An Entrepreneur Blog: Entrepreneurship, Administration, Strategy, Internet, Technologies, Social Media, Organizational Change and more!

Image taken from Flickr.com

When an entrepreneur decides to create a business one of the first things in which he has to think is the strategy. With a correct strategy he will achieve a competitive advantage with actions that protrude the company’s potential and in this way the business will achieve its objectives and goals. However in some occasions entrepreneurs decide to talk about strategy without talking about indicators. This is a huge mistake because a strategy tries to conquer objectives and in order to do this it is necessary to constantly measure the advance in the procurement of these objectives. If the objectives are not being achieved the strategy must be changed, but the entrepreneur will only know this if he has indicators that tells him how is the strategy working.

So it is very important that entrepreneurs and their team determine performance indicators. In this post I will explain the general methodology to create indicators that measure the success of our strategy in order to achieve the entrepreneurship objectives.

Imagen tomada de Flickr.com

For this fourth article, I'll be talking about the most popular Internet video platform in the world: YouTube. But before I start, let me explain why I believe YouTube is a social network, as many people only see it as a video distribution platform. First and foremost, YouTube allows the publication of user generated content (users and companies). In fact, this is the main idea of YouTube, a characteristic shared with other social networks. Also, since users can share others users' content and comment on them, this emphasizes the idea of YouTube being a social network.

YouTube is neither for everybody nor for every company. You have to understand if this site is right for your needs and if it fits with your physical and Internet strategy. To illustrate this, let me share with you a short example.

Image taken from Flickr.com

This is the last post of a series of articles I decided to write about the traits that I consider an entrepreneur should have in order to be successful. As I mentioned before even though these are the last traits I will make reference to it does not means that they are less important that the ones I mentioned on the other posts. In this way these last traits are related with the way the entrepreneur works.

According to this, the ninth trait I consider an entrepreneur must have in order to be successful is being a good leader. A successful entrepreneurship needs that the people involved in it do the chores they have to do and in the best way they can. In order to accomplish this a good leader is required, because as the head of the entrepreneurship he must achieve that everyone works in what they have to work without anyone telling them what to do. Also if a problem occurs with the human resources that work around the entrepreneurship he will have to face it and fix as harmoniously as possible.

Imagen tomada de Flickr.com

For the third article in this series, I will talk about the strategic presence in the second most popular social network in the world: Twitter. Although Twitter is far from achieving the 1 billion active users Facebook says it has, they currently have a respectful 300 million users worldwide. This is a big audience anyway you look at it and here you will find many possibilities for your company and brands.

In order to achieve success in Twitter, you have to analyze the main characteristics and limitations this network has to offer. Then, by understanding these items, you'll be able to create your own strategy for Twitter. The first thing to keep in mind, is that unlike Facebook that can be labeled as a "general social network" for everybody, allowing you to post texts, videos, pictures and more, Twitter was design to deliver a maximum of 140 characters at a time. This is very important, as this restriction starts to define the audience you will be reaching.

Image taken from Flickr.com

Taking into consideration what I have written in the series: “Successful entrepreneur´s traits”, in this article I will present the traits number seven and eight that I consider are fundamental for entrepreneurs in order to be successful. The fact that they occupy these positions does not means that they are less important that the ones I have presented until this point. All of them including the ones I will present on the next post are listed here because they make entrepreneurs act in a way that will help them achieve their goals.

Hence the trait number seven that all entrepreneurs should have in order to be successful is being self-critical. In this way he must accept that he does not know the absolute truth and in this way he knows when to ask for help and when to delegate tasks that others can make in a better way. He will also recognize when he has been successful knowing when to benefit from these situations but he´ll also recognize in which cases he has been wrong and learn from this mistakes. In conclusion a self-critical entrepreneur knows which are his strengths and weaknesses and he will act according to them: taking advantage of the first ones and leaning on others in the second case.

Imagen tomada de Flickr.com

In the first article of this series, I talked about the importance of thinking about Social Networks in terms of strategy. If you haven't read this article, I invite you to do it, as you'll understand some of the topics discussed here. For this article I will deal with the world's largest social network: Facebook.

It's no coincidence that a large number of the world's companies have placed their eyes on Facebook. According to this networks latest stats, they have more than 1 billion active users. They define an active user as someone who has logged into Facebook at least once during the last month, using any platform, such as a computer, cell phone, tablet or others.

Image taken from Flickr.com

This post is the third part of a series of articles I wanted to write about the traits I consider important in order to become successful entrepreneurs. Being in the exact middle of the series I will expose two traits, which relate with the entrepreneur and the goals and objectives he wants to achieve.

The first trait I will present is the capacity the entrepreneur has to set clear goals. This means that he must know where he is and where is his finish line including what he wants to achieve and how is he going to close the gaps between his starting point and this goal, that must be among others, ambitious and achievable. This is important because moreover than starting projects to achieve goals, with these actions the entrepreneur will remain motivated. Lets remember that entrepreneurs generally are people that don’t like comfort zone because they want to achieve more than what they have. This is why it is essential for them to have the capacity to establish goals that will take him out from this comfort zone. It is also important to mention that the capacity to establish goals is not static and that with time the entrepreneur´s goals must change into new and more demanding challenges.

Imagen tomada de Flickr.com

A couple years ago, I started writing in An Entrepreneur Blog about the importance of thinking of Internet and its relation with Strategies. I decided to write about this because I believe it's a misunderstood subject that is very important for entrepreneurs and all type of companies. Also because this is what I deal with in my daily life as an Internet Strategist in my consulting firm.

One of the topics of Internet Strategy is Strategy in Social Media, in sites such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Pinterest and others. For this reason, I've decided to write a small series about this subjects that you will find published in this blog during the following weeks.

Image taken from Flickr.com

I recently saw the phrase I use as tittle for this article (actually it was in Spanish, but you get the idea) and it caught my attention. Life has taught me that the attitude you project is a key factor in your success or failure and this is why I thought this is a great phrase. As author Jeff Keller says, Attitude is Everything (by the way, I highly recommend this book). To accomplish any goal, you will require knowledge, work, a bit of luck and why not, a great deal of positive attitude.

University (College), high profile degrees like MBA, most books and life experiences will lead the way to success, including being a successful entrepreneur. However you don't have to have an MBA degree to be a successful entrepreneur, but the information gained can certainly help along the way. Consider a Gannon online MBA degree and get started today.

Here are other articles that have been published recently:

• Successful entrepreneur’s traits (part 2)
• Introduction to the Minimum Viable Product (MVP)
• Successful entrepreneur’s traits (part 1)
• How much money should you ask your investors for?
• Prepare yourself to reach for your Goals
• The order affects the outcome: First traction then investment
• It's Time to Take a Pause!
• Don’t let them convince you: Your Idea is not crazy
• Is it possible to keep working with long-term strategies?
• Working with Difficult People
• Don’t keep trash in your Business: Neither more nor less that what you need
• Today we Launch SecretosDeLaFlorida.com
• Human Resources: More tan resources, allies (Part 2)
• Internet: Transcending Web Pages and Social Networks
• Human Resources: More tan resources, allies (Part 1)

To find other articles, please use the search option at the top of this page or browse the Site Map.