Tony Whatley puts together a great book for entrepreneurs that want to learn the art of the side-hustle.
“The truth is, we never stop learning. Learning isn’t something we “did”, it is something we “do.”
“Quit chasing squirrels or “shiny objects” in your life.”
Dan Pena is the man when it comes to mentoring millionaires and creating wealth. Dan is called the $50 Billion Dollar man because he has created that kind of value as a high performing coach.
Dan’s stuff is free online too. Click on this photo to get it!
If you really want to learn his fundamental methods, you have to attend one of his seminars.
Gaining information on a competitor is very easy with the use of technology. Gathering the information is the first step. I believe using Colonel John Boyd’s OODA loop is a great way to do this.
The OODA loop is the decision cycle of observe, orient, decide, and act, developed by military strategist and United States Air Force Colonel John Boyd. Boyd applied the concept to the combat operations process, often at the operational level during military campaigns. It is now also often applied to understand commercial operations and learning processes. The approach favors agility over raw power in dealing with human opponents in any endeavor.
The OODA in OODA Loop is an acronym that stands for:
Observe
Orient
Decide
Act
The following OODA Loop is useful for small business owners:
Dak Lok is an entrepreneur who gives it to you straight. He pulls no punches. I learned the following things by reading his book, F.U. Money:
Do something you love
Find something stable, long-term
Make sure it is portable
Profit margin >100%
Scalable business
Low startup costs
Little to no staff
Low overhead
24hr money coming in while you sleep (Source: F.U. Money)
Check out his webinar!
Get his book here…or Audiobook.
Bonus Video…
Many inventors face challenges by counterfeiters who try to destroy their business by copying a small businesses design and stealing their intellectual property. Small business owners and entrepreneurs must be aware of this modern day threat of bootlegging.
“The dangers of buying counterfeit products aren’t always obvious. There are economic impacts, legal implications, and health and safety risks that are important for you to know before you buy. When traveling, buy from reputable sources.
Economic Impacts – Each year, CBP seizes all kinds of counterfeit products from all over the world. Counterfeiters look to make profits by making fake versions of the hottest products as soon they are available on the market. Each time you buy a counterfeit good, a legitimate company loses revenue. This translates to lost profits and U.S. jobs over time. Know who you buy from.
Health and Safety – Counterfeiters don’t care about your well-being. They just want to make a profit. Many counterfeit products are low-quality and can cause injuries. Last year, CBP seized more items that pose health and safety risks than ever before. The top three categories were personal care, pharmaceuticals, and consumer electronics. Protect yourself and your family by avoiding potentially risky items.
Legal Implications – It is illegal to purchase counterfeit goods. Bringing them into the United States may result in civil or criminal penalties. Purchasing counterfeit goods supports criminal activities such as money laundering and trafficking in illegal guns and drugs. Remember, if it seems like a steal, it is.
E-Commerce – E-Commerce is a growing segment of the U.S. economy and has been increasing significantly for the past several years. Consumer habits are changing as the internet allows individuals to make purchases online. These advances in economic activity have led to increasing volumes of imports of small, just-in-time packages, creating inspection challenges for CBP. E-Commerce shipments pose the same health, safety, and economic security risks as containerized shipments, but the volume is higher and continues to grow. Additionally, transnational criminal organizations are shipping illicit goods to the United States via small packages due to a perceived lower interdiction risk and less severe consequences if the package is interdicted.” (Source: CBP.gov “Fake Goods, Real Dangers”)
What’s Intellectual Property and Does China Steal It?: QuickTake
The agencies broke last year’s record by 8 percent
WASHINGTON — U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) seized a record number of 34,143 shipments of goods that violated Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) in FY2017. IPR seizures increased 8 percent over FY2016 and for the second year in a row, CBP and ICE seized more than 30,000 shipments of counterfeit and pirated products. The total estimated manufacturers’ suggested retail price (MSRP) would have been $1.2 billion had the products
been genuine.
“The theft of intellectual property and trade in counterfeit and pirated goods causes harm to an innovation-based economy by threatening the competitiveness of businesses and the livelihoods of workers,” said CBP Acting Commissioner Kevin McAleenan. “Another record-breaking year of IPR seizures highlights the vigilance of CBP and ICE personnel in preventing counterfeit goods from entering our stream of commerce and their dedication to protecting the American people.”
Every business has to deal with threats to their business, but an insider threat is something many take for granted. Sometimes the threat is really from inside…
The definition of an Insider Threat is
An insider threat is a malicious threat to an organization that comes from people within the organization, such as employees, former employees, contractors or business associates, who have inside information concerning the organization’s security practices, data and computer systems.
Oblivious Insider. This insider threat takes after its namesake, and it’s a top cause for data breaches in today’s world. These insiders have important access to company files, and they’ve been compromised from the outside without knowing. This most likely came to be when they clicked on a malicious phishing email that granted the criminal access.
Negligent Insider. These employees are most vulnerable to phishing emails. Due to lack of security education, or simply their interest in bypassing workplace protocol to meet efficiency, these individuals are a top threat to data loss.
Malicious Insider. This is where the insider crosses the line, and data loss becomes intentional. They seek to delete important company information, and inflict financial harm in some way. Luckily, there are several behavioral trends that fellow employees and managers can watch out for to ping these insiders.
In an article from May 2016, the Wall Street Journal referenced a Deloitte “Dbriefs” report in which they present some alarming numbers on corporate malicious activity by trusted insiders:
• 92 percent of insider threat cases were preceded by a negative work event, such as a termination, demotion or dispute with a supervisor.
• 97 percent of insider threat cases studied by Stanford University involved an employee whose behavior a supervisor had flagged, but that the organization had failed to follow up on.
• 25 percent of employees have used email to exfiltrate sensitive data from an organization.
How pervasive is the insider threat in your company?
“The Dtex 2018 Threat Report serves to bring to the forefront those areas where companies, and that is every company, big or small, can invest their resources to bring down the threat posed by their trusted insiders.”
Clearly, visibility on the need to focus on basic cybersecurity 101 is required. Richard Stiennon, IT-Harvest Chief Research Analyst and Charles Stuart University Lecturer, tells us, “Business needs to get out of the cybersecurity denial phase it is stuck in. To do this, it must accept that it needs more visibility into what’s going on in its environment.”
DTex Systems “THE 2018 INSIDER THREAT INTELLIGENCE REPORT”
FBI 5 Best Practices For Combatting The Insider Threat In Your Business
One part of being a smart business owner is knowing the threats to your business. In the area of cyber, a business owner can be overwhelmed in a matter of minutes. Cyber hackers are willing to attack small business owners because of a lack of security. Then there is the insider threat that is responsible for at least 50% of the damage (According to NIST).
The Small Business Administration has a cyber course for small business owners. If you are concerned, take Cybersecurity for Small Businesses.
Please read this advisory in order to protect your small business from ransomware. The following tips will also help secure your small business:
Source: FCC’s Cybersecurity Tips for Small Businesses
and DHS’s Small Business Tip Card
Entrepreneurship is the process of designing, launching and running a new business, which is often initially a small business. The people who create these businesses are called entrepreneurs.
An entrepreneur is someone who has an idea and who works to create a product or service that people will buy, by building an organization to support those sales. Entrepreneurship is a popular college major, with a focus on studying new venture creation.
Business People and Creativity Concept