I started my career in market research. At one point, I was pretty immersed in it. In fact, articles I wrote were published in Quirk's Marketing Research Review and I was a member of SCIP, the Society of Competitive Intelligence Professionals.

Having helped start and grow hundreds of companies since then, I can definitely say that my market research background has been a HUGE asset.

Every successful venture I have launched or help launch leveraged opportunities and strategies based on the industry, customer and competitor research we conducted.

I have also used market research time and time again to find investors and joint venture partners for businesses.

Since market research is so critical to businesses, and since the Internet presents such a goldmine of research for those who know who to find it, I decided to put together a report on how to quickly and expertly conduct market research online.

Some of the report is methodologies I use and other parts include my most prized bookmarks….those “go to” research sites that I visit each time an important research question or project comes out.

Want to learn how you can conduct market research for free instead of paying thousands of dollars to market research firms? Well, I put together a brief video to show you how:



I'm excited to get this report in the hands of as many entrepreneurs and business owners as possible, because I know the value effective and efficient market research has had on my business endeavors.  The report is currently free for current Growthink University members, so if you're a member, you are in luck! Just go to the download center and pick up your copy.

For those of you who aren't members of Growthink University, I would like to make a special offer available to you.  Because I'm in a celebratory mood, (this month is my wife’s birthday) I would like to offer this promotion to those interested in obtaining a copy:

As my wife would never allow me to post her age on my blog, what I have done is incorporate her age into this promotion.  For the next few days, I'm offering this market research report for one CENT for each year of my wife’s age.

As a bonus with your purchase, I’ll also include 30-day access to Growthink University so you can see the wealth of capital raising, business planning information we've assembled for entrepreneurs and business owners just like you. You’ll also gain access to all the Growthink University bonuses like our Ultimate Business Plan Template, special reports, VC Directory and Angel Investor Group Directory.

To order the market research report (and to find out exactly how old my wife is :)),follow this link:
https://www.growthinkuniversity.com/public/268.cfm

The last few weeks have been a little frustrating for me and my team. Why? Well, we've been hard at work developing a new guide on how to raise angel financing. And some of our findings were a bit disturbing (fortunately other findings were very encouraging).

In developing the report, we took some GREAT advice that I encourage each of you to use whenever creating a new product. The advice - find out all the questions that potential customers have and make sure that your product addresses them.

So, using our online market research methodologies, we found all the questions that entrepreneurs and business owners were asking about angel financing.

• Will an angel investor invest in a ______ (insert restaurant, website, etc.)?
• Where can we find angel investors for our company?
• What is the difference between angel investors and venture capitalists?
• What return on investment do angel investors want?
• Where can I find angel investors to submit my business plan to online?

It was this last question that really bothered me...the notion that you can simple complete a form online and have angel investors (or venture capitalists) flock to your company. Our research shows that the chance of an angel investor funding your business based on an online form is about 0.01%, or 1,000 times WORSE than the odds of getting into Harvard Business School.

Sure there are many sites that tell you to pay them, submit your plan or complete their form, and that your plan will be sent to thousands of investors. And each of these sites prominently display their success stories. BUT, these success stories are the outliers. They are the 1 in 10,000 businesses that got funding for one reason or another.

The FACT is that angel investors (and venture capital firms) DON'T invest this way.

But, the good news is that tons of angel investor do invest, and in fact, they fund 15 times more companies than venture capital firms. According to the Center for Venture Research at the University of New Hampshire, last year 55,480 ventures were funded by angel investors.

And because the public stock market has being doing so poorly, more and more individuals are considering angel investing.

So the angel investors and money is out there. It's just a matter of knowing how to raise angel capital.

From our recent research and having been raising angel and venture capital for the past decade, we uncovered all the ways that you and your business CAN raise this type of capital. And it doesn't include filling out forms online.

Are you an entrepreneur looking to find angel investors to fund your company? Learn proven strategies and tactics when you download Growthink's Step-By-Step Angel Investor Guide.

I for one take a lot of my business resources for granted. The fact that I have high-speed, uninterrupted (well, at least usually) internet access. The fact that I have a quiet office with a desk. The fact that I have a computer and programs that automate a lot of my routine tasks.

These things all help me be much more productive, and give me the ability, when combined with hard work and focus, to accomplish great things.

