Yandy Smith

The dictionary describes an entrepreneur as ‘A person who engages in business enterprise, usually with some personal financial risk.’

Under this definition, anyone who runs and owns his or her own business can be classified as an entrepreneur because they are taking a risk with their finances every day. But what are the qualities of a successful entrepreneur? Simply owning a business and having risks doesn’t mean that you have successfully accomplished your goal. The dictionary only scratches the surface of what it takes to be an entrepreneur in today’s competitive business world.  One must also take into account an individual’s personality, actions and behavioral patterns—which all contribute to a person’s ability to earn the title of a ‘successful entrepreneur.’

Although it may seem easy enough, becoming a successful entrepreneur is not rudimentary. You have to have a product or service that consumers really want, an organized form of sales and service, and quality marketing advertising. For many of us, the journey to earning the title begins with a burst of excitement about turning our passion into a business (followed by flashing lights of the word “success”). The experience of getting a new idea is wonderful, what follows can be the most exciting and emotional journey you will ever experience. But there is a long, hard road you must travel to take your idea from conception to reality.

I’ve been there. I traveled this road many times, I have had my share of light bulb moments, and I have learned some key points along the way that make the difference between a dreamer and a successful entrepreneur. I learned the old-fashioned way—trial and failure. But, for all my failures came a triumph that made every misstep more than worth it. Here are some helpful tips on how to avoid some of those mistakes I made, and that you take with you on your entrepreneurial adventure.

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Dream big (Image: Thinkstock)

Dream big: To achieve the kind of success that you want, you need to dream big. Every success story starts with big dreams. Have a clear and concise vision of what you want and where you want your idea to go. Actively visualize success in your mind so that it actually starts to become reality. Speak it into existence! Be the person now that you imagine yourself being when you reach your goal. Dress the part now, speak the language now, talk about the places your business will allow you to travel to, research them, tell your friends and family what’s going to happen. The more you speak, the more you’ll believe and the more inclined you’ll be to make things happen. People may look at you like you’re crazy, but imagine how they looked at the Wright brother’s when they thought of creating the first successful aircraft.

Be a leader. Leadership is one of the areas that many entrepreneurs tend to overlook, according to leadership coach John C. Maxwell, whose books include The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership (Thomas Nelson, 1998) and Developing the Leader Within You (Thomas Nelson, 1993). Eleanor Roosevelt once said, “A good leader inspires people to have confidence in the leader, a great leader inspires people to have confidence in themselves.”  Becoming a great leader isn’t easy, it requires successfully maneuvering a team through the ups and downs and the major challenges that a new business faces.

To groom yourself to be a quality business leader:

• Envision yourself as a leader. You have to believe for others to believe.
• Recognize your best and worst qualities and evaluate them honestly.
• Create a plan that allows you to capitalize on your strengths.
• Build a team that assists you in areas that may be weaknesses, which will help you have a more well-balanced business.
• Be straightforward and keep it simple. The clearer your mission and direction, the stronger your team.

Hire shrewdly. Nothing is more important. Do extensive research and check references. You can’t rely solely on what’s said in résumés and cover letters. It’s best to ask everyone you respect for solid candidates. Then have a trial period for the new employee before you hire.

Fire fast. If quick efforts to remediate an inadequate employee do not work, fire the person respectfully. One bad employee can infect the success of the team.

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Yandy Smith: Dressed for success

Look good. Unfortunately, we live in a shallow, beauty-obsessed society. Although leaders are not expected to have Hollywood looks necessarily, it’s worth a bit of primping to look your best at all times. You can show off your own personal style while still having a polished look.

Prioritize decisiveness over inclusiveness. The best leaders know when to encourage team involvement in decision-making and when to act unilaterally. It’s not about making friends, it’s about making the best decisions for your business.

Work long hours. I’d rather disappoint you with the truth than anesthetize you with lies.

Motivation rises and falls upon success and setbacks. Being motivated despite the challenges of business is a skill that’s required in order to sail through the storms.  Tough times do not last, but tough people do. Stay motivated at the highest level.

Last but not least, when it comes to entrepreneurs, failure is an option!  Every entrepreneur faces times when winds do not blow in his or her direction. Stick to your boat and keep floating. Winds always change direction. Optimism is an essential requirement for being an entrepreneur. That new direction might land you on a beautiful island you had no idea existed. Embrace setbacks and look for the opportunity to expand and grow your business.

