Start, Run, & Grow Your Business

Susan Wojcicki: CEO of YouTube and Female Powerhouse

Silicon Valley has a problem with women. There aren’t enough of them. Despite more women than ever earning college degrees and entering the workforce, just 26% of computing operations jobs in the U.S. get filled by women. In most of Europe, Asia, and Africa, those numbers look even more dismal. Social scientists, economists, and tech gurus alike wonder why. Is it the “pinkification” of girls — the idea that girls are introduced to gender-specific roles at an early age? Is it the insider network culture of technology firms? Do many women just not enjoy STEM fields? Do they find working in these fields incompatible with other life goals? Experts are still learning what will help rectify the gender imbalance in global technology firms. But one woman is already serving as a female powerhouse in Silicon Valley, YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki. Not only does Wojcicki serve as the head of the …

Why You Need to Hire Your First Employee as Soon as Possible

Hiring your first employee is a major step in your new life as a small business owner. The hire comes with all kinds of positive vibes. Having an extra pair of hands to manage the workflow can feel like a huge relief. And besides, bringing on the first member of a team can make your small business seem more like a genuine company and less like a hobby job. No matter how exciting it is to hire your first employee, though, taking a significant decision like that requires a thoughtful approach. Whom should you hire? What position needs filling? How do you attract the right person? What does it cost to hire a new employee? And when should you bring on your first team member? Once you start a business, you’re a bona fide entrepreneur, and it’s up to you to find out the answers to all these questions, act …

How the Co-Founders of Netflix Killed Blockbuster

The biggest fumble in the history of the media business happened in Dallas, Texas in September of 2000. Two desperate Silicon-valley entrepreneurs named Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph flew into Dallas for a meeting with John Antioco, the legendary CEO of Blockbuster. Hastings was an engineer who had botched several software startups. Randolph was a serial small business entrepreneur who made his name as a co-founder of MacWorld magazine in 1984. Less than three years earlier the two men had joined forces on a DVD rent-by-mail idea they called Netflix. By September of 2000, their new venture was looking like a bust. On track to lose $50 million that year, Hastings and Randolph’s company wasn’t an entrepreneurial David hoping to defeat a corporate Goliath. Netflix was more like an entrepreneurial Faust willing to sell its soul to the devil if it could turn a profit amidst the ongoing dot com …

You Probably Won’t Make a Profit Your First Year & That’s Ok

A first-time entrepreneur experiences plenty of exciting first-time milestones, but few match the thrill when you make your first sale. This is the moment that all of your efforts have been moving towards. You figure you’ll be in the black by the end of the year. If you’re lucky, that might be true. But it might not, and that’s okay – it’s normal not to turn a profit in your first year. Before you get discouraged, let’s make one thing very clear. Just because you take a loss doesn’t mean you’ve failed. It doesn’t even mean that you’re destined to fail eventually. Making it through your first year means you’re already ahead of the 33 percent of entrepreneurs who pack it in before their companies’ first birthdays. Companies Take Time to Turn Profits When you’re looking at a loss on your balance sheet, it’s easy to feel like everyone else …

How Daymond John Changed the Entrepreneurial Game

Some people win the game of business by sticking to the rules. Other people win by changing the game. Most entrepreneurs are game changers not rule keepers. That’s why you go into business for yourself, right? You don’t fit into the gray cubicle world of corporate America so you build your own craft and launch out into the world of business. A few founders go way beyond ordinary, though, when it comes to breaking the rules and changing the game, people such as Daymond John. You might know Daymond from ABC’s hit reality business show Shark Tank. He’s the shark who started with $40 and created a $6 billion game-changing fashion empire called FUBU. Today, Daymond, a boy with dyslexia from a middle class neighborhood in Queens, boasts a personal net worth of $250 million. He didn’t earn it with an Ivy League education and a network of family friends, …

Don’t Have a Partner? You May Want to Hire a Co-Founder

Should you go solo when you launch your new business? Or do you need a co-founder to help start things? Getting a new business off the ground can challenge even the most creative minds. When your business is still embryonic, you might think you have everything lined up in preparation for growth. But once you start onboarding new clients, looking for funding, hiring a team, and dealing with customers, you can quickly discover that all entrepreneurs face fresh difficulties every day. That’s why many first-time business owners forge into entrepreneurship with a partner– they want to have help on hand when problems arise. Some founders rely on a spouse, sibling, close friend, or college buddy to help kick things off. Others aren’t so sure about the partnership model, though. You have to split your profits with a partner, share a common vision, and agree on big decisions. Is a partnership …

Alli Webb: Hairstylist with Big Dreams

Building a great business often starts with a big dream, but it never ends there. Success also requires securing the right team and honing a clear vision. Many entrepreneurs who’ve built empires realize the value of focusing their energy on what only they can do and finding the best people to do what they can’t. But no one exemplifies that vision more than the subject of today’s Storytime Tuesday, Alli Webb, the founder of Drybar, the nation’s premier blow dry bar specializing in just blowouts, no cuts, no color! Alli Webb’s blowout success story began where most people’s business stories start–at home with her family. Key players on the right team already surrounded Alli since they were related by blood or by marriage. Her brother, Michael Landau, was a successful business executive, and her husband, Cameron Webb, was an experienced advertiser. Although Michael and Cameron both lacked something essential to …

Shouldn’t Quit Job When Starting Business

Why You Shouldn’t Quit Your Job When Starting a Business

If you’re like many Americans, you dream about starting a business and being your own boss. We’re a nation of entrepreneurs whose legendary can-do spirit built businesses, nonprofits, schools, and houses of worship that have created jobs and services for hundreds of millions of people. The best part of dreaming about entrepreneurship is that your vision really can become reality. More people than ever are becoming entrepreneurs. The U.S. is home to 28.8 million small businesses, accounting for 99.7% of all American enterprises, according to the Small Business Administration. Mix a little ingenuity with a lot of hustle, and you can start your own company whenever you want. Unfortunately, many new business owners fall for the false narrative of having to “go all in” on their idea. But going all in financially (exhausting personal savings) and professionally (quitting your job) on your new business is far more likely to result …

5 Misconceptions About Phone Systems, Debunked

Business phone systems are becoming increasingly advanced and complex thanks to constantly evolving communication technology. These new systems provide excellent alternatives to the traditional phone systems that have been in place for decades. As with most new technologies, however, misconceptions, myths, and legends have cropped up around these new communication systems, and consequently, some companies are growing wary of investing in the latest phone system technology. Many professionals seem to think that their old phone system worked just fine. They think the company should call in the repair team one more time to keep it alive instead of buying something new for the office. Is this the right approach to corporate communication technology, though? Can virtual phone systems really stand up to the old-school, traditional systems that we know? The answer is not as easy as saying “yes” to every new technological innovation that a major telecom brings to market. …

Ryan Serhant: From Hand Model to Real Estate Tycoon

There are a lot of industries that take a lot of energy and hard work to be successful in. Entertainment, real estate, and publishing are all pretty high on that list, but today’s Storytime Tuesdays subject has been successful in all three. Ryan Serhant is best known as the host of Bravo TV’s Million Dollar Listing New York and Sell It Like Serhant, but is also a published author, prolific blogger, and, of course, self-made real estate mogul. He is an excellent example of a business owner who pulled himself up by the bootstraps and built his business around his passions and strengths. A Foundation of Hard Work Ryan Serhant grew up with an interest in theater and acting. Raised in Massachusetts, Ryan and his younger brother were taught to value education and hard work from a very young age. One summer, their father, Vice President of State Street Advisors …

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