RoMay Allen - Entrepreneur

Entrepreneur Characteristics

2010-02-03T16:25:00.000-07:00

Do You Have Entrepreneur Characteristics?

Author: Andrea Chin

It is often said that in order to become a successful individual in whatever endeavor you wish to pursue, you must have the right attitude and characteristics. The same holds true for becoming a successful internet entrepreneur. Not everyone who sets out to start a business online will be successful. In fact, most people who enter the internet marketing business never make a dime or quit before ever making a sustainable income. So before you take the plunge, take a closer look at yourself and see if you have any of the characteristics of an entrepreneur.

What are the characteristics of an entrepreneur? Are they really important? Well, of course the characteristics are important because if you don't possess them, you will have even less of a chance of succeeding in business. So how many characteristics do you possess:

1. Risk Taker - this is a very important characteristic of an entrepreneur. If you're not willing to take any risk, you diminish your chances at success. In the everyday course of the business, you will encounter a lot of problems and challenges which will require you to think outside the box and make on the spot decisions. Not all decision making will be based on careful evaluation and research. If you're not a risk taker, then you're not an effective entrepreneur and you're bound to fail in your business undertaking.

2. Savvy and Creative - being business smart and creative is another characteristic of an entrepreneur. You have to be clever, keen, and witty in all your business dealings. You have to show mental alertness and intelligence so that you can win the respect and trust of customers and other clients.

3. Leader - leadership is a characteristic that is hard to find among individuals. Not many individuals have the nerve to take the lead. To become a good entrepreneur, you must possess leadership qualities. These qualities allow you to guide, influence, and direct people. This way, you can handle all your business activities with ease and fewer worries.

4. Passion - another important characteristic is being passionate about your business. You have to maintain your enthusiasm and interest in the business. As long as you have the right drive and passion, you can run the business for a long time.

5. Persistence - being persistent goes hand in hand with having passion. If you're truly passionate about what you're doing, you won't give up when faced with adversity. Failures and challenges hold lessons to be learned and help develop character.

6. Honest and Trustworthy - some say that eighty percent of an entrepreneur's time is dedicated to building relationships and attracting customers. This may be true because without the customers, the business will not exist. You have to be honest and trustworthy so that you can develop good will. People buy from those they like and trust.

While there are other characteristics that an entrepreneur should possess, the aforementioned characteristics make a good checklist to see if you have what it takes for business success.

Possessing these characteristics gives you a definite advantage over the person who lacks in these areas. Be thankful if you already have the characteristics of an entrepreneur. All you need to do now is to study the market carefully, look for a good business venture, and provide for the capital and you're all set.

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/internet-articles/do-you-have-entrepreneur-characteristics-419531.html

About the Author

Andrea Chin wants you to succeed online and invites you to look at this profitable business opportunity.

Powerful Bid for Liberty

2010-01-15T12:49:00.000-07:00

The bid for Ted Kennedy's Senate seat is underway in Massachusetts. Republican Scott Brown seems to be overtaking Democratic candidate Martha Coakley. Apparently in such a democratic state, the people of Massachusetts are not happy with the status of the Obama administration as it becomes more obvious in the polls. Perhaps next week a huge upset will occur and the administration will be forced to listen to the people - rather than pushing their own agenda as the majority voice is ignored.

Websites about Mesothelioma

2010-01-12T01:23:00.000-07:00

My former business partner and I created several websites about Mesothelioma, Asbestos, and Asbestos Cancer as an experiment in internet marketing. We were able to get some pretty good rankings in a very short amount of time and unique content on each site.

However, we are no longer working together and would like to sell the sites to someone who would like to pursue building them and growing them. But what is the best way to sell the sites? I have looked into Flippa.com - but are there other ways that are better?

C-Span Calls Out Obama

2010-01-07T14:58:00.000-07:00

Karl Rove on C-SPAN's request to Congress to televise health care meetings. Watch the interview.

President Obama promised to make the Health care debate open and transparent. Stop your secret health care shenanigans and let C-SPAN cover the meetings. No more secret sessions. No more sweetheart deals. The American people have a right to know. If you don't have anything to hide, you would welcome the light. Let the cameras in. Sign the petition for health care transparency.

Google Launches iPhone Competitor - Nexus One

2010-01-05T20:06:00.000-07:00

The iPhone has a new competitor with the announcement of the new phone released by Google. The Nexus One is available through Google's online store.

(Media-Newswire.com) - Major cell phone announcement about the new Google Nexus One phone that the company will be releasing next Tuesday. The much anticipated phone will be available through mobile phone provider T-Mobile.