In it for the long haul (Image: Thinkstock)

Dorian Boyland started Boyland Auto Group in 1987 (No. 4 on the BE Auto Dealers list) with less than $100,000. Over the years, he’s built up an automotive empire that now consists of nine dealerships in five states that collectively generated nearly $400 million in 2011. Based in Orlando, Boyland Auto Group’s brands include Dodge, Ford, Nissan, Mercedes-Benz, Honda and Hyundai

Here, the former first baseman for the Pittsburgh Pirates turned automotive mogul shares some of the lessons he’s learned on the road to becoming a successful entrepreneur:

Understand that projections are only as good as they are realistic. “Don’t forecast or make projections based on guess work or anything that you haven’t seen yet,” recommends Boyland. “All of your projections and forecasts should be based on prior history, of prior performance.”

Maintain a solid debt-to-equity ratio. This is a measure of a company’s financial leverage. Boyland recommends a 1:1 ratio. “If you’ve got a dollar in cash of your own then only go borrow a dollar in cash. Never let your debt, exceed your equity.”

Remember that cash is king. Boyland advises small business owners keep one-and-a half months to two months of expenses available in cash to avoid a cash flow crunch. “Because 50 to 75 percent of your sales might be in receivables that might not be paid for 45 days or so.”

Don’t guarantee salaries. Boyland suggests tying salaries for managers and key personnel who generate sales to performance and productivity. “Their pay should be based on percent of the profit of gross that they generate that they control,” he says. “Everyone that’s in any type of sales environment or position needs to have an incentive for what they want to do other than just coming to work.”

Negotiate with vendors for the best rates. “All small business owners should negotiate with all of their vendors and all payables should be negotiated prices so that they know they’re getting the best deal,” he asserts. “Every vendor has a different price for people that they work with. You got to find out what your price is.”

Don’t just be an owner – take ownership. Don’t let the failure and success of your company be dependent on other people. “Those things, as an owner and operator of a business, should be 100 percent solely dependent on you,” advises Boyland. “You can always change the players but you cannot change your goals and operations, and controls, and the things you want to accomplish.”

Really understand how your business works. “It’s very critical for the owner/operator of a business to be an expert in the knowledge of that business and how to operate that business. You have to be educated on a business and not get into a business as a hobby,” he recommends. “Learn, understand, the business so that the people work for you know that you understand everything that they do. You need to understand what every person within your organization does – not necessarily how they do it, but what it is they do.”

Oversee all expenses. “If you own and operate a business, you need to approve 100 percent of every expense that goes out that door.  You should have the people in your operation know that they cannot, and doesn’t have the ability, to approve and sign any expense,” he says. “At the end of the day it is your responsibility to control the checkbook. Every check that goes out that door, before it’s even cut or written, should be approved and understood what it is by the owner and operator of a business.”

Entrepreneur Veronica Champman (Image: Courtesy of 100 Urban Entrepreneurs)

Fashionable accessories come in all shapes and sizes, and all manner of uses. It’s safe to say, though, that relatively few of them are intended to be worn while sleeping. (We’re not including dental-correction devices or anti-snoring sleep machines. Remember, we said fashionable accessories.)

Breaking that mold is Veronica Chapman, the 30-year-old founder of My Crowning Jewel, a new line of stylish head wraps designed for women who wish to protect their hairstyle not just during the day, but also while they get their beauty rest. “For years, women who wrap their hair at night have been presented with options that are unattractive and not functional, failing to protect their hairstyle while they sleep,” Chapman says.

Born in Elizabeth, New Jersey, and currently based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Chapman has long had an entrepreneurial streak. My Crowning Jewel is actually her second venture; her first, Boxxout, she describes as “an innovative youth organization that connects disconnected teens in urban, low-income communities to opportunities to excel.”

Her efforts got a boost recently when she was brought into the funding-and-mentoring program of 100 Urban Entrepreneurs, the nonprofit foundation that provides $10,000 startup grants and mentoring to promising young businesspeople across the country. Chapman first honed her professional chops at Spelman College and also Babson’s F.W. Olin School of Business, from which she received her MBA. In 2010, she was awarded the New Leaders Council’s 40 Under 40 Award for Entrepreneurship, and has since poured her efforts into My Crowning Jewel, whose Web site, mycrowningjewel.com, will soon take orders. She has recently signed a U.S.-based manufacturer and plans to formally launch April 1.

And while her primary market, naturally, is African-American women, she caters to women of all races and is interested in expanding her product lines to workout gear and even men’s apparel. (“I’d love to bring back the ascot,” she says, and she’s not kidding.)

