Jean Orelien left his native Haiti in 1980 and later made his way to the U.S. to attend college. He stayed on, earning advanced degrees in statistics and public health. In 2001, Orelien founded SciMetrika, a public health consulting firm that works with agencies such as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Environmental Protection Agency. After a massive earthquake devastated Haiti last January, Orelien organized a nonprofit team to gather data on victims, with the goal of helping aid organizations more accurately target their relief efforts. Now, Orelien hopes to conduct similar studies around the globe.

As I heard the news reports on the earthquake, I realized there wasn’t a good handle on what was happening. There were estimates on the number of the dead and the homeless coming from various news media, and they kept on changing. It wasn’t clear who was helping to collect that data. I thought that as someone who knows the country and as a statistician, I could help. I felt a duty to contribute.

I reached out to the president of the American Statistical Association about providing volunteers. He told me it would take too much time to put together a proposal for the board to vote on. He recommended that I go to Statistics Without Borders, a member group within the organization. We exchanged a couple of e-mails, and they were on board.

In March, I went to Haiti with three members from Statistics Without Borders. Our goal was to gather data on displacement and the economic impact of the earthquake. The standard method of collecting data is to conduct a field survey where interviewers knock on doors, but that would not have been practical. Then we saw that pretty much everyone, especially in Port-au-Prince, had a cell phone, so that was the way to go.

I still have cousins and in-laws in Haiti. I brought along three tents for them. That’s the most I could carry. I wasn’t prepared to see people living in such substandard conditions. There were a lot of people who weren’t even living under real tents — they were makeshift tents. I saw people taking showers, and their privacy was not even protected.

I stayed in Haiti for nine days in March. We met with Voil

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During a summer hike with his son, Steve, in 1990, Kent Savage proposed they start a business that would distribute products made from recycled content. Over the next decade, they built Boulder, Coloradobased Eco-Products into a profitable distributor of items such as earth-friendly disposable cups and cutlery. After Kent died, Steve oversaw an ambitious shift in the business model. The change spurred phenomenal growth. But with that growth came a startling realization for Steve: Perhaps the best thing for the business would be for him to step aside.

My dad retired in 1999. That’s when I became president and CEO. For 15 years, we were a retail distributor for other manufacturers. We started to have abnormal success in restaurant supplies and realized if we ever really wanted to grow the brand, we needed to start manufacturing the products ourselves.

In 2005, we began a two-year process of transforming into a manufacturing wholesaler. We wanted to expand into new sales channels, such as office supplies and retail, but I didn’t have any experience in those areas. We also wanted to start making acquisitions.

At first, we tried to hire a CFO who had the experience we needed. It was during that process that I thought, You know, I don’t think having a CFO is going to solve our problem. I realized that we needed to look at my position. The company is very special to me. It’s a family business, so I wanted what was best for it, and I thought it may be best to hire a more experienced CEO.

I mulled over the decision for three or four weeks. My siblings and mom own stock in the company, but they aren’t involved in business decisions. My wife was supportive, though she was more nervous than I was about the move. I also had lunch with Aaron Kennedy, the founder of Noodles & Company. He told me that going from CEO to executive chairman of his business was the best decision he ever made. That helped.

It was definitely emotional, but by the time I made up my mind, I was 100 percent certain it was time to step down. I led the process to find a replacement, with the help of three board members. We notified our management team, and they interviewed our final two candidates. One of them was Bob King, who had taken Corporate Express from a $50 million business to a $4.5 billion business. It was obvious that he would be a great replacement.

I announced the news to the rest of the company at 8 o’clock in the morning on Bob’s first day in July ’09. The team was a little nervous at first, but when Bob stood in front of the group and started to talk about his background and the future of Eco-Products, they responded very well.

