Category: Entrepreneur

Penny Chenery, The Entrepreneur Behind Secretariat

Some Thought That Secretariat Was A Film Just about Race Horses

I finally got a chance to view the film Secretariat. In general I believe it really is tough to create a good movie when everybody knows how its likely to end when they walk into the theater. Therefore my hat’s off to the folks that made this movie it was a great one. I expected a fun movie about horse racing and the incredible will to win from the horse.

But what actually got my attention was the entrepreneurial spirit belonging to the owner. Penny Chenery, is an amazing entrepreneur who was willing to do whatever it took to hold on to Secretariat and ensure that she was in a position to be an integral part of her horses legacy. For me the scene in the film that explained it all occurred right after her father had passed away.

The family was going to lose the ranch because of inheritance taxes and needed to get $6M to cover it. Her whole family wanted her to sell Secretariat, except she refused. This scene showed the difference between a pragmatic business person and an entrepreneur. As pragmatic individuals, all they had to do was sell the horse, they could have kept the ranch and had money left over to keep it going.

But Penny was all in, she believed she had a winner and was prepared to risk everything because her belief was so strong. She might have lost it all if she was wrong. We all know how it turned out. But this is a superb illustration of what it truly requires to become an entrepreneur. So for anybody who is pondering whether or not you’ve got what it takes. Place yourself in Ms. Chenrey’s shoes and ask yourself, could you have risked losing the whole thing to gamble on your dream.

Entrepreneur’s Have To Be Sure

If you are not certain which way you’d go on this one, perhaps you are not able to be an entrepreneur. There is nothing wrong with that, but better to recognise ahead of time and not take risks which you could’t follow through on.

By the way, there is one added part to the story, that also showed what sort of an entrepreneur Penny Chenery actually is. Once she decided to go ahead with her plan to raise the cash to race Secretariat, it did not go well. She failed practically every time to get investors on board. Except she kept going and going until she finally was able to crack the code and once she did, she raised over $6M and was able to race the horse. Ask yourself, what number of telephone calls would you be ready to make once you got rejected again and again, till you gave up.

Entrepreneur’s Focus On Winning The Race

It did not get any better for that Secretariat race team, when he lost a necessary race just prior to the Kentucky Derby. Thus, another chance to throw up their hands in defeat. But again, because of their unwavering will to succeed, they pushed forward and, well, you already know the rest.

The bottom line here is that difficulty and problems are a part of what it takes in order to be a successful entrepreneur. You also have to dust yourself off and get back on the horse (sorry for the bad pun), no matter what. If you can’t take the Penny challenge, then you should run, not walk away, because you are not meant to become an entrepreneur.

SEO for Local Businesses

Owning a business is a constant process. As an entrepreneur, you want to constantly sell to your customers and as time goes, this becomes more difficult. If you really want to stay in the industry for a long time, you must be able to adjust well with the circumstances. Buyers nowadays are continually seeking for something new, that the trick here is how to keep them loyal to your business. Well of course you need the basic criteria- in order to be a longstanding business, you have to be credible and spontaneous. Let people know that you still exist and that you’re still capable of delivering their needs.

Because of the tough competition, local businesses nowadays broaden their possibilities. And this is why internet marketing is such a boom in the past couple of years. With the privilege of having a business branch that could possibly reach a more massive amount of people without spending way too much, the World Wide Web has forever changed the business strategy. Nowadays, instead of local franchises, internet marketers can only have a website that could possibly provide all the customer’s needs. Because of this phase, the competition has now become virtual- and it’s done through search engine optimisation.

SEO Birmingham is one of those service providers that help local businesses gain their popularity around the Web. Instead of letting them pay tons of money on established advertising agencies, search engine optimisation is a cheaper, more natural and discreet way of promoting a business.

