Urgency Flow

Chad Hurley, founder of Youtube, became multi-miljonair when Youtube was sold. But what is he doing now? Check out the interview with one of the biggest entrepreneurs ever:

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About 15 years ago, an entrepreneur came to me proudly displaying the franchise legal documents that he had prepared, and asked me to critique them. While I’m not an attorney, I said I would be happy to weigh in on the business issues that these documents contained. Half an hour later, I told him that the documents had a number of major flaws, and that they would need a complete overhaul if his franchise program was to succeed.

“That shows how much you know,” was his indignant reply. “We copied these documents almost word for word from the legal documents of the industry leader–and they are doing just fine without your advice. I guess we didn’t need a consultant after all.” I didn’t end up working with that company. Almost three years later, the industry leader he had copied from declared bankruptcy, and in another 18 months, my one-time prospect followed suit.

For all the change that has occurred in the world in the last 15 years, when it comes to human nature, things are very much the same. Not a month goes by that I don’t meet a prospective franchisor who believes that using outside help is a waste of money. Read more

This article was originally published on entrepreneur.com

Triathlon participation is at an all-time high, according to USA Triathlon. A recent study the organization commissioned noted that a large number of triathletes are business professionals who have a passion (or, in my case, an addiction) to the multi-sport life, with hundreds of CEOs and business leaders actively participating in triathlons each year.

A former competitive swimmer and avid runner, I started participating in multi-sport endurance events in late 2008 as way to cope with the loss of my father to heart disease. Prior to this, I had long and religiously adhered to a fitness regimen that I found to be highly beneficial to both my physical and mental state, but I didn’t expect that my newfound pursuit of performance-based fitness would also help me perform better as a business owner, industry leader and entrepreneur. Read more

This article was originally published on entrepreneur.com

Most entrepreneurs and small businesses depend on search engine traffic, but are they leveraging search engines as well as they can? Entrepreneurs are beginning to use social media as a lens to find new products and services or innovate and add features to existing products. Social media can be an entrepreneur’s resource for ideas by listening in on amazing personal discussions from the target market the entrepreneur wants to reach and then go develop products for.

For instance, potential customers of high-quality shoes might tweet, or post to Facebook or Friendfeed about the features and benefits they want in shoes, or they might tweet about shoes with an ultra-thin insole that is also increasingly shock resistant to make them even more comfortable. As an entrepreneur looking around for a new product to create, you can use that information to research a “super-thin cushioned insole,” find out if anyone is working on such an insole and then attempt to partner with whomever is developing or creating that super-thin cushioned insole. Read more

This article was originally published on entrepreneur.com

Entrepreneurs typically have a passion for the business they’ve created. With the economy down, many business owners are facing tough decisions about how to keep their business afloat until sales improve. What would you be willing to do? For instance, would you liquidate personal assets to keep your business alive?

A recent study shows more small-business owners are contemplating doing just that — dipping into their own funds to keep their business going. The Discover Small Business Watch survey of 750 small-business owners found nearly two-thirds–61 percent–of owners thought it likely they would tap into personal assets to stay afloat within the next year.

Forty percent said it was “very likely” they would use their own cash, while another 21 percent said it was “somewhat likely.” These owners mostly don’t plan to hit up friends and family, either–67 percent said it was “not very likely,” or “not at all likely,” that they’d get more operating cash that way. Read more

This article was originally published on blog.entrepreneur.com and written by Carol Tice

Kids these days. It seems like they’re writing HTML before they learn how to talk. And a lot of them are starting companies before they graduate from high school.

Here’s a list of some of our favorite teen entrepreneurs. And please keep in mind that there are…read more

This articel was originally writen by Daniel Brusilovsky and published October 10th, 2009, on www.techcrunch.com