Shark Tank Jump Start Your Business: How to Launch and Grow a Business from Concept to Cash (27 page)

The Brand Within: The Power of Branding from Birth to the Boardroom
by Daymond John

Cold Hard Truth: On Business, Money & Life
by Kevin O’Leary

Display of Power: How FUBU Changed a World of Fashion, Branding and Lifestyle
by Daymond John

Driven: How to Succeed in Business and in Life
by Robert Herjavec

How to Win at the Sport of Business: If I Can Do It, You Can Do It
by Mark Cuban

Use What You’ve Got, and Other Business Lessons I Learned from My Mom
by Barbara Corcoran and Bruce Littlefield

If You Don’t Have Big Breasts, Put Ribbons on your Pigtails
by Barbara Corcoran and Bruce Littlefield

Shark Tales: How I Turned $1,000 into a Billion Dollar Business
by Barbara Corcoran

The Will to Win: Leading, Competing, Succeeding
by Robert Herjavec

The 4-Hour Workweek: Escape 9–5, Live Anywhere, and Join the New Rich
by Timothy Ferriss

The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing: Violate Them at Your Own Risk!
by Al Ries and Jack Trout

The $100 Startup: Reinvent the Way You Make a Living, Do What You Love, and Create a New Future
by Chris Guillebeau

The Art of the Start: The Time-Tested, Battle-Hardened Guide for Anyone Starting Anything
by Guy Kawasaki

The Brand Gap: How to Bridge the Distance Between Business Strategy and Design
by Marty Neumeier

Crush It!: Why NOW Is the Time to Cash In on Your Passion
by Gary Vaynerchuk

The E-Myth Revisited: Why Most Small Businesses Don’t Work and What to Do About It
by Michael E. Gerber

EntreLeadership: 20 Years of Practical Business Wisdom from the Trenches
by Dave Ramsey

The Entrepreneur Equation: Evaluating the Realities, Risks, and Rewards of Having Your Own Business
by Carol Roth and Michael Port

Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap… and Others Don’t
by Jim Collins

How to Win Friends & Influence People
by Dale Carnegie

Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion
by Robert B. Cialdini

I Will Teach You to Be Rich
by Ramit Sethi

The Knack: How Street-Smart Entrepreneurs Learn to Handle Whatever Comes Up
by Norm Brodsky and Bo Burlingham

The Lean Startup: How Today’s Entrepreneurs Use Continuous Innovation to Create Radically Successful Businesses
by Eric Ries

Likeable Social Media: How to Delight Your Customers, Create an Irresistible Brand, and Be Generally Amazing on Facebook
by Dave Kerpen

Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die
by Chip Heath and Dan Heath

Making Ideas Happen: Overcoming the Obstacles Between Vision and Reality
by Scott Belsky

Never Eat Alone: And Other Secrets to Success, One Relationship at a Time
by Keith Ferrazzi and Tahl Raz

Permission Marketing: Turning Strangers into Friends and Friends into Customers
by Seth Godin

The Personal MBA: Master the Art of Business
by Josh Kaufman

Pitch Anything: An Innovative Method for Presenting, Persuading, and Winning the Deal
by Oren Klaff

Purple Cow: Transform Your Business by Being Remarkable
by Seth Godin

Rework
by Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson

The Startup Playbook: Secrets of the Fastest-Growing Startups from Their Founding
by David Kidder and Reid Hoffman

To Sell Is Human: The Surprising Truth About Moving Others
by Daniel Pink

The War of Art: Break Through the Blocks and Win Your Inner Creative Battles
by Steven Pressfield and Shawn Coyne

When James Truslow Adams first put those two words together in 1931, Americans had yet to adopt prosperity as a core value…
From James T. Adams,
The Epic of America
(1931).

Defined by the Small Business Administration as companies with fewer than 500 employees…
SBA Office of Advocacy, “Frequently Asked Questions,” http://www.sba.gov/sites/default/files/sbfaq.pdf.

