Seriously? This is the question of the day? When people are still voicing serious and legitimate concerns about the rest of the economy? We're talking about a company with enough money in the bank to make a Goldman Sachs-sized investment in Facebook if it wanted to, more than triple the amount Dell had in the bank at the end of the last quarter, plus more than five times the amount HP had too, while we're at it.
Let's look at a number for a minute: Apple has 51 billion dollars in cash. That's 51,000,000,000 bucks. Or, approximately the amount of money it takes to fill a vault-slash-swimming-pool. Who has that kind of money these days and didn't get it via government bailout? Apple, that's who. What is its secret? It made that money the old-fashioned way, by selling new-fashioned things.
In a time when few companies are profitable and everyone's excited about a flat line since it isn't a downward curve, Apple is making money iHand over iFist. One could presume from this that analysts and others who watch CNBC professionally would be excited about a company with growth and profitability in the current climate. However, that's not the case.
Remember when Apple wasn't doing well? Those bygone days when people may have actually believed the name of the company was "Beleaguered Apple Computer?" Well, once Uncle Steve made his return in 1996, that started to turn around. Apple Computer started making things that start with "i," and in 2001 with the launch of the iPod, Apple was officially cool again. You know, unless you were an analyst on Wall Street, in which case Apple wasn't cool, it was just less lame than before. But seriously, have you seen what sort of stock prices Dell and HP have these days? Now those are tech companies.
I call shenanigans! Now, instead of being impressed with profitability, the question is "Oh sure, you're all profitable, but can you stay that way?" Apple hasn't proven that yet? Explain to me how making ANY money in a time of unprecedented financial volatility is something that gets played down. What will it take before Apple gets a fair shake? A brand new device that sells a million units in three months? Try two and a half. A new version of the same thing released a year later, how long did that take to sell a million? Three days.
Find and replace "Apple" with a non-tech company in some of these articles and see if it still makes as much sense. Just the iPhone product line by itself is bigger than Coca-Cola, but Apple still gets dismissed like this?
Someone needs to have a little heart-to-heart talk with some of these guys. Apparently they've all had their heads down in their BlackBerrys for so long that they don't realize it's cool these days to carry around something Designed In Cupertino. Clearly a lot of other people have figured it out -- what's stopping Wall Street from seeing the light?
I’ve never really been a fan of business competitions, primarily because of their notorious emphasis on business plans. Your business idea will change so much it’s mind blowing — so much so that writing a business plan could be counter productive.
This year, however, I won first place in the Fall 2010 CSU Chico Business Competition for my current start up, Bizness Apps, which led to my first angel investors. Two teachers involved in the competition were so impressed with my start up that they set up a lunch meeting with my current investors. Take advantage of these opportunities – even if the first place cash prize is only $300 bucks!
You never know who will be in attendance at these events, and at the very least it gives you valuable experience in pitching a concept in a professional setting. By entering business competitions you have everything to gain and nothing to lose. Don’t worry about people stealing your idea – if you don’t win the contest why would a contestant want to steal a losing idea? On the flip side, if you win people will look to you as the person who can pull the concept off.
4. Learn outside of the classroom
Build a library full of business books and read all of them. Learn to read a book in a day or two. Scan through the parts that you’re already familiar with in order to get through the book quickly. I usually aim to read 3-4 books a week. Teach yourself everything you need to know in order to make your start up successful.
Be very selective and know what you are looking to take away from every book. I wanted to focus on effective simplicity, which led me to the book Rework by the founders of 37Signals. When I wanted to learn about the early stages of startup life, I read Founders at Work by Y Combinator founding partner Jessica Livingston, a collection of interviews with largely successful entrepreneurs.
When you set out to acquire knowledge, be sure it’s relevant to your situation.
5. Use your surroundings for business idea inspiration
It only makes sense when setting out on your venture to immerse yourself in something you are knowledgeable and passionate about. In my case I looked towards my obsession with my iPhone, and I began paying attention to how smart phones were changing the way people interacted with businesses.
