Owner: Entrepreneur Success Blog URL:http://www.jaredreitzin.com Join Date: Thu, 23 Aug 2007 17:53:57 -0500 Rating:0 Site Description: JaredReitzin.com is a resource for the optimistic entrepreneur who is trying to build something from nothing on a shoe string budget. Learn how to find the right people, make and market a great product, budget your finances, and successfully communicate w Site statistics:Click here
Hiring Friends and Family 2007-08-09 13:41:11 If you are true start-up with no capital, most likely you can only afford to hire friends and family. There are a few reasons for this:
1. You need people you can trust.
2. You don’t have the money to hire experienced people.
3. Friends
or family are the only people crazy enough to believe in you.
Hiring
friends or family is also referred to as nepotism. I practiced nepotism and it really worked out for me, but it has not been easy. The two biggest issues you will run into is: a) getting your friends and family to listen to you and, b) punishing them for not doing so.
(more…) Read more:Family
Microsoft Tasks (Project Management at Its Finest) 2007-08-06 14:03:01 Project management is very important for the entrepreneur. There are so many things going on at once, it is essential that you manage your time. It is also critical that you manage other people and hold them accountable for their projects and deadlines. However, using a project management program can be as time-consuming as completing an actual task. I cannot tell you how many different types of project management tools I have used. The last two programs I tried were from Basecamp and Microsoft
Project. While I thought Basecamp was one of the best programs I have ever used, it was still was one more program that I had to remember to log into and update. I found the only way this program was really going to keep us on track was to dedicate someone at the company to add new projects and update existing ones. Even then I found that it still was not being used as much as I wanted it to be. The bottom line is that sometimes when you are in start-up mode, using project management software c Read more:Tasks
, Project
, Management
, Project Management
What’s Your “Life” Credit Score? 2007-07-30 13:10:22 Credit in life is one of the most important things you can acquire. Having a good financial credit score can get you a low interest rate when buying a house, get you a much-needed loan for your business, and possibly save you hundreds of dollars a month when buying a new car.
Your credit is carefully tracked through the three big credit agencies which are Experian, TransUnion, and Equifax, and it takes a history of years of on-time payments to get a good score. If you are at 720 or above, you can virtually get any loan you want, and at a great interest rate.
However the “credit” I am going to talk about in this post has nothing to do with big credit bureaus or actual scores and has everything to do with being open, honest, stand-up, and reliable. Life credit is a word I coined two years ago. In a nutshell, life credit is the slack, breaks, and opportunities that people give you based upon their history in dealing with you on all levels.
(more…) Read more:ldquo
, rdquo
, Score
, Credit Score
Why you need a good CRM solution, and how to use it 2007-07-24 21:10:25 I am sure a lot of you have heard of this term but, for those that haven’t, CRM stands for Customer Relation Management. It has been a pretty big buzz in the last few years. CRM software allows you to manage your sales and customer support.
At some point you have used a program like ACT or Goldmine, these programs have been around for years. However, increased bandwidth speeds have allowed companies to build web-based CRM programs that allow for more flexibly and automation. The big players today in the online CRM space include Microsoft, Salesforce.com, Netsuite, SugarCRM and Siebel.
Let me first start out by saying that if you sell to businesses and need to track deals and run reports on how your sales are going, you have to have a CRM solution. Most good solutions these days even include a case study feature so you can track support issues. Your CRM solution should help you track the life cycle of a customer, from the first time you contact them, all the way through closing the
Think positively and turn the ship around (Part 2) 2007-07-17 15:33:14 In part one, I talked about staying positive for your own piece of mind, but in part two, I am going to discuss how this affects the people around you.
So here is the deal: as the captain of the ship, if you won’t come out of your quarters to steer the ship and look for land, your crew is going to mutiny. One of the hardest parts about being an entrepreneur is coming to work and putting a smile on your face every day no matter what is going on in your life. If you don’t have faith, if you don’t stay positive, then how are the people who believe and trust in you going to come in and give their 100%? Staying positive all of the time is what separates leaders from everyone else. Leaders cannot afford to get into a slump because they have too much to lose. Employees can go through slumps, and it might affect their work, but when a leader doesn’t stay positive, it echoes throughout the entire organization.
