20 Things NOT to do Before Starting a Business

1. Don’t quit your day job.
2. Don’t incorporate. Seventy five percent of all businesses are sole proprietorships, and they already make money.
3. Don’t get a bank account. Your personal banking account will work just fine if someone wants to write you a check, or if you need to pay for something.
4. Don’t rent an office. Work from home. It won’t require a first, last and security deposit. Plus, it’s tax deductible.
5. Don’t hire an attorney. What’s an attorney going to tell that you didn’t already know, or couldn’t figure out on Nolo or in a good bookstore? There are only two times to call an attorney: if you’re in jail, or if someone else’s attorney contacts you.
6. Don’t hire an accountant. Quickbooks Simple Start will get you going.
7. Don’t get a loan. To get a loan from anyone, even your family, will require that you do too many items on this list. And besides, if you get a loan, you know work for the bank — not for yourself.
8. Don’t hire anyone. Don’t hire someone if you can do it yourself. For everything else, use contractors and give them 1099.
9. Don’t get a business license. I’m not advocating that anyone cheat the government. Once you can sell your product/service, go out immediately and get all of the necessary business licenses and permits in your jurisdiction.
10. Don’t try to patent anything. It takes 1.5 to 2.5 years to get a patent. Who knows what the market will look like then.
11. Don’t design a logo. You are your own brand, you don’t need a logo.
12. Don’t waste time picking a business name. As a sole proprietor, you already have a business name: your own!
13. Don’t advertise. Advertising costs money, and takes time to perfect. Selling takes only you.
14. Don’t buy office supplies. If you need a pencil, get one out of the kitchen or your son’s backpack. You are working from home, aren’t you?
15. Don’t buy any equipment. Outsource everything. Fedex Kinkos can handle all of your printing, and instead of splurging on a postal meter head down the post office. Need something big? Rent it! If it’s not something you can rent by the day, maybe there’s another local business with one. Can you rent it during their off hours in the middle of the night?
16. Don’t try to find a partner. What do you need a parter for? Capital? Don’t take loans. Need someone with some sales experience? If you the inventor of your product/service can’t sell it — no one will be able to.
17. Don’t join the Chamber of Commerce. Chambers of Commerce have great mixers where you can meet and network with other local business people. Right now, you don’t need to network, you need to sell! Plus, you can always go as a visitor.
18. Don’t tell all of your friends about the business that you’re going to start someday soon. Every minute that you spend telling someone you love about your future business is one less minute you have to either try to find someone to buy your product/service or to refine it. Plus, everyone knows an “entrepreneur” that is all talk and no action: don’t be one yourself.
19. Don’t write a business plan. Sure you need to know what you’re going to do and how you’re going to make money, but don’t waste time formatting it into a structured plan.
20. Don’t get a business telephone number or mailing address. You have a cellphone, use it. If someone needs to mail you something, have them send it to your house. You’re working there, remember.

New Year + New Attitude = New Website?!?

Earlier this year (ha) I posted on how so many of us use the "arbitrary" date of January 1st and the day to put into action all the things we put off the previous year. Ya know - the whole "new year, new attitude" type of thinking.

However arbitrary, as some folks noted, the "new year, new attitude" approach is a good thing - hey, if it takes an "arbitrary date" such as the coming of a new year to act on the changes we all want to make for ourselves, why not?

And while I scoff at New Years Resolutions because NO ONE ever keeps them - I vowed that this year would be the year we get something off the ground...

AND its happening. We've finalized the layout for Phase 1 of what will become EventSpy and we are excited!!!


As you all have heard a million times, we spent a lot of time spinning our wheels because once we decided what we wanted EventSpy to become, we were overwhelmed by the cost of what it woud take to make "our dreams a reality". We thought about Venture Capital money but quickly realized we weren't the best candidates - at this point in time. We thought about credit and quickly realized we weren't quite ready for that type of risk. We thought about self-financing - but the two of us combined didn't have $40K lying around to put into a business. AND we thought about friends and family - I can't speak for Sherna but past experiences have made me hesitant to rely on friends and family for business investments - at THIS point in time.

We fell into a downward spiral as we slowly lost interest as a result of money woes - we're girls and overemotional :sigh: AND THEN we started thinking differently. :::FINALLY:::


We're excited and we'll keep you posted as we cross the inchstones to our debut.

