 |
"Great
things are not done by impulse, but by a series
of small things brought together."
Vincent Van Gogh
Hi
[fname]. Welcome to Issue Fifteen of the Entrepreneurs'
Chronicle.
1.
News Update + 3 Broadwick Job Openings
2. Welcome
to Issue Fifteen
3. Nine Leadership Lessons from a 19 Year Old CEO
4. Baltimore Sun Interview with Ryan Allis
5. Entrepreneurship Discussion Forum July Highlights
6. Free Content for Your Web Site
7. Recommended Book List for Entrepreneurs
8. Featured Organization of the Month: YDEF
9. Closing Notes
10. Products/Books by Ryan Allis
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Broadwick
Corp. reached a major milestone by passing
500 clients for its permission-based email
marketing software IntelliContact
Pro in July (see
press release). Broadwick welcomes
Internet.com, the Chapel Hill-Carrboro
Chamber of Commerce, and EIT Solutions
to its growing list of reseller partners.
Today, August 1 Broadwick obtained its
530th customer as it continues to grow
at an accelerating pace. Broadwick currently
is looking to fill three job openings.
Please see below for details.
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Broadwick
Job Openings
We
welcome interested subscribers to apply by sending
resume to allisr@broadwick.com.
If you are a qualified candidate and the position
remains open we will contact you to schedule either
an in-person interview or teleconference interview.
1.
Director of Marketing
Seeking Director of Marketing to join dynamic and
quickly growing software company in Chapel Hill.
Position will involve improving market positioning
of company’s IntelliContact Pro web-based email newsletter
software, managing online advertising campaigns,
and developing communications regarding both IntelliContact
Pro and IntelliContact Enterprise. Salary: $30,500,
Start: 2-4 weeks
Learn
More About Position
2. Perl/PHP/MySQL/Linux Developer
Seeking
second developer in firm to add specific features
to web-based email newsletter software IntelliContact
Pro. Position will involve working with Perl, PHP,
Postfix, and MySQL in a Linux environment. Looking
for someone who enjoys working hard in a dynamic
entrepreneurial atmosphere. You’ll be the seventh
employee in a rapidly growing firm, so there is significant
potential for growth and leadership. Initially, you’ll
work directly under Lead Developer and with marketing
and support teams. Work-time will be spent fixing
bugs within software, working on major components
of large feature implementations, completing custom
work for clients, and assisting support team with
technical questions. Experience working with web-based
software, experience in a multiple mail server environment,
and a graduate degree are pluses, but not required.
Salary: $42,500, Start: 2-5 weeks
Learn
More About Position
3. Salesperson
Seeking
motivated, persistent, professional salesperson(s)
to represent the IntelliContact Enterprise product.
Position will involve generating leads, making on-site
presentations, bringing in new clients, and supporting
existing clients. Regional areas available. Significant
travel necessary. Salary: Base + high recurring commission,
Start: October/November. For more information
on position contact David Roth at david@broadwick.com
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Welcome
to Issue Fourteen
|
July
saw rapid growth for both Broadwick and Virante.
Broadwick passed 500 customers and Virante continues
to add clients for its web marketing and search
engine optimization services. The highlight of
the month for me had to be my speech in Washington
D.C. on July 22 to 80 high school and middle school
students with the Lead America Business & Entrepreneurship
Conference (see picture below).
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|
Lead
America students in Washington D.C. pose
with me after a speech and book signing,
July 2004 (more
photos here)
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This
month promises to be very interesting with a 9-day
trip to Nigeria August 14-23, my 20th birthday
on the 14th, and the first day of school on August
24 (yes, I've decided to return to UNC-Chapel Hill
after being on leave for a year). I've been able
to arrange it so I'll be out of classes by 11am
each morning, so I'll still be able to be at the
office 11:30-8 each day.
This
issue begins with an excerpt from Zero to One
Million entitled Nine Leadership Lessons from
a 19 Year Old CEO. Our second section is an interview
of myself completed by the Baltimore
Sun earlier this month. In our third section,
we highlight posts from our Entrepreneurship
Discussion Forum. Finally, we've once again
listed our book recommendations for current and
aspiring entrepreneurs and business leaders.
If
you have any comments, suggestions, or would like
to contribute content to be published in the newsletter
or online, I encourage you to contact me at ryan@zeromillion.com.
Please do feel free to forward this newsletter
on to your colleagues and associates. On behalf
of the Zeromillion.com team I thank you for being
a subscriber.
