The Brian Tracy 30 Day Goals Challenge
Posted on | May 4, 2012 | No Comments
Well it is time to sweep the dust of this blog again and with good cause this time. I have decided to take the 30 Day Goals Challenge from Brain Tracy. My goal? To develop a routine sleep pattern that will allow me to build around.
That may not seem like a big deal to some people so I will explain a little about why I chose this goal. All my life I have had erratic sleep patterns. For as long as I can remember it was not uncommon for me to stay awake for 20-30 hrs several times over a months period. Now when I say “as long as I can remember”, this means very early childhood. I have memories of myself in diapers, it is that good, so when I say this has been an ongoing problem then I am close to being literal about this happening all my life.
“So what’s the big deal then?”, you might ask. It is simple. As a kid I was able to muddle through life with this crazy sleep cycle; hard though it might have been, I got by. As an adult however, this is an even harder trick to pull off. I believe this lack of consistency has led to a number of areas in my life that others seem to grasp very easily and that I still struggle with. In being able to create a routine, I can practice more consistency in these others areas.
For instance, writing in this blog. It started otu great but as you can tell from the previous post dates, there was no consistency. So just the act of taking part in this 30 Day Goal Challenge, which requires me to catalog my progress, I will also be fleshing out this blog a bit more.
In the spirit of this blog I will attempt to convey what I am learning along the way and how you too may find encouragement and tips on how to overcome your own hurdles, be they in life, school, or business.
P.S. I am also going to be publishing many of these posts without much editorial process so please forgive any grammatical errors.
Making it happen with DreamPathFinder
Posted on | April 6, 2011 | No Comments
Just got out of a great meeting with Justyn Barakat regarding how Idea Sponge and DreamPathFinder can help each other achieve our goals.
DreamPathFinder is an awesome tool that helps people remain focused on their vision and achieving their dreams. The more I get to know about this solution the more excited I get. Since you are reading this blog then chances are pretty high you are someone with great aspirations. I salute you Sir or Ma’am for being a visionary, a leader, and a forger of destinies. Once I get to know the service a bit better I will write more on DreamPathFinder and how it will help you make that vision a realty.
Wow what a year
Posted on | April 6, 2011 | 1 Comment
I recently graduated from the Kauffmen Foundations FastTrac program that was organized by our local GoodWill MicroEnterprise program. Great class consisting of 1 class per week for 10 weeks.
Vision has never been a problem for me in seeing what I want to do and how to get there but you know what they say, the “devil is in the details”, and boy is that true. This course help bolster my own confidence in the vision by forcing me to break down the vision, the plan of action, and the financial requirements as well as the profit projections. I highly recommend this program to all aspiring entrepreneurs.
For more info head to http://fasttrac.org/
Same Theme, Different Approach
Posted on | June 5, 2010 | No Comments
First I want to open this post up with thanks to all of those that have subscribe to this blog over the past year. When I first created this blog my intentions were to create a series of posts regarding the different Hurdles I encountered while creating Idea Sponge, Inc..
Here is a brief outline of the Hurdles I have identified so far:
- Planning the Business – Basics in getting an idea out of your head, and into an actionable plan
- Building the Team – How to build your Dream Team.
- Creating your Point of Sale – Your Point of Sales is important, very important. This entry will be about how to do this effectively.
- Reaching your Target consumer – Identifying and acquiring the perfect client or consumer will be the focus of this entry.
- Keeping it Fresh* – And once your business is going like clockwork, tips to making sure the clock keeps on ticking is our last item on the list.
My philosophy on this was to only post a “How to” once I was able to prove my mastery over that Hurdle. This is not a bad thing but after seeing the amount of activity the first hurdle has generated I have decided to take a different approach. I will still publish the Hurdle how-to’s as I master each area, but now I will start posting more frequently on the micro lessons and musing of a growing entrepreneur.
I look forward to sharing and I encourage everyone else to do so as well. If you have any questions or comments feel free to leave one or email them to me.
*You will notice how I ended it with Keeping it Fresh. When I think about Idea Sponge I envision it as a corporation that will stand the test of time and be around long after I am gone. It will exist in some fashion until the end of humanity. I am sure it’s direction may change slightly over the decades and that is why we end with Keeping it Fresh.
Hurdle #1: Planning the Business
Posted on | August 10, 2009 | 1 Comment
In our first article we will discuss planning, it’s importance and a few steps on how to accomplish it effectively.
