Entrepreneurial Goldmine

Unlike the previous six business opportunities, #4 provides significant lead-time before the opportunity can be successfully realized.  Here’s the short story:  International trading, also known as import-export businesses, was amongst the hottest commercial trends of this decade.  American companies, 95% of which are small businesses, trade in over 2.5 trillion dollars a year in merchandise.  To further compliment the international trade trend, the expansion of the Panama Canal  will double the cargo capacity of the Panama Canal, allowing for more Asian cargo to move through the Gulf of Mexico, thus bypassing the traditional California-to-Railroad route.  This increased cargo through the Gulf has port cities from Galveston to Tampa preparing to snag a piece of the action.   How does this activity translate into an opportunity for you? (continue reading…)

Go into business for yourself, but not by yourself!  That’s the basic MO of the Franchise Industry.  According to the International Franchise Association,  (IFA) there are almost 1 million franchised small businesses in the country and they’ve generated more jobs between 2001 and 2005 than several of the nations major economic sectors.  This option is a great entry level route to fulfill your entrepreneurship dreams. For the right personality type, franchising represents an awesome opportunity to earn an income and increase your net worth, but it won’t come easy. 

What do you need to know before buying a franchise?  You need a SHERPA.  Someone to guide you through the maze and help you navigate the tough terrain of ‘the devil in the details’.   IFA provides a guide  that outlines the following research requirements to buying a franchise: (continue reading…)

While on the west coast last week visiting a number of clients, partners and prospective partners I heard an interesting entrepreneurial claim.  An employee of a well known national business magazine suggested that most of the entrepreneurs in the United States live on the east and west coast (including chicago).   The statement alone was harmless, it was the premise that caused me to pause.  His thinking was that most of the entrepreneurs are on the coast because the best minds in the country are near the water (or the coast).  Oh, and by the way, the after thought was to include Texas and the Gulf South since we were from Houston. 

On the one hand I thought his perspective was completely absurd, while on the other hand I found myself  increasingly fascinated by the premise and thought that just as Gladwell  compares and contrasts cimcumstance and luck in Outliers , how has circumstance and luck played a role in the lives of entrepreneurs on the east and west coast compared with entrepreneurs in the mid-west , great-plains  and other parts of the internal US.

While I agree that the amount of new startups that originate in Silicon Valley  and Boston outnumber those in Boise and St. Louis, isn’t that a factor of the population?  Although the total population of entrepreneurs in the former  probably exceeds those in the latter, isn’t it just a basic math equation of percentages?  Just because most of the money that funds new ideas originates from the finance industries created or companies in New York and California, isn’t it a function of the financiers staying close to their investments.  I could go on and on, but does all this really mean that the best minds are near the water?

What do you think?