Yours
entrepreneurially,
Ryan
P. M. Allis, founder
http://www.zeromillion.com
The Top Entrepreneurship Resource Online
Author: Zero to One Million: How to Build
a Company to $1 Million in Sales
|
Nine
Leadership Lessons from a 19 Year Old
CEO
|
Note: The
below article is an excerpt from Zero to One
Million: How to Build a Company to $1 Million in
Sales. Learn
more about the book here.
Nine
Leadership Lessons
Over
the past ten months as Broadwick and Virante have
grown, I’ve learned a lot about managing people.
A business is little without the people behind
it. As I mentioned in the section on building a
team, the two most important things I look for
when hiring are initiative and work ethic. I cannot
overestimate the importance of bringing on good
people to the eventual success of your business.
But once you have these good people, how do you
manage them?
I
would certainly submit that I have much left to
learn about leadership and management, but here
are a few tips I’ve learned that may be of some
use.
- Have
a Vision and Communicate It. Make
sure you clearly communicate your vision
for the company. No one follows a leader
who cannot communicate the way in which the
company will succeed. Each employee’s future
is tied closely to the success of your company.
Make sure they believe in your company, what
it stands for, and its products and services
and make sure they know that the hard work
they are putting in now will pay off.
- Show
Respect. Treat
people, both your customers, suppliers, partners,
and employees, with respect at all times.
- Share
Your Success. Make
sure your employees share in the success
of your company. As the company is able,
provide additional benefits such as healthcare
and dental coverage, a stock options plan,
and a 401(k) plan. As an employee’s skills
and abilities grow, reward them with fair
compensation. Finally, consider incentivise
your top employees and managers with ownership
in the company. Few things can make a person
work harder than a piece of the action.
- Don’t
Be Too Serious. Make the business
environment fun at times. While being professional
and taking things seriously is important,
nothing can beat the effects of company-wide
midnight round of bowling after it reaches
an important milestone, a lunchtime pizza
party once per month, or a spontaneous Nerf-dart
duel.
- Work
With Your Employees. Make
sure the employees see you there and working
with them. No one likes to work hard for
someone who doesn’t work hard themselves.
Especially early on, be the first to arrive
and the last to leave whenever possible.
- Have
Your Door Open. Whether
or not you have your own office yet, have
your ‘door’ open. Make sure your employees
and managers know that you are approachable
at any time about any problem they are having.
- Listen. You
have built a great team and are paying top
dollar for it. Hold meetings with you management
team least every other week, if not more often.
Also have informal ad hoc discussions with
your partners, managers, and employees often.
Get their feedback, discuss the business and
its strategy, and inquire every so often if
there is anything that you can help with that
is frustrating them. A few weeks ago I had
a quick spur-of-the-moment meeting with my
lead developer for Broadwick. After inquiring
if anything was frustrating him, it came out
that he felt he was working in an environment
in which he became distracted too often. We
quickly devised a solution in which he would
work at home four hours per day until we could
move into a larger office in which the development
team could work in a separate room away from
the distraction of the sales and support team.
This small change has doubled our developer’s
productivity.
- Build
Relationships. Without understanding
at least the basics of what is occurring
in an employee’s out-of-office life it can
be hard to connect with him or her on a professional
level. One tactic I’ve used successfully
to get to know each employee personally is
to take them and his or her significant other
to dinner the first evening of their employment.
It serves as a way to celebrate the occasion
as well as learn a little bit about the employee
that would not come out in interviews or
through reading a resume.
- Commend
More Than You Criticize. Too
many business owners (and I have been guilty
of this as well) will only say something
to an employee when he or she has done something
wrong or something that has negatively affected
the company. While constructive criticism
and appropriate guidance has its place, if
you seem to only condemn and never praise,
your employees will quickly either dislike
you or show apathy in their jobs. Continued
properly placed praises can be as powerful
to getting quality results out of an employee
as a large raise. Many people thrive on peer
and superior recognition just as much as
money. Instituting both an employee of the
month award as well as a quarterly performance
review can be extremely valuable to your
company.
As
a manager and business owner, you gain an immense
responsibility. You control the activity and purpose
that your employees dedicate half of their waking
hours to. Make it a meaningful purpose, communicate
your vision, respect and praise your employees, and
share your success. If you can succeed in building
a team of highly motivated and happy employees that
take initiative, have a bias toward action, respect
you, and truly care for the business, you will have
done much of the work in building a strong and quickly
growing organization.
Ryan
Allis, is the author of Zero to One Million:
How to Build a Company to $1 Million in Sales.