As expected, Bob has expanded Eco-Products into new channels with ease. Today, our products are available on the Staples and Costco websites. I’m chairman of the board. I go to the executive meeting every week, so I know what we’re doing and why; I’m just not involved in rolling it out. I spend 10 percent of my time on Eco-Products and the rest on National Eco Wholesale, a distributor of eco-friendly products, and Ellie’s, a retail store. Eco-Products was my firstborn, but I love what I’m doing now.

My father passed away in 2003, so he didn’t witness the transition. But people who know my family often say, “Your dad would be proud.” I know he would be.

Business – Costco – Retailing – Corporate Express – Wholesale

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Why I Stepped Down | Inc. 5000 Companies

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Boomdizzle, the online music community co-founded by LL Cool J, is developing a virtual recording studio that will let musicians in different locations record songs together in real time on the Web. “My goal is to bring together artists from all over the globe,” he says…Jack Nicklaus recently debuted a line of namesake wines at the Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St. Andrews in Scotland. “A lot of guys just want to put their name on a bottle, but everything Jack does is on the highest level,” says Bill Terlato, CEO of Terlato Wines, which helped create the vintage….Skateboarding entrepreneur Rob Dyrdek has partnered with Mattel on a new line of action figures based on Wild Grinders, an animated series inspired by Dyrdek and his childhood skateboarding pals. The show will debut on Nicktoons next year. “For me, it’s about building a strong property for years to come,” Dyrdek says…Marc Lore and Vinit Bharara, founders of Diapers.com, have launched Soap.com, an online store featuring items such as shampoo and soap. The biggest challenge, Lore says, has been dealing with so many products that can leak. His solution? Shrink-wrapping them to prevent spills during shipping….In other diaper news, fashion maven Cynthia Rowley has designed a new line for Pampers featuring 11 styles, including madras and ruffles. Pampers called Rowley two years ago after The New York Post’s Page Six ran an item that mentioned her interest in diaper design. “I guess Procter & Gamble keeps up with the gossip columns,” she says.

Diapers.com – Cynthia Rowley – Jack Nicklaus – The Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews – New York Post

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Entrepreneurs In The News | Start-up

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Is your great idea good enough? Can it grow in this slow economy? Can it become profitable, and return on any investments it requires?

Well, there’s no way to know until you try, right? Hardly. There are some ways to prepare yourself, test your idea, and improve it before you actually found a company around it. We’ve compiled the best examples from recent Inc. articles and Inc.com guides of tips for the very early steps of building a start-up.

1. Scope out your industry.

Or, if you’re just starting to think about entrepreneurship in general, find the best industry to fit your style and talents. For example, this year’s burgeoning industries include interactive technology (from mobile app design to tech-savvy translation), wellness (healthy beverages), and little luxuries, such as baked goods. When you start honing in on a specialty area, seek out counselors and talk to industry veterans. You can go to SCORE, the SBA, the Women’s Economic Development Agency, or scores more. The Internet, your local library, the U.S. Census Bureau, business schools, industry associations, can be invaluable sources of information and contacts. For instance, you might approach business schools in your area to see if one of their marketing classes will take on your business as a test project. You could potentially get some valuable market research results at no cost. Read more.

2. Size-up the competition.

Study your competition by visiting stores or locations where their products are offered. Say you want to open a new restaurant. For starters, create a list of restaurants in the area. Look at the menus, pricing, and additional features (e.g., valet parking or late night bar). Then check out the diners those restaurants appeal to. Are they young college students, neighborhood employees, or families? Then, become a customer of the competition. Go into stealth mode by visiting its website and putting yourself on its e-mail list. Read articles written on them. Sign up for e-mail alerts about search terms of your choice on Google News, which tracks hundreds of news sources. After you study it, deconstruct it using Fagan Finder, a bare-bones but very useful research site. Plug the address into the search box. You will be able to quickly learn, for example, the other sites that link to it, which can reveal alliances, networks, suppliers, and customers. Business data aggregators such as Dun & Bradstreet and InfoUSA provide detailed company information, including financials, although the services are not cheap. Your aim is to understand what your competition is doing so you can do it better. Read more.

