StartupNation Blogs

So you’ve got some ideas, a decent prototype, and a couple customers to boot…now what?  Sadly, many would-be entrepreneurs fail at running a business before they even start.  The complexity of a business plan, lack of funding, and an army of competitors all create a standstill that causes those flames of business freedom to flicker.  [...]

Good evening Startup Nation visitors! Today we begin a 15-part, five week crash course that will help you decide whether or not franchising is the right thing for you. Starting your own business can be extremely daunting.

What is the right business for me?
How do I get financing (or do I even need financing)?
Home based? Retail? [...]

I’ve received some great feedback and questions from readers after my initial post.  Several of them gave specific information about their business successes and dilemmas.  In the true sense of community, I wanted to share those responses and my suggestions for getting over those hurdles.  I am creating a “Beyond the Launch” series that will be generated solely [...]

On my way home from work, I heard a piece on NPR about the Quaker Oats Company sponsoring a northwest adventure Sergeant Preston of the Yukon/CBS/1955-58 and gave away one-inch plots of Yukon land as an incentive to buy their cereals — 21 million tiny parcels in all.
The promotion worked, causing a mini “land [...]

I was absolutely fascinated by this article in the NY Times. It reveals how the brain works and how habit patterns are literally carved into our brains in the form of neural pathways. It went on to describe the fact that we can significantly strengthen our mental capacity by consistently trying the same things in [...]

I recently spent an hour on the line with Michael Port, author of Book Yourself Solid and more recently Beyond Booked Solid, as well as Howard Behar, former president of Starbucks who recently published, It’s Not About the Coffee.
I hope that many of you attended the call live.
For those of you who didn’t, check out [...]

Just wanted to tip my hat to two 2007 Home-Based 100 winners that were mentioned in the New York Times yesterday by columnist David Pogue.
The featured Home-Based 100 winners were:

Larry Murphy’s Murphy Outdoors
Catherine and Steve Simms’ Whiner and Diner

They were used as shining examples of how you can set up a website easily, [...]

If you troll the StartupNation website for inspiration, look no further.
Signe Brewster, one of our youngest members and a winner in the StartupNation Home-Based 100 "Most Slacker-Friendly" category, has done it, already. Unlike so many people who create obstacles to starting it up, Signe has made the leap and opened for business.
While many of her friends [...]

Maybe it’s the soft spot in my heart for anyone brave or foolhardy enough to try a startup in the Rocky Mountain West, an area not known for its abundance of resources for entrepreneurs. Or maybe it’s my admiration for someone who goes out and does what others say can’t be done.
Either way, I found [...]

With over 2,500 franchise concepts in the US alone, business owners are finding ways to appeal to investors. And one major way to do that is offer them the benefits of working from home. Several of our clients have perfected the system, including:
At Matco Tools, franchise distributors of automotive tools and diagnostic and
service equipment have [...]