10 Inspiring Young Online Entrepreneurs

One really awesome thing about the Internet is that there’s no such thing as age discrimination when it comes to being successful.  It doesn’t matter if you’re 12 or 72 - you have just as much chance as anyone of becoming rich and famous through an online business.  To illustrate the point, here, in no particular order, are 10 young entrepreneurs who are making their dreams a reality through internet businesses.

	Jonathan Mead, 23 of IlluminatedMind.net - Full-time blogger and life coach Jonathan Mead delivers a steady dose of inspiration and how-to content on his blog, and through his popular e-books, Reclaim Your Dreams, and The Zero Hour Workweek - How I Liberated Myself From the 9 to 5 by Getting Paid to Be Me. At just 23, Jonathan has figured out the “secret formula” for becoming a successful entrepreneur by sharing his story and expertise through blogging. Twitter: @jonathanmead
	Michael Dunlop, 21 of IncomeDiary.com - Michael Dunlop started his first profitable website when he was just 16 years old.  Now, at the ripe old age of 21, Michael is truly living what he calls the Internet Lifestyle.  Michael’s blog is all about helping others achieve this same dream.  Through interviews with some of the true thought-leaders in online marketing, as well as instructional content, Michael brings great information to anyone looking to become a pro blogger. Twitter: @michaeldunlop
	Pete Cashmore, 24 of Mashable.com - From the Mashable site: “Pete Cashmore is the 24 year-old CEO and founder of Mashable.com, a Technorati Top 10 blog worldwide. He founded Mashable in a small Scottish town in 2005 at age 19. In 2009, Cashmore was chosen as one of Inc Magazine’s 30 Under 30, Forbes’ Top 25 Web Celebs and the Huffington Posts’ Top 10 Game Changers 2009.” Twitter: @petecashmore and @mashable
	Adam Horwitz, 18 of AdamHorwitz.tv - 18-year-old Adam Horwitz says on his site that he has a goal to make a million dollars a year by the time he’s 21.  All signs point to that becoming a reality.  Adam started out in Internet marketing at the age of 15 and has become an expert in the areas of affiliate marketing and PPC (pay-per-click) advertising.  Now he makes money teaching others to make a living in these areas.  His blog is full of informational videos, tips, and lots of goofy stuff that might not make you a better entrepreneur, but just might make you laugh. Twitter: @AdamHorwitz
	Kevin Sproles, 25 of Volusion.com - Kevin Sproles started designing web sites at the age of 16.  After receiving lots of requests for a shopping cart solution, Kevin, with very little money and a great deal of perseverance, started coding shopping cart software.  Now, at the age of 25, his company supplies the most award-winning e-commerce solution to over online 100,000 entrepreneurs as well as major companies. Twitter: @volusion
	Gurbaksh Chahal, 27 of gWallet.com - Gurbaksh Chahal has an amazing entrepreneurial story.  After dropping out of high school in San Diego at age 16 to start ClickAgents, a performance-based ad network, he grew the company for two years, at which point it was acquired by ValueClick in a $40 million all-stock deal. His next venture, another ad network called BlueLithium, was acquired in 2007 by Yahoo! for $300 million cash.  Gurbaksh started gWallet, a virtual currency platform for social media, in September of 2009.  In 2008, Gurbaksh published his memoir in a book called The Dream. Twitter: @gchahal
	Catherine Cook, 20 of myYearbook.com - Since co-founding myYearbook with her brother in 2005, at the age of 15, Catherine Cook and her team have raised over $20 million in capital and have grown the site into one of the largest US social media sites with over 20 million members.  The site makes meeting new people easy by introducing members to innovative social games that are all tied together by a single virtual currency called “Lunch Money.” Twitter: @myYearbook
	Sam Lessin, 26 of Drop.io - After graduating from Harvard, Magna Cum Laude in 2005, Sam Lessin started Drop.io.  Drop.io is a simple, private, real-time, sharing, collaboration, and presentation site where users can upload files of any kind and have the ability to access, share, and edit those files from any Internet-connected computer.  Sam is also the co-founder of SocialGreat.com, a location-based social media site with a growing user-base. Twitter: @lessin
	Ryan Allis, 26 of iContact.com - Ryan Allis is the co-founder and CEO of iContact, a leading provider of email marketing tools for small businesses.  Ryan has built North Carolina-based iContact from its start in 2003 to its current size with more than 175 employees, 50,000 customers, and $28 million in annual sales, while raising $10.8 million to grow the firm.  Ryan is also the author of the book Zero to One Million, which reached the Wall Street Journal Bestseller list in 2008. Twitter: @ryanallis
	Derek Johnson, 25 of Tatango.com - Derek Johnson was bit by the entrepreneur bug early in life, starting his first business of selling candy bars to fellow students at recess by the age of eight. Derek, a self proclaimed workaholic, puts in 100+ hour workweeks to help fulfill the vision of Tatango.com.  Originally launched as networkText.com in 2007, Tatango has since facilitated the sending of tens of millions of text messages to groups of varying sizes, through their simple-to-use group texting platform. Twitter: @TheDerekJohnson

