Entrepreneurial Journal

          "We are programmed at an early age to think that failure is bad. That belief prevents organizations from effectively learning from their missteps." by Amy C. Edmondson           People that learn how to learn, have more chances to succeed in life in relationships and in business. If we learn from our mistakes, we will progress. However, the best way is avoiding mistakes, and to avoid mistakes, you must have your mentors, take advices from them and act according instructed. Sometimes we want to try new alternatives, and the most cases we fail, but the question is: Is this wrong to try new ways new alternatives, new paths? For sure not! But you don´t need to try it alone. Talk to others listen to their opinion and after just after, take the decision.           You will fail! Fact. After failing you have some options: 1.        1.  Learn from it. 2.     ...

When we talk about family business we have to understand the fundamental role it plays in America's economy. Make up 80% of all U.S. businesses. Generate 40% of the nation’s GDP. Employ half the nation’s workforce. Comprise one-third of the Fortune 500 companies. But we have a problem with this business model: §Unfortunately, only 30% of first-generation businesses survive into the second generation. §Of those that do survive to the second generation only half make it to the third generation. §Why?  No management succession plan! How to make a succession plan? How to manage a family business? There is a blog that give  12 hints   on how to do it. Its extremely important to have well established the rules and to have a formal plan of ownership. Set some boundaries.  It’s easy for family members involved in a business to talk shop 24/7. But mixing business, personal and home life will eventually produce a volatile...

          I interviewed one of the biggest franchisees of Wizard by Pearson his name is Edgar and he has more than 10 Schools. I learned a lot with him and it was great to understand his point of view that is very different from many franchisees. One thing that let the Franchise market interesting is exactly that, everybody has to follow the rules from the franchise, but you can manage your business in a different way or have some attractions that can differentiate you even from other franchisees. This difference and his strategy was the most important to me in my interview.           I used some questions from the instructions and other questions that I was curious about the business, I didn´t ask about the fees and royalties because we have the same franchise and I already know about it. What I was curious about, was how he has more than 10.000 students how many new inscriptions he had a week and how to manage al...

Can you identify and fix a broken process? Every company has many different business processes. But what are they, exactly? In short, business processes constitute all the activities your company engages in—using people, technology, and information—to carry out its mission, set goals, measure performance, serve customers, and address the inevitable challenges that arise while doing so. Processes determine the effectiveness and efficiency of your company's operations, the quality of your customers' experience—and ultimately, your organization's financial success. Processes can also vary in their degree of formality. For example: Informal:  A customer asks you for a discount if they purchase double the normal amount of your product. There is no rule saying you can't provide such a discount, nor is there an established way to give the discount. So you give the discount. You have just created an informal process. The company hasn't documented this process as a ...

I already made many mistakes, and some friendships where trumble because something stupid I did. My impetuosity sometimes speaks higher than I would like. I have to remember, The only way to get the best of an argument is to avoid it! Once, I and my friend were in a discussion about, how was the best way, to invest our company's money. I had one opinion, totally different from his, and I presented the facts, why my opinion was better than his, he just didn't agree with me, and when we realized we were arguing each other and that discussion was becoming stronger, and a feel of anger was contaminating ourselves, we just finish the discussion without any solution, and when we realized we didn't invest the money, and we were not talking each other anymore. Because one stupid thing we lost time, money and a good relationship. After sometime we talked about the situation and fortunately we solve our differences.  “A man convinced against his will is of the same opinion sti...

           With  Consultative Selling , salespeople engage in a dialogue with their buyers to deeply understand their needs and match relevant solutions. Needs are identified through a combination of preparation and effective questioning to uncover realized and unrealized customer needs. Consultative Selling advanced the product selling and solution selling approaches by layering in the dialogue skills needed to engage in customer-focused interactions that build trust, allow for depth of understanding, and pave the path for solution articulation that matches the customer’s precise priority needs.           Know how to make questions are one of the most important characteristics for a salesperson, because through these questions we can understand better the client´s needs. Understand the client is the most important goal of a business, if you understand your client, they will become loyal to your product or service, and most...

This week I learned a little more about marketing, and its demands, but there were two thinks that caught my attention: The first thing was some lessons that I learned from Phil Romano , here are some lessons that I learned from him: “Don´t be like everybody else” “Actions speak louder than words” “I like to create things” “Servicing a need is what prompts a good business” “Never think about making profits, think about service, giving the people what they want, and you will make twice as much profit” “Fear is a great motivator” Now the other lesson that caught my attention was: " Marketing is the whole business seen from the customer's point of view." –Peter Drucker This is what really matters when you want to sell your product and service. What matter most is the client needs and expectations, but what are the clients needs? we can categorized it in five needs: Stated needs : what customers  say  they want; for example, "I need a sealant ...