::thats it:::

---

Now Playing: Rodrigo y Gabriela - Tamacun


If you haven't heard of this duo, you need to get on it. Sure, its acoustic guitar music, but they're amazing, and their story is pretty cool too.

iPod + Cell Phone = iPhone

If you haven't heard, Apple wow'ed the world again with its iPhone cell phone announcement - hitting the shelves of a Cingular store (Why Cingular?!?!? I HATE Cingular) near you June, 2007.

The sucker ain't cheap - $499 - $599 depending on the storage and optional features which include:

1. 3.5" touch-screen with virtual keyboard
2. 2 megapixel camera
3. WIFI enabled
4. Runs OSX

MOTO RAZR - iPhone Announcement = Not-So-Cool-Anymore
... and before folks get hypersensitive (because we're entrepreneurs and we're babies), I have one.

What's interesting - all the Mac-afficianados out there who mocked up what they thought the iPhone would look like were DEAD WRONG.

Click here to see the What-Folks-Thought-the-iPhone-Would-Look-Like Gallery.

Whats the deal with GMAIL today?

This does not bode well for Google's attempt at convincing people to go with Google's online array of applications aimed at Microsoft Outlook, Excel, Word and PowerPoint.

Random: More Venture Capitalists

Rather than trying to keep track of random notes scribbled on random pieces of paper and then make sense of the notes (if I can even locate the paper) 4 months later, why not use the EG blog as my note pad.

That being said - here's some venture capitalists to add to the list of folks who invest in internet companies (namely "Web 2.0" communities):

1. Idealab:
   Invested in companies like CitySearch (prior to being purchased by InterActive Corporation), Picasa (Google desktop image management program), NetZero, Tickets.com, WeddingChannel.com
   
   Token Web 2.0 Company: InsiderPages - the investment amount is unknown - what IS known is that based on increasing competition from companies like Yelp! they've been forced to reduce their staff. Proof that VC's invest in all companies.
   
   
2. Sequoia Capital:
   Invested in companies like Adbrite, Zappos, GreenDot and Xcieve.
   
   Token "Content" (Web 2.0) Company: InsiderPages. Proof that even though most folks would tell you that venture capital isn't a suitable source of funding for web 2.0 companies, they pour money into them like they do everything else.
   
   
3. Softbank Capital Partners:
   Invested in companies like Yahoo!, www.spg.com (starwood hotels preferred guest program), Diamond.com
   
   Token Web 2.0 Company: InsiderPages. Wow! What a trend here.
   
   
4. Mobius Venture Capital:
   Invested in companies like Yahoo!, Geocities, Eloan, Verisign, E-Trade and Judy'sBook
   
   Token Web 2.0 Company: Judy'sBook. Yet another example of a Venture Capital firm that invested in early stage "content" and "Consumer and Small Business Services" companies.
   

"Why'd you post this Nadi?"

Two reasons: because I've decided to keep a running list of venture capital firms on this blog. And because when Sherna and I first "started out" (with the blog) we were looking at funding resources and talked to a few people who told us that VC's weren't the way to go. AND I still agree with that - not because VC's don't invest in web 2.0 "Content" companies like people told us, because they do - because we're not asking for enough $$$ and aren't providing enough equity to interest a VC and because we're not at the right stage in the life-of-our-company for a VC.

:whew:

Do with it what you will...and

Happy New Year!!!

For 2007:

So I'm sitting at home "working" (with Dr. Phil in the background) and he's talking about New Year's Resolutions.

Top 10 New Years Resolutions that people don't stick with:

5. To go back to school.

4. To find a new job.

3. To start a business.

2. To get married - I had a friend who actually said this once. A single friend at that. Somethin tells me this one only applies to the ladies
:sigh:

And the number one resolution that people make that people NEVER stick with

1. To lose weight. ...and you thought ALL the 24 Hour Fitness and Bally's commercials were a coincidence.

Why'd I write this post? Because Dr. Phil said something that made sense - why do people place so much emphasis on this arbitrary date (the start of a new year) as the catalyst for change.

And why did I fall into that trap?

Recently my partner and I have lost the bug - not the desire to start a business - but are finding ourselves overwhelmed by figuring out what to do FIRST. And our paralysis-by-analysis has caused us to do NOTHING. And as the year came to a close, I found myself saying "2007 will be the year". WHY??? Why am I waiting for some day in the future to make IT happen? Why not right now?

Well...either way, my procrastination can't last much longer because 2007 is here.

