The next Mark Zuckerberg, Steve Jobs or Larry Page could still be in high school. Three 17-year-old students at Horace Mann School in Riverdale, N.Y. could be among these future tech entrepreneurs. The three have already developed a search tool some say could change the online landscape completely.
Sahil Gupta, Stan Zhang, and Cavan Klinsky, originally created Gevva as part of a high school hackathon competition. After winning a $500 prize for that accomplishment, the three avoided doing what other teenagers might have done, blowing it all clothing or entertainment. Instead they used the cash for an exhibitor fee at New York’s TechDay billed as “the world’s largest startup event.”
There, they had the opportunity to show off their creation amid big names in the tech world, including Microsoft, Yelp, Uber, and Gilt.
Explaining Geeva, Klinsky told Elite Daily:
“The average Internet user has a routine of things they do each day on the Web. For example, you use Google to look for directions, read the news or find a restaurant to eat at. The result you’re looking for is spread over many sites and Google bridges the gap. But Gevva takes the quickest headlines, best directions, best restaurants and unifies your result into one easy to use and fast package.”
While Gevva is still a work in progress, the event did present some opportunities for future growth. The trio spoke with potential investors, a few people interested in interning, and even received an offer for free office space.
It’s clear that the idea behind Gevva is intriguing and the ability of its founders is solid. They’re self-taught coders and clearly well versed in computers.
Technology has provided endless possibilities for people of all ages and backgrounds to create something truly groundbreaking. The fact that these three budding tech entrepreneurs are still in high school makes their venture even more impressive. But it’s only one example of what’s possible.
Think of entrepreneurs who have used technology to launch a business based on a long-time hobby or build an advanced piece of gadgetry at a significantly lower price. Consider how you can use technology to create something truly unique in your business.
Now, start looking for the tools and developing the skills you need to succeed.
Picking up a sandwich with your hands during a business lunch in New York wouldn't be a big deal. But in Rio de Janeiro, it could signify considerable disrespect.
That's because what's considered "proper etiquette" or "good manners" varies greatly from country to country — and as a professional traveling overseas for work, if you don't take the time to familiarize yourself with local social customs, you may appear rude and naïve, and you even run the risk of offending those you're doing business with.
Though specific social protocol sometimes differs between cities and regions, learning general cultural customs from different countries will help ensure that you're polite and professional wherever your travels take you.
No matter how great your passion and vision, a few bad habits can drive a promising business into the ground.
Clay Clark, CEO of small-business resource Thrive15, has consulted with entrepreneurs for years, and after hundreds of clients and his own experiences, he's noticed several recurring traits of business owners who fail.
"It's usually two or three traits that cause us to blow up," Clark tells Business Insider.
In his book, "Thrive: How to Take Control of Your Destiny and Move Beyond Surviving... Now!", he lists 15 of the most common traits of entrepreneurs who end up failing. We've summarized them below.
1. They make excuses.
Clark says the most common excuse he hears from clients who failed to achieve a goal is that they ran out of time. It makes him furious. As career guru Seth Godin points out, "I didn't have time" actually means a task "wasn't a high priority, fun, distracting, profitable, or urgent enough to make it to the top of the list."
2. They blame others or outside forces.
"Entrepreneurs who blame the economy, the way they were raised, the weather, the customer, their employees, the acting president, the opposite political party — anything other than themselves — for their situation will never be successful," Clark says.
3. They are dishonest.
Cheating employees on their paychecks or lying to customers are obvious examples of dangerous dishonesty, but Clark also points out that falsely praising employees instead of giving candid criticism can be just as bad.
4. They are lazy.
"Show me an entrepreneur who sleeps in, shows up late, doesn't read, and doesn't like hard work, and I'll show you a failing entrepreneur," Clark writes.
5. They are convinced they know it all.
Self-confidence is a necessary trait for someone setting out to start a business, but the ego needs limits. Clark says that failing business owners are often too proud to admit they don't know something about running their company.
6. They hesitate to make decisions.
It's necessary to gather as much information as possible before making an important decision, but spending too much time mulling it over slows everything down and wastes money. Gen. George S. Patton once said: "A good plan executed now is better than a perfect plan executed next week."