The new Google Nexus One phone is set to be manufactured by HTC. The operating system will be a newer version of the popular Google OS Android with v2.1 to be installed on the new phones.

Besides purchasing from T-Mobile stores, Google also announced second way to get the new phone starting next week. Google will setup a new smartphone marketplace where phones can be bought along with service plans, phone support and information.

The cost of the phone will be $179 with an approved two year contract or an unlocked version for any provider at $529 which will be available for purchase directly from the Google smartphone marketplace.

The new phone will have special features including a 3.7-inch OLED 480-by-800 display which is less than the newly released Droid but superior with the OLED.

USATODAY
Google's Smartphone
(by Jefferson Graham)

Taking direct aim at Apple's iPhone, Google on Tuesday introduced its most advanced phone to date — the Nexus One — and opened an online store to sell it directly to consumers.

The phone, available at google.com/phone, costs $179 with a two-year contract from T-Mobile. Similar offers will be available from Verizon Wireless and British carrier Vodafone this year.

You can buy the phone without a contract for $529.

The Nexus One runs an updated version of Google's Android operating system. Built by HTC from Google's direct specifications, it has a touch-screen and a fast processor. It includes a 5-megapixel camera for video and photos, a Global Positioning System (GPS), and stereo Bluetooth connection for headphones.

Among gee-whiz features: speech dictation, which lets you speak and compose e-mail messages, Twitter tweets and Facebook posts without typing.

Google has lagged Apple in the mobile market. It has tried to be a major player with Android, which it offers free to manufacturers and wireless carriers. Some 20 Android phones are available, but few, with the exception of the Verizon Droid (by Motorola), have been big sellers.

The Nexus One could change that, says Charles Golvin, an analyst at Forrester Research: "It's the best Android to date."

Apple has sold nearly 30 million phones in 100 countries. Its U.S. carrier is AT&T. On Tuesday, it said iPhone and iPod Touch owners have downloaded 3 billion applications since it launched the App Store, a marketplace for 100,000 applications that do everything from play games to translate words.

There are around 10,000 apps for Android phones.

The message to consumers is that Nexus One is the flagship Google phone, and the others aren't as good, says Michael Gartenberg, an analyst at Interpret. "If I was a Droid customer who just bought the phone a month ago, I might not feel so good," he says. Google "made it clear that not all Android phones are created equal."

Google's Andy Rubin, who oversees Android, says with its own store, Google could potentially lower wireless plan costs, since it "won't have the built-in costs" of heavy advertising.

Golvin predicts Nexus One will result in sales of "a couple million" phones this year and bigger market share. But Google must push into more countries, and "that's going to take awhile."

Achieving Goals

2010-01-04T16:24:00.002-07:00

Well, my goal today was to write blog posts for each of my 9 blogs. And I am very happy to say that I have reached that goal. Now I need to get writing on my book which has to be finished by January 15th.

I'd love to hear your goals and what you've achieved so far this year. :)

Business Goal Setting

2010-01-04T15:51:00.000-07:00

I love the new year and taking the time to set goals for myself. However this year I have determined to also create time for business goal setting. I have over a hundred domain names, about 20 websites, and much more to do. But if I don't set specific goals, I may come to the end of 2010 and discover I have haphazardly gotten further along, but have not really accomplished what I could have done if I had gone about it with a plan.

There is power in being specific with business goals, writing them down and creating a plan to achieve them. If you don't write down a goal, it's not really a goal. If you don't create a plan, then your goals likely will not be accomplished.

Internet marketing is a wonderful and fun way to create successes. There are so many areas where goals could be set. I could set goals for getting high quality backlinks to my sites. I could create better website templates and each month launch a new site. My business goal setting could be focused on only financial outcomes (but then I'd still need to create smaller goals and a plan to achieve that additional income). Whatever I determine this year, I predict it will be a very productive way to increase my reach and enhance my existing internet properties.

In your own business goal setting, you may ask yourself or your business leaders the following questions. What is our main business? How are we getting better? What can we do to serve our customers more efficiently? How can we create more momentum? How can we assist our employees in becoming more effective and enjoying their work more? How can we generate more income and better quality products? At the end of 2010 what do we want to have achieved?

Real Life Monopoly Game with Google

2009-09-07T13:17:00.002-06:00

Google is partnering with the maker of Monopoly (Hasbro) to release a new game - an online Google Maps version - called Monopoly City Streets. The new game will launch on Wednesday. Monopoly City Streets will provide users the opportunity to compete in a live version of the game with other users around the world.

The fun part is that players will be able to buy any street in the world. Starting with 3 million Monopoly dollars, you can build hotels, houses, football stadiums, castles, skyscrapers and more.

