Celebrating Entrepreneurship in America!

The first national week-long celebration of entrepreneurship is now upon us!  The Northeast Entrepreneur Fund is proud to be a partner in this national effort to inspire and encourage people to consider entrepreneurship as a career choice and to celebrate America's unique culture of inventiveness.

We are also proud to have had the opportunity to support two of our local community colleges - Lake Superior College in Duluth and Vermilion Community College in Ely - in their Entrepreneurial Campus celebrations and events this week.  Both colleges have taken the lead in piloting an exciting new program of entrepreneurial awareness on their campuses, and we look forward to continuing to work with the staff and faculty at both of these colleges, as well as other community and technical colleges in northeast Minnesota and northwest Wisconsin, to bring entrepreneurial programs and activities to our region's schools.
 

"Recordkeeping for Small Businesses" workshop

Monday, March 26, 5:30-9:30 PM
NEF office, 8355 Unity Drive, Virginia
Fee: $59.00

Get control of your records so you can manage your business better! Learn how to create or simplify your recordkeeping system for your small business and actually understand it, too.

Lots of practical tips, activities, and hands-on exercises are included. You will learn how to keep track of who owes you money and who you owe money to and when it is due. This class will help you understand how to keep records on paper or on a computerized spreadsheet. If you are using a computerized accounting system or have someone else maintain your records, this class will help you understand recordkeeping better, and will help you feel more confident in your business overall!  This class is for business owners who would like to organize and understand their recordkeeping systems better.

Pre-registration and payment are required to reserve a seat in the workshop.  (Class size is limited to 12.)  Call 1-800-422-0374 or email info@entrepreneurfund.org.

Please note: Payroll recordkeeping is not covered in this workshop.
 

Duluth-Superior Area Entrepreneurs:
Enter to Win the Superior Business Plan Competition!

Submission Deadline: March 31, 2007 (Award ceremony will be held in May.)

Sponsored by:  Superior Business Improvement District, The Development Association, Superior-Douglas County Chamber of Commerce, Superior Business Center, Inc., Superior Rotary, UWS Small Business Development Center, Northeast Entrepreneur Fund.
 

Article written by: Nick Williams
Article Source: EzineArticles.com

When I was stuck in the corporate world many years ago, I dreamed of escape to the freedom of running my own small business. Eventually I plucked up the courage to leave and started my own small business, with the goal of training and inspiring people. In order to run my business, I taught myself how to do VAT, keep my books, do my accounts and keep stock of products. While I was free of the pressures of a boss and organizational structures and politics, but I still didn't feel very free and I even felt a little disappointed. I felt a slave to my business, and had left the corporate world to work for love, but seemed to end up working for money, and working for my business, rather than my business working for me.

Today I see there is a big difference between the small business owner that I was then, and the inspired entrepreneur I have become today. I realize I had the heart and soul of an inspired entrepreneurs, but was trying to squeeze myself into the straightjacket of being a small business owner. Below I am sharing what I have identified as being the ten main differences between being a small business owner and an inspired entrepreneur.

Difference #1 - Inspired entrepreneurs follow their inner calling

Inspired entrepreneurs have found the work they were born for, and are following their particular and unique calling. There is a great fit between what they do and who they are, and feel they are constantly drawn forward to become the person they were born to be.

Difference #2 - Inspired entrepreneurs create a business that supports their own talents, passions and lifestyle

Inspired entrepreneurs create businesses that support them and their lifestyle and don't sacrifice their lifestyle to their businesses. Many small business owners sacrifice their own needs in order to be successful. Inspired entrepreneurs know their business can be a vehicle for discovering and expressing their own unique gifts and talents.

Difference #3 - Inspired entrepreneurs have a higher purpose than just making money

Inspired entrepreneurs love making money and are very willing to make money, but that is not the sole purpose of their business. They didn't set up a business to become an expert on tax and bookkeeping. Inspired entrepreneurs are motivated to create and contribute and that much of the conventional stuff needs to be done well, but is for the maintenance of the business, but not the purpose of the business.