7. They have not defined a clear direction for the company.
"No one in their right mind wants to follow an entrepreneur who can't clearly articulate where they are going, yet most of the entrepreneurs I meet cannot clearly tell me their business goals for the current year," Clark says. To attract the best employees, an entrepreneur needs to have a tangible vision for the company.
8. They refuse to delegate.
Misguided or egotistical entrepreneurs feel the need to micromanage every aspect of their business, but no one is good at everything, and leaders should be focused on their company's biggest, most important issues, not fine tuning their corporate website's homepage.
9. They are involved in a niche that is not scalable.
Clark once owned and ran an entertainment company that provided service only on nights and weekends. This meant that most of the time, his employees were not working and his equipment sat in a warehouse. He says it's necessary to envision how a company can grow as more resources and talent become available.
10. They are unable to handle confrontation.
"Employees actually stole from me," Clark says, and though he was aware of their embezzlement, he was afraid to confront them. When employees sense a weakness in their leader, they will often exploit it, he says.
11. They are not organized.
Running a business comes with a never-ending stream of responsibilities, and successful entrepreneurs are constantly arranging their busy lives with a system that works for them, be it a to-do list or app.
12. They serve a niche that cannot possibly be profitable.
Clark remembers diving into a client's numbers and determining that she needed to sell 1,300 of her products each week to be profitable, but her maximum production capacity was 500 products per week. He says some business owners fail to do the math and push on despite any chance at making money.
13. They provide a terrible service or product.
Clark once helped a client promote his business to the point where its offices began getting calls constantly. But the business fell through because the receptionist was not only poorly trained but sometimes missing from her desk, and he kept his clients waiting for at least one hour for their appointments even if they were on time.
14. They are bad marketers.
"If you really do believe that your company offers your customers value by solving their problems, then you should want to scream your solutions from the mountaintops," Clark says. Use your company's growing size to establish personal relationships in person and on social media, and don't ever be afraid of being "too pushy."
15. They ignore metrics.
It is necessary to break your complex business plan into easy-to-follow checklists and management metrics that can be checked on a daily and weekly business. "Whatever you focus on expands," Clark says.
In this photo taken Friday, May 30, 2014, 34-year-old single mother Madinah Nalukenge serves dishes to customers at her food stall, frequented by transport operators, that she owns on the edge of a bus terminal in the capital Kampala, Uganda. About 63 percent of women in the non-agricultural labor force are self-employed in the informal sector in Africa, more than twice the worldwide rate according to World Bank data, which also shows that necessity, not opportunity, is the main driving force behind female entrepreneurship in poor countries. (AP Photo/Rebecca Vassie)
Madinah Nalukenge recalls the day she set out to sell food on the filthy edges of a bus terminal in the Ugandan capital in 2004. She had just $10 left over from a failed attempt to sell bed sheets.
Now she runs a catering business that makes a monthly profit of up to $3,000, a source of pride for the 34-year-old single mother who spends her days offering plates of mashed plantain and greasy meats to transport operators in downtown Kampala.
"There is a lot of money to be made here," she said recently, her apron bulging with cash. "I need to stay focused."
Her competition: More than a dozen other women operating food stalls next to hers.
Nalukenge, who did not study beyond grade school, is part of a growing trend in Africa where more women are running businesses on a scale that was unthinkable a generation ago. Africa now has the highest growth rate of female-run enterprises across the world, according to the World Bank.
About 63 percent of women in the non-agricultural labor force are self-employed in the informal sector in Africa, more than twice the worldwide rate, according to World Bank data, which also shows that necessity — not opportunity — is the main driving force behind female entrepreneurship in poor countries. Women often start by running informal retail or service businesses, but those who are more ambitious have created thousands of jobs in projects that break stereotypes about what women can do, physically and socially, in societies that are still largely conservative.
"Traditionally women would sit at home and wait for the man to return home with a bag of groceries, but this has been changing over time as women's dependence gradually reduces," said Thomas Bwire, an economist with Uganda's central bank. In a sign of the times, he said, Ugandan women now even work at road construction sites.
