Think You're Too Old to Be An Entrepreneur? Think Again. (Infographic)

If Hollywood wants to portray an entrepreneur in a movie, then he -- and it’s usually a he – is in his early 20s, may or may not have a college degree, is probably wearing blue jeans and a hoodie, and is a bit unkempt, with messy hair and facial hair.

That stereotype may appeal to our interest in a narrative where geeks take over the world, but the Mark Zuckerberg-inspired vision is absolutely only a part of the entrepreneurship story. Many entrepreneurs don’t even think about launching their own business until they are in their 30s, 40s, and even 50s, after years of work experience.

Ray Kroc, the founder of McDonald's, sold paper cups and milkshake mixers until he was 52, according to an infographic from San Francisco-based startup organization Funders and Founders (below). Meanwhile, the founder of cosmetic behemoth Mary Kay, Mary Kay Ash, sold books and home decor objects until she was 45.

Fret not if you are over 40 and have yet to start your own business. There’s still time. And chances are, if you’ve worked a while, you’ve learned a thing or two about life and business that will be helpful, too.

Take a look at the infographic below for more examples of entrepreneurs who launched later in life. 

From Entrepreneur

By  CATHERINE CLIFFORD

What Business Owners Can Learn From Taxi Drivers

Want to be a successful taxi driver?

It’s a competitive business. It’s impossible to raise your fares. There's long hours and it’s very, very hard work. Your customers can be tough, moody, impatient and sometimes downright unfriendly. You’re expected to be an expert at your job and possess a wealth of information. You are criticized and analyzed, and rarely receive a thank you. You’re regulated by the government. You have high costs.

It is not easy being a taxi driver. I should know. I have all of these same problems, and so does just about every business owner I meet. I have friends that run pizza shops, clients that manufacturer tubes and partners who sell hardware. They all have the same problems. But I know how you can succeed.

You will make sure your taxi is spotless, that you always have enough gas and that your repairs are up to date. The cab will not smell of cigarette smoke, sweat or beer. In fact, it won’t smell of anything at all. There will be no evidence of past customers in the back seat -- no stains, tears or missing seatbelts. The taxi will be cool in the summer and warm in the winter. You will have a bottle of water for each customer. You will be clean and dressed appropriately. You will be courteous, respectful and helpful. You will treat each customer like they're special. Your place of business will be respectable and professional.

You will be expert in what you do. You will learn the language of your customer so that you can communicate effectively. You won’t ask your out-of-town passenger for directions because you will understand that your customer assumes that you know how to do what you’re being paid to do. You will not use profanity, scream and shout at other drivers, talk on the phone to your girlfriend or comment on the economy or the president.

You will not drive or conduct yourself recklessly or endanger your customer. You will do what you do so that your customer can do what he or she does -- be it talk on the phone, paperwork, checking their messages or nap. You will converse when your customer wants to converse. You will operate your business with the best interests of the customer in mind.

You will make the best use of technology and equip yourself with reliable GPS software so that you can get to and from your destination quickly. You will have a mobile phone in case customers need to call or text you. You will offer your customers choices for payment -- cash or credit card, and for those customers who want to pay by credit card you will utilize a mobile payment application to do this, also ensuring that passengers receive a receipt emailed to them. Your use of technology will not only increase the convenience of the customer but make you more productive and therefore profitable.

You will be ethical. You will not take a roundabout route when a more direct one is better for the customer. You will not overcharge. You will not take advantage of your customer’s ignorance -- of course.

You will do something extra. As you drive maybe you’ll ask if your customer would like a restaurant recommendation or some advice about the destination. You may point out interesting sites if the customer wishes. You will help with your passenger’s bags. Most importantly when you reach your destination you will do something that most taxi drivers don’t: say thank you. Offer your business card and your services if they’re further needed. And thank them again. You will demonstrate your competitive edge by always doing more than expected.

This is how to be a successful taxi driver. Don’t want to drive a cab? That’s OK. It’s also how to be a successful entrepreneur.

