How To Become Your Own Boss

Author: Jeremy P Stanfords
Do you find yourself stifled by working underneath the direction of others? Do you have ideas about how to run a business, but lack the ability to implement them from your current position? If so, you might be considering how to become your own boss. There are a lot of advantages to running your own business, but getting from your current position as employee to your desired position as employer isn't always simple. In order to become the best, you'll need to be patient and wise.
Step 1: Start Researching
No matter what industry you intend to enter and no matter how experienced you already are, there is always more research that should be done. What's best in many cases is to stay in your current position, research on your own time, and emphasize saving as much of your paycheck as possible. Accelerating your savings will allow you to have more seed money once you do venture out on your own. Considering that your departure is imminent, don't hesitate to cut back on luxuries in favor of more savings. Remember, it's a short-term cutback.
Step 2: Decide What To Do
The hardest part of being an executive is actually making a firm decision. Once you've spent enough time researching, it's time to actually make a choice. If you're unsure and looking for a solid bet, you might want to consider something like a tax franchise. This kind of business has the advantage of a solid industry which is not subject to fluctuations in demand and a fairly easily comprehensible business model.
Step 3: Secure Your Seed Money
Know how much you're going to need. Make sure you have the ability to get it – and the ability to pay it off, if you're taking out a loan for it – before you leave your current position. You should always be in a solid financial situation when you start out on your own. Leave the struggling and risk-taking to the movies. You can experience great success without taking those kinds of risks.
Step 4: Leave Your Current Position
Once you've got everything ready to go, it's time to put in your notice. At this point, your plans are concrete. You know what industry you're going into. You know how much money you'll need, and you already have the approval and the loan structuring to get it. You're not faced with uncertainty. Your future is clear. That allows you to be comfortable stepping away from the safety of your current job and into the relative unknown.
Now is when the fun begins. Be prepared to work some long hours, but also know that everything you do is governed entirely by you. There is no boss telling you when to come in. If you want to take a day or two off, you know what opportunities to generate new business you might be foregoing. Remember that every hour you invest now will pay off once the business becomes self-sustaining.
Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/franchise-articles/how-to-become-your-own-boss-5985962.html
About the Author
Author writes about a variety of topics. If you are interested more information about owning a tax preparation franchise, visit Liberty Tax.

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5 Lessons you have to Learn from Apple's Steve Jobs

Author: Gustavo Valencia

1.- Innovation:

Steve Jobs has shown the world that the limit is on our imagination. His first creation a mouse-driven graphical user interface (the Macintosh - 1984), after being fired, he bought a computer graphics division from Lucasfilm later renamed PIXAR (producer of 'Toy Stoy', 'A Bug's life', 'Monsters, INC', 'Finding Nemo', 'The Incredibles', 'Cars', 'Ratatouille', 'Wall-e' and 'UP') and 10 years later in 1996 returned to Apple to drive profitability. In the course of the next years Apple launched:

• iMac
• iTunes
• iPod
• iPhone
• iPad
• iCloud

'Innovation distinguishes between a leader and a follower.'

2.- Own your products:

Apple is one of the handful of companies that constantly introduces breakthrough innovation and each and every time an innovation was due to market, there it was Steve Jobs captaining the ship. Each year at the WWDC you would expect a great innovation to be unveiled by Steve.
 Fortune once wrote with regards to Mr. Jobs: '(he) is considered one of Silicon Valley's leading egomaniacs' he was always in front of the Apple ship, needed to overview every innovation and supervised each patent (in fact he's either the inventor or the co-inventor of over 230 approved patents).
'I'm the only person I know that's lost a quarter of a billion dollars in one year…. It's very character-building.'

3.- Be passionate:

One of the most impacting 'tools' Apple owned in their Marketing Mix was Steve Jobs passion in the course of WWDC. People don't buy products, people buy ideas, they follow passion consequently Steve Jobs success.
In a 2008 interview for the NYTimes, Steve said about the new MacBook Air:
'I'm going to be the first one in line to buy one of these,'. 'I've been lusting after this.'
You just have to watch one of his presentations to feel the passion on his words.

4.- P.R. Events are vital to a major innovation

Some marketers fail to understand the strength of a PR event, but a company like Apple, has been ready to attract all the interest weeks before a new launch at the WWDC and a long time after, just by building the right BUZZ and constantly delivering. At first, those presentations were actually like many other company's presentations, but with Steve's groundwork and delivery the PR events developed into innovation events.

5.- Quality matters

It doesn't matter if you're developing a breakthrough innovation or just an incremental invention but you should keep in mind that the consumer is not as unwitting as a couple of years before. Today's consumer investigates, talks to other consumers and looks for referrals in advance of buying a product. So if your product is not of great quality, your consumer will know.
Apple is positioned as a superior product because of Steve's mindset:
 'Be a yardstick of quality. Some people aren't used to an environment where excellence is expected.
But my advice is that you have to balance between what you want to offer and what you want to charge and not every company can be an apple.
Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/management-articles/5-lessons-you-have-to-learn-from-apples-steve-jobs-5163250.html
About the Author
A little about the author:
Gustavo Valencia is an international (EU & Latin-America), award-winning, multi-lingual Group Brand Development Manager - with the commercial and market insight, strategic timing and creative flair to project lead differentiated brand development, product positioning and marketing plans to optimize consumer awareness and GP of world-class premium brands. He writes on https://tavovalencia.wordpress.com about his marketing views.

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Welcome to Success Chronicle!

Hello everyone!!!! 

I would like to welcome you all to Success Chronicle, a blog about having success in relationships, in business, and in any other part of life.

 I have been inspired to create this blog as a means of helping others in their lives and helping them achieve the dreams that they have always wanted to achieve. Being depressed for about two years I realized how horrible life can be, but one day I just left my depression behind and am now passionate in helping others through depression and through the hardships of life.

 I will have more posts soon and if anyone would like me to post something on a particular subject please let me know.

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