50 Signs You Might Be an Entrepreneur

Entrepreneurs are a unique group of people. Not only do they think differently; they act differently. They draw on personality traits, habits and mind-sets to come up with ideas that straddle the line between insanity and genius. But just because you’re an original thinker and came up with an idea to replace gasoline in cars doesn’t mean you’re cut out to be an entrepreneur. 

If you ever wondered if you were an entrepreneur, check out the following list. You may not have all these traits or skills, yet if you have some, this is a pretty good indicator that you have what it takes. 

1. You come from a family of individuals who just couldn't work for someone else. Your parents worked for themselves. Though this isn't true for every entrepreneur (myself included), many have a family history with one or both parents having been self-employed.

2. You hate the status quo. You’re a person who is always questioning why people do the things they do. You strive to make things better and are willing to take action on it.

3. You’re self-confident. Have you ever met an entrepreneur who was pessimistic or self-loathing? After all, if you don’t have confidence, how can others believe in you?  Most entrepreneurs are very optimistic about everything around them.

4. You’re passionate. There will be times when you spend an excessive amount of time and do not make a dollar. It’s your passion that will keep you going.

5. You don’t take no for an answer. An entrepreneur never gives up -- ever.

6. You have the ability to create unlikely partnerships from out of nowhere because of your ability to connect the dots. People tend to gravitate toward you because you are likable. Many times this is because of your passion.  

7. You spend more time with your co-founder than your spouse or significant other.

8. You dropped out of college like Bill Gates, Steve Jobs and Mark Zuckerberg.

9. The daily commute to your office is from the bedroom to the living room.

10. You were always a lousy employee and probably have been fired a lot. Don't worry; you're not alone. I personally have been fired several times in my life. Don't take it as a sign that you're a bad person. Sometimes it's in your DNA.

11. You’ve always resisted authority; that's why you've had a problem holding down a job.

12. You believe that there is more than one definition of job security: You realize that your job is safe as long as you are in control as opposed to relying on a boss who could ruin your career after one swift mistake.

13. Most of your wardrobe consists of T-shirts; some you probably got at SXSW. Others display your company's name or logo.

14. You have a competitive nature and are willing to lose. You always know that you can do something better.

15. You check GitHub when you wake up in the morning.

16. You ask to be paid in game tickets, shoes or whatever else you love. There are just some things that are better than money, right?

17. Your idea of a holiday is a working day without anything interfering with the tasks you really need to get done.

18. You’re unemployable, and there’s nothing wrong with that. Life skills are more valuable than the office politics commonly found at 9-to-5 gigs.

19. You work more than 60 hours a week; yet you earned more money at an hourly job when you were in high school.

20. You want to be in control and in command of your own company. You typically like overseeing most things that go on at your company.

21. You see opportunities everywhere. For example, you walk into a building and are curious about its worth or the companies inside.

22. The word “pitch” no longer has an association with baseball.

23. Your take a personality test, like one offered by the Enneagram Institute, and end up with a result calling you a "reformer type," someone purposeful, self-controlled and perfectionist.

24. You recognize that the best seats at your favorite coffee shops are those closest to power outlets.

25. You’re a logical thinker with ideas about how to correct problems and the overall situation.

26. Speaking of problem solving, have you checked to see if there's an app for that? Perhaps you've already begun to create a business model and the software architecture to see if it’s feasible.

27. You’re a people person. You have no problem communicating with people.

28. You regularly quote Steve Jobs mainly to keep yourself from falling to pieces.

29. You sold stuff as a kid like at a lemonade stand. Heck, when there were class sales, you were probably one of the top sellers. 

30. You get more SMS alerts from people you follow on Twitter than from actual friends listed in your address book.

31. You’re a self-starter, meaning you don’t give up on a project until it’s completed.

32. No matter what you do on a daily basis, you always think of it in terms of delivering a return on investment.

33. Your dress code is shabby chic and your suit is just collecting dust. You prefer T-shirts and jeans over a suit any day.

34. You’re unrealistic. As an inventor or innovator, you kind of have to be this way.

35. You think outside of the box. If not, what will change?

36. You’re a charming and charismatic person.

37. Rules don’t apply to you. We’re not talking about breaking the law. Instead, you believe in efficiency and will bend rules to make things run smoothly.