From Entreprenuer

By Gene Marks

3 Business Secrets to Learn From Listening to Your Body

You may have seen him or her: the strong, well-built, self-assured business leader strutting onto the stage to deliver a dynamic keynote to a packed conference hall. Beneath that well-cut suit is a person who clearly works out.

Why is it that many of the people who lead top companies appear to be in great physical shape? Perhaps the question should be: Why do many successful business leaders also exude physical prowess and health?

It’s not just coincidence.

The connections between how you take care of your body and the way you nuture your business are too close and too important to ignore. The physical entity we call a human body and the legal entity we call a company are both vehicles that allow you to reach an end result. They are both cohesive networks of systems with rules and optimum conditions for success (read: health). And they both respond to your leadership.

So how can you leverage information gleaned from your body to improve your businesses?

1. Strategy. Like companies, bodies vary by shape and size, strengths and weaknesses and overall health and vigor. It’s critical for you to be aware of your body’s -- and company’s -- unique characteristics and needs, and that to use strategy in thought and action to achieve the results you seek.

When you approach your body from the point of view of strategy, you’re thinking about the best moves to strengthen it and avoid injury as well as the most nutritious foods for nourishment and health. You want results without side effects.

When you approach your business strategically, you’re considering the optimal ways to position it as unique and valuable, the most effective tools and systems to drive innovation and support vital processes, and the best ways to avoid problems.

In both cases, it’s important to be creative and nimble.

2. Energy. A critical yet often overlooked force for success, energy powers everything we do. And a high level of energy can drive greater productivity; clearer, more creative thinking and a host of other things critical for building a business.

It's no wonder that leaders like Apple’s Tim Cook, Nike’s Mark Parker and Senator Wendy Davis have made maintaining their physical health a nonnegotiable priority. Just as physical activity can improve brain function, inactivity has an equally tangible opposite effect, according to new research.

One study, published recently in The Journal of Comparative Neurology, found that a lack of physical activity in rats increased their risk for heart disease and altered the structure and operation of the brain. Inactivity caused the neurons to overstimulate the sympathetic nervous system and made the animals lethargic. 

3. Time. Another element bound up in the quest for success is time. No one ever feels they have enough, but some people excel at exercising time management to their personal and professional advantage. Among the most ambitious, driven people are the ones rising earlier and exercising more. Publications including Entrepreneur have written about the fitness habits of successful people, such President Barack Obama.

But this is not about simply setting your alarm clock earlier and upping your bench press another 100 pounds. It's about prioritization and efficiency, consistency and discipline -- and passion.  

Time is a precious and nonrenewable asset; use it well. When you’re in the gym, don’t waste time on exercises that won’t produce the desired results.

Apply that same thinking to business. Out of the 50 tasks you need to accomplish at work, determine which will give you the highest yield, both in the short and long term. Tackle those first. This approach is also important for your business goals.

Above all, enjoy the process. Identify the one exercise at the gym and the one task in business that give you the most joy. Then strategize to use these favorite activities to help you reach your goals faster and become stronger.

The principles upon which you can build a stronger, healthier body are the same ones that can help you build a lasting and vibrant business. Live by those principles and perhaps it will be you up on that stage next.

From Entreprenuer

By Eric Schiffer

Post Smarter: The Best Times to Use Social Platforms (Infographic)

Almost every small business, 81 percent, is on social media, and 94 percent of them use these social platforms for marketing purposes (attracting clients and building a brand), according toresearch from LinkedIn. As social media usage becomes ubiquitous, the rate will only continue to grow, as more small businesses use Facebook pages and Twitter as their main platforms for communication, even more so than their websites.

The LinkedIn study and SumAll data further find social media’s importance to “hyper growth” companies (those with significant year-over-year growth). Ninety one percent of these firms said social media grew awareness, and nearly three quarters grew their social media budgets in the past year. The small businesses using social platforms must be doing something right.

Once small businesses are on social media they need to then figure out how to leverage each platform to meet their goals. These types of companies don’t have the luxury of spending too much time on any facet of their business. Small businesses want to be sure their content is engaging and impactful, and will have “legs” throughout the network in terms of additional sharing.

