Money Matters and More

In How to Start Each Day Motivated, an article written last month for Entrepreneur Magazine, Sid Kemp, a best-selling author, small business consultant and coach, makes the case that leading a business with passion can’t be left to chance.  Instead, he argues, it takes focused, deliberate and consistent effort.

Entrepreneurial passion–that’s the theme on today’s edition of the Money Matters & More radio show.  Be sure to tune into today at 10 a.m. (Eastern) on blogtalkradio.com/money-matters–more.  Kemp  joins me to talk about how entrepreneurs can succeed, even (or especially) when things don’t go according to plan.

Got a question for Sid Kemp?  Be sure to call into today’s show with a question at (646) 929-1832.

Thanks!

Want to survive professionally, even thrive in any economy?  Pamela Mitchell urges you to adhere to 10 laws of career reinvention.  As a 3-time career changer herself and the successful CEO and founder of The Reinvention Institute, Mitchell knows what she’s talking about.  The Reinvention Institute is “devoted to helping successful professionals transform their careers.”  (To check it out, click onto http://reinvention-institute.com).

Mitchell offers a time-tested formula for managing career change (whether voluntary or not) –no matter the state of the economy.  An expert on career change, her book The 10 Laws of Career Reinvention, Essential Survival Skills for Any Economy was a Harvard Business Review Top Shelf Recommended pick.

Want to know more about successful career reinvention?  Be sure to tune into Money Matters & More tomorrow at 10:30 a.m. on blogtalkradio.com/money-matters–more, when Pamela Mitchell will join me to talk about her new book, and answer your questions about managing your work life.

Got questions for Pamela Mitchell?  Email them to me at moneymattersandmore@yahoo.com. Thanks!

What’s in store for entrepreneurs on ABC’s Shark Tank next season?  Be sure to tune into a Blogtalkradio interview with one of the show’s star’s, Barbara Corcoran, successful businesswoman and savvy real estate adviser for the Today Show.  You can hear her today at 11 a.m. (Eastern).  To find it online, click onto blogtalkradio.com/money-matters–more.

Thanks!

Real estate whiz, Today Show contributor, magazine and newspaper columnist, ABC’s Shark Tank star and overall successful businesswoman Barbara Corcoran offers these tips for entrepreneurial success:

“Every great entrepreneur is a great salesperson…[Here are] three personal beliefs about selling anything.

1. People want to do business with someone they like.

2. Selling is nothing more than playing up the good and playing down the bad.

3. Always remember who’s in charge of the market you’re selling in.

Those are just a few of the bits of wisdom from Corcoran’s best-selling book, If You Don’t Have Big Breasts, Put Ribbons on Your Pigtails (Penguin Group – Portfolio).

Although technical problems prevented today’s live interview with Barbara Corcoran, check moneymattersandmore.com posts for a new day and time.

Thanks and have a great week!

Real estate expert, columnist, author and popular speaker Barbara Corcoran’s story only reads like fiction…

– She earned straight D’s in high school and college

– She held twenty different jobs by the age of 23

– Decades ago, she borrowed $1,000 dollars from her boyfriend to start a business

– She sold her real estate business in 2001 for $70 million

That’s not the end of her story, of course.

The successful businesswoman, columnist and speaker joins me tomorrow for a 10 a.m. live interview on Money Matters & More on BlogTalkRadio (Eastern Time.) She’ll be talking about her success story and offer frank advice to entrepreneurs and anyone else who wants to get ahead in business.

To tune in, be sure to click onto blogtalkradio.com/money-matters–more. Got questions for Barbara Corcoran?  Email them to me at moneymattersandmore@yahoo.com.  (Twitter: moneyandmore; Facebook: moneymattersandmore.)

Have a great week!

“To twitter or not to twitter?”

That’s increasingly the question being asked by entrepreneurs looking to reach new and established customers.  With apologies to Shakespeare for modifying his words, it can be tough to know whether, or how much time and effort to spend on social media, when so many small business owners have to tend to a myriad of tasks, from administrative to sales.

