How time flies! The month of January for 2012 already came to an end. Talking about New Year’s resolution, I haven’t even got a chance to think about it yet. Anyway, procrastination is the thief of time so better start working now!

One of my resolutions this year is to diversify my sources of income as the economic forecast for the year 2012 is not that optimistic. When the economic growth is slow, it will affect consumers spending which thus affect businesses. So I predict my earned income will be affected by this trend. This leaves me only two other options which are the portfolio income and passive income to focus on. Just in case, you are not aware the different types of income we could have, check out the diagram below.

I first learnt about these 3 types of income from Robert Kiyosaki’s book – Rich Dads Retire Young Retire Rich. According to what Robert said, earned income is the income we trade using our labor and time; portfolio income is the income generated from stocks, bonds and mutual funds while the passive income is generated from business or real estate. It can also be a royalty income from patents or use of one’s intellectual property such as songs, books or others.

Since the economic is expected a slowdown this year, it is even more important to depend on portfolio and passive income especially when one is growing older each year. When one grows older, it hard to maintain the same physical and mental energy require for a job and when we stop working, our earned income will stop too. As what Robert Kiyosaki suggested, it is best to start building on passive and portfolio income early so that even when we stop working or retire, they still able to generate steady stream of income for us. By that time, we can retire free and easy without financial worries. This is what I hope to achieve during the slowdown period, take time to acquire and build more assets.

Passive Income
To the home online business owners, we know that passive income has a different meaning.  The word “passive income” has almost synonymous with “affiliate marketing” and “blogging”. To most of us, it means building a successful business online and it continues generating a steady income without much intervention from the business owners.

I’ve been trying to build a passive income over the past years but it was too slow. This year, I hope to increase my passive income to at least 60% and at the same time, look out for more affiliate programs that offer recurring commission.  It’s a great way to generate residual income as it is one-time effort.

Portfolio Income
I’ve little knowledge when come to creating portfolio income. Over the years, I’ve left it to my financial adviser but realized lately it was not performing as it should be expected. So instead of building up a solid portfolio, I’ve made more losses than profit over the years. Look like it is a high time to fire my financial adviser but it is also part of my mistake for not monitoring closely and taking pro-active action on my portfolio income.

So, one of my goals this year is to increase my financial literacy. The only way to benefit from this income is to increase my context and content and learn how financial things work. Fortunately, there are a lot of free financial information on the website and one of them is Robert Kiyosaki’s website – richdad.com, it offer free financial education, resources and news. There is a wealth of information at his website, I’m grateful to Robert for his generosity and what he taught gave me confidence that income does not necessary have to come from one source. There are many other ways and sources to generate income that are beyond my knowledge. I’m glad I found it now, may be slightly late but better late than never.

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If you are worry about the economic slowdown and how it might affect your earned income, it is high time you look around and check out alternate income. Maybe, you can do well in other incomes than your earned income. Good luck to you! If you have any successful story in building alternate income, please share it at the comment below.

 

If you have been working in your home-business for a while, do you find yourself stuck in your business? Are you working more but getting less? It is not surprised if you are finding yourself overwhelmed, overworked and frustrated. You will have less and less time for leisure and rest as your business is taking away most of the valuable assets from you. Eventually you might end up hating your business or feeling you are a slave to your business rather than master to it.

Unless you can seek help earlier otherwise you will be stuck in your business forever. But the problem of most home-based business owners is they either do not know what they do not know or do not know who or where to seek help. I was in the same dilemma for the past few years until I came across an online business coaching program by Rich Schefren recently. It is known as Business Growth System (BGS) which focuses on developing strategies and tactics for growing one’s online business. It might sounds intimidating when the words like “strategies” and “tactics” are mentioned especially we are only a home-based not corporate business but they are a necessary evils if you want to get a breakthrough.

The BGS program covers a lot of concepts and practical advises and there are a few of them though not new but surprisingly, gave me some eureka moments. It made me realized my way of thinking and working were actually the cause of my business stagnant. Let me share with you some of them I find it useful.

Get a Vision

Rich Schefren in the BGS program mentioned that “you read a book from the beginning to the end but in business you do just the opposite”. Why? The reason is if you have a vision in mind, you can work backward to achieve what you want. A vision acts as a beacon in the dark so you can see clearly and guide you along the way. Without a vision, there is no way to know you have reached your destination; you are just watching your day gone by meaninglessly.

I always knew about getting a vision when starting a business but never take it seriously but after reading the statement “building your business from the end to the beginning” re-ignite what I have overlooked and re-align me to the correct path. For that! I’m very grateful to Rich’s program.

Change Your Role

To achieve breakthrough for your business, you should not perform the same roles as you started your business. Initially, you might be playing more of the employee and manager roles but you need to gradually withdraw yourself from these roles and elevate to the founder role. You should work on the business than in the business as you need to focus on growing the business rather than involved in the daily operation of fire fighting and challenges. You need to grow with your business; you should not be stuck in the same roles throughout your whole business phrase.

Stop Doing Everything by Yourself

Many home-based business owners tend to do all the works and usually the hard works by yourself. You could be either limited by budget or do not want to commit to extra responsibilities. However, you are not superman or wonder woman, it is impossible to do everything by yourself. You will be limited by time, energy and skills. In addition, you might lack the ability and knowledge to do certain job. For example, I’m hopeless in figures so accounting is not my forte, it will be best if I outsource it to some professional than doing it by myself. It could take me months to figure how to get my Balance Sheet balance but a professional accountant only takes a few minutes to do it.

