Etsy & Entrepreneurship

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Entrepreneurship has long been a vestige of the creative and driven. Self-starters with ingenuity find ways to make their dreams a reality every day. A helping hand to those daring enough to grasp it, Etsy is offering a platform for many creatives to reach a massive audience. Seeing the benefit of further educating entrepreneurs in the ways of conducting their business, the executives at Etsy Inc have begun a training program for those brave men and women of business.

The three-week program is due to start in Louisville this month, and will provide necessary training to struggling entrepreneurs in the ways of finance, business, and self-promotion. Dubbed the Etsy Craft Entrepreneurship, Louisville will be offering this program for free to local residents. WIth the program set to cost $1,000 to $2,000, any interested locals should leap at the opportunity to save money and learn how to make more.

Etsy’s program curriculum will touch upon a wide variety of subject. Shipping, brand building, marketing and pricing make up a small portion of important lessons for the up and coming entrepreneur. Held between 4 and 6 p.m. every Tuesday and Thursday, classes will be led by local entrepreneur Jordan McMullen. Selected by Etsy, Louisville believes the success of this program will surely lead to a positive return in the community. Citing how several of their citizens sell their homemade wares at small, intermittent craft fairs. Louisville officials feel that a brief commitment from locals could result in a greater profit and better quality of life.

Doors will soon be open to any locals looking to better sell their wares. 14 lucky students over 18 years old, with a product to sell, access to a computer, and an existing bank account will be able to expand their reach to a global market. Louisville hopes that by teaching a struggling population h

Entrepreneurship For The Youth

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The enterprising spirit of business doesn’t belong only to the aged. Inspiring our youth to aim higher in their career goals and possibly join the ranks of the entrepreneur can instill creativity, independence, and a vigor for work that’s so often neglected. In a time where so many students are graduating college with a mountain of debt, even fewer are finding work in the fields they’ve worked so hard to enter. How can a few small steps encourage children to form their own futures?

Traditionally, allowances are given upon completion of tasks around the house. This encourages a work for wages attitude, and teaches the child in order to get paid, a series of tasks not their own need to be completed. Alternatively, giving the child an allowance without needing to complete a set of chores illustrates how to manage money. Should they spend their allotment frivolously, remind them that doing chores doesn’t make money appear. And next time, if they’d like to hang onto their money, a smarter management plan needs to be followed.

Involve your children in your business with small, manageable tasks. When attempting to illustrate what it means to be an entrepreneur, children oftentimes learn best while doing. Whether you’d prefer to have them assist in the writing of an email or help with your daily routine, by including your children in your work they will better understand what an entrepreneur’s life means.

Talk to your kids and find what their passions are. If you were staring your own business, you’d ideally center it around an activity or subject you love. Show your children that the same is possible with their interests. Though the concept may seem simple, the world will open up to a child when they understand that they don’t need to sacrifice what they love for work.

By following these few suggestions, you can plant the seeds of a concept most don’t understand or appreciate until far later in life. Such a simple idea can alter the course of a child’s future.

The Persistence Of An Entrepreneur

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entrepreneurship-imageWhen building your own company you will inevitably encounter obstacles to overcome, but it can become difficult to keep going when you’re not seeing instant traction and success for the work that you are putting in.

That is why it is so important for entrepreneurs to be persistent in their efforts in order to achieve their goals. You are bound to make mistakes, big and small, it is part of being human, but the way in which you learn from these mistakes and improve on them is how you truly build something from nothing.

All too often, entrepreneurs will give up too early and will lose out on the opportunity to learn from their mistakes. That is the real difference between failure and simple mistake.

Take Indiegogo’s Slava Rubin for example. He was rejected by more than 90 venture capitalists when he presented his idea for a crowdfunding platform. They all believed the idea of people funding somebody else’s idea through online campaigns was unrealistic. Rubin could have easily given up on this idea, but at the end of the day he believed in this business and was determined to see it through. And that is exactly what he did. Last year Indiegogo raised a $40 million Series B and is poised for great success moving forward.

