My Goals for 2009

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Everyone is writing about their goals for 2009, so I thought I’d put out some of mine here on Dorm Room Biz to share with you all. If you did not read my small post about reflections on 2008, then give that a quick read. It will only take a couple of minutes. No really, go ahead, read it. I’ll wait here.

…okay, still with me? Alright, here are a few simple goals for 2009 that I’d love to meet.

1. Grow Dorm Room Biz RSS subscriber numbers to over 250. The count is currently at 109, which is good, however, I want to grow that a lot. Reaching a broader audience will then help grow the site and help me achieve more of my goals.
2. Generate over $250 a month from Dorm Room Biz. I’m on the way to doing this, as each month lately I have been around $100-$150. Reaching $250 should not be a problem. However, there is an evil side to this. ALL of that money does not come from Dorm Room Biz, about 15% comes from two other sites. But because it is a little amount, I just include it within the Dorm Room Biz income. Too much of a pain to sort it all out when the payments are combined!
3. Completely redesign and restructure the website…this is coming soon. With any luck, by the end of January I will be releasing the new theme for the site and I hope to keep it for at least the rest of the year.

A couple non-Dorm Room Biz goals that I have are:

1. Launch 2 more celebrity focused websites. I currently have TheRavenSymone which preforms pretty well in the search engines and brings in small change each month. I’m building my second site now and will be making a bigger announcement about it towards the end of January when I have some more content up. I’d like to get at least 2 more sites up and running by the summer so that they can continue to grow throughout the remainder of the year. The sites will probably be static HTML sites rather than being based on Wordpress, but we will see what happens with that.
2. Grow my website development business to at least $3,000 a month in revenue. Over the past couple months I have slacked on actively promoting it and looking for new clients. 2009 will be a new year and a new leaf turned for the business. I’m working on getting a new logo for the business and a new website will follow. When these are done, it will be time to fit the ground running to find new clients.
3. This final one is a long shot, but I’d love to launch my eBay company into a retail space and make it a fully self supported business. This would include finding the store front, possibly securing a loan to help upfront costs, and then growing my inventory as well as going to back to offering a drop off service (you drop off an item, I sell it, and you get most of what it sells for). This is also dependent on some factors involving a possible full internet tax and the state of eBay sales in the second half of the year. In order to accomplish this, the eBay business would need to generate at least $4000/month in sales. I’m about a third of the way there right now.

So there you have it. Lets make our goals happen together - leave a comment with your goals or a link to your post about your 2009 goals as I would love to check out what other young entrepreneurs are working towards!

Tips for Running A Collegiate Entrepreneurs Organization

I got an email the other day a week or more ago from a subscriber of the blog and a college student. He has been working on starting up an organization for student entrepreneurs at his school. He’s started laying the foundation for it but was looking for some more advice to help him with it.

So I wanted to touch on a few different key points about running a student entrepreneur club in a blog post rather than by just emailing him directly. I figured this would be a little more helpful to everyone.

Here are a few things that I would consider looking at when beginning a club on campus.

Faculty involvement - I’m sure your school requires that you have some sort of staff or faculty member sponsor your club when starting. So when you pick you sponsor, make sure that you look for someone who has an interest in entrepreneurship and business, as well as helping students. If you can get your faculty members involved and excited about the club and what your working on then they will easily be an advocate for the club and spread the word. Faculty involvements also opens doors to other resources or opportunities that you may not know about. Faculty are always having meetings with committees, departments, and councils. Having an ‘in’ to these can be a huge help when you get to the point where you need to have something signed off, given a blessing, or are looking for money to support a trip.