3. Second-guess yourself.

“The biggest mistake I see these days is thinking that a business idea will automatically turn into a viable business model,” says Terri Lonier, president and founder of Working Solo, a New Paltz, New York-based business strategy consultancy, and author of Working Solo: The Real Guide to Freedom and Financial Success with Your Own Business. Then again, what if the idea really is viable? “A lot of people start with a kitchen table idea,” says Marla Tabaka, a business coach who writes The Successful Soloist blog for Inc.com. “It’s a great idea you come up with your cousin at dinner. But then the business booms, and your growth gets out of control. You need a plan.” Another important consideration is your personal financial resources. Make sure you have a considerable amount of capital set aside, especially because in a sole proprietorship you assume personal liability for all activities of that business. If you borrow money and can’t repay it, your personal assets are at stake. Read more.

4. Think about funding. A lot.

Can you bootstrap your company? Or are you going to need a small business loan? Might an entrepreneur in the family be able to invest, or should you look for venture capital or an angel investor? Money is a big topic for entrepreneurs, and you’ll want to know your options early on. In order to get investors to open up their checkbooks, you’ll need to convince them that your idea is worthy and also be willing to subject yourself to increased scrutiny and give up a percentage of your company. That’s why it’s a good idea to first ask yourself whether you really need a professional investor at all, says David Henkel-Wallace, a serial entrepreneur who has raised $60 million from VCs. “If you’re starting a web software or mobile software company, you might be able to bootstrap it, which has the advantage that you get to keep all the money you earn,” says Henkel-Wallace. “You could also look into borrowing from friends and family – or even take out a second mortgage – for the same reason.” If you decide your business can only get to the next level with the aid of a professional investor, then you need to figure out what a potential backer looks for in a budding company, says Martin Babinec, who raised six rounds of funding through the business process outsourcing firm he founded, TriNet, which now boasts annual revenues in excess of $200 million. Start doing your research now, and don’t talk to investors until you have a strategy that involves foreseeable future liquidity. Read more.

5. Refine your concept.

Adrienne Simpson initially intended to run a traditional moving company out of her home in October 2002. The idea came to her after relocating her mother from Georgia to Michigan. “I thought I’d put everything in a box, put it on a truck and send her on her way. Oh, no! Mom started walking me through her home, pointing at things saying, ‘I’ll take that, let’s sell that, and I want to give that away,’” she recalls. By the second year of operation, Simpson shifted gears to make her Stone Mountain, Georgia-based company, Smooth Mooove, specialize in transporting seniors—and their beloved pets—and providing such value-add services as packaging, house cleaning, room reassembly, antique appraisals, estate sales, and charity donations. Her crew does everything: put clothes in the closets, hang drapes, make the bed, fill the refrigerator. But even still business was stalling. “I knew how to run an existing company, but I didn’t know how to run a start-up,” says Simpson, who worked 20 years for Blue Cross/Blue Shield and 10 years with Cigna Healthcare. Seeking money and marketing advice, Simpson went to the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) office in Atlanta and was connected to SCORE (Service Corps of Retired Executives) counselor Jeff Mesquita. “When you position your company you have to think outside of the box in terms of what makes you different from the competition,” says Mesquita. “Adrienne described that what she does is move seniors from A to Z, so, when they arrive to their new home it is like walking into a hotel room.” The only thing her clients have to bring is the clothes on their back (and maybe their pet under their arm). That’s when Mesquita suggested the business name change to Smooth Mooove Senior Relocation Services. That same night, Simpson went to a networking event. When people asked ‘what do you do?’ and her response was ‘I have a senior relocation service.’ Right away people said ‘Oh, you move seniors.” The business took off from there. Read more.

