Grow Professionally and Personally at the 2010 Black Enterprise Entrepreneurs Conference

The Black Enterprise Entrepreneurs Conference + Expo is back — taking place May 16-19,2010 at the Atlanta Marriott Marquis Hotel in Atlanta. This year's theme is Building Business Beyond Tomorrow!

The four-day conference includes seminars, resources and networking opportunities. The Dealer Makers Expo features representatives from some of America’s best businesses. The conference even offers something for the kids. The Kidpreneur conference teaches kids (11-17) financial and business skills. There is even a chance to compete.

The Black Enterprise Small Business Awards were created to provide special
recognition to African American entrepreneurs who embody the Black Enterprise
entrepreneurial spirit. BE is looking for companies and individuals bringing
new products to the forefront, redefining sales strategies, and discovering new
and profitable markets.

This conference attracts the nation’s best and up-and-coming business minds. See you there!

DISCLOSURE: Black Enterprise is proving me with media credentials for this event.

For more information, visit www.BlackEnterprise.com/ec or call 800-209-7229.

Learn How to Keep Your New Year’s Resolutions

Many people are hyped-up about their resolutions at the start of the New Year. The thrill leaves and sooner-or-later the resolution follows. Life coach Karyn Beach has a few tips to help you avoid that fate. She says the main reason people don’t achieve their goals is boredom.

“I tell my clients they should stop ‘shoulding’ on themselves,” she says. “Get rid of the goals
that you think you should be doing.”

People are more likely to achieve goals that excite them. Beach supports pursuing goals that “you’re passionate about.”

“Find a goal that you really want to achieve,” she advises. “Then, you have to develop a plan.”

A good plan helps gives you a map. It includes strategies, resources and information to help you achieve your resolution. Beach also recommends having a plan B.

“People expect perfection,” she says. “But, eventually you will hit a roadblock.”

Those roadblocks include backsliding on diets, braking budgets, etc. Your plan B will help you get back on the road to recovery. Beach says too many people “hit that roadblock, get discouraged and give up.”

“Anybody that succeeded at anything will tell that when you hit that roadblock you don’t stop,” Beach says. “If you want it bad enough you go over it, under it or around it.”

Beach has more.

Karyn Beach offers some helpful resources at her Lose the Excuses website.

Photo found at www.fitnessfirm.ca

Billionaire Investing Just Got Cheaper!

Multi-billionaire Warren Buffett is one of America’s greatest and most successful investors. His company Berkshire Hathaway,Inc. has holdings in GEICO, Fruit of the Loom, Kraft and other companies. The firm consistently outperforms its competition. Buffet took over the company in 1965. A $10,000 investment back then would be worth more than $50 million now.

Berkshire’s Class A stock trades at more than $100,000 per share. Class B shares traded at over $3,500 per share. That’s until now. The company recently split its Class B shares 50-1. That means you can now buy Class B shares for less than $80. This creates an investment opportunity for middle income investors.

We all could learn a thing or two about finances from this “Oracle of Omaha.”

Read more at USAToday.

Photo found at http://www.businessweek.com/

Debunking 3 Myths of About Entrepreneurs

Owning a business is not for the faint of heart. Here are three untruths about entrepreneurs.

They Have Perfect Ideas!

Business owners don’t wait until they are great to start. They start and become great. They Shoot and then aim. Meaning they present themselves professionally and are constantly improve their products and services as they go. Successful business owners dedicate their business to consistent progress by finding new ways to perfect idea. Denzel Washington says it best in a recent USA Weekend article. "I'm a work in progress, like everybody else," says Washington “I'm constantly trying to improve."

They are Rich!

Of course, some are wealthy. But, most small business owners earn middle/upper-middle class salaries.

Business net worth and personal net worth are not the same thing. Just because someone owns a company that earns $5 million each year, DOES NOT mean they pocket that money. Most owners pay themselves between 5- 20 percent of their operating income. The rest goes back into the business via employees, expenses, taxes, and research and development, etc.

They Have Less Responsibilities!

Being an entrepreneur is one of the most challenging jobs there is. You have to generate revenue, manage the business, motivate employees; promote your brand and so much more. I talked to multimedia entrepreneur Tavis Smiley awhile back, and here is his take on it.

Picture found at http://www.blackintime.com/