           Last week I didn´t post, because I was in Mexico, Cancun, for the greatest convention about education, more than 3000 people. That was a very interesting time for learning, and understand how technology will help us to learn better and faster, without substitute the role of a teacher. I was far from my country, but not far from my duties, as student and entrepreneur, so the last week and this week we had some progress in our project. Before start my report, I would like to share what I have learn this week, about my responsibility with the money I earn. In my opinion, there is no other way to earn money, better than, to be an entrepreneur, run your own business, invest time and effort in what you love, and if we do that, money will be consequence, but if we are not good steward with the money we receive, the consequences will arrive. and they are not good. The advice is simple and sometimes so simple that we misunderstand it, the advice is SPEND...

          Last week I wrote about the project we would start and today I will report how was it. We start to offer our services, ( when I say our is because its me and my wife, she is the person who "knows the things", I am the person who "manage and sell" ) and we have some clients this week, with a considerable profit. In every business my hint is always have someone who "knows the things" and other who "sell the things" it is possible to have both in a single person, but to execute both functions is very difficult, so in our case we decided to separate the functions. we both have to know about products and how to sell it but each one execute one specific function.           This week I read about how important is the name of your company, and how the entrepreneurs let to choose the name of his or her company as the last part of the process. We worried about the business plan, budget, partnerships, clients among many others and we le...

          This week I received a nice challenge from my teacher from BYU Idaho, this challenge is called U$ 100,00 challenge project! Here are some instructions about this project: “In preparation for starting your $100.00 Challenge Project, you will choose a Kiva borrower that you would like to support. This project is a unique opportunity for you to experience entrepreneurship. It will give you the opportunity to apply what you are learning in this class and to get a taste of what being a small-scale entrepreneur is like. Being a successful entrepreneur means being creative and resourceful. This project will require both creativity and resourcefulness. By donating your profits to Kiva, this project will also give you experience as a social entrepreneur.”           Another important characteristic of this project is that you cannot start with more than U$ 20,00! Yes, twenty dollars! ...

Today I will write important lessons that I have been learned these last months. One important thing that I realize is that theory and practice are linked. My entrepreneurial life starts since I was young in fact When I was 7 years old. My grandfather had a newspaper signature and he read it early in the morning, and after he put it in the garbage, so I realize that I could sell the newspaper again on the same day for less than half the price. So I sold it every day for some small stores near our house. For sure, the people who bought it from me, bought just because they liked to help and that was a fun job” of a kid. But my “business” was not that. After some days selling an old newspaper, I had enough money to buy a box with 30 bubblegum and sell it to my classmates at school. That time I was just practicing and I had some success for a time. But after for some reason  I stopped to do it. The years passed, I started studying and my father who was always an entrepreneur sales...

During this week and the past week, I had the opportunity to learn more about manage a business, how to sell more, how to educate kids and not just teaching them and I had the opportunity to learn with Carly Fiorina – Former CEO, HQ – a little more about leadership, and it was a great teaching for me. I would like to share somethings that I learned here in my blog. For Carly Leadership is about three things, 1- Capability, 2- Collaboration, 3- Character. When we think about capability we think about skills, about experiences, of course, all those things are important but one of the most important capability you may have, is, the capability to ask questions……and hear the answer! Every time that we are in a new situation, and for us leaders, it happens frequently, we have to ask questions to understand what is going on. As more accurate the questions are more accurate are the answers, and probably more accurate are the decisions taken. One of the most important indicator that a co...

Some weeks ago I was worry about productivity in my life, what affects directly my family and business and if affect family and business affect others that are around me. So I started reviewing some teachings that I received while I was studying some time ago. I learned about the Productivity Pyramid (in the book The Ministry Of Business) where the base of it are the Governing values. These are important values that each of us desire for our lives. I realize something very interesting, all of us have inestimable value, but when we have to think what values are important to our lives it gets difficult to put it in order, and it gets more difficult yet when I realize that I didn´t have any goals related to that value that is important to my life. Or in other words I had a lot of goals with no meaning, goals that I had, but I didn´t know exactly what effect it would have in my life, or empty goals. How to make meaningful goals? First write a value that is important to you after write ...