The preview site reads:

On the 9th SEPTEMBER, a world of property empire building on an unimaginable scale will be launched! A live worldwide game of MONOPOLY using Google Maps as the game board. The goal is simple. Play to beat your friends and the world to become the richest property magnate in existence.

Own any street in the world. Build humble houses, crazy castles and stupendous skyscrapers to collect rent. Use MONOPOLY Chance Cards to sabotage your mates by building Hazards on their streets.

Sounds like fun. Monopoly anyone?

New Scrapbooking Site

2009-09-03T16:35:00.002-06:00

I just updated my old blogger scrapbooking site to a new WordPress scrapbooking site. It is SO much better now. Just need to get all of the redirects in place so I'm not losing traffic or page rank.

Great new Blog to Checkout

2009-09-03T12:52:00.001-06:00

I have a good friend and former co-worker Chad Waite who is awesome! He's a terrific writer, has a really fun sarcastic sense of humor and has a cool blog. Just thought I'd give him a plug - so check it out at DailyDerbi.com.

How to Make Smoothies - New Website

2009-08-12T20:45:00.002-06:00

Just launched a new website with fruit smoothie recipes, and teaching how to make smoothies. Come and share your favorite smoothie recipes, tell everyone what you think is the best smoothie blender or just come to get some smoothie recipes for yourself.

Happy 4th of July

2009-07-04T13:03:00.001-06:00

I'm just feeling great appreciation for all of our military men and women (both past and present), police officers, firefighters, and those who serve to protect us every day! Thanks to you and your families for your sacrifices and service!

Cheap flights, hotels, and outrageous charges...

2009-04-15T04:10:00.002-06:00

Just booked my flight to Phoenix for specialized, intense physical therapy. Looking forward to getting my back and neck fixed. I've been told that it's quite painful but if I can handle the therapy there is hope that it will help with the herniated discs I've been dealing with since an accident about 5 years ago. I'm used to dealing with pain every day, but I'm not really anxious to have more pain... but if it helps I think it will be worth it! :)

But not so happy with the whole airline and hotel industry right now. It seems there are extra charges for everything now. I made the mistake of waiting one more day for a better deal (knowing the best deals come on Tuesday at midnight).. but I forgot that I would be missing the 7-day ahead deal. Dang. So I paid $400 for a flight that yesterday was priced at $190. Ugh. But on top of that... the airline charges for seat requests (if I want a window or aisle seat, or a specific seat assignment), and they charge $15 to check in a bag. This isn't checking an EXTRA bag, just your first checked bag. I'm sure there will be no snacks, and I've been told that some airlines are even charging for water now! I'm sure they are trying to get as much out of us as they can, but it's getting ridiculous!

I'd like to hear what the most outrageous charges you have had for either hotel, airline or other travel experiences.... just interested in what is going on in the world of travel.

Utah First State to Offer iPhone App

2009-04-13T14:33:00.000-06:00

Utah is first state in nation to offer government service through Apple iPhone Application

Press release

SALT LAKE CITY, Utah - Francine A. Giani, Executive Director of the Utah Department of Commerce announced today that Apple iPhone users can now search the Division of Occupational and Professional Licensing's online database thanks to a free Apple application which can be downloaded from iTunes.

The Department of Commerce is the first state agency to offer an iPhone service and Utah is the first state nationwide to offer an Apple application for a government service. For instance, iPhone users will be able to look up a contractors license from a job site, patients can verify a doctors license from a waiting room and homeowners can search for a licensed electrician from their backyard.

"Utah is known for being on the cutting edge of technology and innovation and ensuring access to government services. With this new iPhone service leading the way for other state agencies, Utah can now say, 'Yeah, we have an app for that!' " said Governor Jon M. Huntsman, Jr.

"We are thrilled to be the first to bring the convenience of iPhone applications to a state agency database", said Francine A. Giani, Executive Director of the Utah Department of Commerce, "Our Department looks forward to adding more Commerce services to iPhone users in the near future."

About the Utah Department of Commerce: The Department of Commerce contributes to the success of Utah businesses, professionals and consumers by creating a favorable economic environment. Our mission is to protect the public interest by ensuring fair commercial and professional practices. For more information about the Utah Department of Commerce log on to: www.commerce.utah.gov, or call (801) 530-6701.