Her ambition is emblematic of the social entrepreneur’s credo: “Even while building the foundation for Boxxout, I considered how creating a product to fill a need in the for-profit sector could also be beneficial to society, allowing me an even greater opportunity to create jobs, especially teen jobs,” she says. “I want to be able to offer Boxxout teens jobs in My Crowning Jewel’s Fulfillment Division once we’re fully operational. That way the teens can both work and be trained to access the resources that will help them forge their path to success.”

Read more about Chapman and My Crowning Jewel at 100urbanentrepreneurs.org

Since risk is a non-negotiable when it comes to entrepreneurship, your task is to identify your baseline—the level of risk that you are comfortable with—then learn how to manage it. Over time, you’ll want to up the ante, take on more risk and move higher up the continuum. You’ve heard the old adage, “the bigger the risk, the greater the reward.”

If you’ve been hesitant about your next risky business move, follow these proven steps to master fear and make risky business more manageable.

Risk Baseline: Can you handle it?

Risk is defined as the potential that your actions—or inaction—could lead to a loss; an undesirable outcome. When you establish a risk baseline,  it should serve as the basis for measurement of all other actions surrounding your business. For example, the lowest possible baseline could be “If I do X, and it leads to a loss, I won’t lose sleep over it – I can handle it.” Here’s how to set a baseline.

• Develop a list of business risks that you’d like to take within the next 30 days.
• Next, assign a measurement of risk to each line item (Low, Moderate or High).
• Then develop what I like to call, an “I Can Handle It” column that denotes a) I can handle it or b) I can’t handle it.

Once you review this basic list, you’ll have a better idea of where your risk threshold lies. Now that you understand your risk tolerance, it’s time to manage it.

Managing Risk

Now that you’ve identified and assessed your risk-baseline, you’re ready to manage it. Managing it could mean a couple of things. You can a) do nothing b) transfer risk or c) minimize risk to ultimately take your results from undesirable outcomes to more desirable situations.

When faced with risk, most of us do absolutely nothing. The funny thing is that inaction is also a choice that will affect your business. But once you’ve made a decision to master your fear, start with a Plan A: the ideal scenario for any given task or decision. Remember, when you’re dealing with external stakeholders including suppliers, customers, staff members, you will likely need a Plan B, C and D.

As a rule of thumb, you can control one variable in your business: you. But, as your company grows, more people and circumstances will be out of your control. Painful—I know—but it’s a risky reality that determines your ultimate reward. Decide how you are going to manage the risk you’ve outlined above. You can do one of three things:

• Minimize and reduce risk by creating a backup plan (Plan C) for the backup plan (Plan B).
• Transfer risk by outsourcing internal operations to highly qualified and specialized third parties with a vested and monetary interest in getting it right the first time.
• Or accept the risk. A high priority project may be risky and necessary. Prepare for a loss and develop safeguards to ensure a gain. This could include increasing dedicated resources including money, staff and time to a specific project and cutting back focus in other areas.

Turn up the Heat and Take on More Risk

Just because something sounds good, looks good and feels good doesn’t make it a worthwhile risk. And yes, I know you saw your competitor run a full page ad in the annual business journal; that doesn’t mean it’s a smart move. Be wary of friends that want to bring you in on “this amazing deal.” If you’re ready to bet the farm, pay close attention to the opportunity, the risk and the reward. Don’t take blind risks.

Calculated and deliberate risk taking is essential to the growth of your small business. Information and action are the key ingredients to increasing your risk tolerance. The more you know, the less you fear. If you’re having trouble accomplishing your goals, brainstorm ways to spread the risk by teaming up with people that have the information or skill set that you need.

When you’re ready to take on more risk, first ask yourself, “What do I have to gain?” Review your current position and then decide where you’d like your business to be in the next five years. If you have great expectations then accept the fact that your success will come with many risks.

While some researchers argue that your ability to take risks is based on your cognitive skills, socio-economic background, financial situation, and education, the truth is: business is risky no matter how you spin it. In the end, the question will always be: Does the potential reward outweigh your risk? If so, what are you waiting for? And when you are faced with a game changing opportunity to risk it all. What will you do?

Article originally appeared on theyec.org. Reprinted with permission.

Erica Nicole is a serial entrepreneur, syndicated columnist, small-business expert, national speaker and Christian thought-leader. She is the founder of  the small-business news site YFS Magazine: Young, Fabulous &  Self-Employed.

