eCornell wants to celebrate and encourage entrepreneurs in their quest to build great products. Cornell’s newest certificate program, A Systems Approach to Product and Service Design arms entrepreneurs with a eight step process to design and develop products the right way.

One of the most crucial steps involved in developing new products and services is to develop and articulate a clear understanding of customer needs. Believe it or not, many products are developed without a deep sense of how customers will use them, which often leads to products with low adoptions rates.

The Contest: Submit a quick video (5 minute maximum suggested) that either explains or demonstrates the great lengths you went through to understand what your customers want. The more creative the better!

What You Will Win: 1 winner will win a scholarship for the eCornell Systems Approach to Product and Service Design Certificate program, free of charge (a $3,500 dollar value). Two additional entrants will win 2 free courses each ($1,250 dollar value each).

How Do I Enter the Contest? Start by uploading your video at www.youtube.com with the subject heading that includes “eCornell Entrepreneur Online Video Contest Entry”. You can see a sample video at www.youtube.com/ecornell14850. Once your video is successfully uploaded, retrieve your unique URL and complete the registration form on the right of this page to enter.

Time Frame: The competition starts the week of September 28, 2009 and ends on November 30, 2009. Winners will be announced on December 14, 2009.

How do I win: Winners will be selected based on the following criteria:

1. Quality of response: How effective were you in answering the key question of what great lengths you went through to understand your customer’s needs
2. Creativity: How creative was your response? (e.g. this relates to how you developed your video/ the approach that you used to develop your entry)
3. Methodology: What approach did you use to develop a deep sense of your target customer’s needs?

Who Qualifies: Anyone who is currently developing a new product or service or who has done so in the past.

* Please see Official Rules for additional information.  By entering the video contest you are consenting to receive future communication from eCornell.

I laud it all the time. That is right, damn it. I said “laud it.” Money is not necessary for entrepreneurial success, in fact it is the lack of money that brings about innovation and ingenuity. There are a million stories that support it. From the rise of Hewlett Packard in the early 1900’s to the “do good, do right” phenomena of Life is Good and Clif Bar. All these companies started with less than $500, applied entrepreneurial innovation and exploded in growth achieving tens of millions in less than half a decade.

This month we are experiencing another occurrence of this entrepreneurial phenomena. This one is a movie that has raked in tens of millions of dollars in only a few weeks since it launched. The Halloween thriller, called “Paranormal Activity”, was created by a scrapper entrepreneur (aka a toilet paper entrepreneur). How much he has achieved with so little in money, but so much in ingenuity will just leave you in awe.

Using a campaign of limited theater showings all while cranking away at social media, the film has become a breakout hit to the tune of… well read on for that. The thing is he achieved it all without the standard and expensive marketing campaign or even a traditional movie trailer.

So get ready to really blow your mind. I mean, like you better be sitting when you read this, type blow your mind. The file was made for a reported $11,000. Yes $11K. The car in your driveway is worth more than that! Yet the film has already made over $62,000,000. Yes that is $62M. If the movie doesn’t make you crap your pants those numbers should.

If you have been waiting for enough savings to get started… If you think you need to pile up cash cushion to test the market… If you think you need money to make money… I am here to tell you, you are wrong.

There is nothing paranormal about Paranormal Activity’s success. They just had the guts to do it TPE style. Now it’s your turn.

By Mike Michalowicz, The Toilet Paper Entrepreneur.

By Audra D.S. Burch
McClatchy Newspapers
(MCT)

MIAMI — Music video director Gil Green is in a dank, bombed-out warehouse, surrounded by what might seem like the predictable panorama of stock hip-hop imagery: especially fine women, a six-figure ride and a couple of iced-out rappers.