About Utah.gov Utah.gov is the State of Utah's official Web portal (www.Utah.gov). It was ranked first in the 2008 Digital States Survey by the Center for Digital Government and also ranked first in the nation in the Center for Digital Government's 2007 Best of the Web competition. It is managed and operated without tax funds through a public-private partnership between the state and Utah Interactive, the Salt Lake City- based official eGovernment partner for the state of Utah. Utah Interactive is a subsidiary of eGovernment firm NIC (NASDAQ: EGOV)

About NIC NIC is the nation's leading provider of official government portals, online services, and secure payment processing solutions. The company's innovative eGovernment services help reduce costs and increase efficiencies for government agencies, citizens, and businesses across the country. NIC provides eGovernment solutions for 2,900 federal, state, and local agencies that serve more than 70 million people in the United States.

Yahoo to Target Billboards Based on Passerbys

2009-04-10T10:55:00.001-06:00

(As reported on MarketingVox)

"Yahoo Japan Corp. will begin distributing targeted content via electronic billboards in train stations and other facilities, based on who is walking past.

The company is teaming with Comel Co., which installs and operates electronic billboards. Cameras mounted on Comel's billboards will photograph passersby. Characteristics such as sex and age will be determined using facial analysis technology from NEC Soft Ltd., according to the companies (via MediaBuyerPlanner).

Yahoo Japan will begin the campaign with 500 billboards in train stations and shopping malls in Southern Japan, displaying content like news, weather and ads. Yahoo will then expand the service to Tokyo and Osaka, doubling the number of the billboards, writes CrunchGear.

Last summer, an article in The New York Times about billboards with facial-recognition capabilities caused a tempest over privacy issues. One company offering such technology, TruMedia Technologies, sent a letter to the paper explaining that the company would never record or store any video from the billboards.

The technology behind the billboards only analyzes the images its cameras take. No individually identifiable info is ever stored, the letter stated (via Engadget).

TruMedia’s camera-equipped billboards - inspired by Israeli surveillance - track viewers’ faces to gather reliable viewing data for digital displays and screens."

Facebook Owns Whatever You Post

2009-04-08T12:49:00.003-06:00

The latest changes in the Facebook interface, filtering and real-time updating, some think are brilliant, however many of the less tech-savvy users feel it has become too complicated. First-time users may not intuitively understand how to configure privacy for photo albums and friend lists. The default sharing option is set to "everyone" so photos will be shared publicly.

Another privacy concern is the default setting to share personal information with everyone on a user's network (which could include an entire region or state). Some have indicated that Facebook should offer clear safety settings for those new to social networks and those not aware of the threat of scams and phishing and who do not understand they can and should change their privacy settings.

My biggest concern is the change in Terms of Service announced in February which indicates Facebook owns all content uploaded onto the site and reserves the right to sublicense the content as it sees fit.

WO! The implications there are really scary. Think about all of those who upload inappropriate photos -- they could end up on a porn site (legally if Facebook sells the photos)... or someone posting a scandalous image (which could now legally be sold to a tabloid) not that anyone would upload any inappropriate images...

But what about the professional photographer who legally owns the copyright to his / her own images or videos. If they share those images within their own network (family and friends), now they have given Facebook rights to that content -- which legally Facebook could sell to Getty Images, or other sites.

I'm not sure why there has not been more repercussions about the change in Terms of Service, and how Facebook could legally claim ownership to whatever is posted.

Any thoughts?

Tribute to my Grandmother

2009-04-08T11:59:00.002-06:00

My brother Mark put together this incredible video of my grandmother. I love my heritage and thought I'd share this with you. :)

American Idol Blog

2009-04-08T02:40:00.001-06:00

I just finished updating my American Idol blog update -- and included the Adam Lambert Mad World performance for those of you who missed it. If you recorded American Idol tonight, the performance was cut off because the show ran over. Rude huh... But check out my American Idol blog and you can catch my reviews and Adam's performance there.

FriendFeed Beta

2009-04-07T10:56:00.002-06:00

Friendfeed launched their beta version of their site yesterday with a new look - supposed to make the site easier and faster. New features include real-time communication, chat capabilities, ability to pause data stream, posting messages to Twitter, better search filters, and friend suggestions.

I'm not sure if Friendfeed is positioning themselves to compete with Facebook, but considering that one of the FriendFeed founders, Paul Bucheit, is also an R&D developer for Facebook, it could be soon in a place to either support Facebook users, or compete.

Android Computer & Home Phone

2009-04-07T10:50:00.002-06:00

T-Mobile is creating an android-powered tablet pc computer and home phone. The phones should be available early next year as reported by MarketingVox. I think it looks interesting but can't make any predictions until we get some more official announcements about pricing, size, memory, and other specs.

Learning MySQL

2009-04-04T00:26:00.002-06:00

Well, I'm finally taking the time to learn MySQL. I've wanted to do it for a long time, but who has the time to learn databases and syntax just because? Now our i.TV statistician has gone to run another business and I am taking over running queries, so at last I have an excuse to learn MySQL. It's actually kind of fun to see how people are using our application, what actions are taken most often, and finding out the rich source of data mining can be done through our database.

