Starting Your Own Business with Successful Entrepreneur Erica Douglass

I was talking with Clay Collins this past weekend (Clay is someone you should get to know, by the way) and he brought up an interesting point: Many people expect that they will be “discovered” by a “savior” and then–then!–everything will be set for them.

This is a dangerous attitude. It puts your fate in the hands of others. You expect to be discovered and then are crushed when no one pays attention to you. You put all your chips on the next interview, the next blog post, the next publicist or editor or meeting with a potential client. You set yourself up to be devastated when things don’t work out exactly as planned. And, if you’re not careful, this can quickly turn into bitterness at how “they” got discovered when you–the person with better talent! who is more awesome!–didn’t.

I’ve come pretty close to falling into this trap a hundred times or more. Let me show you a recent example: (more…)

Erica’s note: Several members of my community recently asked me how to hire a virtual assistant. I figured an awesome virtual assistant would be the best person to answer your questions, so I invited Laurie Cantus from YourGoToGirls to write a guest post. If you have more questions, make sure to check out her free teleseminar–the link to sign up is at the bottom of this post. Here’s Laurie: (more…)

Let’s hope you never get this guy as your
customer. But when you do, here’s what to do. Erica’s note: I’m at BlogWorld Expo for the next few days. I figured this would be a great opportunity to introduce you to a new blogger who is an amazing writer. His name is Alex Wu and he recently quit his job as an economist to become a professional psychic intuitive and blogger at IntuitiveWu.com. Here is his guest post:

As you become increasingly successful in your business, you will likely become a target of criticism and attack. People you don’t even know may leave nasty comments on your blog, send you highly critical emails, or even post article-length personal attacks directed at you on their blogs.

You’ve worked hard building your success from the ground up. After all that you’ve been through, being the target of attacks and criticism feels like a slap in the face. (more…)

Wow, it’s October! It seems like I just wrote my July update. Here’s what I have been working on in the past quarter, as well as those much-requested income numbers.

(If you’re new here, welcome! I set 3-5 major goals every year publicly on my blog and update my progress every quarter. Here are my goals for 2010.) (more…)

“What do you think of this idea for my new startup?”
“Eh, yeah, it sounds pretty interesting.”

Ever heard this before? If you have, your startup may be barking up the wrong tree. (more…)