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GH in the news- @Grasshopper
- Find some of the GH Labs crew & @Chargify at #SXSW http://bit.ly/aGLNUC
- @picobits - We have no immediate plans to implement a softphone feature.
- RT @OPENForum: 4 Employee Benefits at Little (or Zero) Cost. http://www.bit.ly/a42ABx
Entrepreneurs Archive
Hey Jay-Z, Meet the New Dork in ‘Entrepreneur State of Mind’
The official music video of entrepreneurs everywhere. Enjoy.
Download the MP3 (right click on link)
Entrepreneurship, It’s Personal
Nash Kabbara, co-founder of Motors On Wheels and ZipZoomAuto provides insight on building and sustaining a business.
About Me
When I was about 12 years old, mom would stop the car at the local bakery; I would jump out with a pocket full of change and buy a dozen pastries. It’s Sunday, family dinner day, and I knew what everyone’s favorite pastry was. I also
knew which uncles had the most money and which ones did not. As everyone was finishing up their dinners, I set up a table and marked each pastry with a price. Needless to say, the uncles who drove BMW’s had the highest markup!
I’ve always wanted to make a billion dollars by creating something that makes people better at what they do. At my last job I thought I was doing just that, but I was wrong. I cut my losses and quit with about $10,000 in the bank.
Sustainability
Ten thousand dollars might look like it has enough zeroes in it, but it doesn’t go very far. I needed a way to stay afloat while I waited for the billion dollar idea to come to me.
A friend of mine was in the car business. He suggested I buy a car from him at wholesale and resell it myself. I did. I made $1,300 in about 5 hours of actual work!
Give Your Customers a Great Online Experience
If you’re lucky enough to get found in Google, a major differentiating factor between you and your competition could be the user experience you’re providing for current and potential customers on your website. I know it sounds simple, but think of all the really bad websites you’ve been to lately. There are too many. Do you know what your customers think of yours?
The caveat is that most of us aren’t web designers or user experience professionals. We’re entrepreneurs who are kicking the tires every day to take our businesses to the next level. Who has time to test or get feedback from customers?
There are no excuses anymore.
We’re excited to announce today a partnership with UserTesting.com, a fantastic service that we use ourselves here at Grasshopper to make sure we’re delivering the best user experience to our customers.
It’s simple and affordable. UserTesting.com has a panel of pre-screened users (matching demographic information you supply) who will record themselves using your website while they speak their thoughts and give you feedback on their experience. You learn where they get confused and what they like and don’t like on your site.
The Grasshopper 2010 Entrepreneur State of Mind Survey
Today we launched the “2010 Entrepreneur State of Mind Survey” designed to learn more about you, the entrepreneur.
Yes, there are a number of boring surveys out there on entrepreneurship but nothing dedicated to finding out about your lifestyle, how you think, who you are and what keeps you up at night.
The survey will take you less than 6 minutes and might even give you a laugh or two.
Plus, if you tweet it with the hashtag #entrepreneursurvey you earn a chance to win an iPhone or Netbook.
Featured Entrepreneur: Allan Branch of LessAccounting
This week we are featuring Allan Branch. He’s the co-founder of LessAccounting and also a Grasshopper customer.
Could you explain the philosophy of Less?
We believe business software should easy. It should get out of your way, allowing you to get back to work and make money. Being a business owner is hard enough without having your software make it harder.
I’d love to hear more about your path to entrepreneurship. What were you guys doing before you started Less?
I was a freelance designer and Steve was a contractor doing software engineering. We both were looking for each other we just didn’t realize it at the time.
I’d like to focus on LessAccounting for a second. In college, I had to take this awful accounting class where we learned Peachtree accounting software. After this experience, I vowed to stay as far away from accounting as I could. How does LessAccounting help a guy like me (who can barely add)?
We like to say all bookkeeping software sucks we just suck the least. Bookkeeping should be easy, after all it’s really just adding and subtracting. LessAccounting keeps things simple, organizing your data, showing you where you’re at, who owes you money, who you owe money to, and then having a variety of reports that make it easy to understand your business. We also have bookkeepers on staff ready to help you if you have questions and even help balance your books for you. Ask Intuit or Peachtree to help you do a bank reconciliation.
