Craig Ridenhour: Most Innovative Entrepreneur of the Year

Craig Ridenhour, a cardiovascular ultrasound specialist from Phoenix, Arizona, invented the first-of-its kind cycle that combines the benefits of stair-step exercise systems and a recreational bicycle. His product, called Staircycle, comes in adult and children sizes and can be used indoors or outdoors. By crossing a stair-stepper with a bicycle, he created a product that offers people a new and fun way to stay fit.

He spent 7 years developing the product, but alas like many other small business entrepreneurs, found it hard to find the resources to help him market his invention. Luckily for him, Ridenhour won in the Yahoo Search Marketing's "Think Big" search for the "most innovative entrepreneur in the U.S." His website even sports a photo op he had with Sir Richard Branson after winning the prize! The prize was 10 million free Internet ads at Yahoo.com and help marketing his StairCycle online. Today, he has a state-of-the-art Web site Staircycle.com with telemarketers taking orders for his invention.

However, he found that inventing a product is one thing, but selling it is another. He will expand his marketing strategy by embarking on a multimedia campaign, not just limited to the Internet, including newspaper, Internet and television advertising. Ridenhour still keeps his day job at the Arizona Heart Institute, while continuing to grow his business. But he proves that an innovative product and an undaunting entrepreneurial spirit is an integral first step to entrepreneurial success.

Are Your Mistakes Preventing Your Business to Succeed?

To continue our discussion of the book "Will Your Next Mistake be Fatal,"
the author listed very interesting insights in the last chapter of the book.

Some of these insights are definitely worth pondering upon:

• Fly the airplane: It is easy to get distracted and there are times when you need to have a stern talk with yourself and ask if you are spending time on the most important things
• Execution mistakes can be generated through a lack of resources or knowledge (that is why it is very important to go to a business armed with all the knowledge you can muster; or get someone else to help you who knows the business inside and out)
• Seek advice and seek to understand assumptions: Failure to seek and use advice and disregard data on customer behavior is a significant cause of mistakes
• If something does not make sense or feels confused, STOP and figure out what's going on
• A very successful business can blind you to opportunity
• Train for the "can't happen" scenario
• Open your mind past your blinders
• If you do not make any mistakes, you may not be taking enough risk, but failing to take any risks at all may be the most dangerous type of mistake that a business can make

Will Your Next Mistake be Fatal? A Book Summary

A key element of achieving success in business is making as few mistakes as possible, especially those that can prove fatal to the business. Robert E. Mittelstaedt Jr. in his book "Will Your Next Mistake Be Fatal? Avoiding the Chain of Mistakes that Can Destroy Your Organization" (Wharton School Publishing, September 28, 2004) shows how you can avoid mistakes and failures that can push your business to the edge of the cliff.

Mistakes happen, even in the best corporations and enterprises. But it is important that businesses recognize mistakes early and immediately work to rectify the situation. Ignoring warning signs – and there are always signs -- could lead to potential disaster for the business. Unfortunately, many simply ignore the warning signs, even the most obvious ones. Hence, big mistakes happen such as the Firestone Tires, New Coke, among others -- mistakes that could have been prevented had the people involved saw and took note of the warnings. Alas, no one saw it coming.

While the big business is the book's main focus, Mittelstaedt dedicates a chapter to small businesses, noting, “Mistakes aren’t just for big companies.” In fact, “startups and small businesses make mistakes in the same ways that larger organizations make mistakes. However, they usually have fewer resources to avoid or recover and less flexibility to survive mistakes with alternate plans or products.” He lists the common mistakes small business and start-up entrepreneurs commit, from the process of developing the business idea to securing financing.

According to Mittelstaedt, for small businesses "it is simply a question of how many mistakes are made before there is damage and how rapidly it all plays out." The list is illuminating, as follows:

Read full book summary

Garage Success Stories

What is it with garages that entice success? As pointed out at TelegraphIndia.com, some of the biggest success stories in the field of technology, computing and Web started their businesses from their garages.

David Packard and William Hewlett launched Hewlett-Packard Co. in a garage. Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak started Apple Computer Inc. in the 1980s also in a garage. Larry Page and Sergey Brin started Google Inc., the biggest internet search firm now, also in a rented garage.

Is it the confined space that allows for more creative thinking? Is it the sense of desperation that this business has to work in order to get out of the garage? Or is it simply a wonderful coincidence that great minds can start humbly in a small space?

Email us if you started a business that is now successful in a garage.