Difference #4 - Inspired entrepreneurs are always evolving their business

Inspired entrepreneurs love working on their business as well loving to work in their business. Small business owners tend just to work in their business, doing what needs doing to make the business work. Inspired entrepreneurs intrinsically love what they do, but also love stepping back and thinking creatively about their business, how it can be more fun, inspiring, profitable and effective.

Difference #5 - Inspired entrepreneurs love growing themselves

Inspired entrepreneurs love learning and growing themselves through running their business. They know that running their own business is the best personal growth seminar on the planet, becoming a mirror to highlight both their strengths and their weaknesses. They are curious about what they can become and love discovering what they capable of. They are less interested in being competitive and more interested in realizing their own potential.

Difference #6 - Inspired entrepreneurs are fuelled by inspiration rather than motivation

Motivation is often about getting pumped up by some external force, whilst inspiration is about being lit by a fire within that can burn forever. Inspired entrepreneurs don't need to pumped up, but they know they need to regularly kindle and rekindle their flame of inspiration, by going to their own wells of inspiration and inspiring themselves.

Difference #7 - Inspired entrepreneurs love understanding how they find and attract their ideal clients

Inspired entrepreneurs are endlessly curious about how to attract and serve their clients better. They love serving and contributing, and believe that what they do makes a difference. They enjoy getting the word out about what they do, and getting people to act, but only in ways that are grounded in honesty and integrity. They are willing to give up being anonymous.

Difference #8 - Inspired entrepreneurs work in inspired, smart and strategic ways

Inspired entrepreneurs know that hard work alone is no guarantee of success. They don't confuse being busy with being strategic. They have shed the prevailing belief of the protestant work ethic and know that success doesn't come from pain, struggle and sacrifice, but instead know it comes from brilliant ideas, well implemented. They know that ¡°time out¡± to generate new ideas and think strategically is often more valuable than another hour at their desk.

Difference #9 - Inspired entrepreneurs navigate their life by using joy as their compass

Small businesses tend to be more mechanical and repetitive, whilst inspired entrepreneurs navigate their business and life through a sense of joy, inspiration and aliveness. They also have a sense of destiny and rightness about what they do, knowing that their particular talents are being used to the maximum and that they and their business evolve through a sense of ongoing revelation about their next steps. They hate being bored and are always asking, "How can I inspire myself next?"

Difference #10 - Inspired entrepreneurs value their heart and their thinking

Inspired entrepreneurs know that they bring the love and the money together by marrying their inspired heart together with their brilliant entrepreneurial thinking. They become potent by using one to support the other and not have them be enemies. They use great business strategies to support their inspired ideas.

So start inspiring yourself and setting your sights higher by become an inspired entrepreneur rather than a small business owner. It is one of the best ways on the planet of being happy, inspired and fulfilled, and making the contribution you were born to make.

Nick Williams has created a free 8 part transformational e-course "Secrets of an Inspired Entrepreneur" (value £79.99) You can sign up now by going to http://www.inspired-entrepreneur.com right now. Nick Williams is one of the world’s experts on inspiration at work and is passionate about helping create a new kind of entrepreneur. He is the best selling author of five books including The Work We Were Born To Do.

This Month's Featured Entrepreneurial Resources… 

www.bizinfolibrary.org

Tired of search engines returning millions of results on business terms such as "cash flow" or "marketing?" Small businesses and entrepreneurs now have a solution. A powerful new online resource, the Biz Info Library provides immediate access to reliable expert information, ideas and insights on owning, operating, and growing a company.

www.thefreedictionary.com

The Free Dictionary is a great resource to bookmark!  There are several types of dictionaries including English, computing, financial, medical, and legal; several encyclopedias, a thesaurus, acronyms, idioms and a search engine.  There are even some fun brain games!