What many small business owners and managers overlook is the “when” of social media posting, not just the “what,” “where” and “why.” Having the right content is great, but knowing the time of day when people are most receptive to posts is invaluable for companies that need to run efficient campaigns.

SumAll.com is a startup firm that provides data analytics for companies ranging from small businesses to large enterprise-level players such as Starbucks and Pandora. The company analyzed large amounts of customer data to determine the most opportune times to send out posts to various platforms, including Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, Instagram, Pinterest and Google. The “best time” metric was calculated for each social media platform by measuring the responses on hundreds of millions of different posts, representing companies in various industry verticals. The measured “responses” were likes, comments, reposts and other similar activities that represent a specific action taken by the recipient.

The SumAll.com research found the platform-specific times illustrated in the below infographic were generally optimal for sending posts. Some thoughts on the likely reasons for the popularity of the specific timeframes will follow.

Twitter: People have a chance to share their own thoughts or retweet in the afternoon.

Facebook: The work day is slowing down and people have more time to do a Facebook check.

Tumblr: Reading micro-blogs on Tumblr takes more time and thought than other platforms, so non-work hours are often ideal.

Pinterest: Weekends are best, as the craft and collection emphasis of Pinterest lends itself to weekend projects.

A common trend with the optimal times is you want to catch people during their downtime. You might need to get them early in the morning during their commute or “settling in” time at work, during lunch or in the evenings.

Small businesses should try to follow these times but also need to understand the timing may be different for their specific customer base or industry. If they are trying to reach college students, the normal 9 to 5 workday doesn’t apply. Experimentation is still recommended, and small businesses can use various tools to automate the sending of posts and tweets at various times throughout the day and over the weekend.

From Entreprenuer

By Dane Atkinson

10 Quotes to Get You Through the Marathon of Entrepreneurship

Being a successful entrepreneur is about approaching your success journey as a marathon, not a sprint. However, if you’ve actually run a marathon, you know the high of the excitement at the starting line and the low of mile 18 when you think you just can’t take one more step.

The path of entrepreneurship has distinct peaks and valleys, so here are 10 quotes to keep you motivated for wherever you are in the marathon.

Benjamin Franklin

Image credit: Library of Congress LC-USZ62-25564

1. "By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail." -- Benjamin Franklin

Franklin, one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence, was also one of the most successful business entrepreneurs in America of his time with his printing press. His Poor Richard’s Almanac is still a business book to be relished today with timeless wisdom about wealth and planning. One of the success-building principles is proper planning. Get a plan and know where you’re going.

2. "Quality is not an act, it is a habit." -- Aristotle

As an entrepreneur, you need a winning strategy based on a quality service offering. Quality doesn’t develop overnight. Through relentlessly putting your best into everything you do, you’re sure to finish the marathon of success.

3. “You want to be extra rigorous about making the best possible thing you can. Find everything that’s wrong with it and fix it.” -- Elon Musk

How is quality achieved? By constantly improving. Musk is one of the most brilliant risk-taking entrepreneurs in the market and he says this comes from constant feedback on how you can improve the quality of something. Live it, learn it and do it for success.

Sara Blakely Image credit: David Shankbone

4. “I think failure is nothing more than life's way of nudging you that you are off course. My attitude to failure is not attached to outcome, but in not trying at all.” -- Sara Blakely

How could a recent failure you’ve experienced open up the doors for a different opportunity? Always see the ways that mistakes or failures are trying to re-shape your product or service to improve.

5. "The most valuable thing you can make is a mistake -- you can't learn anything from being perfect." -- Adam Osborne

Making mistakes is part of the marathon. You trip, you fall down, but you get back up and keep going. Those stumbles and mistakes can be the most important thing you ever do as they lead to making everything better. You get better from failures -- products get better from improving on shortcomings. You can always do better by learning from the mistakes.

6. "Entrepreneurship is the last refuge of the troublemaking individual." -- Natalie Clifford Barney

Maintaining the entrepreneurial spirit is an important step in the marathon. Have some fun, stir up some trouble, be a disruptor if you feel like it -- that’s where the magic happens. Go start causing some good-natured trouble in your industry.

