Win an HP Media Vault at EntConnect!

I was just reading over on Lee Devlin's blog that he has arranged for HP to offer a free HP Media Vault Pro network storage device suitable for small businesses as a door prize for the EntConnect 2008 Entrepreneurial Connections Conference, that is coming up on Thursday March 27, 2008 through Sunday, March 30, 2008.

-- Jack Krupansky

EntConnect coming up... tomorrow!

Yikes! It is now time to do my final trip planning and preparation for the EntConnect 2008 Entrepreneurial Connections Conference, Thursday March 27, 2008 through Sunday, March 30, 2008, since I will be flying out to Colorado from Seattle tomorrow morning. I won't be joining the ski crowd of EntConnect tomorrow, but will be heading up to Boulder from the airport for the afternoon and will then catch up with the skiers later Thursday evening.

Ugh... I have to get up at 4:00 a.m. to catch the 5:00 a.m. bus to catch my 7:20 a.m. flight.

And then I read that there might be snow/rain here in the Seattle area.

AND THEN I read that American Airlines has grounded a large number of planes for safety inspections. It turns out that my AA flight is actually operated by Alaska Airlines and supposedly not an MD-80.

What next?

The most annoying thing this time of year is that you cannot predict whether the weather in Colorado will be cold and snowing so that you need plenty of winter "gear" or mild and warm and then you feel silly carrying all of this stuff around.

I look forward to meeting up with a passionate group of entrepreneurs and business owners this weekend for some serious networking about starting and running your own business. I do hope that a couple of venture capitalists will show up. And maybe even some lawyers and accountants.

Even if all you have is an outline for a business plan or even only some ideas scratched out on a cocktail napkin, EntConnect may be your best bet to accelerate your path forward.

-- Jack Krupansky

Only a few days until EntConnect

Now time is really moving fast. There are only a few days left until the EntConnect 2008 Entrepreneurial Connections Conference, Thursday March 27, 2008 through Sunday, March 30, 2008. In three days I'll be out in Colorado. In four days hard-core EntConnect long-timers will be starting to gather to chat before the Friday Italian Feast. I can hear it now... everybody asking the same question: "So, what have you been up to for the past year?"

I believe that we are going to have about 30 people this year, although, as usual, not everybody is there for the full conference or all at the same time.

So, if you are an entrepreneur with a technical background or even maybe just thinking about starting your own business, or maybe you are a lawyer or accountant or venture capitalist interested in hanging out with some entrepreneurs who might need your services, check out EntConnect.

Although some of the discussions center on hard-core technology, most people are interested in how technology can be used to leverage their entrepreneurial efforts, as well as non-technical skills such as marketing, product planning, sales, business development, selling your business, finance, legal, etc. In truth, the main thing people are interested in is hearing how business is going for everyone else and how they are tackling issues that arise in their businesses. Leveraging the efforts of others is the main name of the game.

-- Jack Krupansky

Update on self-employed 401(k) retirement plan

I blogged on Saturday about the possibility of setting up a self-employed retirement plan but wasn't sure about whether I could do a post-tax Roth plan. I pinged Fidelity and they responded today that they did not offer a Roth option for self-employed 401(k) accounts but that you could do it through a third party:

Fidelity's Self-Employed 401(k) does not allow for Roth contributions. However, you can use Fidelity as the investment vehicle for a Roth 401(k) plan provided by a third party. We recommend the following two companies that provide this service:

PenServ 903-455-5500
NPIN 800-443-6746 [National Pension & Insurance Network, Inc.]

These firms would provide you with the Roth 401(k) plan document, plan administration, and assist with tax reporting and filings. These companies are not financial institutions, but rather third party administrators. You would be directed back to Fidelity to open an account to hold your investments. We call this type of account a "Non-Prototype" which simply means you are using a prototype plan document provided by the third party. You can download an application by using the link below:

http://personal.fidelity.com/products/retirement/getstart/newacc/fidelity_nonprototype_plan.shtml

I have not pursued this any further or contacted those two firms, but either way, it does look promising.