Once you’ve seen these success stories, you might want to ask yourself: What can they do that you can’t? Chances are you won’t find that they have anything special, beyond a drive to succeed, the belief that it’s possible, and a willingness to work as hard and as long as it takes.  So whatever your age, whether you’re younger or older than those above, know that you too can make your dreams of business success a reality, if you’ll just go for it and keep at it through whatever may come.

20 Amazing Women Entrepreneurs

These days, it seems successful entrepreneurs are popping up everywhere.  And some of the most impressive entrepreneurial success stories are those of women who have accomplished amazing things in every area of business imaginable.  From IT to retail, and from marketing to inventions, women have shown they are a force to be reckoned with.  So we’ve put together a list of 20 of these amazing women to pay tribute to their accomplishments and recognize their contributions to the entrepreneurial world.  They are truly an inspiration to us all.

	Sarah Prevette - Sprouter.com An entrepreneur long immersed in the startup community, Sarah has a firsthand familiarity with the common pitfalls of early stage startups and a grasp of the tips and tools that foster success.  Sarah is the founder of Sprouter.com, and the Twestival Organizer for Toronto.
	Mari Smith - MariSmith.com Dubbed “the pied piper of the online world” by Fast Company Magazine, Mari Smith is a relationship marketing specialist and social media keynote speaker, trainer, and consultant. Mari believes that “there’s no such thing as competition, most definitely for the small business owner and certainly for the solopreneur, because there’s only one ‘you’.”
	Gabrielle Bernstein - Gabrielle Bernstein Inc. In her book, “Add more ~ing to Your Life,” Gabrielle Bernstein says, “My mission in this lifetime is to help guide my generation to shift their search for happiness from the outside to the inside.” Gabrielle is also the founder of Women’s Entrepreneurial Network, a non-profit professional organization that connects female entrepreneurs, and HerFuture.com, which connects women with mentors.
	Genevieve Thiers - SitterCity.com Genevieve Thiers is the founder of SitterCity.com, the $5 million Inc. 500 company that matches service providers with service seekers in the areas of babysitting, housekeeping, tutoring, and more.  Based in Chicago, the site hosts over a million profiles and provides services coast to coast.
	Maxine Clark - Build-A-Bear Workshop, Inc. Maxine Clark served as the President and Chief Merchandising Officer at Payless Shoesource, Inc. prior to starting Build-A-Bear Workshop.  The company has over 340 stores all over the world and has annual revenues of over $120 million.
	Robin Koval - Kaplan Thaler Group, Ltd As co-founder of the Kaplan Thaler Group, Robin Koval is a marketing strategist and new products expert.  Her marketing ideas include, the “Yes, Yes, Yes” Herbal Essences campaign as well as the famous AFLAC duck quack.  Robin is also the best selling author of several books on marketing.
	Nancy Evans - iVillage.com Nancy Evans is co-founder of iVillage.com: The Women’s Network. The company, begun in 1995, provides effective solutions to everyday challenges facing women in their many roles as professionals, parents, friends and partners.  iVillage was acquired by NBC Universal, Inc. in 2006.
	Ann Moore - Inventor of The Snugli A pediatric nurse by trade, Ann Moore invented the Snugli, a baby-carrying sling, while on a Peace Corps mission in the 1960s.  To this day, Snugli is the most popular on-body baby carrier in the world, and is now owned by Evenflo.
	Linda Mason - Bright Horizons Family Solutions Founded by Linda Mason in 1986, Bright Horizons is the world’s leading provider of employer-sponsored child care, back-up care, early education, and work/life solutions.  Linda Mason is also the author of The Working Mother’s Guide to Life: Strategies, Secrets, and Solutions.
