5 Ways to Stay Positive While Starting Up

You had a light bulb moment. You jotted down the idea. You did some research. You wrote a business plan. You’ve got skill. You’ve got passion. You’ve quit your job! You’re an entrepreneur.

All of this sounds great, but so many entrepreneurs are caught off guard when they are not greeted with immediate entry into the market, clients lining up for services or customers screaming for their new product. In the early stages of start-up, the sexiness of being an entrepreneur is quite often shaded with the reality that building a successful business takes time, money and barrels of effort.

Reality soon hits for first time entrepreneurs as their infant business become stagnate, ideas are shelved and the job applications come out. Rather than allow statistics, naysayers or your inner devil’s advocate get the best of you, consider these five tips for staying positive while in start-up mode.

1. Visualize Success

Visualize yourself where you want to be and remember why you set out on this journey in the first place. Whether you were passionate about your business idea, in a dead end job or just looking for a career change, think back on why you took the leap towards entrepreneurship. Visualizing yourself and your business successful in the future will quiet your mind’s negative chatter and replace it with positive images and thoughts. Visualizing your success will also recharge your confidence, and remind you that you belong and deserve to be where you want to end up.

2. Learn to Wait

Harriet Tubman, a woman famous for enduring long journeys said, “Every great dream begins with a dreamer. Always remember, you have within you the strength, the patience, and the passion to reach for the stars to change the world.” Remember that these things don’t happen overnight. Successful businesses are the products of time, energy, money, and sleepless nights. When I find myself impatient, I research and compare companies and ideas similar to my own. Try it the next time you feel uneasy about slow progress or delayed gratification. I guarantee that you’ll find their success wasn’t immediate. Doing a little research will remind you that all the greats had to wait, but they eventually got there.

3. Take a Break

Get out. Go for a jog, read for pleasure, take a nap, go to lunch or just sit in peace. Taking a break every so often will get you moving and the blood pumping. Many studies suggest that the thought process is not meant to be continues but rather sporadic and in short stints. This may be the answer to why my creativity seems to decrease the longer I sit still and increase while performing the most random task. Find ways to take your attention away from your idea for a few moments to recharge, reset and to refocus.

4. Plan, execute, progress

Winston Churchill taught us that “Failing to plan is planning to fail.” Even while in corporate, I found that I needed to take a few moments every morning to write a “To-Do” list. This list was comprised of my goals for the day. Not only did it organize my thought and activities, but it allowed me the physical satisfaction of crossing items off one by one. Remember to set goals that are challenging, yet realistic. Once your goals are set, keep an open mind and take into account that there will always be unknowns. Then do what you must to execute. Seeing a physical list with line items crossed off will leave you feeling progressive and will reiterate your positive outlook about your business and your success. Celebrate you milestones…then get back to work!

5. Goof Off a Little

Keep your inner circle close to interrupt the workflow. If they’re anything like mine, you can always count on them for a good healthy chuckle. Get out with the people who make you laugh. This is a sure way to take your mind off of the latest collection of setbacks. Not only does this time away recharge your pioneering spirit, but it puts you in the company of new ideas and fresh conversation. I don’t have to remind you that some of the best ideas have come during casual discussions, laughter, at happy hours and in the wee hours of the night.

You’ve spent plenty time planning your start-up, you’ve invested time, money and effort, and you’ve taken the first step. Now remain confident about your choice and positive about your success. Good luck and happy thoughts!

Written by Marlissa Collier, Founder and CEO of iYdeal Business Solutions, a niche marketing, communication and idea generation firm. Run by culturally engaged professionals, the firm is a catalyst for tailoring brands, marketing campaigns and messages to urban, multicultural and youth consumers. Marlissa, a Los Angeles native, is 24 years old.

Original source from Under30CEO here. 

Izzy Lane: Food & Fashion Entrepreneur and Ethical Hero

We absolutely love Izzy Lane's story. A successful entrepreneur in both Food AND Fashion, and an ethical campaigner too. What a hero!

