How to Turn a Business Failure Into a Success

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business failure into success

 

“I didn’t see it then, but it turned out that getting fired from Apple was the best thing that could have ever happened to me. The heaviness of being successful was replaced with the lightness of being a beginner again, less sure about everything. It freed me to enter one of the most creative periods of my life.” – Steve Jobs

One of the most famous Steve Jobs quotes references the time he was pushed out of what was once his own company, Apple. While being fired marked the beginning of “one of the most creative periods of his life,” it probably didn’t feel like it in the moment. Stomach-churning, ego-wrecking failure is often a part of the entrepreneurial life. What marks those entrepreneurs that find a way to turn that failure into a business success is the ability to stop focusing on the fact that they did not succeed, and instead view the failure as an opportunity to learn, grow and become a smarter, better business owner than before. This is because failure forces you to … [Read more…]

Discover the Age These Famous Entrepreneurs Got Their Start

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Copy of Myth-2 Before starting a company, most future entrepreneurs wrestle with reasons they shouldn’t take the plunge. Of course losing money and having to drastically reduce personal time are on this list of fears for startup owners, but there’s another key factor that can prevent entrepreneurs from pursuing their dreams: age. Older people fear their time has passed, and they won’t have the energy to start a business. Middle-aged people feel more responsibility to provide for children and aging parents, and don’t think the risk of starting their own company is worth it. Young people worry they lack the experience and knowledge to run their own company. While all of these are valid concerns, we want to encourage those with solid business ideas to think instead about the positive aspects of their age over the negative. Not sure what those are? Read on. [Read more…]

Why Students Should Be Taught Entrepreneurship

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arkansas entrepreneur In most fields, a lack of innovation usually results in a downward spiral of the entire industry, and the same is true of education. For too long, children have been taught their ABCs and 123s without enough education on how their knowledge will apply in the real world, and too many unique teens with different goals, talents and gifts have been forced down the same conventional path like it’s a one size fits all solution. While many things need to change to fix this problem, there’s one great place to start: teach entrepreneurship to students. Here’s why: [Read more…]

Arkansas Small Businesses to Watch

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Arkansas small business We’ve been celebrating Small Business Week at Arkansas Capital, and we can’t help but feel thankful we’ve gotten to play a part in many of the outstanding small businesses in central Arkansas. While we could probably write an entire book on incredible Arkansas businesses, we’ve managed to narrow down our list to three Arkansas small businesses to watch. [Read more…]

How To Write A Business Plan That Attracts Investors

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arkansas small business loans It’s amazing how quickly an idea can come to you, and mostly when you aren’t even trying. Whoever came up with the shower caddy was just taking a shower and needed more space for his Old Spice collection. You’re in an everyday situation, a need appears, and you have this brilliant lightbulb moment where you figure out a way to fill that need – and the first seed of a business plan is planted. But that seed needs to be nourished in order to grow. There’s research to do, kinks to be worked out, money and resources to procure, people that need convincing. The list can get overwhelming after that initial creative jolt your brain just offered you dies down. It’s important to stay motivated! And to create a business plan that will get you noticed. [Read more…]

Arkansas Capital Corporation Group 3 Ted Talks Every Entrepreneur Should Watch

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The Internet has made the entrepreneurs of today some of the luckiest of all time. Not only is it now easier to run a business and promote products and services because of the web, but entrepreneurs also have a wealth of information from the world’s greatest minds right at their fingertips. What once would have required clearing out a spot on your calendar to attend a conference or speaking engagement, buying a ticket, and paying for travel costs such as gas, food and possibly a hotel, now only takes a click of a button.

Arkansas entrepreneurs should be taking full advantage of this incredible learning opportunity, and TED Talks are a great way to get started. We have rounded up a few of our favorites below.

How to pitch a VC: David S. Rose

A self-proclaimed “serial entrepreneur turned serial investor,” David S. Rose has been on both the giving and receiving side of VC pitches, giving him a well-rounded perspective on the process. Known as “The Pitch Coach,” he has personally raised tens of millions of dollars for his ventures, and then has also supervised the investment of tens of millions of dollars. In a fast and furious 14 minutes and 35 seconds, Rose breaks down the key points every entrepreneur should know going into a VC pitch, from the main qualities investors look for in an entrepreneur to presentation tips.

“You’ve got to convey passion. If you’re not passionate about your own company, why should anybody else be?

Success, Failure, and the Drive to Keep Creating: Elizabeth Gilbert

The life of an entrepreneur is full of a range of failures and successes, creating an emotional roller coaster that can make pressing on in a venture difficult in both success and failure. Eat, Pray, Love author Elizabeth Gilbert discusses how she found failure and success oddly similar to her, and how she kept both from derailing her career.

 “The only trick is that you’ve got to identify the best, worthiest thing you love most and then build your house right on top of it and don’t budge from it.”

