Author Archive

Posted on September 9, 2008 - by Jeffrey Posner

Let me guess…You Have a Great Idea and No Business Model!

What is going on these days with all these presentations at the Tech Crunch 50 having nothing more to offer than a good idea? When the judges ask the presenters on how they will make money, this seems to be the general consensus. (more…)

Posted on September 8, 2008 - by Jeffrey Posner

Cooperative Competition

I go back and forth on this topic from time to time; sometimes I feel it’s good and sometimes not. In any negotiation, there is a winner and a looser. Same goes with cooperative completion. If you are all trying to work together, there has been some sort of agreement or verbal understanding that everyone has come too.
This situation is no different. (more…)

Posted on September 1, 2008 - by Jeffrey Posner

Can You Take Being in the Spotlight?

Let’s face it… If you are going to do anything in business that ends up being big you’re probably going to get thrown in the spotlight from time to time. Being in the spotlight can take shape in many forms and some will be easier than others. I have been in the spotlight a few times in small business environments and as I am getting older and more successful, these moments are coming more frequently and are bigger.

Everyone wants to be the Guy behind the Guy (more…)

Posted on July 23, 2008 - by Jeffrey Posner

The Anatomy of a Good Business Meeting

At this point in my life I have acquired a lot of meetings and been in front of some pretty serious people. I have learned that there is an art to having a good and productive meeting with a potential client/partner and it is a skill similar to being a good actor. I touched on the importance of meetings briefly in a previous article, but I felt that the anatomy of a good meeting deserved a greater explanation.

An initial meeting usually goes one of three ways in my experience. (more…)

Posted on July 20, 2008 - by Jeffrey Posner

Should you ever try Network Marketing?

If you are really in business then you must of herd of something called network marketing. Probably one of the first and most popular companies in this space was AMWAY, you may have herd of them on TV or even in some movies. For instance the Movie “GO” had a scene where the policeman and his wife were trying to convince the gay actors to join the company under them, among other things. (more…)

Posted on July 16, 2008 - by Jeffrey Posner

Are you in the boys club?

We all know that contacts help in business, the right ones anyway. Too many times I have been to meetings where everyone thinks we are in the right place talking to the right person when we are really not. The problem is that big companies have so many employees and VP’s and blabla that it is easy to get confused with it all. (more…)

Posted on July 15, 2008 - by Jeffrey Posner

Don’t call yourself an Entrepreneur!

The term “Entrepreneur” is thrown around way to easily these days. Everyone and their mother is an “Entrepreneur” and everyone knows someone that tried what you’re doing and it didn’t work. It all starts with you opening your mouth.

Stop Talking About It (more…)

Posted on July 10, 2008 - by Jeffrey Posner

Regaining your Momentum

Commonly referred to as “Reclaiming the fire”, it is a point we all reach as entrepreneurs where we feel a little stalled. Maybe something you have been working on for a while seems to be dragging on with pointless meetings, or maybe you just read how a potential client of yours just closed a deal with your pseudo competitor on techcrunch..

Whatever that reason may be, it can feel like your going nowhere and loosing ground. This is probably where most people get pressured to go back to (or start) work at a 9 to 5 job living in one of those awesome cubicles. My opinion is that this is the best time to relax and do a lot of thinking, when you don’t know what to do, sometimes the best thing is to just stay still and observe your surroundings. (more…)

Posted on June 11, 2008 - by Jeffrey Posner

No Power = Sad Geek

These past few days I have been without power. Wow is all I can say. It was actually quite enlightening to see how different things are without the use of electronics and internet. It was relaxing, yet boring as hell.

What would happen if we had to go without power for weeks or even months at a time? Do we even have enough power infrastructure to keep us going with the exploding use of electricity? (more…)

Posted on June 4, 2008 - by Jeffrey Posner

Jack of All Trades, Master of None?

This statement used to make sense to me, but lately I feel it only applies to certain parts of life and business. The basic idea (if it wasn’t obvious) is that if you spend your time trying to learn everything, you will be moderately good at most of the things..but never a master of one of them. I have a different approach to this. My feeling is that if you have a reasonably high IQ and pretty good street smarts, you can be a master of three (3), not just one. Say master one thing, then expand to a new subject while concentrating on the other still, then eventually incorporating a third.

Managing it All (more…)