Things you need in starting a business from a scratch.

1. You need guts to start a business

                “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

Launching a business out of the planning board require guts; quitting your job to start your own business require guts, believing in your business idea even when everyone says you are nuts requires guts and facing business challenges also require guts. That’s why I listed guts as number one. Guts, chutzpa, boldness, brevity, courage; they all mean the same thing. Without entrepreneurial guts, just forget about starting a business.

                “You are nuts and you should be proud of it. Stick with what you believe in.” – Trip Hawkins

2. You need business skills to start a business

The next thing you need to make your business idea a reality is skills. What are you bringing to the table? This is the question you must answer when seeking joint ventures and business partnerships. Your possessed entrepreneurial skills are very important to the realization of your ideas because your skills can be a strength or competitive advantage for your business. Skills are a necessity when searching for a business team.

                “The ability to sell is the number one skill in business. If you cannot sell, don’t bother thinking about becoming a business owner.” – Rich Dad

Have you heard the phrase that “entrepreneurs are generalists.” I think there is an atom of truth in that statement. Entrepreneurs are generalist, they need to know a little of everything that pertains to business. That’s where your business skills come in. As an entrepreneur, you need to know a little of accounting, investing, sales, marketing, operations and business management in general.

Before ever starting a business; be sure to hone your sales skills, marketing skills, communication skills, negotiation skills, accounting skills, leadership skills, people skills and every other entrepreneurial skills that’s required to succeed in business.

                “Skills make you rich, not theories.” – Rich Dad

3. You need the right mindset to start a business

You probably must have heard this over and over again but I think it’s worth repeating. You can’t build a business if you lack the right mindset. Entrepreneurship is not really about starting or building a business.

Starting a business is like building a ship and embarking on a voyage, armed with a plan, a map and a team. You will have to sail against storms, unpredictable weather and uncertainty. If your ship sinks, it’s either you quit or you swim back to shore, build a new ship and sail again.  

Entrepreneurship is simply a change in perception or core value. It’s the process of developing your mindset from being job dependent to being financially independent. It’s a shift from being handicapped in the face of challenges to being a problem solver. In all, entrepreneurship is simply a change of mindset.

4. You need capital to start a business

I believe you know that no business idea is worth a pinch of salt without capital. I don’t want to stress much on this because I believe you know the significance of capital to any business. But in retrospect, I always advice my protégés not to be deterred by lack of capital. I encourage them to get creative when it comes to financing their small business startups; where there is a will, there will surely be a way.

                “There are three components to starting a business. One is the right plan; two is the right team and three is the money. Rarely do these three components come together when starting a business. It’s the duty of an entrepreneur to grab one piece and start the business, the remaining two pieces will be found along the way. Finding the remaining two components may take a year or more than 10 years; the point is, start with what you have.” – Robert Kiyosaki

5. You need the right business management team

                “Individuals don’t win in business, teams do.” – Sam Walton

Finally, you need the right business management team in place to build a business around your idea. For your business idea to leave the planning phase, it’s going to require the right business team. If you can assemble the right team to deliver on your plans, I bet you will find the venture capital because a strong business team is an essential ingredient to the process of raising capital from Venture capitalists.

Now how do you find the right team? I don’t know. How do you know you’ve found the right business team? Once again, I don’t know but what I do know is that the right team is a team that complements your weakness and adds value to your business. A good way to know you have the right team in place is that your business will take off like wild fire and gain grounds seamlessly with little or no effort on your part.

As a final note, these are the five things I believe are fundamental to either starting a business from scratch or building a successful business. So don’t get too excited because you feel you’ve got a creative idea up your sleeves; instead, start strategizing on ways to assemble the five elements listed above for your business. Remember, the world is filled with brilliant million dollar ideas waiting to be funded but the world lacks seasoned entrepreneurs. Take this lesson to heart and I will see you at the top.

Buy and Sell For a Living

I want to share with you on how you can start your own buy-and-sell enterprise. Mostly everyone is qualified in operating this enterprise. All you need is a product to sell. You can start by selling your pre-owned items such as used appliances, cars, old books, magazines and a lot more. Buying and selling knows no boundaries-anyone with a need or desire to earn extra money, work from home or to start and own a business can buy and sell, regardless of age, experience, education and financial resources. This is perhaps what makes buying and selling the ultimate self-employment option for the vast majority of people; it's cheap, easy, quick and proven to work and generate huge profits. Imagine the flexibility that buying and selling offers. You can buy and sell part time to pay off debts. You can buy and sell full time to replace your current income and in all likelihood earn more. You can buy and sell seasonally, enabling you to pursue other interests like travel.