It wasn’t very long before I realized that there was an enormous opportunity to help the average business owner connect with their clientele on a mobile level. While I knew that a business would love to have a presence in the pocket of their customers at all times, I also wanted there to be a significant value for the person using the app as well. By looking towards my own habits, and that of my peers, I was able to develop a solution that was beneficial to both the business and consumer.
Talk often with your target markets to be sure you’re on the right path. It is so easy to get carried away with an idea that you think is great but offers little to no real value to your clients. It seems obvious, but always pay attention to feedback and structure your decisions around what your environment is telling you.
6. Just do it
This is probably my biggest piece of advice for college entrepreneurs: just do it! There is no better time in your life to start a company. You have little to no responsibilities, you’re surrounded my people who can help you, and now is the best time in your life to take on risk!
Got a business idea you’ve been bouncing around in your head? Just do it. Don’t wait until tomorrow, next week, or next month. Start building traction today.
In my experience, the biggest hurdle of starting a business is actually doing it. When you start a business, it’s fine not to know everything or even have a ‘solid’ business plan. In fact, most companies deviate significantly from their original plan! These things will fall into place and the things you learn along the way will last a lifetime. To get to this point though, you have to stop planning and start doing.
I’m a huge supporter of the “minimum viable product” business strategy, which advocates to move quickly, get your product out fast, and improve your product with feedback. You shove your product out into the market knowing it has bugs, knowing it could be improved — but you do this to simply start building your business.
By implementing this strategy you are building traction everyday. You stop thinking and you start acting. This is the single biggest step for an entrepreneur. Just do it!
Andrew Gazdecki is the founder and CEO of Bizness Apps, a do-it-yourself iPhone app platform that allows small businesses to easily create, edit, and manage an iPhone app online without any programming knowledge needed. He is 22, attending CSU Chico full time pursuing a Business Marketing degree, and will graduate in the Spring of 2011.
Next Story: Deals & More: Wild Needle scores $2.5M for social, mobile games, trueAnthem grabs $2.9M for ad-supported music service Previous Story: Eye-Fi cards will be able to upload photos to your smartphones and tablets
Foot-and-Mouth Outbreak Spreads Through South Korea - AOL <b>News</b>
South Korea is suffering its worst-ever outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease, with the highly contagious virus spreading to farms across the country despite a nationwide quarantine effort.
Are Korea's “Bending” away from Bluster? « Liveshots
LONDON After a 2010 that saw the Korean peninsula edge towards the brink of nuclear Armageddon,
Study: US Bumblebee Population in Sharp Decline - AOL <b>News</b>
The population of bumblebees in the United States is in a kind of free fall, dropping 96 percent over the past two decades, according to a new study that has scientists alarmed. Four species of bumblebees are in a rapid decline, ...
robert shumake
Foot-and-Mouth Outbreak Spreads Through South Korea - AOL <b>News</b>
South Korea is suffering its worst-ever outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease, with the highly contagious virus spreading to farms across the country despite a nationwide quarantine effort.
Are Korea's “Bending” away from Bluster? « Liveshots
LONDON After a 2010 that saw the Korean peninsula edge towards the brink of nuclear Armageddon,
Study: US Bumblebee Population in Sharp Decline - AOL <b>News</b>
The population of bumblebees in the United States is in a kind of free fall, dropping 96 percent over the past two decades, according to a new study that has scientists alarmed. Four species of bumblebees are in a rapid decline, ...
robert shumake detroit
Seriously? This is the question of the day? When people are still voicing serious and legitimate concerns about the rest of the economy? We're talking about a company with enough money in the bank to make a Goldman Sachs-sized investment in Facebook if it wanted to, more than triple the amount Dell had in the bank at the end of the last quarter, plus more than five times the amount HP had too, while we're at it.