Behind every successful entrepreneur is a persistent individual. They don’t expect someone to hand them an opportunity because at the end of the day, nothing worthwhile is that easy. When things take longer than planned put your head down and keep moving forward. If you are working on building a business, it is your job to convince others that what you are doing is important with a sense of urgency.

If you find yourself to be a person that is unwilling to sit with the status quo and have a feeling of impatience when it comes to what you are doing then it means you have the drive and determination to succeed. A leader has both vision and passion, but is also compelled to make their ideas a tangible reality and is eager to take down any obstacle that stands in their way.

8 Ways to Protect Your Vision

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elesh modi vision

If you have an idea and are ready to channel your entrepreneurial spirit, there are some important things to consider before taking the leap. In our capitalist society, getting an idea off the ground will generally require a good amount of money to become successful. Without the proper amount of money to invest in your idea it leaves the door open for someone to potentially steal your idea, legally. It is important that you take the necessary steps to protect your idea, venture or product. Protective care now can help prevent you from a wildfire of litigation and headaches in the future, which is why protecting your investment from the start is extremely important.

Here are some important strategies as outlined on entrepreneur.com to keep in mind for protecting your idea and future business, each involving varying levels of cost and difficulty.

1. Be careful who you talk to – While you are probably extremely excited about your new idea and want to talk about it with other people, you need to be careful about who you are talking to. It is a fine line between doing guerilla marketing and working on building a support network versus sharing your ideas with potential competition. Make sure you only disclose your business idea with trusted friends or family.

2. Patent it – A patent is a government-issued “right or title” for a set period, giving you the sole right to exclude others from making, using, or selling an invention. Patenting your idea is essential. It is one of the easiest, straightforward and cost effective ways to protect yourself.

3. Copyright it – Similar to a patent but for published works, a copyright gives you the exclusive rights to record, print, publish or film your unique idea. If your venture involves any published, filmed or performed work it is important that you have a copyright.

4. Have proof of concept with a date – As a new entrepreneur you are certainly looking to avoid lawsuits. However, it is important to be prepared in the event that someone takes your idea and you need litigation to solve the issue. Having a proof of concept with a date is a great way to show that the idea or invention was created and owned by you.

5. Get legal protection – Whether you need legal protection now or down the road, having an attorney in your corner is essential if you end up having to solve an issue over your venture with litigation. While some attorneys can be expensive, there will always be budget-friendly options that even offer financing. You will want a business attorney who specializes in working with entrepreneurs and startups. Even if you do not need their services now, having made contact with someone that can effectively help you down the road can be extremely useful.

6. Seek out mentorship – Having somebody in your corner that has been in the same position as you before is a great tool to have. They can provide advice, keep you on track and help keep your idea protected. You will want to be careful that your mentor is truly on your side and not looking to steal it themselves. But at the end of the day, having a person that you can trust to help guide you in the right direction is invaluable.

7. Start a business – Three are many types of businesses, ranging from sole proprietorships to corporations, all of which make your entrepreneurial venture official. A proprietorship requires no special paperwork which means that you can gain an added level of protection for your idea extremely easily. Furthermore, it is possible to change the business type later, if necessary.

8. Win a competition – Winning a competition, whether it be a deal on Shark Tank or a small regional prize, gives you official recognition that can provided you another important safeguard of your product or business.

Traits of Successful Entrepreneurs

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elesh modi entrepreneurA recent article from CNN correctly points out that there is often a disconnect between the general perception of what it is like to be an entrepreneur and the reality of it.  People often imagine the benefits of having no boss, making your own schedule, and a myriad of other things that are half true, yet undermine the reality of the hard work, extra hours, and extra effort that need to be put in to succeed in any meaningful sense. The article outlines six traits of successful entrepreneurs, which are also summarized below.

