Entrepreneur News

SBA LAUNCHES WEBSITE FOR YOUNG ENTREPRENEURS

Know a young entrepreneur that could use some help? Tell them to mind their own business. And suggest they visit a new U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) website, cosponsored with Junior Achievement, at www.mindyourownbiz.org. Designed for teenagers and college students eager to start their own businesses, the site offers five steps to business ownership, with resources and information that can help transform teens from brainstormers to business owners. The site also connects visitors to Teen Business Link at the SBA, which now offers streaming video and animation clips.

GLAD TO BE AN ENTREPRENEUR?

Some people may still need persuading that taking the entrepreneurial path is the right one to follow. In its October issue, Inc. magazine set out to list 75 reasons why today’s economic trends and cultural shifts make being an American entrepreneur a happy as well as a sensible decision.

Top of the list is not-so-fast-paced change. Incremental change, not frenzied, allows c e rtain themes to emerge which entrepreneurs can recognize and exploit.

Learning from the experiences of others ranks number 11. The country has seen 25 years of expanding entrepreneurial activity. This means new business owners can find plenty of experienced (not old!) business owners with wisdom to share.

Reason number 19 is the fact that entrepreneurs are tackling social problems more often, in addition to the usual business problems.

“Better coffee” comes in at number six, together with the millions of coffee shop “offices” that have sprung up in neighborhoods across America. Coupled with coffee comes the Internet at 27, with its “broadbanded, Wi- Fied, video-enabled, international-boundary-eradicating, cost-reducing, market- expanding” nature.

Money makes the list’s mid-point, as the a rticle notes the resurgence of venture funding with “There’s capital out there. It needs you.” But making money isn’t what drives all entrepreneurs at their core. The list closes with the reason to celebrate being an entrepreneur because you can find meaning in your work and share it with others. “You can leave a wake…and be who you were meant to be,” the article concludes.

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