Focus on Student Growth - I think this is one that a lot of organizations miss out on. They get in a rut doing things a certain way and it never changes. This has happened to me when I was running our own Collegiate Entrepreneurs club at Radford. We got set on doing a few things - recruitment, fundraising, and more recruitment, that we never really did much teaching or learning. If a student is interested in starting a business, the organization should want to help foster that growth and learning. This can be accomplished by having guest speakers, holding start-up business focused workshops, taking field trips, traveling to conferences, and also going to different classes. Some things we have done: held workshops on knowing if your idea was a good idea or not, participated in a workshop about writing an effective business plan, brought faculty and other business people in to speak about their entrepreneurial experiences, and hosted events such as the Entrepreneurial Summit. Bottom line - don’t just be another club, help your members grow and learn.

Actually Start A Club Business - Now, the way you go about doing this is going to depend on the rules that your school has as well as your local laws and regulations. However, as an entrepreneur club, you should have plenty of ideas floating around between your members. Brainstorm to come up with the most viable one for college students to start and run, and start it. Begin with the planning process, develop a mini-business plan, get feedback, and continue to grow the idea into a business. As a club business, any money made from it should go back to the club and also “pay” the members that worked on the business. This is a great model because if your group is big enough, you could have a few different businesses being started at the same time and everyone could be working on something different. Use the business you are starting as a chance to continue educating your members through topic specific workshops (i.e. bring in a professor to talk about putting together a marketing plan, and then have your members actually work on writing one.

Network, Network, Network - One of the best things I could have done while at school was get to know the Dean of the College of Business, a director of Alumni Relations, and also a director of the schools Foundation. This gave me the opportunity to meet all kinds of people, be invited to all kinds of events, dinners, speakers, and meetings where I was the only student present, and also to network with a lot of local business people, alumni, and big name Vice Presidents (as in from Google and Yahoo). Through the connections that I was making, I was then able to connect my friends and other members of the organizations that I was in. This lead to great opportunities for many people.

I hope these few tips will help you in putting together your organizations, help you to be successful, but most of all learn new things and help educate others!

If you’re apart of a student entrepreneurship organization or are a leader of one, I’d love to hear your comments. And I’m sure the other readers would as well!

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Land The Freaking Plane Already

Photo Credit to Danoots

While at the Entrepreneurial Summit at Radford University in October, I had the chance to meet a group of amazing entrepreneurs who are Radford alum. I also got the opportunity to have dinner with a few of them. As things got going and people started talking, of the people at the table made a comment about having older people as a mentor or on your Board of Advisers. As talk went on, many of the people at the table, some entrepreneurs and some professors continued to go back to this point about having older business people as mentors and providing insight into problems you might not foresee. Now, to me, getting advice from someone older and more experienced in the field or industry that you are in just seemed like the most obvious thing you could do. Whether you needed help, assistance, advice, or just wanted to chat - an older business person who has been through the rungs and been successful (or not) will continue to be a great influence and adviser to you. Listen to what they have to say and their advice will come in handy.

So, anyway…back to the point of the post. One of the people at the table was John Signorello who is the Chairman and CEO of a company called IceWeb which deals in mostly online data storage. At 40 years old, John is the youngest on his companies Board. Anyway, back to the point, again.

John told a story about why he likes having older people or ‘the grey hairs’ on his B.O.A. Now, without actually meeting John, you will have to believe me when I say that he is a very outgoing and charismatic person. Some might even say a little crazy. So one of his board members said to him “John, when are you going to land the plane?” and then continued with something to the effect of how he was great at the business and the marketing and how he is full of ideas, energetic, and excited, yet the plane hasn’t landed.

I absofuckinglutely love this. ‘Land the plane’ is probably one of the simplest lines I have heard in a long time about getting business done and it can be so universal. Land the plan could refer to the next staff meeting you have, the next cold call you make, the next presentation you make to a VC, or over the next week, month, 6 months, or a year. Landing the plane also goes for anything outside of business like your school work or education, the project your working on, the research you have been putting off. ANYTHING that you are working on can be LANDED. It’s just a matter of stopping the bullshit, grabbing the wheel, and landing the plane!