Here is another thought I had: make pre-tax contributions in years when your income and tax bracket are higher, and then convert to a Roth account in any "off" years when your income and tax bracket are much lower.

I have been enamored by no-tax Roth accounts, but in truth a Roth account may only be beneficial when your tax rate in retirement is higher than your current tax rate. That may happen for some people, but I actually expect that my income level and hence my tax rate will be significantly lower than my current income and tax rate. Something to think about 

-- Jack Krupansky

Adding to the entrepreneurial skills list

I have added a few skills to my list of Entrepreneurial Skills:

• Plan B - Always have a "Plan B" backup plan in mind in case your primary and "best" plans run into unforeseen difficulties.
• Presence - Your appearance, focus, competence, and attitude leave those around you attentive and anxious to hear what you have to say.
• The world does not owe you anything - Success is earned through effort and merit and is never automatically guaranteed.
• Quality of introductions - A lot of networking opportunities can be dead ends, so you need to focus on arranging initial contacts that have a much higher potential both succeeding and for delivery superior results.
• Friendship - Colleagues who are also friends can be a very invigorating source of energy and ideas, helping to make your work both more satisfying and more productive
• Confidants - You need people with whom you can discuss problems with great candor, helping to free your mind to explore a wider range of alternatives in a low-risk way

I still have a few more in mind.

-- Jack Krupansky

Self-employed retirement plan

Now that I am out on my own again, I need to set up some sort of retirement plan. I already have several Roth Rollover IRA accounts that I could make IRA contributions to, but I would like to get a formal plan set up to contribute more than $5,000 or $6,000 this year. Without going overboard, I could simply set up a SEP-IRA or a Self-employed 401(k) plan. The latter allows me to contribute more, but also requires annual paperwork filing.

If I understand the rules properly, if my compensation was $60,000 (working part-time), with a SEP-IRA I could contribute up to 25% or $15,000, but with a self-employed 401(k) I could contribute that same 25% plus another $15,500 plus another $5,000 catch-up contribution since I am over 50 or a total of $35,500.

Ah... I now read that your only have to file the annual IRS Form 5500 for a self-employed 401(k) after your plan assets exceed $250,000. Excellent.

And, I think I can still make a $5,000 or $6,000 IRA contribution as well. Have to check on that though.

One lingering question is whether either plan can be Roth, or whether it is all pre-tax money and I would be deferring income taxes.

 -- Jack Krupansky

Only a week until EntConnect

Time is moving fast. There is only one week left until the EntConnect 2008 Entrepreneurial Connections Conference, Thursday March 27, 2008 through Sunday, March 30, 2008.

My main complaint about the conference is that it is too short. By early Sunday afternoon the conference winds down and people head off on their separate ways. There is usually a small group left for a late lunch, but by then the energy of the conference has largely dissipated.

I may stay around for the Sunday lunch, but I may bug out in order to hitch a ride to get up to Boulder.

I had been planning to stay the last night at the conference hotel before catching my flight back "home" on Monday afternoon, but I just changed my mind yesterday and decided to head up to Boulder for Sunday afternoon and evening, spending the night at a cheaper hotel in Boulder and enjoying dinner in Boulder, and then I could wander around and enjoy Boulder some more on Monday before I head off to the airport early Monday afternoon.

If there is anybody from the Boulder area with an entrepreneurial spirit, please do consider attending the conference. And maybe we could schedule an entrepreneurs dinner Sunday evening, or even a lunch on Monday.

-- Jack Krupansky

Got my temporary business cards

I ordered a small batch (250) of temporary business cards from VistaPrint on Monday, March 10, 2008 and paid extra for two-week delivery. They actually arrived only one-week later, on Monday, March 17, 2008. That was quite reasonable service. The cards looks fine, both professional looking and decent quality. The VistaPrint ad on the back feels a little strange, but that's what saving $4 costs. I am still bummed that these "free" cards cost $9.38, but overall I did get decent value for the price I paid.

