Product Lines For entrepreneurs and intrapreneurs, when you’re planning your product line to create results now, rather than later on down the road, you’ll face a number of crucial decisions. These will include product path, product development, delivery and pricing – among others. It’s also important to consider how to create and implement an innovation and intellectual property strategy. (We know that results now means having a workable strategy at all times.) Bear in mind that the majority of these issues will be resolved as you test your products in the market and see who buys what. You’ll also test your price points. Let’s include all services in the term products as well, so if you are in a services business, start seeing them as products (even if they are delivered live). Doing this will, in time, result in your spinning off some packaged products that no longer require live delivery—which will help you massively leverage your time and create the immediate goal you seek: results NOW. After all, entrepreneurs and intrapreneurs know that success “later” is fine, but results NOW is always the number one priority. And having viable product lines is vital to achieving that goal.

Christine Comaford, CEO Freedom Fighter
NY Times Best Selling Author
CEO of Mighty Ventures, Inc.

PS: Be sure to get my free CD on creating massive success as an entrepreneur (just pay the shipping) http://www.bit.ly/42GZhJ — this little secret saved my sanity and allowed me to create a business that supports my desire for time, money, freedom and fun in my life!

Remember, all knowledge is power, and understanding WHY social networking works will help you to develop a social media campaign that will work on MANY levels — branded recognition, client development, and oh yes, SALES.

Corporations. Ahhh… my favorite category of company structure. Here’s why. Corporation: a legal entity that separates personal assets of the owners (shareholders) from the firm’s assets. Nice and tidy. Limited Liability (aka LLC): creditors can seize the corporation’s assets but have no recourse against the shareholders’ personal assets. Good. An LLC is a business organization owned by “members” (shareholders) with limited liability. The major Incentive for organizing as an LLC is that earnings can be taxed at the personal income tax rates of the members. S Corporation: provides limited liability for shareholders plus corporate income is taxed like personal income to the shareholders. Good.

Tomorrow we’ll go over some of the criteria for choosing which type of set up is best for your company.

To get great tools on how to create a strong foundation for your business’ future, feel free to join my Facebook Group, Business Renegades: http://tinyurl.com/6xos94

Christine Comaford, CEO Freedom Fighter
CEO of Mighty Ventures, Inc.
NY Times Best Selling Author of “Rules for Renegades”

http://tinyurl.com/6xos94

Partnerships. A Partnership is a business venture owned by two or more individuals who are jointly and personally liable for the venture’s liabilities. With Joint Liability legal action treats all partners equally as a group. Joint and Several Liability allows subsets of partners to be the object of legal action related to the partnership. This is an okay structure for certain types of ventures, but I still prefer having your company be less tied to yourself as an individual.Limited Partnership. A Limited Partnership allocates liabilities in a partnership to the amount of each partner’s equity capital contribution to the partnership. This means that if you own 50% of the company, you have the burden of 50% of the liabilities, and the remainder are allocated to your partners pro rata based on their ownership percentage. Better, but still too personal for my taste!To get great tools on how to create a strong foundation for your business’ future, feel free to join my Facebook Group, Business Renegades: CEO Freedom Fighter
CEO of Mighty Ventures, Inc.
NY Times Best Selling Author of “Rules for Renegades
http://tinyurl.com/6xos94

Christine Comaford,

Proprietorships. A Proprietorship is a business venture owned by an individual who is personally liable for the venture’s liabilities. Many entrepreneurs start out as sole proprietorships. I don’t like this company structure because as I stated moments ago, you will be personally liable for your company’s liabilities. You’ll have unlimited liability, meaning your personal obligation to pay the venture’s liabilities are not covered by the venture’s assets. Yuck and ouch. First, your company must be a separate entity. It needs to start developing its own credit (do this by getting a VISA or Amex small business credit card and/or credit line at your local bank) plus it needs to take care of its own liabilities. You can’t grow a business with this structure—it is too risky.

To get great tools on how to create a strong foundation for your business’ future, feel free to join my Facebook Group, Business Renegades: http://tinyurl.com/6xos94

Christine Comaford, CEO Freedom Fighter
CEO of Mighty Ventures, Inc.
NY Times Best Selling Author of “Rules for Renegades”
http://tinyurl.com/6xos94

Hi everyone. Remember that when setting up your company, you face a number of crucial decisions.  In this article we’ll address how to choose the various forms of business organization (also known as company structures) and help you determine which one is right for you. We’ll also look at how to create and implement a stock option program. Bear in mind that the majority of these issues will be handled by your attorney and controller, which are two functions you will outsource. You must, however, choose the structure best for you and your company, at least initially. As your business evolves, so will your company’s needs. Your goal in the beginning is to create a basic understanding of the structures available to you.

Over the next week, I will outline the proprietorship, partnership, and corporate forms of business, and describe the benefits, risks, & basic tax aspects of various organizational forms, please keep in mind that you will need to discuss this information with your attorney and accountant. I don’t profess to be an expert in knowing the exact structure that will be best for you. You’ll want legal and accounting advice based on your financial and tax profile to make this decision.  Having said that, these are the basics to keep in mind as you go forward.  There are many ways to organize your business. You can use Proprietorships, Partnerships—both General and Limited, Corporations—both C corporations and S (or Subchapter S) corporations, and Limited Liability Companies (or LLCs) or “Hybrids” of these company types. Let’s look at the definition as well as pros and cons of each.  Tune in tomorrow and all week long to get a great (albeit very basic education) in business structures to consider as you grow into your success. 