38. You realize that you can’t do everything alone. You have an idea and can promote it but also know that you’re not skilled at every task of running a business.

39. You’re very opinionated. That's another reason you got fired a lot.

40. You’re unpredictable. As an entrepreneur, you know how quickly things can change. Thankfully, you're ready and willing to make adjustments.

41. You enjoy being with a group but don't relish much being alone. You probably get most energetic when working with groups of more than four people.

42. You’re determined. You have to make the impossible possible.

43. You have the support of your friends and family. These are the people who get you. And they’ll be there to support you along the way.

44. It’s normal for you to take a nap under your desk to catch up on sleep. After all, getting eight hours of sleep sometime between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m. is antiquated.

45. You’ve done the market research. You know that just because you have an incredible idea doesn’t mean that it’s profitable. But you’ve already looked into whether customers will make the purchase.

46. You surround yourself with quality people -- not leeches who will bring you down.

47. You’re a bit out there. Having the ability to create something out of nothing takes a mad-genius type of person. Remember, people thought Albert Einstein was insane before he proved the theory of relativity.

48. Did you ever ask your family, friends or significant other to send you a calendar invite so that you could talk for all of five minutes?

49. You believe that your time is worth more than money.

50. During your most recent rant about growth hacking, your spouse or boyfriend (or girlfriend) totally understood what you were saying. 

Even if you don’t have all the above traits right now, you’ll probably develop more of them over time. After all, being an entrepreneur is a lifestyle, not a job or hobby.

From Entrepreneur

By John Rampton

5 Surprising Realities of Legal Weed

If you build it they will come has clearly been the case for small businesses in Colorado, one of the first states to legalize the recreational use of marijuana. But the demand, which has outstripped many lofty expectations, is not the only thing small-business owners in the pot gold rush are surprised about.

“The demand and growth has been a huge surprise,” says Bob Eschino, co-founder of Medically Correct in Denver, Colorado, which makes a line of cannabis infused chocolate bars called Incredibles. “I’ve never seen anything like this and I’ve owned a business for the last 15 years.”

Selling 40,000 chocolate-marijuana bars a month

Colorado and Washington, the first states to legalize recreational marijuana, could be called the U.S. guinea pigs on the business of cannabis. While many states are resistant to this new industry (and it is still illegal on the federal level), companies growing and selling marijuana and ones that support them are seeing so much demand they can hardly keep up.

Consider Medically Correct. According to Eschino, his company, which supplies medical dispensaries in Colorado, is selling 40,000 chocolate-marijuana bars a month and doesn’t have enough of the pot ingredients to meet the demand. Medically Correct’s chocolate bars sell for $6.00 at the medical dispensaries and almost $10 in the retail market.

Banks not cashing in

While the demand is huge, Eschino says that’s not the only thing that caught him off guard about his business. Given the size of the market and the opportunity to profit, the lack of interest from banks to lend to marijuana businesses is eye opening, he says. In February the U.S. Department of Justice and the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, a unit of the U.S. Department of Treasury, gave banks guidelines for working with legal marijuana businesses, yet financial institutions are still resistant to the industry.

“We were hoping the statements from the Federal government would have some teeth,” says Eschino.

But investors aren’t avoiding this business. Eschino says he gets cold calls on a regular basis from venture capitalists, angle investors and others looking to get in on the pot gold rush.

“Everybody wants to get into the business, but they come in and undervalue our company,” he says.

Don’t say it’s not your father’s weed

For Peter Johnson of Colorado Green Tours, which gives both consumers and investors tours of the Colorado pot business, the client demographic has surprised him. Most people would assume people visiting Colorado because of the pot industry would be twenty-something year olds looking to legally get high. But it turns out, a lot of the clientele signing up for the tours, which start out at around $200 and can get much pricier, are baby boomers.

“The demographic is considerably older than I had assumed it would be prior to doing research,” says Johnson. “There are an awful lot of old hippies that are very happy to live to see this day.”

And it’s not only the baby boomers that want a tour of this up-and-coming business. Johnson says he also gets a lot of interest from investors, and is somewhat surprised larger companies aren’t trying to cash in as of yet.

“This is a very large and now pretty lucrative market,” he says.