6. Seek advise from friends, mentors … or anyone, really.

A mentor can be a boon to an entrepreneur in a broad range of scenarios, whether he or she provides pointers on business strategy, helps you bolster your networking efforts, or act as confidantes when your work-life balance gets out of whack. But the first thing you need to know when seeking out a mentor is what you’re looking for from the arrangement. What can your mentor do for you? Determining what type of resource you need is a crucial first step in the mentor hunt. Lois Zachary, the president of Leadership Development Services, a Phoenix, Arizona-based business coaching firm, and author of The Mentee’s Guide: Making Mentoring Work for You, recommends starting with a list. You may want someone who’s a good listener, someone well connected, someone with expertise in, say, marketing, someone accessible. Ideally you could find a mentor with all of these qualities, but the reality is you may have to make some compromises. After you enumerate the qualities you’re looking for in a mentor, divide that list into wants and needs. Who’s best as a mentor? Look within your family, friends, business community, academic community, and even at your competitors – well, not your direct competition, but you get the idea. Read more.

7. Pick a name.

Naming your business can be a stressful process. You want to choose a name that will last and, if possible, will embody both your values and your company’s distinguishing characteristics. But screening long lists of names with a focus group composed of friends and family can return mixed results. Alternatively, a naming firm will ask questions to learn more about your culture and what’s unique about you – things you’ll want to communicate to consumers. One thing that Phillip Davis, the founder of Tungsten Branding, a Brevard, North Carolina-based naming firm, asks entrepreneurs is “do you want to fit in or stand out?” It seems straightforward. Who wouldn’t want to stand out? But Davis explains that some businesses are so concerned about gaining credibility in their field, often those in financial services or consulting, that they will sacrifice an edgy or attention-getting name. “However, in the majority of cases, clients want to stand out and that’s a better approach when looking at your long-term goals. Even the companies that say ‘I just want to get my foot in the door’ will usually begin wishing that they stood out more once they pass that first hurdle.” Read more.

8. Get a grasp on marketing strategies.

You don’t need to be a marketing whiz, but if you’re trying to build an idea from the ground-up, you’ll likely need to build an accompanying marketing strategy from the ground up. In doing so, you need to be clear on who your customers are, because you don’t have any time to waste on marketing to those who aren’t. “That’s really the biggest challenge, determining who exactly your customers are,” Lonier says. “Many times [business owners] think they understand who they are, but you need to be willing to interview and test potential customers, particularly in the early days of a company, in order to be able to build those relationships.” One way to make marketing easier is through joint-venture marketing, Tabaka says. When she owned a coffeehouse in Naperville, Illinois, she realized that her company and a major drugstore in the same shopping center could work together and support each other’s marketing goals. Another important and relatively easy way to get your name out into the market is building your web presence through social media like Twitter and Facebook. Be sure you familiarize yourself with and utilize Search Engine Optimization (SEO) to make it easier for people to find your website. Read more.

9. Do a little test-run.

“The best way to test your idea is if you’re employed full-time and can sell your product or service in the marketplace on weekends,” says Sapp. If the business is already your day job, then you have to move quickly to test, verify, and tweak your model,” he adds. Try surveys, polls, and focus groups to gain insight into attitudes about your business idea. Solicit feedback on the cheap by using online survey tools available through such services as Zoomerang.com, Surveymonkey.com, and Constantcontact.com. The goal is to get to know your customers intimately. What turns them on? What causes them to tune out? Are they impulse buyers or do they like to deliberate over their buying decisions? There are a lot of products that people like but don’t buy, says Sapp. The price might not be right, for example. “Use social media to hone in on certain groups that can become your focus group,” says Susan Friedmann, a nichepreneur coach, in Lake Placid, New York and author of Riches in Niches: How to Make it Big in a Small Market. “Check out chat rooms, communities on social networks like Ning or Facebook, industry groups within LinkedIn,” she says. “What are people discussing? Letters to the editor or articles in trade publications are resources for finding out about challenges in that particular industry. What are people writing about? What do people want to know about?” Knowing the answers to these types of questions may help you refine your idea. Read more.

