Entrepreneurship Briefs

Entrepreneurship Terms of the Week

Downline: In a Multi-Level Marketing business, the collection of all people signed up underneath an individual on which the individual receives payment on their sales.

Whether you run a small business or a large corporation, the key to sustained growth is investing in the right areas.

You don’t have to spend lots of money. Here’s a look at three important categories:

• Research and development. Perform regular customer surveys. What are people buying? What do they want that you’re not offering? What are they buying from your competitors? Look for ways to offer more while staying close to your core competency.

• Marketing. You can’t afford not to let your customers know you’re out there. Stay focused on what works, and keep a lookout for new opportunities, like trade shows or Internet advertising. Maybe you can use your customer research to write an article for a trade journal and expose your company to a new audience. And don’t be afraid of social media; used well, they can reap big benefits.

• People. Take care of your current workforce so they won’t be tempted to go elsewhere. Always be looking for new talent to recruit. In the meantime, upgrade your own skills. Take a seminar on communication, leadership, or motivation so you can do a better job of managing the people you have.

Always do what you say you are going to do. It is the glue and fiber that binds successful relationships.” —Jeffrey A. Timmons, in The Entrepreneurial Mind

Advertising:The activity of attracting public attention to a product or business, as by paid announcements in the print, broadcast, or electronic media. Not to be confused with marketing or public relations.

Marketing:The process of researching, promoting, selling and distributing a product or service. Marketing covers a broad range of practices, including advertising, publicity, promotion, pricing, and overall packaging of the goods or services.

“All my life I was waiting for my life to begin, as if my life were somehow way up ahead of me, and one day I would just arrive there,” once said actor Camryn Manheim. “But a few years ago I finally realized something. I was standing smack dab in the middle of it. In fact, I was standing on the corner of ‘Life’ and ‘You better get going, Camryn,’ and the way I saw it, I had two choices: I could either cross that street or just keep waiting for a few more years of green lights to go by.”

Blow Open Your Curiosity: Focus on what you love, but don’t limit yourself to only things that you love. Subscribe to new magazines, download podcasts on a topic that has nothing to do with your current life…. If you’ve been banging your head against an obstacle, this kind of cross-pollination can get you over it.IDEO’s Tom Kelley

Business Incubator rovides workspace, coaching, and support services to entrepreneurs and early-stage businesses.

Thomas Edison lived to be 84, and during his lifetime he patented 1,093 inventions. Yet while the popular image of Edison as the lone genius still exists, the truth is quite different.

Like so many big-idea people, Edison knew that having other brilliant minds around would keep him razor sharp and help him bring his ideas to life. His laboratory was an “invention factory” where a team of artists, experts, and scientists collaborated day and night to change Edison’s futuristic visions into real-world technology. Here are some of the unsung heroes behind Edison’s patents:

• Charles Batchelor, the chief mechanical assistant from England
• Ludwig Boehm, a glassblower from Germany
• John Kruesi, a Swiss clockmaker
• Francis Upton, a mathematician
• Plus a whole host of carpenters, machinists, and general laboratory helpers

Watch for big problems. They disguise big opportunities.

Angel Investors:

Individuals who back emerging entrepreneurial ventures, usually as a bridge to get from the self-funded stage to the level of business that would both need and attract venture capital. Funding level ranges anywhere from $50,000 to $2 million.