The City of Austin has taken additional steps to reward local business owners with city construction contracts. The city will give preference to local bidders for city construction contracts. Austin mayor Lee Leffingwell led the charge. According to Statesman.com,

“Leffingwell, joined by City Council Members Mike Martinez and Randi Shade, said in a news conference that when the city needs to build something large enough to hire a private contractor, “companies with a local presence will get the contract … in cases where everything else is equal,” or nearly so.

Final details have yet to be worked out. But under the proposal, a local firm’s bid could be perhaps 5 to 10 percent higher than out-of-town bids and still be competitive, Leffingwell and Martinez said. “

This is a step in the right direction for the City of Austin. Hopefully the trend will continue and begin to include other industries.

“The first way to identify your business correctly is by filing a D.B.A. Basically a D.B.A., also known as “Doing Business As” is paper work that is filed with your local county court that gives you exclusive access to that name for a period of ten years. This may vary based on the state you are in. (the majority of the information in this book is based on Texas State laws and procedures, but the general information is universal and applicable in all states) This is the first legal means of identifying your business. You can file as a sole proprietorship (one individual owner), a general partnership (two or more owners), or typically a joint venture (several individuals working together). Before you can file the name, you must perform a county name search. Your preferred name may not be available–this is why it is important to have back up name choices. In addition, there may be additional steps to secure your business, which we will discuss later. In most states, you can download the D.B.A. form from your local county’s web site. In the State of Texas, the cost for filing the paperwork ranges from $10.00 to $20.00 depending on the county. A D.B.A. only secures your name in the county where it was filed. This is important because to protect your business name in every county in your state you must file with your local Secretary of State’s Office. To protect your name nationally, you must file federal paperwork. Someone in another county may already be operating under the same business name if you do not file with the state offices. “

The tips contained in the training series are designed to help aspiring entrepreneurs to get started and veteran entrepreneurs to keep going. Please continue to read this section for more free training from some of the nation’s best entrepreneurs and small business owners.

This month’s book is more of a motivational book that highlights the lives of many successful people. The book asks the simple question, “What makes the Great, Great.” This is a compelling inspirational book written by Dr. Dennis P. Kimbro. Here is an excerpt from the book,

“Are you read to take that first step towards a better life? If you are, this “gift” should hold special meaning. No one else can live your life for you. No one else can progress toward greatness for you. This is not an easy world to live in. It is not an easy world to be decent in. It is not an easy world to understand oneself in, or to like oneself in. But it must be lived in, and in the living there is one person you must absolutely believe in. The business you are in, the business we are all in, is the business of living—and the sooner you learn who you are and how you became the person you are, the sooner you will be able to deal with the challenges that may have frustrated you in the past.”

To order a copy of Dr. Kimbro’s book, please visit his website storefront at http://www.denniskimbro.com/motivational-books.html.

I am completely sold on the idea of looking for needs that are not being met. This is especially true if these needs fall inside of your sphere of influence. Wed a need to a business acumen and success is guaranteed. This is a key step in brainstorming possibilities, but success is not that easy to attain. Great ideas are just that until other questions are answered.

Before cell phones were so common, I once thought about giving digital watches a paging feature. I don’t know the first thing about the technology that goes into pagers. Of course there is no real need for pagers anymore and looking at your watch for the time or a page during your boss’ presentation is probably not a good idea. This might have been a great idea 20 years ago. So, when I get great ideas, I have to ask myself about the long term usefulness of the idea. Yes, there is a need, but does my idea fit with the current times and technology. Do I have the resources to produce innovate ideas within the particular market that I am trying to gain entry? If it is such a good idea I always ask: “how come no one else thought of this?”

The cliché, “think outside of the box”, describes innovation and creativity. However, sometimes an entrepreneur can be just as successful by making the box bigger. Some opportunities exist by taking an idea that is profitable to a different target group. For example, a community has two athletic shoe stores competing in the big box mall on West side of town. Customers from the East side of town are avid, athletic shoe fans and consistent customers at the big box mall. What would happen if a risk taker opened an athletic shoe store on the East side of town? This individual has taken a successful business to the front door of the customer base.

There are many ways to approach conceptualizing a business idea. Looking for needs that are not being met is a necessary first step. If you are living in a community and you have enough knowledge about where the needs are, then you know your potential customer base. “See a need, fill a need!”

What is open learning? Open learning is similar to the open source movement for software because the courses are offered free of charge. What is the catch? You will not earn credit for them. What is the benefit? You can take classes from some of the best universities in the country and gain the additional knowledge you need to start your own business or learn more about your industry.

Open learning is the best alternative to traditional continuing education programs.

Open learning can be very valuable to those individuals with the discipline to complete these free courses. Some of the colleges and universities that offer free courses include MIT, UC Berkeley, NYU, Yale, Stanford, and Berklee School of Music. There is a comprehensive list of schools on the education-portal.com website. To get information about these schools and for links to their websites, click HERE

What has your experience been with starting your own business?

