Sakib Mahmud Aka Visionary Geek

I’m a big fan of Toilet Paper Entrepreneur, most recently I was busy to search a books of Mike. Finally I got a PDF inside my ebook store. I start to downloading and that touched me and greatly 10,7, 6 and 1. I figure out that, I’m ruining my life and messed-up my life for business which is totally uncertain — though I know no risk no gain but that doesn’t make sense to spend the full time for business. I’m doing BBA and side by side doing web business. To managing  or merging or concentrating in both terms at the same times such as need to take serious decision about business and at the same time exam is knocking that is really tough to handle — I wish I’ll handle it smoothly from today. Oh, I forgot to mention, Mike released his first books, The Toilet Paper Entrepreneur^[i], I wish it will read this book soon.

10. Trying To Get Rich Quick
Most overnight successes take 15 to 20 years to achieve. If you go in expecting to be rich overnight, you may become discouraged early on and give up your dream prematurely. Know that success takes time, takes perseverance and takes a little bit of luck. Give your business the time to grow. Only if your company is stagnant for a long time, should you take it as an indication to try something new.

9. Assuming No Competition
Even if you have the latest, greatest, never-been-done-before approach to something, don’t assume you have no competition. Competition is more than just the direct, obvious competitors. Competition is also all the available alternatives. What else could the consumer do instead of using your product or service? Could they do nothing?!? The customer almost always has the option of walking away; and that is a serious competitive threat.

8. Being a Weak Leader
The success of your company is contingent on you being a strong, effective leader. This does not mean you need to be an authoritarian, and this does not mean you are everyone’s buddy, either. A great leader sets the course for the company, communicates it constantly and inspires the team to get there.

7. Being All Business All the Time
Many entrepreneurs put their personal lives on hold to focus exclusively on their business. Ultimately both suffer. No question your business needs your full attention and effort, but only in short spurts. Just like a peak athlete, in addition to cranking up for game time, you need to have a proper healthy diet, get enough rest, and take breaks. Balance your personal and business life and you will actually do better in both.

6. Pie-In-The-Sky Financial Goals
If all business plans came true, being a billionaire would be nothing extraordinary. Many entrepreneurs go into a new venture planning astronomical returns. Yet, most never even get the business off the ground. Unrealistic goals not only hurt your credibility, but can also be an emotional drain. Set Specific, Measurable, Accountability, Realistic, and Time specific (SMART) goals to ensure continual progress; chances of being an overnight success (albeit in 15 to 20 years) are much greater!

5. No Rallying Point
There is a reason why employees leave high paying corporate jobs to go to start ups, and it sure ain’t for the money. People are driven to serve an important purpose, in addition to bringing home enough bacon to feed the family. Many businesses never define their real purpose for existence and continually attract a mix of employees who are seeking success in different ways. Clarify the purpose of your company, beyond just making money, and you set the stage for attracting like minded employees. A team focused on the same goal is a very powerful force. The Toilet Paper Entrepreneur, “I Have a Booger Hanging Out and No One Is Saying Squat”

4. Cutting Price
Often, the first thing entrepreneurs resort to when business is tough is to try differentiating on price. Cheaper prices mean more customers, right? Wrong! Most customers are willing to buy more expensive items because of the greater quality or the better convenience. During tough times, often an increase in price, coupled with improvements in quality or convenience can bring the customers in droves. Price slashing is a dangerous game. At some point you have to slash yourself to keep costs down.

3. No Clear Marketing Message
You never know where, when or how a new prospect is going to hear of your business. If you have a mix of messages out there, the prospects will have an unclear expectation of what you offer. Your company must be presenting a consistent clear message on all fronts. You will never get a second chance to make a first impression. Make sure every opportunity a new prospect will get to see your business for the first time, sends the same consistent message.

2. Not Being Forthright
The days of cover ups, died out with Bill Clinton’s denial of sexual relations with Monica. The anonymous nature and grand size of the Internet allows someone in the know to share anything with anyone at anytime. If your business tries to cover up a mistake, it is just a matter of time before the word leaks and you are labeled as a liar. That’s not good for business. Be the one to break your own bad news, you just may be perceived as honest and trustworthy.

1. Trying To Do It All
The greatest mistake entrepreneurs make is to believe they can do it all by themselves. While an entrepreneur can do most things, they do most things poorly. Just like any other person, an entrepreneur has one or two God given talents. As an entrepreneur it is your job to identify what you are great and do those few things to your fullest. Surround yourself with people who are strong where you are not. Great companies are built on the foundation of exploiting a few strengths, not on trying to be masters of everything.

In previous time, I’ve shared tons of resource for entrepreneurs and you know when you’re in business you need to grow venture capital for your organizations or  business firm, have to understand and know about legal issues and accounts management, web design and internet marketing, advertising and lots of issues.  However, one of my favorite writer Neil shared something cool resource for the web users. I wish you really enjoy it.