Let's look at a number for a minute: Apple has 51 billion dollars in cash. That's 51,000,000,000 bucks. Or, approximately the amount of money it takes to fill a vault-slash-swimming-pool. Who has that kind of money these days and didn't get it via government bailout? Apple, that's who. What is its secret? It made that money the old-fashioned way, by selling new-fashioned things.
In a time when few companies are profitable and everyone's excited about a flat line since it isn't a downward curve, Apple is making money iHand over iFist. One could presume from this that analysts and others who watch CNBC professionally would be excited about a company with growth and profitability in the current climate. However, that's not the case.
Remember when Apple wasn't doing well? Those bygone days when people may have actually believed the name of the company was "Beleaguered Apple Computer?" Well, once Uncle Steve made his return in 1996, that started to turn around. Apple Computer started making things that start with "i," and in 2001 with the launch of the iPod, Apple was officially cool again. You know, unless you were an analyst on Wall Street, in which case Apple wasn't cool, it was just less lame than before. But seriously, have you seen what sort of stock prices Dell and HP have these days? Now those are tech companies.
I call shenanigans! Now, instead of being impressed with profitability, the question is "Oh sure, you're all profitable, but can you stay that way?" Apple hasn't proven that yet? Explain to me how making ANY money in a time of unprecedented financial volatility is something that gets played down. What will it take before Apple gets a fair shake? A brand new device that sells a million units in three months? Try two and a half. A new version of the same thing released a year later, how long did that take to sell a million? Three days.
Find and replace "Apple" with a non-tech company in some of these articles and see if it still makes as much sense. Just the iPhone product line by itself is bigger than Coca-Cola, but Apple still gets dismissed like this?
Someone needs to have a little heart-to-heart talk with some of these guys. Apparently they've all had their heads down in their BlackBerrys for so long that they don't realize it's cool these days to carry around something Designed In Cupertino. Clearly a lot of other people have figured it out -- what's stopping Wall Street from seeing the light?
I’ve never really been a fan of business competitions, primarily because of their notorious emphasis on business plans. Your business idea will change so much it’s mind blowing — so much so that writing a business plan could be counter productive.
This year, however, I won first place in the Fall 2010 CSU Chico Business Competition for my current start up, Bizness Apps, which led to my first angel investors. Two teachers involved in the competition were so impressed with my start up that they set up a lunch meeting with my current investors. Take advantage of these opportunities – even if the first place cash prize is only $300 bucks!
You never know who will be in attendance at these events, and at the very least it gives you valuable experience in pitching a concept in a professional setting. By entering business competitions you have everything to gain and nothing to lose. Don’t worry about people stealing your idea – if you don’t win the contest why would a contestant want to steal a losing idea? On the flip side, if you win people will look to you as the person who can pull the concept off.
4. Learn outside of the classroom
Build a library full of business books and read all of them. Learn to read a book in a day or two. Scan through the parts that you’re already familiar with in order to get through the book quickly. I usually aim to read 3-4 books a week. Teach yourself everything you need to know in order to make your start up successful.
Be very selective and know what you are looking to take away from every book. I wanted to focus on effective simplicity, which led me to the book Rework by the founders of 37Signals. When I wanted to learn about the early stages of startup life, I read Founders at Work by Y Combinator founding partner Jessica Livingston, a collection of interviews with largely successful entrepreneurs.
When you set out to acquire knowledge, be sure it’s relevant to your situation.
5. Use your surroundings for business idea inspiration
It only makes sense when setting out on your venture to immerse yourself in something you are knowledgeable and passionate about. In my case I looked towards my obsession with my iPhone, and I began paying attention to how smart phones were changing the way people interacted with businesses.
It wasn’t very long before I realized that there was an enormous opportunity to help the average business owner connect with their clientele on a mobile level. While I knew that a business would love to have a presence in the pocket of their customers at all times, I also wanted there to be a significant value for the person using the app as well. By looking towards my own habits, and that of my peers, I was able to develop a solution that was beneficial to both the business and consumer.
