Today’s guest post is by long timeWebMakeMoney.com reader Jack Dawson of RemoteDBA.

Jack is a web developer and UI/UX specialist. He likes to share knowledge and points of view with other Oracle developers and consumers on platforms.

Take it away Jack…

Are you a budding entrepreneur and/or do you feel like you have what it takes to make it in the volatile world of business?

You most likely said yes and, this is understandable considering nearly everyone wants to own a business and become the next billionaire on Forbes.

Wait!

If this a simple task, why is everyone not creating a tech startup and moving on to becoming the next Zuckerberg or Larry Page? The cold truth is that succeeding as an entrepreneur is tough.

The United States Association for Small Business and Entrepreneurship (U.S SBA) reckons over 66% of startups fail within the first year of launch. What’s more, Entrepreneur’ Organization (EO) says over 50% of startups started in 2014 will not survive this tumultuous business environment up to 2016.

In order to survive then, you have to be open to failing and learning new things every day.

Over the last decade I’ve made note of the most important lessons I’ve learned on the way to entrepreneurial success and outlined them here.

From tips by the best in business, such as Bill Gates and Warren Buffet, to entrepreneurial bodies such as Collegiate Entrepreneurs’ Organization (CEO), Forbes, U.S SBA® and Entrepreneur’ Organization (EO), among others, the list is an invaluable comprehensive handbook.

Here you go:

21 Tips to Help You Chart Success in Enterprise

#1. Ask For Advice

Are you usually the smartest guy in the room? If so, you’re in the wrong room.

If you look at the most successful 20^th century entrepreneurs, it might seem like they are lone rangers but they aren’t. From Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg, the late Steve Jobs and Victoria Beckham to Michael Jordan, mentorship is a fact they all mention and is what enabled them to get where they are. You can get advice from financial institutions, professionals and industry gurus, among others, but the bottom line is the fact that you have to seek advice before making major moves.

#2. Get Others To Do The Work For You

Just about every successful entrepreneur on earth utilizes the skills and knowledge of others in order to accomplish goals. An easy way to get other people check things off your to do list for you, is to hire a virtual assistant.

Here are the top sources to hire a great VA:

• AwesomeWeb.com
• EasyOutsource.com
• BestJobs.ph
• Odesk.com

What’s more is that just about every successful business in the 21st century has a web presence, even if it’s just a simple landing page.

If you need to establish your brand or simply improve your current website, hire the best developers and designers who could’ve started yesterday from AwesomeWeb.com!

#3. Admit Mistakes and Move On

To err is human, and as an entrepreneur, do not expect to be infallible. Successful entrepreneurs that you admire today made major mistakes in the course of their journey. What sets a successful entrepreneur apart from the rest is the fact that they are willing to admit a mistake and build on the lesson to become even better. SeaBear once outsourced its customer care and Mondello the owner had to cancel the deal after millions of complaints.

#4. Do Not Settle

Pete Cashmore of Mashable credits past mistakes for the success of the web-oriented news platform. When TechCrunch sold to AOL, Cashmore decided to hang on and today who is bigger between the two? Success in entrepreneurship doesn’t come if you want overnight success, even Zuckerberg had to ward off hundreds of mouthwatering offers; but just look at Facebook today.

#5. Keep A To-Do-List

Sounds easy enough, but before moving on, just ask yourself what you’re going to do in the next two weeks within your enterprise. If you have no idea, then your venture is fast hurtling towards failure. Planning isn’t easy as you have to analyze every business situation, research and compile data on what you’re about to do.

When Bill Gates decided to snub Nokia, what many never knew was that this was a decision the company had all along. Today, the company is laughing all the way to the bank with Microsoft Windows phones causing a buzz.

Here are the top 10 to do list managers for entrepreneurs.

#6. Maintain Positive Relationships

When it comes to business, your networking capability will either make or break you. At a glance, you might not think minor relationships matter, but a few down the line, like that supplier you treated badly, might end up as the only one who can bail you out one day.

In essence, make sure you don’t burn bridges as these relationships can open doors. 

“Quality relationships hold the key to the kingdom.”

#7. Maintain A Social Presence Offline and Online

Ever heard of Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger? Most likely not, but you’re likely using their innovative product which is Instagram. Yes, these genius entrepreneurs ensured that everyone could upload photos and share them in an instant and it wasn’t easy.

According to Forbes, their success rests in their efforts to be accessible, available and ever-present online and offline. To succeed today, connect with your community, provide social platform widgets in any resource you have and make sure everyone wants to know about your brand.

Social Media Manager PRO is a great tool to help you build and monetize your social empire.

#8. Improve Your Communication With Customers and Employees

Delightful customer and employee experience is the magic wand you need to succeed in business according to Tim O’Shaughnessy of the LivingSocial phenomenon. Uber’s Garrett Camp also credits their intensive communication campaigns all along the business chain as a major reason for the global success of the taxi app.

Whatever business you’re in, it is critical to ensure there are constant updates and responses to customer issues. Your employees must also be in the know about products and services in order to market them effectively.

#9. Be Kind – It’s a Sign of Strength

Success in entrepreneurship should not translate into coldness and apathy towards society. Just look at celebrities such as George Clooney who dedicate time and money to worthy causes across the globe. 

Your community is the source of your success and giving back is a sign of strength.

#10. Never Procrastinate

If it needs to be done, it has to be done now and there is no other way about it; this is according to David Karp who is the Tumblr entrepreneur. These are words that are repeated thousands of times according to U.S SBA. In all its mentorship programs, the organization says time wastage is cited 94% of the time as a cause of business failure.

#11. Devour Business  Books

Have you read Tony Hsieh’s “Delivering Happiness” or maybe Eric Ries’ “The Lean Startup?” If you think books are a waste of time, just give Bill Gates a call and ask for his opinion. Most likely the billionaire is devouring the latest release by investment gurus, yet he has already made it. Books open your horizon and show you new opportunities even where you thought none existed.

#12. Know Your Worth

This is where most startups get it wrong, according to Entrepreneur’ Organization (EO). Your skills are the biggest asset and so are your employees, business goals and all those strengths you listed in your business. As such, make sure you know what you are worth even as you continue accumulating assets and liabilities.

#13. Be A Present Listener

In 2012, Forbes invited readers to ask top entrepreneurs questions on success. From Drew Houston and Arash Ferdowsi of DropBox, Bill Gates, Larry Page and others, listening skills featured 92% of the time in revealing their main strengths. If you are a present listener, you are bound to learn more than when such information comes to you second hand. Customers also appreciate it more when you listen actively.