10. Start searching for future talent.

This might sound premature, but don’t forget that your business is supposed to grow someday. Keep your eyes peeled all the time for people who might fit into your organization – even if you can’t afford to pay them yet. No matter how small the internet has made the world, experts still recommend in-person networking as the No. 1 way to recruit talent. “I’ve done a lot of placing people into positions, and I have never used a job board as a way to do that,” says Rich Sloan, co-founder of StartupNation. ‘Personal [interaction] is so much more powerful and important to me.” So, if you meet someone interesting or knowledgable at a networking event, or even if you get particularly impressive service somewhere, be it a museum gift shop or helpline, ask that person a bit about themselves, what kind of business they see themselves in in five years – and the best people around will stick in your mind for when you need them. Read more.

Business – Small business – Google – Entrepreneur – Venture capital

Excerpt from:
10 Things to Do Before You Start Your Start-Up | Start-up

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Each day, Inc.’s reporters scour the Web for the most important and interesting news to entrepreneurs. Here’s what we found today:

How much does it cost to start a business? A Babson College estimate concluded that on average, with buying equipment, inventory, and paying employee salaries, it costs $65,000. The Wall Street Journal decided that sounded a little high – and sought out examples of extreme bootstrapping. Its findings? Launching an impressive business on $100 is absolutely possible. Kael Robinson did it (she only sunk $40 into her Live Worldly Brazilian bracelet company initially). So did Jeff Swedarsky, who says with $110 he bought a domain name and registered his business with the Commonwealth of Virginia, he founded the culinary tourism company Food Tour. He hopes to clear $300,000 in sales this year.

Ignorance is bliss for new entrepreneurs. That’s according to entrepreneur and VC Anthony Tijan, writing in a recent blog post for the Harvard Business Review. Tijan argues that while experience may be helpful in growing and sustaining a company, a certain amount of ignorance is necessary for generating new and novel ideas. As he puts it, “Being unencumbered by external opinions allows two critical entrepreneurial traits to thrive: creativity and conviction.” Tijan suggests that without prior knowledge of existing constraints, entrepreneurs are more apt to develop creative ideas and then maintain their conviction while making those ideas a reality. The tricky part, however, is realizing that it doesn’t pay to remain perpetually ignorant. “The key is recognizing the critical moments in a company’s trajectory when the clean-sheet approach is a net positive.”

Tracking bookings, revenue, and collection. In his latest post of his weekly series called “MBA Mondays,” New York venture capitalist Fred Wilson outlines the difference between the three terms and what bookings-to-revenue ratios can tell you about your business’ financial health.

Learning lean innovation. Fast Company has an infographic that provides a speedy snapshot of how efficiently different countries around the world innovate and the U.S. isn’t looking too hot. Each country is represented by a ratio of how many patents it granted and the total wad it blew on R & D. The post writes that, “even though we grant more patents than any other country in the world, we also seem to simply throw money at the problem of innovation–and in the long run, that can’t be good for our own economic competitiveness.” For that we not only need to spend our money more wisely but direct more of it to products we can export rather than pharmaceuticals and war toys that change hands domestically. Here’s how you can partner with your customers to improve your R & D.

Hulu’s plans to go public Just three years since it was founded, the online TV and film site is prepping for an IPO as early as this fall. The New York Times reports that Hulu execs are already in talks with investment banks, and they estimate the company could be valued at more than $2 billion. Though the site gets most of its money from advertising dollars, and reported only $100 million in revenue last year, its recently introduced subscription services may help Hulu compete with Netflix, which also offers streaming video. Its toughest competitor, YouTube, was acquired by Google in 2006.

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YouTube – Google – Hulu – Fred Wilson – Virginia

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You know you have a brilliant idea for a business and you are convinced people will buy your product or service. Well, guess what. Even a good business idea might not be financially viable.

