Using a platform designed to not only tell you what to do, but to show you step-by-step how to do it from the Gen Y perspective, Julia, 25, and Travis,29, show young entrepreneurs the steps they’ve personally taken to create their own businesses using a series of video and written blogs. Julia Gentry says, “Entrepreneurs everywhere are now being given the chance to learn firsthand what it means to be a successful entrepreneur, what tools they need to create successful businesses, and how their business can play a major role in the contribution of this country.”

Increasing their resources for their online community specifically for young entrepreneurs, The Ultimate E is currently preparing for their next major platform expansion to be released in the next two to three months that promises to play a major role in the shift of our economy. When asked what prompted the idea for this revolutionary platform, Julia Gentry talked about the problems in our economy. “The old way of working just doesn’t seem to be working anymore,” says Julia Gentry, “You can feel this shifting going on within the hearts and minds of people and I am confident it is because it’s time for the next generation to take their place as entrepreneurs. To take control of their future and no longer depend upon job security to tell them they are ‘safe’.” The Ultimate E is looking for entrepreneurs who want to be a part of this new platform and would like to make a lasting contribution to the world.

About Travis and Julia Gentry: Travis and Julia Gentry are owners of Ideal Homes, Short Sale Distinction, and The Ultimate E. They are business owners, entrepreneurs, speakers, writers, and are happily married to each other. Starting their entrepreneurial journey after Travis unexpectedly received a pay cut that accounted for half of what he was traditionally paid, Travis and Julia successfully created and run three businesses. Today their mission is to help young entrepreneurs like themselves to navigate through the fires that come from being self-employed and young, simultaneously. The Gentry’s guide followers through everything from battling yourself as an individual and the doubt that inevitably comes from going against the status quo, overcoming growing credit card statements and the tough economy, and to how to deal with the barriers commonly found when youth is combined with starting a business.

About The Ultimate E: The Ultimate E is an online community for members of the Y Generation who want to be a part of transforming our society back to a thriving, booming economy. More information on how to become a part of the Ultimate E community and upcoming events can be found online at http://www.theultimatee.com.

For further information about The Ultimate E or how you could be the NEXT entrepreneur, please contact Julia Gentry Telephone: (720) 579-7587 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting              (720) 579-7587      end_of_the_skype_highlighting, Email: contact@theultimatee.com

“Makia is all about keeping it simple,” notes Prince. “We provide the products, the training, the experience. Combine those elements with a fun and positive attitude and you will have you will have a formula for success.”

What began as a weekly blog sharing ideas with other like-minded individuals evolved into building a small home-based business by doing something they love; it is an easy choice for mothers and those who want a simple way to supplement family income.

Makia Creations prepackages its products into specialized crafts kits that reduce time and effort in creating. The Makia experience is an opportunity for exclusive demonstrators to start and grow a business with Makia’s products and leadership development. These demonstrators are given the tools and resources to set up crafting functions and recruit their own down-line. Makia provides mentors to help them every step of the way.

For more information, please visit http://www.makiacreations.com

From their 2009 success stories: “With their idea of selling pork and bacon products direct to the customer, pig farmers Michael and Elaine Rodgers were runners-up in the Clare Farm Ideas competition in 2009. The Whitegate couple run a 250-sow unit, they cure their meats in the traditional way, use a local abattoir and sell pork and bacon in quantities from 20kg up to a full pig direct to the customer. “Receiving the award last year really supported us with our idea and we experienced an initial boost in our business.”

On a date to be announced in February 2011, information and workshops on marketing, sales and funding will be made available and Clare Local Development Company will invite relevant industry representatives to facilitate the new entrepreneurs’ first networking opportunities. Further information may be obtained from Hilary Gleeson 086-8235598, Gerry McDonagh 086-8544036 and Mary O’Sullivan 065-6866800.

Read more here.

“Take Brian Phelan of Glenfin Ducks Co Monaghan. Last year, when he entered all he had was 26 ducks and an idea to supply duck eggs. He is now farming 1,200 ducks and supplying outlets nationwide. Winning an award from the JFC Innovations Awards really helped him.”

The total Prize fund for the JFC Innovation Awards is €40,000. This comes in the form of cash, mentoring and advertising. The Overall winner will walk away with a top  prize valued at €15,000 each.