Systemize Your Business Process

The program emphasizes the importance of systemizing your business into different processes. Edwards Deming ever said “If you can’t describe what you are doing as a process, you don’t know what you are doing.” Therefore, by systemizing your business into smaller processes help you to see the flaws and dysfunctional areas. In other words, if you view your business as a system, you could find the most efficient and under performance areas at bird-eye view. These allow you to quickly take corrective actions and re-align your business back to optimal performance.

This concept may sound aloof to home-based business but after trying it out myself, I find it extremely helpful. It allows me to see the loop-hole or gaps that I have missed out for my work process and I could describe the process in detail when I outsource to virtual team. The process is also a good reminder as sometimes I could forget the steps when I’m overwhelmed with works.

Hopefully, you find the above helpful to elevate your business. If you are interested to take a peek in the BGS coaching program, I have them listed as below.

Module #1:
The Big Damn Secrets to being a Real Entrepreneur that Almost everyone misses

Module #2:
Isolating, Developing and Profiting from Your Money-Making Strengths

Module #3:
Marketing Your Turf, Total Clarity on Your Big Objective, Generating Immediate Momentum

Module #4:
Your Mafia Offer – How to Re-Craft Your Business to Make an Offer that Cannot be Refused

Module #5:
The most powerful marketing strategies that No One Teaches or Talks About

Module #6:
Your Master Plan to Blasting Through Every Obstacle that Stands in Your Way Right Now

Module #7:
The Secret Language of Business Metrics

Module #8:
Set It and Forget It – Systemization and Putting Everything on Autopilot

Module #9:
Project Management – Exactly to Spec, On-Time, Below Budget, Every Time

Module #10:
Assembling Your Business Building SWAT Team

Module #11:
Making it All Seamless: Your Well-Oiled Machine

Module #12:
You’re Free … Now What?

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So if you find yourself stuck in your business and wish to free yourself or get a breakthrough, I highly recommend you look through the coaching program yourself. It may ends your frustration early by directing you to the right path and perspective. It has 30-day refund policy so make good use of it and see whether it does any good for you and your business.

In my previous post on “Can anyone be a successful home entrepreneur?” I’ve already explained that not everybody can be a home entrepreneur because not everybody are mentally prepared to do so. This is especially so when one who have worked for others for a long period of time. However, if you determine to become from employee to a home entrepreneur, here are 10 ways you could develop an entrepreneurial mindset.

1. Model after Successful People
Albeit elementary, this tip may actually encapsulate what you need to get done. Who else would be your best examples to help you learn the ropes?

If you really hope to have a good start as a home entrepreneur, read more about the lives of people who made it big in various industries. For example, Bill Gates, Warren Buffet, Michael Dell and other successful entrepreneurs who had started as a home entrepreneur before, see post here.

As you review their lives, you may notice that most of these successful former home entrepreneurs share the same attributes in spite of factors (such as extreme poverty, in most cases) that may bring others down. These characteristics may include a burning desire, clearly set goals, flexibility, good work ethic, intense discipline, self-motivation, an ability to see and grab opportunities as they come.

Once you identified their success formula and characteristics, you can model after them as it provides a good roadmap to success and help you to realize your dream sooner.

2. Understand Business Functions
If you think that running a home business is applying what you know, it is a big mistake! You are merely using your technical skills to do the job, just like you were employee before. Running a successful business requires knowledge of full functionality of business. It includes sales, marketing, customer services, accounting, technology, business strategy, product development, operation and etc.

You might think that running a home business does not require such full knowledges. But understanding how a business is run will help you to achieve a holistic view and which in turn improve your competitive edge in long run.

3. Learn to be Responsible & Independent
You have to be aware that when you were an employee, you used to listen to what others will tell you what to do. This may be done indirectly or otherwise. But now that you’ve chosen to become your own boss, you must realize that most of the decision making have to be done by you. You have to learn how to manage your actions and be responsible for all results including negative result.

If you want to be a successful home entrepreneur, you better learn to take responsibility for your actions so that you would gain the awareness and discipline that you’ll need to succeed in what you choose to do.

4.  Take Stock on Old and New Knowledge
It pays to be well-informed. So, hit the books. There is no dearth of reading materials out there, so go ahead and take your pick. Reading can help develop those dormant qualities in you that you need for carving your own niche.

Some worthy books to purchase at nearby bookstores or online are:

• Rita Gunther McGrath’s “Entrepreneurial Mindset.”

• Tamara Monosoff’s “The Mom Inventors Handbook: How to Turn Your Idea into the Next Big Thing.”

• Barry Moltz’s “Bounce: The Art of Turning Tough Times into Triumph.”

• Jan Norman’s “What No One Ever Tells You about Starting Your Own Business.” 

• Rieva Lesonsky’s “Start Your Own Business.”

Aside from that, enroll yourself in seminars and short courses you are interested in to help you further hone your skills.

5. Research & Search
Besides reading to increase your knowledge, it is important to do research to get the latest updates on your industry and profession. Today, it is so easy to do research with Internet – search with any search engines and you will instantly find loads of information, tips and ideas on what you want to find.

Such information may help to trigger new ideas for your home business. Alternatively, it helps to check whether your idea have already been commercialized elsewhere or you are just reinventing the wheels.

