19 Inspirational Words for Aspiring Entrepreneurs

What Words Motivate You? 
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Achieve
Clarity
Discovery
Dream
Horizon
Lifestyle
Options
Planning
Possibilities
Progress
Purpose
Quest
Research
Resources
Solutions
Strategies
Success
Skills

Dee Adams is the author of
Finding Your Niche: Discover…
https://nichecreativity.com/finding-your-niche-ebook/




Dee Adams’ Online Class

Class Notes

How Much Do You Know?
1. When you upload your artistic content to YouTube, you lose the copyright.
True or False?

2. During the 1940’s, widespread use of lard as cooking oil decreased, and lard was adopted for use in another industry. Can you guess how?

a. Cosmetic formulas

b. Pharmaceutical drugs

c. Munitions manufacturing

3. President Obama’s Job Creation act of 2012 expands the Self-Employment Assistance program (SEA) enabling people who receive unemployment benefits to start a business. Approximately how many job-hunters take advantage of this program each year?

a. 9,000
b. 15,250
c. 2,000
d. 34,000

Three seemingly simple questions that contain insightful answers.
                                                 
Answers 

1. True.  

2. C; an example of how a product commonly used in one industry can be adapted for use in a new way. 

3.  2,000 (C); a seemingly attractive government program that upon close examination may still require applicants to engage in a lot of hoop jumping.

References
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703453804575479290365370782.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

http://www.dol.gov/opa/media/press/eta/ETA20121073.htm

http://www.thefiscaltimes.com/Articles/2011/02/21/Unemployment-Pay-Deters-Would-Be-Entrepreneurs.aspx#page1

http://www.oregon.gov/EMPLOY/ES/SEEKER/pages/self_employment_assistance.aspx

http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2012/05/24/job-seekers-job-creators

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/on-small-business/post/in-some-states-the-unemployed-can-now-use-benefits-to-start-a-business/2012/05/24/gJQATfd3nU_blog.html




When Potential Franchisees Choose the Wrong Business

Having the Right Personality is Key for Every Budding Entrepreneur
Article illustrates how a budding entrepreneur can be unaware that his or her personality is not compatible with chosen business. 

An insightful piece, even for those who are not considering buying a franchise.

http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/81236

 




Changing Career Paths after an Injury: Q & A

Finding Your Self-Employment Niche

Q. I have a disabling injury and have to find a new occupation. What business could I start?

A. What activities or business industry would interest you, if you weren’t injured? Take some time to answer that question. Don’t limit your thinking because of your current situation.

For instance, there are architects and artists  in the visual arts field who are blind. The recent winner of Fox TV’s MasterChef is blind. There is a daredevil stuntman who earns a living doing what he enjoys most, yet he is wheelchair bound. These are just a few examples. At first glance, their choices seem counterintuitive.

Assistive technology may enable you to use your innate ability despite challenging circumstances.

Contact Jan Accommodation Network they offer free consulting services for aspiring entrepreneurs. The program is provided by the U.S. Department of Labor in collaboration with West VirginiaUniversity. A consultant will provide a comprehensive report of resources for your state to help you reach your self-employment goal.

References

https://askjan.org/entre/index.htm

http://gizmodo.com/5652375/how-a-blind-architect-still-practices-his-trade

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1309364/Teenage-wheelchair-stuntman-nails-worlds-double-backflip-painful-fails.html

http://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/masterchef-finale-blind-chef-christine-ha-wins-season/story?id=17210282




Starting a Public Records Research Business

Not a Get Rich Quick Industry

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Private investigator Lynn Peterson discusses the difficult nature
of getting into the business; myths and facts for would-be entrepreneurs
considering starting a business in this area.

In the books Super Searchers, Peterson chapter is entitled the
craft of public records. Unless one plans to focus on sales and subcontract
out assignments, this is not a business that can be run from home.
Many records (65 percent) are not available online and must be physically
searched at a location.

References
Sabroski, S. (2002).  Super Searchers: make it on their own.  Cyber Age Books, New Jersey.  

 http://www.pfcinformation.com/researcher.shtml

 http://books.infotoday.com/books/SsMakeIt.shtml




Professional Football Player Becomes Novelist

Mark Bavaro
How the tight end known for his fierceness on the field, combined childhood interests with adult experiences on the football field to create a new career as a  novelist.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/08/sports/football/08fifth.html?pagewanted=print

http://www.wirenh.com/home-mainmenu-1/25-literary-general/3162-a-warm-reception.html




Dee Adams’ Online Class

 

Class Notes

Selected Notes: 2012 How American Educational System Fails Students Countless numbers of young people and adults receive virtually no useful guidance in assessing their skills and talents in the current American educational system. In middle grades and high school, the ratio of 1 counselor for 500 students is not uncommon.

Furthermore, many of the counselors lack the training to provide expert career guidance, according to a report by the Harvard School of Education. In community colleges, the student counselor ratio is even worse; estimated at 1000 to 1. Many students are frustrated by an educational system that they find irrelevant…with barriers that include weak or nonexistent career counseling. Consider: not only do nearly half of all high school students drop out of school in the U.S., but of those who go to college, nearly half leave without a degree,” according to the Harvard School of Education in their 2011 report.

