November 2007

QUOTE OF THE MONTH
"The entrepreneur is our visionary, the creator in each of us. We're born with that quality and it defines our lives as we respond to what we see, hear, feel, and experience. It is developed, nurtured, and given space to flourish or is squelched, thwarted, without air or stimulation, and dies!

Michael Gerber   

Dear Subscriber;

The Entrepreneurship Chronicle is back. It's been 13 months since the last issue. Ian Thomas and Malcolm Young from Virante will be the Editor with me going forward and will make sure it goes out every month again.

If you prefer blogs or RSS feeds to email you can visit my blog on entrepreneurship or subscribe to the feed by adding http://feeds.feedburner.com/~fc/entrepreneurblog to your Feedreader.

Since the last issue in September 2006, iContact has raised $5.3 million in venture capital, grown from 30 to 74 employees, and grown from 5,500 to 16,000 customers. In the mean time Virante has added three new team members and launched a redesigned www.zeromillion.com with new content and videos in preparation for the new version of Zero to One Million coming out from McGraw-Hill in February.

In Chapel Hill, we are holding Entrepreneur & Social Entrepreneur Meetups once per month at my house. If you live in the area and care about changing the world, come on out. Details on the meetups can be found on the Facebook Event.

November 1-3 I was in Chicago to speak at the Collegiate Entrepreneurs' Organization annual conference. I presented the session Ten Steps to Building a Company to $1 Million in Sales (48MB download) to 200 attendess the keynote session Finding The Purpose of Your Life (7MB download) to 800 attendees. You can download the slides for each session by clicking on its name.

I hope you have made progress on your entrepreneurial vision and that you gain value from this 34th issue of The Entrepreneurship Chronicle!

Entrepreneurially Yours,
Ryan P. Allis, CEO
iContact Corp.
2635 Meridian Parkway
Durham, NC
www.iContact.com

Zero Million - The Entrepreneurship Chronicle
  The Entrepreneurship Chronicle :: November 11, 2007 Issue :: 34

   Table of Contents
  1. News Update
  2. Giving Back As an Enlightened Entrepreneur
  3. Featured Organization of the Month: One Laptop Per Child
  4. 105 Business Ideas
  5. Keywords for Your Website
  6. 25 Recommended Books for Entrepreneurs
  7. Connect With Ryan
  8. Closing Notes
  9. Premier Sponsor: Virante
  10. Sponsors

News Update

iContact

We've passed 16,000 Clients for our email marketing software iContact! We're consistently breaking our own records and continue to grow strong. From everyone at iContact, we would like to thank everyone involved in this tremendous accomplishment. iContact launched a major new feature called the iContact Community this week that allows publishers to easily grow their opt-in lists, create discussion around their newsletters, and get their content indexed in Google.

Virante

Virante would like welcome developers Ian Thomas, Greg Gosset and UNC Intern Colby Almond to the team. These three have joined us since the last edition of the cronicle and they have already proven themselves to be great assetts to the team. Ryan is finalizing a new version of his book due out early next year from McGraw-Hill. Keep an eye out for it's release.

ZeroMillion.com

Our entrepreneurship resource Zeromillion.com has launched with a completely new redesign. Check it out!
Giving Back As an Enlightened Entrepreneur
EXCERPT: An Excerpt from the latest version of the book Zero to One Million by Ryan P. Allis

I did an exercise when I was 20 years old that changed my life forever. I wrote down how I wanted to use my life to make a difference in the worldŃto help build stronger communities and societies here at home, and also work to end poverty and hunger globally. When I learned from reading an annual world health report from the World Health Organization that over 18,000,000 people die every year (49,365 per day) from preventable diseases and starvation the gravity of some of the most important issues in our world hit me.

When I learned from a World Bank report that as of 2001, 2.7 billion people lived on under $2 per day (42% of the humans in the world), the realization made me want to spend my life working entrepreneurially to address these issues. When I read The End of Poverty, by Columbia Economist Jeffrey Sachs in 2006, I further committed to being a leader of my generation to address the problems and ensuring that by the end of my life at least 95% of the wealth I create goes back to creating societies with greater access to opportunity and sustainably assisting people who have not had the opportunity I have been so fortunate to have.

As I added to my knowledge through travel, reading, and speaking with people who live in developing nations, I updated my mission statement and began to write what I call a Purpose Statement. Along the way, the added depth of purpose has given what I strive to do every day deep personal meaning. For me, entrepreneurship is not about making lots of money and living an extravagant life, itÕs about being able to make a positive impact in the lives of thousands, and hopefully someday, billions. If you can find how starting and building a successful business can help you have a larger meaning in your life and allow you to give back to your community, you will be able to more easily find your core motivation and align what you do with what you love.

Continue Reading this Article at ZeroMillion.com...

Give a Child a Laptop and Get One in Return
One Laptop Per Child
One Laptop per Child

This month Zeromillion recognizes One Laptop Per Child. This organization aims to give kids in developing countries the tools they need to get the education they need.