It’s all a matter of putting aside your ego and being willing to create a business that will not only survive, but thrive. If you have an idea for a new product or service, you can’t be afraid to rethink it and refine it, says Jim R. Sapp, national business consultant and author of Starting Your First Business. The more you set out to do before the launch, the less you’ll have to do afterwards, adds Sapp. Also, the less costly it will be trying to fix things.

Adrienne Simpson initially intended to run a traditional moving company out of her home in October 2002. The idea came to her after relocating her mother from Georgia to Michigan. “I thought I’d put everything in a box, put it on a truck and send her on her way. Oh, no! Mom started walking me through her home, pointing at things saying, ‘I’ll take that, let’s sell that, and I want to give that away,’” she recalls.

Simpson’s first business plan (she’s done five revisions in nine years) described the company as a packing service. But she soon realized that when the elderly move they often relocate to a smaller home, an apartment in a retirement community or an assisted living facility. “The process involves many steps and is very fragmented,” explains the certified trucker who can handle 18-wheelers.

By the second year of operation, Simpson shifted gears to make her Stone Mountain, Georgia-based company, Smooth Mooove, specialize in transporting seniors—and their beloved pets—and providing such value-add services as packaging, house cleaning, room reassembly, antique appraisals, estate sales, and charity donations. Her crew does everything: put clothes in the closets, hang drapes, make the bed, fill the refrigerator.

But even still business was stalling. “I knew how to run an existing company, but I didn’t know how to run a start-up,” says Simpson, who worked 20 years for Blue Cross/Blue Shield and 10 years with Cigna Healthcare.
Seeking money and marketing advice, Simpson went to the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) office in Atlanta and was connected to SCORE (Service Corps of Retired Executives) counselor Jeff Mesquita.

“When you position your company you have to think outside of the box in terms of what makes you different from the competition,” says Mesquita. “Adrienne described that what she does is move seniors from A to Z, so, when they arrive to their new home it is like walking into a hotel room.” The only thing her clients have to bring is the clothes on their back (and maybe their pet under their arm). That’s when Mesquita suggested the business name change to Smooth Mooove Senior Relocation Services.

That same night, Simpson went to a networking event. When people asked ‘what do you do?’ and her response was ‘I have a senior relocation service.’ Right away people said ‘Oh, you move seniors.” The business took off from there.

It goes without saying that it takes more than having the right business name to run a profitable business. So, how do you guarantee your product or service is a money-maker. Here are five ingredients to help you create a recipe for success.

How To Refine Your Business Idea: Test Your Idea

“The best way to test your idea is if you’re employed full-time and can sell your product or service in the marketplace on weekends,” says Sapp. If the business is already your day job, then you have to move quickly to test, verify, and tweak your model,” he adds.

Try surveys, polls, and focus groups to gain insight into attitudes about your business idea. Solicit feedback on the cheap by using online survey tools available through such services as Zommerang.com, Surveymonkey.com, and Constantcontact.com.

The goal is to get to know your customers intimately. What turns them on? What causes them to tune out? Are they impulse buyers or do they like to deliberate over their buying decisions? There are a lot of products that people like but don’t buy, says Sapp. The price might not be right, for example. Simpson charges $3,000 to move a two-bedroom apartment in Atlanta. That might seem pricey for someone on a fixed-income. Although seniors are Smooth Mooove’s end-users, direct clients are their Baby Boomer children.

“Use social media to hone in on certain groups that can become your focus group,” says Susan Friedmann, a nichepreneur coach, in Lake Placid, New York and author of Riches in Niches: How to Make it Big in a Small Market. “Check out chat rooms, communities on social networks like Ning or Facebook, industry groups within LinkedIn,” she says. “What are people discussing? Letters to the editor or articles in trade publications are resources for finding out about challenges in that particular industry. What are people writing about? What do people want to know about?” Knowing the answers to these types of questions may help you refine your idea.