When are you going to land your plane? Now is the time, stop waiting around for someone to guide you in, do it yourself!

Should You Hire A Virtual Assistant?

As I wrote about yesterday, and tweeted about a couple times, I have hired a virtual assistant (VA) to help me with some different work that I needed to get done but don’t have the time to do (or just don’t want to do).

I got a bunch of tweets back at me asking how I went about it, what I am going to have the person doing, where/how I found them, etc. So, I wanted to share some of those details with you all through a couple posts.

First, you really need to be sure that you are in need of a VA to help you or make your business grow. Obviously you’ll want to start making a list of the different tasks that you need someone to take off of your plate. The reasoning for passing along these tasks could be anything from not having the time to wanting to live the 4 hour work week dream. Either way, make a list of tasks that you want to outsource to someone else and start thinking about how an assistant could help you grow your business. If it turns out that this list of items is just a small “to do” list and you could knock out the tasks in a couple hours if you put your mind to it, then there is no need to hire someone. Just lock yourself in your office/room and get to work. As you finish a task, scratch it off the list with a marker so that you can see your progress. Read more »

Entrepreneurial Summit Wrap Up

I got back Tuesday night (last week, I am a little behind on getting this posted) to Maryland from The Entrepreneurial Summit at Radford University. This was the second time that the annual summit had been held on campus. The first time was in October 2007 which I created, planned, and executed. The Summit definitely had a different atmosphere this year, but you always recognize that when you are not heavily involved in planning something. You’re on the sidelines enjoying the show rather than worrying about every little detail. So it was nice to be more of an attendee than the organizer.

However, the Collegiate Entrepreneurs club and the College of Business and Economics at Radford did an excellent job of putting the event together which included 2 rounds of 90 second elevator pitch competitions, 3 guest speakers (each speaker had 2 sessions) and a luncheon with a keynote speaker. For full details on the agenda for the summit, you can check the website.

Two of the speakers I was extremely impressed by - both RU graduates - Brian Cork and John Signorello. These guys have stood the test of time in the entrepreneurship race and have been incredibly successful in their ventures…and incredibly unsuccessful in others. However, their experiences, attitudes, and knowledge has helped them be very successful business people. They both had a lot of great points to make in their presentations and over the next week or so I will be touching on a few of them in posts and in videos.

One of the cool things that did happen this year, was that one of the local TV stations in the area picked up the story and broadcast a quick segment in the morning on Tuesday before the Summit events picked up again. The video wouldn’t embed right, but you can see it here.

Also, here are a couple pieces of press/mentions that the Summit got. I am sure over the next few days and week there will be more including the Radford University student newspaper, and more. I’ll update the post as I come across them.

• Radford University Entrepreneurs
• It’s Still Who You Know
• Young Entrepreneurs Get Real World Advice
• Radford University Entrepreneurial Summit Wraps Up
• Entrepreneurial Summit Wraps Up Today in Radford
• RU Announces Winners of Second Annual Elevator Pitch Competition
• RU Hosts Second Annual Entrepreneurial Summit

Practical Skills – The Primary Tools of a Young Entrepreneur

Some people may think of young entrepreneurs as dreamers who happened get lucky. While this may be true of some, it is far more likely that the young entrepreneur in question has put a lot of time and hard work into their ideas, ultimately resulting in success. What kinds of practical skills separate the young entrepreneur from the pack? The following short list of practical skills should help to shed some light on the subject.

Research

Although it may not sound very appealing, research is one of the biggest aspects to getting started out on the right foot. Whether you want to believe it or not, you don’t know nearly enough when it comes to the market and the skills you will need to acquire in order to get where you want to be. Learning everything you can about your idea, any variations of it that may exist, and what you’re going to need to do to take it to the next level are all part of the process.