Overall, I am reasonably satisfied, especially since this was only a temporary solution.

-- Jack Krupansky

Entrepreneurial skills list

As I continue to contemplate entrepreneurial skills to blog about, I have consolidated the lists from my past posts (Skill development, More entrepreneurial skills, Being in touch with your market at an intuitive level, A few more skills for entrepreneurs, and Yet more skills for entrepreneurs) into a single comprehensive list of Entrepreneurial Skills on my web site.

Feel free to suggest additional skills to add to the list of Entrepreneurial Skills.

I already have a few more in mind.

-- Jack Krupansky

Agenda for EntConnect 2008 now available

With the EntConnect 2008 Entrepreneurial Connections Conference  a little over a week away, the agenda for the conference is now available. There are currently about 30 attendees signed up, including Bill Gates, the former publisher of Midnight Engineering magazine.

-- Jack Krupansky

EntConnect less than two weeks away!

Wow, it seems like only yesterday that I was blogging about the annual EntConnect Entrepreneurial Connections Conference being another "three months" away, but now it is less that two weeks away, on Thursday, March 27, 2008 through Sunday, March 30, 2008. I'll be flying out from the Seattle area a week from Thursday morning and catching up with the leading edge of the EntConnect gang on Thursday evening in the hotel lounge, and then joining the rush of a larger contingent of conference attendees on Friday evening. I am looking forword to this. It is one of the highlights of my year, every year, since 1992.

If you are in the Denver area, the Front Range of Colorado, anywhere in Colorado, the Rocky Mountain region, or anywhere else for that matter, and looking for an exciting entrepreneurial networking event for the last weekend of the month, EntConnect should be on the top of you list.

If paying $299 for a conference that you are not sure about is not comfortable for you or not in your budget right now, just show up anyway and maybe some kind of deal can be worked out. As far as I know, the conference organizers have never had security guards at the door!

In short, consider EntConnect if any of the following "shoes" seems to "fit" your situation:

• You just started a new business
• You are thinking of starting a new business
• You have been running a business of your own for some time but wish to network with others who understand what running a business is all about
• You have some new ideas about how to run your business better and wish to get some professional feedback
• You have some great (or even simply amusing) stories and tales to tell about your experiences as an entrepreneur
• You are a student and attracted to the entrepreneurial spirit
• You have a business but are trying to find a way to take things to the next level
• You encountered a disaster in your business and are prepared to share your story of how you coped with the challenge, either successfully or not
• You have a business of your own, but are feeling that you need to get out of it
• You have a business with some employees and you wish to give them an experience to pick up some of the entrepreneurial spirit from others
• You want to exchange tips and techniques with other entrepreneurs
• You know you need to do better marketing but just aren't sure where to start
• You have marketing, legal, accounting, or other professional services that you you think would appeal to entrepreneurs
• You are an angel investor or venture capitalist and always looking for new prospects and new ideas
• You are a teacher or professor looking to tap into entrepreneurial resources for your students

Although the conference has traditionally catered to technical entrepreneurs, namely engineers and software developers and related professionals, and former readers of Midnight Engineering magazine, anybody with even a hint of entrepreneurial spirit is certainly welcome.

There is a rumor that Bill Gates, the former publisher of Midnight Engineering magazine, will be at the conference for the Saturday sessions.

-- Jack Krupansky

Bus transportation to and from Denver International Airport and EntConnect

If you are flying in to the EntConnect 2008 Entrepreneurial Connections Conference and will not be renting a car, the Denver regional bus system (RTD) has an express bus the runs between Denver International Airport and the Cold Spring Park-n-Ride, which is right next door to the EntConnect conference hotel (Sheraton Denver West). The bus is called a "SkyRide" bus, but you have to get the bus labeled "AF" for Cold Spring. Bus far is $11. Travel time is approximately 80 minutes. The bus runs roughly hourly (but not on the hour.)