There are more women than men working in the informal sector in all of sub-Saharan Africa, according to the International Labor Organization. The U.N. agency's most recent survey, released last year, noted that this is unlike other regions, including South and East Asia, where informal employment for women tends to be concentrated in home-based, domestic work.
Some of the food vendors in downtown Kampala have remarkably similar accounts of what sparked their entry into private business: Hungry children, unpaid rent and some violent partners. Most of them have long been single or were recently in failed relationships, an important detail because many insist their businesses are succeeding in part because of their independence on the home front. Many of the vendors have also enrolled their children in boarding school to make more time for work.
"They don't help and they never want to help," Nalukenge said of her former partners. "Yet even the little you get they want to take away from you. I was alone when I started this business."
Development economists note that if more women are helped to join the labor force, especially through access to credit, they can be a powerful force for global economic growth.
A report released earlier this year by the investment bank Goldman Sachs urged what it called "giving credit where it is due," noting that women's "increased bargaining power has the potential to create a virtuous cycle as female spending supports the development of human capital, which in turn will fuel economic growth in the years ahead."
An estimated $300 billion credit gap exists for female-owned enterprises, according to the International Finance Corp. of the World Bank, which in March launched a $600 million fund to finance women-owned businesses in the developing world. The venture — dubbed the Women Entrepreneurs Opportunity Facility — aims to work with local banks in sharing risks and extending credit to 100,000 women entrepreneurs.
Across sub-Saharan Africa, where poverty remains extreme in many parts, stories of successful women entrepreneurs are accumulating. A Kenyan woman, Mary Okello, is feted for starting, inside a three-bedroom house, what has since become a prestigious group of private schools. In Rwanda, Janet Nkubana has been recognized abroad for running a handicrafts company that employs more than 3,000 women whose baskets can be purchased at Macy's. The Nigerian Adenike Ogunlesi is famous for her "Ruff 'n' Tumble" clothing line for children, a business that she first operated out of a car trunk.
In Uganda, where most of the food is grown locally, many women have been drawn to catering, and their food stalls are ubiquitous at transport terminals and open markets. Unable to get credit from banks, often the women start "cooperative" groups in which they pool savings. Then they take turns getting loans.
"The few who have ventured out have surprised themselves by succeeding," said Ugandan economist Fred Muhumuza, who has been advising Uganda's government on development policy. Rampant poverty, he said, is driving women to find ways of taking over "core family responsibilities" from men.
Nalukenge, the food vendor in downtown Kampala, said she has kept her children in school and now owns two small plots of land.
On a recent evening, as she prepared to clean up and pack her saucepans, she pondered her unlikely journey from failed hawker of bed sheets to successful caterer with a long line of loyal clients.
"We spend a lot of energy here," she said. "There's no resting. But at the end of the day we get our reward."
Entrepreneurs come in all shapes and sizes. They may differ
by age, gender, financial resources, work backgrounds or skillsets. But all entrepreneurs
have several unifying traits: they believe in the core idea, are risk-takers,
and are willing to work hard. That can be the combination for a rousing
success. True entrepreneurs don’t have a choice; they just have to do it; they
just have to try.
I’ve been an entrepreneur for years. I’ve started, run,
marketed and sold businesses and I’ve consulted with many more entrepreneurs
along the way. Whether you’re a brand new entrepreneur or one with years of
experience, these tips should be of value.
Valuable Tips for Entrepreneurs
1. Coming up with an
idea is the most fun; executing it…not so much. The idea is about 1% of the
overall business but execution is about 99%. In other words, the day to day work is where success lies.
2. Most people just think about how great their idea is.
They don’t think about how they will let people know about their great idea.
Figure out how you’re going to market
your business, and to whom (Who’s your audience?), before you spend too
much time or money on your idea.
3. Take criticism.
Talk to people about your idea, show them what it does or how it works. Listen
to what they have to say. You will not like everything you hear, or incorporate
all of the suggested changes, additions, deletions or comments, but it’s all
valuable.
4. Being an entrepreneur is not a get-rich-quick-scheme.
Most businesses are not overnight successes. The best way to succeed, and make
money, is to work the business, everyday, for a long time. Even if your
business is viable, you may not break even for three or four years. It may take
even longer to show a profit.