YEC Urban is an initiative of the Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC), an invite-only nonprofit organization comprised of the country’s most promising young entrepreneurs. YEC promotes entrepreneurship as a solution to youth unemployment and underemployment and provides its members with access to tools, mentorship, and resources that support each stage of a business’s development and growth. YEC Urban’s members are successful minority business owners, entrepreneurs and thought leaders.

Dr. Benjamin E. Mays—a mentor to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and past president of Morehouse College—wrote this poetic passage, which reminds us of how quickly time passes, yet how important it is:

“Life is just a minute, only sixty seconds in it; forced upon you, can‘t refuse it. Didn’t seek it, didn’t choose it, but it‘s up to you to use it. You must suffer if you lose it, give an account if you abuse it, just a tiny little minute, but eternity is in it.”

Do you really value your time? Are you aware of where your days are going? How have you spent these first couple weeks of your year? Has it been business as usual or have you raised your awareness, raised the bar and been doing the things that matter most for your life and business now and for the close of the year when you’ll look back to see how much progress you’ve made?

Most people spend too much time in business on insignificant busy work; they don’t invest it in the actions that really make a lasting difference. Spending time insignificantly is like spending money frivolously. It’s spent and gone forever with no hope for a return. But investing time in work that literally shifts your business is all together different. It actually makes your time more valuable by creating momentum. The better you get at managing your time, the more quickly you get results, which is almost like creating more time. Time is not a replenishable resource; we can never get it back, but we can maximize our effectiveness and outcomes by refusing to run around in circles and call it progress.

Those who are investing their time in the right places are seeing results and living with peace and without anxiety. They know that although the time will never return and the clock can never be turned back, they have spent their precious seconds, minutes, hours, days, weeks, months and years doing what matters and creating a legacy, building up and edifying other people. When you create a legacy, there is a return on your time; and when you build and develop other people, you multiply your legacy.

Felicia Joy is a nationally recognized entrepreneur who created $50 million in value for the various organizations and companies she served in corporate America before launching her business enterprise. She is the author of Hybrid Entrepreneurship: How the Middle Class Can Beat the Slow Economy, Earn Extra Income and Reclaim the American Dream and a regular contributor on CNN. Follow her @feliciajoy.

(Image: Thinkstock)

Entrepreneurship may not be for everyone, especially if you’re used to the hands-off perks and stability of being the employee. There are ways to know whether self-employment is for you. And you can earn extra income while exploring your options.

It’s great to be able to test the entrepreneurship waters before making the big dive into the world of starting your own business. The Young Entrepreneurs Council gives 10 side jobs that will help you not only earn extra cash, but find out whether self-employment is the right option for you.

Read more at Brazen Careerist …

Baptiste is not alone. According to a new report by Forrester Research and Shop.org, e-commerce sites continue to snag customers from brick-and-mortar stores, with online retailers having an average growth rate of 28% during 2010. Entrepreneurs are also shunning permanent storefronts for temporary establishments such as kiosks, pushcarts, and other short-term in-line venues. In fact, the temporary retail market is responsible for $8 billion in sales in 2010 and rose 14% in the first two quarters of 2011 over the year before, according to Patricia Norins, publisher of Specialty Retail Report, which looks at temporary retailers and provides resources for finding supplies, suppliers, and locations.

The U.S. retail vacancy rate is at 7%, according to CoStar Group Inc., offering entrepreneurs the opportunity  to take advantage of a weak real estate market and the short-term rental trend.  The national average annual cost of renting a 6,000-square-foot retail space in a strip center is $16.27 per square foot or $97,620 per year, compared to paying around $10 to $250 a day for booth rental at a flea market or a little more than $1,000 to house a pop-up shop for four weeks.

Success stories like eBay and Amazon prove business owners can do without a traditional store if they have a strong Web presence. Likewise, portable storefronts such as food trucks and flea markets are a great form of marketing since they go where the customers are, says Norins.

Here are five ways retailers can reach customers without making a long-term rental commitment and how some savvy business owners have made alternative storefronts pay off.

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1. Pop-up Shops: Embracing a Short-term Approach

Curvel Baptiste (Photo by Shayne Alexander)

The concept of pop-up shops: physical stores that retailers inhabit on a short-term basis, such as 30, 60, or 90 days. Some entrepreneurs use pop-up shops to test potential brick-and-mortar locations. Others, such as Juxster’s Baptiste, use them to occasionally connect face-to-face with their primary online clientele. Pop-up shops can be used to introduce consumers to a retailer’s brand, as well as create a sense of urgency among consumers.