Dig Deeper: How to Use Online Tools for Customer Surveys

How To Refine Your Business Idea: Size Up the Competition

Study your competition by visiting stores or locations where their products are offered. “Analyze the site, customers, traffic patterns, hours of operation, prices, quality of goods and services,” suggests Sapp. What if you want to open a new restaurant? For starters, create a list of restaurants in the area. Look at the menus, pricing, and additional features (e.g., valet parking or late night bar). Then check out the diners those restaurants appeal to. Are they young college students, neighbourhood employees, or families?

Become a customer of the competition. Go into stealth mode by visiting their website and putting yourself on their e-mail list. Talk to their customers to ask them what they like or don’t like about your competitor’s product or service. Also, review their company literature and marketing materials, says Mosquita. Read articles written on them.

Your aim is to understand what your competition is doing so you can do it better. Maybe their service is poor. Maybe their product has some flaws. Find your selling point. “You want to unearth the opportunities in the market, a niche that is not being served at all or not being served adequately,” says Friedmann.

Simpson’s strategic trade mark is that her competitors move things but her company moves people. Smooth Mooove has a staff of 15, three trucks and a luxury passenger van, moving anywhere from 30 to 50 clients a month. The business, which had gross revenues were just under $500,000 in 2009, covers Alabama, Arkansas, the Carolinas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Tennessee, and Virginia. Moreover, Simpson has received 1,500 inquiries from around the world about franchising her business idea.

Dig Deeper: How to Keep Tabs on the Competition

How To Refine Your Business Idea: Convene With Your Suppliers

This includes manufacturers, wholesalers and retailers. “Talk to vendors who service your customers. They may be willing to share market research they have done on your industry,” says Sapp. Talking to suppliers can tell you a great deal about how your industry works, which product lines are selling off the shelves, and why some companies are more successful at marketing their products than others.

Attend trade shows, conventions, and local business association meetings—anywhere people in your industry gather. “The most important aspects of what is going on in any particular industry is going to be found at a trade show,” says Friedmann. “It can be through the educational sessions or from the exhibiting vendors, which will give you good sense of what’s hot and what’s not.”

Dig Deeper: How to Boost Traffic at Your Trade Show Booth

How To Refine Your Business Idea: Do the Math

Don’t overestimate your sales and under estimate your costs, says Mosquita. Research what your optimal sales should be. “Talk to other business owners and leaders in your industry, join a trade association, do whatever it takes to get an accurate estimate of your revenues that first year in business,” suggests Mosquita. Suppliers also may be able to tell you what price potential customers would be willing to pay for the products or services you want to sell.

To test how your business idea will fare, you should prepare a “break-even analysis.” This is where you project income and expenses for a year to determine whether your business will make enough sales revenue to pay for its expenses.

Dig Deeper: Business Forecasting in a Crazy, Mixed-up World

How To Refine Your Business Idea: Talk to the Pros

Seek out counselors and talk to industry veterans. Simpson went to SCORE, the SBA and the Women’s Economic Development Agency. She also joined the National Association of Senior Move Managers. The Internet, your local library, the U.S. Census Bureau, business schools, industry associations, can be invaluable sources of information and contacts. For instance, you might approach business schools in your area to see if one of their marketing classes will take on your business as a test project. You could potentially get some valuable market research results at no cost.

Dig Deeper: How to Find a Business Mentor

Business – Facebook – Social network – Small business – LinkedIn

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How To Refine Your Business Idea | Start-up

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“How is ‘not giving a crap about your customer’ giving you good Return on Investment?” shouts Gary Vaynerchuk, the over-the-top host of WineLibrary.tv. He’s talking about whether Social Media has good ROI, and the crowd is applauding for him. Gary has famously made Conan O’Brian eat dirt on TV to understand the soil notes in wine, and shared drinks on his show with Wayne Gretzky and Jim Cramer. Vaynerchuk “brings the thunder” to his thousands of online video fans every week.