6. Get a Business Mentor
Entering the world of business can be framed with a few rough edges at the start. That is why you need to get a lot of information will help to jumpstart your drive and fuel your knowledge. This is where getting a business mentor is imperative. Here are a few pointers before seeking out a mentor:

• Get a One-to-One Coaching. Get a personal business coach and let him/her takes you by the hand and coach you during the startup. Trust me! It will save you tons of efforts and times. This is especially crucial because time is money to any home business owners.
• Ask for Constructive Feedback. Try out your business ideas with your mentor first and ask for constructive feedback or area of improvement. You can be surprised how fast you can learn in such way as many home entrepreneurs are overwhelmed by startup phase that they coudn’t see the problems.
• Don’t be so concerned about being too young or too old to have a mentor. Age is not actually that important when it comes to seeking out assistance from a business mentor. Likewise, age is not so important in making that change from employment to entrepreneurship. For both cases, the will to learn is more important than the age you’re in.

7. Network with Successful Entrepreneurs
It is absolutely pertinent to network with successful people from not only in your chosen field but also those who belong to various business groups. You see, aside from getting a mentor, being able to rub elbows with those who are already at the top echelon of the business ladder can be very helpful for your smooth transition towards becoming an entrepreneur.

Networking with these successful people can help not only to establish new relationship but also open up to potential business opportunities. You may also find potential business partners among them and they can assist to bring your potential home business to the next level.

8. Be Perpetually Consistent
Thinking of how to develop an entrepreneurial mindset cannot be done overnight. Rome wasn’t built in a day. So, be easy on yourself.

The idea here is to get in, develop your mindset, and strengthen your staying power in the industry. Patience may play a large role in this. Work on being perpetually consistent, and you’ll reap rewards.

9. Have a Positive Mindset and Attitude
Gathering information and learning from professionals is crucial. But there’s more to making a life of entrepreneurship work for you.

Besides the above-mentioned points, you also have to strengthen yourself by adopting and honing a positive mindset and attitude. An I-can-do-it mindset and I-can-find-a-solution-for-this attitude may help in strengthening your resolve to continue amidst potential predicaments, and give you the leverage to get things done in a successful manner. In addition, it boosts your morale and makes you more inspired to go through the transition. 

10. Abandon Bad Habits 
Last, abandon those bad habits that may have hampered your success in the past. This may be the hardest for you to tackle since you are dealing with those habits that already have been instilled in your system – either with you being aware or unaware of it.

To deal with this, it is recommended that you write down your strengths along with your weaknesses so you would have a better notion of where you currently stand – what else needs to be improved on, or what attributes should be changed with a more helpful trait. Be sure to be extremely honest with yourself.

Once you are able to deal with the particular traits that should be changed or abandoned, you are on the safe path to successful entrepreneurship.  Give yourself a pat on the back!
 

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Do you have any other ideas on how you can develop an entrepreneurial mindset? Do you have an entrepreneurial mindset before you started your business or you develop it along the way? How long did you take to develop it?

Please share your tips and stories in the comments.

This morning, I received an email and was asked to try a test to see whether I’ve what it takes to be an entrepreneur? My score is 25 out of 32 and the result suggested “Start drafting a business proposal now”. Interesting! You can check out the entrepreneurial test here if you are interested.

While the test might not be comprehensive, it does tell us the basic criteria and characteristics required to be an entrepreneur. For examples patience, commitment, accountability, perseverance and risk-taking but to become a successful entrepreneur, it definitely requires more than that, such the following:

• An ability to construct a vision and sell it to many others
• A strong belief in one’s self
• A desire to accept risk and ambiguity, and the ability to live with them
• An ability to identify new opportunity even in unfavorable situation
• Like to try new things or do old things differently.
• Motivated by achievement rather than power and money.

The list could be longer as it also depends on the environment, education and culture that the entrepreneur is in. I couldn’t help but wonder how about home entrepreneur? Can anyone be a home entrepreneur and a successful one?

Can Anyone be a Successful Home Entrepreneur?
If you are wondering what’s the difference between the 2 terms – “entrepreneur” and “home entrepreneur”, the former run his or her business in proper office setting while the latter do it at home. It is easy for anyone to start a home business right now due to technological advancement but to become a Successful Home Entrepreneur; it is definitely NOT for anyone. Why? The reason is simple, home entrepreneur needs different skills set and characteristics to thrive in running a home business than a normal entrepreneur. And because of the nature of environment and business operation, some characteristics may become more important than the rest. Some of them are the following.

Independency
Since home entrepreneurs need to engage in all the business activities, they need to be highly independent and learn to be jack of all trades. In short, they need to know a little of everything of the business and learn to troubleshoot themselves when problems crop up. Over reliant on any third party vendors might jeopardize your business as not all vendors are co-operative and responsive at all times. Having a general knowledge of everything will put you at a better control of your business.

Hence, if you are a person who rely everything on other people to solve the problems for you, you may lack the independency to run a home business. You may find employing people to help you in running the business is a better option than running a solo home business.

Self Discipline
The world renowned scientist – Thomas Huxley ever said, “Do what you should do, when you should do it, whether you feel like it or not.” We called this “self discipline“ and it controls your behavior, thoughts and help you to achieve your goals consistently. It is tempting for home entrepreneur to become slack occasionally as they are their own boss and work in their comfort zone. But slacking cause delay and delay cause failure. Self discipline is one important criterion for home business success but yet not an easy skill to master. Many people find that if they don’t rule their minds well, their minds will rule them.

Positive Mindset
Having positive mindset helps to overcomes big and small obstacles and it is especially crucial for home entrepreneurs as they are generally working solo. There is no one to advise or call for support, not even mentors or friends as they will not fully understand all the problems so it is easy to meet with setbacks and rejections everyday. In addition, when face with less-than-stellar business results; it would be tempting to become negative. If you often find yourself having negative self-talk and doubt, learn to guard your thoughts well otherwise once you let these negativity sabotage you, your business will be destroyed as well.