Let's make it a good one. :)

The Pitch: How Much is TOO Much?!

Guy Kawasaki says: 10/20/30. 10 slides. 20 minutes of talking time. No font smaller than 30 (or nothing smaller than half the age of the oldest person in the room listening to the pitch). And man, that last part - the 30 - is hard to do.

Work says: talking points should start with verbs.

We say: we're about 80% through our pitching presentation. And yes, we think its dope. But of course we think its dope, because its our pitch, we wrote it, it makes sense to us. The question is does it make sense to anyone else? And will make ENOUGH sense so that someone will be inspired to say "hmmm...ok, i might be interested in giving you that money you need".

Here's how our pitch is laid out:

1. Logo slide - because our logo is dope
   
2. Intro slide - includes overview of our company (the "mission" statement) and the contents of the other 9 slides
3. Approach slide - primary product
   
4. Approach slide - secondary product
   
5. Approach slide - primary and secondary benefits to our customers
6. Approach slide - the money machine behind our products
   
7. Marketing Madness - how we plan to conjure brand awareness (with our dope logo)
8. The Money Machine - more details on how we expect our site will generate money
   
   This is one of those areas that many VC's say will get blown to shreds, because few entrepreneurs really understand business models. So we're not sure on this one
9. Next steps - what we're looking for in terms of money and investment. A brief 3 month timeline of development and deployment and how to get in contact with us.

We're making some minor tweaks and should have this puppy ready for transmission by the end of the week (which is Tomorrow thanks to Turkey day! Did you buy your turkey??!).

We'll keep you posted.

1. 
   

Downward Spiral

So we've gotten some comments that the blog has slipped - and ya know what? The folks who posted those comments are right.

It has slipped.

Moment of honesty: we are again daunted by the cost of getting our company up and running. I can't speak for Sherna, but I'll speak for Nadi - I'm so ready to get this venture up and going. We have amazing logos. The folks we talk to about our idea, who might be able to help all have the same response "this could be big". Our startup costs, compared to a lot of internet based companies aren't THAT high - they're just high from the perspective of someone who makes $--,000 a year (less than six figures). We could easily get corporate partners and sponsors for some aspects of our company. AND it would allow us to do what we both want to do - Travel. (And Sherna wants to buy a beach house - and Nadi wants to hang out at Sherna's beach-house-in-the-making).

This time around we can't blame it on work, or blame it on being uber-busy (because its the holidays).

It is what it is.

But thanks to those who were honest to say "hey, this is not what it used to be - get back on track".

We're getting back in the saddle.

Come Fly USDelta Airways?!?

So I'm sure all of you have heard - US Airways put in an $8 BB bid for Delta - which would results in a hostile takeover that would create the 2nd largest carrier in number of passengers "ferried" and the largest carrier in number of flights and destinations offered.



Great. :sigh:

The chances that the new Delta would result in an airline that anyone would want to fly. SLIM.
The chances that the fares on the new Delta would result in an airline that anyone would want to fly. SLIM.
The chances that this merger will have ANY affect on consumers, aside from new planes to recognize in the sky. SLIM. (And hey - didn't we just go through that with US Airways. I mean aren't they wasting QUITE a bit of money repainting planes??).

I've got an idea. Let's make flying fun again.


Remember "back in the day" where flight attendants were actually young and attractive (men or women) and weren't disgruntled middle-aged people who took the job SOLELY for the flight benefits?? And remember when being a flight attendant was actually cool - little girls would want to be flight attendants until their feminist mommies said "no honey, you meant to say pilot RIGHT?!" And remember when going on vacation actually started with leaving the house to go to the airport - not once you plopped down in your hotel AT your destination (because the rental car situation is NO better)?!?

Don't get me wrong - being a flight attendant is a thankless job. You're basically there to save people's lives in the event of an accident (gravity anyone?). Yet you've got to deal with snobby consultants and "road warriors" who think they own $*@! [the world] because they are "executive platinum" or "1K" or "Gold Medallion" (hey wait - that's me). And then there's the people who DON'T fly, who don't understand that 2 carry on bags means 2 carry on bags - not your backpack, your 30" super suitcase, your softsided cooler full of snacks for the kids, the baby stroller AND your purse. And if one more person asks me if they can stick their crap in my leg room, because I was smart enough to count and consolidate, I will scream. :sigh:

But please - can someone make flying FUN again?!