All you need to enter is a good idea or business that is already set up. The next step is to get an entry form, which will be available from your local Teagasc/DARDNI websites. Finally all you have to do is fill out an entry form and send in a simple business plan that shows you have put a bit of thought into the idea. The competition is split into 4 categories:

• Energy/Manufacturing
• Value added/Speciality Food
• Services/Rural  Tourism
• Start-up

The deadline for entries is 11 December 2009. The judging will take place in late January/early February 2010 and the overall winner will be announced at a special awards ceremony on 30 March 2010. JFC is the commercial sponsor of the competition which is run by Teagasc, Department of Agriculture and Rural Development NI, Leader and the Farmers Journal.

Read more here.

This week only – during GEW – game players will have the chance to win one of three prize packages consisting of expert advice to develop a business plan and market their startup to investors, assistance in identifying potential investors, and up to $750 for business tools to help get them there, such as a computer, printer or software.  The packages will be awarded to the players who post the highest valued solutions in the game categories of energy, health and transport by 9pm on November 21, 2010, the end of GEW.

“The ability to reach millions of people through free online games has opened up a new world of communications and engagement,” said Fred Skoler, co-founder and president of Global Mind Games. “But with this ability comes a responsibility for developers to produce not only games that entertain, but also empower, teach and challenge. GiG is our contribution to help entrepreneurs develop strategy, collaborate with others and engage in healthy competition to capture market support in a global exchange of ideas.”

GiG is an interactive online game that engages aspiring and serial entrepreneurs to solve real-world problems by presenting innovative ideas. Unlike many GEW events, the game is not limited by time or geography – innovators from around the world can play GiG from wherever they are, whenever they choose.

“We have a colorful diversity of activities taking place around the world in celebration of entrepreneurship,” said Jonathan Ortmans, president of Global Entrepreneurship Week. “GiG brings a unique element by creating a new online space for people to meet and compete throughout the year, continuing the spirit of entrepreneurship.”

GiG was previewed in Cairo on November 5 during Egypt’s celebration of GEW. The game is currently available on Facebook at www.facebook.com/globalinnovationgame and is free-to-play. For updates about GiG, connect on Facebook and follow on Twitter @GiG_SocialGame.

“For the University as well as for the economy and our nation, the importance of innovation cannot be overstated,” said Harvard President Drew Gilpin Faust. “It is also of utmost importance and great interest to our students and faculty, many of whom are inventors and entrepreneurs. This lab will foster team-based activities and deepen interactions among both aspiring and experienced innovators across the schools of Harvard.”

The Harvard Innovation Lab is planned to come on line beginning in the fall semester of 2011. It will be open to student entrepreneurs across the university, including undergrads, students in Harvard’s professional schools, and graduate students. Student teams will have shared space to work on their ventures, access to experienced Entrepreneurs in Residence, support by faculty and administrators, and a program of related activities to deepen their understanding of entrepreneurship and innovation. Some student teams will work independently, while others will work as part of established courses. For example, teams of students in the jointly taught HBS and SEAS course Inventing Breakthroughs & Commercializing Science will use the lab to create plans for commercializing university/private lab research. The course builds interdisciplinary student teams from several Harvard schools as well as MIT and Tufts with backgrounds in business, medicine, law, government, engineering and science. Also in stage one, the 150 or so teams entering the HBS Business Plan Competition would be given work space in the Lab along with HBS Entrepreneurs in Residence, who have included the likes of Jeffrey Bussgang of Flybridge Capital Partners and Susan Decker, former president of Yahoo. The intent is to create a supportive and interactive environment where ideas and activities can be shared across disciplines and ranges of experience.

Read the news here.

In the past month Cooklet has taken its first steps to becoming an international brand name. The culinary platform has been visited by people from 60 countries worldwide. The homepage www.Cooklet.com has recorded almost 25000 page views and the average time spent per visit is 9 minutes and 2 seconds. The rapidly growing user base has also been contributing to the list of food and drink recipes.

‘We didn’t expect this kind of popularity in just one month” said Grzegorz Trubiłowicz, CEO of IKS. ‘Especially the number of users from around the world is impressive, as the international promotion is still being planned. It was a time of intensive administrative and technical work in addition to really productive discussions with authors, publishers and producers. The effects of the cooperation will be visible shortly on the platform.’

