Entrepreneurial Action. A step by step approach to starting your own business

1 Preface
1.1 My MBA Course “Marketing for Entrepreneurs”
1.1.1 Associated Prerequisite Readings 
1.1.2 Podcasts 
1.1.3 Simulations
1.2 Acknowledgements
1.3 About the Author 
2 Entrepreneurship 
2.1 Introduction to Entrepreneurship 
2.1.1 Are You Building a Company or a Product?
2.1.2 Figuring out what business to start
2.1.3 Exercise – Find an Opportunity
2.2 The Drunkard’s Walk of Entrepreneurship
2.2.1 Life, Entropy and Evolution
2.2.2 Patterns
2.2.3 Gaussian Distributions 
2.2.4 Quantum Mechanics and Marketing 
2.2.5 Survival 
2.2.6 Lifestyle Businesses 
2.2.7 The Parental Voice 
2.2.8 My Own Drunkard’s Walk 
2.2.9 Exercise – Defining and Finding Success
2.3 Innovation and Technology 
2.3.1 Technology is changing the way Business Works
2.3.2 Technology is changing the Teaching Process
2.3.3 Technology Offers New Business Opportunities 
2.3.4 Innovation
2.3.5 Learning to Start Small
2.3.6 Web Businesses
2.4 Financing Your Business 
2.4.1 Determining how much you need
2.4.2 Building Your Pro-forma financials
2.4.3 Determining where to get it
2.4.4 Equity Instruments 
2.5 Leadership Skills 
2.5.1 Building Your Team 
2.5.2 Managing Your Employees 
2.5.3 Stock Options
2.5.4 Self Deception
2.5.5 Focus
2.5.6 Leverage
2.6 Conclusion on Entrepreneurship 
3 Marketing and Sales
3.1 Introduction
3.1.1 The Fundamental Challenge of Marketing
3.1.2 How Entrepreneurial Marketing is Different than Big Company Marketing
3.1.3 Guerilla and Viral Marketing 
3.2 Value Proposition 
3.2.1 Business to Business Value Propositions
3.2.2 Consumer Value Propositions
3.2.3 Competition 
3.3 Category 
3.3.1 B2B Categories
3.3.2 New Category 
3.3.3 Pre-existing Categories
3.3.4 Learn from Your Competition 
3.3.5 What happens when you get it wrong
3.4 Exercise - Category and Value Analysis 
3.5 Customer Identification
3.5.1 Secondary Research 
3.5.2 Primary Research
3.5.3 Consumer Database Analysis
3.6 Channel Identification
3.7 OEM Relationships 
3.7.1 Exercise - OEM Contract Creation and Negotiation
3.8 Selling
3.8.1 Search and Destroy 
3.8.2 Destroy Selling
3.8.3 Sales Preparation
3.8.4 A Typical Sales Presentation 
3.8.5 The Sales Call
3.8.6 Public Speaking Tips 
3.8.7 Transaction Selling 
3.8.8 Anticipating Your Customer’s Issues 
3.8.9 When Something Works 
3.8.10 Corporate Size Doesn’t Matter
3.8.11 Sales Team Compensation Plans 
3.8.12 Starting with a Willing Buyer
3.8.13 Channel Sell-Through
3.8.14 Selling Cost 
3.9 MARCOM 
3.9.1 Creative
3.9.2 Web 
3.9.3 Advertising
3.9.4 Literature
3.9.5 Public Relations
3.9.6 Trade Shows
3.9.7 Product Launch 
3.9.8 International Marketing and Sales
3.9.9 Lead Generation
3.10 Pricing 
3.11 Retail Distribution 
3.11.1 Buyers, Reps and Distributors 
3.11.2 Retailer’s Vendor Requirements
3.11.3 Retail Packaging and Pricing 
3.11.4 Package Design 
3.11.5 Brand-Manufacturers and Contract-Manufacturers 
3.11.6 Brick & Mortar Retail Trends 
3.11.7 Seasonal and Time Related Issues 
3.11.8 If you’re the Retailer – Improving Sales
3.11.9 Direct Marketing 
3.12 The Direct Marketing Model 
3.12.1 Dissecting the Direct Marketing Process
3.12.2 Lead Generation
3.12.3 Testimonial Endorsement 
3.12.4 Television - Long form and short form
3.12.5 The Call to Action
3.12.6 The Close and Telemarketing
3.12.7 Fulfillment 
3.12.8 Returns
3.12.9 Test, test and test
3.12.10 Repeating the Message and Reinforcement 
3.12.11 Mixing Direct with Retail Distribution
3.12.12 Other Media Types
3.12.13 Internet Advertising
3.12.14 Direct Mail
3.12.15 Print Advertising 
3.12.16 Outbound Telemarketing
3.12.17 Radio
3.12.18 Financing Media Campaigns
3.12.19 Consumer Databases
3.12.20 Summary of Vendors
3.12.21 The future of Direct Marketing
3.12.22 Personal buying statistics 
3.12.23 Broadcast to one 
3.12.24 The shopping experience
3.12.25 Consumer Multi-Tier Marketing or Direct Selling 
3.12.26 B2B Direct Marketing
3.13 Campaign Management
3.13.1 The Campaign Profit and Loss (P&L)
3.13.2 Revenue Assumptions 
4 Conclusion
5 Attachments 
5.1 Sample Nondisclosure Agreement (NDA)
5.2 Simple one Page Partnership Agreement
5.3 Starting a Limited Liability Corp. (LLC) in MA
5.4 Written Case Attachments
5.4.1 Liberty Medical Supply Case Information
5.4.2 Pixifun Case Information
5.5 Internet Address Links
5.6 Podcast Case Attachments 
5.6.1 Canditto – Interview 1, November 2009 
5.6.2 Heatspring Learning – Interview 1, November 2009
5.7 OEM Contract Negotiation Information
5.7.1 Large Company– READ ONLY IF YOUR BIRTH DATE IS ODD 
5.7.2 Small Company– READ ONLY IF YOUR BIRTH DATE IS EVEN
6 Glossary 
7 Index