Neil Patel is the co-founder of 2 Internet companies: Crazy Egg, and KISSmetrics. Through these 2 companies he has helped large corporations such as AOL, General Motors, Hewlett-Packard and Viacom make more money from the web. By the age of 21 not only was Neil named a top 100 blogger by Technorati, but he was also one of the top influencers on the web according to the Wall Street Journal

As a first time entrepreneur you probably have tons of questions. And every time you do a Google search for an answer you are bombarded with too much information and in some cases that information contradicts other things you have heard. Due to this, I have created a list of 54 resources that should help you out.

Legal & Accounting

Legal and accounting issues may not seem important when you are starting your company, but they are. Legal and accounting mistakes that you make early on can haunt you for years and can be expensive to fix. So if you are going to start a company you should do things right from the get go.

• S Corp. vs. LLC: Which Structure is Right for Your Business – Determining the type of legal structure for a new business can be daunting for entrepreneurs and small business owners. Learn more about S Corporations and Limited Liability Companies (LLC), and decide if one of these business structures is right for you.
• Legal Zoom – a cheap way to get incorporated.
• Findlaw – a directory of all the lawyers throughout the US.
• Bookkeeping 101: Debits and Credits – Accounting ends with score keeping but begins with record keeping. The first task of accounting is to accurately record transactions. Transactions are events that change the composition of a firm’s assets, liabilities, and equity.
• Accounting Basics – This explanation of accounting basics will introduce you to some basic accounting principles, accounting concepts, and accounting terminology.
• Docstoc – A free place to get legal documents and templates which can drastically help reduce your legal fees and in some cases allow you to do some legal stuff yourself.
• You’ve Been Sued: What Do You Do? – Everything you wanted to know about being sued.
• Opening a Business Bank Account – Business bank accounts and your identity.
• Closing Down Your Business Permanently – If you’re shuttering your business for good, there’s more to it than drawing the blinds.
• Legal Issues to Consider When Starting Your Business – There are a multitude of legal issues to think about when it comes to starting your business. Everything from your business name to its structure to its operation has legal implications.

Web Design

Design is something we tend to take for granted. Not only is important for your website to look good, but you also want to make sure it is usable and converts.

• Top Ten Mistakes in Web Design – The ten most egregious offenses against users. Web design disasters and HTML horrors are legion, though many usability atrocities are less common than they used to be.
• Google Website Optimizer – A free tool that will help you maximize your conversions.
• Web Developers Handbook – Everything you need to know about web design and development.
• CSS Vault – Web design inspiration.
• A Roadmap to Web Standards – Before you start designing your website, make sure you are complying with web standards.
• Signal vs Noise – A design and usability blog by 37signals.
• Crazy Egg – A simple tool that shows you how website visitors interact with your website.
• How to choose a website design agency – Choosing the right web design shop can be a tricky thing.

Internet Marketing

You can have a great product or service, but if no one sees it you will never make any money. Now this doesn’t mean you have to hire a marketing firm to help you out, but you could learn some basic things about Internet marketing.

• Beginner’s Guide to Search Engine Optimization – The basics of search engine optimization.
• Social Media Marketing Beginner’s Guide – Interested in leveraging the social web? Here is what you need to know first.
• Top Ten Things You Can Do To Get Blogged On – Getting bloggers to blog on your company isn’t an easy thing. If you flow these rules and you should be successful at it.
• How to Optimize Your Blog for Search Engines – What you need to know if you want your corporate blog to get traffic.
• Web Analytics: An Hour A Day – Google’s analytics guru, Avinash Kaushik, breaks down web analytics and the tracking needs you may need for your website.
• Dullest – The blog of Google’s main search engineer, Matt Cutts. Before you get into search engine optimization, you probably want to read his blog.
• MailChimp – Sending high quantities of emails isn’t an easy thing to do. In most cases your emails won’t go through unless you use a service like MailChimp.
• Banner Basics: Create Ads That Work – Banner advertising isn’t dead… you just have to learn how to effectively use them.

Hiring Employees

When you don’t have much cash in the bank, you can’t afford to make hiring mistakes. Sooner or later you are going to have to hire a few employees, so you better know what to look for.

• When to hire your first employee – if you are considering hiring an employee, you should read this first.
• 5 tips for hiring your first employee – Microsoft breaks down some useful tips for new companies.
• 9 Steps Before You Hire – 9 good tips for first time business owners.
• ADP – Payroll can be a hassle. ADP provides good payroll solutions for a very affordable price.
• How to Fire an Employee – If you hire a bad employee you better learn to fire them.
• When to Fire an Employee – Analyzing when it is time to accept that a performance improvement will not happen.
• Fully-Baked: The real cost of adding a new employee – Employees cost more than just their salaries.
• 201 ways to turn any employee into a star performer – A book that you should read if you want to maximize your employees output.
• Tsheets – Employee time tracking software.
• RescueTime – Employee time tracking and time management software.

Raising Venture Capital

Raising money can be a pain in the ass, especially if you have never done it before. If you want to raise money, you need to know the basic terminology that venture capitalists use, how to create a pitching deck, and how to get in front of venture capitalists.