Like everyone else, most of the things that I do don't go precisely as planned. Like Growthink University. Clearly I was hoping for thousands upon thousands of new members the day we launched. But then, like everything else, I knew that tweaks would have to be made, the service would have to continuously be improved, etc., in order to reap long-term success.

When things get me down, one source of inspiration that I've turned to is Kiva.org. Kiva is "the world's first person-to-person micro-lending website, empowering individuals to lend directly to unique entrepreneurs in the developing world."  Specifically, on their website, individuals who need small loans to start or grow their businesses request funding. And other individuals from around the world offer this funding in increments as low as $25.

The following are some new and completed funding requests I read today:

• A $1,000 loan request from Mr. Vun Nem, of Cambodia who requires funding since he can't pay for the materials needed to run his construction business.


• A $625 loan given to Ludmila Boiko of  Kherson, Ukraine. Ludmila has one daughter and sells domestic electrical appliances in a market in Dneprovskyi. Ludmila has paid back 12% of the loan to date.


• A $1,075 loan given to Norma of Ayacucho, Peru who needed the funds to purchase outfits, polos, pants and blouses. This money was successfully raised on Kiva. In addition, she invested all of her savings to construct a third floor in their house and to buy machines to use in a dressmaking shop. This loan was made on June 30, 2008 and by October 31, 2008, she was able to repay the loan in its entirety.

Equally as inspiring as the entrepreneurs are the individuals who have funded them such as:

Philip, a student from Eaton, NH who lends because, "I am more than willing to help those who want to help themselves."

Judy, a teacher in Manassas, VA who says, "The impact of collective small gifts is breath-taking!"

And

Levi, who lives in Saskatchewan Canada and invests simply because "It works!"

When entrepreneurs throughout the world are able to raise tiny amounts of capital, amounts that I often charge to my credit card without flinching an eye, and are able to execute on their businesses and quickly repay their loans, it is truly inspiring.

What's also interesting is that these entrepreneurs may have more focus than many of us in the Western world. They aren't getting bombarded with phone calls and emails. Rather they are laser-focused on creating a business that provides money to feed, clothe and house themselves and their families. With laser focus often comes success!

Did you know that venture capital firms nearly always require the companies they fund to get key man insurance (KMI)?

Well, understanding the rationale behind this fact should give you insight into improving your business operations and structure.

To begin, Key Man Insurance or KMI is a life insurance policy covering a business owner, president or a key employee. The business is the beneficiary under the policy.

The fact that most venture capital firms require KMI explicitly shows that venture capital firms provide funding to PEOPLE, not firms or ideas. It is the people who are able to execute on the ideas. Remember that a good person with a mediocre idea is often much more successful than a poor person with a great idea.

What this does NOT mean is that you should rush out to purchase key man insurance if you are seeking venture capital. What it does mean is that you need to make sure that you have a management team that is worthy of KMI. A team that is so capable of achieving success that investors are actually frightened that their investment would be in jeopardy if something happened to them.

What it also means, and this applies even if you are not seeking venture capital, is that you should create systems to minimize the business risk of something happening to a key employee.

These systems can include:

• Training manuals that document key tasks performed by key personnel, so that someone else could take over their job requirements in the event that they were out of the office temporarily or long-term


• A hiring plan that allows you to efficiently recruit and train new personnel


• Constantly networking and telling people the exciting aspects of your business so that there is a pent-up demand to work at your company

You and your management team are the lifeblood of your business. You always need to be thinking about how to improve, protect and grow your team, as this will have the greatest impact on the long-term success, or lack thereof, of your business.

What does the girl who rejected me at a dance when I was thirteen years old have to do with your ability to raise capital for your business?  Well, it all has to do with psychology, human nature, and how you can leverage the two to attract capital. Watch the 4-minute video below to learn more:

Yesterday, I received an interesting package in the mail. I opened it up and inside was a shoebox. And inside the shoebox was "The Dogball." The Dogball, as I found out, is a new toy for dogs, and the founder, based in France, was trying to get me to distribute it here in the United States.

There are actually several important lessons from The Dogball as it relates to your business plan and raising capital. So, I documented them in a video since I had to make sure each of you could actually see exactly what the Dogball is:

Sometimes it feels like you’re just spinning your wheels. This is how I felt a few years ago when I was helping one of my clients raise VC (venture capital) funding. The client was an early-stage, Southern California-based networking company…

I started by creating what I felt was an awesome VC prospect list with 455 prospective investors.