You can also buy a round-trip ticket for $20 and even charge it to a credit card at the RTD counter in the main terminal at DIA. If you buy a ticket on the bus, make sure to have cash and exact change. You cannot buy a (discounted) round-trip ticket on the bus or pay on the bus by other than cash.

You can take other SkyRide buses to downtown Denver (AF stops there as well), Boulder, and other locations in the Denver metro area.

-- Jack Krupansky

Looking for the ME SKI or ENTCON conferences?

The ME SKI and ENTCON Entrepreneur's Conferences have been superseded by the annual EntConnect Entrepreneurial Connections Conference, which is coming up on Thursday, March 27, 2008 through Sunday, March 30, 2008. EntConnect has the same content and format as those original conferences. John Gaudio now runs the conference, but Bill Gates (former publisher of Midnight Engineering magazine) is frequently an attendee.

So, if you are looking for the same kind of interactive networking experience with fellow technical entrepreneurs that you enjoyed at ME SKI '92 or the ENTCON conferences, you should attend EntConnect.

There is still Colorado skiing on the agenda (Thursday) and other fun activities on Friday, but Friday evening, all day Saturday, and Sunday morning are 100% entrepreneurial networking, some in semi-structured presentations, but plenty of time for small group and one-on-one networking.

We are fairly tolerant of "service providers", so if you offer any kind of service that may be of interest to technical entrepreneurs starting and running their own small businesses, you are wlecome to attend on the same basis as any entrepreneur. This would include lawyers, accountants, marketing service providers, angel investors, venture capitalists, etc. Technical attendees are always interested in gaining access to the latest and best tools to help them start and run their businesses.

-- Jack Krupansky

Getting temporary business cards

I went ahead and ordered a small batch (250) of temporary business cards from VistaPrint. Nominally the cards are "free" and all you pay is shipping. For some reason I thought shipping was $3.99, but it came out to $9.38 for two-week delivery. It would have been over $5 even for ultra-slow 21-day delivery. AND, this is for cards that have advertising for VistaPrint on the backs of the cards. It would have been another $3.99 to have blank backs. AND, these are matte finish and it actually costs more than another $9 to get the glossy finish. AND, you have to click through all sorts of promotional and "extra value" screens before you can finish the order and even then there is yet another promotional screen. Overall, I found it to be a tedious and frustrating and disappointing experience. We will see in two weeks whether the results are worth the wait, the cost, and all of that hassle.

I did stick with my old DBA, Base Technology, my old business email address, Jack@BaseTechnology.com, and my old title of Software Entrepreneur. My "message" on the card is "Advanced Software Research, Design, and Development."

Now, I need to consider what message and content to put on my old web site.

-- Jack Krupansky

Should I get business cards?

Now that I am back out on my own again, one question that comes up is whether to get business cards. One issue is that I may move after my apartment lease comes up for renewal at the end of May. One solution to that would be to have a card that only uses an email address and web site address rather than my work address (which happens to be my home address.) But since I can order 250 full-color business cards from VistaPrint for $4, there is no harm reordering business cards in two or three months.

In truth, since so many of my contacts are via email and the Web, I rarely need a business card anyway. Still, on those rare occasions it is uncomfortable to not have one. Besides, it is so much easier to exploit serendipity if you can simply hand someone a business card.

A second issue is what name to operate under. For almost 20 years I operated as a DBA (doing business as) sole proprietorship, with a DBA of Base Technology. Since I do not currently offer a product or service other than my personal service and my online web sites and blogs, a business name is not essential. I may simply operate under my full, legal name, John W. Krupansky. Or, I could use my familiar name, Jack Krupansky, as my DBA.