According to a 2009 USA TODAY/Gallup Poll, roughly a quarter of working Americans have considered becoming an entrepreneur.
Laura Petrecca, “What Kind of Small Business Do You Want to Start?”
USA Today
, http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/money/smallbusiness/startup/pros-and-cons-of-small-businesses.htm.

Half of all new companies fail within the first five years
. SBA Office of Advocacy, “Frequently Asked Questions,” http://www.sba.gov/sites/default/files/sbfaq.pdf.

A study done by the Kauffman Foundation—a renowned organization dedicated to promoting education and entrepreneurship—surveyed 549 company founders across various industries and found that more than half of the participants were first-generation entrepreneurs.
Numerous authors, “The Anatomy of an Entrepreneur,” the Kauffman Foundation, http://www.kauffman.org/uploadedFiles/ResearchAndPolicy/TheStudyOfEntrepreneurship/Anatomy%20of%20Entre%20071309_FINAL.pdf.

The same Kauffman study from our first example found that 67 percent of the surveyed entrepreneurs ranked their academic performance among the top 30 percent of their undergraduate class.
Ibid.

Another study done by the Kauffman Foundation found that every year from 1996–2007, Americans between the ages of 55–65 had a higher rate of entrepreneurial activity than those aged 20–34, “averaging a rate of entrepreneurial activity roughly one-third larger than their younger counterparts.”
Dane Stangler, “The Coming Entrepreneurship Boom,” the Kauffman Foundation, http://www.kauffman.org/uploadedFiles/the-coming-entrepreneurial-boom.pdf.

By 2011, the number had increased even more, with Americans between the ages of 55–64 making up 20.9 percent of all new entrepreneurs.
The Kauffman Foundation, http://www.kauffman.org/uploadedFiles/KIEA_2012_report.pdf.

It’s estimated that the average startup cost for a business is somewhere between $25,000-$50,000,
U.S Small Business Administration, “Frequently Asked Questions about Small Business Finance,” http://www.sba.gov/sites/default/files/files/Finance%20FAQ%208-25-11%20FINAL%20for%20web.pdf

Studies suggest that around 65% percent of entrepreneurs finance their companies using some form of personal debt.
U.S Small Business Administration, “How to Build Business Credit for Your Start Up,” http://www.sba.gov/community/blogs/guest-blogs/industry-word/how-build-business-credit-your-start.

It’s estimated that each day some 2,356 Americans become entrepreneurs.
Connor Boyack,
Latter-Day Responsibility: Choosing Liberty Through Personal Accountability
, (2012).

“I am a huge believer that you go to college to learn how to learn,” writes Mark Cuban on his blog.
Mark Cuban, “Blog Maverick,” http://blogmaverick.com/2012/05/13/the-coming-meltdown-in-college-education-why-the-economy-wont-get-better-any-time-soon/.

When setting goals, you may find it helpful to use the SMART method, which was first developed by author George T. Doran in 1981.
George Doran, “There’s a S.M.A.R.T. Way to Write Management’s Goals and Objectives,”
Management Review
70, no.11 (November 1981).

It’s estimated that a small business owner with less than one year of experience will earn as little as $34,000 a year.
K. J. Henderson, “The Average Income of Small Business Owners,” http://smallbusiness.chron.com/average-income-small-business-owners-5189.html.

A franchise is “a business system in which private entrepreneurs purchase the rights to open and run a location of a larger company.
Kristie Lorette, “Definition of a Franchise Business,”
Houston Chronicle
, http://smallbusiness.chron.com/definition-franchise-business-4467.html.

According to Ries, pivoting is a “structured course correction designed to test a new fundamental hypothesis about the product, strategy, and engine of growth.
The Lean Startup.com, http://theleanstartup.com/principles.

Shortly after launching the app, CEO Brian Scordato noticed something interesting…
Brian Scordato, personal interview, April 5, 2013.

With hundreds of thousand of trademarks registered each year…
The United States Patent and Trademark Office, Data Visualization Center, http://www.uspto.gov/dashboards/trademarks/main.dashxml.