#14. Be a Keen Market Student 

Studying competition, marketplace, trends, innovations, global politics and other pertinent issues is an indispensible practice for a successful entrepreneur. It is an ever-ending process that makes you ready for change.

When Facebook snapped up WhatsApp for $19 billion, the market was shocked, but this was a decision Zuckerberg was making after studying the voracious nature of affordable messaging by internet users. It is a sure way to make judgment at the right time.

#15. Give 100% of Your Effort In All That You Do

Passion is what got my business where it is today. These are words from sporting billionaire Michael Jordan, also considered the greatest basketballer of all times. To make it as an entrepreneur, according to Katerina Gasset an online entrepreneur, you have to identify something you are quite passionate about and then go ahead and make it your business.

#16. Take Time Off and Get Sleep

They say all work without play makes Jack a dull boy. Well, in business, you don’t want to be dull in a world where competition is akin to the Amazon Jungle. You must make time for play in order to unwind and look back at where you have come from. 

This time is instrumental in recouping your fortunes and also bonding with family, friends and employees who can give incredible insight on your business. You will always come back more reinvigorated.

Here are 3 unknown tips to improve sleep.

#17. Pay Attention To Detail

Everything that goes into your business has an impact on your success. As such, make sure you have an eagle’s eye over everything that is going on. When negotiating, ensure you have legal and financial experts to extrapolate technicalities and make things clearer lest you end up in legal murk, which portends failure.

#18. Work In Chunks

Andrew Cravenho, CEO of CBAC Funding argues that an entrepreneur cannot be everything or do all at one time. To make it in enterprise, you have to do things in bits and accept your skills cannot cover the whole organization. Arranging business expansion in systematic chunks, for instance, is a sure way to success as opposed to doing it all together.

#19. Set and Meet Deadlines

Secret to my success? Setting and meeting deadlines even if it means staying awake for days; this is according to Adam D’Angelo of Quora who quit Facebook to start the Q & A platform. If you have no deadlines then you are bound to fail in business as you will be sailing rudderless on stormy waters.

#20. Focus On Helping People Before The Money

“Forget your wallet first” is a clarion call by most successful entrepreneurs including Cathrine and David Cook of myYearBook.com and Trip Adler of Scribd. You should focus on building a customer base, reputation, recognition and loyalty. Money, according to Warren Buffet, follows after.

#21. Get Involved in Your Business

Leaders lead through service, and to succeed as an entrepreneur, be ready to get your hands dirty. U.S SBA® reports over 47% of startups fail when owners rest on their laurels. Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg goes to work daily as does Bill Gates of Microsoft, among other successful entrepreneurs. Why should you leave others to run the show?

There you are; all you have to do now is apply these skills and voila! You will be on your path to entrepreneurial success.

If you enjoyed this, than I’d definitely check out the 15 things you should give up to be successful.

The post 21 Tips to Make You a Successful 21st Century Entrepreneur appeared first on Young Entrepreneurs.

Here are ten billion dollar companies or corporations that didn’t start with business plans.

Google

2014 Revenue: $65.83 Billion

Google was started as a class project by Sergey Brin and Larry Page while in graduate school at Stanford in January 1996. They simply wanted to create a better search engine that ranked websites based on their relationships to one another rather than the number of times the search term existed on the page.

Google wasn’t even a company until 32 months later when they incorporated in September 1998 so they could hire their first employee.

Yahoo!

2014 Revenue: $4.6 Billion

Yahoo! was started as “David and Jerry’s Guide to the World Wide Web” by Jerry Yang and David Filo (also Stanford graduate students) in February 1994. Their solution to finding information on the internet was to create a directory of websites, as opposed to a searchable index of pages.

It was just two dudes creating a database of websites they found and liked.

This is a quote about the history of Yahoo! from Yahoo.com:

“Due to the torrent of traffic and enthusiastic reception Yahoo! was receiving, the founders knew they had a potential business on their hands. In March 1995, the pair incorporated the business and met with dozens of Silicon Valley venture capitalists. They eventually came across Sequoia Capital, the well-regarded firm whose most successful investments included Apple Computer, Atari, Oracle and Cisco Systems. They agreed to fund Yahoo! in April 1995 with an initial investment of nearly $2 million.”

Apple

2014 Revenue: $182.35 Billion

Apple got its start in 1976 when Steve Wozniak convinced Steve Jobs to sell the Apple I Computer. So Jobs took the computer to a local computer store and the owner agreed to buy 50 of the machines at $500 apiece.

Then Jobs took the purchase order to a parts distributor to order the parts they needed and proceeded to build 50 computers in 30 days. Just in time to get paid by the retailer and pay their distributor.

Apple Computers started with a few simple transactions of a quality product. Not with a business plan.

Facebook

2014 Estimated Revenue: $12.47 Billion

As most of you probably know, Facebook was started by Mark Zuckerberg in February 2004 as a social networking site for his fellow Harvard students. They didn’t incorporate until later that summer.

Like Google and Yahoo!, it wasn’t a business so it didn’t need a business plan. It was just a promising idea that created a growing community with big potential.

General Electric

2014 Revenue: $148.94 Billion

General Electric was founded in 1890 by Thomas Edison as a vehicle to sell his inventions. Edison had been inventing for 14 years prior to founding the company. Some of his 1,000+ inventions included the incandescent light bulb, motion picture camera, and alkaline storage battery.

From an entrepreneurial perspective, Edison created over 1,000 products before he started his company. Maybe he could’ve benefited from a business plan. But maybe that would’ve thwarted his inventing.

This is my favorite Thomas Edison quote and an incredible lesson in entrepreneurship:

“I never perfected an invention that I did not think about in terms of the service it might give others… I find out what the world needs, then I proceed to invent.”

Disney

2014 Revenue: $48.81 Billion

If you read about the 10 World Famous Companies that Started in Garages, you’ll know that the world’s largest media conglomerate had humble beginnings. Walt Disney started the company with his brother Roy as a creative studio with a character named Alice.

They started filming the Alice Comedies, which was part of Alice’s Wonderland, and sold their short films to a distributor.

No business plan required.

Pepsi

2014 Revenue: $66.68 Billion

What is now PepsiCo started back in 1898 when a pharmacist and drugstore owner named Caleb Bradham invented a fountain drink he called “Brad’s Drink.” He sold the concoction in his store, so he was his own distributor.