Cooklet has developed a presence on social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. To recognise the talent and skills of the users on the platform the distinction of ‘Cookletter of the month’ will be awarded. For August it was given to Dorota Bulbiak of the leading food blog ‘Pozytywna Kuchnia’. This is one form of promotion for the users.

Cooklet is a culinary and social networking platform, through which people from all over the world can find inspiration and share their cooking experiences. The idea behind it is to organize recipes using easy to use, interactive cookbooks. The platform consists of a homepage – www.Cooklet.com, the mobile version – www.Cooklet.mobi and applications for desktop (Cooklet App) and for devices (Cooklet Lite). The whole system uses complex software solutions such as artificial intelligence, automatic translation and full synchronization between all elements of the platform.

Cooklet – inspiring culinary organiser.

The idea works great in both ways: it helps people on the go to have access to fresh water for free in an environmentally friendly way and restaurants and cafés boost their client base. Even more on the social part, GiveMeTap gives 70 per cent of its profits to funding independent water projects in regions where it is needed most.

Broni-Mensah started out by canvassing restaurants and cafés in his local area of Manchester, but now he is planning to spread the scheme around the rest of Manchester and wants to develop it across the UK and eventually abroad.

Read more about the idea: Eco-friendly water ‘on the go’ start-up gets business flowing

Franchising contributes more than £800 million a year to the Scottish economy and is responsible for creating more than 30,000 jobs.

While many industry sectors suffered during the recession around 90 per cent of franchisees reported a profit, including 80 per cent of those in their first two years of operation.

“Franchising is a real growth industry and the number of brands and number of franchises has continued to grow steadily for a number of years.” said Tom Endean, a spokesman for the British Franchising Association

“Part of this is a result of the robust nature of the franchising model. The ability to operate as a local business with understanding and commitment to the area and people, combined with the national support systems and brand, has allowed many franchises to remain viable, secure and successful businesses even in tough times.”

Scottish Franchise Week, sponsored by Moreland Insurance, aims to raise the profile of franchising in Scotland as a tried and tested way to start a business, create jobs and build sustainable wealth for the national economy.

The week is due to start with a special conference in Glasgow at which franchise experts will meet with education specialists from government, schools and colleges to exchange ideas on how future generations can be made aware of the opportunities franchising allows.

The Scottish Forum of the British Franchise Association will also hold a special reception at the Scottish Parliament on Wednesday 12 May to bring together key industry contacts and MSPs to help promote franchising as an important corner-stone of future business growth.

The week culminates in the Scottish Business Breakfast at The Hilton hotel in Glasgow on Friday 14 May where more than 350 guests are expected to network with like-minded people and hear from key-note speakers on the advantages of such a successful business model which accounts for around 4,000 new franchises in the UK every year.

Franchising is a growth industry. The total revenue, number of brands and number of franchisees has grown steadily over recent years and now accounts for more than 467,000 jobs across the UK and an annual UK turnover in excess of £11.4 billion

Franchising is often a comparatively straight forward route into business for many people who may have always wanted to be their own boss but want the support of a bigger, tried and tested organisation behind them.

For artists, an ice sculpture business in the beautiful setting of Devon with a turnover of £200,000 could be an attractive move.

http://www.businessesforsale.com/Ice/

Maybe you are great with contacts and connecting people, at just £2,000 you can set your sights on an email list of full Twitter profiles of over 30,000 UK business decision makers. http://www.businessesforsale.com/Twitter/

If animals are your passion, consider an exotic pet shop. This business – also an importer and exporter of reptiles, birds & tortoises – is currently available in Malaga, Spain. With a turnover of £250,000 plus a large customer and supplier database it could provide an interesting proposition.

http://www.businessesforsale.com/Pet/

If you love outdoor adventures, then a new and expanding re-locatable outdoor activity centre in Shropshire, selling for £105,000 would be an ideal prospect.

http://www.businessesforsale.com/activityCentre/

An exciting opportunity for food lovers could be this exclusive ‘dinner in the sky’ business overlooking the Gauteng region in South Africa. The world’s most extravagant dining experience is on offer for £108,000.

http://www.businessesforsale.com/skyDinner/

Getting back to nature, this goat farm business in Kuatan, Malaysia provides the perfect opportunity to live in paradise amongst coconut and mango trees. For $2.5 million you can buy the farm including 6 acres of freehold land and potential for a birds’ nest business.

http://www.businessesforsale.com/goatFarm

Kim Sheppard, previously working in the telecoms industry, decided to take a career change and follow her dreams of running her own business after being made redundant.