Business models can range in detail and complexity and intricacy, but a study done by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Sloan School of Management in 2004 discovered that almost every model falls under one of four main archetypes.
Various authors, “Do Some Business Models Perform Better Than Others? A Study of the 1000 Largest US Firms,” MIT Sloan, http://ccs.mit.edu/papers/pdf/wp226.pdf.

Cost-plus pricing…
Lisa Magloff, “What Is Cost-Plus Pricing Strategy?”
Houston Chronicle
, http://smallbusiness.chron.com/cost-plus-pricing-strategy-1110.html.

Value-based pricing…
Craig Stedman, “Value-Based Pricing,”
Computer World
, http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/42848/Value_Based_Pricing?amp;client?firefox-a&ct?clnk&cd?7&hl?en&gl?uk.

Price-skimming…
“Price Skimming,” Investopedia, http://www.investopedia.com/terms/p/priceskimming.asp.

Penetration pricing…
Dana Griffin, “Penetration Pricing Strategy,”
Houston Chronicle
, http://smallbusiness.chron.com/penetration-pricing-strategy-2723.html.

Psychological pricing
… Farnoosh Torabi, “Pricing Psychology: 7 Sneaky Retail Tricks,”
CBS Money Watch
, http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-505144_162-41541822/pricing-psychology-7-sneaky-retail-tricks/.

According to the United States government, a sole proprietorship, also referred to as a “sole trader” or “proprietorship,” is an unincorporated business that is owned and run by one individual, with no distinction between the business and the owner.
U.S. Small Business Administration, “Sole Proprietorship,” http://ccs.mit.edu/papers/pdf/wp226.pdf.

Granted to an inventor by the United States government, a patent excludes others from “making, using, offering for sale, or selling the invention throughout the United States or importing the invention into the United States
. The United States Patent and Trademark Office, “Patents,” http://www.uspto.gov/patents/.

According to the United States Patent and Trademark office, the laws of nature, physical phenomena, and abstract ideas cannot be patented.
The United States Patent and Trademark Office, “Patentable Subject Matter—Living Subject Matter,” http://www.uspto.gov/web/offices/pac/mpep/s2105.html.

A trademark protects a brand, or more specifically, “a word, phrase, symbol, and/or design that identifies and distinguishes the source of the goods of one party from those of others.
The United States Patent and Trademark Office, “Trademark, Patent, or Copyright?” http://www.uspto.gov/trademarks/basics/definitions.jsp.

According to US government, “works of authorship, such as writings, music, and works of art that have been tangibly expressed.
Ibid.

A 2010 survey by Travelers Insurance found that 94 percent of small-business owners feel confident…
Travelers Insurance, “Risk Management on Main Street,” https://www.travelers.com/about-us/travelers-institute/iw-documents/Risk-Management-on-Main-Street-For-Small-Business-Owners.pdf.

Patents
… The United States Patent and Trademark Office, http://www.uspto.gov/patents/.

According to the IRS, only “ordinary and necessary” expenses can be deducted from your business income, including such things as supplies, insurance, rent, and equipment.
Internal Revenue Service, “Deducting Business Expenses,” http://www.irs.gov/Businesses/Small-Businesses-&-Self-Employed/Deducting-Business-Expenses.

Below, however, you’ll find a generalized breakdown of the type of taxes you can expect to pay.
Peri Pakroo,
The Small Business Start-Up Kit: A Step-by-Step Legal Guide
(2012).

Diane Sawyer once said, “Great questions make great reporting.”
Think Quest, “Interview with Diane Sawyer,” http://library.thinkquest.org/18764/television/interview.html.

At one point in time, willpower was thought of as some mysterious, unquantifiable power that one either possessed or didn’t. But that theory has since been disproven.
American Psychological Association, “What You Need to Know About Willpower,” http://www.apa.org/helpcenter/willpower.aspx.

According to the American Marketing Association, marketing is defined as “the activity, set of institutions, and processes for creating, communicating, delivering, and exchanging offerings that have value for customers, clients, partners, and society at large.
American Marketing Association, “Definition of Marketing,” http://www.apa.org/helpcenter/willpower.aspx.