Yet Green — who has become one of the decade’s definitive directors of hip-hop and dancehall — delivers cinematic videos that manage to be real and socially responsible. More raw storytelling than hyperbole, Green’s visual interpretation of rapper Black Dada’s remix single “Imma Zoe” is a finely woven urban narrative of a Haitian boy’s journey to the United States. Like his other three-minute productions, Green hopes his refreshing narrative vision will give more texture to the way popular music is experienced.

“There’s a way to think and step out of the box and interpret the music in a positive way,” Green, 34, offers the next morning at a Fat Joe video shoot hours before he heads to Shanghai to work with rockers Linkin Park.

“I work hard to transcend the stereotypes.”

And not just in music videos. As dozens of crew members work to tame the typical madness of a video shoot, the easy-going Green sits on a nearby picnic bench discussing his first film effort — a coming-of-age story about four teenagers who grow up in Miami.

“I am a narrative-driven director,” Green says. “I feel like if I can capture people’s attention for three minutes, that’s great. If I can do it for 90 minutes, that’s even better,” he says, struggling to be heard over the buzz of cicadas delivering their own kind of soundtrack. “I really want to do a film that after people see it, and the credits are rolling, they are reflecting on their own life or the larger society.”

Over the last dozen years as hip-hop expanded its reign over popular culture, Green had built a respectable career working in the music industry bookends of New York and Los Angeles before his recent return to South Florida because of a family illness. He has worked in almost every genre from hip-hop and reggae to pop and rock; his videos rotate heavily on those arbiters of popular music, MTV and BET. Among the artists on his roster: Akon, DJ Khaled, John Legend, Sean Kingston, Natasha Bedingfield, Lil Wayne.

Green considers his videos — many produced on location in South Florida — to be artistic compositions of resonant images, metaphors and stylized moments. “Three-minute movies shot over two days,” he says.

He has directed more than 100 videos and has declined proposals for dozens more because of the slangin’-and-bangin’ lyrics that celebrate the music’s ugliest angles. He has won a handful of MTV and BET honors and is behind some of the popular And 1 commercials.

“Gil can create the craziest images that seem to come out of nowhere. He explains it, but you cannot see it until you see it through his eyes,” says Black Dada, a Haitian-born rapper now living in Fort Lauderdale.

In 2003, Green won Best Music Video from the Source Awards for Lil Jon’s “I Don’t Give A,” a chaotic club banger that showcases the power of Southern-flavored crunk. The next year, he was nominated for the MTV Music Video Award for Elephant Man’s” Pon Di River” and was named Top Music Video Director in the Source’s Power 30 Edition. He won the 2008 MTV Video Music Award for Best Hip Hop video for Lil Wayne’s “Lollipop.”

Just as Green began working toward writing and directing feature-length films, he returned to South Florida with his wife, a special-education teacher, so he could spend more time with his parents. The couple has a 5-month-old daughter.

“It’s good to put my footprint in all three cities,” Green says. “Now it feels good to be back home in Miami, which has become a great melting pot for music. I feel like I am coming full circle.”

The son of a freelance tour guide and a regional food-product manager, Green grew up as Miami was forging its hip-hop identity, its tapestry of bass, New York rap, dancehall and reggae. He was born before Luther Campbell and 2 Live Crew put Miami on the map and was just starting out when the second generation of Miami rappers — Trick Daddy, Trina, Pit Bull, Rick Ross, Flo Rida — went national.

Green was baptized in the music first as a breakdancer at Henry S. West Laboratory School in Coral Gables and a freestyle rapper at South Miami Middle School. By the time he was a student at Coral Gables, he was a house-party DJ, peddling mix tapes and spending free time hanging at reggae sound clashes in the warehouses of Perrine. Even then, he saw the world in visual terms and turned in video presentations as his book reports.

“I think he related to me because I was one of those wild and crazy teachers who taught outside of the box,” says Diane Machado, who taught Green philosophy in Gables High’s International Baccalaureate Program. “I would burst into the classroom and say ‘Showtime!’ and he would be the one to say, ‘Let’s roll!’ ”

Machado has exposed hundreds of students to the art of thinking big and absorbing more, but Green, she says, stood apart for qualities beyond his 6-foot-4 frame, his charm, his curious blend of good guy and b-boy ways.

