We are living in an exciting time. There are so many opportunities, that there’s simply no more excuses for not starting a business. You don’t need much money, much time, much experience. All you need is the motivation to start. Your first venture will probably not succeed, but that’s really fine. Get the fear of failure out of your head and just start it. There’s not much risk in a small first time business. Here’s some tips to get started:

1. Don’t over-think it. You don’t need a written business plan, or every detail of how you’ll do it worked out. You’ll figure it out as you go, and that’s OK these days.

2. Don’t spend any money to start it. It’s actually very easy to start a business with less than $1,000. So many services are free or almost free. Before you pay for something, ask yourself how you could do it without money.

3. Get some partners. Figure out what you aren’t good at and partner up with some people who are. It doesn’t matter if you only end up with 20% of the company. It’s your first go. It more about learning and getting the ball rolling than making money on this one. You’ll also learn from your partners, which has immense value in itself.

4. Start now. Not next month.

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Depending on how you look at it, I have good news or bad news.

The internet as it is today is losing its value. For several years, bloggers, social sites, and innovative new web services have propelled massive growth in the value of the internet. You have probably spent a lot of time online in recent years, learning new things, making your life more streamlined and convenient, and gaining new insight in your particular field. Chances are, you have recently noticed a plateau.

Seth Godin, one of the most insightful voices in business, and internet business in particular, writes:

For a decade, the web kept delivering an ever better signal to noise ratio to me. I was able to hear more things, more clearly, in less time. Websites and email and my RSS reader were bringing me signals from everywhere, and processing them (and creating, I hope, new signal) was a joy.

Lately, I’m feeling noise creep.

Lately, the noise seems to be increasing and the signal is fading in comparison. Too much spam, too many posts, too little insight leaking through.

This is bad news if you are in the business of “me too.” If you notice successful trends and then hop on the wave with a similar product or service, this means the wave has reached shore. You won’t make any more money until a new wave picks up.

However, this is great news if you are a wave maker. There is a huge opportunity to rethink, reinvent, and recreate the online experience for a massive audience. Here’s just a few areas that are dying and in need of a change:

Blogging: Too many blogs shouting too many mediocre messages means you turn them off altogether. Blogging has had a great run, but now it’s run out. If you come up with a new way for regular people to teach, preach, and publish effectively, you will profit tremendously from it. PS- Twitter is not it. It is the opposite of “it.”

Communication: People like communicating with each other, but the current ways of doing so are losing their effectiveness. You have phone, email, voicemail, SMS, Facebook, Twitter, blog comments, and yes, some people even use regular mail and faxes. The types of communication coming in range from outright spam, to almost spam, to “I want to know about these offers,” to acquaintances, to friends, and finally, older family members still sending you email forwards. It is an absolute mess. When people are talking about taking a vacation from their phones and email, there’s something seriously wrong. That’s a huge opportunity.

Information: News, educational material, and entertainment. We have reached an “embarrassment of riches” here. Lots of great stuff. So much so, you don’t know where to start. You don’t know what you’re missing. There’s a great chance for someone to channel the waters of this flood.

These are just a few places where we need a change. Not just a change, but another revolution. That means it’s your chance to become king.

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Some of the most successful people are the ones who have listened to good advice from people who are older and wiser than they.

Some of the most successful people are the ones who listen to advice from others, then ignore it and go forward with their plan.

All consistently successful people are the ones who aren’t stuck with one or the other. They are flexible. They know when to listen, and when to ignore.

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Posted in Communication ~ No Comments

I’ve been thinking lately about the sub-prime mortgage crisis. This seems to be a great time for some innovative thinking.

If people were able to pay for the original mortgage, then they weren’t able to pay when the rate went up, then it seems plausible that they only have to find the difference. I know this is oversimplifying the problem, but it’s true for many people.

My idea is this. Ask yourself: “What else can my house be used for besides living?”

The question may seem absurd at first, but give it a chance. Think about it. It won’t be easy to come up with a solution, but it may just be possible.

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