“In good school districts, usually suburban ones…there will be a small percentage of very talented students at the top and a small percentage of the bottom showing little academic talent. But most of the students will be clustered toward the middle. Those in the middle will be a product not of talent, but of training, they will become solid citizens, and their educational abilities…no matter how limited will be enough for them to survive.

On the other hand, if you look at the worst schools in our …system…where no teaching or learning goes on, you will find a surprising 20 percent of the students score well on tests, that they progress fairly well in the educational system, and that they succeed at a level comparable to the 80 percent in the suburban schools. Teaching takes place in neither system…. Those with natural talent will survive while others are thrown to the wolves. The [educational] system ruins the lives of 80 percent of the people who go through them,” according to John T. Malloy in Live for Success.

Malloy based his research on the book using interviews, conversations, and observations of more than 10,000 American businessmen and women in the 1980s. However, the findings are as accurate in the 21st century as several decades earlier. Today, dedicated teachers, professors, and others in the field of education are working to improve and bring innovation to the system. But, overall the institution is antiquated, biased, and improving at glacial speed. Self-employment is an attractive alternative for many people with dreams and aspirations, but a lack of knowledge about how to think critically during the self-evaluation process hampers the ability to choose wisely, whether it’s a traditional or entrepreneurial career goal.

In many other countries like Japan, Norway, Finland, and Denmark, they place considerable importance on career counseling. Career counseling is formally scheduled into the school day in nearly all secondary schools. Those countries focus not only on preparing students for four-year colleges but for vocational school as well, based on their skills, aptitudes, and interests.

References

Harvard Pathways to Prosperity Pdf
https://www.gse.harvard.edu/sites/default/files/documents/Pathways_to_Prosperity_Feb2011-1.pdf

John Molloy Amazon.com
http://www.amazon.com/Molloys-Live-Success-John-Molloy/dp/0688004121

https://www.brookings.edu/blog/brown-center-chalkboard/2019/07/03/rural-schools-need-career-counselors-too/




CEO Advises Student Entrepreneurs

Do Not Mistake Being in School for Getting a Good Education
SEO entrepreneur Joshua Steimle, who is planning to study for his PH.D, counsels students to figure out whether they want to become entrepreneurs, and be aware that the traditional educational model is only one way…

http://www.donloper.com/business-and-entrepreneurship/my-advice-for-student-entrepreneurs.html

http://www.mwi.com/




Reality TV & Budding Entrepreneurs

Myths & Lessons  
Popular, competitive industries and related concepts provide inspiration for top TV cable shows. The food industry, for example, has provided a rich source of ideas. Here are a few examples:

Food/Restaurant
Restaurant Impossible
Each week, an episode showcases how a hopeful entrepreneur bought a restaurant, yet failed to learn, beforehand, how to operate it successfully.

It’s not a program for viewers with weak stomachs. Many beginners are using their life savings or retirement funds, mortgaging their homes, or borrowing from family members to start a business they know little or absolutely nothing about managing.

Budding restaurateurs seem to think running an eatery is easy, or they’ll learn the ropes after they open for business.
Two expensive myths that result in a high failure rate in the competitive  industry.

The Great Food Truck Race
The mobile restaurant program illustrates how many things can go wrong while trying to sell food on the street; from a flat tire to faulty gas burners.
It’s a seemingly simple, low-cost way to enter the restaurant business that is anything but simple.

Chopped
Each show features common, odd, and interesting food ingredients from around the world. Chefs compete against each other to dream up and prepare a winning appetizer, main course, or dessert within 20-30 minutes after opening a mystery basket of ingredients.

There is a catch; of course… Each basket contains weird food combinations. For instance, one show featured a dessert round with red jalapenos, cream cheese, Sharonfruit, and short bread.
An environment in which participants have to think, create, and produce results rapidly in order to succeed.

Shark Tank/Money
Struggling business owners and budding entrepreneurs agree to become chum in the venture capital shark tank in return for possible financing, contacts and mentoring. Shark Tank has been on the air for several seasons, yet some hopefuls still appear on the program ill-equipped to present their proposal with financial numbers that will be attractive to the sharks.

Common myth: I don’t need to understand 
the financial aspects of the business because my idea is great!

The Fashion Industry
Project Runway
For some with a passion for fashion design, the glamour, glitz, and high-level creativity can create a hellish nightmare if one is ill-equipped to handle the stress and strain of the industry.

Despite a high degree of talent, some designers flee the demands of the industry (on and off the show).

Although there is a degree of hype in some of these programs, it’s a useful inside look at situations in specific industries.

Note: If you are  seeking insider information on other industries, such as farming or plumbing, I suspect those shows are not on the fall TV schedule.

References
http://www.foodnetwork.com/restaurant-impossible/index.html
https://nichecreativity.com/?p=384 

http://www.foodnetwork.com/the-great-food-truck-race/index.html

http://www.foodnetwork.com/chopped/index.html

http://www.mylifetime.com/shows/project-runway
https://nichecreativity.com/?p=755

http://abc.go.com/shows/shark-tank
https://nichecreativity.com/?p=478