	Lisa Druxman - Stroller Strides Stroller Strides, Lisa Druxman’s brainchild, was started out of a need for Lisa to stay fit right after having her first child.  She started the business from her home in San Diego, and now the company boasts over 300 franchises nationwide.
	Carrie Wilkerson - Barefoot Marketing Group Carrie Wilkerson, known as The Barefoot Executive, is the founder of Barefoot Marketing Group, where Carrie and her network of experts have quickly become the definitive resource for work at home professionals. (Check out our interview with Carrie - here.)
	Gina Bianchini - Ning.com After Harmonic Communications, a company she co-founded, was acquired by Dentsu, Gina Bianchini co-founded Ning, an online platform for people to create their own social networks. Ning was launched in 2005 and has since raised over $104 million in capital and has become a top 100 global website and one of the world’s most valuable start-ups.
	Juliette Brindak - MissOandFriends.com One of the most inspiring stories on our list, Juliette Bindak founded her company, Miss O and Friends, at the age of 10.  By the time she was 19, just last year, the company had a value of more than $15 million.  She also published her first book at the age of 16, which has sold over 120,000 copies.
	Ali Brown - Ali International Recognized on the 2009 Inc 500 list and recipient of the 2010 Enterprising Women of the Year award, Ali Brown is a true entrepreneur.  She quit her job in 1998 and was down to less than $20 when she wrote an e-book, and everything changed. She has since become a foremost authority in driving sales and marketing via e-mail publishing, and even publishes her own magazine, Ali.
	Loral Langemeier - LiveOutLoud.com After reaching a net worth of $1 million, Loral Langemeier decided she would start Live Out Loud, a coaching and seminar company to help others reach this same level of success. The company started small with one office in 2002 and within 5 years grew to a $19 million dollar company.  She is also the resident money expert on the Dr. Phil Show.
	Sara Blakely - Spanx 2002 Entrepreneur of the Year Award winner Sara Blakely says on her Spanx website, “With $5,000 in savings out of the back of my apartment, a whole lot of internet research, patent writing, cold-calling, less-than-shy demonstrations for buyers, and a call from Oprah…Spanx was born!”  Sara has also formed the Sara Blakely Foundation, which focuses on supporting and empowering women around the world.
	Amilya Antonetti - Lucky Napkin Because of a severe allergic reaction her newborn son had to synthetic cleaning products, Amilya Antonetti founded Soap Works, a company that produced natural cleaning products.  After selling the company, Amilya started Lucky Napkin, a company that assists people in taking their ideas “from mind to market.”
	Susan Handley - Beijo Bags Susan Handley first started designing handbags when she was ten years old.  Now, Beijo Bags provides opportunities for over 1000 independent sales reps all over the US and Canada to have fun and make money, selling top quality handbags and accessories.  The company currently produces over $25 million in annual sales.
	Kate Everett Thorp - Divine Caroline (Real Girls Media) Named one of the Top 25 Women to Watch by Advertising Age, Kate Everett Thorp has masterminded a media network for women, called Real Girls Media.   She has received numerous accolades, including Real Girls Media being named in OnMedia’s Top 100 Companies list.
	Janet Rickstrew - Tomboy Tools After attending a Pampered Chef party 2000, Janet Rickstrew saw an opportunity for a similar concept with tools designed just for women, and Tomboy Tools was born.  The company started with less than 1,000 square feet of warehouse space and now operates a 13,000 square-foot distribution facility on Denver’s West Side.  Their Hammer Out Breast Cancer campaign has contributed hundreds of thousands of dollars to the Susan G. Komen Foundation.

