Most of the entrepreneurs you meet start up their businesses after having thought about them a very long time. It would be rare to find a business owner who just woke up this morning and decided, yes I think I’ll go for it today and make that first million!

However, regardless of the amount of time you waited to get started on your business, when you jump in without having any kind of strategy for meeting your goals and no business plan for how to get there, you might as well have just taken the big leap immediately after getting out of bed.

Without an appropriate strategy and a plan, your business is unlikely to have that happy ending you hope for, no matter how hard or how long you work toward it, because you are not appropriately prepared for meeting the opportunities that result in success.

You see, knowing how to be a great carpenter is not enough to succeed in the carpentry business. And knowing how to win awards for film-making is not enough to succeed in running a production house. It’s for this reason that most entrepreneurs fail to achieve their dreams. Instead of owning a business, the business owns them. We don’t want that to happen to you!

We’re working on a solution to this right now and soon we’ll be able to share the details with you. Nothing would make us happier than for each one of you to become a great success story. We know you have just as many challenges, albeit of a different kind, as those we are helping around the world. And the “do or die” approach to business, no matter where you live, just doesn’t work.

Something tells me we’re about to launch some of our greatest work to date. And it was inspired by you, our loyal audience. Can’t wait to tell you about it… stay tuned!

Caught an interesting item in The Economist earlier this week. It was a story about Barack Obama called Explaining the Riddle.

I had no idea Obama was something of a “comeback kid”. His life was very different eight years ago. He’d lost a congressional primary in Chicago, and both his political and personal bank accounts were empty. He couldn’t get a floor pass and had to watch the proceedings from a big screen in a car park. And the rental car company had even rejected his credit card. Haven’t we all experienced our own version of these… shall we just say “down times”?

But just look at him now! On August 28th Mr. Obama will deliver his acceptance speech before an audience of 84,000 people at a local football stadium, Invesco Field, all embracing the spirit of his platform based on the twin promises: change and hope. This year, he is the Democratic convention.

He hasn’t just gripped America’s imagination, the entire world is captivated by this coming Presidential race. When it started, few believed he’d be able to beat the tremendously powerful Clinton machine. But he did.  And even if he doesn’t win this race, he’ll still have his place in history.

Being an entrepreneur, whether here or in the developing countries of the world, requires a person to similarly step up in confidence and with courage. To hold certain beliefs about the possibilities for the future.

Like Obama, we must refuse to let circumstances dictate what we can achieve and become. We are the harbingers of change and hope. We’re just not running for President.

On August 1, President Clinton arrived in a small rural district outside of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, called Debre Ziet, where a large crowd of people greeted him at Godino Health Center, a rural center that serves 45,000 people.

He and his team announced a new program that will help 50 health centers across Ethiopia bringing HIV/AIDS and malaria testing, care, and treatment to more than one million people.

These efforts will include a focus on helping to prevent the transmission of HIV/AIDS from a mother to her baby, giving more children the chance to live free of the disease.

President Clinton’s next stop: (more…)

In response to asking “what can we give” to help you with your business, we’re creating a regular “question of the month” post where I’ll answer your specific questions sent to this web site.

We’ll select the best question from those submitted each month (can be on any business or micro-fundraising related topic) and, if you benefit from the answer posted, we’re hoping you’ll send us your comments and consider making a micro-donation of $10, $25 or $40 on a future Final Friday Fundraising call. Think of it as the most cost-effective consulting you’ll ever purchase!

At SMARTSTART we’ve implemented philanthropy programs for donating services, support, and access to career and business success mentoring programs to new grads, new immigrants and entrepreneurs in the developing countries of the world.

Now I’d like to explore how we might expand further by doing something for the entrepreneurs who so generously support our work here at SMARTSTART|Giving.

What would be most meaningful for you?

Please send us your comments suggesting what would make the greatest difference to you (more…)

On our June fundraising call I was excited to report that, thanks to the generosity of our SMARTSTART|Giving followers, we have funded the hopes and dreams of 135 entrepreneurs with 32 micro-loans through Kiva.org. That’s more than 10x the number of loans made by the typical Kiva donor who, on average, makes 2.9 loans. And we’ve only needed 3 calls to do it!

What a show of faith. Thank you for making it all possible.

It started me thinking about what I could possibly give back to express my appreciation. Realizing many of you are pursuing your own entrepreneurial dreams while still working hard at a day job, I decided to offer (more…)

This month we’re featuring Debi Silber, the Mojo Coach, in our SMARTSTART|Giving 60-Second Spotlight. We are impressed with Debi’s commitment to helping moms regain a strong sense of self when life knocks them down. She provides free personal training and nutrition coaching to give them a fighting chance at restoring a positive outlook.

Debi sees the gift of “health and wellness” as a way she can contribute by giving back. Have a listen, get inspired and visit her web site at www.LifestyleFitnessInc.com.

Read an interesting piece by Bob Ostertag in The Huffington Post recently. He was commenting on how the Obama campaign had harnessed the power of the internet to provide a vehicle for accepting campaign donations requested in the $25-$50 range. (Not unlike the small requests we ask of our SMARTSTART|Giving supporters.)

Seems things are going so well, sources from Obama’s campaign think he could bring in $100M in June alone! This gives me hope Alex and I are really onto something!

To put this power of the internet into perspective, (more…)

Ever been caught with too much month at the end of your money? Chances are you’re much richer than you think. And I bet you have no idea where you stand in terms of your place on the global rich list.

Don’t put yourself down because you haven’t made that first million yet. Instead, high tail it over to http://www.globalrichlist.com/index.php and enter the amount of money you make each year and the currency. Then press <Enter> to find out (more…)