July 30th, 2008
Saying goodbye should not be a shouting match, especially when it comes to your clients. There are amicable ways with which to part with them. Good begets good; when the time comes that you’ll have to do business with them again, your ex-clients will know that you’re as professional as you had been, at the time you had said goodbye. Don’t burn your bridges, if you can help it.
Look at the paperwork. There would likely have been a contract between you. At this point, be sure that you’ve kept your part of the bargain. Anything that you haven’t fulfilled can be a point of argument. Finish up on your work; …
Continue Reading
July 30th, 2008
When all’s been said and done –you’ve sweat and you’ve bled –you have to get paid. You have to bill people. You have to hound after them for payments or supplies. If a college business like yours lags in terms of cash flow, you will have to borrow money to keep your supply flowing. Debt as you already know slows business and can eventually kill it.
To help you with this snag, sending out invoices can be done from your home or the coffee shop around the corner.
Web applications for invoicing have given freelancers and small business owners the necessary tools to create and deliver detailed bills. Most of them offer free trials, while some offer fixed fees. A few web …
Continue Reading
July 29th, 2008
What is luck? Is it really something we can’t control, or can we make luck happen? Student entrepreneur Ben Casnocha, CEO of e-government software company Comcate, Inc, gives some tips on how to create luck for yourself based on his own experiences. See if you concur with Ben’s list:
“Expose yourself to as much randomness as possible. Read books no one else is reading. Talk to people no one else is talking to. That’s luck. That’s randomness.”
“Every time luck doesn’t go my way, I believe a piece of good luck is right around the corner.”
“Trick yourself. Self-deception is essential to maintain high self-esteem. It’s okay to take more credit than you deserve, in your own mind, for successes. It’s …
Continue Reading
July 28th, 2008
The most popular College Startup article of all time is called 15 Successful Entrepreneurs Who Didn’t Need College. I think that article really served as inspiration to the entrepreneurial spirit in all of us. If nothing else, it made clear that college is not the critical key to success (though it can help, no doubt). Rather, passion, smarts, perseverence and drive are really the keys to business success.
Over at BusinessPundit, there’s an article written in the same spirit that covers 25 entrepreneurs who started with virtually nothing and created juggernaut businesses. If you’re struggling and looking for some motivation, that’s a great article to check out.
Continue Reading
July 27th, 2008
Companies go to great lengths to convince you that paying for long subscriptions will save you money in the long run, and they may be right, but only if you take advantage of their products and services every single day. However, chances are, you can’t or you don’t maximize them, and that basically means wasted money. If you’re trying to start a business, a little belt-tightening can go a long way. Evaluate your magazine, cable, gym, Internet, cellular phone, and movie subscriptions. Do you really need them, or is it better to purchase the items piece-wise?
Continue Reading