• Vfinance – A directory of venture capitalists, angel investors, and business plan templates.
• Forbes Midas List – A list of the top 100 venture capitalists for the year 2009.
• The 10/20/30 Rule of PowerPoint – Before you make a powerpoint that showcases your company and how much money you are raising, you should read this.
• How to Raise Venture Capital – An detailed overview on how you can raise money.
• Venture Hacks – A blog for entrepreneurs that discusses everything about venture capital.
• The Funded – An online community of entrepreneurs to research, rate, and review funding sources worldwide.
• How To Raise Venture Dollars – Ben Elowitz who has raised over 40 million dollars breaks down the tricks to raising money.
• Paul Graham – Awesome essays about venture capital and entrepreneurship.

General Business Advice

Other entrepreneurs have already solved many of the problems you are going to face. So when you run to into these generic problems, here are some websites you can turn to.

• Inspired Startup – Successful entreprenuer Andy Liu breaks down how to take your startup to the next level.
• The 50 best business blogs – There are thousands of business blogs, but here are the 50 best according to Times.
• The Top 10 Mistakes People Make When Starting A Business – You don’t want to make any of these mistakes.
• 10 Timeless Business Tips From 10 Millionaires – If you want to be a millionaire then you better learn from them.
• Solving Your Business Problems – Start solving your problems before they even take place.
• Struggling Entrepreneur – The Struggling Entrepreneur is a free podcast series that deals with the issues, challenges and problems of the individual who wants to be an entrepreneur, but who encounters a somewhat difficult path and appears to be struggling.
• Smarta – A support community for entrepreneurs.
• Litemind – Exploring ways to use your mind more efficiently.
• Mixergy – Successful CEOs share their experiences with the masses.

Living The Frugal Life

Although it may sound sexy to be an entrepreneur, most entrepreneurs don’t make a ton of money. You are going to have to learn to live a frugal life so that you can continue to do what you love and not worry about paying your mortgage.

• Little Steps: 100 Great Tips For Saving Money For Those Just Getting Started
• 75 Painless Money-Saving Tips – Saving money can be painful, but here are 75 ways that are painless.
• Strapped For Cash? Billshrink Can Save You Thousands!
• High Yield Savings Accounts at 20 Largest Banks – If you are going to keep your money with a bank, might as well be a bank that has high yield savings accounts.
• Scrooge Strategy – 1 premium tip every week that helps you save money.
• How to Reduce Rent – Rent is probably your biggest expense, here are a few ways to reduce it.

Conclusion

There are a ton of resources out there for first time entrepreneurs, but these are the main ones I use. Do you have any other recommendations?

Ashley is evidence of the meritocracy on the Internet that allows even companies run by neophyte entrepreneurs to compete, regardless of funding, location, size, or experience–and she’s a reminder that ingenuity is ageless.

She has taken in more than $1 million, thanks to a now-familiar Web-friendly business model. Her MySpace page layouts are available for the bargain price of…nothing. They’re free for the taking. Her only significant source of revenue so far is advertising.

Her numbers are indeed impressive. 17 years old high school dropout. Made more than $1 million. Earns as much as $70K a month. Owns a website that attracts more than 7 million monthly visitors and 60 million page views. Her first Adsense paycheck was $2,790 and she has already rejected a $1.5 million buyout offer. I’m referring to Ashley Qualls, the founder of Whateverlife.com, a free MySpace layouts website. [Case Study of a Teenage Millionaire doshdosh.com]

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To become  a successful entrepreneur, you have to learn from other’s mistakes. You have to grab why are entrepreneur becoming failed through they tried their best. When you will grab the weakness of, then you can measure with yourself — if you found any one, soon you have to remove it or you have to think about it and resolve this problem. I’m just coming across from Neil blogs, an awesome articles he shared with readers.

1. You don’t know how to manage money. Fancy offices and high salaries are great ways to blow money. You need to learn when to spend your money and when you should not. For example, if your employees want fancy desks or cubicles, when it will not help them do their job better, tell them no. But if a developer wants two monitors so he or she can be more productive, then buy the second monitor.
2. You don’t have multiple game plans. You can’t rely on one person, one business model, or even one solution. Things you can’t predict happen, so the best thing you can do is have multiple game plans. Single game plans such as relying on marketing to make your website popular is a bad idea. If you hire a bad marketing firm, what are you going to do now? Read the rest of this article »

When the entrepreneur words comes to mind or I’m seeing Sergey and Page — the founder of Google.com. We already have know what things they have done and what’s the model and the business strategy of their web company. Also, Evan Williams, Jason Fried, Marc Andreessen, Caterina Fake, Elon Musk, Niklas Zennstrom and Arianna Huffington and Mark Zuckerberg — what is doing now? Whatever, every entrepreneur following some killer strategy to grownup their business, it can be slower or faster but they are taking both to find what gaining more outcomes with less.

I’m coming across from What makes a great entrepreneur? from Neils Patels blog who is the founder of Crazy Egg and KISSmetrics (I’m loving it) and  you know the interesting theory and history of KISS (Keep It Simple Stupid). So, on his post he is trying to introducing some other entrepreneurs — all are not billionaires but somehow they are millionaires and doing great in business and become success entrepreneurs.

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