There are two reasons why a leader gets down: personal issues and business
Think Positively (Part 1) 2007-07-12 15:44:42 I have heard that 90% of businesses fail within the first five years and 90% of the ones that survive fail within the next five. This is a pretty staggering statistic if you think about it. I am sure a good percentage of these business owners have shitty ideas, another x% fail because of fraud, and another x% didn’t have their hearts in it from day one; however I believe that most of the time businesses fail because the leaders don’t think positive.
I admit it–I delivered pizzas for two years; I waited tables for probably another four. The entire time, I was living in Encino and waiting on rich people who thought their mayonnaise was the most important thing in the world. (Quick note: I believe everyone should wait tables for at least a year during his or her lifetime. It teaches you how to be a good servant, a little humility we all could use, and besides, let’s face it, everyone needs to realize mayonnaise isn’t that damn important in the greater scheme, and it clogs a Read more:Positively
The iPhone 2007-07-06 08:37:00 Posted by mobile phone:I finally tried this thing out. Its the coolest device I have ever seen. I was blown away by it. Its the best internet experience I have ever seen. It will open up all sorts of new applications. I would have bought it on the spot, however my biggest issue was the same as everyone else’s, the keyboard. It is so poorly made i don’t see how they could have released this device. Its really impossible to type without hitting the wrong keys. If you are a 12 year old girl, it would be perfect but how many 12 year olds can afford $600? Also it only supports imap, so you can’t completely sync with exchange say goodbye to contacts, task and calendering.
I heard rim and apple are talking, I don’t think this can happen fast enough. Curious to see what version 2 is like. Read more:iPhone
The Importance of Branding (part 2) 2007-06-22 19:33:50 In part 1, we covered creating a company name, trademarking it, creating a domain name and keyword brainstorming. I continue with my segment on branding with logo and slogan creation as well as website/collateral design and your corporate culture.
Step 4: Create a logo & slogan
Strategy: Using the keywords you brainstormed, it is much easier to create your logo and slogan, which will be the foundation of your brand. I think everything revolves around the logo because this will dictate the look and feel of your company, such as colors, attitude, spacing, font, size etc.. The slogan is important to have with this as well because this could also dictate your attitude and tone. For instance our logo, the mobileStorm “tornado”, has been blue and white for 8 years now.
You will notice our sites main theme is blue and white; our corporate logo has gotten a few face lifts but the feel has remained the same. Our slogan “The Digital Marketing Company” a.) tells people what we do b Read more:Branding
The Importance of Branding (part 1) 2007-06-19 20:30:07 The importance of branding is something as a small business owner I took too long to figure out. This has to be one of your top priorities from the get go. It’s hard when you are starting out to get people to buy something from you. Even if your company has just two employees, you need to make it seem like you are a much larger organization.. Business is all about perception so you need to make clients feel that you are successful and someone that can trust. The best way to do this is through branding.
Your company name, logo and slogan need should be present in all aspects of your company, from your store (should you have one) to your business cards, brochures, and company website. A lot of times your website is the first impression you make. First impressions are the most important. Since my company changed our branding in January, we have never experienced as many new leads and our sales grew 15% to 20% per quarter! Below are the steps I believe you need to take to make sure you Read more:Branding
New moblog category! 2007-05-27 20:48:18 Posted by mobile phone:This is great, I come up with so many ideas from the road and like most people I forget to write them down and they are lost forever. My new moblog category will allow me to post from the road. Stay tuned!
Saving Money on Office 2007 2007-09-21 22:24:16
Dailymotion blogged videoSaving
money on Office 2007 (www.jaredreitzin.com)
How non-profits, students and home users can save a ton of money on the Microsoft Office 2007 Pro suite. Read more:Money
Creating a Corporate Newsletter 2007-09-21 14:10:23 I believe all organizations, no matter what they sell, need to have a corporate email newsletter. Ideally, it should be sent once a month, but semi-monthly could work as well. Hype for a small business is a very important thing. There is this unforeseen momentum that builds as you start to see small successes. The hype is built by word of mouth, and this word of mouth stems from things like your newsletter. These little comments here and there really drive this momentum and no better way to get people talking than to send them a newsletter. In order to send it, you need email addresses.