That was quick

Travis Howard, co-founder of Green Dream Health Services in Boulder, Colorado, trained himself early on to expect the unexpected when it comes to legal marijuana, but one area that he was caught off guard by was the speed in which the state moved to allow the sale of recreational marijuana.

“We knew it would go recreational but thought it would be closer to 2016,” says Howard, whose company operates dispensaries and provides consultations on getting into the pot business. “We thought we would get five to seven years of the medical business under our belt before adding something else to the plate.”

Government’s take

Another area that surprised Howard is the sales tax that has been imposed on the purchase of pot. According to Travis, in Boulder the total tax is 36% and in Denver it’s in the high 20% range, a far cry from the 6% sales tax in Denver and 8.5% sales tax in Boulder. Howard had figured it would move to 10% or 15%, but not as high as it is.

“It’s the first time I’m hearing from the grow supply stores and nutrient supply stores that the black market growers are thinking there’s an opportunity for them to get back into the industry,” says Howard, noting because of the tax rate an 1/8 of weed will cost $60 to $70 legally, but $40 to $50 on the black market.

While many small business owners are waiting for the day it will be legal in their state, running a pot business requires a lot of capital, which the banks aren’t willing to lend. Because of that, Eschino of Medically Correct says small business owners have to think long and hard before they make a foray into this industry.

“Right now it’s difficult unless you have a whole bunch of disposable income,” he says. “You get no line of credit and even though it’s a profitable business every penny goes back in. We can grow quicker if we get access to more capital, but we can’t.”

From Entrepreneur

By  DONNA FUSCALDO

7 Things You Should Never Say To Your Employees

When managing employees, sometimes your patience is tested by a lack of motivation, a resistance to what you’re asking or one or more ‘problem’ workers. And just because you’re the boss does not mean you're perfect. Sometimes we all say things we regret later.

But, unlike the average worker, it’s incumbent upon the boss to keep his nose clean when it comes to verbal communication. You don’t have the luxury of saying something off the cuff when you’re frustrated. The last thing you want is for your verbal missteps to demotivate your staff, causing even bigger problems for your organization.

Here are seven phrases to especially avoid, especially in the heat of the moment. An instant reactive comment can cause reputational damage and destroy any trust your employees have in you, which can take a lifetime to repair.

"I’m the boss. Do as I say." We’re all adults here. You can’t expect that your employees will take to your hypocrisy. If you are setting different standards for your employees than you have for yourself, you can’t expect that they will respect what you ask them to do.

"You’re lucky to have a job." If that’s how you really feel about any of your employees, then perhaps you’re the one who’s lucky to have a job. No one works well in an environment where they are made to feel like somehow they’re indebted to their employer. If it’s not working out with a particular employee then be a professional and deal with the issues at hand. Find a way to correct them or part ways with him immediately. The mentality that your employee should “kiss your ring” is immature and evidence that you lack leadership skills.

"If you don’t like it, I’ll find someone who does." As the manager, you call most of the shots, but that doesn’t give you a license to be a jerk. Anyone can call herself a manager or the boss, but a good one will use leadership skills to motivate employees and deliver results. Threatening employees with losing their jobs, as a way to get them to do what you want, is not sustainable. Sure, they may do what you demand at first, but eventually they will become demotivated and unwilling to do more than the bare minimum to get by. And that’s if they don’t quit first.

"Why are you the only one who has a problem with this?" If we are talking about an employee who is always resistant or who has performance issues, then address those immediately. If you’re talking about an employee who is relatively cooperative, who is giving you a hard time over a particular situation, then perhaps the problem is that you’re unwilling to listen to her concerns or alternative ideas. Or maybe she's just having a bad day. Whatever the issue, don’t assume she is being obstinate for no reason and definitely don’t ask the above question. Never compare employees. It’s like comparing your children -- also a bad idea.

"I don’t have time for this." Are you serious? You’re the BOSS. It’s your job to make time. Rather than flat-out rejecting your employee’s request for your time, block out a few minutes in the near future when you can give your employee your undivided attention.

"You have no idea what stress is." Everyone has his own stress. Just because you’ve decided that yours is greater than everyone else’s, doesn’t mean it is and doesn’t give you the right to discount others’.

