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OK we’re not in the US but the term they use over there for a concise, carefully planned, and well-practiced description about your business that a 12 year old (I have one which is useful!) should be able to understand delivered in the time it would take to ride up or down a lift is a good one.

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As I mentioned in my initial post introverts are fantastic at focusing on something with massive concentration for hours on end and also have a love of detail – both skills required for a business to perform well.

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Your parents, 3rd grade teacher, college professor and Giant Corporation, Inc. all have you chasing the wrong dream. It’s no wonder most people aren’t excited about where they’re going. My mother thought I was nuts when, after six years, I left the army 29 years ago.

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The overwhelming majority of small business advice is from people showing us how Giant Corporation, Inc. managed to free themselves from the drudgery of being small to finally become “great”. It’s time these patronizing forces understood that small business and big business are two entirely different animals.

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We’re all supposed to think the rugged individualist is the great American way to do business. I’m a reformed rugged individualist and can tell you that if you want to build a successful business, going it alone is a bad idea. When you go to college you have all kinds of community available to you. When you get an apartment you meet some friends, have a BBQ and build community.

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ShopLocally.com aims to change the world, not just make money. My company, The Crankset Group, is focused on the same thing. We’re going to do it together going forward. It’s possible you will benefit directly. We certainly intend for you to.

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As business consultants, we are often asked why one business succeeds and another, almost identical, business flounders. Once, feeling rather facetious, I answered: “It’s in the stars!” It was a stupid, throwaway line, of course, not intended as a serious thought. But, like many a jest, it has a kernel of truth… No, we are not talking about astrology. Sure, we can cast you a horoscope that tells you the most promising time to open your business, and lay everything out in terms of the planets, houses, and all the rest.

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Just about every business owner I know is a hostage to his or her business. How do we break free? By first becoming a willing prisoner in your business. It sounds nuts. How am I a hostage, and how does becoming a prisoner put me on the road to freedom?

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STOP! BEFORE YOU BEGIN TRADING FOREX – Successful trading is about managing risk, period. If you are thinking about trading, are new to trading or even if you are an experienced trader – ask yourself this question: How much cash should I place on a trade? If you cannot answer with a mathematically generated risk-based formula, then you really should not be trading.

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I built five businesses from the ground up. Each time in the process I found myself as a hostage of my business, never knowing how it would work out, how I would get off the treadmill, or most importantly, a firm date for when I could look forward to enjoying my business. It all seemed to be up to chance, and that the best I could do was work harder and increase my “chances”.

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Some capitalists seem to be very threatened by the idea of social entrepreneurship either because it has the word social in it (too close to socialism for comfort), or because they think they’ve always been socially responsible and this new phrase does not recognize that. It’s not new and it’s not socialism, but it is different than what many capitalists practice.

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Where do most of your sales come from? When I’ve asked this question in a weekly lunch I do with 60 business leaders, 59 of them say relationships and one didn’t understand the question. So how do we shift more of our spend from advertising, direct marketing, and public relations to relationship marketing?

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It’s surprising to me how often I see all the classic definitions of a business that don’t define or describe a business well at all. If you follow them, they might even put you out of business.

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In this video, Filmmaker Andrew Stanton (“Toy Story,” “WALL-E”) shares what he knows about storytelling — starting at the end and working back to the beginning.

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In this video Regina Dugan asks “What would you attempt to do if you knew you could not fail?”. In this breathtaking talk she describes some of the extraordinary projects -

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Business divides pretty neatly into seven categories or “elements” that all businesses must pay attention to in order to be successful. They exist whether we pay attention to them or not. If we pay attention, we are successful, if we don’t, we are not. Most businesses reflect the strength of their owner/founder, who are really good at one, two, or maybe even three of the seven.

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Your business has the same issues as those I visited in Kenya. In the final analysis, there’s only one number in business that really matters, you’re Freedom Number. While I was in Kenya, I had seminars and workshops with everyone from large international businesses to egg vendors in the slums.

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Almost everyone decrying the demise of entrepreneurship in America is blaming either Walmart or rising health care costs for making it more difficult to start a business. But the biggest obstacle is a long-term shift in American culture and society that has little to do with big box businesses or heart attacks.

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