Seth Godin Image credit: Joi Ito

7. "You are not your resume, you are your work." -- Seth Godin

What people have or haven't done in the past doesn't always determine whether they will be successful entrepreneurs. Don’t fixate on a perfect resume, just be prepared to learn from your mistakes and share your true work with the world.

8. "I like thinking big. If you're going to be thinking anything, you might as well think big." -- Donald Trump

Never think of yourself as being too small to carry out a great idea. There are countless numbers of successful people who got their start from a much humbler set of circumstances than your own. Never let that be an excuse to stop or not take action to begin with -- there’s always a way, find it!

9. "Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma, which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of other people's opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition." -- Steve Jobs

This is the why of your marathon. Why are you an entrepreneur? Why are you even in this race? Don’t start running unless you know what you’re running for. What awaits you at the finish line? Knowing that answer and being true to your desires will see you out in the low times to get you through to the successful end.

10. “Chase the vision, not the money, the money will end up following you.” -- Tony Hsieh

Hsieh’s quote says it all.

From Entreprenuer
By  ADAM TOREN

Young developer looks to take Joburg’s Maboneng Precinct model to Ghana

Jonathan Liebmann, founder of Propertuity, the property development company that owns and is responsible for the creative architecture and designs of the regenerated mixed-use developments of Johannesburg’s Maboneng Precinct, has his eye on Accra, Ghana for his next venture.

Jonathan Liebmann, founder of Propertuity

Although plans to expand Propertuity to Accra are still in its infancy, the company has already identified potential local partners and architects and is looking at various deals.

“We haven’t committed to any property yet, but the idea is to create a mixed-use development by recycling an old building in an old downtown area and then trying to bring life back there, and to the urban core there as well,” Liebmann told How we made it in Africa.

“I have spoken to a lot of companies just to try and get some advice and just really understand the market. And, of course, my model is going to be to have a local partner and also to start small so not to get ahead of ourselves.”

In 2008 Liebmann founded Propertuity in South Africa, the company behind the Maboneng Precinct in the urban core of Johannesburg. The area, once derelict, has breathed life into the city and has attracted residents back into the urban centre.

Prior to starting his company, Liebmann said he had always had an interest in the social dynamics and economics behind property, and at the age of 18 he bought, renovated and sold his first apartment.

He was inspired to found Propertuity after he returned to Johannesburg from travelling abroad and was looking to reconnect with the city.

“I felt that there was a huge need to re-engage with the city and to provide alternative living and working spaces,” he explained. “I was very bored and uninspired by Johannesburg’s suburbs. And so I started to think about how I could change the landscape.”

When it comes to regenerating old buildings, Liebmann said he is a design focused developer and spends roughly a third of each working day on design and collaborating with architects. He believes a lot of his success with Maboneng comes from understanding the context of the area he is developing.

“I think for me it’s very important that you have a really good understanding of the context in which you are developing the property, so an understanding of the essence of the place you are developing in. And if you can understand that, you can design and develop the property accordingly.”

Looking ahead

“In Maboneng we are still going to be developing another 20 buildings over the next three years. So we have a huge pipeline in Maboneng,” Liebmann continued. “The population is going to triple over the next two years. So there is massive, massive growth coming to Maboneng but at the same time I am also starting to look down the line at other opportunities in other African cities.”

Liebmann said that, alongside Accra, the firm is also looking at expanding into Durban on South Africa’s east coast, and will be considering areas that are similar to the Maboneng Precinct in terms of accessibility.

“I think the most important thing is finding an area which is well located in terms of its proximity to other areas that are in the city. So Maboneng makes sense because it is in the central core of Johannesburg, so it’s actually very accessible. It’s also right by the highway so it’s got a very easy entrance and exit into it.”

He added that while Propertuity is in no way restricted to expanding only on the continent, Africa does offer considerable promise for the property development market.

“I think Africa has a huge amount of potential. It has six of the 10 most high growth countries in the world,” he highlighted. “I want to be a part of that growth.”