Pepsi got its big break in 1909 when automobile racer, Barney Oldfield, endorsed the drink as, “a bully drink…refreshing, invigorating, a fine bracer before a race.”

It took 11 years to hit their big break. Maybe a business plan would’ve expedited that process, but I believe it’s best to let businesses grow naturally rather than trying to rush things.

Nike

2014 Revenue: $27.79 Billion

Nike’s roots started in 1962 when its company’s founder, Philip Knight, graduated from the University of Oregon and decided to travel across Japan. While in school, Knight was a star track athlete. During his visit to Japan, he came across Onitsuka Tiger Co and offered to import their shoes so he could resell them in the US.

To satisfy the Japanese company’s request, he filed a company and named it Blue Ribbon Sports. They didn’t change their name to Nike, Inc. until 1978.

Cisco

2014 Revenue: $47.14 Billion

Cisco started in 1984 when the manager of the Stanford computer science laboratory, Leonard Bosack, wanted to communicate with his wife, Sandra Lerner, from across campus. Bosack devised a way to connect the two local area networks which later became the inspiration for the multi-protocol router.

That year they mortgaged their house, deferred their salaries, and hired their friends so they could sell this internetworking technology. Three years later they were selling $250,000 worth of routers per month.

Walmart

2014 Revenue: $485.65 Billion

After working in retail stores across the country, Sam Walton opened “Walton’s Five and Dime” in Bentonville, Arkansas in 1945 with a $20,000 loan from his father-in-law and another $5,000 of his personal savings.

The first Wal-Mart Discount City store didn’t open until 17 years later in Rogers, Arkansas.

Walmart was successful because of Sam Walton’s experience and disruptive philosophy within the retail industry, not because of a business plan.

What’s the Point?

Just because many of the world’s most successful businesses didn’t start with a business plan doesn’t mean the business plan is an worthless tool. But it does prove that it’s not necessary.

If you want to start a business, start with a simple idea that can help a lot of people. Create something out of that idea and let it grow naturally.

A business plan could and probably would help, but don’t let it get in the way of creating.

The post 10 Billion Dollar Companies that Didn’t Start with Business Plans appeared first on Young Entrepreneurs.

Whether your business is brand new or even if you’ve been around for a while, customer support is something that can always be improved.

Remember your customers are people who expect and deserve your respect, assistance and gratitude.

Here are 10 ways to instantly improve customer support:

Be Positive

You want your company to make people feel special. You’ll accomplish this by appearing eager to solve your customers’ problems.

Any type of snarky attitude, rude remark, or condescending tone may cost you a customer and future sells. It’s said that on average a customer is likely to share a stellar support experience with up to 3 people and up to 20 people if the support experience was poor… Make sure every experience is a pleasant one – even if it’s a refund request. 

Here are some ways to maintain a positive persona:

• Always greet your customers with a warm welcome and a smile.
• Help customers ask for help (ie: Do you have any questions? Is there anything else I can help with?)
• Love the unhappy customer. (ie: I am sorry for the trouble you’re having)
• Always say thank you.
• Be patient.

Set Expectations

Don’t leave your customer support to chance. It’s a good idea and beneficial for both your team and customers if there’s a level of expectancy.

There are several parameters of superb support to address with your team:

• Be polite.
• Have discounts ready for those who deserve it.
• Make sure every email is answered within 12 hours.
• If you use live chat, response time should always be under 1 minute. 
• Offer gifts (discounts, free products) to customers who become upset.
• Be present when interacting with customers. Verify and clarify the information you’re receiving before acting on it.

Offer Live Chat

This is something that builds a ton of trust and reputation and well as helps to increase sales. The very first week we added live chat to our sales pages, we had record sales. Our customers also started leaving positive reviews on forums that praised us for the convenience of the new live chat.

We use SnapEngage for our live chat. They allow you to set the chat box to appear after any amount of time and you can also set several different greetings to appear to your visitors which allows you to see which get’s the most interactions.

I also like SnapEngage because it shows you the location, time of day and weather of each person that interacts with you. This means you can personalize the experience with something as simple as saying “goodmorning,” or “goodnight” or “staying dry out there today?” when appropriate. This can put people at ease and disarm potentially confrontational customers. 

Clearly Display Working Hours

People need to know exactly how and when they can get ahold of you. Prominently display your working hours and customer support hours on your contact page, home page or any place that your customers are likely to see on their very first visit. 

Make It Easy To Find Support / Contact Page

If you’re a digital marketer your contact page should be clearly visible from the homepage of your website. You want people to know that you stand behind everything you offer and that you’re available to help. At the end of the day a business needs to make money, true, but it’s a service first and foremost, so serve!

Offer A Phone Number / Voice Message Service

There are still some people who don’t trust email or even live chat and strongly prefer to get in touch with somebody via phone. In the event that there is an urgent concern, an email response just isn’t quick enough for some people.

Offering a phone number or voice message service is a great practice for trust building and a strong sign of good faith for your existing and potential customers.

Have FAQ’s

Always include a FAQ (frequently asked questions) section for your business and products. People are desperate for answers and one way to satisfy this is by anticipating their questions. Gather as many Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) for your website as possible.

Start by asking your team what common questions they receive about your products and services daily.

Here are some questions you may consider answering in a FAQ section:

• How to install?
• How quickly will I see results?
• What are your working hours?
• List of steps to fix common errors.
• How to get started for the first time?
• How is ______ different from other systems?
• What requirements do I need for your product or service?
• Can ______ use the system? (Lawyers, men, women, students etc)
• Who is ______ (name of founder, owner or business) and where did ______ (name of system, name of service etc) come from?
• Can the ______ (Name of system, product or service) be used to ______? (Solve common problem of your users)

Include a specific location for FAQs such as a knowledge base or literally a “FAQ” page.

With PopUp Domination all of our frequently asked questions are found in the knowledge base. Everything from solutions for common errors to install instructions can be found in our knowledge base. Not only is this a convenient resource for our customers, but it’s also a selling point.

A well-thought FAQ section shows we care and puts people at ease. 

Have Resources Ready

You never want to feel or look like you’ve been caught off guard with customers. They want to know you have everything under control. The best way to exhibit this control is by having several resources related to your product or service ready to go.