He is also CEO of Broadwick Corporation, a provider
of permission-based email marketing and list
management software IntelliContact
Pro and CEO of Virante,
Inc. a Chapel Hill, North Carolina based
web marketing consulting firm. Ryan, who is 19,
is on leave for a year from the University of
North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he is an
economics major and Blanchard Scholar. Additional
information on the author can be found at www.ryanallis.com.
This article may be republished
online as long as the byline remains.
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Baltimore
Sun Interview with Ryan Allis
|
Interview
with Ryan Allis
for the Baltimore Sun
Interviewer: Shruti Mathur
July 18, 2004
Q.
What do you feel made you the most successful
and thrive in such a cutthroat competitive business
world?
Continued
effort over multiple years, keeping an ear to the
marketplace, and listening to my customers. The
business world isn't really cutthroat as long as
you choose to go after markets that have growing
demand with a quality product. Choose the wrong
industry or go in with a poor product and you can
work your butt off for years for nothing but a
good lesson.
Q.
Which business savvy attribute or acquired skill
do you think came in most handy?
Three
things would tie for most important abilities.
Being able to find a partner that complimented
my skill-set, being able to build a quality team,
and knowing how to properly position a product
in the marketplace.
Q.
What would be the biggest 'real world from one
young person to another' advice you could give
to other fledging young entrepreneurs? Give us
the real deal.
So
you want the real deal? Well, simply put there
are four keys to becoming a successful and wealthy
young entrepreneur.
- Get
experience. If you are not sure what
you want to sell take a job with (or intern
at) an entrepreneurial company for a short
time. Working at an entrepreneurial company
is the absolutely best way to see what other
needs the marketplace has, build contacts,
and learn the ropes of building a successful
company. Having such an experience will significantly
increase the chances that you will succeed
in your own business. I worked in an entrepreneurial
company my senior year in high school that
went from zero to one million dollars in sales
over the course of fourteen months. Without
that experience I would have only half the
knowledge and abilities I have today.
- Have
a bias toward action. I
see so many aspiring entrepreneurs young and
old alike who have a business idea but never
get moving. They are afraid to get out there,
stop planning, and start doing. Imagine that
you are at your friend's house and you want
to drive to your house, which is four miles
away. You're paralyzed because you're waiting
until all the stop lights along the way are
green before you start on your journey. It's
obvious you're never going to reach your destination.
While you would run into a few red lights and
stop signs along they way you'll get there
a lot quickly than if you did not leave until
all the lights were green. This is easily applied
to the reality of an entrepreneurial firm.
When I started my current company Broadwick
two years ago I knew relatively little about
the market, did not have any funds, did not
know any of my current employees, and did not
have any contacts in the industry. While it
is important to do proper due diligence and
planning, don't do too much. Get started today
and as you proceed you'll gain new contacts
and knowledge that will snowball you up the
learning curve toward your eventual goal.
- Know
it won't happen overnight. You
must have a long-term viewpoint in everything
that you do. Write down your goals and go after
them. Just have a holistic understand that
building a company to one million dollars in
annual sales is going to take years of 80 hour
weeks. You'll have find a need in the marketplace,
create a top-quality product or service that
fills that need, position what you sell in
the marketplace (often an overlooked step),
and build a solid team. Even if you do all
this it will take 3-5 years. I meet so many
aspiring entrepreneurs that want to become
a millionaire but refuse to make the contacts,
gain the experience, and do the work needed
to make this possible.
- Know
the principles of building wealth. While
money is not the main motivation for many entrepreneurs,
it certainly is a motivation for most. If you
personally would like to make a significant
amount of money you have to understand three
things. First, don't go into debt to buy personal
pleasures (boats, nice cars, vacations). Second,
if at all possible, before you get married
and have children make sure your monthly passive
income (income you'll earn whether you work
or not) is greater than your monthly expenses.
Finally, build businesses and then use the
excess cash flow from your businesses and the
capital gains from a liquidity event to invest
in early stage private companies, ventures
in emerging markets, and other cash producing
assets such as real estate.
Q.
Please give an example of what your daily routine
must be like.
8am
- Wake up
9am - Arrive at office
1am - Leave Office
2am - Go to Sleep
My
day is usually spent managing my employees for
Broadwick and Virante and making sure they have
everything they need to do their jobs properly,
in planning meetings, speaking with potential clients,
overseeing work completed for clients, working
to better position our products and services in
the marketplace, reviewing financial reports, answering
emails, and interviewing potential hires. I'll
get the majority of the proactive work I do each
day done between 6pm and midnight. 9am to 6pm is
spent as a manager.
Q.