The future for Africa’s property sector, continued Liebmann, will be a combination of recycling old buildings and developing new ones. However, he explained that his business lies specifically in rejuvenating old buildings, and specifically looks for rundown industrial buildings.

“And with Africa’s colonial history, there are a lot of beautiful old colonial buildings that need rehabilitation so we see it as our responsibility to facilitate that.”

Advice from a young, serial entrepreneur

Liebmann started his first business at the age of 15 throwing parties inside clubs. At 18 he first tried his hand at property development, and a year later started a mobile coffee shop business. He then started a cleaning service, and at 21 created a chain of laundromats and drycleaners which he managed to grow to 17 stores before selling the company and starting Propertuity.

Having entered into property development at the young age of 24, Liebmann said he did face ageism as an entrepreneur. However, to counter this, he followed the notion that actions speak louder than words.

“People will take you seriously if you are properly performing and you are creating lots of change. There is no one who is going to disregard that.”

His advice to other young entrepreneurs looking to follow in his footsteps is to completely know and be confident in their product, both from a technical and financial point of view.

“And I think that the confidence can be the foundation of your success,” he concluded.

From How We Made it in Africa

By  KATE DOUGLAS

Watch out South Africa, Nigeria is on the rise

For years South Africa has asserted itself as Africa’s most dominant economy, frequently being touted as the world’s gateway into Africa. However, its anaemic growth in recent times has seen other African countries rise to the pinnacle of the continent’s economic landscape. At a time when six of the world’s 10 fastest growing economies in the last decade have been in Africa averaging around 7% GDP growth, South Africa has only managed a miserly GDP growth rate of around 3.9% over the same comparable period.

Perry Munzwembiri

The growing inequalities between the rich and the poor, labour unrest, service delivery protests and corruption among a range of other ills have hampered South Africa’s progress. EnterNigeria, Africa’s most populous country with more than 160m people and whose GDP has grown at an average of 6% since 2006 according to the World Bank. Nigeria’s rapid growth over the years appears to have attracted noteworthy foreign investments such as global giant Procter & Gamble’s recent US$300m manufacturingplant and the Dubai-like Eko Atlantic City being built on land reclaimed from the Atlantic Ocean, among other foreign investments.

Nigeria’s Bureau of Statistics is in the process of recalculating the country’s GDP to better reflect its changing economic configuration over the years. The recalculation, called rebasing, is an adjustment that will account for changes in market prices and weights of goods and services, and will also see the base year of calculation change from 1990 to 2010. The last rebasing exercise in the West African country was carried out in 1990. If Nigeria’s GDP were to rise by about 60% as estimates indicate to about $432bn, it will be the 28th largest economy in the world, and overtakeSouth Africa as Africa’s biggest economy in terms of GDP.

The country has set itself an ambitious target of becoming one of the world’s top 20 economies by 2020. Nigeria has been second only to China in terms of cumulative real GDP growth in local currency terms since 2008. Jim O’Neill, former economist at Goldman Sachs famous for coining the acronym BRICS, has now shifted attention to what he terms the MINTs (Mexico, Indonesia, Nigeria and Turkey) which he sees as the pillars of global growth in the coming years, with Nigeria being the most prominent among them. Accounting for about $5bn of the foreign direct investment into Africa in 2013 alone, clearly Nigeria is in good stead to become one of the leading economies with time.

On the surface this makes for some scintillating reading. However, a closer look at the dynamics of Nigeria’s economy reveals structural deficiencies that are overlooked by GDP figures as indicators of economic growth and development.

Military extremism in the north

Nigeria has had to contend with threats posed by Boko Haram as well as other Islamist militant groups for a while. The Muslim north has been the area most affected by the activities of these extremists, perhaps the most antagonistic of them being Boko Haram. It is estimated that since 2002, the group which has been proscribed as a terrorist organisation by most foreign governments, has accounted for over 10,000 deaths in the region.

Often, it is argued that the unemployment, lack of education opportunities, poverty and socio-economic inequalities rife in the northern parts of the country provide a steady supply of youths who can be recruited into the radical organisation. The consequences of such extremism have been all too apparent, ranging from kidnappings, bombings and assassinations. In May 2013, the Nigerian president declared a State of Emergency in three regions in the northern parts of the country as part of state efforts to thwart insurgents.