For instance, great customer support preparedness means having:

• List of FAQs.
• Affiliate links.
• Links to related articles.
• Links to related complimentary products.
• Common phrases and responses ready to go (for live chat).

Make Sure It’s A Priority

If you want your business to be successful, you must produce happy and satisfied customers.

Customer support should never be put off – ever. From the CEO all the way to the new tech, customer service should be the priority of every person in the company. Remember that if not for your customers, you would not have a business. Your (happy) customers are the lifeline and best advertising for your company so be sure to give them the respect, attention and priority they deserve.

Use A Ticket System

With high traffic businesses the support requests can flood in, even when things are going “good.” We use Desk for our tech support system and love it. My favorite features about Desk are the easy ability to track down previous users tickets (via their built in filtering options) and the use of predefined response templates, which save a ton of time.

Having a ticket system in place not only makes things easier for your team and your customers, but it also provides security for your tech team when sensitive information is being exchanged. 

Practicing great customer support greatly improves your odds of closing a deal and gaining repeat business which means increased sales and profits. It’s much more expensive to acquire customers rather than retain them.

The customer experience is the next competitive battleground. ~ Jerry Gregoire

The post 10 Ways to Instantly Improve Customer Support appeared first on Young Entrepreneurs.

Effective business owners know the importance of detailed scheduling, yet often don’t have the time to waste on complicated task managers. That’s why a software oriented solution for task management can be invaluable to a busy entrepreneur.

There are several high quality solutions available. We’ll take a look at the top 10 to do list managers that are perfect for entrepreneurs from all walks of life.

10 To Do List Managers For Entrepreneurs

#1. Wunderlist

Wunderlist is a mobile app designed to simplify task management for all areas of your life. It can be used to plan your personal life, covering things like grocery lists or your vacation itinerary. More importantly, it helps track your work tasks and merge them in with your personal life for seamless integration.

Some noteworthy features are:

• Integrates due dates and reminders
• Syncs with multiple devices in real time
• Creates shareable lists that others can access
• Integrates conversations over task points
• Helps break down tasks into smaller to-do lists

wunderlist.com

#2. Trello

Trello aims to provide a single solution to replace organization spreadsheets, sticky notes, paper to-do lists, complicated project management software, and even disorganized email conversations.

It uses a visual board to help organize your life, turning a boring list into something that looks more like Pinterest than a daunting task list. This visual approach makes Trello ideal for sharing to-do lists with a team, staff, or assistant to help communicate ideas to multiple people.

Trello uses “cards” to represent tasks, and follows an almost social media style commentary platform to allow mini conversations over individual tasks. Keeping this communication in one place helps simplify project management.

trello.com

#3. Moo.do

Moo.do is designed to be a simple as possible organizational to-do list system. It’s perfect for entrepreneurs who want an easy, no-nonsense approach to time management. It works on a priority method, placing important tasks higher than less critical activities that could stand to wait a while.

In this sense, it helps you make sure you accomplish your most important goals first, and take care of the rest later on. It uses notes and date planning, along with collaboration via social media, to keep your projects on time and on budget.

moo.do

#4. Todoist

Todoist is a free task manager that has over two million users at the time of writing this. It works on 13 different types of devices, so you can easily integrate your schedule in an automatically synced manner between your phone, tablet, laptop, desktop, and practically any other electronic device.

It features:

• The ability to choose to keep a task private, or share with your team
• Commentary to discuss task details within the application itself
• Simple, easy to use design to save time
• Set recurring tasks for regular events
• Multiple levels of color coded priorities

en.todoist.com

#5. Basecamp

Basecamp is one of the most popular project management solutions. It works on the computer, mobile phones, tablets, and even has email integration to work project management directly into your existing email communication platform.

It uses a combination of visual representations and basic lists. It is aesthetically pleasing, but in a minimalism way – it represents data and tasks nicely without being overwhelming to use.

As one of the largest corporate choices for project management, Basecamp has extensive customer support options, so it can be a very easy chose for a team who desires hands on support to get up and running.

basecamp.com

#6. Reminders App (iOS)

Another option for basic task management is the Reminders app that’s built into Apple’s iOS. This is more basic than a full-blown app, but it can be ideal for someone who just wants a basic method to stay on top of their tasks.

Simply open the app and set reminders for various tasks. You set the time of each activity, and when you’d like to be reminded (such as 5 minutes before a conference call). It doesn’t offer the advanced features of other apps, but it can be the right solution for some entrepreneurs.

support.apple.com

#7. Asana

Asana is designed to help teams stay on task when dealing with projects. The goal of this solution is to replace clunky email conversations with an easier solution. It details projects and unites team members through communication by segmenting conversations into specific tasks or sub-tasks.

asana.com

#8. Google Calendar

If you have a gmail account, you may find it easiest to use Google Calendar. It lacks advanced functionality, but can keep track of tasks by date and remind you via email or text before an event occurs.

google.com/calendar/

#9. Any.do

Any.do is nice because it’s available on iOS, Android, and as a Google Chrome extension. You can have your task list available as part of your browser, allowing for effective time management while staying on task with web based projects. It syncs to your phone, so when you walk away from your desk you can still stay organized.

any.do

#10. HabitRPG

This solution is a bit different from the rest. HabitRPG aims to turn your to-do list into a fun game. It gives you points for tasks successfully completed, and removes health for deadlines missed. It can be a fun way to turn your boring projects into a goal to “level up” as you complete tasks.

habitrpg.com

Don’t underestimate the power of to-do list managers. 

As my friend Clement Yeung elegantly put it,

“keep in mind that a platform is just a tool—the goal of the platform is to assist the organization and the staff to scale. Scale by implementing systems (a catalogue of processes designed to carry out repetitive tasks as efficiently as possible) and workflows (the resources required to carry out processes effectively). So, whether its Trello, Asana, Basecamp, Wunderlist or a piece of scrap paper, make sure you’re using it as part of a bigger system and workflow, and you’ll see a big improvement in the productivity and growth of your organisation—not to mention people will feel happier and lighter in your company.”

Sometimes all we need is some added structure in order to maximize our potential to be highly productive.

The post 10 To Do List Managers For Entrepreneurs appeared first on Young Entrepreneurs.

Here’s our list of the five biggest mistakes entrepreneurs make when looking to get media coverage for their company… and how you can avoid them like a pro.

Five Biggest Media Coverage Mistakes Of Entrepreneurs

Mistake #1: Having No Idea What To Say

It’s important to remember that news outlets are businesses too; businesses that trade in valuable and important information: News.