Talk often with your target markets to be sure you’re on the right path. It is so easy to get carried away with an idea that you think is great but offers little to no real value to your clients. It seems obvious, but always pay attention to feedback and structure your decisions around what your environment is telling you.
6. Just do it
This is probably my biggest piece of advice for college entrepreneurs: just do it! There is no better time in your life to start a company. You have little to no responsibilities, you’re surrounded my people who can help you, and now is the best time in your life to take on risk!
Got a business idea you’ve been bouncing around in your head? Just do it. Don’t wait until tomorrow, next week, or next month. Start building traction today.
In my experience, the biggest hurdle of starting a business is actually doing it. When you start a business, it’s fine not to know everything or even have a ‘solid’ business plan. In fact, most companies deviate significantly from their original plan! These things will fall into place and the things you learn along the way will last a lifetime. To get to this point though, you have to stop planning and start doing.
I’m a huge supporter of the “minimum viable product” business strategy, which advocates to move quickly, get your product out fast, and improve your product with feedback. You shove your product out into the market knowing it has bugs, knowing it could be improved — but you do this to simply start building your business.
By implementing this strategy you are building traction everyday. You stop thinking and you start acting. This is the single biggest step for an entrepreneur. Just do it!
Andrew Gazdecki is the founder and CEO of Bizness Apps, a do-it-yourself iPhone app platform that allows small businesses to easily create, edit, and manage an iPhone app online without any programming knowledge needed. He is 22, attending CSU Chico full time pursuing a Business Marketing degree, and will graduate in the Spring of 2011.
Next Story: Deals & More: Wild Needle scores $2.5M for social, mobile games, trueAnthem grabs $2.9M for ad-supported music service Previous Story: Eye-Fi cards will be able to upload photos to your smartphones and tablets
robert shumake
Foot-and-Mouth Outbreak Spreads Through South Korea - AOL <b>News</b>
South Korea is suffering its worst-ever outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease, with the highly contagious virus spreading to farms across the country despite a nationwide quarantine effort.
Are Korea's “Bending” away from Bluster? « Liveshots
LONDON After a 2010 that saw the Korean peninsula edge towards the brink of nuclear Armageddon,
Study: US Bumblebee Population in Sharp Decline - AOL <b>News</b>
The population of bumblebees in the United States is in a kind of free fall, dropping 96 percent over the past two decades, according to a new study that has scientists alarmed. Four species of bumblebees are in a rapid decline, ...
robert shumake
Foot-and-Mouth Outbreak Spreads Through South Korea - AOL <b>News</b>
South Korea is suffering its worst-ever outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease, with the highly contagious virus spreading to farms across the country despite a nationwide quarantine effort.
Are Korea's “Bending” away from Bluster? « Liveshots
LONDON After a 2010 that saw the Korean peninsula edge towards the brink of nuclear Armageddon,
Study: US Bumblebee Population in Sharp Decline - AOL <b>News</b>
The population of bumblebees in the United States is in a kind of free fall, dropping 96 percent over the past two decades, according to a new study that has scientists alarmed. Four species of bumblebees are in a rapid decline, ...
robert shumake detroit
Making money online is something that is getting more and more popular each and every day. Especially with the economy as it is at the moment. Unfortunately, getting started with making money online can be a very overwhelming experience if you don't know where to start. And this is the case for most people who are just getting started making money online. It can be a very difficult and expensive process for some people who aren't sure how to pursue the task but as long as you know what plan of action to take, making money on the internet can actually be quite simple. Don't worry though because I am going to tell you exactly what you need to do in order to start making some serious cash on the internet.
The first thing that you will need to do is find something that you are interested in. That's right. It's really that simple. Just find something that you are honestly interested in and you will already be set to make a killing online. Why? Because having an interest means that you already have experience in whatever you are interested in which means that it can be capitalized on. By capitalizing on an interest you can start making money through your expertise.
The way in which you will monetize your interest is by finding markets that are related to your interest. As long as there is an interest for something then there is also going to be a market for it. It will be your job to find what people with your interest are looking for and willing to buy. After doing this you will need to find products that are relevant to your market's needs and wants. Finding the right product is like tapping into a goldmine.