5. You will be most successful operating a business that you
like (or love!). Determine where your interests lie and what your passions are.
Figure out a business that combines some or all of those. Making a lot of money
should not be one of those things. Do something you can’t wait to do, and the
money will come.
6. Always have a contingency plan. What if things go
wrong…or right? Do you have the financial, strategic, operations or marketing
plans in place to cover what happens if you have too little, or too much,
business?
7. Strive to be as passionate about your business after 20
years as you were when you started. Continue to learn about your industry, set
new goals, expand your brand and most of all, challenge yourself to grow,
change and improve your business.
8. Do what you know. Use the knowledge, experience and
expertise you’ve acquired to start your own business. Do what you know…but do
it differently, more efficiently, more cost-effectively, more sustainably or in
a way that will improve results. Reinvent a better wheel.
9. Brand from the beginning. Take time (at the start) to
create a Mission Statement, a Vision Statement, a Positioning Statement and a
Core Values Statement. If you lose your way, these can get you back on the
right track.
10. Offer something no one else does. Become the undisputed
heavyweight in your field or design the widget with “wow!”.
11. Work like you’re getting paid. Get up every day and put
the hours in — whether someone’s paying you or not. Make the time…back burner
jobs don’t succeed.
12. Set goals for yourself and your business. Write them
down. Be accountable to someone or to yourself.
13. Work backwards: decide where you want to be and then
figure out the steps to get there.
14. We all have a favorite job; something we’d rather be
doing. Don’t address just your favorite part of your business but be mindful of
the operational, financial, marketing, and strategic plans that need to be in
place to make your business a success.
15. Be realistic as to the size of business you want to
create. A business you run by yourself may support your lifestyle as well as a
business that employs a dozen people (and with a lot less stress). If possible,
create a business that is scalable.
16. Do it for the right reasons – not because you want to
impress. Do whatever you do well and you’ll earn both personal satisfaction and
the esteem of others.
17. Don’t quit. When you hit a wall and think, “I just can’t
do this anymore,” keep going. My training as an endurance athlete taught me
that when you doubt you can continue, when your brain says, “Stop!” is when you
have to swim 10 more strokes, run 50 more steps or just bike to the top of the
hill. By the time you’ve gone just a little further, the situation has probably
changed and you’ll find can keep going.
Small business is the fastest growing sector in the United
States and accounts for 54% of all sales in the US (Source: SBA). There are
many reasons why the sector is growing so rapidly. But if you’re an
entrepreneur, or would like to start your own business, you already know why.
And if you’ve haven’t started yet, now is a good time.
Want to share some entrepreneur tips of your own? Please
comment on this post.
Entrepreneurs are a rare breed. It takes a heterogeneous mix of confidence, risk tolerance, self-discipline, determination and competitiveness to start a business and see it through to success.
Entrepreneurs can come from myriad backgrounds and financial and personal support structures, but I most admire entrepreneurs who are self-made. They weren’t handed a business or a trust fund; they took an idea — or their talent for a trade or specialized profession — and set forth to build something. When you don’t come from money and don’t have a fallback plan, the risk, work ethos and single-mindedness needed to be a successful entrepreneur create a business-builder without equal.
That said, I’ve created a list of seven common themes that are true for every self-made entrepreneur.
1. There are only three things you need to start a business — a small amount of capital, a strong work ethic and persistence.
In a perfect world, it would be free to start a business. But it does cost money to file for an EIN and be recognized as a business entity on the state and federal level. You will also likely need capital for upfront infrastructure costs like Web development and accounting software. But aside from this, which should be fairly easily self-financed or put on a zero-interest 12 month credit card, all you really need is a serious dose of self-confidence and a never-say-die attitude. You will want to quit and you will feel like a failure. But success lies beyond these feelings of fear and anxiety. Always remember, failure only exists when you stop trying.
2. To be self-made means to rise from the ground floor. Even the most successful self-made entrepreneurs once walked in your shoes.