Izzy Lane pioneered the first ever organic vegetable box scheme in the UK with the launch of Farmaround in 1994. She then launched ‘Izzy Lane’, her own ethical fashion label using wool from rescued sheep and more recently started her own brand of organic, cruelty free eggs and milk ‘Good Food Nation’, available through her veg box scheme and Selfridges.
Before becoming an entrepreneur, Izzy was a musician, playing the saxophone in various avant-garde jazz outfits. She forged a colourful career in music, dabbling in various genres, touring and writing her own music and securing a record and publishing deal.  Her future was clearly paved in writing songs for other people until the idea for Farmaround came to her and took over her life. Her first company has been a success from day one.
Izzy says: “Whilst I really enjoyed my music career, I felt that I needed to change my course in life, for me playing music made no tangible contribution society. When I started my business I felt like I was part of our society for the first time. Doing a pure art form can be isolating and uses only the creative side of ones brain. Running a business has really challenged me and has definitely made me a more rounded and grounded person.”

 










 
 Izzy’s mission was to provide an urban-based, health and environmentally conscious crowd with fresh organic produce straight from the farm. The service was the first of its kind in London and was driven by a desire to promote the health benefits of eating organic food, the welfare of animals and the protection of wildlife habitats to those looking for a fresh, ethical alternative to buying from large supermarkets
In 2003, Izzy discovered that farmers in the UK were discarding wool from slaughtered sheep whilst Britain continued to import wool from other countries. Already a vegetarian she decided that she wanted to utilise British wool but did not wish to engage with the process where sheep are reared for slaughter, hence the beginnings of her rescued flock. From four lambs in 2004, she now has around 600 sheep on her farm in the Yorkshire Dales which lead on to her next business, fashion label Izzy Lane.
Launched in 2007, Izzy Lane is an ethical fashion label using the skills of the British textile industry and the wool from her rescued Wensleydale and Shetland flock.

The Izzy Lane collection was featured during London Fashion Week and won the prestigious RSPCA Good Business Award in 2008.

Izzy won the RE New Designer of the Year Award at the world’s first ethical fashion awards in Shoreditch and was asked to show her collection in a catwalk show for the Queen.
In 2011, Izzy co-founded Good Food Nation which sells dairy products and eggs from animals which will never be slaughtered and is sold on the Farmaround website.


TNW: Do you have any tips or any advice for women who are thinking about becoming entrepreneurs?

Izzy: To try and start it in an area in which you are passionate. If you can marry up the things you care passionately about with a business idea – that is perfect. There is your desire to make a difference to the world, your hobbies and your work  all rolled into one. It doesn’t even matter if you don’t know much about that area – you can learn and the challenge will make it even more exciting.

 Read the complete Interview with Izzy about the animal welfare issues which drive her business; how she created a successful business from day one; and why she doesn't have a mentor.


Source: TheNextWomen

Gems of Wisdom From Successful Female Entrepreneurs

Thanks to DELL (for their great innitiative to bring entrepreneur women the right exposure and support, and empower women entrepreneurs to grow) and TheNextWomen, we can read interviews and get inspirations from these amazing entrepreneur women.


As the fabulous The NextWomen DWEN Interview Series draws near its close, we'll be bringing you some of our favourite gems of wisdom from the series, focusing on certain key subjects. This week's hot topic is: how to scale your business.

"My advice to entrepreneurs for growing their business is make sure you are building something that someone wants.  It sounds simple but you would be surprised at how many products I see where there is no market need/ want.
"My second piece of advice is to surround yourself with the brightest, most committed people you can find to advance your business.  There is no substitute for smarts and passion".
Myrtle Potter, Founder & CEO, Myrtle Potter & Company, LLC & Myrtle Potter Media, Inc.


"My suggestion to reach business scale quickly is to understand the key success factors needed for your business, and then to hardwire that success as much as possible so it is always in place.  For example, are there some key partnerships that can bring this value? How can you harness the ecosystem that already exists rather than creating it from scratch?"
Michelle Bonat, CEO and Founder, RumbaFish


"Invest in your people! We don’t follow economic trends and corporate standards by downsizing or cutting back on benefits every time there’s an economic bump in the road. Everybody at NOVA gets health at 60 days. We are one of the few companies that pay 100% of health insurance, even when rates increase by double digits every year.  We gave people raises and increased 401k matching at the height of the recession. Why? Because the people that work here and live our mission are what make NOVA a great company. Every day, I get letters praising our customer service reps, our engineers, the person answering the phone.
My advice to entrepreneurs? Remember that there’s nothing more critical than the people that make up your company and invest in them".
Sue Chen, Founder & CEO, Nova Medical Products

