Ahahhhh!!

Guess what people? I think I have found my passion and my first three business adventures. And yes I said adventures. I am so excited about getting these  ideas off the ground because I think that communities will really be able to benefit from them. Two of them involve inner-city youth and the other is my real estate venture. The ideas hit me at the most random time. I decided to finally to do one thing: K.I.S.S. (Keep it Simple Stupid!). I think prior to last week, I was trying to over-think the creative process and come up with something that no one has ever done before. Now I've gone back to the bare necessities and figured out what I love to do most; help kids and the community. I'm going to sit down for the next couple of weeks and come up with business plans for all three ventures and continue from there. I can't wait to see what the future brings me. I will keep you all posted. Literally!

Event Alert!!!

I'm really trying to go to this event:

Great Article

I was supposed to start my market research today and hit a road block. I didn't take the time to set parameters for my search. Then after that, the frustration set in. Anyway, in the midst of relieving my stress, I came across a great article on one of my favorite sites, imkeepingup. Go check it out. It's about goal setting and rearranging your priorities. Hope you enjoy.

Funding "Outside the Box"

It took me forever and a day to find these resources, but I found them finally! One of the hardest things to do when starting a business is finding capital. I haven't even started yet and that's the number question on everybody's mind. Where are getting your financing from? This simple question keeps a lot of people in the beginning stages of starting their businesses. It can separate the men from the boys. 

But as my history professors taught me, you dig until you find the truth. Or the money in this case. There is a new form of lending called, crowd funding. It allows entrepreneurs to use social networking to gain capital for their ideas. The best part of this idea is that NONE of the money has to be paid back. Doesn't that sound great? It's just people donating money to an idea that they believe in. Here are just a few of the more interesting sites I found that can help me and you get our ideas off the ground:

www.sellaband.com A European-based company started by Michael Bogatzki, uses social networking to allow fans fund their favorite independent artists. The site let's the artists maintain complete ownership of their work and choose the incentives for the fans that contribute. They have the freedom to enter deals with different entities without having to pay the advances back. Musicians this one is for you.

www.kickstarter.com This is an "all or nothing" funding resource. That means that entrepreneurs set a financial goal and if it isn't met then no money gets exchanged. The concept behind their philosophy is that it creates less risk for both parties (investor and entrepreneur), motivation on the entrepreneur's part, and satisfaction of seeing a good idea spread.

www.indiegogo.com Democratizing lending was the foundation of IndieGoGo.com. On this site, you can keep 100% ownership of your idea, while sourcing funds for the project. And even if you don't raise all of the money, you still get to keep what was raised (after fees). It's international too!

invested.in Invested.in uses your established social networking presence to help finance any idea that you want. Once you raise the money, you can either withdraw it or move it to another project before you hit the set goal.

There are plenty more resources that we can use to fund our projects. The goal is to BE CREATIVE!! The more innovative we are, the more options we will have. Hope this helps because I will definitely be doing my research! Keep grinding!

And it Begins!

Today, I take another step in my journey. I'm going sit down, revisit my action plans, and start my market research this week. By the Friday, I should have compiled a decent collection of data that I can analyze and begin to make some decisions. Oh, I forgot to tell you what my first project is. Real estate investing. I've been studying it for a while and I think I'm ready to start the process. 

There will be many more ventures soon to come, and I will definitely let you know about them as they progress. Until then wish me luck and if you have any suggestions or advice just let me know. Leave a comment.

Trying Something New

Last week I was checking out one of my favorite sites, www.imkeepingup.com , and came across a post that she put up about her new "secret" to accomplishing some of her goals. Here were some of her tips:

1. Come up with one or two major goals and set an end goal for accomplishing them. 

2. Visualize what those goals will look like once accomplished. 

3. Visualize and come up with a plan on how to get to your end goal. 

4. Then it is time to go crazy!!!!!! Take those goals and place them in as many places as you can. It is time to tell and show the Universe what the heck you are trying to achieve. Write your goals on the walls, mirrors, facebook status, gchat status, tweet it, say it 10 times. Go dumb with it!!! 

5. Then you want to wake up every morning and pray about it! Ask God for the strength to achieve what you have decided to go after.

This seems like an interesting and in-your-face tactic to reminding yourself everyday that you have something to accomplish. I'm willing to try almost anything once, especially if it has anything to do with keeping me focused. So I'm going to take the Socialite up on her offer and try it out. You will see that plan in action very soon. Wish me luck!

Comfort Zone: Part 1

Today I had an interesting conversation with one of my students. He was so interested in finding out what life is like outside of Philly (Philadelphia, PA for those who didn't know). He's only in 9th grade but he understands that there is life outside of his thirty block radius. He was so fascinated to hear what possibilities were out there and the things that he could experience.

The one thing that I have noticed with my students is that most of them do not want to leave their comfort zone. They are very afraid to do things that would set them apart from everyone else. Most have been told to follow the norm because that's all that they're capable of achieving. What they need to understand is that leaving their comfort zone allows ultimate growth. They are never going to know what they are capable of until they try things they never have done before. Take risks, explore, discover. And the biggest learning curve of all: FAILURE. 

It is the one factor that is inevitable and if they can embrace it, it will make them successful beyond measure.

My students have been told that failure is always a bad thing, but not that it can help you accomplish your wildest dreams.

To be continued...