To alert potential customers to upcoming pop-up shops, Baptiste sends e-mails to current customers, luring them with new products, low prices, and other incentives to check out the location. He also passes out fliers to attract local passersby.

Finding the right location has been one of Baptiste’s greatest challenges. “I do a lot of ground work, scouting out spots that no one’s paying attention to,” Baptiste says. He also approaches potential landlords with an abundance of cash since many are more likely to do business if you can pay the entire amount upfront, he adds.

Though pop-up shops demand a lot of effort for a little bit of time, in terms of stock and moving inventory, they can increase brand awareness and net impressive sales. “We’ve done anywhere from $1,000 to $1,500 in a day, [whereas] we’ve paid $1,300 in rent for the entire month,” Baptiste says.

Pop-up shops aren’t anything new, but the sluggish economy has given them a boost. “When we’re in good strong economic times, it is much more challenging to get a great location at a reasonable price,” says Norins. “But right now there are tons of location opportunities, and prices have come down.” As a result, many landlords looking to fill vacancies are willing to agree to short-term leases just to get someone in the door, giving business owners a golden opportunity.

2. Etsy and eBay: Pushing Online Marketplaces
There are countless stories of entrepreneurs starting on eBay and turning their hobbies into multimillion-dollar businesses. Some 25 million global eBay sellers accounted for nearly $62 billion in total sales volume in 2010. Sellers can list up to 50 items per month in the site’s auction format for free, or pay between $15.95 and $299.95 per month in subscription fees for online stores. With any of these options, sellers pay a commission for each sale.

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A venue ideal for sellers of handmade crafts, vintage items, and supplies is Etsy. With more than 11 million members and 800,000 active shops, Etsy sellers sold more than $357 million in merchandise in the first nine months of 2011. Etsy sellers pay 20 cents for every item listed and 3.5% of each sale made in exchange for a unique Web address to house their virtual marketplace.

The low startup costs are what prompted graphic designer Dana Osborne-Biggs of Smyrna, Georgia, to use Etsy to set up an online boutique and sell one of her handmade handbags on the site back in 2006. It sold within 24 hours, prompting her to expand her boutique, Urban Heirlooms.

The 46-year-old Osborne-Biggs scours flea markets, thrift stores, and yard sales for fabrics, and uses new leather to create handbags, cuffs, and her signature item: a wallet that uses an antique skeleton key as a clasp. Since 2006, Osborne-Biggs has sold more than 1,200 items, earning up to $27,000  annually and is projected to make $5,000 to $6,000 more for 2011.

One of the entrepreneur’s challenges in pushing her products was conveying their high quality, because customers couldn’t feel the fabric themselves. So she went online, including to Etsy forums, to read up on photography. “I’ve seen people take photos that obviously came from their cell phones; they don’t look professional,” she says.

As her photos improved and more people caught on to the novelty of the products, images from Urban Heirlooms were run more frequently on the Etsy home page. In July of 2010, Osborne-Biggs left her graphic design job, with the support of her husband, to focus on her Etsy store full time.

3. Food Trucks: Dining Transcends Destination

Barbara Burrell (Photo by Lonnie C. Major)

Barbara “Sky” Burrell is no stranger to the restaurant business, having owned Sky’s Gourmet Tacos in Los Angeles for the last 19 years. But when she decided to expand in 2010, she didn’t want to open another restaurant in a struggling economy. So she spent more than $100,000 to purchase a diesel truck and retrofit it with brand new kitchen equipment. This way, her soul-inspired Mexican food brand could serve customers within a 70-mile radius. “We knew the truck would not only pick up business on the street, but it would bring new business to the restaurant,” she says.

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Dana Osborne-Biggs (Photo by Quantrel D. Colbert)

Sky’s Gourmet Tacos lets customers know where the truck will be each day via Twitter. Burrell also cashes in on events, with customers guaranteeing $1,000 in sales to reserve the food truck for weddings and corporate affairs.

But the ability to travel comes at a cost. A truck will cost roughly $40,000 refurbished or $100,000 or more to retrofit a new one. In addition, specific licenses and permits are required for each municipality the food truck travels to, and can cost around $1,000 to $1,500 for each locality. It’s worth it, says Burrell, if the truck schedules multiple trips to each venue per month. “You have to be consistent when going into that particular space or it doesn’t pay off.”

The food truck generated about $100,000 last year. Not only has it contributed 30% more to the company’s bottom line since 2010, but Burrell received an extra jolt of publicity when she appeared on the Food Network’s Great Food Truck Race in the fall of 2011. “Now, we’re not just a destination,” she says. “We make the destination.”