Home entrepreneur is neither for the faint of heart nor the less than positive mindset.

Loneliness
Some said that entrepreneur is like tennis player, it is a lonely journey. During the match the tennis player can neither talk to the coach nor the opponent as he/she is 70 feet away from the other side of the court. Likewise, home entrepreneur will even be loner as they are working all alone. Nobody will want to share your vision or passion, let alone anybody will want to hear your grievances. There will be no meeting, discussion, reporting or presentation to go to. If you are fortunate, you may occasionally have chance to talk to your customers or vendors but there are some businesses like writing, painting or affiliate marketing seldom need to talk to any customer all the times.

You may have friends but provided they are business owners like you otherwise they may not have the same level of interest as you. To make new friends, you have to invest considerable time but unfortunately time is considered a luxury to many home entrepreneurs. At the end of the day, you may find lesser friends to talk to so if you are a person who can’t live without a crowd, becoming home entrepreneur may not be a good option to you.

Long Working Hours
Contrary to everybody’s belief, working on your own is not as carefree as you think. Many people thought that by working at home, you can achieve total freedom and flexibility but the reality is that you will need to work longer and harder during the startup phase. And most likely, you could end up 24×7, 365 days with no leave or holidays. However, once your business is on track, it may not be so as you can outsource some of mundane tasks to others.

So if you are not mentally prepared to work long and hard for the first few years, abandon the idea to become a home entrepreneur. You will feel psychologically unbalance as you will need to sacrifice a lot for your home business. 

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In summary, not anyone can be home entrepreneurs as some of them may lack the skill sets, characteristics or even determination to run a home business successfully despite some studies shown that some of the skill sets and characteristics can be learned and practiced with deliberated and consistent efforts.

Do you think anyone can be a home entrepreneur? I would like to hear your comments and thoughts on this.

Last year, Young Entrepreneur published a list of Top 27 Self-Made Billionaires in its Self-Made magazine and no … this is not another post to talk about their secrets to become billionaire. As a home entrepreneur, if you look at the list carefully below, you will notice something interesting among them besides their ability to make massive wealth. What could it be?

1. Bill Gates (Microsoft)           
2. Warren Buffet (Bershire Hathaway)
3. Carlos Slim (Telmex)
4. Lawrence Ellison (Oracle)
5. Ingvar Kamprad (IKEA)
6. Takemitsu Takizaki (Keyence Corp)
7. John Sall (SAS Institute)
8. Li Sze Lim (R&F Properties)
9. Zhang Li-Guangzhou (R&F Properties)
10. Paul Allen (Microsoft)
11. Michael Dell (Dell, Inc.)
12. Peter Thiel (Paypal)
13. Abigail Johnson (Fidelity Investments)
14. Ann Cox Chambers (Cox Enterprises)
15. Rosalia Mera (Inditex-Zara-Retail)
16. Yelena Baturina (Inteco)
17. Giuliana Benetton (Benetton)
18. Oprah Winfrey (Harpo Productions)
19. Chu Lam Yiu (Huabao International Holdings)
20. Margaret Whitman (eBAY)
21. Mary West (West Corp.)
22. Joann JK Rowling (Harry Potter Books)
23. Weili Dai (Marvel Semiconductor)
24. John Arnold (Centaurus Energy)
25. Xiaofeng Peng (LDK Solar)
26. Shivinder Singh (Ranbaxy Laboratories)
27. Mark Zuckerberg (Facebook)

Name: Warren Buffet
Company: Berkshire Hathaway
Net Worth: $37 billion

Nebraska, USA. At a very young age, Warren Edward Buffet displayed great ability with money and business. As a newspaper delivery boy he used his earnings to buy a pinball machine, placed it in a barber shop which eventually grew in a profitable business, owning two more at different locations.

In 1951, Buffet took his M.S. in Economics at Columbia University. His career started as an investment salesman for Ben Graham (Graham-Newman Corp). In 1956, Graham retired while Buffet founded Buffett Partnership Ltd., an investment partnership with his sister and Aunt in his five-bedroom stucco house in Omaha. He managed his partnerships originally from the bedroom, and later, a small office where he spent his days analyzing and searching investment opportunities. Together with his increasing business, his life was beginning to take shape with his growing family-a wife and three children.

Through successful investments and partnerships, Warren Buffet was a millionaire by January 1962. In 2008, he ranked #1 in Forbes’ Magazine Richest People in the world. Today, 79 year-old Buffet serves as Chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway, a conglomerate holding company that oversees and manages a number of subsidiary companies, as he continues to influence the world of Economics.

Name: Ingvar Kamprad
Company: IKEA
Net Worth: $22 billion
 
Smaland, Sweden. He was born March 30, 1926 and showed entrepreneurial spirit at a young age by selling matches to his neighbors from his bike. Using his reward money from his father for his good studies, he started his furniture-selling company IKEA (Ingvar Kamprad Elmtaryd Agunnaryd) at 17. The store’s name is a combination of his name, the farm and hometown he grew up with. He continued to expand his business to a variety of goods, including wallets, watches, jewelry and stockings but focused on furniture by 1950’s.

Kamprad admitted to have dyslexia and was involved in Nazi group activism during his adolescence which he bitterly regrets. Today, he has over 200 stores in 31 countries but is still known to be prudent as he drives his 15 year old Volvo and flies with economy class.                                     

Name: Michael Saul Dell
Company: Dell, Inc.
Net Worth: $12.3 Billion
Texas, USA. He was born on February 23, 1965 and was seen to have incredible business instincts at a young age. Multi-billionaire Michael Saul Dell made his first $1,000 at the age of 12 by selling stamps.  Having built his confidence as a salesman, he sold newspaper subscriptions to newlyweds and him $18,000 dollars for himself to buy a car.

