Starting a business


Friday, November 13th, 2009

Entrepreneur Skills Requires Inventive Thinking

Entrepreneurial skillsWhen you start a new venture, you may be tempted to sink all your energy into it. And in most cases you would be right. However, your entrepreneur skills need to be wider and more varied than ever before especially if you are married or have a family.

Line up other sources of income in case of emergencies. The working partner may be able to cover monthly expenses, such as food and housing. But when the roof needs replacing or the kids are sick, it can play havoc on the family’s financial well-being.

Be prepared to be creative with finances and don’t bring a spouse onboard immediately. By working full time, spouses usually provide the family’s medical insurance and other important benefits. Not having to buy these is a significant advantage for fledgling entrepreneurs, who don’t have the cash flow to afford benefits large companies provide.

Small businesses get hammered on health care so while the one spouse is gainfully employed at least that scary prospect is taken care of.

But as small businesses grow and new employees are needed, some couples believe it makes sense to put the working spouse on the payroll. This requires the business to shell out needed cash for medical insurance and puts both partners at risk if it fails. So your entrepreneur skills are sometimes know that the reality of starting a business is that there is rarely cash flow to begin with.
So putting all your eggs in one basket is not the best solution. Family support is vital and after the rough patches of the start out period it will be all the more special, because you did it together.

Shane Krider- Polaris Media Group

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Thursday, November 5th, 2009

Entrepreneur Opportunity Given a Boost in Australia

successful businessIf you are thinking of starting a business in Australia perhaps you are worried about whether your idea will be commercially viable? Or perhaps your entrepreneur opportunity is only an idea and needs to be brought to market? How can the average man or woman take on that kind of monetary burden when they don’t know for certain it will work?

A lot of it has to do with the leap of faith, but that can be dangerous. What if the entrepreneur’s vision is not particularly clear? What if the idea is sound but the business model is poor?

This raises the question: Will the newly announced Commercialisation Australia (CA) help?

Assistance will be provided to researchers, individuals and private enterprises to convert their ideas into successful business ventures. Think of this program as a combination of COMET, Commercial Ready, Commercial Ready Plus, BIF and the old R&D Concessional Loans. The entrepreneur will be provided with a Case Manager to guide them through commercialisation of the entrepreneur opportunity and to facilitate access to experienced business mentors and other support. Funding is also available for up to $ 250,000 for testing and R&D.

Commercialisation Australia isn’t going to pay for your marketing campaign, help you with your advertising or fund you to break into your desired market whether that means posting ads on facebook or doing flyer drops in the post.

And why should they? That is your job. CA will help you up to the point that you are ready to go commercial. That is, it will help with pre-commercialisation and get you on your feet and ready to deliver. So it looks like your entrepreneur opportunity may just be given a boost when the institute is officially launched in early 2010.

Shane Krider- Polaris Media Group

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Friday, October 23rd, 2009

Dancing the Steps to Success in Her Teens

steps to successStarting a business at any age can be daunting. Most would expect a teenage girl to be worrying about boys, pimples or fashion and not the steps to success in business.

Jemma Nicoll started Inspire Dance Academy at the age of 16 after attending a dance conference run by Project Dance, a New York Company who shared a similar vision of working in the community with dance.

Combining her new business with the completion of her HSC was a massive challenge. The HSC is strenuous in itself, so balancing an entrepreneur business mixed with the physically demanding role of teacher forced her to push herself to the limit.

Although she was organised and had good time management skills it was time to put them to the test. A great support network of family and friends also helped to get her through long days and nights of study and dance.

Jemma’s approach to life and business was the same. Her obstacles became somewhat exciting to overcome, because she knew it was something she really wanted to accomplish…a little challenge couldn’t get in her way!

She has graduated and is now pouring all her energy into her business, changing lives and minds as she dances her steps to success.

Shane Krider- Polaris Media Group

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