Not just any email addresses, but opt-in addresses. Don’t just add people; ask their permission. This can be done a few ways. The first is by collecting data on your website with forms. Programs like Stun! (shameless self promotion here) allow you to create a form that matches the look and feel of your site to capture whatever info you need so you don’t have to worry about actually devel Read more:Creating
Running Demos for Clients 2007-09-10 17:20:59 If you provide a Web-based service like I do, there are two tools that I can’t live without. Although Webex can provide both of these features, it can be expensive for the growing company. The first thing you need to be able to do is have a phone conversation, and it sometimes may involve more than one person at different locations. For this I use a service called www.freeconferencecall.com, and it’s just that–a free service for conference calls. There are a lot of great administrative features. You can have as many people on the call as you need, it will email everyone the details of the call as soon as you set it up, and everyone is emailed a reminder the day before the call. It also allows you to record the call and play it back, which is great if you are training sales people. The only downside is that the area code they provide is their local number (like 719), so everyone picks up his own long distance fees. The problem here is that if you have a major prospect, they mi Read more:Demos
, Clients
Finding Good People to Work for Less Money 2007-09-07 16:06:27 On a bootstrapped budget, it’s difficult to hire quality people. The irony is that you need quality people to succeed. By quality, I am not talking about someone who is seasoned and has been doing the same thing for 20 years. A quality person could be someone who is just starting out but is determined to be successful. He or she is willing to work hard and do whatever it takes to get the job done. These people usually do not receive as large of a salary as the seasoned vet, but they almost always get hired, and for usually more than you can afford.
(more…) Read more:Money
Raising Cash Quick 2007-09-03 14:37:16 Starting a business without funding is always tough because you need to rely on cash flow. If you are like me, you spend almost every penny and reinvest it back into the business to increase the value of your company. Very few businesses have the ability to save although, if you can, always have at least three months of payroll in the bank (mom’s advice).
Not having extra capital available is a problem when issues arise. Something always comes up: a server crashes and needs replacement, your database is lagging and you need to pay a consultant for optimization, or your attorney bill was more than you thought it would be. Whatever the case, there are always unforeseen occurrences and if you don’t have savings, you need access to money so you can take care of your business. Below are a few tricks I have learned to get some money in the door fast.
(more…) Read more:Raising
, Quick
Decision Making 2007-10-09 15:49:11 I have seen it time and time again: Brilliant people with great ideas who can’t make a decision to save their lives, or their businesses in this case. It’s like the person had so much on his or her “to do” list that he or she couldn’t decide what to do first, so ended up doing nothing at all. Failure to make quick decisions will always be the downfall of an entrepreneur. As Lee Iacocca said, “The one word that makes a good manager—decisiveness.”
It is incredibly important that you make quick decision-making a habit early on. A good entrepreneur always goes with his or her gut. If gut-level feelings are one-third genes (or something that you are just “born with”), then the other two-thirds have to be experience and logic. That indescribable feeling you are born with will help you choose a path quickly, while logic and experience will help you solidify your decision because they will affirmed it with more calculated thoughts.
(more…) Read more:Decision Making
The Million Dollar Entrepreneur 2007-10-06 12:07:09 Entrepreneur blogger Cristian Dorobantescu from energybyte.com recently asked me to answer these questions:
• What is the minimum amount it would take to make you feel OK about your entrepreneurship?
• What is the most difficult challenge that you face in reaching it?
This comes after getting a consensus from a number of entrepreneurs that:
• Having a million dollars in the bank is the minimum amount to feel ok about your entrepreneurship.
• The most difficult challenge is to make the first million.
In order for me to feel good about doing well in business, I need to accomplish a lot more than just increasing my wealth. For me, true success would be accomplished by making a large social impact that changes the way people do things. Much like what Bill Gates has done for businesses over the personal computer, I want build a global brand that will make people more successful at whatever they do. The byproduct of this success would be money, and money helps you buy a Ferrari so d Read more:Dollar
, Entrepreneur
Entrepreneur’s Software Arsenal 2007-10-02 15:27:38 I’ve put together a list of software that help me be productive. I wish there was one place you could go to download all of this for one price. Google is kind of leading the way with its Pack, but it still doesn’t cover half of the tools an entrepreneur needs.
1. Adobe Acrobat 8 Pro: Creating, editing, and managing .PDF files is a must for any businessman. This is not just the best program, it’s the only program. Get it!
2. AIM Pro: Most everyone I know uses AIM, so why not get the best AIM program? AIM Pro has business–grade security which is very important for me. It also integrates with Outlook so you can get all instant messages and calendar events, and can send email, in one convenient place.