Organization

After you have figured out what you’re going to do and how you’re going to do it, it’s time to get organized. Get all of your information in order and set up a series of lists and goals related to the implementation of your idea. This process will take time and chances are you will adjust things multiple times to get things just right. Remember that this is a process, and that rushing through the process will only serve to harm you in the long run. Take your time and get things ready.

Communication Skills

Working on your communication skills is going to be very important, especially if you are going to need investors to help bring your ideas to fruition. Practice your written and verbal communication skills, and make sure that you come across as educated and professional. You must be able to talk the talk, whether it is in emails, business proposals, or in person.

Networking

Start meeting people and growing relationships online and in person in order to build a network of people that will be able to help in various ways. Word of mouth, positive or negative is the fastest way for people to learn about you and your endeavors, so make sure that you cultivate relationships with a wide variety of people to help move things forward.

Goal-Oriented

Being a successful entrepreneur requires that you set and achieve goals regularly. Make goals for yourself on a daily basis and track your progress. Setting both short and long-term goals will help to ensure that your success is demonstrated, not just talked about.

This post was contributed by Kelly Kilpatrick, who writes on the subject of a Canadian business school. She invites your feedback at kellykilpatrick24 at gmail dot com

Start a business in the down economy

Now is the time to start a business in this down economy. Some people may say that it is not a good idea, but everyone else will tell you that it is. Here is a video from Mike Michalowicz about starting a business in the bad economy. It is a little lengthy, about 18 minutes, but I recommend watching it all.

Start & Grow a Healthy Business in a Recession from Toilet Paper on Vimeo.

Radford University Holds Second Annual Entrepreneurial Summit, Oct 27-28

A little over a year ago, I was blogging a lot about the Entrepreneurial Summit that I was planning at Radford University. Well, it is happening again! I know I am a little late on putting this out there, but here is the information for it anyway.

I laid a good enough foundation with my planning efforts and ability to get people involved that this years will definitely be better than last and I hope that trend continues year after year. I plan on going back for the summit as long as it continues. It’s almost like a Homecoming, right? I mean this is about the same time that most schools have their Homecoming.

If you are in the Radford, Blacksburg, Christiansburg, or Roanoke area on Monday or Tuesday, then I STRONGLY encourage you to try to attend the Summit at Radford University. The event should be great. If you happen to go - get at me via Twitter @chrispund and we can meet up.

Here are the details from the RU press release that went out yesterday:

RU Hosts Second Annual Entrepreneurial Summit,
Popular Elevator Pitch Competition Returns

RADFORD – Last year, Radford University students from a variety of majors gathered in Hurlburt Auditorium to participate in a highly spirited elevator pitch competition. The objective was to present a 90-second pitch to a panel of successful entrepreneurs. The winner of the competition, an interdisciplinary studies major whose innovative idea to sale ads on school buses in order to generate funds for the education system, walked away with a sizeable award. This year, the popular event returns as part of the second annual Entrepreneurial Summit.

The summit, which is hosted by SunTrust, RU’s College of Business and Economics, and RU Collegiate Entrepreneurs, will be held Monday, Oct. 27-Tuesday, Oct. 28. The mission of the summit is to provide entrepreneurial-minded students the ability to learn from successful executives and entrepreneurs.

****

On Tuesday, Oct. 28, workshop presentations will feature Angela Drummond, Juanita Thornton, Beverly Walters and John Signorello. Brian Patrick Cork, a 1984 RU graduate who was recently named among 2008 Catalyst Top 25 Entrepreneurs in Atlanta, will be the keynote speaker as part of the SunTrust Distinguished Speaker Series during Tuesday’s luncheon. A limited number of seats are available for the event. To learn more, contact Mary Weeks at mweeks@radford.edu or 831-5382, or email rumba@radford.edu

To read the full press release and see the full run down of speakers visit the full press release here. You can also see more details at the ES website, http://www.entrepreneurialsummit.com.

