Standing Cloud Originals Business Blog: March 2017

Monday, March 27, 2017

8 Ways a Vision Statement Adds Value to Any Business

Vision statements get a bad rap for a couple of reasons. First, they’re ill-defined by people who confuse vision with a strategy. Second, they’re written to the same level of detail as a construction team's blueprint for a new house. Would you remember every detail? Of course not (and if you would then I want to know your powers).

Contrary to the "uselessness" of a vision statement reported by some, they do serve a purpose: to identify a company’s future optimal state. If you don't know what "right" looks like, then nothing is wrong. To minimize confusion, here are eight ways vision statements add value:

Sunday, March 26, 2017

The Top 4 Wrong Reasons to Seek Investors

A popular myth these days is that successful entrepreneurs must attract investors to get their businesses going, when the reality has been that more than 80 percent of new businesses are started and grown with no outside investment at all. In fact, there is plenty of evidence that too much money can undermine a startup more quickly than squeezing pennies.

The cost of entry to entrepreneurship is lower than ever, due to smartphone apps and powerful free tools to create websites and ecommerce offerings. Yet many entrepreneurs rely on expensive outside services and outside money, rather than do the networking for a co-founder or two who have the right skills to work for equity. Bootstrapping not only reduces cash needs, but increases commitment.
Many of the best entrepreneurs I see find themselves besieged by investors, and have actively turned them away, at least until they reach a point of valuation and scaling where they don’t have to give away a lion’s share of ownership and control. Here is a summary of the top four wrong reasons I see for looking for investors:

Awesome Business Ideas

College Counseling. College counsellors come in all shapes and sizes. Their primary duty is to help guide students through an important period in their lives. Some counselors focus on admissions, career advice, financial aid, athletics, extracurricular activities, and other concerns. There are institutions looking out for part-time college counselors, or you can start your own practice and charge anywhere from $25-$100+ per hour for your consultative services if you're well-versed on the subject.
Public Speaking.If you have the gift of gab, public speaking is a worthwhile side business to pursue. Many authors, medical practitioners, scientists, artisans, politicians, and other subject matter experts earn extra income by delivering speeches, seminars, and presentations. Professional motivational speakers earn an average annual salary of around $90,000 with just that portion of their business.
Yard Work Services.A large proportion of homeowners and small businesses have lawns to tend to. Many turn to independent providers of yard work services to take care of their lawn care woes. To start and sustain a yard work services side business, you need training, equipment, and a growing network of customers. A full-time landscaping and groundskeeping worker earns a median wage of around $25,000, while those working on the side during evenings and weekends can expect to make substantially less.
Working on Mechanical Turk.Mechanical Turk operates much like TaskRabbit and GigWalk: it’s a corner on cyberspace where Amazon gathers tasks to be done, people willing to do them, and people willing to pay for them. On Mechanical Turk, you get to do the oddest jobs you can imagine, made possible by a parallel online universe that runs on hits, visits, surveys, reviews, pins, likes, CPCs, reads, and other metrics. But don’t get too ambitious. The small sums being paid out to human Mechanical Turk users rarely add up to anything substantial, even if you invest most of your spare time into it. It's a better opportunity for internationally-based people with internet access and lower costs of living than in the US.