"Do you see my name on that door?" Yeah, so what? True that you may have built this business from the ground up or that you’ve invested your money and time into making this enterprise what it is today. But you’re not G-d and throwing your weight around is not a productive way to get employees to buy in. Without your employees, good luck servicing your clients or customers by yourself.

From Entrepreneur

By  LINDSAY BRODER

Student Startup: Why College Is the Perfect Time to Launch a Business

With college students stressing about exams, scrapping pennies to buy their weekly supply of ramen noodles and pulling all-nighters at the library, (while also trying to squeeze in a social life), starting a company may be the last thing on their minds. But it shouldn't be.

When I started my business Headbands of Hope in college, there were always reasons why I shouldn’t launch a company at that moment: I need to focus on school or I don’t have enough experience. But I soon realized ever there will always be reason in life to say, “It’s not the right time.” In fact, I’d argue that your college years are as close to “the right time” as you’re going to get.  

For students on the fence about whether to take the dive or not, here are a few reasons your college years are the perfect time to start a company.

You have resource galore. When I got the idea for Headbands of Hope, I didn't have a business degree or know anything about manufacturing a product. Then I made a wonderful realization: I'm surrounded by experts. When you're on a college campus, professors are filled with knowledge and experience to help you. The free consulting I got from professors answered all the questions I had about starting a business and taking my first steps.

Once you are out of college these experts are known as consultants and will charge you an arm and leg for advice. So make sure you take advantage of the professors and mentors you have at your fingertips.

The built-in network and support. When you're a college student, peers of your same “university breed” surround you. If you've ever been to a college football game or any kind of large school event, you'll witness a sea of students uniting behind one thing, which is pretty amazing. It doesn't matter if you know each other or not, students wants people at his or her university to succeed and do great things.

My first big market was the student body at my university. Then those students told their friends and family, and then my mission started having a ripple effect across the nation. Plus, college students are more likely to use social media for anything they find interesting, so it builds a great social-media foundation from the start.

Being selfish is acceptable. In college, you do have responsibilities. However, these obligations will probably pale in comparison to the ones you will have after you graduate and are in the "real world." Often as a college student, the only responsibility you have is yourself. You have the ability to be selfish.

Invest heart, soul and your finances into something that you believe in. When there's less responsibility for you to worry about, it's easier to take these kinds of risks. 

You have a reputation to dispel. We all know some of the blaring stereotypes of the millennial generation. We are lazy, social-media obsessed, twerking twenty-something who don't know hard work. These negative stereotypes can actually be advantageous to an entrepreneur. When a millennial does something awesome, it's a big deal.

So much of the press and attention I got when I founded my company was because I was so young. Use young age to your advantage and be proud to be a millennial. 

It's okay to fail. I like to think of our college years as life's greatest do-over period. It's okay to make mistakes. In fact, failing at anything means you're trying.

If I'm ever too comfortable and I'm not getting rejections, it means I'm not stretching myself far enough. If you mess up at something while you're in college, there's still so much room to bounce back. The last thought you want after college is regret of not going after a dream.

When things don't go as planned (which is very frequent) it's called an experience. Experiences are carried with you the rest of your life, giving you more insight to the world around you.

These ideas aren’t just about starting a company in college. They’re about using your resources available to you in those four (or five….or six) years and making experiences.

From Entrepreneur

By  JESSICA EKSTROM 

4 Critical Traits of Great Leaders

Mahatma Gandhi

Most of us strive to become leaders. We want to do something great, be respected by our peers, make more money and acquire more responsibility. Overall, we want to make a difference at our job. However, most of us simply don’t know the proper way to gain heightened respect, confidence and admiration from those whom we work with.

In reality, there is no simple answer to leadership. It takes devotion, time and patience. Most importantly, it takes knowledge.

A firm understanding of leadership

Without a firm understanding of what makes someone more influential, you cannot begin to alter your beliefs, and practices accordingly.

Though, once aware of the traits that make someone more authoritative, you can formulate a plan to improve upon lacking areas and alter the behaviors preventing you from achieving management and executive status.

Below, you’ll find a list of traits that our sales and marketing headhunters look for in leaders, along with some exercises to enhance your influence and responsibility at work.