His famous energy was in full force at Internet Week New York’s stage yesterday for a discussion of new business models, and he was as outspoken as usual. Vaynerchuck had solid business trends advice for discussion with his audience. (The entire presentation is available as a video.) His 2008 book, Gary Vaynerchuk’s 101 Wines: Guaranteed to Inspire, Delight, and Bring Thunder to Your World is still number 17 on Amazon’s wine collecting list, and Crush It! Why NOW Is the Time to Cash In on Your Passion) was an Inc. recommendation for Best Books for Business Owners in 2009.

Gary’s not just an Internet guy. The author, speaker, and investor was raised in retail, and grew his family wine store from a $4 million dollar a year operation to $45 million a year in 5 years. When we spoke yesterday after his appearance, he emphasized the fact that his experience online and as an angel investor and social media advisor to companies is solidly based on his retail and business experience.

Vaynerchuk’s advice to companies thinking about starting up today includes three key ideas. First he covered the “freemium” business model and the “App Store” small payment model. Freemium is when a customer can try a basic version of a product or service for free, but additional services, capacity or functionality (premium) require a subscription or payment. Customers get hooked, many stay for free, but the paying customers pay for the whole service. (Inc. writer Jason Fried’s 37 Signals products were one of Gary’s examples.) The app store model shows that customers are fine with paying a small price for some small functionality, as we see in the Apple and other mobile application stores. The things they love, they share with their friends. Call it the new “frugality.” People are buying new things more often at a lower cost, so Vaynerchuk advised businesses to think about how they can use these models. He suggested creating some things to sell at small prices, and premium up sells to generate regular income streams. “If I started my WineLibrary.Tv show today, I’d do 2 shows a week for free, and charge for the others.”

His second piece of advice was to think about simplicity and limiting choice, like Groupon, GiltGroup and Woot.com. These businesses are known for offering different, limited products or deals every day until they run out. Gary decided to test this in his retail store. Where he once had an alcove near the front with 10 bargain wines, he now has only one wine on display. How has lack of choice affected this high traffic area of the store? “We’re crushing it – we’re selling these bottles at a staggering rate, one that trumps residual loss of not selling many products in that space.” This lead to the launch of CinderallaWine.com, which sells only one type of wine for a few hours, each day. It’s both a deal, and a limitation of choice. “People are overwhelmed these days, so limiting options is very successful. Simple decisions are exploding in value.”

Finally, he’s excited about location-based mobile services like FourSquare and GoWalla. “Anyone in marketing who doesn’t understand that this lets consumers have the ability to be rewarded at the point of purchase or for going to a specific location is missing out.” You can use these services to reward people and move them to locations. “Expiring inventory like seats at a concert, food going bad, inventory in marketing that brands sponsor, how much is that number on a daily basis? The number is F***ing huge with enormous value and the best platform to move it is geolocation based mobile platforms.” When friends don’t understand why they’d use these “check-in services” he asks “Don’t you want a free beer for going to a restaurant?”

Finally, I had a chance to ask Vaynerchuk the investor what he looks for in new business pitches. “The person, first and foremost, and how they explain the way the business will make money. 95% of people can’t answer that simple question. The idea is a close second.” What’s he looking at for investment these days? “Apps and freemium based businesses, of course, and also Tea. Tea is going to be big in this country. We’re eating more Asian style. Similar to wine culture, people collect tea, learn about it, sample it, compare it. There’s also a health factor – people are discovering how good tea is for them and that matches with the general health trend. I’m going to China and India to learn more about it.”

Given his energy and drive, it’s likely Vaynerchuk will “crush it” with tea the way he has with wine. How do these business trends impact your business? Let us know in the comments below.

Gary Vaynerchuk – Apple – Crush It!: Why NOW Is the Time to Cash In on Your Passion – Wayne Gretzky – Business

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