At 15, his parents his first computer and disassembled it just to know if he can rebuild it. His ingenuity led him to a profitable business where he would order computer parts at a cheap price, assemble it and sell directly to his customers in his own dorm room at the University of Texas. He dropped out of school at 19 to focus on his company PC’s Limited (now Dell, Inc). At 27, he was the youngest CEO of a Fortune 500 company. Today, Dell is one of the most recognize brand in the computer industry.

Name: Rosalia Mera
Company: Inditex-Zara
Net Worth: $2.6 billion

A Coruña, Spain. She is a home-based entrepreneur turned millionaire. Founded in 1974, Inditex is now one of the world’s leading apparel manufacturers and also owns ZARA.

 
Name: Giuliana Benetton
Company: Benetton
Net Worth: $1.5 billion

Treviso, Italy. Born on 1937, Giuliana actually started the family fashion business. She used to knit sweaters and his brother Luciano would peddle in a bike to sell it under the label Tres Jolie. In 1965, together with her 3 brothers they started the Benetton fashion company which now manufactures clothing under the brand names United Colors of Benetton, Sisley, Play Life and Killer Loop. In 2006, the company reached $2.7 billion in sales.

Name: JOANNE “JK” ROWLING
Company: Harry Potter Books
Net Worth: $1 billion

Edinburgh, UK. Joanne Kathleen Rowling, the only billionaire author, had nothing but passion and sheer determination before to overturn her penniless living to multimillionaire status.

Although she graduated with BA in French and Classics, Joanne found herself in deep pit as a single mother struggling to raise her baby daughter living in a cold, mice-infested flat.

In 1990, the start of the sensational Harry Potter books was conceived while in train journey from Manchester to London. Six years later, along with several rejections, Joanne released her first book Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone. Her new found wealth was followed by numerous awards where in 2000, British book awards named her ‘Author of the year.’  She penned her last installment of the series in July 2007 that broke all time book sales records selling 9 million copies within 24 hours of release. In total, her novels were translated into 65 languages with more than 400 million copies worldwide.  Now at 43, she is happily married to Dr. Neil Murray with her son and two daughters.

 
Name: Mark Zuckerberg
Company: Facebook
Net Worth: $2 billion

White Plains, New York. Mark Elliot Zuckerberg is the youngest member of The Forbes 400 for founding an addictive social networking website: Facebook.

Zuckerberg started programming when he was in middle school. He also created a computer game (Risk), peer-to-peer communication software (Wirehog) and a music recommendation system that uses artificial intelligence (Synapse). As a Harvard student, he launched Facebook from his dorm room on February 4, 2004 which became an instant hit within the campus. He then decided to add other universities with the help of his roommate Dustin Moskovitz. He dropped out of college and moved to California where he met Peter Thiel, who invested in the company.

Facebook Inc. sold 1.6% stake to Microsoft Corp for $240 million. At the time of the sale, Facebook had a market value of $15 billion. In 2008, 25-year old Zuckerberg was named as one of The World’s Most Influential People under the Scientists and Thinkers category for his web phenomenon.

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Out of 27 self-made billionaires, it is interesting to note that about 26% who have achieved massive wealth today were once a home entrepreneur. Their humble beginnings started either from home or in school dorm room – a place not only nurture for growth but also an incubator for successful business. They started small but had outgrown their home and part-time businesses into successful business empires today. If you ever doubt that starting a home business will lead to any success in the future, these billionaires are the real-life testimonials of what you could achieve. If you think that starting a business at home is less prestige then owning a proper office, think again, it is not where you start but rather where you end. A prestige office cannot guarantee you success but only your professionalism, attitudes and persistence will attract more business.

Successful entrepreneurs are not constrained by physical space but only the sky is the limit. From what these self-made billionaires have exhibited, if you have the creative ideas, passion and confidence, you will soon realize starting a business from home is not an issue. Outgrow your business one day from your home to massive wealth is possible if you know the right goal, strategies and tactics with the right product and services like those self-made billionaires had done. In addition, with the right doses of determination, persistence and patience, you are well on the way to the path of billionaire. My best wishes to all home entrepreneurs!

If you have watched James Cameron’s Avatar recently, most probably you were blown away by its spectacular 3D technology and visual effects. It was undeniable that James has demonstrated his ability as a talented director but what is important here is he has also demonstrated several essential entrepreneur traits to achieve phenomenal success.

1. Passion

This is probably the most fundamental trait that every home entrepreneur must have. Without passion there will be no success, at least your home business will not last long. James Cameron is passionate about his movies-making and because of his intense passion; he was able to overcome all hurdles and excel at what he is doing. As a home entrepreneur, you must develop burning passion with what you do so that you would love it, enjoy it and stick to it thick and thin until it succeed.

2. Patience

Nobody could be as patient as James Cameron when come to movie-making. James has waited unbelievably 15 long years just for the 3D technology to mature so that he could achieve his dreamed cinematic digital effects. Likewise, every home entrepreneur must be extraordinary patient when starting your own business especially during the startup phase. There are steep learning curves, uncertainties, criticism, lack of resources and support which could discourage you along the way. Many home entrepreneurs threw in their towels too early before they actually saw the results. It was said that a business must usually goes through 3-5 years before it can profit so having the extraordinary patience like James Cameron to see it through is the key to success.

