Whether it’s to meet suppliers or vendors, to analyze the customer base, assess the competition, or attend forums and events, entrepreneurs know that in order to succeed, they must travel. But when too much work, too many client presentations, and too many other needs all demand your attention at once, the added stress of dealing with the minutiae of travel logistics can hinder that very success. Here are my top 10 travel tips.
Every city hopes to attract the next Facebook, Google, Instagram or Twitter. To lure such entrepreneurial startups, they follow the same route that city leaders of their grandparents’ generation did — cutting taxes, easing regulations, and in general trying to create a business-friendly climate. But what are entrepreneurs really looking for in a city?
Rana Florida interviews First Lady Michelle Obama to ask her some important questions about leadership, collaboration and the balancing act of family, work and life. Her answers and insights reinforce her determination to get the job done.
The second annual Start-Up City: Miami event, sponsored by The Atlantic, The Atlantic Cities, the Knight Foundation and the Creative Class Group convened venture capitalists, leading thinkers, and start-up founders yesterday to discuss entrepreneurialism and to share tips and expertise on successful startups.
Detroit’s fall from grace–from its ruins porn to its obesity rankings, from its crime rate to its bankruptcy–has all been exposed in the lurid glare of publicity. But I am constantly defending the Motor City. No campaign has captured the spirit and soul of the everyday people who live and work in the city –until, that is, the Detroit-based watch, bicycle, and leather goods manufacturing company Shinola choose the legendary photographer Bruce Weber to capture the essence of the city for it’s newest campaign.
The MBA used to be a pre-requisite for a corporate job, a ticket to a high salary, more or less for life. But our economy has shifted; corporate loyalty has waned and those once coveted jobs, are both harder to come by and far less secure. The MBA remains more or less the same but a new kind of MBA is required to prepare students for these new volatile, uncertain economic currents. The emphasis needs to be less on getting a job and more on creating jobs for yourself and others.
Zappos, the Internet shoe retailer is eliminating job titles, replacing their traditional corporate bureaucracy with a holocracy, an organization that revolves around the work that needs to be done rather than the people who do it. The goal of team members and colleagues is to add value, skills and expertise. Managers can and should enable and even unleash their people, but they cannot control them.
More than half of all startups fail within five years. And it is a well-known fact that failure is constant in entrepreneurship. The fashion business is highly competitive; so how do women’s clothing designers Kirk Pickersgill and Stephen Wong of the fashion label Greta Constantine ensure success? “Think global but always act like a startup.” Their company got off the ground in 2006 and can be found in far-flung locales such as Dubai, Paris, London, Moscow and Madrid.
While there’s no doubt that some women are on the rise, the majority of us are still struggling to be valued professionally, financially, politically, and culturally, around the world and here at home. Whether it’s our fault or not, it’s time to ban together, stand up or take the driver’s seat and fix this.
As entrepreneurs we are used to being our own one-stop-shop. Successful leaders know their own strengths and accept their weaknesses. Finding the right partners or teammates early on who can compliment your skills maximizes results and can often differentiate a successful business from a doomed one.