Every successful entrepreneur who ever lived started with nothing more than an idea. Remember this when you’re down and feel like the end is near. Use it as motivation to explore new ways of doing things, forge new partnerships or do something crazy. Self-made entrepreneurs are built to tolerate and withstand great risk. Hundreds if not thousands of people have already walked in your shoes. Channel this idea. Success lies ahead.
3. It’s very rare to be first-to-market at anything. We will all have competitors and few ideas are truly original.
“There are no original ideas. There are only original people.” -Barbara Grizutti Harrison
Everyone wants to be innovative — to come up with an idea that will change the world, disrupt an industry or set you apart as an “entrepreneurial genius.” But the truth is that few ideas a unique or new. Some of the most successful tech businesses, for example, are just iterative improvements on successful ventures that have come before.
Don’t get caught up market saturation or competition. No matter what you do in life, you will face stiff competition. Use your closest competition. Evaluate their strengths and weaknesses and improve your business positioning, brand message, and pricing and marketing strategy to get an edge.
At the end of the day, customers are a fickle bunch. If your business does it better, faster, cheaper or smarter than your rivals, you’re bound to find success.
4. Doubt will haunt you until you’ve reached “success.” Learn to get used to it.
Whether they let on or not, all entrepreneurs have high levels of anxiety about their business — even if they’re on the pathway to success. Running and building a business of any size in any industry requires a huge amount of responsibility and attention to detail. And things will go wrong. Frequently. You’ll second guess yourself (sometimes on a daily basis) and you’ll always fear you’re on the edge of failure. The sooner you accept this reality, the sooner you’ll learn to cope.
5. The first big milestones were equally challenging for all of your competitors.
Getting your first sale will be a big day. But there will be many days that pass as you ramp up your business and prepare to bring home the bacon. If you launch your business and have a slow start, worry not.
Very few businesses charge out of the gate at full speed. Growing a business can be a slow and painful process and you will need patience and persistence to weather your early setbacks. Remember, every great businessman had to start from somewhere. And for most, that somewhere was the same place you’re starting from now.
6. The emotional and financial pressures you feel have been felt by every entrepreneur before you.
Just as you will have to get used to living with doubt and fear of failure, you will also need to adapt to the daily, weekly, and monthly financial pressures of being your own boss. As an entrepreneur, you have chosen to break away from the security of a bi-weekly paycheck for the chance at something more. Fortunately, you can find solace in the fact that every self-made man or woman who came before you had the same emotional and financial pressures bearing down on them. If they could do it, so can you.
7. In a fledgling business, learn to rely on no one but yourself for 90 percent of the work.
If you’re an independent-minded person, there is a good chance you’re used to doing most of the work yourself. As an entrepreneur, being a master-of-all-trades is in the first line of the job description. Working as part of a team is a valuable skill and one you’ll surely need as your business grows and you begin to scale, but in the early stages of every business you’ll need to rely on yourself for 90-100 percent of the work. While you’ll be burning the midnight oil most days of the week (and weekend), the satisfaction you will feel after finding success will be without equal. From Fox Business
Entrepreneurs are nothing if not a trailblazing bunch, and they know firsthand that many rules were made to be broken. From hiring to time management, email etiquette to funding, today's business owners are tossing the guidebooks. More and more businesses these days are even breaking the (former) cardinal rule of business — don't start a venture with friends — and seeing success.
We spoke with a handful of entrepreneurs about their approach to business — and the rules they broke along the way.