People decide to get into business for themselves for a multitude of reasons. One of those is the freedom to do as they feel it should be done. A second would be to increase their earnings. While both of these are powerful driving forces, they alone will not provide the long lasting success needed. This is where prudent planning becomes crucial.
In having done work for business process management I have not only faced this demon myself, but I have also tackled it with many other business owners. The drive to succeed often overshadows the mundane task of planning your business. This stage, which can be tedious at times, is perhaps the most crucial stage in the development of your business.
One of the many frustrations faced during this stage is that it seems that a whole lot of time and effort is being spent on something that’s not generating immediate results, such as pushing out an ad campaign to develop new leads or working a lead to get a new sale. What many business owners, especially aspiring entrepreneurs don’t realize is that by spending the days/weeks/months needed to properly plot your course, they save years of wasted efforts and cash by not making as many mistakes and knowing where most of the dead ends are before they even begin the journey. This is absolutely vital.
Here is an example: In the recent past I worked for a start-up that was a brilliant idea. The basic concept was sound and the potential for growth was obvious to anyone that looked into it. This created a lot of energy in the first stages of development but there was a problem. The owner of the business did not have a road map. He was a “shoot-from-the-hip” type of business owner. He saw immediate results in playing things by ear but what happened over time was that his idea started to change. The direction the company headed in was constantly shifting from week to week. Two years later this business is still alive today but barely and it is not even close to being what it was supposed to be. In speaking with many of the individuals that jumped on board in the beginning I am finding that they are now dropping out due to frustrations of a constantly changing business model.
So now that we have illustrated the need to plan, let’s talk about how to do this effectively.
To help with this part of the article I will use an example idea. Let’s say that I have an idea for creating a new line of t-shirts that illustrate witty phrases.
Step 1: Sit down and with a piece of paper or on a computer using Word or even Notepad, describe your idea in great detail. This lets you see your idea as a whole and allows you to recognize your strengths and weaknesses. It also makes it easier for you to share your idea with trusted individuals to let them help you with refining the idea. Be careful with the sharing part though. Only share with people that you know to be positive, forward-thinking individuals. Sharing your idea with pessimistic people can oftentimes lead you to doubting your idea because they will only point out the flaws.
(This would also be a good time to do a S.W.O.T analysis, see references at the end of this post)
Example: My idea is to create a new line of clothing that uses t-shirts as my main medium. I have a growing collection of witty phrases that many people like. I also would like to have illustrations that support the phrases by adding another depth of humor. A friend of mine owns a clothing store and has offered to sell the shirts for a cut of the profits. I also want to open an online store that will sell the shirts or allow people to purchase iron-ons that they can put on the article of clothing of their choosing.
Step 2: Do your research. This is very important. Find out how big your potential market is. Look at your competitors and try to find what makes them successful. If you don’t have any direct, or even indirect, competitors, chances are the market is too small to be worth getting into. This does not have to be the end though if you do find that it is too small. Depending on your idea, you may create a whole new market. If this is the case research and planning will be very important. One good way to test to see if there is a potential new market is to talk to your friends, co-workers, and trusted relatives. Again be careful if you do this, (see warning in step 1).
Step 3: Start to define the processes involved. Depending on what your idea is your processes will start a little differently. One thing to keep in mind is that these processes will evolve over time as your business grows. You will identify other strengths and weakness once in operation and it is important to come back to this step to refine your processes. (A tool I use to help with this step is Lombardi Blueprint, an excellent and very user-friendly tool. See my tools page or references at the bottom for more info.)
Example:
- Create a list of all the witty phrases I have so far.
- Use my design software to create the designs for the shirts.
- Purchase shirts to be used.
- Print the design.
- Load transfer paper into printer.
- Print design
- Cutout design
- Apply design to shirt
- Allow transfer to cool and settle on shirt before folding and packaging
- Package product and take to retail outlet.
- Put items up for sale
- If we have an online store:
- (Define sub-processes for loading product, handling sales, shipping product, etc)
- Advertise Product
- Put ad in store front window.
- Create an Online Ad campaign to drive customers to the online store.
- Tell all my friends
- Collect paycheck
Note: This is not a complete listing of all steps that would be required to making this a viable product. Spending the time to go into greater detail, especially for things like an online store front, can be very helpful when creating the design and layout for the store, especially if you are hiring others to create it for you. You would also want to define separate processes or sub-processes that detail how product is loaded, sold, and shipped when using the online store.