This could potentially be a self-perpetuating cycle where the northern parts of Nigeria, because of the instability, fail to attract investments thereby further entrenching income inequalities and under-development compared to the oil rich south. This extremism is more than just religious pursuits to impose Sharia Law. Commenting on Boko Haram and their activities, professor of criminology at the University of Abuja, Femi Odekunle, says: “The government needs to address the social order issues which constitute economic and educational issues that are underlying the emergence and sustenance of Boko Haram.” As long as wealth and opportunities remain or are perceived to be concentrated in the southern states with the oil refineries, it is not immediately conceivable how the terror caused by militant groups in the north will abate. The costs of such insurgents on the economy are too dear, and could all but reverse strides made in developing Nigeria.

Corruption is the elephant in the room

Recently, Nigeria has made headlines with high profile cases of corruption. From allegations by former Central Bank governor Lamido Sanusi of $20bn being unaccounted for by the state, to senior government ministers being sacked, reportedly for corruption, clearly corruption is rampant in Nigeria. Transparency International’s Corruption Perceptions Index ranks Nigeria at 144 out of the 177 countries measured, underlining the extent to which corruption is endemic in the country.

Nigeria’s Finance Minister Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala who, in her book Reforming the Unreformable: Lessons from Nigeria, dedicated an entire chapter to corruption, concedes that Nigeria indeed has a problem with corruption. However, she, like other members of President Goodluck Jonathan’s government, downplays corruption. Speaking to Christiane Amanpour, CNN’s chief international correspondent, Okonjo-Iweala says: “Nigeria does have a problem with corruption and so do many other countries, including developed countries.”

To be fair, corruption is not only peculiar to Nigeria, and notable strides have been made to try to stamp it out in the country. Yet, corruption could see incomes remain unevenly distributed in a country where the World Bank estimates that 67% of the population still live in poverty. Former executive chairman of Nigeria’s Economic and Financial Crimes Commission Nuhu Ribadu revealed that since independence in 1960, Nigeria has lost close to $380bn to corruption and mismanagement. Corruption then is the elephant in the room the country has to address if these statistics are anything to go by.

Structural economic issues

On a broader level, Nigeria’s economy is hampered by structural issues that threaten the growth it has been witnessing. Eighty percent of the country’s revenue comes from crude oil exports, which signifies an undiversified economy reliant on the oil and gas sectors that are susceptible to the caprices of fluctuating commodity prices. This speaks to the need to diversify the country’s economy.

Furthermore, growth in the Nigerian economy has been in less labour intensive sectors such as oil and gas, telecoms and banking. As a result, not everyone enjoys the growth of the economy as most people remain unemployed. Agriculture, which can potentially employ many people, needs to be modernised and more employment opportunities created.

Some 300,000 barrels of oil were reportedly lost per day in 2013 alone due to vandalism, production shut downs and theft. These are the sort of leakages that will need to be reined in, as the country endeavours to develop. The work does not stop there. Together with Afghanistan and Pakistan, Nigeria remains one of only three countries where polio is still present. Then there is the ‘paradox of plenty’, where an estimated 120m people do not have access to electricity in Nigeria which is the largest oil exporter on the continent. The clear implications being that investments have to be made in shoring up healthcare systems, ensuring efficient service delivery, upgrading key infrastructure in the country, propping up systems and ensuring growth and development is equal. Nigeria’s demographic structure presents opportunities for an economy driven by robust domestic demand. Yet this hinges upon a growing middle class whose spending will drive the economy.

Though South Africa will likely remain the bellwether economy in Africa for the foreseeable future due to its diversification, investments in infrastructure, its size and the systems it has in place, it is obvious that it has underwhelmed of late. With Nigeria’s national elections looming in 2015, it remains to be seen whether the new government will implement the much needed socio-economic reforms and consolidate its newfound position as Africa’s biggest economy.

From How We Made it in Africa

By  PERRY MUNZWEMBIRI