Once you have found something that the people are hungry for you will need to start marketing. You will need to find an affiliate program that is related to your product and then market it. This will make you money by earning you affiliate commissions. Basically, you will promote a product that is related to your market of interest and when someone buys the product you will earn a commission. It is really as easy as that. Now go make some money online!
robert shumake detroit
Foot-and-Mouth Outbreak Spreads Through South Korea - AOL <b>News</b>
South Korea is suffering its worst-ever outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease, with the highly contagious virus spreading to farms across the country despite a nationwide quarantine effort.
Are Korea's “Bending” away from Bluster? « Liveshots
LONDON After a 2010 that saw the Korean peninsula edge towards the brink of nuclear Armageddon,
Study: US Bumblebee Population in Sharp Decline - AOL <b>News</b>
The population of bumblebees in the United States is in a kind of free fall, dropping 96 percent over the past two decades, according to a new study that has scientists alarmed. Four species of bumblebees are in a rapid decline, ...
robert shumake
robert shumake detroit
Seriously? This is the question of the day? When people are still voicing serious and legitimate concerns about the rest of the economy? We're talking about a company with enough money in the bank to make a Goldman Sachs-sized investment in Facebook if it wanted to, more than triple the amount Dell had in the bank at the end of the last quarter, plus more than five times the amount HP had too, while we're at it.
Let's look at a number for a minute: Apple has 51 billion dollars in cash. That's 51,000,000,000 bucks. Or, approximately the amount of money it takes to fill a vault-slash-swimming-pool. Who has that kind of money these days and didn't get it via government bailout? Apple, that's who. What is its secret? It made that money the old-fashioned way, by selling new-fashioned things.
In a time when few companies are profitable and everyone's excited about a flat line since it isn't a downward curve, Apple is making money iHand over iFist. One could presume from this that analysts and others who watch CNBC professionally would be excited about a company with growth and profitability in the current climate. However, that's not the case.
Remember when Apple wasn't doing well? Those bygone days when people may have actually believed the name of the company was "Beleaguered Apple Computer?" Well, once Uncle Steve made his return in 1996, that started to turn around. Apple Computer started making things that start with "i," and in 2001 with the launch of the iPod, Apple was officially cool again. You know, unless you were an analyst on Wall Street, in which case Apple wasn't cool, it was just less lame than before. But seriously, have you seen what sort of stock prices Dell and HP have these days? Now those are tech companies.
I call shenanigans! Now, instead of being impressed with profitability, the question is "Oh sure, you're all profitable, but can you stay that way?" Apple hasn't proven that yet? Explain to me how making ANY money in a time of unprecedented financial volatility is something that gets played down. What will it take before Apple gets a fair shake? A brand new device that sells a million units in three months? Try two and a half. A new version of the same thing released a year later, how long did that take to sell a million? Three days.
Find and replace "Apple" with a non-tech company in some of these articles and see if it still makes as much sense. Just the iPhone product line by itself is bigger than Coca-Cola, but Apple still gets dismissed like this?
Someone needs to have a little heart-to-heart talk with some of these guys. Apparently they've all had their heads down in their BlackBerrys for so long that they don't realize it's cool these days to carry around something Designed In Cupertino. Clearly a lot of other people have figured it out -- what's stopping Wall Street from seeing the light?
I’ve never really been a fan of business competitions, primarily because of their notorious emphasis on business plans. Your business idea will change so much it’s mind blowing — so much so that writing a business plan could be counter productive.
This year, however, I won first place in the Fall 2010 CSU Chico Business Competition for my current start up, Bizness Apps, which led to my first angel investors. Two teachers involved in the competition were so impressed with my start up that they set up a lunch meeting with my current investors. Take advantage of these opportunities – even if the first place cash prize is only $300 bucks!