Do you get to do the fun college things or do
you sometimes feel like you are 40 because of
all the real world corporate stress?
I
do sometimes feel like I am forty and not nineteen,
but I wouldn't say I'm missing out on a thing and
would not say I'm stressed. I love what I do and
was much more stressed in the college world than
the business world. I certainly have done the 'fun
college things' and still do occasionally. I'm
having much more fun living the dynamic life of
a CEO of a rapidly growing company. I feel that
rather than limiting what I can do, being a business
owner and the personal financial freedom that has
come along with it has increased the fun I can
have. Plus, I have a wonderful girlfriend who keeps
me sane and young.
Q.
How have you handled the stresses of term papers
and corporate business at the same time--with
a 3.7 GPA!
Well,
my first year in college this was rather difficult.
I simply had to make choices with respect to priorities.
You can't be running a business, be a full-time
student, get good grades, have an active social
life, sleep, and eat. I focused on the grades and
the business, though it was a delicate balance.
For some successful young entrepreneurs grades
are less important and they can focus on the business.
One of my goals, however, is to get a Masters in
Development Economics at Oxford or Columbia, and
thus I need to have very good grades. As such,
I made a decision in May 2003 to take a year off
of school while I built Broadwick and Virante.
Now that the companies are established enough to
have a good team behind them and we have proper
procedures and systems in place I will be returning
to school this August for my junior year (I had
enough credits to 'skip' my sophomore year). I'll
be taking a 12 credit hour load this semester.
All my classes will be 8am to 11am so I'll still
be able to be at the office most of the time and
work 50-60 hours each week.
|
Entrepreneurship
Discussion Forum July Highlights
|
|
Members
Added in July: 21
|
Total
Members: 395
|
Total
Posts: 527
|
Each
month in the Entrepreneurs' Chronicle we will be
featuring discussions from our Entrepreneurship
Discussion forum at http://www.zeromillion.com/talk/.
So far we have 395 registered members in the forum.
Topics from July included:
Business
and Entrepreneurship
- Business
Name
- Registering
a DBA Name
- Employee
Recognition
- Looking
for Business Partner
- New
Music Business Venture
Young
Entrepreneurs' Forum
- Online
education
- What
Do Young Entrepreneurs Want?
- Hello
Everyone!
- New
Member
Marketing,
Web Marketing & Ebusiness
- Online
Traffic
- Does
a .com Name Mean Better Search Rankings?
- Starting
an Online Business With a Small Budget
- Web
Design & Hosting
- Alternatives
to Adwords
Personal
Development and Coaching
- Good
Entrepreneurial Karma & The Friends You Need
We
encourage you to join the discussion today at http://www.zeromillion.com/talk/.
|
Content
for Your Web Site
|
If
you have a web site that has to do with business,
entrepreneurship, marketing, web marketing, ebusiness,
personal development, or economics and would like
high quality free content for your web site, you
may syndicate the following articles from our web
site. These articles are stored in zip format and
can be downloaded by clicking on the appropriate
link. We simply ask that you keep the author byline
at the bottom of each article per the instructions
included with each zip file. If you choose to use
any of the articles we ask that you notify us at
info@zeromillion.com.
48
Articles - Authorized Excerpts from Zero
to One Million
45
Articles - Articles by Ryan Allis, June 2002 -
July 2003
|
Recommended
Books for Entrepreneurs
|
The
following books are recommended for reading by
aspiring and current entrepreneurs and business
leaders. The books in bold are
must reads. Please email any recommendations for
additions to this list to ryan@zeromillion.com.
Globalization & Economics
- The
Lexus and the Olive Tree by Thomas L.
Friedman
- The
Commanding Heights by Daniel Yergin
and Joseph Stanislaw
- Political
Ideologies and the Democratic Ideal by
Ball and Dagger
- The
Worldly Philosophers by Robert L Heilbroner
- Reinventing
the Bazaar: A Natural History of Markets by
John McMillan
- The
Mystery of Capital by
Hernando de Soto
- The
Other Path by
Hernando de Soto
- Economics by
Stanley and Brue
- Macroeconomics by
N. Gregory Mankiw
- Africa
in Chaos by George B. N. Ayittey
- Capitalism,
Socialism, and Democracy by Joseph A.