Christine Comaford, CEO Freedom Fighter
CEO of Mighty Ventures, Inc.
NY Times Best Selling Author
http://www.MightyVentures.com

Not having reliable revenue systems spells death to more businesses than I could count in a lifetime. To begin with, it totally drains you of much-needed energy and kills your creativity day after day.  If you’ve ever suffered from not having enough money coming in, then you know what I mean! When it comes to growing your business, CASH IS KING, and the best way to generate cash for your business FAST is by generating profitable SALES.

One way to banish this blunder is through high-probability selling. This is where you learn to get to “No” quickly and move on to the next prospect without wasting precious time and energy. What do you do with “potential” sales that just aren’t happening? Disqualify them. They’re not worth it.  Too many entrepreneurs waste too much time and energy chasing sales prospects with no potential. To increase your sales, you need to learn to FEARLESSLY disqualify sales leads. If you don’t have a system in place already, tune in for Monday’s blog where I’ll share the 1-2-3 on separating real leads from real distractions!To your continued success! 

Christine Comaford, CEO Freedom Fighter
Business Accelerator
CEO of Mighty Ventures, Inc.
NY Times Best Selling Author

http://www.ResultsNowWebinar.com   

Remember, the bottom line is this: unless your top priorities are the following, you simply cannot build and keep a successful business.

#1 •Business Plan. Pain and solution; product path; target markets; intellectual property; risk mitigation; and staffing plan.

#2 •Revenue Model. Revenue streams; five-year cost/revenue projections; and break-even/profitability date.

#3 •Execution. Six-month plan; prioritizing and focus; and systematizing processes.

Focus is the key, of course, to building a business. I find that in the business model and business summary stage, keeping one’s focus can be tricky. Note that the areas of your business that are truly important are often not urgent. Sure, you’ll fight your share of fires, but are those fires ever urgent and important in the long term? If it’s someone else’s issue, toss it back. As for the not urgent and not important, well, that’s the stuff to delegate. Definitely.

Remember, you can learn more about how to create these three MUST have keys to success on June 5 and 6 at my Results Now Summit in San Francisco. We’ve scheduled FOUR “hot seats” already and we’ll spend some serious time digesting these businesses together. You’ll also get a million-dollar education in business acceleration, there will financing opportunities, networking opportunities and enough strategies for success to launch your business into the stratosphere! 

To your continued success!

Christine Comaford, Business Accelerator
CEO of Mighty Ventures, Inc.
NY Times Best Selling Author

http://www.ResultsNowSummit.com   

There are 10 areas for which you must be able to explain your business in order to navigate the myriad of financiers, advisers, potential and current board members, strategic alliance partners, and key hires. I’ll go over these quickly here, but again, it’s a VITAL building block and strategy for success that we’ll go over in great detail at my Results Now Summit on June 5 and 6.  Okay, very quickly, the 10 areas you MUST have nailed down are:

1. Company Overview. A few sentences describing your company’s purpose/goal.

2. Pain. The specific market pain you will reduce/remove.

3. Solution. What your solution is to the market pain, plus a succinct description of how it works.

4. Company Information Background. Number of employees; short bios of key team members, including staff and board members if applicable.

5. Financial Information. Funding history if any; total money sought; source of dollars sought: venture capital/angel investors/loans/grants; anticipated use of funds; last year’s revenue; five-year revenue forecast; monthly burn rate; projected cash flow-positive date.

6. Product. Short paragraph explaining the status of your product; product path (offerings available now and in the future); and how each product will be segmented by customer.

7. Defensibility. How your intellectual property or market position will be protected from competitors; how you’ll mitigate financial, human resource, product, and product development risk for financiers.

8. Competition. Your competitors, now and in the future.

9. Business Model. How you’ll make money and expand your business.

10. Key Milestones. Deals/achievements that are accelerating/will accelerate your company’s growth—be specific about the status of each.

Spend the time to complete the above—do the best you can, but get them done. Bear in mind that the structure of your business will change over time, too.

Remember, you can learn more about how to ask and answer these questions effectively on June 5 and 6 at my Results Now Summit in San Francisco. We’ve scheduled FOUR “hot seats” already and we’ll spend some serious time digesting these businesses together. You’ll also get a million-dollar education in business acceleration, there will financing opportunities, networking opportunities and enough strategies for success to launch your business into the stratosphere! 

To your continued success!

Christine Comaford, Business Accelerator
CEO of Mighty Ventures, Inc.
NY Times Best Selling Author

http://www.ResultsNowSummit.com   

There are so many ways to poise yourself as an expert in your field.  The first step is, of course, to decide what your field is!  The truth is that no matter who you are or what you do, you are an expert at SOMETHING.

Look, I was a high-school dropout, and I became an expert at enough great stuff in this life to become a multimillionaire by the time I was forty years old.  Why?  Because the one degree I did get was a GSD. (Get Stuff Done.)  So take your GSD degree and choose what you know best in this life:  parenting, growing fruit trees, building homemade swing sets from sweet young bamboo plants – whatever!  And then get yourself OUT there.  Publish articles about your topic.  Lecture about it.  Blog about it.  And here’s a great little tip, start a free online radio show to support your topic and share your expertise!  You can do that through several different venues, but probably the easiest is BlogTalkRadio.  This is a FABULOUS tool for new entrepreneurs to feature their expertise, their services and their products.  Be sure to mention your websites and ways to reach you through social networking and email. 

Finally, I share this tip and ALL of my expertise to support the one BAILOUT that just might work, the self-made kind.  New entrepreneurs are the lifeblood of our nation, and being part of your journey is something a truly appreciate.  I’m excited that so many of you will be at my Results Now Summit on June 5 and 6.  There will be many great opportunities to take advantage of and some incredible funding avenues to explore.

Christine Comaford, Business Accelerator
CEO of Mighty Ventures, Inc.
NY Times Best Selling Author

Invest in your success and LEARN your GSD Degree http://www.ResultsNowSummit.com