Archive for 'Entrepreneurship'
In the disaster that was my hosting falling over, all my sites disappeared, including Ethical Beads. I'm working on bringing it back.
Ethical Beads is a social enterprise very dear to my heart, so I'm working on getting it up as soon as possible. As you're my highly-valued readers, I'm giving you a special preview of the new copy for Ethical Beads. Please let me know what you think; I'm really keen to get feedback.
In other news, I did a bad thing – I neglected to update on Friday. I am truly sorry and from now on, my every other day schedule is really back. My health is returning to normal now (taking its time, but getting there!) So, hosting issues aside, everything should be normal now.
You hurt someone
And not just in a 'she feels bad now', kind of way. But you robbed her of food on the table or an education or even years of her life.
Not directly, of course, but why should that matter?
Okay, I'm being confusing. Let me start again.
Most jewellery is complicit in evil
The majority of people buy jewellery from regular stores, chains, on the high street, the Internet.
The majority of jewellery sold on the high street is produced in unsafe, unhealthy conditions, damaging the health of those who make them.
Oh, and you're killing the planet too
The majority of jewellery destroys the environment. Mining for precious stones and metals frequently causes massive soil erosion.
But it doesn't have to be that way.
You can change the whole thing now.
Our first customers are going to be in the minority, along with other ethical consumers.
But being decent is catching on.
FairTrade used to be the province of a few dedicated individuals; now it's sold in Starbucks, as standard. Now supermarket plastic bags implore you to 'Please re-use or recycle me'. Primark is part of the Ethical Trading Initiative.
Yes, the mainstream is just about starting to get ethical.
Save lives today
Why wait until everybody's doing it?
Someone is hurting right now, today, making something beautiful for you, for your partner, for your parent. You have the power to stop that hurt and make sure the crafters of the jewellery you buy don't suffer for it.
Ethical Beads are, well, ethical.
"Socially just and environmentally sound"
- Safe, healthy working conditions – combating appalling existing conditions
- Living wages – helping to end poverty & promote justice
- Earth-friendly, environmentally sustainable – decent mining practices, recycled materials
Plus, for no extra cost…
We care about quality. After all, if we only produced ethical products nobody wanted, no one would buy them!
- Hand-crafted
- Unique
- Fashionable
If you think this is an important issue, please let me know. You could really help Ethical Beads change things now, particularly if you're keen to research this with me. I welcome feedback too, constructive criticism, questions… You name it: Either comment or email me. Much appreciated!
I recently nominated myself for the KCL Enterprise committee (position of Webmaster) and one of the things I mentioned in my personal statement is how much I love helping people. Currently, my main areas of interest are in entrepreneurship & related, so that's what I'm focusing on.
With that in mind, here are some excellent resources I've found online; with highlights. (This entry is similar, in type, to my speedlinking posts. However, it has more of my commentary than they tend to).
- The harder I work, the luckier I get.
- Passion, Passion, Passion! (Christiana Thoda Burgess)
- No mystery to success, just passion, determination and perseverance…when everyone else quits. (Ginni Rometty)
- Always consider the possibility that what you expect to happen won't and what you don't expect to happen will. (Bob Dalias)
- Those who say it can't be done should stay clear of those who are doing it.
"We live in an era where information is king, and it's a professional businessperson's responsibility to know how to use information and technology to their advantage. This is critically important to internalize because the sooner you use the available technology to your advantage, the sooner you'll beat your competition in growing your business."
If you're not a geek; get one. (I'm available!)
Not particularly relevant for startups, I thought, especially in the early stages. However, I think it includes a vital concept – involving people (somehow) who will compensate for your weakness, more than complementing your skills.
Bonus find: Startup Review
"Startup Review is a blog that profiles successful Internet start-ups in a case study format. The case studies are created through interviews with early employees at the companies profiled and industry experts."
Startup Review, found in Business Week: What Entrepreneurs Need to Know (which wasn't so great, in my opinion)
My personal statement: Vote me on to the committee because…
I love technology, specifically all things Internet-related and I love helping and teaching people how to make the most of computers. I think this is really important as computers are increasingly paramount in all areas of life, especially in business.