The Single Biggest Reason Startups Succeed: Bill Gross

Idea Lab founder Bill Gross has spent his entire life starting businesses. Many have succeeded, and many have failed. As Gross began to explore the key factors that contribute to the success of a venture, he found one old adage to be true: timing is everything.

 “I believe the startup is one of the greatest forms to make the world a better place. If you take a group of people, with the right equity and incentives, and organize them in a startup, you can unlock human potential in a way never before possible. You get them to achieve unbelievable things.”

4 Myths About Startups Everyone Thinks Are True (But Aren’t)

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For those who have spent their careers working for companies in traditional 9 to 5 roles, startups are shrouded in mystery. This often leads to the general public painting their own (and at times misinformed) pictures of what startup life must be like. While some of these common ideals may be accurate, a few couldn’t be further from the truth. Here, we’ve listed out 5 of the most common misconceptions about startups, and why they’re not true.

  1. As long as an entrepreneur is passionate about their idea, everything will work out.

While it’s true most entrepreneurs do have a passion for their business, it takes so much more than passion to build a successful operation. For starters, the entrepreneur has to be excited about a business venture that is actually sustainable and beneficial to society. Even then, passion for a great idea isn’t enough for a successful business, which brings us to our next startup myth …

  1. A great idea guarantees a successful business.

The best idea in the world can fail if the proper business plan isn’t in place. The initial idea is merely a springboard for creating a successful business, not the determining factor in the success or failure of the entire venture.

  1. Most startup owners are 24-year-olds who wear hoodies to work.

The Silicon Valley stereotype has become the image that pops into most people’s heads with they think of startups, but the hoodie-wearing college dropout represents a small fraction of entrepreneurs. The startup community is a group of diverse, dynamic dreamers with a wide variety of backgrounds … and wardrobe choices.

  1. Once a startup has money from an investor, it’s all smooth sailing.

First off, let’s debunk the myth that startups ever reach a phase of “smooth sailing.” While the necessary time commitment will definitely lessen as the business becomes more stable, a truly great company must constantly be innovating, learning and improving its services or product. Secondly, startups with ample investment capital flop everyday. While funding is nice, it merely provides startup entrepreneurs the means to keep growing and bettering their businesses, not assurance that the company will thrive.

3 Ted Talks Every Entrepreneur Should Watch

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Untitled design-33 The Internet has made the entrepreneurs of today some of the luckiest of all time. Not only is it now easier to run a business and promote products and services because of the web, but entrepreneurs also have a wealth of information from the world’s greatest minds right at their fingertips. What once would have required clearing out a spot on your calendar to attend a conference or speaking engagement, buying a ticket, and paying for travel costs such as gas, food and possibly a hotel, now only takes a click of a button. Arkansas entrepreneurs should be taking full advantage of this incredible learning opportunity, and TED Talks are a great way to get started. We have rounded up a few of our favorites below. [Read more…]

4 Myths About Startups Everyone Thinks Are True (But Aren’t)

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arkansas startupsFor those who have spent their careers working for companies in traditional 9 to 5 roles, startups are shrouded in mystery. This often leads to the general public painting their own (and at times misinformed) pictures of what startup life must be like. While some of these common ideals may be accurate, a few couldn’t be further from the truth. Here, we’ve listed out 5 of the most common misconceptions about startups, and why they’re not true. [Read more…]

3 Office Personalities and The Apps They Need to Excel

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arkansas small business apps It seems as if hundreds of apps are developed and placed on the App store every day. You know for a fact there’s some gold amongst all the clutter, but just like every other hard-working American you have no time to go digging for that perfect app that’s going to fit your specific needs. Technology was invented to provide efficiency and blogs were invented to inform and advise, so we think this combination was a match made in app heaven. Below is a list of helpful apps that will help make it feel like you magically were able to cram 28 hours into a 24 hour day. [Read more…]

The Best Small Business Hiring Practices

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Untitled design In a poll taken by SCORE.org, small business owners stated that hiring new employees was their biggest challenge of 2015 with growing revenues and increasing profits coming in at close second and third place, respectively. And there’s no guessing game as to why. The Department of Labor estimates employee turnover and bad hires could cost a company 30 percent of its yearly earnings (SBA.gov). Adding a new employee means adding a new paycheck amount to payroll, fringe and benefits, loss of time needed to mentor, train, and guide, etc. All of these things hit a small business owner’s wallet harder than that of a larger corporation, so it’s even more important to a small business that a new hire is a good fit, there for the long haul, and profitable. Of course, there is no perfect hiring guide. As a small business owner, there is rarely (if ever) free time to peruse the average 250 resumes a job post will receive, interview the top candidates, perform background checks, call references, and the list goes on. But there are smart practices to help you with the process and provide you with the best candidate for the job. [Read more…]