1. Hire outside the box
"I have learned over the past eight years that it is better not to hire someone with 'industry experience,' particularly when your product and business model is a disruptor. People with industry experience have been trained to approach growing a brand, going to market, and selling in the same way that all big incumbents have. When you are a disruptor, you purposefully need to think and act differently — to see the opportunity where others haven't looked. It is true in how you talk with your consumer, how you make your product and how you go to market. I have found that people from the industry have a very difficult time thinking another way." — Kara Goldin, founder and CEO, Hint
2. Timeshift your team
IMAGE: MASHABLE COMPOSITE. ISTOCK ELAPELA
"Of a Kind HQ doesn't officially open for business until 10:30 a.m., and we made the decision to have a late start-time in order to protect our mornings. We realized quickly when launching the company that our nights were almost always packed with commitments (drinks meetings! events! dinners!), and that if we didn't do things like exercise and drop-off dry-cleaning in the morning, we would never have that personal time. This way you can come into the office feeling like you've got your sh*t together, which sets the tone for the day ahead." — Erica Cerulo, cofounder, Of a Kind
3. Do a little bit of everything — even the dirty jobs
"In the very early days we did everything ourselves to save cash (cleaning toilets is not below us!). But this was really instrumental in helping us understand how to operate the most efficiently, and it has generated enormous respect from our employees. When they see us doing everything and working our butts off, it helps motivate them to do the same." — Chelsea Kocis, cofounder and COO, Swerve Fitness
4. Tune out
"Disconnect and take time away from your 'baby.' When first starting a business, you most likely play the role of the CEO, COO, CFO, CMO and Director of HR. This leads to long hours and very little separation between work and home. Set aside time to shut off your phone and take time to disconnect. You will be a better entrepreneur and a better human being by doing so." — Tracey Noonan, owner,Wicked Good Cupcakes
5. Be transparent — even in HR
"Every new employee joins us on a 45-day trial. At the end of that trial, the entire company gets to have input on whether that person should join the team — kind of like Survivor, where the person can be voted off if there isn't a fit. Cultural fit is so key to an early-stage company that spending this extra time in hiring is key — about 60% of candidates successfully make it through the trial. We also don't have many of the traditional recruiting levers at our disposal. With all salaries banded and transparent to the rest of the organization, it isn't possible just to get a potential employee to sign up by slipping a few extra thousand dollars. Negotiation really doesn't exist in the salary component, which changes a lot from the normal process.” — Dane Atkinson, CEO, SumAll
6. Enforce a hard stop
"My company is distributed, with most of us working from home most of the time in different time zones. Our rule: No email on weekends or after 7 p.m. in whatever time zone you're in. You can work any hours you want, but you have to use Boomerang for overnight email. (We make exemptions for urgent business and in the time before a big event.) It helps everyone stay conscious about working too long and ensures that we have meaningful breaks from each other. Plus general sanity." — Sarah Milstein, CEO and cofounder, Lean Startup Productions
7. Don't think in annual terms
"It took the experience of running five companies before I was able to slap some sense into myself and convince myself I could bootstrap it out of cash flow and sales. Many times it's not until you begin to lose money in business that you cut back on marketing and customer service, which is a vicious cycle. It's foolish to cut costs in the business to the detriment of the delivery of your product or service. Simply getting rid of staff or resources that adversely affect great customer service or quality of your product will only serve to end up costing you more in the long run. [In the beginning, you should] seek better supply chain deals to reduce cost of goods and bonus staff on performance so your salary and wage costs reflect a sales result or improvement of revenue in the business. [Also], monitor your P&L monthly, not annually — a business is typically going broke 12 months before it does, so an annual review is too little too late. Spend time managing the money you've made, not just on making more money. — Troy Hazard, former global president of the Entrepreneurs' Organization, founder and owner of 11 businesses and author of Future-Proofing Your Business
8. Splurge on things that are often overlooked
IMAGE: STITCH FIX
"Many ecommerce companies make the mistake of only thinking about the customer experience in relation to the website experience. There are a series of touchpoints that customers will have with your brand, and
the shipping experience is a huge opportunity to improve your customer’s overall brand experience
the shipping experience is a huge opportunity to improve your customer’s overall brand experience. Many companies only think about how to make shipping as cheap as possible, and as a result, the items you spent your hard-earned money on arrive in plain, dirty packaging. We made a point not to skimp on shipping, instead investing in beautiful branded boxes, tape and tissue paper. Our warehouse team puts an incredible amount of care into packaging each Fix so when it arrives, it's an exciting and engaging experience for our clients, like opening a gift. As a result it's one of the most inherently sharable parts of our service, and beautiful packaging has become synonymous with the Stitch Fix experience." — Katrina Lake, founder and CEO, Stitch Fix