"The key to our growth has been executing against our core differentiators:  Ensuring that people enjoy working with us, and delivering better results than our competitors. Our smaller size is actually an advantage for us.  We can be more nimble, more client-focused, and more high-touch than many of our competitors. In a difficult economic climate, clients are more interested in a recruitment solutions provider who can deliver demonstrable results than they are in a 25-year-old brand name.
"My advice for other entrepreneurs is to invest in the very best people you can possibly afford, and invest in the tools you need to grow.  When you're growing quickly, and every team member has to wear different hats and really pull their weight, investing in top-notch people will make a huge difference to your success.  Investing in the right tools may mean investing in technology, or even office equipment.  If you're spending 15 hours a week running to Kinko's or waiting for your internet to get fixed, it's time to invest in a proper printer or a new IT provider".
Virginia Poly, President, Poly Placements


"Make sure you have the foundation in place—the right people, the right funding and the right technology—and then stay focused".
Heidi Messer, Co-Founder, Collective[i]

"First, you need a business model that allows you to scale. If your existing business model can’t do that, consider an aspect of your business where this is possible and experiment with that part of it.
For example, we initially only offered “classroom” courses, where students physically attended courses in our training rooms. However, this is limited by the availability of those training rooms. That’s why we then created our online courses, which still provide students with the same “classroom” experience but it’s all done online. In this case, we are not limited by factors such as venue availability; there is unlimited potential to scale".
Valerie Khoo, Managing Director, Sydney Writers’ Centre

"Map out where you want to go and reverse-engineer how to get there in terms of time and resources. This applies particularly to people – what are the skill sets you are going to need as the company scales and how do you plan for that.  Building a management team is a very difficult thing to do, but is absolutely critical to getting to that next level".
"Leverage technology to get you there.  There are so many ways you can use technology to scale and gain efficiencies.  The biggest area we have found technology has allowed us to grow in recent years has been through social enterprise.  Finding more effective ways to communicate across the company, share success stories and collaborate on projects becomes really important as the company expands".
Catherine Graham, Co-Founder Commonsku & Managing Director RIGHTSLEEVE

The Dell Women's Entrepreneur Network (DWEN) celebrates the wonderful accomplishments of women in business, whilst looking forward at how we can progress and learn from each other. Natural networkers and relationship builders, women have innate flair for entrepreneurship. With DWEN, Dell is helping women in business to expand their networks while offering technology capabilities designed to help them innovate and grow their businesses.


The NextWomen is in partnership with DWEN to bring you a series of 40 interviews with the world's most influential female founders, investors and decision makers: The NextWomen DWEN Interview Series.

Source: TheNextWomen

Julie Deane, Founder of The Cambridge Satchel Company

Okay now, who doesn't know The brit 'it' bag The Cambridge Satchel or been wanting to own one (or every colors they have!)



We absolutely love the story of Julie Deane, who founded The Cambridge Satchel Company in 2008 and has since grown her business to an almost £12m turnover and 70 employees. Her satchels are now sold in 100 countries worldwide.
The icing on the cake is that Julie has recently been selected to star in the new Google Chrome advert, which is currently being shown on television and cinema and being promoted via social media. Google chose Julie for her amazing entrepreneurial spirit, the success of her brand and the role that the internet played in the success of her business.
The 60 second advert, tracks Julie’s business journey from sourcing UK manufacturers, to liaising with top fashion editors and engaging with big name celebrities who have since become both fans and advocates of the brand.

Julie's quirky, colourful leather satchels, modelled on the 1970s original, have been carried by everyone from Zooey Deschanel and Alexa Chung to Daniel Radcliffe and Russell Kane, and even the cast and crew of Mad Men. They have also featured on Gossip Girl. The brand collaborates with prestigious designers and retailers including Comme des Garcons and Christopher Shannon, further securing its role and international acclaim as the ‘Brit “it” Bag’.

Julie founded The Cambridge Satchel Company at her kitchen table in 2008 with just £600.

The inspiration for the company came from Julie’s love of an old satchel she had as a child and her desire to find a similar version for her own children when they started school. When Julie discovered no one was producing traditional leather satchels she set about designing and producing them. Since then she has sold them online and created a global fashion craze.
Julie is committed to preserving British manufacturing and all of her products are carefully handmade to order in the UK. Her team ships all internet orders from an office in a village just outside Cambridge to countries around the world.
An unlikely fashion entrepreneur, Julie graduated from Cambridge in 1987 and worked as a chartered accountant at Deloitte before returning to the University, where she was the Fellow for Development for her college, Gonville and Caius. Before starting The Cambridge Satchel Company, Deane, who founded the business with her mother Freda Thomas, was a full-time mum.