I have previous experience teaching people how to make the most of technology. I'm currently working for a business and technology startup (Night Island) as Creative Director, so I have many contacts who provide a variety of computer-related services and who understand many of the needs startups have.
I'm excellent at creating and maintaining websites from scratch (at one point I was running 10 simultaneously!) I'm very dedicated, for example, I regularly and frequently update my entrepreneur website – All Things Bright (inspirewithhope.com) – which I've been running for three months. I love helping people.
No matter how self-aware, how happy you are with your life, locale, and person, there is always room for improvement. What do you want to change? What, who, where, when, or how do you wish you were…?
I Wish I Were…
Independently wealthy, successful businesswoman (EthicalBeads.com); seamlessly & effortlessly balancing my work, study & social lives, happy & healthy and finally FREE (i.e. no longer living with my parents).
Luckily, this isn't all just wishful thinking or some idle daydream because my business partner has suggested a getting-things-done-esque method, which I think might work well. It's called CVS to BVS (Current View Situation to Better View Situation).
I'm going to work through it tomorrow and share the results of my labour here on Monday. So, look out for it!
Networking, by which I mean, socialising with new people
I've been doing a lot of, uh, networking recently. (Does it count as networking if you have fun and meet interesting people in unstructured environments? Of course!) It's really quite excellent. Mostly facilitated by going to university and the power of the interweb. (Facebook is like a mashup of the two of these).
Benefits of being a student, cool stuff for free
Today, I also discovered an entrepreneurship programme, free for all King's students:
Be inspired! is a student enterprise training programme co-ordinated by KCL Enterprises.
Result!
Remembering I'm at uni to work hard, of course
In amongst all these fabulous opportunities, I need to fit in studying too, of course. Much to my chagrin, one of my lecturers asked me about some reading (in advance of the due date I hasten to add) and I hadn't done it yet. Woe, woe is me – am supposed to be impressing my tutors with my organised efficiency, not having them curse at me (literally) because I'm failing to live up to their (high!) expectations.
Sigh.
Unfortunately, all the time management skills in the world couldn't create more space for everything I've got on at the moment, what with some personal stuff too.
Achievements, stuff I've done what I'm proud of, innit?
Still, I am relatively proud of my achievements so far. For example, the study forum I implemented will come in handy (eventually) and, in the meantime, all the updating of All Things Bright has impressed one of my fellow uni mates at least. (It's nice to get some recognition). Plus, when I am an online celebrity, will be great to be able to say things like – 'I'm so committed to blogging & to the Internet generally that I updated my site every other day for the past five years, even when I was in full-time education and had 15 000 words to write for my insightful, ground-breaking dissertation.
Business, they call it that because it's all about being busy
The next thing to focus on (after that reading!) is my business, EthicalBeads.com; it's not going to grow itself, after all. Anyway, I have that covered, as I'll be attending those training sessions by KCL Enterprises.
I'm moving up in the world as we speak.
If you're running a startup, you shouldn’t have 'other projects' that are demanding more of your time. A startup is an all-consuming process. If you start straddling multiple things, you're almost predestined to fail. It's hard enough to get a startup off the ground when you’re totally focused on it. It's almost impossible if you're juggling multiple projects.
Web 2.0 Crashes: Another Startup Being Sold On eBay
I disagree with Dharmesh, because it seems to me that I need to avoid putting all my eggs in one basket. It's definitely difficult to get a balance between being single-mindedly focused on one project and running around like a headless chicken with many, but it's important.
There are subtle ways of doing this that may work well, for example, being a serial entrepreneur and therefore having multiple projects, but only one at a time. Or, as the HuckABuck developers seem to be doing, working (almost) solely on one project until it has solid foundations, then selling it to work on other projects.
On the other hand, it's all too easy to spread oneself too thinly, which is what I'm doing (still!) by starting my own business, studying full time and working part time. Hmm, time to employ those time management strategies, methinks…
PS: Incidentally, the auction for HuckABuck ended at US $10 100 – $10 000 short of the stated reserve – and was therefore unsold. Does this mean Dharmesh is right? What do you reckon?