Making Millions from Dog Poop

Ok, I thought I have seen it all, but it is just amazing to read about an entrepreneur who made money -- and a lot of money at that -- from picking up dog poops! Not only is there business in picking up dog's poop, but there is potentially good business in various parts of the country as the business is being opened as a franchise! It's one thing to have a successful business, but another to have one whose success could potentially be replicated elsewhere!

PowerHomeBiz.com today posted a press release about Pet Butler, a business started by Matt "Red" Boswell of Texas. The release reads:

Between kids, working longer hours and two-income families, pet owners (who now number over 100 million in the U.S.) are too busy to stop and deal with one of the grossest and yet most important jobs around. His concept seems to be working. Boswell's Pet Butler has acquired thousands of satisfied repeat clients who only pay an average of $10.00 per visit for Pet Butler to scoop their pet's poop.

I am not a pet owner, mainly because I hate cleaning up animal's poops. I love playing with cats and dogs, but definitely not part of that partnership. Hence, I just avoid pets altogether. I can definitely why this type of service could have a demand. And while Matt reaps the reward for seeing a great opportunity from this daily occurence, here I am thinking, "Why did I not think of this first???"

Read full story

Goal-Free Living: How to Have the Life You Want NOW!

Aristotle once said, “Man is a goal seeking animal. His life only has meaning if he is reaching out and striving for his goals.” We’ve been taught that the single most important step in any major accomplishment is setting a specific goal. Having a goal keeps our mind focused on that goal, and allows us to successfully rise above the many challenges that will come our way.

But what if we don’t have goals? Will we succeed? More importantly, will we be happy? What if these very goals that we’ve created are the impediments to our own happiness? Instead of becoming happy with our present lives, we feel empty and lacking because we have not reached all the goals that we have set out for ourselves. We always feel that happiness is still one goal away, despite reaching several of our goals. “I’ll be happy if I get the promotion,” or “I’ll be happy if I stop traveling too much and spend more time with my family.”

New book by Stephen M. Shapiro shows us that exciting opportunities and new possibilities exist all around us, and that the "life we really want" is already here!

Read book summary of Goal-Free Living: How to Have the Life You Want NOW!

The Changing Mindset of Women when Shopping

According to the website FrankaboutWomen.com, women's shopping behavior is changing.

Women are doing more comparison shopping. They are more aggressively looking for sales. They're spending more conservatively due to concerns about the economy. And they're more likely buying necessity items rather than "frivolous" items.

Their studies also point out that retail therapy is on rise (and I bet many women will agree!!). The reasons they gave include the need to relieve stress; prefer to shop alone; shopping makes them feel better; and they feel like they're on their own universe when they shop. (Oh yeah, I totally agree!)

Read full article

Secrets to Success of Top Business Leaders

If you want to know the secrets to success of top business leaders, check out Business 2.0's December 2005 issue. They interviewed 30 top business visionaries (the best of the best) -- from Warren Buffett to Richard Branson to Russell Simmons and many more -- and asked them the single philosophy they swear by. The results are very interesting, and definitely worth cutting and putting in your bulletin boards.

Here are some of them:

Warren Buffett (CEO, Berkshire Hathaway)

Ask yourself what you'd like others to read about it (what you do that day) on the frontpage of tomorrow's newspaper. You'll probably do things a little differently if you keep that in mind.

George Steinbrenner (Owner, NY Yankees)

Surround yourself with people smarter than you ... The people I work with are not only smarter than I am, possessing both intellectual and emotional intelligence, but also share my determination to succeed. I will not make an important decision without them.

Ivan Seidenberg (Chairman & CEO, Verizon)

Work hard, have high standards, and stick to your values, because somebody's always watching.

Blake Ross (Co-creator, Firefox)

The next best thing is whatever makes the last big thing usable ... Focus on the everyday problems that nag at everyday people. There are more than enough to g around without imagining new ones.

Craig Newmark (Founder, Craigslist)

Choose your mistakes carefully. When someone points out a mistake to you, deal with it - don't go into denials.

Looking at the philosophies of these interesting men, there are a number of common threads as to the secrets to business success -- work hard, fulfill a need, learn from your mistakes, get help from people smarter than you, and go for it (and be happy in the process). These are not really "secrets"; they're common knowledge!! Except these men lived these philosophies and used them to shape their lives.

Read full article

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What makes for successful entrepreneurship? Why does some entrepreneurs succeed, while many others fail? How do you ensure that your business will be successful? These are the questions that this blog would like to explore. We will share with you stories of successful entrepreneurs, reasons for their success, tips to attaining success, and ways to create a successful business.

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