“Gil was never hesitant about anything.” Machado says. “From the beginning, he was ready to take off. He just needed a launching pad. He had a decided rhythm about his writing, and he was creative. You knew he was meant to do something.”

That he was a white guy fully immersed in what small thinkers would call a black world was beside the point.

“Gil is absolutely comfortable in his own skin and knows his own mind. He is one of those people who can cross so-called boundaries and do it authentically,” Machado says. “He doesn’t wear strait jackets.”

For his thesis project at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts, Green borrowed $5,000 and sold his car to produce a music video for his Miami rap duo Backlive, which included Andre Grant, his friend since second grade.

That 1998 video for the single, “1000 MCs,” a surprising hit, went into regular rotation on Yo! MTV Raps and BET’s Rap City and launched Green’s career.

While in college, Green worked as a production assistant, putting in endless hours to absorb the fundamentals of video — angles, pace, mood, lighting, story telling. He graduated in 1998.

When he got his first directing gig a year later, Trick Daddy’s “America,” he easily could have succumbed to hip-hop’s often one-dimensional, hypersexual, get-money repertoire. But here’s the thing: Green is the antithesis of the stereotype. He doesn’t drink, get high and rarely, if ever, curses.

So he shot for more, keeping it real but not “too” real.

Green flirts with the danger but doesn’t always indulge it. His videos are frenzied, sleek, gritty, sensual and authentically urban. There’s no shortage of eye candy, but there also are meaningful social themes: The Trick Daddy video, using the American flag as a backdrop, challenges the notion of equality for all groups. The video for Frankie J’s “Daddy’s Little Girl” showcases the intensity of the father-daughter bond.

“Of course we have pretty women and fly cars in the videos, but the idea here is not to exploit them,” Green says. “The video should be a reflection of the music in some way, but it’s a matter of striking a balance. The steady stream of exploitation has tainted hip-hop and the American culture.”

Meaning those on the frontlines have to commit to something better.

“Music is often a reflection of the culture or a particular segment of society,” says Shelton Berg, dean of University of Miami’s Frost School of Music. “Hip-hop has been around 30 years and permeated a much bigger segment of society. Now, videos have the opportunity to be recast, to tell a bigger story.”

Which is precisely the thinking that drives Green’s move to movies.

He started working on the project several years ago, casually jotting down the most poignant memories of his childhood. The themes were familiar: family, dreams, struggles, love, love lost.

“It’s about stuff I have seen growing up in Miami,” he says coyly. “It takes place through the perspectives of various kids from the many ethnic groups that make up Miami.”

The movie is just as much about Green’s next chapter as it is about his home town.

“I had spent all this time thinking about what my legacy would be,” he says. “I kept going back to how could I make the world more positive.”
———
(c) 2009, The Miami Herald.
Visit The Miami Herald Web edition on the World Wide Web at http://www.herald.com/
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.
—————

For months I have noticed other bloggers and columnists writing about the horrible economic situation our country is facing. I have consciously avoided the topic, because frankly I was tired of hearing about it every time I turned on the TV and I figured my readers were as well.

Then, last week I happened to be staying at a hotel and a USA Today was dropped outside my door. I went to the money section and at the bottom I saw this survey question: “Are you happy being an entrepreneur in the current difficult economic situation?” 88% of entrepreneurs responded that yes they were happy with their career choice despite economic conditions. Surprised? I actually was not. The lesson to be learned here is that staying in your cubicle or other unhappy work situation does not equal security or happiness. When you break out of the “fear” mode and venture out to create your own career security it gives you a higher level of confidence, you have created a mindset that can weather any storm.

This is not to say that entrepreneurs and other successful people don’t have fears. Everyone does. But they have learned to work through them and at times use them to their advantage.