October 15 - Blog Action Day Fights Poverty

It is that time of the year again - Blog Action Day. This year over 11,000 blogs will band together over a 48 hours period to blog about poverty, the effect it has had on them, on others, and ways that we, as people, entrepreneurs, and bloggers can work to help fight it.

For my post today, I wanted to have something witty, catchy, inspirational, or motivational to share with you all as a great call to action. Instead, I want to point out some sites that you all can utilize to help fight poverty today, tomorrow, this month, and the rest of the year. If enough people come together, than we can make a difference and put an end to poverty.

Informational Resources

• End Poverty 2015
• Time Magazine: How to end poverty
• End Poverty Blog

Books

• Our Day To End Poverty
• The End of Poverty
• Creating a World Without Poverty
• The End Of Welfare
• A Framework for Understanding Poverty
• Out of Poverty

Charities/Organizations to Support

• Charity : Water
• Catholic Charities USA - Campaign to Reduce Poverty in America
• International Charity for Africa
• Harvest Help

Donate Now

• Kiva - Blog Action Day Lending Team
• Change.org - The Global Fund

Looking for more ways to do something? Check out BAD’s 88 ways on their action blog.

What are you all doing to support Blog Action Day? I’d love to check out the posts that you all write to help spread the word about what an issue poverty really is.

Any luck with finding a job?

As many of you know, I graduated college in May. I was fortunate enough to already have a job lined up before this past Thanksgiving. However, many people that I graduated with were not able to have the same luxury. The job market at the time was on the downs and unemployement rates were continuing to increase. The ability for a college graduate to secure a good (well paying, benefits, vacation, decent hours, etc) and not just some job at the local restuarant flipping burgers. One of the areas that I know some of my friends had trouble finding jobs in was marketing. They may have graduated with a degree in marketing (overall/general marketing studies), sports marketing, or any other special area but were having problems finding a job that was suitable to them. Some looked into hospitality (hotels, resorts, conferences, etc), some looked into sports teams and franchises, and others went for the more normal businesses in the local areas. However, no one was interested in taking a sales job…it was like a sales job was the absolute bottom of the barrel for someone that wanted to be in marketing. From all that I have read, heard, and seen sales jobs are great places to start out. The keyword there is to start out.

If you can find a decent sales job that you can excel at and get experience, then you can continue to look for another job that better fits your criteria. But, at least you are 1) working, 2) making money, 3) not wasting time, and 4) hopefully using your education. I tried to stress these points to some of my friends who were having harder times than others. However, they would not give in to a sales job (even when pretty good offers came their way) and they are STILL looking for a job — 5 MONTHS LATER! Now with the economy being in an even worse condition than before, I will guarentee that they are still unemployed even without talking to them.

One of my fraternity brothers moved to the Chicago area and has been struggling to find a job that fits his needs. He is lucky that he had some money saved up from working throughout college and his parents are able to help support him while he continues to search, send resumes, submit applications, and go on interviews. I recently came across a website called Chicago Sales Jobs. I instantly thought of him and sent him the link.

The site is great - although it is similar to the other job listing websites. Being focused on a specific geographic area allows for a better variety and more opportunity to target the right audience with the website. This website reminds me of the fact that you can not only focus on the larger career/job sites like Monster or Career Builder, but you need to look for more geographically focused or niche/industry focused sites that relate to exactly what you are looking for. Specific job sites usually allow for the companies to post a longer description of the position and may even offer a wider variety.

So, if you are in the Chicago area, check out Chicago Sales jobs, or if you are also still looking for a job and graduated in May, or graduated after summer classes, or are going to be graduating in December keep up the search, expand your horizons for the search methods that you use, and keep your head up! You’ll find something!

Are you guys having any issues like this? More and more students are graduating each semester with college degrees and it is making it more difficult for others to find jobs. Perhaps this is the perfect reason to start a dorm room business while you are in school so you do not have to worry about getting a job when you graduate?

I’d love to hear your thoughts on the topic of the job market and the challenges with finding a job after graduating.