The list looked like this (number of prospects in parentheses):

• Priority A: Strategic/Corporate Investors (24)
• Priority B: Most Active Southern California Investors (24)
• Priority C: Active Southern California Investors (25)
• Priority D: Most Active Networking Investors CA-based (72)
• Priority E: Active Networking Investors CA-based (88)
• Priority F: Most Active Networking Investors U.S.-based (46)
• Priority G: Active Networking Investors U.S.-based (176)

The list itself took me days (and a proprietary database) to compile. As any direct marketer knows (and raising capital is direct marketing), the quality of the list is everything. For example, if you’re trying to sell a franchise opportunity to folks at a nursing home, you’re not getting any buyers no matter how good the opportunity is!

Armed with my list and my teaser email (teaser email = solicits interest without giving away the farm), I started calling and emailing investors.

And I had lots of early success.

We had about 20 first meetings with strategic and venture capital investors. And the result... nothing.

We only got about 5 investors who explicitly said “no” but the others weren’t quite ready to write us a check.

So, naturally I started getting discouraged. As you can imagine, I had already invested over one hundred hours on this project and had no multi-million check to show for it.

But fortunately I remained persistent, and eventually one investor referred me to another investor (which, believe it or not, was not on my list of the top 455 prospective investors!!!!) who wrote us a $3 million check.

I bring up this story since I’ve been getting a lot of questions about whether or not there is VC funding out there right now.

The answer is an emphatic YES. It is out there. And like always, it takes great knowledge and persistence to get it (and probably now more than ever).

Here are the facts. According to the National Venture Capital Association, 3,808 ventures raised VC funding in 2008 totaling $28.3 billion. And, according to the Center for Venture Research, 70,000 ventures were funded by angel investors last year totaling $37.2 billion.

So lots of companies continue to receive funding from venture capitalists and angel investors.

It’s mostly a matter of REALLY wanting to receive capital for your business and making the investment to do it (i.e., the time/money to learn how to, and the time needed to execute on, a capital-raising campaign).

So, capital IS still out there, and YES, you can raise it!

I’m really good about working out. With few exceptions, I go to the gym every day after work and try to work out at least one day over the weekend.

Part of why I go is to stay in shape, but I think it helps me a lot business-wise as the exercise helps me release excess energy so I can really focus on the tasks at hand when needed.

Because there’s always too much to do each day and yet I insist on going to the gym, I’ve devised a laser-focused 25 minute workout that I follow. It’s nothing too fancy -- it’s mainly that I go from machine to machine to machine with no breaks in between (many people do a similar routine but it takes them twice as long since they take breaks in between each rep and/or machine).

Anyway, what this means for me is that every January is a nightmare. Why? Because every January, the gyms are full. And this means that I can’t quickly go from machine to machine to machine because I have to wait for others who are using the equipment.

This happens because every year, tons of people make New Year’s resolutions to go to the gym more. So, in early January, the gym is full of these “resolutionists.” Fortunately, by February, they’re usually gone and it’s back to normal.

The reason I tell you about this is that it’s incredible how much this mirrors raising capital.

To begin, raising capital, like weightlifting and exercising, only works if you do it EVERY DAY. You don’t get strong working out like crazy for one month and then relaxing the rest of the year. Rather you need to put in an hour a day or an hour every other day throughout the year to realize an impact.

When raising capital, you need to constantly be speaking with investors, finding new investors, and making presentations. You need to constantly tweak your business plan to make it better and better. This will not happen overnight. It takes months.

Also, in weightlifting, if you don’t know what you are doing, you will have poor form and you will most likely hurt yourself. In capital raising, if you don’t know what you are doing, you will also hurt yourself and your company by failing to raise the capital you need.

And, like in the gym example, all the “resolutionists” HURT YOUR CHANCES of success.

At the gym, the “resolutionists” hurt me be using my machines and thus slowing me down.

When raising capital, those who don’t know what they are doing also hurt your chances. They submit their business plans haphazardly to every investor who will accept them. While these investors will rarely if ever fund these plans, they waste the investors’ time. As a result, the investors have less time to review good plans and meet with good entrepreneurs, like you.