So instead of holding on tight to your job because “it’s a job” and letting it paralyze your thoughts; imagine for a moment that it did go away. What would you do? Where would you go? Who would you be? It’s important to look at your worst case scenario and frame it as that “a worst case scenario.” Then you can learn from it. Holding on tightly to fears of losing your job immobilizes any action you might take. So look at the fear, see where it’s coming from and what it’s telling you. I have mentioned in previous posts about becoming clear on your vision for your future. Becoming clear about your fears and defining them will help you move past them. If you are not aware of the fear, you become stuck in it. We often look to find evidence that our fears are reality and take actions based on that. Look closely at the evidence you are using to build your fear based worse case scenario.

Then create a Plan B. I’m not suggesting quitting your job immediately. I am suggesting taking small steps towards creating a side business or venture that may help you weather an economic storm. In time, it may become something much bigger and you may be one of the 88% of entrepreneurs who are happy right now. Taking action will give you a sense of power against the overwhelming fear that is gripping many people in this current economy.

Do you have a question for Laura? Email her at:Laura@corelifedesign.com

Laura Tirello is a Life and Career Coach.  Her company, Core Life Design, works with people who are looking to find their highest potential both in their careers and personal lives. She helps her clients develop a life plan for success and create a balanced life. For more information about Laura and her life coaching business, visit corelifedesign.com or email Laura at Laura@corelifedesign.com.

Mark Cuban, owner of the Dallas Mavericks and Chairman of HDNet, is a billionaire. He’s an entrepreneur and he’s successful. So when he comes up with a new idea of how we can save the economy and get out of the mess that we’re in, it might be worthwhile to listen.

Mark Cuban has decided to get in the game by supporting new business ideas that will create jobs. He offers to fund any good business ideas with his own cash. His stimulus plan is based on Venture Capital. He calls this, “an open source funding environment.”

Cuban has posted some “Rules of Engagement” on his blog. One of his first rules is that your business cannot generate revenue from advertising. He believes that getting paid for something you sell is the only way for a business to stay profitable, stating that that is “the only way to stay profitable for a short period of time.” He also demands that the business break even in 60 days and make a profit in 90 days.

If you are a young person with a great idea this could be a good opportunity for you.

http://blogmaverick.com/2009/02/09/the-mark-cuban-stimulus-plan-open-source-funding/

What do you think? Can this idea work?

Technorati Profile

By Brier Dudley
The Seattle Times
(MCT)

SEATTLE—Here’s a way to start leveraging your social network.

FriendlyFavor, a Seattle “social-media utility” that launched this month, offers a system for tapping into your network of friends, family and acquaintances. It’s designed to complement social-networking services such as Facebook, MySpace and LinkedIn.

Started by Seattle-area tech veterans Scott Larson and Jeff Patton, FriendlyFavor calls itself an “all-purpose request tool” designed to help people “more efficiently leverage their trusted networks of friends, family, and colleagues for help with referrals, recommendations, advice and other favors or requests.”

The service delivers, archives and manages requests for registered users. It can also be used to build tailored contact lists, including lists where sensitive favors—such as requests for a baby-sitter—can be handled and narrowly targeted.

FriendlyFavor can also be used to broadcast “favors” being offered by users, such as extra tickets to an event or services.

The five-person company was started in 2007 and raised $500,000 from angel investors affiliated with companies including Microsoft, Google and Amazon.com.

It’s expecting to make money from targeted ads, licensing its platform and commissions on “thank you gifts” purchased at Amazon.com and other sites.
___
© 2009, The Seattle Times.
Visit The Seattle Times Extra on the World Wide Web at http://www.seattletimes.com/
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services (www.mctcampus.com).

In its second annual survey, the Entrepreneurs’ Organization (EO) – a global network of more than 7,000 successful entrepreneurs – sought to gauge business owners’ outlook and assemble an entrepreneurial forecast for 2009.