Nowadays, it is easy to reach your customers with the help of the internet. It is easy to sell your products and make profit for a living. The mantra of every buy-and-sell enterprise is simple, and easily memorized: Buy low, sell high. 

Buying and selling for profit is nothing new. It has been around for thousands of years. There are two primary reasons why buying and selling has recently exploded from being the closely guarded secret of a few, to the popular occupation of hundreds of thousands of people worldwide, who are now buying and selling as their sole source of income. The first reason is the advent, wide acceptance and use of the internet, and the second reason is what I refer to as the new economy.

The Internet Makes It Easy to Buy and Sell

The internet has not only made it easier to sell products into the global marketplace utilizing online sales venues such as eBay, olx, sulit, e-classifieds, and e-storefronts, but to also source a nearly limitless number of in-demand products, which can be bought cheaply from domestic and overseas suppliers and resold for a handsome profit. Once this task was out of the reach of most small business people because of the amount of time and money required to research and often travel to foreign and domestic product suppliers to inspect, negotiate, and ink an agreement. Much of that has changed. Now with the simple click of a mouse you can buy products cheaply from thousands of suppliers spanning the globe, and resell these same products worldwide through numerous online marketplaces, or locally through community retailing opportunities like your weekend flea market-all for incredible profits.

The New Economy Is Buying and Selling

The new global marketplace has also created a second reason why buying and selling is not only the wave of the future. It is no secret that manufacturing, technology and middle-management jobs continue to disappear daily. In fact, some studies suggest the job drain in these areas is occurring at an alarming rate, faster than most people, including politicians and policy makers, are aware of or care to admit.  Many people who have been or who will soon be affected by the new global economy have chosen self-employment as a way to keep in tune with changing times, make money, and secure their long-term future. History has taught us evolve or end up like the dinosaurs-extinct!

40 Famous Quotes from The Mafia Manager

I want to share with you 40 famous quotes about life and business from The Mafia Manager.

The Mafia Manager is a book containing the distilled wisdom of men who have managed one of the largest, most profitable and long lived cartels in the history of capitalism. The Mafia Manager gathers for the first time in one book the knowledge of the ruthless bosses whose genius at organization and management contributed far more to profitability and growth than the brute strength or conventional wisdom of the legitimate CEO.

So if you are ready to learn from the unconventional wisdom of The Mafia Manager; then read on as I share with you 40 famous quotes about life and business from The Mafia Manager.

1.            “The best way to enter our business is to be born into it.”

2.            “The business of the mafia is business.”

3.            “If the pot is boiling over, use a long spoon. If the house is on fire; warm yourself.”

4.            “Our principles are highest; honor, solidarity and vengeance. We know there’s no justice for us except we earn it. We earn respect.”

5.            “All problems resolves themselves; given time.”

6.            “Extreme problems often require extreme solutions.”

“Men stumble on stones, not mountains.”

8.            “Friends are not as important as family. Do not confuse the loyalty of friendship with the bond of blood.”

“The problem with friends is their candor. They will betray you if you let them and then they will tell you to your face why: ‘it’s nothing personal, just business.”

10.          “Keep your friends close, but keep your enemies closer.”

11.          “A man without enemies is a man without qualities. Even Jesus Christ had many enemies.”

12.          “The world belongs to the patient man.”

13.          “If you can’t win by fighting fair, fight foul. Or have a third party do your fighting.”

“Even a mouse keeps three holes.”

15.          “God will provide, but you must provide till he does.”

16.          “It takes a thousand blows to drive a nail in the dark.”

17.          “The best defense against the treacherous is treachery.”

18.          “A thousand enemies is not enough; a single enemy is. There is nothing as a ‘harmless’ enemy.”

“The best armor is to keep out of range.”

20.          “The best friend of a hungry buzzard is a dead horse. That is in another way of saying; even the son of a bitch has his uses.”

“When you are riding a fast fresh horse, don’t get off and walk it. Ride it as long as it lasts.”

22.          “Eagles don’t hunt flies.”

“When you skate on thin ice, skate fast.”

24.          “In a storm, pray to God but row for shore.”

25.          “When you must cut, persuade the victim you are a surgeon.”

26.          “Good medicine is always bitter.”

27.          “Every remedy of a bad situation has its bad side effects. Choose the remedy with the least.”

28.          He who pays well is well served.”

29.          “The big drum sounds good only from a distance.”