In that sense, PR is largely about convincing writers and editors that the information you want to give them is information their audience will find interesting and important.

The benchmark for news should be,

“Why would this piece of information matter to anyone not already a customer?”

If there’s no ready answer to that question, you may have something to say, but it’s not newsworthy.

Media coverage doesn’t come down to who you happen to know. It’s achieved, overwhelmingly, through concentrated, well-planned campaigns to attract attention.

As a starting place, think about,

“What do I have to share about my business that is interesting?”

Here are some examples of announcements that you can use:

• Launches – you’re starting your business or releasing a new product.
• Fundraising – you’ve just raised $10,000 on kickstarter.
• Milestones – your company turns 5!, surpasses 10,000 users, gains 50,000 followers on Twitter, etc.
• Acquisitions – your company acquires, or is acquired by, another company.
• Joining a cool club or receiving an award.

Don’t forget that social media is still media and here are 10 reasons why you suck at it.

Mistake #2: Being Shy 

Most of us understand that if you send your pitch to 200 journalists who have been carefully selected by geography, news outlet and general area of interest, you’re much more likely to get press coverage than not.

But telling people about your business doesn’t stop there.  You can also:

• Contact journalists on Twitter or LinkedIn
• Send your pitch through to the “info@,” “tips@” and other general tip lines too.  For example, at one time, major tech news site VentureBeat got half its pitches via the “tips” line.
• Go to events like trade shows, where you might get to meet journalists in person.

Also don’t be afraid to politely follow-up a couple of days later with the same person. Sometimes journalists miss stories that they’d otherwise like because they get upwards of 200 emails a day.

Mistake #3: Being Rude

Good media coverage is a partnership made between two businesses, not an entitlement gifted to businesses or PR firms by some separate entity called “the media.”

In all your interactions with journalists, a little politeness goes a long way. When you consider that journalists receive dozens of pitches every day, you’ve got to stand out from the crowd… Use phrases like,

“If you’re too busy to reply, please don’t worry about it.”

This seems like common sense, but the sad reality is that you can stand apart from the crowd by being very polite and going out of your way to make things as easy as possible for the journalist.

There’s nothing that will turn a journalist off your story faster than starting to argue why a story is “actually news.”  If you haven’t managed to convince them already, no amount of phone calls or emails will make them “see reason.”

Mistake #4: Not Putting Time Into Your Pitch Email

When contacting reporters, remember that you’re not speaking to a computer – there’s a person behind the email, which is easy to forget when you are sending out dozens of emails at a time.

You are going to get the best results when you address a reporter as you would a friend, and emails that appear spammy are ignored.

As much as possible, emails should be personalized, cordial, and professional. Reporters want to write about serious entrepreneurs with promising futures.

Generic emails like the following off-put journalists and relegate your post to the trash:

“To whom it may concern, we thought this might be of interest to you.”

The formality and lack of personalization is off-putting. An email with the following beginning is much more likely to resonate:

“Hi Joe, Andrew here, I saw that we have a mutual acquaintance and she thought this story might interest you.”

The following email is a template to use when contacting journalists. The information will change depending on the announcement of the company. If you decide to use a similar format, remember that this should be personalized as much as possible.

Hi “Individual’s Name”,

My name is “Your Name”. I founded a (Ex: Boston-based) tech startup called (Company Name) that’s launching today, and am emailing to see if you would be interested in writing an article about the launch.

“Company Name” was created to help people discover and promote live events with others. Our product, which is an iPhone app, is free for users on the iTunes App Store. I have below our Press release and I am happy to follow up with any information over email or by phone.

Thank you for your time and energy.

Cheers,

“Your Name”

Founder, “Company”

Mobile: “Your Phone Number”

Make sure your emails get read – here are 12 powerful tips to increase email open rate.

Mistake #5: Forgetting To Connect

Remember to always be respectful of a journalist’s time.

Under no circumstance is it a good idea to email a journalist with an open ended question that requires a long response.

If you don’t know the journalist personally, do not immediately ask to meet for coffee. Coffee takes more than 30 minutes and disrupts a person’s day.

The best way to connect with journalists is to show that you understand their time is valuable and that although you would like to meet, you do not want to be a burden.

Although most of this is common sense, these are mistakes made every day by smart, savvy business people. Now that you’ve seen five of the top mistakes you can make when pitching to journalists, you can avoid making them.

How do you get media coverage for your startups? Help empower fellow entrepreneurs in the comments below.

The post Five Biggest Media Coverage Mistakes Of Entrepreneurs appeared first on Young Entrepreneurs.

If you read the book “Built to Sell” by John Warrilow, which I highly recommend. He talks about a 1-2 year exit process. While this is necessary for larger companies, it isn’t always necessary for online businesses. However I do recommend you start thinking about an exit 6-12 months before selling.

To get the highest selling price do these things:

Extract the owner

When a business owner is the linchpin to any business, what a buyer is essentially purchasing is a job. Without the owner, the business would likely not operate, or operate poorly.  It is a fact that the more automated the business the higher the multiple. See: What makes up a million dollar online business for more tips on extracting the owner. This is because larger business, rely more on staff and systems than smaller businesses and generally they take the role of what the owner used to do when the business was in it’s early stages.

Extracting yourself as the business owner from the day-to-day operations is the key to obtaining a higher multiple when you sell your business.

 Strive to improve profit and cash flow

Buyers are more enthusiastic about buying a business that is growing. When there is upside potential people generally get emotional about the deal, and emotion is what drives buying decisions.

Not only that, but a larger profit produces a larger multiple. Let’s say you are making $200,000 in net earnings per year and a buyer offers a 3X multiple (3 times the yearly net profit) that is an offer of $600,000.

If you can squeeze 10% more margin out of your business and improve profits to $220,000. That same offer then goes from $600,000 to $660,000 at $60,000 improvement.

For Example.

We had a client that came to us with a business that was on a slight decline. It was in the technology niche. The site at it’s peak had done $60k in revenue however the month they were looking to sell it did $25k. Now if they sold the site at that time they would have receive about $400k for the business. However waiting 4 months to improve the earnings they ended up receiving $585,000 for the business, a $185,000 dollar difference.

Look for what’s recurring

In most cases the value of a business is based on what’s recurring. This can either mean recurring customers, or it can mean what the likelihood of future earnings is going to be for the business.