You never know who will be in attendance at these events, and at the very least it gives you valuable experience in pitching a concept in a professional setting. By entering business competitions you have everything to gain and nothing to lose. Don’t worry about people stealing your idea – if you don’t win the contest why would a contestant want to steal a losing idea? On the flip side, if you win people will look to you as the person who can pull the concept off.
4. Learn outside of the classroom
Build a library full of business books and read all of them. Learn to read a book in a day or two. Scan through the parts that you’re already familiar with in order to get through the book quickly. I usually aim to read 3-4 books a week. Teach yourself everything you need to know in order to make your start up successful.
Be very selective and know what you are looking to take away from every book. I wanted to focus on effective simplicity, which led me to the book Rework by the founders of 37Signals. When I wanted to learn about the early stages of startup life, I read Founders at Work by Y Combinator founding partner Jessica Livingston, a collection of interviews with largely successful entrepreneurs.
When you set out to acquire knowledge, be sure it’s relevant to your situation.
5. Use your surroundings for business idea inspiration
It only makes sense when setting out on your venture to immerse yourself in something you are knowledgeable and passionate about. In my case I looked towards my obsession with my iPhone, and I began paying attention to how smart phones were changing the way people interacted with businesses.
It wasn’t very long before I realized that there was an enormous opportunity to help the average business owner connect with their clientele on a mobile level. While I knew that a business would love to have a presence in the pocket of their customers at all times, I also wanted there to be a significant value for the person using the app as well. By looking towards my own habits, and that of my peers, I was able to develop a solution that was beneficial to both the business and consumer.
Talk often with your target markets to be sure you’re on the right path. It is so easy to get carried away with an idea that you think is great but offers little to no real value to your clients. It seems obvious, but always pay attention to feedback and structure your decisions around what your environment is telling you.
6. Just do it
This is probably my biggest piece of advice for college entrepreneurs: just do it! There is no better time in your life to start a company. You have little to no responsibilities, you’re surrounded my people who can help you, and now is the best time in your life to take on risk!
Got a business idea you’ve been bouncing around in your head? Just do it. Don’t wait until tomorrow, next week, or next month. Start building traction today.
In my experience, the biggest hurdle of starting a business is actually doing it. When you start a business, it’s fine not to know everything or even have a ‘solid’ business plan. In fact, most companies deviate significantly from their original plan! These things will fall into place and the things you learn along the way will last a lifetime. To get to this point though, you have to stop planning and start doing.
I’m a huge supporter of the “minimum viable product” business strategy, which advocates to move quickly, get your product out fast, and improve your product with feedback. You shove your product out into the market knowing it has bugs, knowing it could be improved — but you do this to simply start building your business.
By implementing this strategy you are building traction everyday. You stop thinking and you start acting. This is the single biggest step for an entrepreneur. Just do it!
Andrew Gazdecki is the founder and CEO of Bizness Apps, a do-it-yourself iPhone app platform that allows small businesses to easily create, edit, and manage an iPhone app online without any programming knowledge needed. He is 22, attending CSU Chico full time pursuing a Business Marketing degree, and will graduate in the Spring of 2011.
Next Story: Deals & More: Wild Needle scores $2.5M for social, mobile games, trueAnthem grabs $2.9M for ad-supported music service Previous Story: Eye-Fi cards will be able to upload photos to your smartphones and tablets
Foot-and-Mouth Outbreak Spreads Through South Korea - AOL <b>News</b>
South Korea is suffering its worst-ever outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease, with the highly contagious virus spreading to farms across the country despite a nationwide quarantine effort.
Are Korea's “Bending” away from Bluster? « Liveshots
LONDON After a 2010 that saw the Korean peninsula edge towards the brink of nuclear Armageddon,
Study: US Bumblebee Population in Sharp Decline - AOL <b>News</b>
The population of bumblebees in the United States is in a kind of free fall, dropping 96 percent over the past two decades, according to a new study that has scientists alarmed. Four species of bumblebees are in a rapid decline, ...
robert shumake detroit
robert shumake
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