9. Toss out the projections — your business is you
"The new rules of business say that a voluminous business plan is no longer necessary to get in the game. Friends and family, angel investors and VCs care deeply about who you are as a business owner, what you bring to the table, your experience, your likability, your drive, your horse sense. Everyone knows your financial projections for a startup are best used to wrap fish. There’s no formula based on silly projections — you have to show you know your offering and your market in a way you never did before. While you don't need a big fancy business plan anymore, you need even more clarity and direction than you'd find in that plan. Under the new rules of business, no longer is your business something you do, it’s something you are." — Emily Chase Smith, Esq., attorney and author of the new book, The Financially Savvy Entrepreneur: Navigate the Money Maze of Running a Business
10. Embrace a hybrid model
"We started our menswear brand on Kickstarter last year to test our market affordably, and since launching we've adopted a hybrid model. Half of our line is direct to consumer and exclusive to our online store. The other half, we do the traditional wholesale/retail way. We also make a point of keeping our prices affordable and our items eco-friendly while still manufacturing small-batch goods in the U.S.A. Our hybrid business model straddles the traditional and direct to consumer pricing strategies. By offering online exclusives, we're able to sell some items at a lower (D2C) price point while still expanding the brand's reach through retail accounts. It doesn't pigeonhole us into only using one method. It allows us to test things out and we can pivot at any time." — Josey Orr, cofounder, Dyer and Jenkins
11. Ditch the HQ, go BYOD
"Formerly a part of a large agency, we're working to provide the same quality of service with much lower overhead expenses. We have reduced real estate overhead through telecommuting, allowing our employees to work wherever they are most effective, while bringing each other together for necessary meetings. Along with this, we have implemented a BYOD (bring your own device) to work policy, again cutting down on infrastructure costs. We use cloud-based networking and CRM and CMS tools in cost-saving ways. Additionally, there are many free and freemium tools that we use to further cut down on overhead." —Katie Mayberry, principal, Spyglass Digital
12. Nix ineffective meetings
"We don't like meetings. We have weekly staff meetings that last 30 minutes or less, but otherwise we do not schedule and plan lengthy or otherwise repetitive meeting dates. Meetings don't accomplish what we want and often waste the time of the parties involved. [Similarly,] we don't feel the need to involve every single person in all our tasks; we prefer getting things done versus just talking about getting things done." — Luke Knowles, CEO, Kinoli Inc.
13. Use CC to replace your old "status update" meeting
"Claire and I are CC superfans. We CC each other on most everything — we ask our employees to do the same — and it gives us peace of mind. Yes, it means you have a ton of emails in your inbox, but you don't have to actually read them all: They're there for reference when you wake up in the middle of the night and think, "Dear god, did so-and-so ever do that thing?" And, because Claire and I have a general sense of what the other's working on, we can spend our meetings together thinking about bigger-picture projects and can be better brainstorm partners — it eliminates the need for the endless stream of status meetings." —Erica Cerulo, cofounder, Of a Kind
14. Go on and ask for things
"Don't be shy to ask for favors. When you're building something valuable, you'll be amazed by how many people are genuinely excited to pitch in and help." —Trina Chiasson, CEO and cofounder, Infoactive
15. Don't charge for status — price your goods fairly
"We evaluated the retail landscape and saw the majority of brands abiding by antiquated norms. Businesses that incur massive distribution costs and rely on high-priced marketing campaigns have less to invest in their product. At American Giant, we decided to forego those norms in order to build a business we believe resonates with consumers. By selling direct-to-consumer, online only, we avoid the costly practice of opening, maintaining and marketing brick-and-mortar retail stores. Represent something your customers care about by focusing on building quality product and selling it at a fair price. We believe this is what resonates with consumers and what ultimately drives word-of-mouth marketing and brand awareness, as opposed to spending on expensive traditional marketing campaigns and materials." — Bayard Winthrop, founder and CEO, American Giant
16. Be the human face of your company
"You are your brand and your company. Social media has changed everything! People expect transparency and — to a certain extent — an element of publicity. Be aware that everything you do and say on the Internet can and will be connected to your company. Use this to your advantage! Share your personal story. When people feel attached to you, they feel attached to your company. Tweet about your company from your personal social media accounts. Include pictures of you and your team in your company blog posts. You and your brand and your company are one." — Jody Porowski, CEO and founder, Avelist