It is smart to identify any recurring element in your business and then highlight that in the sales process to prospective buyers. You will maximize the value of your business like this.

Standardized systems and processes

An investor see’s a business as a set of standard systems and processes that produce a product or service that is then sold for a value exchange (money), which then generates a profit for the owner.

It’s not a hobby or a job, it is a cash-generating asset. Buyers place higher value on companies that run themselves and spit out cash.

I was at a conference recently and Shark Tank investor Kevin O’Leary was talking about the best performing stocks on the stock market, are those that produce a dividend. This goes to show if you can get the systems in place to produce profit consistently you will attract higher end buyers and investors.

Get your financials in order

Haven’t finished that tax return? Still have bills overdue? Now is the time to get all that in order. Clean and orderly financials firstly make it easy to put together information when you are thinking of selling and secondly show’s the buyer how much the business is earning. The main method for valuation for an online business is a multiple of earnings, hence being able to prove profitability and higher profitability will equate to a higher sale price when selling.

Get external advice

Let’s preface this, I provide third party brokerage services so I am going to be bias. However logic says you use an accountant for your taxes and a lawyer for your legal work, a realtor for your real estate then you should probably be using a website broker or exit advisor when valuing and/or selling your company.

(Also see: Sell with a website broker) It is generally going to be easier and more profitable if you hire a third party service to advise on your online businesses value.

The post 6 Ways To Maximize Your Online Business Valuation appeared first on Young Entrepreneurs.

Take your hand off your mouse. Take your fingers off the keyboard. Pause the music in the background. Allow your eyes to read these words and your brain to process them. 

We live in a world of options. We have millions of them right before us every day. 

Whether it’s the decisions we have to make at the grocery store or the choices we have between recipes for the meals we prepare, it’s clear that we are swimming in possibilities everywhere we turn. 

All of these options pose a problem for us though. 

When was the last time you sat down to knock off an item on your checklist and found yourself 20 minutes later down the bottom of a rabbit hole of Wikipedia links or FB posts that have zero to do with your task at hand?

Not too long ago, was it? 

Not to worry, there is millions of people out there like you. People who feel lucky to go one hour without something knocking them off-task. 

There’s a simple word for this type of person: distracted. 

There are many one-step solutions available to the Distracted: go on Ritalin, eat more veggies, eat less veggies, take Adderall, sleep only 4 hours at a time, take naps, don’t take naps, and the list goes on. 

This 12-step guide won’t be your “easy-button” to increased productivity but it will give you the tools and ideas you need to get your distractions out of the way and live as your most productive self. 

This is a 2-part article. In this piece, we’ll discuss the distractions most of us deal with and some methods to rid yourself of them.  

Eliminate These 6 Distractions To Supercharge Productivity

The first thing you need to do to get off the ropes in this boxing ring of productivity is identify the things that are keeping you from getting your work done. 

There’s a couple things to remember here: be ruthless and have discipline. 

If you cannot be ruthless in identifying “time-wasters”, you will not be able to eliminate enough items. 

Similarly, if you don’t have discipline after you identify your time wasters, you will allow them back into your life. 

#1. Eliminate Unproductive People

We may as well start here. As I said, you have to be ruthless.

If you can identify your most unproductive friends or co-workers and minimize your time spent with them, pretty much everything else on this list will be a breeze. 

This is a challenging step for many people because nobody likes to be “cut off”. It is mostly unnecessary and bad for building your reputation. 

There are friendly ways to go about it. 

Imagine a co-worker that stops by your desk to chat every day at mid-morning and prolongs your work. 

You don’t have to tell her to “GO AWAY!” Simply tell her you are working on something now and ask her, “Can we catch up later?” And/or you can ask if she or he would like to get lunch sometime during the week. 

Friends outside of work are a bit more challenging. However, you should apply the same type of strategy in this situation. 

If a friend likes to call during the day, you can either ignore the call completely or ignore the call and text to let them know you can chat after work or on the weekend. 

If these solutions are the type of thing that would make your distracting friend upset with you, it’s time to tell them exactly how you are feeling about your relationship. 

If they are not willing to compromise, it’s time to find a new friend!

A good tool for keeping communication with the calls you choose to screen is most likely right on your phone. If you have an iPhone, you can use this guide and if you have an Android phone, check out this App. 

#2. Eliminate Unproductive Technology

If you’re like me, you work on your computer – a lot. So the chance for distraction is about 10 million times higher (probably more).

You also may have a tendency to type in “Face” and let Google do the rest for you. You then spend the next 10 minutes looking at nonsense events from friends and family you hardly ever see.

This next step is an obvious one. You need to eliminate the technology that does not have to do with the work you have before you.  

Unless Instagram, Twitter, video games and the like are tools you use for work, you should designate a time and a place where you use them.  

Not only does this increase productivity, it really does make using these social networks, video games, and the rest of the “fun” technology more satisfying.

If you have a problem with productivity while on your computer, check out these solutions:

Anti-Social – blocks a lot of social and email platforms to help you focus on your work. The only way to get around it is to reboot your computer. Similar to this is Self-Control. 

StayFocusd – pretty much the opposite of Anti-Social. It allows your browser access to selected sites only a certain amount of time per day. 

#3. Eliminate Email Distractions

For those of us who work from a computer for a good part of the day, email is one of the biggest time consumers there are. 

The important thing with email is setting boundaries and rules that limit the time you ALLOW yourself to spend on it. 

Respond to the most important emails first, and set a time limit for responding to the rest of them. 

If you have a lot of email coming your way, you have to be strict about your policy for responding.  Kindly ask those who you speak with regularly to include whether or not they require a response. 

Many references for great tips for email strategy can be attributed to this post by Leo Babauta. 

#4. Eliminate Unproductive Meetings

In the past, I worked at a company that held daily meetings for a specific group of people. I was early out of college and I thought it was important for me to participate in as many parts of the business as possible.

What I gained from these meetings was hardly enough to justify my presence, so I stopped attending them after a while. 

If you are a business owner, you should be limiting the amount of meetings you have. Stop talking. Not looking for excuses! Just do it. 

If you’re an employee you should ask your manager/supervisor if it’s possible for you to skip out on the meetings you find to be less beneficial. 

Here is what to say:

“Mrs. _______, I really think I will get more done ___day if I keep working during the meeting. Are you opposed to me staying at my desk to continue working? I can have ____take notes to keep me informed.”