Please join us in congratulating these amazing entrepreneurial women on their inspiring successes. And if you’re an amazing woman entrepreneur, be sure to share you story with us!

Review: Blog Writing Service - Water My Blog?

This is a Sponsored Post written by me. All opinions are 100% mine.

So you have a business, your website is going strong, and you’re working on your SEO and other marketing to get more traffic to your site and take your business to the next level.  You’ve heard that everyone needs to have a blog.  You’ve heard about all the benefits of blogging, from delivering valuable content to your users, customers, subscribers, etc. to improving your search engine rankings.  You’re sold on the benefits, but where are you going to find the time to crank out regular blog posts?  After all, one of the things you’ve learned is that the key to blogging successfully is providing quality content on a consistent basis.

This is the dilemma for a lot of people.  Blogging is a tremendous tool for your business, but it takes a focused effort and a lot of time that many of us just don’t have.  Add to that the fact that many people just aren’t writers and have a hard time coming up with interesting topics much less presenting them in an effective way, and it can all seem very overwhelming.  Well, fear not!  There is a solution to all these challenges, and it’s an easy, affordable solution that you can implement immediately.

Introducing WaterMyBlog.com
WaterMyBlog is a blog writing service like no other.  While it’s popular to hire virtual assistants, freelancers and ghost writers to fill blogging needs, all of those are missing a key element.  They’ll provide regular content, and it might even be written very well, but what are the chances these sources are SEO experts?  Pretty slim.  That’s what makes WaterMyBlog.com different.  This service provides quality blog posts based around your chosen key words, written in a way that serves to greatly enhance your SEO efforts.

How it works
Getting started with WaterMyBlog.com is easy.  First, you’ll provide them with the key words (5-10) you want to optimize for.  This is of course very important, because these words (topics) will end up being the focus of the blog posts they write.  If you need help determining the best key words to rank for, they have SEO experts on staff to help you out.  Next, they connect their software to your blog.  It works with all the popular blogging platforms, so no worries there.  This gives them the ability to directly upload your blog posts once they’re approved.  Once their software is integrated, their researchers get busy using their news aggregators to create a plan that will ensure your blog is relevant to readers and to the search engines.  After the research is done, all that’s left is writing your posts.  The writers at WaterMyBlog.com are called Gardeners, and they will use the information they’ve learned from the news aggregators to create quality, SEO-relevant posts, which will be submitted to you for approval.  If you want changes, you can edit the post yourself or ask for the changes you want.  Once it’s done to your satisfaction, your post will automatically be posted to your site.  It’s that easy!  You’ve saved tons of time while reaping all the benefits of adding outstanding blog content to your site.  And the pricing for all this is outstanding.  You’ll pay no more than $13 per post!  They also have some great promotions running right now, like a one-month free trial!

While they aren’t the solution I’d recommend for pro bloggers who make their living off their blog, WaterMyBlog.com is a great solution for anyone with a primary product or service looking to add a blogging component.  So if you understand all the benefits of adding a blog to your site but haven’t had the time to do it, or if you’re already blogging but are looking for an inexpensive way to free up all the time it’s taking you, OR if you just want to make sure your blogging efforts are paying off with proper SEO, take a look at WaterMyBlog.com.