“I have always had a passion for flowers and decided to purchase the lease of a shop and turn it into a florist.

“I have managed to turn this empty shell into a successful florist – and never been near a training course! BusinessesForSale.com has helped me change my life and turn something I love doing into an income!”

With over 50,000 businesses for sale on BusinessesForSale.com the opportunities are endless and waiting to be snapped up by the right buyer.

The customized MMM sent to Canadian government officials
The customized MMM sent to Canadian government officials

A native of Drexel Hill, Pennsylvania, Holmes has been getting a lot of letters lately from the likes of Dalton McGuinty, Brad Wall and Robert Ghiz.

But why would the Premiers of Ontario, Saskatchewan and Prince Edward Island, respectively, and a host of representatives from other government offices, be corresponding with an unknown neighbor to the south?

Because over the fall, Holmes sent dozens of government officials a special-edition version of his product, which has a surefire appeal for Canadian motorists: water-repellent, fabric covers that protect car and truck side view mirrors from snow, ice and frost.

A communications professional by trade, Holmes was inspired to create the covers – dubbed MirrorMateMItts – several years ago when he nearly broke his car mirror while removing ice with a plastic scraper.

Thinking the proverbial “there’s got to be a better way,” he fashioned the first ‘MMMs’ by hand sewing a pair himself. After requests from neighbors wanting their own covers, Holmes decided to sell the product through the internet. He started a company, MMM Tech, LLC, struck a deal with a manufacturer in the Midwest and set up an online store (www.mirrormatemitts.com), beginning sales in the U.S. two winters ago. This year, he figured, Canada, with an even snowier climate, would be a logical extension for MMM sales. But he needed a way to attract attention to his product.

Noticing that Canada’s House of Commons was considering a rewrite of the national motto to “From Sea to Sea to Sea”, reflecting the Arctic Ocean, Holmes found his publicity angle for the MMMs; he silk-screened the national flag on one side and a maple leaf with the proposed motto in English and French (it is Canada, after all) on the other side.

The commemorative cover was sent along with a plain black MMM to the leaders of the 13 provinces and territories, as well as to various members of parliament supporting the motto change.

The strategy is working well as letters have been arriving every week at the MMM Tech office since November. So far, Holmes has also received thank yous and letters of support from representatives of the Premiers of Québec and Newfoundland Labrador, as well as Marjory LeBreton, Government Leader in the Senate and Governor General Michaëlle Jean. One premier has forwarded the covers to a government minister for consideration.

“It’s been great fun anticipating the daily mail delivery,” Holmes admits. “Besides introducing MMMs to Canada, I’m learning a lot more about my neighbors to the north.”

MirrorMateMitts are available at the MMM online store at: www.mirrormatemitts.com

Cristian: Hi Justin and Welcome on board. Tell us a little bit about your company, what does it do?

Justin: Hello Cristian, thank you for taking the time to learn a bit about First Global Xpress. FGX is an international air courier company.  FGX competes with larger courier companies including FedEx, UPS, and DHL in the international shipping market.  We have been able to compete successfully because we ship directly from point A to point B (unlike our hub-and-spoke competitors).  By shipping direct FGX saves our clients time, money and even reduces their carbon footprint.

Cristian: You started with FGX in 2002 at the age of 23. A company like yours seems to have a big turnover and probably a big number of employees. Isn’t that scary at the age of 23?

Justin: It’s true that taking risks professionally can be a scary thought, but I think the younger you are, the higher your risk tolerance should be. If I were to give a lecture to a class of young people studying business, I would encourage them to take calculated risks.

Read the rest of the interview.

Here is the interview with Dale Cook from 11SquareFeet.

Here is the interview with Andres Sehr, about Edicy, the fastest Web editor.

