easily reach, incase you need to make a quick decision, someone that you have complete trust in making the right decisions if you’re not around, someone that will make the right decision.
Trust
If you do not have complete trust in your co-founder then there is really no point in doing business with them, although most times you will build on your trust issues with your co-founder as time goes on, the more you work together and learn about each other.
In Almost 2 years of working with my co-founder, we continue to grow in trust and having trust in business simply brings rest to your mindset.
Costs/contact
Sharing cost on the company expenses can be huge for the growth and progress of your business.
You get to share each other’s contact in growing your business, contacts and networks that you might not have known or had a chance to meet are suddenly in front of you.
Understanding
You need to understand how you both work, how the person likes to work, the personality of your co-founder, if you do not understand your co-founder, you will end up wasting valuable time on un-necessary things such as arguing, doing the same work twice which will eventually takes its toll on the business, so go out of your way to understand your co-founder, try to get them, if you’re not compactable, then you have a decision on your hand.
Time & Focus
That means you get to spend less time doing something you’re not so good with and focus on your strong points and how to improve on it, you get to do more together in less times.
For me personally, getting a co-founder has been huge to my business, we’ve been through some rough and good times together already, i really just let him do his stuff which he kicks ass in, he manages the event planning side of the company, booking of holidays, enquires, while i focus on getting more properties on the website, building relationships with companies.
Although we both come together to make decisions and run other parts of the business.
An Almost Mistake
Because of my openness with my friends, i remember sitting them all down to tell them about the business, telling them i would love them to come board to help with the business, which would have been a bad idea, so I’m glad they all dint respond in the appropriate way, i hate laziness, lack of drive and passion.
But as soon as my co-founder told me his interest and i saw his commitment, i felt at ease, it made me realise that although this company is my baby, it was not about me anymore, but about the team, the vision and everyone that constantly help to build and take steps towards that vision.
Respect
You should both respect the opinions, views and personality of one another, although i respect my co-founder but that doesn’t mean i keep quiet when things are going wrong, or when we both miss the plot, I occasionally give him a piece of my mind when i need to and so does he.
Basically don’t miss-understand respect for being soft
Final Words
Sometimes business kills friendship, sometimes it makes it stronger, pick the right choice.
If you want more information on this, Neil Patel does a good job on explaining about it further, also @Techcrunch @Venturehacks @ spencerfry
I and a friend were having a chat on how we wished we started something together in our first year at university, I mean we were all creative, ambitious and had a lot of time on our hands.
We realised how much our business would have grown by now, the traction, the support it would have gotten, instead we spent our time partying away although i admit it was fun, going to bed at 7am and getting up at 5pm were the best days/highlights of my 1st year in the university.
Only if we knew how to balance our time things might have been different, we had enough people in my halls to start at least 10 good businesses, everyone had ideas, everyone wanted to be successful, but we lacked focus and drive and i guess we dint really have anyone who gave us that exposure into the world of entrepreneurship, perhaps we didn’t have the right attitude.
Experience and failure (Start Small)
As someone that started a company in the university, i believe it is always better to start small because it gives you the time to worry less about money but more about the products and services you’re offering, ways to improve and make sure it is going in the right direction.
I started my first company and spent a lot of money constructing the website, not that the website was not worth the money, but with what i know now, i am sure i could have invested that money into something else, probably would have built up the website with cash left to invest in other parts of the business instead of focusing on how fancy i wanted the site to look.
Time
You have 3-5 years to spend in the university, that’s enough time to build your start-up into something credible, by the time you’re ready to graduate, and you will only be worrying on how to grow the business, that’s if you worry at all.
You probably spend most of your time getting drunk, facebook, twitter, YouTube, clubbing, so taking some time to build your business is not that bad.
Your Network is your net worth
I met my co-founder at university and was able to do less, which was more productive and gave me time to focus on other things in the business.
You might end up meeting an investor or a co-founder, or someone that might have the right connection that will take your business to the next level.
If you decide not to continue with your business. You will already have a bunch of contacts that either helps you in a new start-up or perhaps you’re looking for a secured job, you just never know.
Don’t forget that any business you’re going into you’ll be going there with some practical experiences of running and managing a company.
Competition/Awards/support
You can get so much support from your university , if you’re business is cool, I’m sure your university will want to brag about your success, you also have the entrepreneurial society, NACUE, FlyingStartonline, Shell livewire, Enterprise UK, Which will give you some exposures to your company, assistances, workshops and training to sharpen your skills as an entrepreneur, they also give you the opportunity to network with other entrepreneur, you never know what investor might be reading your story.
Student Loans
In total, you probably get £4,950 (Maintenance loan) + £2,906 (Maintenance grant) + Bursary (900)
1st Year – £8756
2nd year – £17512
3rd year – £26268
That is enough money to start up a business or finish up a prototype.
I would encourage you to maybe get a part-time job, and if you have a co-founder or even two co-founders, that is a lot of money and enough money to get something off the ground.
Responsibility
You have fewer responsibilities, less concerns to worry about, which gives you time to build your business.
You have nothing to lose.
Experience
Owning and running your own business is an incredible way to gain experience, it will definitely help you mature, especially as you begin to read business books and self development books to help in growing as a person and an entrepreneur.
You get to learn more about yourself, especially life and business lessons that are not taught in the classroom, you might even get more clarity on modules to choose in the next year or in your final year.
You learn how to speak, dress and act in a professional way.
The University Platform
This is your first initial market where you can experiment, get feedback, get some user experience for your products/services; it gives you such a large network to people to showcase your business to, which is invaluable. You might be able to define your target market through this experiment.
You get free advices from your university professors and tips.