5 Tips for Fueling the Entrepreneurial Flame

Whether it was yesterday or fifteen years ago, at some point, you’ve felt - perhaps many times - that spark of inspiration and the rush that goes with it: The feeling in your gut that you’re onto something big, and nothing can stop you.  No one ever said starting and running a business was easy though.  Even first-time entrepreneurs recognize that challenges and obstacles are part of the deal when you’re in business for yourself.  In fact challenges are exactly what many of us thrive on.  The ability to overcome barriers and persist when others would quit is what makes entrepreneurs a special breed.

But even the most die-hard entrepreneurial spirits aren’t completely immune to discouragement, so what happens when that initial spark starts to become a fading memory as the challenges mount?  Whether you’re trying to get on track or stay the course, we can all use a little help sometimes to make the magic happen.

Here are 5 useful tips to keep your entrepreneurial flame burning strong:

1. Plan your work - work your plan. Much of the discouragement that entrepreneurs face, especially while first starting their business, or during a period of sudden growth, can come from feelings of being overwhelmed.  With some businesses, this is seemingly constant.  For example, if you have a business where strict deadlines are the norm, you might feel like there isn’t enough time in the day to get everything done.  One way to avoid, or at least reduce, the pressures that might be dampening your entrepreneurial drive is to stick to a plan as much as possible.  This isn’t about your business plan.  It’s about a daily action plan that will keep you focused, not only on the details of your day, but on the big picture as well.  A great way to devise such a plan is to ask yourself, what you have to do on a daily basis to achieve your objectives.  Once you have the answer to that question, build your daily plan around those activities, and hire out or delegate as much of the other stuff as possible.

2. Guard against negativity - from others and from within. It’s difficult, if not impossible, to keep any spark alive while drowning in negativity and cynicism.  Unfortunately, it’s often our own friends, family and peers who are guilty of feeding us negative energy.  The answer is to think for yourself, stay focused on your dream, and get away when you need to.  It’s a matter of priorities.  No one’s suggesting you turn your back on a life-long friend and never speak to them again, but if they’re the type of person who only focuses on the negative, you have to decide if it’s worth spending less time with that person in order to stay in the frame of mind necessary to reach your goals.  If it’s in your own nature to look at the world through pessimistic eyes, go to the next tip…

3. Fortify your mind. The self improvement movement has been in full swing in our culture for over 35 years now.  Out of that has come enough material to keep you surrounded by positive words for the rest of your life.  A search for the term “self improvement” on Amazon yields over 60,000 books, not to mention DVDs and audio programs in MP3 and CD.  If books and audio aren’t enough, you can find countless seminars, retreats, workshops and camps, all designed to infuse your mind with positive energy and purpose.  The point is, you have an opportunity to control what goes into your mind, and if what you choose to focus on is positive, uplifting, and motivating, you’ll be able to overcome obstacles more easily, ignore the negativity of the world around you, and keep your spark alive.

4. Embrace change. The only thing that never changes is the fact that everything changes.  No matter how well thought out your business plan is, or how sure you are you’ve thought of every contingency, the unexpected will arise.  Whether it’s a turn in the economy or a new technology that changes the face of your industry, sooner or later something will happen that you didn’t plan for.  Often the difference between thriving or withering in these situations is an ability to embrace change and make it work for you.  So rather than feeling beaten when things don’t go as planned, think of how this new or different set of circumstances can work in your favor.  When you approach change this way, you’ll be surprised at what you can come up with.  It might even ignite a new spark you would never have recognized otherwise.

5. Let history be your guide. Every successful person, from the Wright brothers and Walt Disney, to Thomas Edison, Bill Gates, and Donald Trump have experienced setbacks, disappointments, and internal doubt.  While all of these great people accomplished amazing things, each of them had to overcome obstacles, just like you do.  What they had, more than anything else, was a belief in their dream, an ability to focus on their goals, and most importantly, a sense of perseverance that pulled them through when they needed it most.  The great thing is that none of those qualities are reserved for a select few.  We can all access them.