Persistence – An entrepreneur must have the unique ability to continue pushing, and pushing hard, often times in the face of constant doubt and repeated failure. The need for persistence should immediately undermine any benefit to making your own hours – often you “make” them because you somehow need to find several extra every day.

Adaptivity – The ability to wear several hats, or sometimes even dozens, is imperative. Additionally, changes in your product or in the market can occur, new ideas can develop from old ones, and various crises lead to necessary solutions. They must be ready for their visions to change and for new ideas to be incorporated.

Risk Taking – Entrepreneurs need to be willing to go all in to their idea. This means giving up other opportunities that might distract. They must even give in to the possibility of living uncomfortably for a period of time, because in the start up world – and this will undermine another one of those myths – there is no easy money.

Imaginative – Without fail, unforeseen problems will arise. Creative ways to deal with and move past them in an efficient and instructive way is of paramount importance.

Confidence – This will be necessary for successfully encountering the previously mentioned repeated failure. Entrepreneurs will also find confidence to be quite helpful when they need to convince others to be as certain as they are that their product is important and needed in the market place.

Trustworthy – This is important for creating a comfortable environment with those around you. It’s also important because when you’re trying to raise funds, no one is going to give money to someone they don’t trust.

4 Movies Every Entrepreneur Should Watch

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elesh modi filmEntrepreneur.com put out a list today of 4 movies every entrepreneur should watch. It’s a good list so I am sharing it here as well.

1. Steve Jobs: The Lost Interview – This film is essentially just an hour an a half interview with Jobs, taped in the early 90’s shortly after he was fired as CEO of Apple. Whatever your opinion of the man may be, you can’t deny that he wound up being incredibly successful, and therefore his insights into running a business, especially in the early stages of its development, are very valuable. The film is a great place to get information since it is pretty much just a raw interview.

2. Tucker: The Man and His Dream – This movie is directed by Francis Ford Coppola and stars Jeff Bridges as an entrepreneurial car manufacturer in the 1940s. It is the only movie on the list that is not a documentary, but is based on a true story. Sometimes a narrative movie can be a bit more inspirational than a straight documentary, and this is the case with this one. It depicts the struggles that many entrepreneurs face, and the zeal one needs to overcome them.

3. Startup.com – This documentary shows the rise and fall of a failed web start up, so there is a lot to learn in it from their mistakes. All entrepreneurs make mistakes, but these were made on a very grand scale, so it sort of magnifies them.

4. Man on Wire – While not superficially related to business, Man on Wire does depict someone who has an underlying philosophy that might resonate with many entrepreneurs. Philippe Petit is driven and motivated by something internal that tells him to just do this thing that he wants to do despite obstacles and the difficulty of the task.

Entrepreneur of the Year

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Elesh Modi Porch

USA Today recently named their top entrepreneur of the year. The main criteria for receiving this award, according to USA today, were leading a company that exhibited significant growth over the past year and solving a common consumer problem. The award went to Matt Ehrlichman, who is the CEO of porch.com.

The best way to summarize what porch.com is all about is in the words of Ehrlichman himself (I’m quoting from the USA Today article): “Whether it’s to clean your gutters or fix an electrical problem, we’re busy building a network of certified professionals with whom we’ve pre-negotiated pricing so there’s no surprise on that front…. We hope it’s a game-changer for anyone who has ever been frustrated by home repair work.” So, that explains the common consumer problem that this company solves. According to the article, Ehrlichman came up with the idea in the first place when he was encountering frustration in the home building and remodeling process himself.

As far as exhibiting significant growth, porch.com went from 30 to 300 team members this year. The biggest boost for the company came from Lowe’s, the huge national hardware store, which incorporated porch.com’s software in all of its stores.

The article ends with a couple of pieces of advice from Ehrlichman for entrepreneurs and would-be entrepreneurs, and I think they are worth sharing here. First, build a good team, and be selective about who you hire. Also, be passionate about your product. These are both pretty obvious pieces of advice, but good to keep in the forefront of your mind.