Branding is “the practice of creating a name, symbol, or design that identifies and differentiates a product from other products. Entrepreneur
, “Branding,” http://www.entrepreneur.com/encyclopedia/branding.

In 2012, Forbes magazine valued the Apple brand at $87.1 billion, up 52% from two years prior.
Kurt Badenhausen, “Apple Tops List of the World’s Most Powerful Brands,”
Forbes
, http://www.forbes.com/sites/kurtbadenhausen/2012/10/02/apple-tops-list-of-the-worlds-most-powerful-brands/.

With more than 340 million tweets sent each day, and Facebook accounting for one out of every seven minutes spent online, finding a captive audience for your business isn’t hard.
Shea Bennett, “100 Amazing Social Media Statistics, Facts and Figures,” Media Bistro, http://www.mediabistro.com/alltwitter/100-social-media-stats_b33696.

According to industry experts, search engine optimization is a “methodology of strategies, techniques, and tactics used to increase the amount of visitors to a website by obtaining a high-ranking placement in the search results page of a search engine.
Webopedia, “Search Engine Optimization,” http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/S/SEO.html.

Defined by the Content Marketing Institute as “the art of communicating with your customers and prospects without selling…
Content Marketing Institute, “What Is Content Marketing?” http://contentmarketinginstitute.com/what-is-content-marketing/.

According to the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA), public relations is a “strategic communication process that builds mutually beneficial relationships between organizations and their publics.
Public Relations Society of America, “What Is Public Relations?” http://www.prsa.org/AboutPRSA/PublicRelationsDefined.

With 56% of Americans on at least one social network…
Jay Baer, “11 Shocking New Social Media Statistics in America,” http://www.convinceandconvert.com/the-social-habit/11-shocking-new-social-media-statistics-in-america/.

Consider this: 91% of local searchers say they use Facebook to find local businesses online and 71% of social media users say they are more likely to purchase from a brand they are connected with.
Nate Mendenhall, “6 Stats That Will Restore Your Faith in Social Media,” http://socialmediatoday.com/nate-mendenhall/1437866/6-stats-will-restore-your-faith-social-media.

With 23 percent of users checking their account at least five times a day, and 47% of social network users saying Facebook has the greatest impact on purchase…
Jay Baer, “11 Shocking New Social Media Statistics in America,” http://www.convinceandconvert.com/the-social-habit/11-shocking-new-social-media-statistics-in-america/.

With over 100 million users, it’s estimated that LinkedIn is 277% more effective at generating business leads than other social networks.
Cary Eridon, “11 LinkedIn Marketing Gems You’re Missing Out On,” http://blog.hubspot.com/blog/tabid/6307/bid/31374/11-LinkedIn-Marketing-Gems-You-re-Missing-Out-On.aspx.

Earl Tupper had a problem: his product wasn’t selling.
PBS, “Biography: Earl Silas Tupper,” http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/biography/tupperware-tupper/.

Still, it’s important to have a basic understanding of the general sales process, which can be broken down into seven major parts.
Rich, Spiro, and Stanton,
Management of a Sales Force
, 12th edition,
here
.

An independent contractor is defined as “a person who contracts to do work for another person according to his or her own processes and methods
The Free Dictionary, http://legal-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/Independent?Contractor.

From design to support services, more than 17 million work as independent contractors each year—a number that’s expected to hit 23 million by 2017.
MBO Partners, “The State of Independence in America,” http://www.mbopartners.com/state-of-independence/docs/2012-MBO_Partners_State_of_Independence_Report.pdf.

Below you’ll find seven of the most common leadership styles.
MindTools.com, “Leadership Styles,” http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newLDR_84.htm,

First coined by Robert Greenleaf, this type of leadership is centered on helping others live up to their fullest potential.
Robert Greenleaf Center for Servant Leadership, “What Is Servant Leadership?” https://www.greenleaf.org/what-is-servant-leadership/.