Once you’ve used these tips, if you’re still having trouble staying motivated, do whatever you need to do - whether it’s reading an inspirational book, staring in the mirror and giving yourself a pep talk, or sitting on a rock meditating - to get back to that original feeling you had when the spark first hit.  Remembering that moment and getting back into that frame of mind will keep you going through any challenge you face.  No matter what the world throws at you, you do have the power to push through.  Now, go do it!

How to be Successful at All You Do - 7 Crucial Personality Traits

Judging from the number of self-help and business books sold every year, millions of people want to know what it takes to be successful in business and in life.  Of course we do.  Especially if you define success as abundance in all areas - not just money - then being “successful” is what life’s all about.  The other thing you can guess from the millions of these books sold is that not everyone agrees about what it takes to be successful.  If they did, there would only be one book, right?  Well, not necessarily.  If you read all the books, you’ll mostly hear similar themes repeated in various ways.  This is good, because different people learn and absorb information in different ways.  Some will resonate more with books and programs that incorporate humor, while others prefer to take a more serious approach, for instance.  When it all comes down to it though, most of the books talk about at least one or several (or all) of the following personality traits as being necessary for success.   In fact you’ll find that few if any successful business people are lacking many of these traits.

Successful people are…

1. Optimistic. People who have achieved success in life tend to be optimistic.  They are far more likely to be heard talking about solutions than problems, whether in their business or personal lives, and they don’t dwell on past failures but focus on future opportunities.

2. Passionate. Successful people look forward to doing whatever it is that they do.  While they’re excited about weekends with the family or vacations away, they aren’t the ones dreading Monday morning.  They have passion for work and for life, and if they find themselves doing something they dread, they won’t do it for long.  Instead they’ll find an alternative that drives them and inspires them.

3. Persistent. Those who have found true success have done so through persistence and tenacity.  Successful people don’t have fewer obstacles than those who have not experienced success.  They just keep going even after the obstacles come up.  They deal with challenges and move on, learning as they go.  They feel sick at even the thought of giving up just before a successful breakthrough.  And because of their passion, persistence doesn’t feel like a chore - it’s fun!

4. Flexible. Being able to change course when necessary contributes to success in big ways.  While successful people follow plans, they know that the unexpected will arise, and when it does they’re willing and able to adapt as needed and turn change into opportunity.  They don’t wish for the good old days - they relish progress and go with the flow. (Or they change the flow they don’t like!)

5. Educated. This isn’t exactly a personality trait, and it doesn’t have anything to do with schooling.  The personality trait that relates to education is a thirst for learning.  Look at any success story, from Walmart founder Sam Walton, who didn’t even finish high school, to LinkedIn founder Reid Hoffman, who has degrees from Stanford and Oxford, and you’ll find someone who is committed to lifelong learning and improving him or herself.  Successful people are educated in their areas of passion, even if they aren’t “book smart.”

6. Focused. People who have experienced success in their business and personal lives have done so in part because they’ve been focused on success.  But more importantly, they’re focused on the long-term.  From managing personal finances to running companies, these people know that sacrificing now can pay off big in the future.  Successful people understand that while short-term victories are critical, they are only so important because they contribute to long-term success.  So they are not easily distracted by the lure of making a quick buck - or by the pretty secretary in the next office.

7. Altruistic. Contrary to the stories of greed and gluttony you sometimes hear about in the corporate world, politics, and elsewhere, truly successful people tend to be unselfish and often philanthropic.  That doesn’t mean they’re pushovers, but they are concerned about people and about contributing to the greater good.  In fact many of the most successful people in the world, both financially and personally, have found their true passions in helping and giving, more than in selfish pursuits.

Ask yourself how many of these seven personality traits you have.  If you’re seriously lacking in any of them, what can you do to change that?  And what other traits do you think a person needs to be a true success?  We’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments section!

Next Page »