Anyway, I'm sure the next few days will be filled with queries and learning how to efficiently find what we need. If anyone has any great tips, I'd love to hear them.

Learn how to build iPhone apps

2009-04-02T11:55:00.002-06:00

Stanford is planning a new course to teach students how to build iPhone apps, reported by TechCrunch. The course will be available as a podcast through iTunes. This should be a great addition to the Stanford on iTunes U offerings. No matter where you are you can still get benefits of Stanford lectures, courses and interviews.

YouTube - New Design on April 16

2009-03-31T15:14:00.001-06:00

YouTube is planning a big redesign with the aim of separating its revenue-generating premium and long-form programming from the user generated content (UGC) that has made it popular, writes Clickz.

Sources familiar with Google's plans for YouTube claim that the new design will replace the current navigation scheme containing "videos," "channels," and "community" categories, with tabbed navigation that will direct users to the clearly defined sections for professional content.

The new categories are Movies, Music, Shows, and Videos. The first three will offer monetized (displaying in-stream advertising) premium shows, clips, and movies from Google's network and studio partners, while the Videos channel will continue to house the amateur and semi-pro content that major brand advertisers have shied away from.

YouTube's video player will also be redesigned to look more like Hulu, the News Corp.- and NBCU-owned video portal. Like Hulu, the player will display visual markers in places where ads are scheduled to play, and users will be able to control the brightness of screen real estate outside the video frame, enabling the dimmed "home theatre" option that many Hulu fans enjoy.

According to one source, Google is not planning to sell whole episodes to a single advertiser or brand - unlike NBC and ABC, both of which offer advertisers exclusive presence on any given episode on their own sites. CBS allows for multiple sponsors within a single episode, and Hulu offers a blend of single-sponsor and multi-sponsor episodes.

The planned launch date for the overhauled site is April 16.

YouTube's current offerings include mostly older material from partners like CBS, Lions Gate, MGM, and Sony (Beverly Hills 90210, MacGyver, and Star Trek The Original Series), but Google has indicated that it's working to make available more recent shows and movies.

In February, YouTube started permitting select video publishers to charge users to download videos onto their computers.

That same month, YouTube signed a deal with major Hollywood talent agency William Morris in an effort to add more premium content to the site.

i.TV is the Best Free iPhone App - Review

2009-03-31T15:04:00.001-06:00

Review of i.TV (in the news)

"i.TV » This app for the TV lover by entrepreneur and movie producer Brad Pelo is the best available. Not only does it provide an onscreen television grid for listings, but it also has movie listings for local theaters, movie trailers, previews for TV series, episode clips, entertainment news and connectivity to Netflix so users can instantly add DVDs to their rental queue while on the go.

Best of all, there are full episodes of many series, including "Star Trek," "Desperate Housewives," "All in the Family" and scores more. And in some cases, there are dozens of episodes of a single series available for streaming. It also works with 3G.
It's an app that does a lot of things and most of them well. (Free)"

Thanks for the great feedback!

Twitter to Charge?

2009-03-26T09:55:00.000-06:00

Twitter is further solidifying plans to implement a premium account structure for "power" users or companies.

Co-Founder Biz Stone confirmed that the company recently hired a product manager to develop commercial accounts, but reiterated that the service would be "free to use by everyone," and for-profit services would be add-ons.

In other words, users would pay a small nominal fee for additional services. No launch date has been set, however, on these commercial features.

There was no specificity afforded about the type of features that may be offered for a fee, but sites like Business Insider have a few speculations:

We could see a lot of companies paying $10 or $20 a month for the service, even for simple tools. But we could also see many companies — Comcast, JetBlue, Starbucks, etc. — paying more than one hundred dollars per month for really good, insightful tools.

In an email to the publication, Stone confirmed the trick would be to find services that will "improve the experience."

"Will it be account verification? Will it be lightweight analytics? Will there be opportunities for introducing customers to businesses on Twitter[?] So many questions. But the key is to understand that Twitter will remain free for all to use—individuals and companies alike," he persisted.

Recent figures from Nielsen pegged Twitter's year-on-year growth at an astronomical 1,382%.

Hoping to harness that traffic, a handful of services have tried leveraging the company's present dearth of a business model. Magpie enables users to sell their "tweets" and Twitter backgrounds as ad space. Each user is paid according to his number of followers. And ExecTweets, a Microsoft-sponsored site launched by Federated Media this month, displays tweets from business executives. Twitter receives a cut of the profit.