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!

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…)

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…)