I could simply revert back to my old DBA, but one question is whether the name is still appropriate, relevant, or even has much business value. In truth, people always knew me more by my own name than my business name. I did have a software product for a while, but that was quite a few years ago.

Or, maybe I should invent a new business name to represent my new "brand", whatever that might be.

What is my brand? I do several different things:

1. Independent computer software development consultant/contractor.
2. Independent software developer for my own products and services (not currently.)
3. Independent writer of technical articles, web pages, and blogging.
4. Independent research and writing about software agent technology and semantic web technology.
5. Independent writer of technical articles, web pages, and blogging about Entrepreneurial Engineering.

Now, if I can only resolve my business name and address, I could order 250 full-color business cards from VistaPrint for $4.

Another complication about my old business name is that it is too blandly descriptive and not very distinctive. I once had a registered U.S. trademark on it to protect my web site, but I have let the trademark lapse. I also had been talking with a Canadian company using the same name to sell my domain name to them. I would like to resolve that issue soon.

So, on the one hand there is some advantage of continuity with the same name, but the value is somewhat minimal since there is only a modest association of my name with that business name. OTOH, I do have thousands of web pages that say "Copyright John W. Krupansky d/b/a Base Technology." That fact alone leads my to want to stick with Base Technology.

I was hoping to sell the domain name and consolidate the pages from that web site under one of my other web sites, but that was before I decided to go out on my own again.

Part of me really wants to come up with a new business name, to start fresh, but since I don't have any big new business prospects other than my personal service consulting, research, and blogging, it is not an urgent priority.

I suppose my default will be to resurrect my old Base Technology DBA as well as my old "title" of "Software Entrepreneur." My domain name registration is paid for another two years and my web host is paid for another 10 months. Besides, I could change the name in a year or so anyway, once I have a clearer direction for my new independence.

-- Jack Krupansky

Yet more skills for entrepreneurs

I have a couple more skill areas I need to develop or improve in addition to those that I have already blogged about (Skill development, More entrepreneurial skills, Being in touch with your market at an intuitive level, and A few more skills for entrepreneurs):

• Connectors - Identify, cultivate, and utilize "connectors", who are those people you know who have their own network of contacts that is broader than your own immediate network of contacts. They are the people who can give you introductions and information that can really open doors that you could not open as easily by yourself.
• Overlap - Exploit opportunities to overlap projects so that you can get started much sooner and be able to complete the ramping up process much more quickly than if you had waited for current projects to completely wind down before even contemplating the start of new projects. Recognition of the length of the sales cycle is one example.
• Enthusiasm - Others can readily and effortlessly sense your passion and energy in a way that will tend to rapidly "infect" them and cause them to become interested in, if not thoroughly passionate about, your products and services.

Geez, how much longer can my list of skills needing improvement get? I already have a couple more in mind that are not quite jelled enough to put into readable form.

-- Jack Krupansky

Details on two EntConnect conference sessions

Bill French, co-founder of MyST Technology Partners, will be presenting two sessions at the upcoming EntConnect 2008 Entrepreneurial Connections Conference (Thursday, March 27, 2008 through Sunday, March 30, 2008):

Gadgets: The Trend Toward Meaningful Web Services (about 1 hour)

• SOA's (services oriented architectures) begin to leverage web services packaged in lightweight components
• Widgets, gadgets, gizmos, minis - they deliver on the promise of a loosely coupled web
• How gadgets can help your business
• A quick romp through the popular gadget sites
• Innovation opportunities for entrepreneurs
• Building basics - how to create, publish, and earn revenues from gadgets

"Kick Bill…" -- Critique the MyST Advertorial Marketing Pitch (about 1 hour)

• I'll run through a 20 minute presentation designed to help marketing and PR folks understand the benefits of the MyST Advertorial solution.
• The audience will take ten minutes to compose suggestions for improvement or just complain about aspects of the pitch, the product, or whatever comes to mind.
• The suggestions will be read and voted on; the suggestor earning the highest number of votes will win an iPod Shuffle.