Search engine optimisation basically let’s a website’s rankings increase tremendously on search engine listings. By doing a couple of methods that would get people to click the link and be directed to the promoted site, this is how websites earn a lot of visitors. Another method that SEO Birmingham provides is placing the website’s very own link on the first pages of search results. Now to get this kind of privilege is a huge deal to any businessman out there. With over millions of users using Google, Yahoo and Bing for their queries, your website is going to attract a large percentage the moment it lands on the first page- and all of these are indeed possible.

SEO Birmingham is dedicated with their work and guarantees that every client’s website will have its own progress. Every business is unique and with the right process of keyword integration, content management, directory listings and back linking, you can witness how your website climbs the ladder to success.

Tarjinder S. Kailey is the owner of Smart Internet Business Solutions. He is an Internet Marketing Entrepreneur and an industry professional with over 15 years experience. He has been coached by Leaders in the internet industry like Simon Coulson and David Cavanagh. He is a member of programs run by leading internet authorities – Tom Hua, Larry Loik and Mike Koenings. Visit his site at Smart Internet Business Solutions.

Lessons Learned From Entrepreneur Success Stories

Youths who want to make something of their lives are often attracted to entrepreneur success stories. Unlike literature and fiction, entrepreneur success stories are stories of real people who have earned billions of dollars with their creativity, confidence, determination, and vision. They have chosen the paths that very few dare to take. They have even created their own paths to success. Entrepreneur success stories detail courageous people with extremely positive attitudes and strong faith in their abilities and efficiency. Successful entrepreneurs cared little about others opinions and worked hard to get to the top. There are many things to learn form entrepreneur success stories of personalities like Bill Gates, Warren Buffett, Richard Branson, Henry Ford, and many others. Below are a few tips:

Positive attitude: Entrepreneur success stories place importance on a positive attitude. An entrepreneur may face many problems and even failures before reaching his goal. However, at no point should he or she foster a negative attitude. A positive attitude is the key to success.

Think beyond failure: Always expect success. It is natural to be afraid whenever one diverts from the conventional path and tries to do something new. Entrepreneur success stories provide much needed inspiration and resolution that focuses on innovation as the key. Therefore, if one believes his or her decision is the right one, then he or she should overcome fear and think about the positive results of the decision.

Perseverance: It pays off to be adamant. Entrepreneur success stories advise individuals to be perseverant and determined. One is bound to see bad days if he is an entrepreneur. One must understand, however, that they are just a part of the game and should not affects decisions or deter ones goals.

Strive for better quality and service: An entrepreneur should always try to better his services or products. Substandard products or services never attract steady and faithful customers. Entrepreneur success stories explain how different successful entrepreneurs constantly better their products and services.

Good will or brand value: Entrepreneur success stories tell about the importance of creating a brand or a good will in the consumers market. People should know products by name and also by their excellence. A good reputation and brand awareness will go great lengths to increase business opportunity.

To learn more about entrepreneur success stories and how to begin building your own success story, please visit www.uts4success.com.

Rounds Of Business Funding From Seed Financing To The Ipo

Fund-raising has never been an easy task. However, many entrepreneurs rely on the possibility of attracting venture or angel financing at the very early stage to get the projects off the ground. But is that a realistic assumption to be put into a business plan? What is the likelihood of conducting the first two or three years of coding (for tech start-ups) or R&D (for any other innovative projects) at the investors cost? Let’s outline typical stages in a successful company’s financing. We’ll start with the first and finish with the last. Although there are rare exceptions to this sequence, in most cases it looks like this.

1. Seed Round.

This is the starting point of any business: you only have your idea and the first rough profitability estimations. Every entrepreneur at this stage recognizes the Idea as his/her top value asset. And this is natural as the Idea will be providing the guiding light and most of the motivation before actual sales take place. Every book of Entrepreneurship advises you to think big at this stage. Even if all you do is opening a bakery at the corner, you should be aiming at changing this world for good. But it usually takes a year or two of hard work and bitter frustration before there is something at your disposal that can be sold. And chances are that the world will disapprove your Big Idea and youll have to start it all over.