Defining the traits of leadership

1. Strength - Begin to carry yourself with poise and confidence. People are drawn to confidence and shy away from nervousness, lack of authenticity and insecurity.

How you feel about yourself will dictate your ability to lead and command authority. Essentially, if you don’t feel you’re important and deserving, don’t expect your co-workers to.

If you have come across as anxious and unassertive with your co-workers in the past, don’t focus on these shortcomings.

Your co-workers, like anyone else will have a short memory and so should you. From now on, think of the prior experiences as a learning tool rather than a future forecaster.

With that being said, here are some exercises on how to increase self-confidence and perceived strength:

a. Challenge the negative beliefs you have about yourself. Instead of focusing all your energy on what you don’t like about you, give equal weight to all your positive qualities.

b. Focus on past successes rather than failures. Don’t mull over what you’ve done incorrectly. It’s more productive to think about all the things you’ve done right in the past. Reinforce these thoughts repeatedly.

c. Stop always needing to be right. Understand there is nothing shameful about past work mistakes.

d. Stop looking to others for acceptance and happiness. Learn that you don’t need anyone’s approval for your own self-confidence.

e. The recruiters at KAS Placement strongly suggest that you let go of any anger that you are holding on to. Anger and resentment will prove a significant barrier to you becoming a leader at work.

2. Positive Energy - Leaders show positive energy and optimism, showering their people with a can-do attitude. This outlook draws co-workers to them and paves the way for influence, respect and admiration from others.

In terms of leadership, positive energy has a multitude of benefits and is nothing short of a crucial component.

When you’re positive, you think in terms of solutions, not problems, you inspire risk taking, tend to be more resilient and think more clearly.

Moreover, you are more assertive and your candor allows for quicker, more open communication amongst the other employees. This is the foundation of strong leadership.

3. Passion - Being passionate about your job means possessing a heartfelt, deep and authentic excitement about work. This excitement is infectious and naturally will draw others to your way of thinking.

People follow positivity, effectiveness, intelligence and resiliency. All of which are byproducts of loving what you do.

Until you learn to love work, you can’t hope to display the necessary positive energy leadership requires.

Either proactively search for the perfect employment or train yourself to become more passionate in your current job. Regardless, make a firm decision to stay or leave and follow through with it.

Here are a few ways how to increase your passion for work:

a. Increase your performance. Leaders do everything possible to increase the effectiveness of their work. They put in the extra time and sincerely enjoy what they do partly because others admire their efforts.

b. Think about what is going right rather than obsessing about your problems. Understand that no job is going to be perfect and create a reality that is more upbeat and success focused.

c. Stop focusing on what people “owe” you and begin focusing on what you can do to standout.

4. Selflessness - Leaders are selfless. They are more interested in group achievements as opposed to chasing their own goals.

By consistently pouring out encouragement, caring and recognition, your co-workers will become more drawn to you. Regardless of whether or not you are management, take every opportunity to inject self-confidence into those who earned it.

In the end

Most significant things at work and in life require work, study and most important, practice. Leadership is no different. Understand that no one is born a leader. Rather, they decide to mold themselves into one.

From Entreprenuer

By  KEN SUNDHEIM 

Women Entrepreneurs To Get 60% Of SME Fund – CBN

In line with women empowerment and entrepreneurship, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has earmarked 60 percent (N132 billion) of its N220 billion Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Development Fund (MSMEDF) to women entrepreneurs in the country.

Speaking at an organised workshop on the scheme in Ilorin, Kwara State; CBN Governor – Mallam Lamido Sanusi, who was represented by the Branch Controller, CBN Ilorin, Mr Onoriode Olotewo stated that “the specific objective is to reach over 2.0 million MSMEs over a 10-year period. In addition, 60 percent of the fund is targeted at women entrepreneurs.”

The Central Bank of Nigeria launched the MSMEs fund in August 2013 to provide the much needed capital for that sub-sector of the economy with the view of channelling long-term, low-interest funds through participating financial institutions.

The fund, which was launched at the 7th MSME financing conference and D-8 workshop, in Abuja last year, would address challenges of access to capital operators in the sub-sector were facing currently.