The growing demand for food trucks is one of the biggest success stories in the restaurant industry. According to a 2011 survey from the National Restaurant Association, nearly 60% of Americans said they would visit a food truck offered by their favorite restaurant, up from 47% in 2010.

4. Flash Sales Sites: Maximizing Daily Deals

Shane and Shawn Ward (Photo by Shayne Alexander)

Twin brothers Shane and Shawn Ward, owners of footwear design company Shane&Shawn, were flying high until the recession hit in late 2008. “Literally month over month from September to October, our sales dropped about 35%,” says 39-year-old Shawn. When sales continued to fall at their New York boutique and wholesalers started ordering fewer products, “we knew we needed to cut our overhead,” he adds. In February 2009, the duo closed their store—saving the company more than $100,000 per year in rent—and focused their efforts online.

They explored e-commerce and a marketing strategy of featuring their merchandise on flash sale sites, which host temporary sales of designer merchandise at discounted prices. Sites such as BeyondtheRack.com and Shoe buy.com might feature Shane&Shawn products for two or three days. As with pop-up shops, the temporary nature creates a sense of urgency with the buyer, and the discounted prices often provide further motivation.

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“It’s a good way to expand our consumer base online because we’re reaching out to their buyers,” says  Shawn. Flash sites have also alleviated some inventory problems. With traditional sales agreements, you ship products to retailers, they take in the goods, and if the goods don’t sell, the retailers ship the products back to you, he explains. “So you have to carry some of that inventory you didn’t plan on and now you have to move it or put it on sale to get rid of it.” With flash sales, the Wards only ship products once they are sold, avoiding inventory pileup.

The twins use social media and online advertising to attract more people to their website. “When you have a brick-and-mortar store you’re going to get the walk-by traffic. When you’re a website, people have to find you,” explains Shawn.

Their efforts are paying off. After revenues dropped 40% in 2009, and an additional 5% in 2010, the company can now credit its online strategy with its turnaround. “We’re on a pace to grow our business 30% over last year,” Shawn says. “We’re seeing a lot of growth.”

5. Flea Markets: Bringing Retail To the Community

Todd Jones (Photo by Lonnie C. Major)

While flea markets are a great place to score deals on hard-to-find items, they can also be lucrative venues for entrepreneurs looking to build a brand. Just ask Todd Jones, owner of New York-based donut-making company Cuzin’s Duzin. The 52-year-old businessman made $100,000 in 2010, selling his sweet treats in these community-oriented venues.

The biggest selling point of flea markets is their flexibility, Jones says. “If one location doesn’t work out, I can change up and go someplace else.” But their temporary nature presents another challenge: introducing a product to a new audience with each change of location. To entice new flea market patrons, Jones gives out free donuts whenever he sets up a new shop. He also ensures that he is consistent with his branding so past customers can easily recognize Cuzin’s Duzin brand and signage. “Our colors have been the same since we started and people see me in my hat and my chef coat,” he says. “People expect a certain experience.”

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Since July of 2011, Jones has been selling his donuts from Dekalb Market, a flea market in downtown Brooklyn, New York, where small businesses sell from salvaged shipping containers for $50 to $75 per day. The market is open seven days a week from 8:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m.

The portable nature of flea market venues also makes it easy for Jones to take his show on the road wherever there’s a demand. “I do weddings, corporate events, and even the bar mitzvah circuit,” he says.

Jones has been in the donut-making business for some 37 years, including a previous career stint at Dunkin’ Donuts. He says the idea to do miniature donuts provided a unique twist that differentiated him from his former employers. “We are going to be the White Castle of the donut industry.” 

GETTING STARTED
Ready to open an alternative storefront? Here are some tips for getting the ball rolling.

Pop-Up Shops:
You can set up shop in a vacant warehouse, storefront in the mall, or some other shopping center and negotiate a short-term lease. With high vacancy rates, landlords will be more agreeable. The PopUpInsider.com is one source for matching retailers with landlords as well as providing how-to info. You also can find spaces for lease or sublease, and commercial real estate brokers at CommercialSource.com.

Online Marketplaces: Before making your first sale, take the time to read all of the FAQs and tips on Etsy’s site. Check out Etsy.com/Forums and the “Open a Shop” section in Etsy.com/Help/Topics. Aspiring eBay sellers should read The Official eBay Bible by Jim Griffith.