Open source software (as defined by the Open Source Initiative) must meet 10 strictly defined criteria to be considered as such, the main one being it must be free! Why is this of benefit to the average consumer? You can get business, graphic design, web development, video production, etc. software for free that performs the same operations of major commercial software products.

Here are some of the open source software programs that I use on a regular basis…

1. Open Office–So you just bought a new computer and it has that annoying 60 day trial of Microsoft Office. There is no need to worry, this office suite of programs can open, read, edit, and save documents in the Microsoft Office suite formats. I have not used Microsoft Office since I learned about Open Office. The other reality is Microsoft Office Suites start at around $400US unless you get the student version that just comes with Word, Excel, and Power Point for around $150US. Free always sounds better to me!

2. Scribus–Microsoft Publisher is a good program that I’ve used in the past. I am also fond of Adobe InDesign. These programs are really good for desktop publishing such as creating brochures, magazines, etc. Scribus is a mixture of the two programs that is free. It leans more towards InDesign in terms of functionality. I’ve used Scribus for the past two years and I like it better than the above mentioned programs. Adobe InDesign costs around $700US to purchase. Microsoft Publisher costs around $170US to purchase.

3. GIMP–There is no doubt when it comes to graphic design Adobe Photoshop is the industry standard. Photoshop is a great program, but if you cannot afford Photoshop I recommend GIMP. I use GIMP instead of Photoshop as my primary graphic design software just because I find GIMP is easier to use in my opinion. You can do everything in GIMP that you can do in Photoshop. Photoshop costs approximately $700US to purchase.

For more information on other Open Source Software Programs visit the Open Source as Alternative Website . On this site you can put any commercial software in the search bar and it will show you all of the open source software programs that can perform the same functions.

Business owners are often challenged to find the equipment necessary to run their companies in the beginning. A vehicle is probably an entrepreneur’s greatest asset and most important piece of equipment. It does not matter what the industry is, entrepreneurs are constantly on the road driving to networking events, client offices, and sales meetings.

What is the perfect car for a business owner? It really depends on how big the company is and what the vehicle will be used for. If you can afford it, the ideal situation is to purchase a vehicle in the name of your company. If the budget of your company is modest, it is important to find a vehicle that gives you the most “bang for your buck.”

One thing is for sure, the Houston Auto Show 2008 was the ideal place for local entrepreneurs to research vehicles for their business. The Liberate Magazine team has found the perfect company car. We will unveil it sometime this year. Stay tuned to find out which one we chose!

The line between a pleasant dream and a nightmare is a very thin one. Often what inhibits most of us from fulfilling our dreams and our purpose is the fear of the nightmare scenario. We never take the leap from dreaming to reality with our goals safely in tow. How does an individual conquer fear and doubt when taking the first steps toward creating a successful start-up?

It is quite possible that great business leaders and entrepreneurs never really conquer fear, but they redirect that energy into useful tasks. If it were possible to know all the risks, predict success, and make correct decisions with pinpoint accuracy, what would be left to drive new entrepreneurs to take the plunge into business?

I suspect that achieving despite uncertainty and persevering in hard times, while learning along the way, are important traits that represent the driving force for new business people. Hard earned victories one achieves are badges of honor and distinction. They are rites of passage. These victories function as an induction into a select group of individuals who marched on, sometimes in the face of difficult circumstances.

There are individuals who could win one million dollars and still not be satisfied unless they build something. We have a natural inclination to be creative. No one really wants to be fashioned from a cookie cutter. Even when we desire to be different, we somehow manage to still be unoriginal. It is our unique experiences of success that make us feel we have accomplished something worthwhile. We want to learn from others, yet we want to know what they don’t know. The only way to truly do this is through our individual challenges and triumphs.
Realizing the dream and investigating your extrinsic or intrinsic motivations alone do not build a successful business. Moving from awareness to action is always the hardest step. As I prepare to take a step towards realizing my dream of building a business, I grapple with these same questions and emotions. Success is a series of choices that range from best, to good, to bad. Having a written plan would qualify as one of the better choices we should all make. This is one of the most crucial steps in your journey. Drawing up a plan may come in the form of a fully functional business plan or it may simply be a preliminary outline detailing where you are and where you want to go. Treat your plan like a roadmap.

The analogy is quite simple: most of us who have an unfamiliar destination in mind, grab a map or some means to plot out what will happen in between here and there. Often we need answers before we dive in. There are also times when we don’t even know what questions to ask. A plan can draw these areas out into the open. Be warned, this can be a challenging step. Don’t fear this task. You may discover some issues that will spark frustration or require you to reevaluate the dream. This is the process of learning. I had to learn to welcome this challenge.
This is just the beginning. Taking the plunge is a big step. Taking the plunge without knowing your strengths or ignoring your weaknesses can be fatal to your dream. Make sure that you enjoy your first steps into this brave new world. It is now time to sink, float, or swim.