See that last part... an opportunity to win an iPod Shuffle. But please trust me, hearing Bill speak is worth the entire price of the conference, iPod or no iPod.

-- Jack Krupansky

Only one more day to make your EntConnect hotel reservations

I hear that tomorrow is the cutoff date for booking one of the discounted hotel rooms for the upcoming EntConnect 2008 Entrepreneurial Connections Conference (Thursday, March 27, 2008 through Sunday, March 30, 2008.) So, if you haven't already booked your hotel room, do it today or tomorrow! See the conference web site for details.

-- Jack Krupansky

Giddy excitement of a Hannah Montana concert? Well, we wish!

Although some of us longtime participants of the upcoming EntConnect 2008 Entrepreneurial Connections Conference (Thursday, March 27, 2008 through Sunday, March 30, 2008) do tend to get excited about the conference, I do have to admit that the conference does not exactly have the energy level of a Ruby on Rails technical conference or a Hannah Montana concert. I had to laugh (and sigh) when I read the lead paragraph of the WIRED article on 37 signals:

To the 300 software developers packed into a Vancouver conference room, David Heinemeier Hansson was more than a programmer. He was a visionary, the creator of Ruby on Rails, a software template that powered an increasing number of hot Internet applications. He was a philosopher-king whose minimalist ethos suggested a new way of thinking about business and software. And he was a celebrity, with boyish good looks, precocious self-possession, and fans who invoked his name so frequently they used his initials as shorthand: DHH. As Hansson took the stage at the British Columbia Institute of Technology for this, the first Ruby on Rails conference, the room was filled with the kind of giddy excitement that greets the opening chords of a Hannah Montana concert.

Yeah, we wish we were achieving that level of excitement, and attendence.

But if you are a technical entrepreneur or anybody with entrepreneurial aspirations or a former reader of Midnight Engineering magazine please do come and check out the EntConnect Conference anyway. After all, there is a money-back guarantee.

Disclosure: I actually have no idea who Hannah Montana is.

-- Jack Krupansky

37signals profiled in WIRED

There is an interesting profile of 37signals in WIRED by Andrew Park entitled "The Brash Boys at 37signals Will Tell You: Keep it Simple, Stupid." They are a distinct alternative to the traditional tech venture which may have started small but with aspirations of growing large. They have a philosophy that eschews appealing to the interests of the Fortune 500 and prefers to keep things simple and at a human scale.

The article does criticize 37signals for not worrying more about scalability and complexity, but it is not at all clear how that will play out in the end.

What we really need is an auto-scaling cloud computing infrastructure such that application development tools such as  those from 37 signals do not need to reinvent scalability for every tool and every application.

Nonetheless, 37signals is a venture to watch in the coming months and years. I would not count them out out.

Maybe some entrepreneur will come along and invent a virtual machine emulator that is automatically scalable and gives 37signals apps a scalable sandbox to work in.

-- Jack Krupansky

Venn diagram for a successful venture

I do not recall where I originally saw this concept, in other words it is not my own personal invention, but the essence is that a typical successful venture will be the intersection of three elements:

1. A market for your product or service.
2. Your passion for your product or service
3. Your ability to create and deliver your product or service

All three are needed. Your success will be dependent on the degree of overlap of the three factors.