30.          “Never worry about tomorrow. Tomorrow, you might inherit a million dollars or be run over by a truck. Or inherit a million dollars and be run over by a truck.”

31.          “Money never goes to prison.”

“You can be rich without knowing how to be powerful but you cannot be powerful without money.”

33.          “Never reinforce failure; never marry a losing hand.”

“If you are the anvil, be patient. If you are the hammer; strike.”

35.   “When you compromise, you lose. When you seem to have compromise, you have taken a step towards winning.”

36.  “Fortune is on the side of the strong.”

37.  “For peace to reign, be ready for war.”

38.   “Better your enemies overestimate your stupidity than your shrewdness.”

39.   “After a victory, sharpen your knife.”

40.   “When you hunt, let the game 

Shop Design and Atmosphere Matters

The design and atmosphere of a store is everything. If people are unwilling to even come in through the door then client potential is lost. Think of it like those first few moments when you enter an interview and the employer decides in seconds whether you will fit in with the rest of his staff. In the same way as soon as a customers look at the store they know whether it is their kind of store.

In a fast paced world people make snap decisions very quickly. So what can you do to improve a retail store?

Plan
Plan the kind of customers you wish to attract. A toy store and a music store will attract very different kinds of people. Before opening up spend some time researching other stores that fit into your type. Decide what you like about them? Don't be afraid to ask people their opinions. The worst thing they can do is knock you back but if someone shares their thoughts with you it could be life-changing.

Location
Make sure it is in an eye-catching spot so that people can find it easily.

Our laundry shop is always mistaken to be a retail store not a laundromat because of the cozy design and the lighting. When you open the door to Raspberry Laundry the first thing you notice is the coolness. Unlike the hot, humid climate found at most laundromats, the air at Raspberry Laundry is refreshing. One thing i have observe from other laundromat is they poorly design the shop. For me what your shop looks like will have an impact on the customer's first impression of your business. 

I personally design the lay out of our shop before it was constructed. By doing that it saves me a lot of time and money and i figure out how it would look like even before it was made.

Clear Signs
Nothing is more frustrating to a customer when areas aren't clearly signed or items priced. A happy customer will be able to find what they are searching for with minimum fuss. For clothes you need size and gender clearly labeled. For groceries have signs for the different kinds of products.

Friendly Staff
It may sound obvious but it is surprising how many stores you enter and the staff don't seem to care. If staff are helpful and show customer care it immediately creates a pleasant atmosphere for everyone. Potentially unpleasant situations are diffused. Shy customers don't feel afraid to ask for help and will return again.

The kind of design or atmosphere you have will make or break your store. Make it a pleasant experience for your customers.

Mom's are great Entrepreneurs

Being an Entrepreneur mom is a pretty tough job. I struggle daily to find balance between work and motherhood. And yet, I wouldn't trade it for anything, and I believe that each somehow complements the other.

I started my home based business when I became a mom, so I think there's a connection between business and motherhood. I have found that running a business is not entirely different from running my family. In fact, my family flourishes most when I run it like my business. With my family, just like with my business, we create vision and mission statements, set goals and strategies. We meet daily and even do team-building activities. So overall, I think my business benefits from me being a mom.

I meet moms all the time who are afraid that they can't build a business because they are parents. Not true. Just because I choose to put my family first does not mean I shortchange my business.
Being a mom makes me a better businesswoman because like being a parent, owning a business is the toughest job you'll ever love. "What most people don't realize is that the right business is also one of the best ways to take control of your life."

Here are tips to help get you going:

1. Develop a game plan. Just like you planned for the arrival of your baby, you need to plan for the birth of your business.
2. Save your money or get used to not eating out. It takes money to make money, so you'll need to invest money into starting a business. The good news is that if your kids are young, eating out may not be a ready option, thus making it easier to avoid temptation.
3. Line up the support squad. Many mompreneurs work while the kids are asleep, but there will be times when you need to focus on work beyond nap time. Hire someone to look after the kids.
4. Find a business in a field you know about. The chances for a business to be successful increase when you work within an industry you know. If your skills or passions take you to an unfamiliar place, see the next secret.
5. Ask for help. A well-kept secret: Most people will help--if you ask them. Find someone, locally or online, who has done what you want to do. Ask him or her to advise you. Learning from someone else's mistakes and successes is priceless.
6. Include your kids where possible. Don't hide your business from your children--make it a learning experience for them. There are many ways to include them, from simply labeling and packing boxes to filing and entering data.
7. Find your passion. Starting a business isn't easy, but neither is parenting. Find something you love, so when the going gets tough, your passion for it will keep you going.