Nearly 900 members representing EO’s global membership completed the survey, providing an analysis of the most significant business issues for the 2009 calendar year.

Major findings of the survey include:

* Nearly nine out of ten global entrepreneurs are concerned about the current economic climate

* More than half of all entrepreneurs are very concerned or concerned about obtaining funding

*70% of U.S.-based entrepreneurs are concerned or very concerned about the rising cost of providing healthcare in 2009

*70% of surveyed entrepreneurs are highly confident or confident about surviving the economic crisis

* More than 80% of those surveyed believe that entrepreneurs will play a significant role in economic recovery

* One in five entrepreneurs is more likely to start a business now than they were last year, and more than half are equally as likely

* Almost half of respondents anticipate an increase in revenues in 2009, and a quarter expect revenue levels to remain the same as 2008

* Globally, more than a third of entrepreneurs surveyed will increase “green” initiatives, while 45% will maintain their current commitment level

* Nearly 60% of entrepreneurs surveyed will maintain their current commitment level and nearly a quarter will increase the priority of corporate social responsibility

* 45% of global respondents anticipated that the Obama administration would have a positive effect on their businesses

* U.S.-based entrepreneurs are split regarding the new administration¹s impact on their business: 39% expect a positive impact and 40% expect a negative impact

The Entrepreneurs¹ Organization survey included 894 respondents who completed the questionnaire in December 2008. Respondents were from all major U.S. geographic areas, as well as Canada, Europe, Asia, Australia and Latin America. To download the full survey report, visit http://www.eonetwork.org/Downloads/2009%20Global%20Economic%20Forecast%20Survey%20Summary%20Report.pdf.

For more about the Entrepreneurs’ Organization visit www.eonetwork.org.

This is part one of a multi-part series where I provide tips, advice, and opinions on starting and operating a technology related business. You can read about me and my background in my bio.

So, you think you want to stop “working for the man” and start working for yourself. There are many benefits to being self employed, but it isn’t necessarily everything you think it will be. In fact, it is likely much more. Take it from me, I have been running my own business and surviving for five years.

Running a business and being your own boss can be one of the most rewarding things you can do in your life. It can also be one of the most difficult endeavors you can undertake.

Everyone likes to imagine the freedom of working your own hours, arriving to work in shorts, and collecting huge pay checks. Not everyone considers the more likely reality of working endless hours, having to dress to impress, and struggling to pay bills and expenses. After all, the statistic is something like eight out of ten businesses fail in the first year.

Scary talk aside, you still want to try. Well, before you go and tell your boss what you really think of his management abilities, here are a few things you need to consider.

How long can you survive without making any money?
If you haven’t already figured out where your first check is coming from, then stop! Unless you are independently wealthy or want to work for free, you need a real source of income. If you have existing clients or a guaranteed client and are not bound by a non-compete agreement, then you are in good shape. If however, you are starting from scratch, you need to assume you will not make a penny for a couple of months at the least. It will take time to setup your business, pitch to potential clients, and submit and invoice for that first check. If your business is service based, keep in mind not everyone is willing to pay anything up front. I suggest making sure you have enough to float your business for at least four months.

How much do you need to start your business?
Everyone wants to buy new office furniture, equipment, clothes, and all sorts of other unnecessary stuff to make them feel like they are in business, but the truth is you don’t need any of it. Remember, first and foremost you need to survive. Focus on the essentials. Legal fees for starting your business will be at least $200 and can be much higher depending on the complexity of your product or service.

Do you really need an office to start? Can you work out of your home or share space with anyone else? A lease will bind you for at least a year and even if you were to find something for $500/month. That is $6,000 you are obligated to pay in the first year, plus a security deposit.

Start with just the essentials.

How much money does your business need to run each month?
Before we talk about projections and business plans, I just want to say you should consider what you need to live each month. This should include your personal and business expenses. They will initially be paid from the same source. Remember, you wont be getting a paycheck every other Friday anymore.