Starting November 12th, for a limited time, One Laptop Per Child is running the Give One Get One promotion. Durring this promotion you'll be able to buy a laptop for a child in a developing country for $400 dollars and a second laptop will be sent to you address. You can use the laptop for yourself and keep up with the technoolgy of the project, or give your child this educational tool, or even donate it to a school. The choice is yours.

"While children are by nature eager for knowledge, many countries have insufficient resources to devote to educationŃsometimes less than $20 a year per child. Imagine the potential that could be unlocked by giving every child in the world the tools they need to learn, no matter who they are, no matter where they live, no matter how little they may have." - One Laptop Per Child

To learn more or get involved visit laptop.org and xogiving.org

105 Business Ideas
FEATURED ARTICLE: By Ryan P. Allis, CEO of iContact.com

Below is a listing of one hundred and five business ideas thought of by middle and high school students. Hopefully this listing will illustrate the principle that business ideas are a dime a dozen and it is always the execution that counts. I encourage you to read "ItÕs not the Idea, ItÕs the Execution" after finishing this article as well as "How to Evaluate Business Ideas and Opportunities."

The following ideas were brainstormed by fourteen high school students in a 90 minute period on July 20, 2003.

  1. underwater restaurant spa franchise foldable hammock for car trunks high quality light fixtures health bar chain comfy, damage-free ear phones chair with popcorn holder, tray, built-in radio, massager self-cleaning microwave security software to protect against hackers and credit card scams
  2. wholesale store without membership card
... See the Rest

The following ideas were brainstormed by fourteen middle school students in a 90 minute period on July 27, 2003.
  1. New brand of cola Monorail companytriangular and circular housesinterchangeable shoesinternet cafˇpens that never from out of inknew type of fuelhovercarsnew internet service provider
  2. college/cheerleader calendars

(Read the Rest of this Article Here....)
Sometimes it's Easy to Find the Right Words

Ok, so you've got your business model up and running, you've even got your website up and a way for people to buy from you online. Now it's time to start your online marketing campaign.but all your keywords are way too expensive, right? Actually that's only the obvious keywords. There are a ton of words out there that bound to get you a ton of traffic. You just need to find them. That's where Keyata comes in...

Continue Reading this Article at ZeroMillion.com...

28 Recommended Books for Entrepreneurs

The following books are recommended for reading by aspiring and current entrepreneurs and business leaders.

Globalization & Economics

  1. The Lexus and the Olive Tree by Thomas L. Friedman
  2. The Commanding Heights by Daniel Yergin and Joseph Stanislaw
  3. Political Ideologies and the Democratic Ideal by Ball and Dagger
  4. The Worldly Philosophers by Robert L Heilbroner
  5. The Secret History of the American Empire by John Perkins
  6. Reinventing the Bazaar: A Natural History of Markets by John McMillan
  7. The World is Flat by Thomas L. Friedman

Marketing

  1. The Anatomy of Buzz by Emanuel Rosen
  2. The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell
  3. Permission Marketing by Seth Godin
  4. Purple Cow by Seth Godin
  5. Blink by Malcolm Gladwell
  6. Protˇgˇ Training Program by Jay Abraham
  7. Guerilla Marketing by Jay Conrad Levinson

Entrepreneurship

  1. Zero to One Million by Ryan P. Allis
  2. Zero to IPO by David Smith
  3. Rich Dad Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki
  4. Rich Dad's Guide to Investing by Robert Kiyosaki
  5. New Venture Creation by Jeffrey Timmons
  6. Good to Great by Jim Collins
  7. Losing My Virginity by Richard Branson

Personal Development

  1. Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill
  2. The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People by Steven R. Covey
  3. Succeed and Grow Rich Through Persuasion by Napoleon Hill
  4. How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie
  5. The Law of Success in Sixteen Lessons by Napoleon Hill
  6. The Student Success Manifesto by Michael Simmons
Connect With Ryan

Do you have a Facebook account? If so, Ryan's on Facebook too. Just look up Ryan Allis (the one at UNC-Chapel Hill). Send Ryan a message or a friend request.

Ryan also uses LinkedIn. If you want to connect to Ryan on Linked in just look him up and send a connection request to allisr [at] broadwick.com.

Don't have Facebook or LinkedIn but still want to ask Ryan a question? Feel free to email Ryan at ryan [at] icontact.com. Thank you!

Closing Notes

This concludes issue thirty-four of The Entrepreneurship Chronicle. If you are not subscribed and would like to subscribe, please visit http://www.zeromillion.com. If you would like to contribute content, become involved with the zeromillion.com team, make suggestions, or provide feedback please feel free to contact us at info [at] virante.com.

This newsletter is published by www.zeromillion.com with support from the Entrepreneurs' Coalition. The newsletter is sent using the iContact email marketing software.

Comments/Suggestions: myoung [at] virante.com
Contribute Content: ithomas [at] virante.com
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"I studied the lives of great men and famous women, and I found that the men and women who got to the top were those who did the jobs they had in hand, with everything they had of energy and enthusiasm and hard work" - Harry Truman, former U.S. President

Published by Zeromillion.com, the top entrepreneurship resource online
All Contents Copyright © 2007 by Virante, Inc.