 For more information on the lack of value in meetings, check out Seth Godin’s take on them. 

#5. Eliminate Menial Tasks

When you have a lot on your plate, getting things done is hard. If you are by yourself, it drags things out, takes longer, and ultimately makes things less pleasurable. 

This is why you should be taking on the tasks only YOU can accomplish. 

In other words, you should be reducing the amount of time you spend on things that could easily be accomplished by someone you employ now or a future employee/subordinate who you can afford to hire. 

Make a list of all the things that you do in your work. How many of them do you do on a daily basis?

How many of these tasks can you delegate to someone else? How long would it take to train someone to do them? Are you able to hire someone?

Obviously, there are costs to consider but if you are able to pay someone $10 an hour for a task that takes up 5 hours of your week it may be worth it. That all depends how you value your time.

Work on BIG things. Delegate as many “small” things as you possibly can. 

If you do not have the resources to hire a full-time or even part-time employee, you should think about getting a virtual assistant. Michael Hyatt has a great post about the values of a VA. 

Zirtual is a service that offers U.S based VA’s starting at $99/month or you can look at places like Elance or Odesk for an overseas VA for a lower cost. 

#6. Eliminate Excess ‘Entertainment’

This is quite similar to the prior mentioned directive for eliminating unproductive technology. However, some entertainment does not fall into the “technology” category so it’s best that I mention it.

We’ll use the Super Bowl as a superb example.

Did you watch the Super Bowl? If so, how long did you spend watching the game? How long did you spend preparing snacks for the game?

If you’re anything like me, you have a great group of friends who all like to get together and watch “big games” like the Super Bowl. Events typically lasting more than 3 hours. 

Waste of time, right? I definitely agree.

However, time with friends IS important. 

When you know you have events like this coming up, you should budget your time wisely prior to the event and/or after to make sure you get the important items checked off your list.  

Conclusion

If you are currently not satisfied with what you are able to accomplish in a day, you must find out what is preventing you from getting the big items completed. 

Reducing your distractions is one of the most important steps to becoming more productive.

However, being productive about more than simply getting things done. Rather, it’s about being happy with what goals you’re able to accomplish. If you’re happy and able to be productive as a distracted person, I will be the first to tell you to keep doing what you’re doing.

I also want you to remember that happiness does not come from work and work alone. Actually, it is quite the opposite. 

This is the first of a two-piece article. Since we’ve taken the time to eliminate the distractions, we now have to create a more productive you!

Talk soon,

-Luke

The post Eliminate These 6 Distractions To Supercharge Productivity appeared first on Young Entrepreneurs.

The post 7 Common Mistakes Young Entrepreneurs Make and How To Avoid Them appeared first on Young Entrepreneurs.

Sasha Gilberg – www.2XC.com

Sasha helps marketers and entrepreneurs achieve a 2XC (two times conversion) on their website, fast. He lists his biggest inspriation as his dad, Will Smith and Bill Gates. Growing up pretty poor, Sasha’s biggest initial inspiration was to create a better life for his family, and at the age of 16, a motivational speaker came to his school, led a talk and finished his talk by saying “Don’t worry if you don’t know what you wanna do, just pick your dream car to get started” – so he picked a Porsche 911 Turbo. With that set in his mind, at the age of 18, he set himself a target of owning that very car by the age of 21, and he soon realised that it would only be possible through success in business. It’s this goal that he’s set himself that has motivated him to push himself harder than he had done before, and inspired him to keep persisting when times got tough.

The entrepreneurs that inspired him the most are Ruslan Kogan, and Siimon Reynolds, and his favourite quote, “Stop waiting for things to happen. Go out and make them happen”

Jack Ross – www.grackleapp.com

Jack is an iPhone app developer, and currently has an app named Grackle available on the App Store. It’s a fun game in which you are a farmer and birds are attacking your farm. As you progress the birds get more dificult, but your weapons get bigger and better.

He lists his biggest inspiration as his brother. – “When he was four years old, he set the goal of becoming a fighter pilot for the Navy. Nearly 17 years later, he is studying aerospace engineering and on the fast track to flying jets. He has never given up and always given his best. He has taught me to never give up and to stay determined to achieve all you can.” Clearly a strong inspiration to someone, even at such a young age. This is Jack’s favourite quote…

“Life can be much broader once you discover one simple fact, and that is, everything around you that you call life was made up by people that were no smarter than you, and you can change it, you can influence it, you can build your own things that other people can use. Once you learn that, you’ll never be the same again.” – Steve Jobs

Philip Hu – Philhu.com, TacticalKatana.com

Philip originally started Tacticalkatana.com as a fun project with his friend Ryan; it has since then become a zombie apocalypse weapons and products recommendation catalog. The website serves as a guide to the best zombie weapons that can be purchased through the internet. Kind of ridiculous, but a lot of fun.

Philip’s biggest inspirations are his parents, who immigrated to the United States from China in the 1980s with very little, in search of opportunity and a new life. In the process, through dedication and hard work, they have built a prosperous life and family. Philip’s parents’ values of hard work, education, and financial discipline have inspired Philip to become an entrepreneur seeking to make a positive impact with his ventures.

“The critical ingredient is getting off your butt and doing something. It’s as simple as that. A lot of people have ideas, but there are few who decide to do something about them now. Not tomorrow. Not next week. But today. The true entrepreneur is a doer, not a dreamer.” – Nolan Bushnell

Courtney Shaye Whittington – www.twidlife.com (under construction)

Her Online business is underconstruction – Its mission is to provide advice, laughs, products and services that help people! Blogging, video feeds, advice and products by herself and “very talented people I’ve met along my journey” all with one gib purpose: Helping women which in turn helps men who help women and so on. Sounds very interesting and should be lots of fun.

She lists her biggest inspiration as Mrs. Joan Averwater, Aka. G’ma Joan, which is interesting to hear. She says her grandmother has helped her believe in myself and is truly one of the most influential women to anyone and everyone that has ever had the pleasure of meeting her.

“For beautiful eyes, look for the good in others; for beautiful lips, speak only words of kindness; and for poise, walk with the knowledge that you are never alone.” – Audrey Hepburn

Abigail Johnson Akingbade – Veggieab.com

Abigail runs a lifestyle blog which provides inspiration, cooking and cultural advice to eat and live depression free. The focus of her project seems to be based around the idea of adjusting your diet to live depression free, which I’m sure you’ll agree, is a very unique take on a crowded niche, which may just help her to stand out and become a success.