Grasshopper & Web 2.0 Show Partner to Help Entrepreneurs
Grasshopper and the Web 2.0 Show have teamed up to help entrepreneurs like you promote your business.
“Pitch the Show” is a new element to the Web 2.0 Show that gives ANY person the chance to be featured on the show! You will have the opportunity to talk about your business in front of a large audience as well as a monthly special guest who has left their mark in the entrepreneurial world. It’s a great opportunity to gain exposure and extremely simple:
“Call 1-888-WEB20SHOW and give your best 90 second pitch about your business.”
Two pitches will be selected each month and along with exposure on the Web 2.0 Podcast, you will be featured on the Grasshopper blog.
It’s important to remember that Twitter is a big part of this contest as well. By engaging @grasshopper and @web20show on Twitter you can actually influence your chances of getting featured. Here at Grasshopper, listening is a really big part of what we do, and that is why we will be tracking hashtag #pitchtheshow, so make sure to tag your tweets!
For more information check out Web 2.0 Pitch the Show and start pitching your business!
Three Pieces of Any Good Referral Program
A referral program is one simple marketing initiative that can be a cost effective move for any small business. One of the reasons Grasshopper is so successful is due to our Refer An Entrepreneur program and our great customers.
On every page of the Grasshopper.com site, we have a navigation element that allows users to click on the link, fill in the form and send a $25 credit to their fellow Entrepreneur, encouraging them to sign up for the Grasshopper virtual phone system.
The Word of Mouth Marketing theory dictates that once you have the customer in the door, it’s much easier to convert them to a paying customer, especially if their friend sent them in the first place. By comparison to the COA (Cost Of Acquisition ) from search, online advertising, print, TV, and radio, it’s a no brainer. In addition, if this new customer now endorses you to his or her friends, it causes a ripple effect.
Found on Twitter: 14 Words of Wisdom for Startups
Who you follow on Twitter has a tremendous impact on what you get out of Twitter. There are people tweeting great information on every topic available and there are also people out there using it just for fun. If you are follow the right people (see our previous post on the top entrepreneurs to follow), you increase your chances of finding solid tips and advice.
We’ve gathered 14 tweets from smart people around the web, offering some simple words of wisdom on startups:
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Tech startups – be careful about “geeking out” on sales calls. You’re selling solutions to problems not technology. @byosko
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Just finished a call with a CEO who is delaying fundraising till he gets more traction. Very smart. You can’t raise $ without validation @startupcfo
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Avoid analysis paralysis…been noticing we talk a lot about the interpretation of data, not whether to act…this is the way to do it. @MikeMcDerment
Balancing Life & Work in a Virtual Office
Many of the customers who use our Virtual PBX service are entrepreneurs starting out in a 1-2 person operation, working out of their homes or even their cars. They have created a virtual office for their business.
There are plenty of articles out there on creating a virtual office but there are not very many on what to do once you have done so. Working in the place you live can lead to unhappiness, burnout and tension at home. However, it can be an ideal situation if you properly balance life & work responsibilities.
Here are three tips for creating a work/life balance in your virtual office:
#1 – Create Boundaries
Set Up an Area Specifically for Work
Having a dedicated area will help you remember that there needs to be a separation between work and the rest of your life. Whether it’s an office in the house, a spare bedroom or a certain corner of the kitchen table, make sure that spot is where work takes place and nothing else.
Top Ten Podcasts for Entrepreneurs
Let’s start with two quick matters of house-keeping: One, I am part of the 10-12% of Americans who call themselves an “Entrepreneur”. Two, I am part of the 63.5 % of internet users who will Google any question, event, person, problem, word, or topic that might potentially interest or be useful to them.
Having said that, a trend I’ve recognized lately is that podcasts are slowly becoming the most popular and convenient source of information. Unlike blogs, you can take them anywhere and listen to them anytime. So, being the insanely curious person I am (and going back to my opening statement), can you guess what I did? I Googled “Top Entrepreneur Podcasts”.
