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5 Signs You May Not Be an Entrepreneur Sep 27 2014 1,019 Views 73 Likes 17 Comments Share on LinkedIn Share on Facebook Share on Google Pluse Share on Twitter So many people dream of starting their own business. Slaving away in a miserable job with miserable bosses and miserable hours and being mistreated, underpaid and unappreciated fuels those thoughts. But entrepreneurship is not for everyone who is just sick of being employed. Here are five signs the excitement of building a business just may not be for you: 1.  You lack the big dream . If you say well, I can start a business in my industry and see what happens, then doing so may be a bad idea. The most successful entrepreneurs are always dreaming big, coming up with either innovations or innovative ways to sell things, and reaching for the stars. And they have a detailed short and long term plan. 2.  You have a fear of risk . You turned down a job at a smaller company since you were worried it m...

They fired me. They fired me as CEO. Then they fired me as a board member. Then they took away my shares. And now none of them ever talk to me. I started the company, I had the initial idea, I raised $30 million for it from A+ investors (i.e. “rich people”), I bought two companies for it, I hired the first 50 employees, and then I was shown the door. The reason? I was a bad leader. Here are some things I didn’t know about my own company: I didn’t know what our product did. I didn’t know any of the clients. I didn’t know how much money we made. I didn’t know how much we lost. And I had crushes on the secretaries and maybe two or ten other employees. I would’ve gladly stuck my tongue in the ears of any of those employees. Eewww! But why was I fired? I just didn’t do anything… for… anyone. I never wanted to talk. I would lock myself in my office and people would knock and I would pretend not to be there. If anyone wanted to talk to me about “vision” I would just nod my hea...

More and more in Silicon Valley, we’re seeing less and less of an interest in pursuing MBA programs. It seems every week a new story highlights the opportunity costs of these programs, the unemployment rates for its graduates (though  less than 5 percent of Harvard's class of 2012 was unemployed  three months after graduating) and the celebrated entrepreneurs who didn’t finish college let alone a graduate program (Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, Richard Branson, Mark Zuckerberg).   Combine that with the fact that startups -- where everyone seems to want to work -- don’t care at all about graduate business degrees. They want to see real-life experience and that you have the grit to make it in the startup trenches where it’s much more visceral when your job, not your grade, is on the line.   Yet  applications still deluge many elite schools  and some admission consultants are  predicting a greater number of applicants at the top schools . ...

Trying to decide whether to promote an employee to a management position is a challenge many employers face. But not every employee is a born leader. Pay close attention to all the characteristics of a potential candidate when thinking about offering a promotion, rather than just seeing how long the individual has been with the organization. For employers thinking about promoting someone into a management position, here are seven warning signs that the person perhaps should not become a boss. Watch out for the following traits: Related:  Why the Best Managers Ask the Most Questions 1. Never asking for help.   When a high-performing employee never asks for help, it might seem that he or she is extremely talented and self-driven. Although a self-sufficient employee is great to have, this doesn’t necessarily make for a good candidate for a management position. A  2007 study  by the Institute for Corporate Productivity found 4...

There was simply no way to predict how Apple would do without Steve Jobs. But that didn’t stop anyone from speculating. Tech pundit  John Dvorak  said, “At some point, Apple becomes like a John Wayne movie with no John Wayne. You begin to notice something is missing. Apple without Steve Jobs is Sony.” When Tim Cook took over as Apple CEO, I had a decidedly different take: “Apple has a solid foundation as the most powerful and influential technology company on the planet. It has a unique culture, but one that Steve Jobs built to last, as he knew this day would surely come for some time now.” I went on to say that Apple’s iconic co-founder “infused a new way of thinking” that is “baked into” Apple’s culture “in a way that can live on without Jobs.” In an internal email, Cook vowed to stay true to that culture. “I want you to be confident that Apple is not going to change," he wrote. "I cherish and celebrate Apple's unique principles and values. Steve built a compan...

The company I co-founded,  HB Agency , is celebrating 15 years in business. As a business owner and organizational leader, I've had to make critical business decisions and personal choices over the years. Some have worked, others have not. In the spirit of celebration, here are 15 important business values I've learned along the way -- and sometimes the hard way -- that have value for business owners, entrepreneurs and CEOs.  1. Choose a great business partner.  So many partnerships end in a mushroom cloud. I have had the good fortune of sharing ownership of HB with Nicolas Boillot, the smartest person I know and someone I trust with my life in his hands. At the start of our business relationship, we defined clear organizational roles for each other. While those have shifted over time, the clarity with which we define and execute our responsibilities has not.  2. If you have to cut, cut to the bone and cut quickly. We learned this lesson the hard way...

Passion  – We all start our businesses with passion and excitement. After a while with the fledgling start-up growing we sometimes forget why we started the business because we get weighed down with ‘stuff’. Have fun! Cash Flow  – One of the biggest issues with entrepreneurs is how to deal with money – most manage money poorly. Be sensible, get a bookkeeper rather than doing it yourself and have a look at your books often so you will know how your business is doing at any moment. A hasty purchase can be deadly to a start-up. Good People (Your employees)  – My friend has a gem of a secretary. She has been with him through thick and thin and is indispensible. He chose wisely. Hiring staff is not rocket science but it can be difficult. I suggest a 2-3-person team to do interviews to get different viewpoints, which will keep bad hires down. Bad hires need to be disposed of quickly; there are no second chances in a start-up. Partners  – We need partners for a coupl...