What’s the answer?  Are Twitter and Facebook worth the effort?  Sarah Needleman (see photo), staff reporter with the Wall Street Journal joins me today on the Money Matters & More radio show to help answer that question and to talk about her recent  WSJ column, Entrepreneurs Question the Value of Social Media, 10:30 a.m. Eastern on BlogTalkRadio.com.

Got a question before the show?  Contact at moneymattersandmore@yahoo.com, Twitter (moneyandmore) or Facebook (moneymattersandmore).

Thanks.

Community Business Partnership

9th Annual Business Plan Contest

Two local business plan contests in the DC/MD/VA region make an offer no new entrepreneur should refuse:  enter and you can’t lose.

How is this possible?  Easy.

That’s because every registered contestant to the Community Business Partnership’s 9th Annual Business Plan Contest and Rockville Economic Development, Inc. (REDI) 7th Annual StartRight! Women’s Business Plan Competition is guaranteed at a minimum perhaps the most important win an new entrepreneur could achieve:  clear, detailed and written feedback from a panel of judges with the skills and experience to offer expert guidance.

And that’s just for participating!

And what if you win a prize?  Depending on the contest, you could win between $250 and $10,000 in cash.

Interested?  Check out the fine print at http://www.cbponline.org, or call (703) 768-1440, and www.RockvilleREDI.org (301) 315-8096.

Deadline for CBP:  Wednesday, April 14, 2010 at 5:00 p.m.

Deadline for REDI:  March 26, 2010 (Executive Summary); March 31, 2010 (Business Plan)

Be sure to join me on News Channel 8 (in the DC region) today between 10 and 11:00 a.m., where I’ll talk more about the value of business plan contests.

Thanks.

Feeling discouraged and in need of inspiration as you launch your new business?

Consider the lives of forty 18th and 19th century black entrepreneurs who beat the odds and operated successful businesses despite incredible obstacles.

These entrepreneurs, like hair salon owner Christiana Carteaux Bannister, (pictured in inset) are the focus of a recent exhibit entitled, Black Entrepreneurs of the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries. The exhibit, developed through a partnership between the Museum of African American History, Boston and Nantucket and the Federal Reserve of Boston, features black business people who “seized opportunities to create enterprises and to participate in the commercial life of [America].”

To hear today’s interview, click on the BlogTalkRadio media player in the upper right corner of this page.

Let me know what you think.  Did their stories inspire you?

Ready to launch?  Think that business idea is ready to go, but you could appreciate some solid advice to ensure success?

Be sure to tune in for Part Two of my interview with The Wall Street Journal’s Small Business Editor  Colleen DeBaise today at 10:30 a.m. (Eastern)  DeBaise’s new release, The Wall Street Journal, Complete Small Business Guidebook, offers great practical advice.

From strategies for finding funding for your venture, on through creating and managing your business successfully, and beyond, the book provides a useful blueprint for prospective entrepreneurs.

In today’s interview, we’ll be talking about the nuts and bolts of getting started, including the ins and outs of managing your finances, how to find great employees and balancing work and family time.

To tune in, click onto blogtalkradio.com.  It’s the Money Matters & More radio show.

Got questions for Colleen DeBaise?  Call into the listener line at (646) 929-1832, between 10:30 a.m. and 10:45 a.m. today.

If you want to email questions, click onto moneymattersandmore@yahoo.com; for Twitter: moneyandmore; Facebook: moneymattersandmore.

Look forward to hearing from you.  Enjoy the show!

The link between passion and entrepreneurship can be one of the biggest factors in determining whether a start-up will be successful or not, according to Colleen DeBaise, the Wall Street Journal’s Small Business Editor.  Be sure to join me for a conversation with her today about, “Entrepreneurship 101:  What’s Passion Got to Do With It?”, on my radio show, Money Matters & More at 10:30 a.m. (Eastern) on blogtalkradio.com.  DeBaise will share stories of successful entrepreneurs, included in her new book, The Wall Street Journal’s Complete Small Business Guidebook and offer tips about how to get started.   Here are a few questions that she recommends that every prospective entrepreneur ask before taking the leap:

Are you passionate about your product or service?

What is your tolerance for risk?

Are you good at making decisions?

Are you willing to take on numerous responsibilities?

Will you be able to avoid burnout?