So what kind of investment are you possibly able to attract at this stage? The answer is the “3Fs”, otherwise known as Family, Friends, and Fools. You should be prepared to invest your own capital (including the money you make with your day job) and search for business partners among the people you know. If you are lucky, you will make great team that contributes all the knowledge, skills, resources and (yes!) capital to turn the Idea into actual business.
The seed round is important not only because this is how you raise your initial capital. You also validate your idea and make serious correction to the business plan. You start understanding the needs of your target customers and learn how your future project or service will change their lives for better.

1a. Crowd Financing.

This is a relatively new and by all means trending way to succeed at the seed stage. There are multiple web-based services that aim at connecting entrepreneurs and investors. Most of them charge either membership fees or success fees, but there are websites that you can use for free. I will review most popular and/or most interesting business matching sites in one of the upcoming articles.

2. Angel Round.

The launch and the first sales are the critical landmark to prove your business concept. When there are people out there willing to pay for your product or service, you know you are on the right way. Now you have a tangible proof of what has been the Idea. Your team matures and is getting ready to face new business challenge and open new market horizons So you need additional funding (more often than not its volume exceeds initial capital) and start introducing your business to might-be angel investors in a solid and confident way as you present not some projected but real sales numbers.

3. Venture Capital Round.

When your business is growing, possible revenues are running long before the market average and the potential for an IPO or acquisition is more than decent, VCs step in. Dont think about venture firms as ambivalent money sacks they are searching for potential market break-through businesses actively as investing at, lets say, 10X, 20X, 50X IRR is their business specialization. Usually you start negotiating in a few years before an actual IPO or acquisition might take place. As the cooperation proceeds, VCs assist and consult you in preparing your company for this important step. Often this preparation includes replacing management with C-level officers who are known to and respected by your industry and/or Wall Street.

4. The IPO or Acquisition.

This is the big pay-off at the end of years of hard work. It means liquid stock are selling at, hopefully, high P/E multiple or your business is acquired by a large strategic player from Fortune 1000 list. Of course this is not the only possible exit scenario as you might choose not to exit the game. Your business might become your lifetime passion and you might be one of those brilliant start up entrepreneurs who are also the best CEO of their companies.

Business development and financing is an interconnected process. And in order to succeed you should follow the inner logic of the process and apply the funding strategies which are adequate to your current position.

The Entrepreneur And Philanthropist Tai Savetsila

Tai Savetsila,a renowned businessman in Los Angeles, comes from an ancestry of Thailands politicians. Tais great grandfather had been the Foreign Prime Minister. His father had come to the United States of America from Thailand and started his real estate business there. Tai comes from a pedigree of successful people and he himself works hard to achieve success in his own endeavors.

In 1999, Tai started working in a lending bank that funded 500 million dollars yearly in private lending. He then used this knowledge and opened his very own private lending corporation that had an important client base.

Savetsila used his expertise to form a successful career in real estate. He had a high end clientele that included actors, producers and others from the entertainment industry.

In 2004, Tai Savetsila founded the Savet Inc. which managed a varied client base with multifarious real estate service. Savet Inc. specialized in the exchange of properties and also offers miscellaneous lending options to its prospective buyers. Savet Inc. uses new marketing techniques, industry awareness and also competitive financial products to cater to the different real estate needs of individual clients.

In 2008, Tai Savetsila founded the Blue PMG, a dynamic and innovative marketing and graphic / web design company. He founded the company and sought out customers who could help him run his business successfully. In return, he helped them in hosting and web development. Savetsila has worked with major stalwarts of the music industry and also hedge funds.

Tai is also very much involved in his community. He actively supports different causes relating to breast cancer awareness, cruelty against animals, protecting the abused children.

With a record of more than 12 years in the entertainment industry and more than 10 years in real estate, Tai Savetsila has had success and is still continuing to succeed in his ventures.