READ the original article and interview with Julie about the transition from kitchen table entrepreneur to leader of a 70-strong organisation; about the vital role that bloggers have played in the success of her business; and the moment she realised her company was taking off. HERE.

source: www.thenextwomen.com (awesome, awesome web!)

Ladies who Launch: Dorm Room Startups

Not only Zuckerberg launch something from their dorm room, these girls done that too!

These women entrepreneurs managed to balance starting a new company and schoolwork.
From eco-energy play/sport products that turn your 'sweats' into powers: Uncharted Play, social networking platform: MeetMe, a kit and place to design, build, and decorate their own room: Roominate, 5 flavour of Peanut Butter: Wild Squirrel, and a handmade soap with a funky title "You Smell and Cummins".
We might never heard about these startups but who knows it'll be a global success months or years from now.

Read more about them here.

College students, start in your dorm room, start now!

Welcome to Women Entrepreneurs (WE) blog!

• Welcome to Women Entrepreneurs (WE) blog!

  Women Enterpreneurs is a place to share, support, empower, and networking.

  
  

  WE is a place for every women (whether you're just having an idea, just starting up, own a small to middle scale business, or even a multibillionaire entrepreneur) who have passion in entrepreneurship, business, creativity, (and everything related) and willing to learn + share knowledge and experience in entrepreneurship.
  
  Our mission is to gather and empower women to become an independent great entrepreneur women that will make significant influence to others and society also to expand individual positive mind, attitude, and practice of entrepreneurship.
  Women has given talent to be great entrepreneur and this blog will support in some way.
  
  Our agenda includes talkshow, seminar, convention, school and campus roadshow, etc.
  
  WE will post at least 1 content 5 days a week and will interview/feature one of our member as Women of The Month to share some experience and hopefully give inspiration to our readers and community.
  
  We hope this group will be useful ;)
  YES WE CAN!
  Enjoy!
  
  Email: we.womenentrepreneurs@gmail.com

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50 Women Entrepreneurs Who Inspire Us

We're thrilled to announce the latest issue of Self-Made Magazine, which launched last week, and we're especially excited about our cover story, "50 Women Entrepreneurs Who Inspire Us." While gender is hopefully becoming less and less of an issue in today's business world, and while every entrepreneur who achieves success is inspiring, we recognize that women still have many unique obstacles to overcome as entrepreneurs, and we wanted to recognize those who have broken through barriers and found the ultimate success in entrepreneurship!

The lists includes:





Rhonda Byrne – Author, "The Secret" (One of our favorite book, yes!) 
Listed among Time Magazine’s 2007 roll of 100 people who shape the world, Rhonda Byrne is the author of the wildly successful book, "The Secret," and the producer of the movie by the same name.  Additionally, Byrne is the founder of a television production company, called Prime Time Productions.




Rachel Ray – Rachel Ray Digital, LLC (the famous-fun-female chef)
Rachel Ray is the Emmy Award winning host of three Food Network shows as well as her own daytime talk show. Additionally, she has authored a number of books and has a magazine, Every Day with Rachel Ray. Twitter: @rachael_ray




Arianna Huffington – The Huffington Post (we adore HuffPost much, one of the most important growing media)
Named as one of Forbes' Most Influential Women in Media in 2009, Arianna Huffington is the founder of The Huffington Post.  Prior to The Huffington Post, Huffington hosted a website called Ariannaonline.com. Her first foray into the Internet was a website called Resignation.com, which called for the resignation of President Bill Clinton. Twitter: @ariannahuff


 
Sara Blakely – Spanx (we bet every girl in US-or soon to be whole world, will be thankful for the Spanx)
2002 Entrepreneur of the Year Award winner Sara Blakely says on her Spanx website, "With $5,000 in savings out of the back of my apartment, a whole lot of internet research, patent writing, cold-calling, less-than-shy demonstrations for buyers, and a call from Oprah…Spanx was born!"  Sara has also formed the Sara Blakely Foundation, which focuses on supporting and empowering women around the world. Twitter: @SpanxINC


Read the rest (and original) on Young Entrepreneurs