Adventures of a Business Noob

 As I adventure into my business journey, learning the ins and outs of what a business needs to start up, I find myself facing another challenge. Most people who have already established their business typically discuss the challenges they have after everything is already set up. You are seeing the result of weeks long contemplation and experience as you enter a shop, but not the challenges that they had to face starting up. In my class we talked about funnels, pipelines, and other marketing and sales tactics. Those are all really good terms to learn and fantastic when managing your sales, but how do we get there? Cant have sales unless you have products, and cant sell products until you figure out how you want to sell them. These are the small details of starting up a business that tend to escape your mind. You have an idea, you know what the product is, but now you must think about how much you should sell it, and what exactly you can sell. In my last example, we talked about a 3...

Starting a business can be fun, and it can be stressful. You can meet great people, and you can also meet some not great people. In my experience, I have met some business individuals that have built a strong community of helping each other out, but the reality is that there are plenty of people that would capitalize on your success if given the chance. They could sell trade secrets, undermine your business from within, or even commit crime against you. This is the reality of business, and something I always remind myself of. When it comes to starting up a business, you don't always have to be the first person, you just have to do it better then everyone else. You might have a great idea, something no one else is doing and there is a strong demand in the market for it, but it means nothing if someone else does it better. Your great idea could lead to success if executed correctly, but if done poorly, it could also allow others to capitalize on your idea. There are plenty of busines...

There's an old saying out there that tells you to follow your passion. Follow your passion and you'll become successful! Following your passion leads to happiness!  Lets be real, following your passion can be terrible advice when it comes to business. We would all love to start a business in something we are passionate about, and some businesses do start that way, but if passion is the motor behind your business vehicle...good luck. It will eventually break down. Instead of saying "Follow your passion!, we should be telling each other "Follow your skill!" Skills are invaluable. With enough skill, you can shape, grow, and dominate a business market. Skills allow us to become experts in whatever marketable field we find ourselves in. A great example of this from an individual named Erik Hanberg, who used his 20 years of experience in nonprofit management to create a business around advising nonprofits. In his media interview by cityCURRENT, "From Boardroom to ...