(more…) Read more:Entrepreneur
, Software
, Arsenal
The Importance of Time Management 2007-10-15 12:13:55 If I am not traveling, my day usually starts at 7:00 a.m. I work for an hour or so in bed on my laptop, then, depending upon the day, I work out with my trainer at my house, shower, and leave for the office by 9:00. I have conference calls lined up until I reach the office, usually around 9:30 a.m. I work straight through until 7:30 p.m., only getting up from my desk to use the restroom. I almost always have lunch at my desk unless I have a meeting. When I get home around 8:00 p.m., I usually take a couple of hours to hang out with my girlfriend, eat, relax, and watch some TV before picking up my laptop. I don’t usually get to bed until 12:30 a.m. That is, of course, if I don’t need to chat with India about an application spec which can sometimes run until 2:00 a.m. or later.
I remember a time when I would have a meeting on the other side of town and after the meeting; I might hang out at Starbucks for an hour before heading back to the office. This seems unthinkable now. It’s Read more:Management
, Time Management
I Hate Losing 2007-11-01 20:11:14 I absolutely, 100%, without a shadow of a doubt, hate to lose! I don‘t hate many things in life, it’s such a strong word, but losing is something I truly hate. Hate I tell you! Did I just lose a deal? The answer is yes - why else would I write this post?
Hating to lose is a classic entrepreneur trait. If you don’t mind it, put the blackberry down and go find a desk job. What’s worse than losing is losing to a competitor. This pisses me off even more. I start asking myself, “Why were we not good enough?” Maybe we don’t have the skills, experience or features that they needed? How is this possible, we are freakin rockstars! But, the simple fact is that there is always someone out there than better than you. Someone that has more money, more employees, more features, more support, more more more more more. (Note to Gates and Brin: If you guys are reading this, please stop and check out my article on the iPhone, it’s the only relevant thing for you on my blog.)
There
We got funded 2007-10-30 14:27:45
Dailymotion blogged videoWe got fundedVideo sent by jaredkmg
Discussion about raising our first series A round of funding
Interview with bnetTV.com 2007-11-08 12:38:45
When I was at CTIA a couple of weeks ago in San Francisco, I was interviewed by bnetTV.com about mobileStorm, who we are and where we are headed. Check out the video.
The Benefits of Stock Options (Part 1) 2007-11-06 19:54:33 Have you heard about the vast differences between private parks and public ones? The private park (owned by an individual) is taken care of very well. It always has the best-kept gardens, playgrounds, and bathrooms. The public park (owned by no individual) is poorly run and usually has the types of bathrooms that George Michael shows up to hang in. The reason for this is simple: when people take ownership in something, they take pride in what they own, and they have a duty to take care of it. If you don’t have a stake in something, you don’t care about it and, like the public park, it gets neglected and run down.
This same basic principle, I believe, exists in the work environment. I trust most employees will work hard and do a great job, but I believe that you will always see someone’s full potential when he or she owns something. It’s like that rundown car you bought for your kid in high school–how stoked was he? He probably spent a ton of time cleaning it up, fixing Read more:Benefits
, Stock
, Options
, Stock Options
Everyone Wants to Make a Quick Buck 2007-11-12 19:25:26 The other day I was checking out my blog stats, reviewing which articles were the most popular, and I came across something very interesting. My “Raising Quick
Cash” post on September 3rd by far has had more views than any other post; it wasn’t even close. It had three times as many views as the second most popular post, it was linked to multiple sites, and it had the longest page-view minutes. (Damn, I wish I was serving ads!)
It really made me think about only blogging about money from now on. Certainly if I want more traffic, it would be a wise move on my part. I initially wrote the article for my entrepreneur brothers and sisters who struggle with cash flow problems. I pointed out a few good things they can do to get some money in the door quickly. It was hardly the most important topic I cover, but interest showed otherwise. At first glance, I figured the increased traffic to this article was just my current reader base more interested in this subject than previous ones, bu
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year 2007-12-18 10:59:39 It has been a while since I created a post, sorry everyone! The last month has been pretty unreal in terms of how busy mobileStorm has been. I have been working on getting our San Francisco office open. We have closed some very big deals with some big names that we will be announcing soon, and we are in the process of expanding internationally. And on top of all of that, we are working on our new platform due out in 6 months or so. Needless to say 2008 is shaping up to be a killer year. All the hard work is really starting to pay off. I expect I will go black until the first of the year. I plan to write on my plane flights coming up so who knows maybe I will post something before the 1st. If not, I want to wish everyone a MerryChristmas
(because nobody dares say this anymore) and a HappyNew Year
!
Sincerely,
Jared Reitzin Read more:Happy New Year
, Merry Christmas
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