Schumpeter
- International
Business by Charles W. H. Hill
- Against
the Dead Hand by
Brink Lindsey
Entrepreneurship
- Zero
to One Million by Ryan P. M. Allis
- Rich
Dad Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki
- Rich
Dad’s Guide to Investing by
Robert Kiyosaki
- Start
It Sell It And Make a Mint by
Joe John Duran
- New
Venture Creation by Jeffrey Timmons
- The
Young Entrepreneurs’ Edge by Jennifer
Kushnell
- The
Young Entrepreneur’s Guide to Starting and
Running a Business by Steve Mariotti
- The
Portable MBA in Entrepreneurship by
William D. Bygrave
- Innovation
and Entrepreneurship by
Peter Drucker
- At
Work with Thomas Edison by Blain McCormick
- Multiple
Streams of Income by Robert G. Allen
- On
Entrepreneurship by
Harvard Business Review
- Entrepreneurship.com by
Tim Burns
Marketing
- The
Anatomy of Buzz by
Emanuel Rosen
- The
Tipping Point by
Malcolm Gladwell
- Obtaining
a #1 Ranking in the Search Engines by
Ryan Allis
- Building
Thousands of Links to Your Site by
Ryan Allis
- Net
Results 2 by Rick E. Bruner
- Protégé Training
Program by Jay Abraham
- Permission
Marketing by
Seth Godin
- Guerilla
Marketing by
Jay Conrad Levinson
- Principles
of Marketing by Kotler and Armstrong
Personal
Development
- Think
and Grow Rich by
Napoleon Hill
- The
Seven Habits of Highly Effective People by
Steven R. Covey
- Succeed
and Grow Rich Through Persuasion by
Napoleon Hill
- How
to Win Friends and Influence People by
Dale Carnegie
- The
Law of Success in Sixteen Lessons by Napoleon
Hill
- The
Student Success Manifesto by
Michael Simmons
- Secrets
of the Young & Successful Jennifer
Kushnell
- Unlimited
Power by Anthony Robbins
- The
Millionaire Mind by
Thomas J. Stanley, Ph.D
|
Highlighted
Organization of the Month
|
|
|
The
Youth Development & Entrepreneurship
Foundation (YDEF) is an organization based
in Lagos, Nigeria. Their mission is to
empower the youths in the fields of Information
and Communications Technology (ICT) and
build young entrepreneurs. YDEF will be
holding its first annual Nigerian Youths
ICT Entrepreneurship Conference August
18-20 in Lagos. To learn more about the
organization or register for the conference
visit www.ydef.org.
|
Want
your organization featured? Email us with details at info@zeromillion.com.
This
concludes this issue of The Entrepreneurs’ Chronicle.
We'll see you September 1, 2004. 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@zeromillion.com.
We encourage you to participate in our discussion
forum at http://www.zeromillion.com/talk/.
This
newsletter is published by www.zeromillion.com with
support from the Entrepreneurs’ Coalition and
the Center for
Entrepreneurial Studies at the University of
North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The newsletter is
sent using the IntelliContact
Pro web-based email marketing and list management
software.
Comments/Suggestions: info@zeromillion.com
Contribute Content: content@zeromillion.com
Contact Publisher: ryan@zeromillion.com
Inquire About Services: myoung@virante.com
Archives
online at: http://www.zeromillion.com/echronicle/
|
Books & Products
By Ryan P. M. Allis
|
 |
Zero
to One Million
Guide
for aspiring entrepreneurs on how to build
a company to one million dollars in sales.
Price: $11.17 | More
Info
|
 |
Obtaining
a #1 Ranking in the Search Engines
The
book the professionals use to consistently
obtain top search engine rankings.
Price: $37.00 | More
Info
|
|
|
IntelliContact
Pro by Broadwick Corporation is web based software
that enables you to send out permission-based
email newsletters to your prospects, customers,
and subscribers and track campaign metrics
such as opens and clickthroughs. Manage and
contact all of your prospects, customers, affiliates,
employees, and suppliers. With plans starting
at $9.95/month and a free fully functional
fifteen day demo, IntelliContact Pro is a top
choice for list management software. We encourage
you to sign
up for a free 15 day trial or learn
how IntelliContact can benefit your organization.
If you have any questions about the software
feel free to contact Director of Customer Service
Brad Gurley at (919) 968-3996 or via support@broadwick.com.
|
 |
Virante
provides web site design, web marketing
consulting, and search engine optimization
services. Learn more and request a quote
at www.virante.com.
|
All
Contents Copyright © 2004 by Zeromillion.com,
the top entrepreneurship resource online
"A
non-doer is very often a critic-that is, someone
who sits back and watches doers, and then waxes
philosophically about how the doers are doing.
It's easy to be a critic, but being a doer requires
effort, risk, and change." Dr. Wayne W. Dyer
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