Food Trucks:
A truck will cost around $40,000 to $100,000, depending on if you buy it refurbished or new. But first find out whether food trucks are legal in your city or if there’s a cap on the number of food trucks allowed. Like traditional restaurants, food truck operators need to have certain permits and licenses, and to pass safety inspections. Learn more from the National Restaurant Association at www.restaurant.org.

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Flash Sales:
To find a flash site oppor-tunity, contact venues such as MyHabit.com (founded by Amazon.com) and BeyondtheRack.com just as you would if you were trying to have your products distributed at a traditional retail outlet. Flash sales are most effective as a tool to deliver a unique customer experience. The idea of purchasing limited sales items is what drives consumers to such sites.

Flea Markets:
Locate a flea market to sell your wares at www.keysfleamarket.com, www.findaflea market.com, or www.americanfleas.com.

You can learn more about the industry at the National Flea Market Association’s website, www.fleamarkets.org. Also, download the Kindle e-book How to Make Money Like A Pro Selling At Flea Markets and Swap Meets by Allen Farlow.

How they made it: Recent deals with major airlines and airports across the country have positioned the company as an important player in the loyalty rewards industry. Thanks Again plans to soon begin offering hotel points as another reward option.

For professionals who spend much of their time traveling above the clouds—or en route from terminal to terminal—nothing says “thank you” better than loyalty rewards programs that offer frequent flier miles for flying or shopping. Thanks Again L.L.C. (www.thanksagain.com) does just that.

A provider of merchant-funded consumer loyalty rewards programs, Thanks Again links customers and their favorite merchants through an incentive program. Customers earn rewards such as airline miles, cash back, or gift cards when they make purchases at participating retail establishments. The company currently has a presence in 168 domestic airports and more than 25,000 local merchants in all 50 states.

CEO Marc Ellis, 41, a former vice president at Wachovia Securities and Chase Manhattan Bank, co-founded Thanks Again in 2004. In the past seven years, the company has seen tremendous growth, having recruited merchants in industries such as airport retailers, golf courses, dry cleaners, day spas, restaurants, and limousine services. It has also formed partnerships with major airlines such as Alaska Airlines, Continental, Delta, United, and US Airways. Thanks Again employs nine full-time and three part-time employees and also provides consumer data analytics to its business partners, showing them how their customers spend and the best ways to engage them. The company generated revenues of $650,000 in 2010; it is expected to reach $1.85 million for 2011.

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But its flight to success hasn’t been without some turbulence. In its early days, Thanks Again struggled with undercapitalization because some airlines required that it prepay for miles. “We had to raise upward of $3 million, and it took about three years to do it,” says Ellis. To recruit merchants for the rewards program, he went door to door to small businesses in so-called fragmented industries—“industries in which there’s no dominant player,” says Ellis. Thanks Again was particularly successful recruiting dry cleaners: Ellis once managed Madison’s Bag, a branded promotional vehicle for dry cleaners in select metropolitan areas.

Ellis, who graduated from Morehouse and earned an M.B.A. from the NYU Stern School of Business, says that soliciting business was a nonstop process. The company eventually got the attention of American Airlines, with its network of millions of rewards members. Thanks Again developed a way to have those members earn extra miles when they patronized its network of dry cleaners—and offered the dry cleaners access to a powerful marketing platform.

It wasn’t long before other airlines followed suit. “The minute we provided that solution to American Airlines, about five of their competitors immediately called us and asked for a similar solution,” says Ellis. “We came up with the registered card platform, which linked small businesses to the airline’s world-class rewards program. When consumers enroll their debit or credit card, we track their usage and rewards on the back end. There’s no tracking or administrative hassles for the merchant, and for consumers it’s a completely secure environment.”

Delta Air Lines also partnered with Thanks Again. “One of the things that’s attractive about Thanks Again is that they’re local, they’re in the airport, and their platform is a way of keeping our customer base engaged,” says Scott Miller, general manager of partnership marketing for Delta. “This happens not just when customers are flying on the plane, but when they stop to buy their coffee or their magazine, they can pick and earn miles for that transaction as well.”

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Thanks Again seized upon the opportunity to expand its rewards program to merchants in the airport space, inking deals with airports in Atlanta; Houston; Tulsa, Oklahoma; Portland, Oregon; Seattle; and New York City.

Merchants pay Thanks Again a small monthly administrative fee plus 3% of each reward-earning transaction. Merchants also pay Thanks Again to analyze consumer-level spending data, and are charged a monthly retainer for these services.

