NFTE blog

Written by Nick Nanton

The current economic climate in the United States has made life harder than ever for many entrepreneurs. Consumer spending is down and unemployment rates remain high. For entrepreneurs and small business owners in particular, competition has intensified — as businesses are forced to compete tooth-and-nail for every sale.

Therefore, it is important for business owners to find something that makes them stand out in their market — to differentiate themselves from their competition.

I feel that there’s a moment in everyone’s life where they think to themselves and say “I should start my own business.” Whether it’s when you’re a teenager who dreams of making millions while selling their great invention, or a business professional who is tired of the cubical lifestyle, we’ve all had the idea. But what does it mean to be an entrepreneur? How do you know if you have all the right credentials to be successful? Unfortunately there is no surefire way to determine if you’re cut out for it but here are a few things to consider before you jump right in:

The Parents’ Guide to Raising CEO Kids raises funds and awareness for the Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship.

A new book Dr. Jerry Cook, parenting expert, and Sarah L. Cook, prominent youth entrepreneurship advocate and NFTE supporter, are raising funds and awareness for NFTE. The resource section at the conclusion of the authors’ inspiring and educational book, The Parents Guide to Raising CEO Kids, features NFTE as a valuable resource for youth.

When it comes to marketing, for entrepreneurs big and small, you will always need to make a plan to build and develop the audience for your business. But where do you begin? For starters you might want to take some tips from Danny Iny, author of Engagement from Scratch!, who has already gone around and talked to some of the best in the business.  

Here we saw some inventive entrepreneurs decide to focus on solving a societal problem – kids dropping out of school, small businesses unable to access the knowledge and the networks they need to expand, people in poverty needing a little seed capital to start a business. At this breakfast that Ernst & Young hosted, we heard from some top social entrepreneurs who are using the power of entrepreneurship to address social problems—and to learn how you and your employees can get involved to make a difference.

As some of you know already, for the past two weeks we've been hosting our online voting piece for the World Series of Innovation as part of Global Entrepreneurship Week, and well it's that time folks. We are so proud to announce the winners of the 2011 World Series of Innovation presented by Microsoft and the fantastic ideas that they have created! Here are the winners for each category:

Yesterday a bill was just introduced to Congress that argues that the skills, the knowledge and the mindset learned by young people through their participation in entrepreneurship education programs are critical to their success in the 21st century.  The “Learn to Earn Act of 2011” (H.R. 3445), was introduced by Congressman Dave Loebsack of Iowa, and it seeks to incentivize states, and local school districts, to implement high quality entrepreneurship programs in communities all across the country.

Like many entrepreneurs, you’re probably always thinking about where you can cut back and spending. And in what areas money is just being flat out wasted. Under30CEO recently reached out to some small business owners to see where the most common areas are for wasted funds. See their responses here and maybe take a lot at your own business to see where you might be spending unnecessarily.

That’s right, today is the start of Global Entrepreneurship Week! Throughout this week (November 14-20), millions of young people around the world have joined a growing movement of entrepreneurial people, to generate new ideas and to seek better ways of doing things. With countries spanning across six continents, they have come together to celebrate Global Entrepreneurship Week, an initiative to inspire and embrace innovation, imagination and creativity.