Do a personal budget and figure out the bare minimum you need to survive. I am talking rent/mortgage, car payment/insurance, gas, food, utilities, and a wee amount of play money. No vacation trips to Miami beach for a while.

How much are you willing to work?
It isn’t going to be 9-5 anymore. You don’t have a team of co-workers to share the load. You don’t have subordinates to delegate to. It’s likely just going to be you. Anything and everything that needs to be done will need to be done or initiated by you. Customers are less tolerant of deadlines being pushed back then your old boss was. Think of it this way, when you are waiting for your car to be fixed and they say “another few hours,” how happy are you?

You may start your day at 10am, but most likely you will be ending it at 10pm. Be prepared to work all the time.

So, you still want it? You still ready to take the plunge?

Good! It is the experience of a lifetime and you won’t regret it.

Check back next Tuesday for Part Two which will focus on roughing out an initial spreadsheet to figure out how much money you can make and how high your expenses will be.

John Glorioso

I remember when I was in B-School we had a business plan competition in class. Five or six venture capitalists came in to listen to group presentations. One student asked the VCs to sign a Non Disclosure Agreement (NDA). He was practically laughed out of the room. He thought his idea was so good and so unique that he had to protect it.

Whether his idea was good or bad, (in this case bad according to the VCs) was irrelevant.  VCs typically do not sign NDAs for non-operational businesses. If it’s in the business plan stage, while it is vulnerable, it also has much less value. Here are a few ways to protect your idea:

1.    Trademark your name and register the domain name to match (if available). Trade marking protects the brand you are trying to build and is a good first step when you are in the early stages of your business.
2.    Patent your product or service. In the past, protection was available via the patent process and still is in some cases. But recently this option narrowed by a court opinion which stated that abstract processes, often involving thoughts only, may not be patentable. Depending on your idea, this could be more important. Be sure to speak to your lawyer.
3.    Start operating. The best thing to possibly do is just start operating. Take the risks. Form relationships with clients, vendors and any other groups you will need. Many people have had the same idea or a similar idea. The sooner you are able to begin to build barriers to entry, the better off your company will be.

No matter how great your idea is, you shouldn’t be too afraid to get it out there. Chances are you aren’t the first one to have this idea, so don’t let the fear that someone might steal it hold you back.

The election is just 3 weeks away, but Obama and McCain’s battle for the White House isn’t the only big story out there. Here are a few of the week’s top stories from our friends at YoungMoney.com:

~With the struggling economy and weak dollar, a trip to Europe is probably not on the top of your to-do list. But, with a little preparation, you can still make that European get-away an affordable reality. Patrick Evans tells us how.

~It might be a cliche, but the old saying “love what you do and you’ll never work a day in your life” is repeated for a reason: it’s true! Benjamin Levy explains why now is the perfect time to pursue your dreams.

~Are you afraid to start that first business venture because your degree is from the University of Bent-Toenail Alabama? Well, fear not my friends. Toilet Paper Entrepreneur Mike Michalowicz explains why you don’t need a Harvard diploma to achieve what you believe.

~A few months ago, I got a call from my credit card company informing me that someone was trying to charge hundreds of dollars to my account while shopping on a hunting supply website. I’m no Sarah Palin, so naturally my bank figured it out, but if I had followed Gail Cunningham’s advice, I just might have saved myself the trouble. Find out how to protect yourself from identity theft.

~Has the market bottomed out or do you think there’s still a long way to go? In this week’s Young Money Quickpoll, most of our readers said they think the market will dip to 7000 before climbing back up, while a slight minority thought we were almost at the bottom. If you’re ready to start stashing that cash in your mattress, you’re certainly not alone, since a number of our readers thought tougher times are yet to come, with the market bottoming out at 6000.

That’s all for this week on YMT! Check back in on Monday to find out why, when it comes to your job search, it pays to be cautious!