The company’s revenues are directly tied to the number of members it has enrolled, since it generates sales when customers make purchases. Thanks Again currently has 200,000 members but needs 500,000 to realize profits. “We project we’ll hit profitability on a month-to-month basis by the middle of next year,” says Ellis, who projects that the company’s membership will reach 1.5 million by the end of 2012.

Although Thanks Again seems to be on stable ground with its growing revenues and partnerships, Leonard Greenhalgh, director of programs for minority- and women-owned businesses at the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth, says Thanks Again’s growth depends on two factors: whether it has the cash flow to sustain its business model, and whether or not a competitor can duplicate that model. “The problem is that somebody else can decide to become an intermediary between the mileage programs,” Greenhalgh says. “What they do have going for them, though, is first-mover advantage. If they were first with Delta, Delta is not likely to substitute them with another vendor.”

But Eric Gilkesson, senior vice president of partner development for Thanks Again, says the company’s growing reputation in the loyalty rewards industry and unique value proposition for airports and local neighborhood merchants put it ahead of potential competitors. “It’s been a heck of a journey, but we’ve been laser-focused and dedicated to reaching [our] destination,” Gilkesson says. Entrepreneurship is not for the faint of heart. “You’ve got to have the vision and conviction to see it through.”

It is easy and requires no effort to think about what we’d like to do differently in business.  The tough part is making and sustaining changes—and even tougher than that is realizing you can’t move your business to the next level or fix a struggling business by simply focusing on the business.  You also have to focus on fixing yourself.

Entrepreneurship is literally a self-improvement obstacle course.  In launching and growing a business, all your strengths will be tapped and all your weaknesses will be revealed.  The business gets better when you get better.  If not, the business fails.  So any business planning you have done or are doing for the New Year should include taking stock and improving you.

Here are five questions you should ask yourself to make sure you grow as a person in the New Year and therefore grow your business too:

1. Am I well? Anxiety, stress and physical disease zap your energy.  One of the easy traps to fall into as an entrepreneur is saying and believing that you’ll pay more attention to your health once you make your business successful.  That’s a fallacy.  Burnout is real.  Vitamin deficiency is real.  Depression is real.  Diabetes, hypertension, emotional bondage and all the other preventable health ailments that come from ignoring your body, eating in response to problems and avoiding issues instead of facing and resolving them are real.  That also includes sitting at the computer or working in the business from the moment you get up until you pass out at night with no exercise, quiet time or focused loving interaction with your significant other or family.  If you don’t have the stamina to run the business without running yourself down then you must make a conscious choice now to change.  You don’t have to be a body builder or love guru but you do need to be well.  Try a retreat or another means of pulling back to check in with yourself and make sure you are.
2. Do I have strong relationships? Every success in this world comes out of some kind of relationship.  What’s the quality of your relationships? Think about how connected you feel.  Do you feel like you have people who genuinely support and love you—do you support and love them?  Check in with your friends, family, employees and business partners to find out how they really feel.  These are people who know all your “stuff” and love you anyway.  These relationships are a safe haven through tough times and an inner circle to celebrate with during great times.  Make sure you make a concerted effort throughout the year to give focused time to your relationships.
   

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3. Do I have the skills I need to succeed? It takes a lot to make a business work.  If you have not taken an honest look at where your business keeps getting stuck and figuring out what skills you need to move beyond that recurrence now is the time to do that.  Once you brainstorm a list of skills select one or two of them that you will intentionally focus on improving this year.

4.  Am I 100% committed? Successful entrepreneurship does not result from half-hearted efforts.  You’re either completely committed or your business is on the way out.  Some people believe they are committed because they are still doing business every day.  Time in service doesn’t mean you are committed.  Being committed means you are willing to show up and make the changes that will consistently improve the business and make it profitable, or move you on to a business that will.  Have you had an executive meeting with yourself regarding commitment? Check in with self to make sure you are completely committed.

5. Do you execute? The most talented people with the best ideas and best plans don’t win unless they execute.  Do you accomplish the daily, weekly and monthly tasks that are critical to your business success?  That’s a yes or no question.  If your answer is no, you have to be totally honest and determine within yourself why you do not execute and how to move to the point that you do.  In business, there is no trying.  Your either are getting it done, or you’re not.

Answer these five questions to find out what you need to work through to hit your targets in 2012.

Felicia Joy is a nationally recognized entrepreneur who created $50 million in value for the various organizations and companies she served in corporate America before launching her business enterprise. She is the author of Hybrid Entrepreneurship: How the Middle Class Can Beat the Slow Economy, Earn Extra Income and Reclaim the American Dream and a regular contributor on CNN. Follow her @feliciajoy.