I wish I could tell you that raising capital was fun. But I can’t. I wish I could tell you that it was easy. But I can’t do that either. Like weightlifting, it’s neither fun nor easy, but once you learn how to do it, and you repeatedly do it right over a period of time, you can succeed and the rewards far outweigh the costs.

GrowthinkUniversity.com, our new membership website, was designed to teach you how to raise capital using the proven techniques that we have implemented over the past decade for our consulting clients.

What traits and skills really make Richard Branson, Bill Gates, Donald Trump, and countless other entrepreneurs so successful?

Over the past decade, we've identified key ingredients that lead to success, which we've observed both in celebrity entrepreneurs and in our most successful clients. When it's all said and done, they have all of the following critical skills, which are essential to entrepreneurial success:

Vision & Leadership: Entrepreneurs must have a vision of where the company will be in the future.  In addition, you must be able to communicate you vision so as to motivate employees, investors, and partners to help you achieve that vision.  You must be able to identify staffing needs, expertly fill them, and lead your team to success. Rarely do entrepreneurs build successful companies all by themselves.

Focus & Execution: Entrepreneurs must focus to make sure that goals are achieved, customers are satisfied, and employees are motivated. For most entrepreneurs, staying focused is harder than it sounds.  Be careful not to be seduced by the next exciting opportunity without executing on the priorities at hand.  And don't let perfectionism prevent you from taking action, either; at the end of the day, a product on the market is better than a product shelved due to lack of focus, execution, or perfectionism.  Get to market and get feedback from your customers as soon as possible.

Persistence & Passion:  As an entrepreneur, you must be passionate about what you are trying to accomplish. In addition, you must be willing to commit whatever is needed of them, whether it's time, energy, money, or other resources.  You must persist through trying times (which will be frequent), and fight as much as needed to achieve the goals you have set for yourself and your team.

Technical skills:  As the owner of your firm, you may not need to be the most skilled technicion on your team.  But you need to have necessary foundational knowledge to be able to lead your technical team and make informed decisions. 

Flexibility: Successful entrepreneurs understand that the world and the environment in which they operate are constantly changing. While you must focus on the end game, you also must adapt your strategies and offerings to meet changing market conditions.

There has often been debate regarding whether entrepreneurship can be taught. Can you really teach persistence or passion? Perhaps you can't.  But if you understand the importance of these entrepreneurial traits, you can focus on them and make the necessary adjustments to succeed in your entrepreneurial endeavors.

What about you -- what skills or traits do you think make entrepreneurs successful? 

Just for a moment, consider the following press release headlines:

"Company X Receives Top Marks in Bloomberg Article..."
"Company X Ranked #1 Global Provider...Second Year Running"
"Company X Acquires Leading Provider of..."
"Company X Launches Philippines Operations"
"Company X Names Industry Veteran as Vice President..."

Now imagine what it would feel like to be the founder of Company X. For one Growthink client, Liam Brown, this isn't a dream - it's a reality.  

A few years ago, Liam had the vision to come to Growthink for assistance with a business plan for his vision - a company named Integreon. Liam, with a solid business plan, turned his vision into a business, raised capital, and attracted a highly motivated work force. Today, Integreon is a leading business process outsourcing (BPO) service firm that employs over 2000 people, with offices ranging from Mumbai to Fargo and New Delhi to midtown Manhattan.

Even with an amazing business plan, heights and milestones like the ones listed above cannot be achieved without vision. Simply put, you must have a vision of where you want your business to be in the future.  You must be able to communicate your vision in an exciting manner to employees and investors, so that they too share your vision and are motivated to help you achieve it.

Unlike your business plan, your vision doesn't provide a specific roadmap for your business.  Rather, your vision paints a picture of what the your business strives to become in the future.  A leader with a strong vision motivates his or her team to achieve this picture, regardless of the action plan that will be employed.

Vision provides motivation to both the leader and employees.  It gives employees something that they can believe in and rally around.  While it doesn't tell the employees exactly what to do to achieve it, having vision instilled in them helps positively mold their decision-making when problems must be solved that don't have clear answers.

A strong vision combined with a strong business plan is critical to the success of a growing venture.  The vision motivates everyone to achieve success, while the plan guides them to where they need to go.  In addition, the plan is significant in that it documents the vision.  By "cementing" the vision on paper, the team gains more confidence that the vision will not be easily changed and that the organization is truly committed to achieving it.