You know something….every single time I tell folk that I work with teen entrepreneurs they are like, ‘yea, that’s nice…sounds interesting.’ Let me make something clear to you grown ups out there-
There is a surge of radical new businesses being developed by people under 18 EVERY DAY.
Do you know what the most valuable asset in your business will be in the next five years?
Your email marketing list! Yes, I know it may be difficult to believe right now, but imagine if you were a baker who acquired tons of clients throughout the years and, all of a sudden, something called the Atkins anti-carbohydrate craze comes along? Sure you could come up with an alternative carb-free product, but how could you quickly get in contact with all the people you sold to throughout the years to let them know before they bought into the hype and took their business elsewhere?
Want to know how emerging teen small business owners can compete in the global marketplace…AND WIN? Then today’s post and article is for you!
Many people are quick to tell you what you need to do in order to succeed in business. But not so many people are explaining what not to do. And as it happens, knowing what to avoid, the common mistakes made by so many people who’ve failed at fulfilling their vision and living their dreams, is at least as critical for success as knowing what to do. Because of that, I’ve put together this handy and invaluable list of the 7 big 21st Century no-no’s (aka ‘The Small Business Disruptors 2.0′) in making your small business work for you. You’ve heard all the “Do’s”, these are the “Don’ts”, and whatever you do, don’t you forget them! Brouhaha 
Have you any idea of the power of marketing via a free press release? Ok, so you’ve heard of it but you don’t know what it is. Understood. So let me tell you in simple terms what it is. A press release is a written document (usually one page) that makes an important or special announcement about your company. And in simple terms, here’s is why you need to send them out- this is how the newspaper and public can easily find you. And the smaller your company the more important esp. if you can’t afford things like newspaper and yellow pages advertisements. The press release will show the world that YOU EXIST! (more…)
Hey,
As you very well know I’m all about teenagers who are making money not babies, that’s for sure. So it’s not like I’m encouraging you to be deviantly exploratory or even do that kind of ‘feely touchy full contact sport’ for that matter– I’m just sayin’, lol ;-) As a matter of fact, believe it or not I did not have my first kissy-touchy boyfriend until I was almost 19. Let me tell you, the anticipation building up to the big day not to mention his sales hype was so overrated. And how does this pertain to business?:
Underpromise and overdeliver.
That’s the point I’m getting at. You feel me yo’?
But never mind that, the subject of today’s post is taken from a cleverly titled fun article written by none other than the wild and crazy Mr. Michalowicz. Isn’t he hilarious? Check out the full article here: http://tinyurl.com/5gf9cl
Fake it til you make it….aka Bootstrapping for Teen Entrepreneurs! It seems as if the bootstrapping theme is popping up everywhere these days. Perhaps it has something to do with the downturn of the economy which should be a non-issue of the ultimate Renegade CEO. If nothing else, you should actually be doing better during ’recessions’ not worse. Because people want help and easier ways to do things. So stick with your niche (special product or service for special people) and you will do fine. AnyWHO, Last month I wrote an article called Po’ No’ Mo, How Teens Under Age 16 Can Make Money (see below) and in the last week there has been a Video Blog post by Mike Michalowicz called Living in Mom’s Room, lol, (video follows this post) and now my friend Jamila White’s new blog “Bootstrap Babes” (www.bootstrapbabes.com) has inspired an article in Entrepreneur Magazine (August 2008) entitled ‘Get Your Money’s Worth’ http://tinyurl.com/5u3f7e Most of these tips can be used by teen entrepreneurs with the exception of the credit card one, however here are 5 tips that ALL teens can use to get their business started today with little or no start up money:
En su libro gran éxito de ventas a nivel internacional Realillonario: Nueve Pasos para Volverse Rico desde el Interior, el Dr. Farrah Gray, un millonario con sus propios esfuerzos desde que tenía 14 años, cuenta como en uno de sus muchos negocios, pintaba rocas y las vendía puerta a puerta como cuña para puertas por $1.50 la unidad cuando tenía solo 9 años.
Mark Widawer of Landing Pages (www.trafficandconversion.com) made a great post this week in response to a ’sketchy’ post that respected marketing expert, Seth Godin, made last week about Online Tipping. Seth Godin is a credible and respected master of marketing. He is the founder of squidoo.com, has a high traffic website, has sold tons of books, ebooks and the like and has spoken at conferences and trade shows and all the rest of it. His post was about showing appreciation for a blogger by clicking through to one of their online banner ads. Well perhaps it didn’t come out quite the way as intended (I am not sure how it was intended) but bottom line if you are asking people esp your clients and prospective clients no less (who might mimick some of your ideas) to click on google ads and paid banners etc this borders on what is called “click thru fraud”. As you well know, fraud is not a good term to use no matter how you try to phrase it in a sentence. What I especially liked…. (more…)
Andrew Richard Gale is an 18 year old emerging CEO from Southern California. He loves surfing, art and the easy going culture of life in Southern Cali but he doesn’t necessarily like the struggles and stress that oftentimes comes with the upkeep of his social networking sites, driving traffic to his blog and trying to create new business. So in today’s post we are going to review his blog and see if we can help him out a little: www.businessguideblog.com
Yes, pretty much everybody who has a blog or online marketing presence wants to drive tons of traffic to it. But the most important thing is not getting traffic but…
Lazer Bearings launched their new ad campaign and slogan today- “Roll Faster” . I know they say that silicone ceramic nitride bearings are faster than just any ol’ bearings, but you know….just got me thinking 