“The successful intermediation of the financial sector lies in the financial market to integrate the micro entrepreneurs, with low income earners, farmers, artisans into the financial system to improve the effectiveness of the policy” Sanusi had said during the initial launch of the fund.

As at 2012, Nigeria had about 8 million MSMEs employing about 42.4 million people and contributing about 46.5 per cent of nominal GDP.

Meanwhile, Olotewo said the sensitisation workshop was organised to educate the State government, the participating financial institutions and the organised private sector on the advantages of the funds.

He said the apex bank has developed operational guidelines for the State government’s participation in the MSME development fund with a view of reaching the peoples at the grassroots, adding that the MSME development fund has two broad objectives of performing both social and commercial functions.

According to him, the “social /development fund” will constitute 10 percent which is made up of grant- 5 percent, interest drawback, 3 percent, and managing agents operational costs, 2 percent while the “commercial fund” will constitute 90 percent of the fund- 90 per cent of the commercial component; and guarantee/refinancing – 10 per cent of the commercial component.

In his remarks, the Deputy Speaker of Kwara State House of Assembly, Prof. Mohammed Yisa, appealed to the CBN to make the criteria for accessing the fund less cumbersome for stakeholders and also ensure timely disbursement of funds.

From Ventures Africa

By: Oluwabusayo Sotunde

‘Age is nothing but a number,’ says the young CEO behind the Helvetic Group

Patrick Ngowi is the 29-year-old entrepreneur and CEO behind Helvetic Solar Contractors, a company that supplies, installs and maintains solar systems in Tanzania. Having started with an initial capital of US$1,800, the company has grown rapidly in recent years and, according to Forbes, the company reportedlymade $6.8m in revenue in 2012.

Patrick Ngowi, CEO of Helvetic Solar Contractors

Ngowi first started his entrepreneurial journey at the age of 15 while still in high school. Mobile phone operators had only just established themselves in the country and distributors of top-up vouchers for airtime were still scarce. Ngowi started buying airtime vouchers from large dealers in Arusha and supplying his community, making a small margin on each sale.

After school he started another business supplying inexpensive mobile phones and accessories from Chinese manufacturers in the Tanzanian market and, at just 18 years old, he had an annual turnover of $150,000.

But it was during his trips to Hong Kong that he learnt about the potential of solar power, and saw the opportunity to start the Helvetic Group. Now, seven years later, he says the potential is still huge for solar power in Tanzania, and African countries in general.

“Energy and power distribution in Tanzania is no different from other African countries. In East Africa we have less that 20% power distribution, and Tanzania is no different with 22% power distribution. It’s our hope that with Obama’s Power Africa initiative, launched mid-last year in Tanzania, it will double the figures but [it] still leaves more the 50% in most rural areas without power. In my opinion solar can bridge the gap for the time being,” Ngowi told How we made it in Africa.

“Of course, financing remains a key challenge. Recipients in rural parts do not have the capital to invest on the high initial costs.”

In 2012, Ngowi started the Light for Life Foundation to help light up rural areas. His company also launched the affordable Helvetic Solar Kit to cater to the electrical needs of rural customers. Helvetic has since sold 12,635 units.

Ngowi added that he has proven it is possible to have a social enterprise in Africa that positively benefits many lives, and still makes a high turnover.

Respect is earned

“Age is nothing but a number, what matters is content. One should stick to what they know best; do what they know. Respect is earned,” said Ngowi when asked how he deals with discrimination in business associated with his young age.

Ngowi believes that his success has come from discipline, trustworthiness, focus, and working hard but smartly. He added that he has faced many challenges as an entrepreneur, and made a number of mistakes, and says that he often has to evaluate the decisions he makes on a day-to-day basis as a result.

However, according to Ngowi, it is the love for what he does that keeps him going through the challenges he faces. For example, when the company’s warehouse was robbed in 2009 – an event Ngowi describes as “heart breaking” – the team had to change its model and start from scratch.

“Find a passion that you can run with for the short term and long term, own the rights to it and work as hard as one can towards fulfilling your goal,” Ngowi advises other aspiring entrepreneurs. “Anything worth having doesn’t come easy.”

Ngowi’s plans for the future include building solar power plants and adopting an African expansion strategy, with which he would like to reach more African countries in the next few years.

From How We Made it in Africa

By  KATE DOUGLAS