Step 4: Write a business plan. Now that you have a detailed description of your idea and the processes involved, write this out in an easy to follow outline that talks about the creation processes as well as any costs involved. Also be sure to include a profit projections based on your research you did in step 2. If you have any future plans worked out like global expansion, get into that here as well even if it is not something you will implement right away.
Step 5: Now that you have your beginning processes worked out it is time to apply them. Start by solidifying any B2B contacts required to bring your product or service to fruition. At this stage you will also want to acquire any equipment necessary. If funding is required to get the idea off the ground this is the phase to seek it.
In closing let me emphasize something. These steps while vital can also be distracting. There comes a time when you must stop planning and start producing. You will also want to continually revise your roadmap as you learn more and more about the business. Be mindful not to compromise your main idea especially in the early stages of development. This could cause you to “spin your wheels” and though you will feel like much effort is being exerted, you will not get far.
So with that I wish you the best. If you would like to share your experiences or have any thoughts on this subject, feel free to email me or leave a comment.
References:
- S.W.O.T (wikipedia entry)
- Lombardi Blueprint
- QBos - Another very powerful tool for BPM if you need it to drive your whole business.
- FedStats - An excellent source of statistics collected by the U.S. Government regarding different industries.
- One Page Business Plan – an awesome website to help you write a business plan. (thanks Rocky)
Tags: business > Entrepreneur > hurdles > ideas > planning > process management > start-up
New Attitude, New Blog
Posted on | August 2, 2009 | 1 Comment
The first post of many. This blog will cover many of the hurdles and pitfalls I have had to overcome as a new business owner.
First things first I suppose, so I will tell you a little about myself. In case you missed the title, the name is Glenn Barres. You can tack a Jr on that as well. I am a geek. Seriously, I am, and I love it. I got into software development back when I was 19. It was a field I had wanted to get into for a long time. In fact When I first started college my dream was to build the next best Operating System. LOL. I wonder how many people have ever dreamt the same thing. I bet I am not alone.
Well as fortune would have it, I did not stay in college very long. I had always been a “figure it out for myself” kind of guy, though I will admit, that was not always the best mentality to have. It did however teach me to keep trying no matter how hard something was to figure out. And that my readers, is why this blog exists today.
You see, Idea Sponge is not my first attempt at gaining financial freedom. My first foray into the great world of entrepreneurism was a company that was never really registered. It was called Ultra Media Studio Inc. It was basically just me as a freelancer building websites for friends and fellow business owners. To be honest the most success I shared in that run was a popular Shout-cast station I ran while hanging out in AOL chatrooms. lol.
My second was a company I partnered up with a friend of mine on named Eternity Hosting. That was a hosting company that unfortunately did not last long due to many reason I won’t get into here. Maybe one day when I write a book. Things spiraled out of control after that and I actually ended up homeless for a while. That was not fun and I don’t recommend it to anyone.
Eventually a good friend of mine teamed up with me and we formed my 3rd attempt. It was named Mediawake. At this time in my life I had started to figure out that the bull-headed, “my way is the best way”, approach wasn’t cutting it. So I started looking for mentors. My friend, Richard Angus, often would quote to me, “If you want to be successful, pattern yourself after successful people”. So that is what I did. I started downloading every self-help MP3 I could find. There was a lot of garbage out there but eventually I found the gems. People like Brian Tracy, Thomas J. Stanley, Tony Robbins, Micheal Gerber, and Steven R. Covey, really stood out to me.
While my attitude was now right and I was headed down a road with my chin held high, I didn’t know where my road led. You see, I had not given much thought into planning my business. I knew were I wanted to be, but I didn’t know the first thing about getting there. So Mediawake lasted for about a year and half and did not accomplish much. However it was not a total loss. I learned more in this period about running a business than I had in any of my previous ventures. Also, as a huge bonus I met a wonderful woman named Sarah who later become my beautiful wife. Her strength of heart is a great inspiration to me and is constantly urging me to be more than I was the day before. In truth I think she is a fallen angel but who knows. 
So after a couple more years of working for others, I have once again latched onto my dream of owning a world class software development company, and it’s name is Idea Sponge. This time around though that dream will be realized for sure as I have the right attitude, a solid plan, and a faithful companion by my side.
In this blog many of the posts will be about what I have learned in the past, and am still learning today. From time to time there will be tips or tricks I will share, or even just cool opportunities to help your own business out.