But… Hold on. We then have young entrepreneur Derek Johnson that while being a college student that in 2007 saw an opportunity to grow a business around text messaging for groups: “We started Tatango to solve a simple problem that many of us faced trying to manage and organize groups we belonged to. We needed an easier way to communicate with fellow group members who were constantly on the go and not in front of a computer. We knew what we had developed was pretty amazing, but never could have imagined it spreading to athletic teams, bloggers, politicians, schools, celebrities, parents, churches, musicians and organizations which are so diverse from one another.”

The service grew within a few months of launch to over 400,000 users and over 15 million text messages. That’s quite amazing for a business started in the parents basement.

See Derek’s interview on Entrepreneur-interviews to find out how you can turn a simple idea into an innovative business.

I remember having these thought myself 3 years ago when I founded my company. It seemed that everybody was doing the same and that meant a new business couldn’t stand a chance.

Funny thing is that actually most business are completely non-innovative, and my advice is as well to start with something, even if it’s not unique. Starting with something is always better than not doing anything waiting for that great idea to happen.

I have 2 resources to support my thoughts. First would be Jessica Livingston’s book “Founders at work” (my review here). Jessica has collected an impressive set of stories and interviews how big boys (now) actually started their businesses – Hotmail, Bloglines, Gmail and all the rest. If you go through the book, you will get that most of the business that now worth millions started by something simple (i.e. a site done in college years) and some don’t even made money for quite a while. And most importantly, their founders never started thinking it’s going to be the next holly grail, and some failed few times before doing it right.

The second resource, is Angus Loten’s article called “The Accidental Millionaires“. “Some of the best business ideas happen almost by accident. From the inventors of the Slinky to the couple behind the software that powers much of the blogosphere, a look at entrepreneurs who took adversity and half-baked ideas and turned them into wildly successful companies.”

Here are some samples from Angus’s article:

• Richard and Betty James
  Previous Life: Navy tool worker and homemaker
  Big Break: Saw a spring coil fall off a table
  Bottom Line: Called it a Slinky and sold 250 million of them
• Josh Abramson and Ricky Van Veen
  Previous Lives: College students
  Big Break: Created a website to trade jokes while attending different colleges
  Bottom line: The site now boasts more than 8 million unique visitors a month
• Carole Nash
  Previous Life: Laid-off receptionist
  Lucky Break: Was given a small portfolio of insurance policies as a severance package
  Bottom Line: Recently sold her insurance businesses for more than $100 million.

What about me? As probably any entrepreneur out there, I’m still looking for that great idea. But in the meanwhile I’ve founded a “regular business”. And this greatly improves my chances to find that innovative business idea.

Now, let’s talk about an amazing idea I’ve seen last week, what I would call Rent-a-car 2.0. If you are not familiar with the Web 2.0 concept, well, to make it short, it’s a new Internet Era (well, at least geeks are saying so). It’s different from what we, normal folks call Internet (they call this Web 1.0.) and they say it has already started with social networking like Facebook and stuff like that.

So I’m going to talk you about 2.0. in rent a car business. Meaning it involves some sort of web services, and is fundamentally more evolved than the normal Rent a car services. It’s called Zipcar and it’s available in USA and UK.

So what’s so great about Zipcar? Well, you can rent a car by the hour and you can pick it from a location near you. Let’s say you just need the car for 2 hours to take you from the office to the airport and back. You have 2 options here: a) drive from home in the morning (even if you don’t normally take the car) and b) rent a car for the day.

With Zipcar is easier, ecofriendly, less paperwork and worry free. Because all you have to do (if you are a member) is to go online on the Zipcar site, open their map, and look for a car near your location. It can be 2 blocks away (They say “With Zipcar, you always have a car around the corner.”). Then, you can reserve it online for as long as you need. Use it, and bring it back.

From my point of view that’s easier as I don’t have to go to a rental point which can be far away. I don’t have any paper work to do, so you actually spend less time to get the car. It’s eco-friendly because you don’t have to take your car in the morning only for this trip – less cars on the street, more parking spaces. It’s worry free as you don’t have to put gas in it or return it with the full tank. And when you get back, you just have to park it on the same reserved place.

I’m quite impressed with the concept. It’s more efficient, user friendly and eco-friendly. That should make Zipcar a kick ass rent a car service! If you don’t believe me, they have an impressive press coverage