3. Vision

James Cameron announced he would make Avatar after he had finished the blockbuster Titanic in 1996. However it was delayed due to the then under-developed visual effects technology. Since then, he already had the vision of what he wanted to achieve and he has made it today with amazing success. Every home entrepreneur must have a long-term vision of where you want to be in the future. You must be clear with what you want so that you will know what to pursue and where to go. A clear vision also help you to lay your foundation, framework and system in place, this allows you to work on your home business rather work in the business.

4. Creativity

Over the years, we had enjoyed fantastic movies like The Abyss, Alien, Terminator and Titanic – all thanks to James Cameron.  He is famous for his creativity and innovation as he has the ability to constantly generate new cinematic experience for his audiences. While not all of us can be as artistic creative as James Cameron but to every home entrepreneur you can be creative like him by doing old things in a new way or finding new solutions to old problems using limited resources. The more creative you are, the more ideas you can generate and the more success it can bring to your home business.

5. Perfectionist

He is often being labeled as a perfectionist and when responding to such label, his reply: “No, I’m a greatist. I only want to do it until it’s great.” Perfectionism can be a virtue when pursuing for excellence and mastery but at the same time it can also be a liability for growth and progression. Nevertheless, due to his perfectionism, James Cameron is able to set new standard in movie-making and raised the bar for his rivals. So for aspiring home entrepreneur, the only way to strive a balance is to evaluate the situation. In business, you need to manage multiple tasks and usually do not have the luxury of time and money so if you want perfectionism, leave it to the specialists.

6. Risk-Taker

James Cameron is well known as the biggest risk taker in the movie industry. Every film he made, he was trying to push the limit of movie-making technology. He was at high risk of losing the trust from his crews, producers and investors as each of his projects was too ambitious for them to achieve. Despite his high tendency of risk taking but James did not take risks blindly as he was very careful and done his research before embarking on every new projects. That explain even though his ambitious projects were risky but he seldom encountered any major accidents.

We learnt that even though risk taking is part of entrepreneurship but managing risk to minimum level is one of the good attributes that every home entrepreneurs must have.

Finally, I would like to share with you an interesting quote from James Cameron. It more or less summarized his philosophy towards working and what every home entrepreneur should possess.

“So my message is in whichever realm, be it going into space or going into the deep sea, you have to balance the yin and yang of caution and boldness, risk aversion and risk taking, fear and fearlessness. No great accomplishment takes place, whether it be a movie or a deep ocean expedition, or a space mission, without a kind of dynamic equipoise between the two. Luck is not a factor. Hope is not a strategy. Fear is not an option.” — James Cameron

As always, you are welcome to leave any comments and thoughts.

Do Want to Own a Prestige Office at a Prime Location?

Now, here is the chance! You stand to win a 760 sq ft shop space at a great business location with SGD20,000 renovation fund and it is pre-paid for first 6 months.

What’s more you will get free Executive Education Programme from famous world business school – INSEAD and a special entrepreneurial coaching from Standard Chartered Bank. See Ad below.

All you have to do is to submit your great Business Idea in a 60-sec video with 50 words or less summary to UltimateStartupSpace.com.sg before 12 February 2010. The result for the top ten ideas will be announced in 18 February 2010 and the ultimate winner will be selected on 11 March 2010. For more information, please visit http://www.ultimatestartupspace.com.sg/ for details. 

I believe this is a dream to every business owners and entrepreneurs. It sounds too good to be true and glad that these organizations are doing their part to help startup businesses. The contest came just in time when the National University of Singapore (NUS) Entrepreneurship Centre study released last month showed that 18 per cent of tertiary students polled wanted to become entrepreneurs after graduation. According to the AsiaOne report, the director of the NUS centre, Professor Wong Poh Kam said that the increased awareness of entrepreneurship due to initiatives by the Government and schools was a major factor propelling youths towards wanting to run their own businesses and he also added the following comment.

“’The younger generation will have different ideas from the previous generation. In the past, people wanted only a job after graduation, but now perhaps they think differently.’”

It’s exciting to learn that Singapore has become a nation of budding student entrepreneurs and we can be expected to see more innovating and enterprising new businesses in the near future. So if you are one of those aspiring entrepreneurs, grab the chance now and put on your thinking cap.  Unfortunately, this is open to Singaporean and Permanent Residents only so if you are from overseas and have a great business idea, I guess you should try getting a Singapore partner first if this is ever allowed.

When I first came across the name “lipstick entrepreneur” while reading the newspaper, I thought what a name it was to be given to women business owners. Why “lip entrepreneur”? What happen to “mum entrepreneur”? I was curious so decided to check it out on the internet but had no luck finding. It seems that the name was first appeared in the report by Future Laboratory for Avon, the direct seller of beauty products, and the Federation of Small Businesses. The report said that there will be a drastic increase of women-owned businesses in the next decade and this was also mentioned in the article at Financial Times – “ Recession spurs rise of ‘lipstick entrepreneurs’ ”.

It was quite an interesting article as the name “lipstick entrepreneurs” was synonymous to “successful women business owners”. Despite the controversial name, the article has a few points worth mentioning.

Home Business is No Longer the Last Resort for Women
Many women business owners who started their home businesses are not solely due to redundancy or retrenchment but they choose to strike out on their own as home business no longer seem as last resort. The Internet has facilitated the setting up of home business and offer much more new business opportunities than before. Women business owners can now test drive their ideas using the Internet technology at the comfort of their home. In addition, the ability to utilize one’s skills and knowledge without restrictions is definitely tempting ideas for many of them.