You will have access to different types of people with different skills, you want your logo design- go to the design department, you want a website development – go to the computing department, thinking of getting someone that can help with admin stuff – go to the business department, you get what I’m getting at, loads of resources at your finger tips.
Tip: Everyone loves the story of a kid that started a business in the university.
“Most folks are about as happy as they make up their minds to be.” – Abraham Lincoln
A Student at the University of Kingston studying business has created a website that offers online copyright, he re-launched the site today “TheRightcopy.co.uk”.
It offers free online protected copyright for a number of intellectual properties such as:
Design Registration (Graphics, logo, photography, paintings etc)
Visual Registration (Film, Documentaries, Animation, Plays etc)
Audio Registration (Sounds, Music, Musical Works, Recordings etc)
Writers Registration (Books, writings, poetry, Memoirs, Blogs etc).
Every major Studio in the UK music industry is Buzzing with support and praise for the “sheer Genius” of The RightCopy. It has given up and coming artist the much needed protection they need and with relative ease, you can copyright your material in three easy steps.
I have a lot of friends in the music industry and i noticed they kept sending their work to themselves by post via special delivery, I thought i would cut out that process, where they could do it easier, faster and for free, fully protected, for those who want their original work, we can also send it to them for £3 on a CD.
I tried to make the signup process as smooth and simple as possible with only three process, you know: Signup(Enter your details) Upload(Upload what you want to copyright) Certification(and then you get your certificate, which means your work is copyrighted and you can sue anyone that uses it.
Rarely do i come across an entrepreneur not following the crowd, rarely do you get the odd idea or start-up, so simple yet so efficient, although only people from the valley are regarded as gurus or web entrepreneur but i think this is something to go home to think about.
Universities, Poetry communities and even art galleries are directing their members to The RightCopy, “protection at your fingertips”.
The Buzz and interest has been so huge that over a thousand users singed up in the first week and about 70% are actively using the site. It has even caught the eye of a major record label that are looking to use the website exclusively, keep in touch via their blog, we will spill the beans once we’re legally allowed to do so!
My initial target market were students, but after the launch, i have seen that publishing companies, record labels and other big companies might be very interested in the website, so that’s interesting, i believe anyone doing stuff online should really be copyrighting their work.
The Buzz has also been great, the response has been fantastic, we’ve been promoting it mostly online, just via facebook, twitter and word of mouth and i have also been spending a lot of time on the phone convincing friends that i knew it would benefit to sign up and refer their friends also, We’ve mainly got lots of poets and music artists signing up but we are looking to get more people to know about it. Most of my friends are in uni, i am still getting them to spread the word around as well.
Join the Group on facebook
Follow TheRightcopy on Twitter
Rachel Hollis is a wife, a mother, the founder of “Chic Event” all at the age of 26. Chic event is a business is formed based on Rachel Hollis idea of fun. Rachel loves to have a good time, but most of all she loves seeing people enjoying themselves.
Rachel believes in fun having its level of professionalism, which is perfected by Chic Event. Chic event began in January 2004 whilst Rachel was 21. It began Rachel Hollis basement via the usages of a simple phone, computer and an intern. It has now modernised itself by upgrading to a reviving yet eye catchy website that symbolises for a promising future. Chic Event has it all covered when it comes to planning an event.
Music…check. Makeup artist…check. Foods….double check!
Chic event dwells in all kinds of events, it ranges from a simple meeting, to a function, at times a conference but at the most weddings. Chic events are known to have created such sensational weddings that last in the minds of the couple and the couple’s guest.
Chic event has helped organisation such Disney, Yahoo, new line cinema and many more in creating a successful event. Their revenues within 2007, was $750,000. This present Chic Event’s potential in earning millions for the future to come. Chic Event currently has four employees who share the passion as Rachel Hollis in life. Most of all, all four of them are under the ages of 30. This business consisted of no need for a degree, just enthusiasm, vision, passion and flexibility.
Rachel Hollis, a young female entrepreneur continues to press on by creating a blog for potential customers and readers from pure enjoyment to perceive. Nothing comes for free, but hard work and determination is the key, as illustrated by Chic Events.
“When you choose to be yourself; to be authentic, you begin to soar… to be (in)credible in life”
I think every entrepreneur should either borrow or buy a copy of the following books, it will make your entrepreneurial journey much more smoother.
This is a mixture of both old and new powerful books for the entrepreneurial mind.
How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie
The Long Tail by Chris Anderson
The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Steven Covey
Founders at Work: Stories of Startups’ Early Days by Jessica Livingston
Entrepreneur Journeys (Volume 1) by Sramana Mitra
“The Four Steps to the Epiphany” by Steven Gary Blank
Guy Kawasaki’s The Art of the Start
Think And Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill
Rich Dad, Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki
Which Book is your favourite?
Did i miss out on any book or do you feel one of the books do not deserve to be in the list, let me know?
why do you like these books?
These are the five websites that i believe that help any university student get the right information, network, advice, expertise, funding or backing in taking their idea and turning it into becoming a business.
Cmypitch.com (Nacueventures)
Cmypitch gives entrepreneurs the opportunity to connect with investors directly, All you do is upload your own video pitch,and that gets put out to lots of investors(The likes of james caan, Doug Richard) on the network.
Check it out to find more about it.
Smarta gives you a platform for resources, advices for starting and running your startup, They have loads of top entrepreneurs on the site that provide support to entrepreneurs, It also gives you the opportunity to showcase your business.
Enterprise Uk are connected to almost every entrepreneur in the uk and also connect them to the right people that can help them improve their business, they also have tons of competitions to help startup with business expenses or exposure.
Shell livewire have tons of competitions in which they run to give entrepreneurs/startups the required support and exposure, check out their pitching videos section.
They offer a lot of training and workshop to entrepreneur to help them enhance their skills.
