Entrepreneurial Goldmine

The #1 Business Opportunity for you in 2010 is the business of YOU.  As we enter this new decade, the only way YOU will be able to achieve a sustainable level of success is to embrace the convergence of technology, social media and your domain expertise.  So whether you want to pursue opportunity #3 or opportunity #8, you must understand how to operate your business in the new world.  How do the external factors that are influencing global business change impact how YOU will drive success in the 21st century differently than previous generations achieved success three decades earlier? 

As my friend and colleague, George Benckenstein points out in his post, Welcome to Our Flat World, we now live in a world without barriers.  George says “So why do we call it a “Flat World?”  The world is being referred as a flat world, thanks to Tom Friedman’s  book The World Is Flat. The world is now so well connected with the ubiquity of technology in all areas which gives you, me, all of us, the power to collaborate, coordinate, produce and distribute seamlessly across borders, and cultural and language divides. In a flat world, everything of value is now connected — no more barriers.”  You see my friends, if you want your business to be successful, YOU must learn how to compete in this new world.  With opportunity #1, I try to focus on the critical elements that will help you prepare for success, no matter what opportunity YOU choose to grab!  (continue reading…)

Thanks to the stimulas plan which poured billions into the energy space, the green movement is a place to be for entrepreneurs.  With many government incentives and positive public sentiment, socially responsible entrepreneurs are in demand.   Opportunity #3 can easily take on many different meanings, so let’s define what we mean by Green.  Unlike alternative energy that can be defined and put into a box, “going green” or for the green social entrepreneurs, any business built based on increased social responsibility related to caring for the environment, can be considered Green.  The assessment of this opportunity provides a quick perspective about the differences between alternative energy opportunities and green opportunities while outlining how entrepreneurs can enter the ever growing space.

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Disruptive technologies have been driving innovation for hundreds of years, but there has never been a better opportunity to bring efficiency to an inefficient process, function or industry.  The Flat World (best described by my colleague George Benckenstein) continues to provide unparalleled opportunities to enable boot-strapped innovation with the best capital…paying customers!  Just as the railroad companies didn’t realize they were in the transportation business and missed the industry evolution of the airlines, the money transfer companies (Western Union) and the credit card processing industry missed the consumer-to-consumer opportunity that enabled the likes of PayPal.    (continue reading…)