More Freedom and Flexibility Needed
There were a few successful female role models mentioned in the article. One of them, Ms Jackson who is the women’s enterprise advocate for the South East England Development Agency said the main reason she started her own business was she didn’t want to be the “slave to business” and work till late at night. She wanted to spend more time with her family. I believe this is a common dream for every working women but it is simply not possible with a day job. Job or Family? There is not much choice especially during this gloomy economy – recessions, retrenchment and payout. Hence, it is not surprise to learn more women turn to home business for more freedom and flexibility. 

More Confidence Developed
Women business owners develop more confidence when they gradually achieved success in their businesses. Most started out due to financial difficulty or their spouse lost their jobs. It is encouraging when women business owners grow from dependent to having voices on their own. They are now in control than being control in their life.

At the end of the article, it has another controversial message that successful women business owners need “power dressing” to gain confidence. It refers to the once-popular shoulder pad in the 80s that could “maximize boardroom confidence” when wearing it. I wonder in this era, do we still to boast our confidence with such stuff? Confidence is something that takes time to develop and often the result of overcoming one obstacle before another. It is concrete and real and not something superficial that can add on as and when needed.

Similarly, using name “lipstick entrepreneur” when describing successful women business owners are superficial too. Women business owners are more than their makeup on their face; they are smart, determined, persistence and have unique insights. Women in some discussion forum already found the name bias and offensive. One of them said the word “lipstick” is almost equivalent to inequalities and discrimination while some concerned that such label will make people take them less seriously.

This is a post that reminds us that most business empires today start from a humble beginning. In this time of bad economic, a great story like this will give us hopes and inspire us to achieve our dreams regardless where we start. Below is a list of 20 business empires who have started their businesses either from a apartment, bedroom, dorm room or garage but have outgrown their businesses from a humble place into an empire.

Alibaba.com

Founder:  Jack Ma
Where it was started: In his apartment at Hangzhou, China

Jack Ma (Ma Yun) founded Alibaba.com in 1999; China-based business to business marketplace site that now serves 40 million users.

Having failed his college entrance exam twice yet becoming an English teacher in the same university and having learned the internet by himself, Ma was the first man to put China in the worldwide web. With no money, no technology and little knowledge of the internet, Ma gathered 18 people in his apartment and talked for two hours of his vision which raised him $60,000 as initial capital that started today’s biggest business to business online trading company.

His success in his local shores has paved way for another venture, Taobao.com, a top consumer-auction website that is so successful that made E-Bay China to close down.

Apple Computers

Founder:  Steve Jobs 
Where it was started: His bedroom then moved to their garage in California.

Steve Jobs together with his buddy Steven Wozniak, who are both high school drop-outs, created Apple computer on April 1, 1976. The buddies agreed to form a company to market the new computer, which eventually took off in 1977 with the Apple II.

Going up in the industry is not easy for Apple. Competition is tough. To be on top of the industry, Apple developed major edge over their competitors. The main edge Apple gain is the Graphical User Interface (GUI) capability of their machines. Mac is the 1^st personal computer to use the user-friendly interface with features like the trash can, windows, drag-and-drop file moveability, and plug-in-and-play compatibility. Today, it’s not just the user-friendly interface that separates Mac from other products. The speed, productivity, and security of Mac PC are by far the best in the industry.

Auntie Anne’s

Founder:  Anne Beiler 
Where it was started:  Homemade pretzel sold on a Snack stand in a market Downingtown, Pennsylvania

On a farm in rural Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, in an Amish society best known for their simple living, plain dress and resistance to the adoption of many modern conveniences was where Anne Beiler was raised. Her family lived without the conveniences of a television, a radio, a car and electricity. It’s when her family converted to Mennonite, a conservative church that permits electricity and vehicle usage, when she was a toddler that they had the luxury of watching television or listening to the radio.

Anne’s family was poor but, having asthma, Anne could not do much hard labor outside but that didn’t stop her from helping her family survive and so she learned how to bake. She started selling homemade pies and baked goods at a food stand at age 12, learning the basics of marketing and commerce. As is typical with Amish/Mennonite children, Anne left school after eighth grade and only returned to academia to receive her GED, along with two honorary doctorates, when she was 50.

She bought a vendor stand and sold pretzels, among other goods, in a farmer’s market in Downingtown in 1988. Her Pennsylvania-Dutch style pretzels took some time to perfect but soon became a hit. This was where Auntie Anne’s Soft Pretzels began. She poured energy into her business, often working 17 hours a day, and applying everything she learned through experiences like customer service, which she learned while waitressing as a teen. By the following year, she opened nine stores, seven farmers’ market, market stands and two franchises.

As the progressive years pass, the concept of a mall-based shop seemed the most productive, as shoppers can smell the aroma of baking pretzels, watch bakers rolling the dough and try free samples. Auntie Anne’s pretzels are easy to eat, healthy and on the go with shopping bags in hand. They targeted mall shoppers and later expanded to train and airport terminals.

Dell, Inc.

Founder:  Michael Dell 
Where it was started: His dorm room at University of Texas (The picture below shows him revisiting the place where he started his company in 1984 together with the new occupants.)

As a freshman at the University of Texas in Austin, Michael Dell showed his heart to be a businessman. He started his business by selling personal computers in his small room in the school’s dormitory. Dell knows that buying computer parts in wholesale is a lot cheaper than buying an assembled personal computer. He would then assembled the parts that he bought into clones of IBM computers, and sold them by mail order to customers at a price lower than that of the computer stores. His business approach was very effective and soon he was earning $80,000 a month. The success pushed him to drop-out from school and pursue his business ideals.

Dell’s direct marketing strategies, print ads and superior brand quality allows them to win huge market share. Dell’s computers became the top brand name in the direct-mail market and now one of the most recognize brand in the computer industry.