She lists her biggest inspiration as Lisa Irby, and for those who don’t know, Lisa is a full-time Webmaster, blogger and affiliate marketer, who’s been working in internet marketing since 1998.

“Make the rest of your life the best of your life.” – Eric Thomas

Dainis Graveris – www.1stwebdesigner.com

1WD is an online magazine about everything web design related starting from inspirational articles, blogging and freelancer tips, to hardcore coding tutorials about WordPress, jQuery for example. It has grown to be one of the biggest design blogs worldwide.

His first inspiration was Yaro Starak with his blogging course, now there are a lot of great sources like Mixergy.com, Neil Patel, Glen Allsop from Viperchill and of course Michael Dunlop (his words, not mine). From the other side Steve Jobs has been always great inspiration about the way he thought; his biography left huge impact.

Favorite Quote is not surprisingly Steve Jobs words, from his speech at Stanford – “Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish”, he’s planning on having those words to be engraved on his hand as a tattoo.

Arianna Vacca – mybookfriend.net

Arianna’s website reviews and recommends books for Young Adult readers. The site is still in its early stages, but it’s well constructed, and looks to be very promising.

Not surprisingly, Ariana’s biggest inspiration is Jeff Bezos, from Amazon.com. Amazon started out as the world’s largest book store, which was met with criticism and a lawsuit from Barnes and Noble, but soon surpassed any question, and is the largest retailer of books in the world, and just like mybookfriend, it’s packed full of reviews.

“Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away.” – Maya Angelou

Matej Bešter – twitter.com/matejbester

Matej is a freelance web developer with over 7 years of experience helping individual to corporate clients grow their business online. Now exploring internet/affiliate marketing as an independent SEO specialist. He doesn’t have a website yet, but follow his twitter in the meantime. His biggest inspirations are Eben Pagan, Steve Jobs, Anthony Robbins, and Frank Kern.

“Go beyond. Way beyond what people expect. Way beyond what you’re paid to do. Way beyond what anyone else does.” – Eben Pagan

Dmitriy Kozlov – visiontechteam.com

Dmitriy’s website is all about marketing, web design, and social media services for entrepreneurs and small business owners. They strive to be a Triple Bottom Line company. Go check out his website, it’s clearly very well thought out and put together. Some pretty familiar names are listed as his top inspirations with the likes of Steve Jobs, Tim Ferriss, and Gary Vaynerchuk.

“For the past 33 years, I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself: “If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?” And whenever the answer has been “No” for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something…almost everything – all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure – these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose.” – Steve Jobs

Chris Monery –  memorycardsuk.com

Memorycardsuk focuses on memory cards but also sells accessories, hardware, games and electronics. Chris doesn’t have a biggest inspiration per se, he’s simply inspired by anyone who started off in life with nothing and made it purely off their own back.

There must be a beginning of any great matter, but the continuing unto the end until it be thoroughly finished yields the true glory – Francis Drake

The post Young Entrepreneur Scholarship Winners For Yanik’s Underground 2012 appeared first on Young Entrepreneurs.

New technology is part of the reason logos have undergone some dramatic evolutions over the years. But it’s mostly because these companies and their brands have changed over time.

Apple Logo Evolution

The original logo was designed by Steve Jobs and Ronald Wayne and it depicted Isaac Newton sitting under the infamous apple tree. Then, Rob Janoff designed the first rainbow Apple logo with a bite out of it so it wouldn’t be recognized as another fruit.

Microsoft Logo Evolution

The Microsoft employees referred to the “O” in the green logo as “blibbet” and they even had a double cheeseburger in the company cafeteria that was called the “Blibbet Burger”.

Yahoo! Logo Evolution

If you click the “!” in the logo on yahoo.com, it sings, “Yahooo-oo-ooo.”

UPS Logo Evolution

The original logo features an eagle carrying a package with the words, “Safe, Swift, Sure” inscribed on the side.

IBM Logo Evolution

Both the current IBM and the third UPS logo were designed by the same guy, Paul Rand. He also created the logos for Enron, ABC, and Steve Jobs’ NeXT.

Xerox Logo Evolution

Haloid invested in Chester Carlson’s xerography (aka photocopy) invention in 1938 and it became the most successful division of the company so they switched the name and logo.

Kodak Logo Evolution

Kodak was originally called “The Eastman Kodak Company,” hence the “EKC” in the original Kodak logo.

Canon Logo Evolution

Their first camera was named, “Kwanon,” after the Buddhist goddess of mercy. The original logo was a picture of this goddess with 1000 arms and flames.

Nokia Logo Evolution

As the oldest original logo in this list, it depicts an image of a fish because Fredrik Idestam founded the company as a wood pulp mill on the banks of the Tammerkoski Rapids.

BP Logo Evolution

BP’s logo was largely unchanged through its first 80 years until they introduced the Helios symbol in 2000 to represent their commitment to producing energy in all of its many forms.

Shell Logo Evolution

The 1958 BP logo and 1971 Shell logo were designed by the same guy, Raymond Loewy, who also designed the Exxon logo.

Ford Logo Evolution

The 1909 logo was created with Childe Harold Wills’ font that he originally developed for his business card.

Volkswagen Logo Evolution

I know what you’re thinking. Why does the original Volkswagen logo slightly resemble the Nazi symbol? Well, that’s because Hitler had a hand in founding the company. Naturally, Volkswagen phased out that part of the logo and stuck with the center.

Mercedes-Benz Logo Evolution

The three pointed star represents their original intent to make vehicles in land, water, and sky.

Audi Logo Evolution

The four circles represent how Audi started as a merger of the four above companies.

Pepsi Logo Evolution

In 1941, Pepsi adopted the colors red, white, and blue to commemorate the war efforts of the United States.

Mountain Dew Logo Evolution

Mountain Dew was originally invented as moonshine by a couple of Tennessee hillbillies with the tagline, “It’ll tickle yore innards!” This is represented in their original logo.

The Point for Young Entrepreneurs

The evolution of these logos is just one way to show that no company is perfect, but the good ones get started and adapt. Heck, five of the 17 companies changed from their original logo within the first year.

Too many young entrepreneurs wait until the planets are aligned to start their business. Don’t let not having a shiny logo get in the way of what’s actually important… You know, getting started.

The post 17 Evolutions of Your Favorite Logos appeared first on Young Entrepreneurs.