Modern Entrepreneurs

I have friends in all different types of businesses:  Builders, Real Estate Agents, Personal Trainers, Manufacturers, Distributors, etc.  Each of them is successful in their own right.  What I want to talk about are Modern Entrepreneurs and some of their characteristics.

·         Branding:  I know what you’re going to say, “Branding is nothing new it’s been around since the beginning of bartering.”  I know, however the Modern Entrepreneurs are not branding their product, company or service, they are Branding themselves!  This is something unheard of in the past.  Imagine Phil Knight branding himself instead of NIKE or Ray Crock branding himself instead of McDonalds.  Who knows how it would have worked. 

·         Online Presence:  In this day and age if you and/or your company are not online you’re not in business!  I had a rental property that needed yard work done and my normal guy is no longer in the business, so I had to find someone new.  Where do you think I looked?  I don’t even know if I have a phone book!  You guessed it, Google and within 10 min I had a scheduled estimate for the next day.  Don’t fight what is, just adapt and learn.

·         Marketing:  Again, something that isn’t new but the rules have changed.  No longer is it necessary to spend thousands of dollars with an Ad Agency to get the word out.  The Modern Entrepreneurs are using tools like Facebook, Twitter, Blogs, Youtube, Google, etc to get their marketing out.  The Greatest part about these tools is that you don’t waste any of your Marketing.  If you know what you’re doing, the people who respond to your Marketing may as well consider themselves sold!

·         Overhead:  Most traditional businesses require a substantial amount of overhead.  Inventory, Insurance, Payroll, etc.  In this day and age being profitable is easier than ever.  You’ve got options like affiliates, MLM, Direct Sales.  All of these business models are EXTREMELY profitable but you better understand the first three bullet points!

I hope you understand that as time changes so do the opportunities.  The basic principles still remain the same but these are different times with different business models.  I have a friend who works NON-STOP, literally.  He is also very successful with tons of employees overhead and headaches with his traditional business.  I’ve also got another friend, one of the Modern Entrepreneurs, who works about 30 hours/week with none of the above mentioned overhead and makes more money.  It truly does pay to be one of the Modern Entrepreneurs.