Hewlett-Packard Development Company LP

Founder: William (Bill) Hewlett and David (Dave) Packard
Where it was started: Garage in nearby Palo Alto

In 1939, Bill Hewlett and Dave Packard founded HP. They started their business on a small Palo Alto garage. What started small is now one of the most powerful brands. HP’s first product was an audio oscillator—an electronic test instrument used by sound engineers. Walt Disney was the first customer of HP to try their audio oscillator. The audio oscillator was used in the movie Fantasia to develop and test innovative sound system.

To preserve the history of HP, the “HP Garage” on 367 Addison Avenue, Palo Alto was restored to its condition much as they were in 1939. Completion of the project was celebrated with a ribbon-cutting on December 6, 2005.

IKEA

Founder:  Ingvar Kamprad 
Where it was started: Around the neighborhood of Älmhult, Småland, Sweden riding a bicycle.
 

Who would have thought that a young boy selling matches around the rural neighborhood of Älmhult, Småland, Sweden while riding his bicycle will grow up to be a billionaire. Ingvar Kamprad is raised in poverty on a farm near the small village of Agunnaryd. At his very young age, the business mind is already there. He observed that buying items in wholesale is cheaper that buying items in retail. He then used this idea to re-sell items individually at a low price but still with a profit. A match expands to flower seeds, greeting cards, Christmas tree decorations, and later pencils and ball-point pens.

At the age of 17, Ingvar uses the money from his father to establish his own business. Ingvar named his business from his initials (I.K.) plus the first letters of Elmtaryd (E) and Agunnaryd (A), the farm and village where he grew up, thus the business name IKEA.

What started from Matches now is a wide range of well-designed, functional home furnishing products still with very affordable prices.

JimmyBeansWool.com

Founder:  Laura Zander 
Where it was started: Her home in Reno, Nevada

The million dollar knitting business of Laura Zander all started as a way to climb up after being laid-off in her former job as an engineer. Artistic and talented Laura amazed the market with her fashionable designs and superior quality of her products. The small shop in Reno, Nevada soon got into the spotlight with the Hollywood Celebrities.

Growing competition is never a treat to Laura’s Jimmy Beans Wool. Laura sees this as a business opportunity and a way to further improve her business. In August 2002 Jimmy Bean Wool officially launch their website jimmybeanswool.com. This was the door to further expose her business and get more attention from the larger market. Customers are no longer limited to buy in her shop in Reno they can now buy her products online as well.

Nine Dragons Paper

Founder:  Zhang Yin 
Where it was started: In her and her husband apartment in Los Angeles before they went back to China

The woman who made millions from waste paper came from a soldier’s family in Heilongjiang, China. She was a former accountant Hong Kong who lost her job when the company went bankrupt. This downfall gave Zhang the power to start making money from waste paper. Hard labor is just a daily routine for Zhang. From a mere 30,000 Yuan (about $4.000) she was able to build the Nine Dragon business empire. In 1990, Zhang and her husband Lai Ming-chung moved to Pomona, California to start a paper collection company in their apartment (later became the Ameican Ching Nam, Inc.). They would buy waste paper from garbage dumps, and send it back to China to be made into packaging for China’s growing consumer-goods market. Zhang then started the Nine Dragons Paper at Pearl River Delta which later expanded into production of cardboard.

Panasonic

Founder:  Konosuke Matsushita 
Where it was started:  Two story house in the Japanese village of Wasa with only three staff.

The Panasonic brand was created from the elements “pan” meaning “all” combined with “sonic” meaning “sound”, because it was first used for audio equipment.

The company that was to become Panasonic was started on March 7, 1918, when Konosuke Matsushita moved from his tiny dwelling to a larger two-story house, and set up Matsushita House wares Devices Manufacturing Works. The staff consisted of three people: the 23-year-old Matsushita, 22-year-old Mumeno and her brother Toshio Lue, then just 15.

Converting their three-room ground floor into a workshop after installing two hand-operated presses for molding insulation, Matsushita was convinced that there was a huge, untapped market for convenient, high quality household electrical fixtures. He stayed up late refining his designs, ultimately choosing to manufacture new products. Their products became a hit because it proved of higher quality than other products on the market and were 30% to 50% cheaper. The company employed 20 people by 1918 year-end.

Products were initially sold through a single wholesale outlet but this agreement broke down when sales fell due to heavy price cutting by other manufacturers. Nevertheless, as Matsushita began dealing directly with other wholesalers, sales grew and the company found itself on firm footing.

Panasonic started off with a desire to create things of value. As hard work and dedication result in one innovative product after another, the fledgling company takes its first steps towards becoming the electronics giant of today.

ZARA

Founder:  Amancio Ortega
Where it was started:  His own living room in Coruña, Spain.

Amancio Ortega, a railway worker’s son, started as a gofer in a shirt store and started making dressing gowns and lingerie in their living room with then-wife Rosalia Mera, also now a millionaire.

They named their company Inditex, and their clothesline Zara and their business became one of the world’s most successful apparel manufacturers. Today, Inditex has more than 4000 stores in 71 countries, sales skyrocketed to $12.3B.

Inditex exported its cheap chic Zara stores to four new markets last year: South Korea, Ukraine, Montenegro and Honduras.

They also have personal investments in gas, tourism, banks and real estates. They own properties in Madrid, Paris, London, Lisbon plus a luxurious hotel and apartment complex in Miami, a horse-jumping circuit.

Amancio’s daughter, Marta, is being groomed to be his successor at Inditex.