As a Venn diagram, the Venture Venn Diagram, a successful venture exists at the intersection of the three components:

-- Jack Krupansky

A few more skills for entrepreneurs

I have a few more skill areas I need to develop or improve in addition to those that I have already blogged about (Skill development, More entrepreneurial skills, and Being in touch with your market at an intuitive level):

• Compelling presentation and narrative - organizing and packaging your ideas, facts, rationale, arguments, benefits, etc. in a form that comes across as an appealing and believable story that literally compels your audience to agree with your proposal. The visual and verbal are equally important.
• Humor and fun - how to balance serious discussion and serious work on the one hand with light moments and at least some amount of play or at least a playful tone, with the goal of raising the overall energy level and leaving people feeling invigorated rather than merely exhausted and spent.
• A little drama and theater - nobody wants dark melodrama in their work and business environment, but a little suspense and unexpected turns can raise the energy level and prevent people from sliding into a lower-energy rut of lower productivity
• Surprise - even modest positive surprises can dramatically boost excitement, energy, and attention.
• Serendipity - being open and flexible and attentive so that you are able to fully exploit new opportunities that pop up in an unexpected manner. Setting yourself up for greater potential serendipity as well.
• Situational Awareness - being hyper-aware of all details of everything that is going on everywhere around you so that you can respond promptly to things as they are rather than as you imagined they might or might not be. Sometimes things are right in front of us and we still do not see them.
• Roadmap - Have a long-term succession of products and services in mind so that you can do a better job of trading off short-term gains in favor of long-term benefits.
• Rapport - How to establish and build a great working chemistry with partners, colleagues, employees, customers, investors, etc., with the ultimate goal of more effective and easier comunication and better and easier business results.
• Making a better first impression - getting started on the right foot is a lot easier than starting with a struggle for credibility.
• Managing money and a budget - it sounds easy, but so many bad decisions get made because we let income, expenses, or our cash balance get out of whack.

Just when I think I finally have my full list of needed entrepreneurial skills, a few more come to mind.

-- Jack Krupansky

A few more skills for entrepreneurs

I have a few more skill areas I need to develop or improve in addition to those that I have already blogged about (Skill development, More entrepreneurial skills, and Being in touch with your market at an intuitive level):

• Compelling presentation and narrative - organizing and packaging your ideas, facts, rationale, arguments, benefits, etc. in a form that comes across as an appealing and believable story that literally compels your audience to agree with your proposal. The visual and verbal are equally important.
• Humor and fun - how to balance serious discussion and serious work on the one hand with light moments and at least some amount of play or at least a playful tone, with the goal of raising the overall energy level and leaving people feeling invigorated rather than merely exhausted and spent.
• A little drama and theater - nobody wants dark melodrama in their work and business environment, but a little suspense and unexpected turns can raise the energy level and prevent people from sliding into a lower-energy rut of lower productivity
• Surprise - even modest positive surprises can dramatically boost excitement, energy, and attention.
• Serendipity - being open and flexible and attentive so that you are able to fully exploit new opportunities that pop up in an unexpected manner. Setting yourself up for greater potential serendipity as well.
• Situational Awareness - being hyper-aware of all details of everything that is going on everywhere around you so that you can respond promptly to things as they are rather than as you imagined they might or might not be. Sometimes things are right in front of us and we still do not see them.
• Roadmap - Have a long-term succession of products and services in mind so that you can do a better job of trading off short-term gains in favor of long-term benefits.
• Rapport - How to establish and build a great working chemistry with partners, colleagues, employees, customers, investors, etc., with the ultimate goal of more effective and easier comunication and better and easier business results.
• Making a better first impression - getting started on the right foot is a lot easier than starting with a struggle for credibility.
• Managing money and a budget - it sounds easy, but so many bad decisions get made because we let income, expenses, or our cash balance get out of whack.

Just when I think I finally have my full list of needed entrepreneurial skills, a few more come to mind.

-- Jack Krupansky

Engineering simplicity

Sometimes we yearn for the old days, when life was so much simpler:

You only need two tools in life - WD-40 and Duct Tape. If it doesn't move and should, use the WD-40. If it shouldn't move and does, use the duct tape.

There must be an equivalent rule for entrepreneurs, such as a sales and marketing equivalent to WD-40 to "move" product, and the marketing and customer service equivalent to duct tape to retain customers. Hmmm.

Maybe that is what Duct Tape Marketing is really supposed to be all about?

-- Jack Krupansky