Are Startup Employees Motivated by Money?

Taking a peek into the startup world, it’s easy to point out the flashy apps, hoodie-wearing geniuses, and multi-million-dollar deals. Sure, working at a startup can seem like a glamourous lifestyle from the outside. But that’s not how it usually stacks up, and most startup employees probably don’t have six-figure bank accounts.

So, if it’s not the money motivating people to join startups, what is it?

In a recent interview, Christian Chabot, CEO and co-founder of Seattle-based Tableau Software, told me that those truly fit to work at startups are driven by a sense of purpose and mission. “A sense that you are a secret, Manhattan Project-style team, quietly working on something that is going to be really, really important,” he says. “There is a certain kind of personality that literally is so excited about that, they cannot imagine working anywhere else.”

Chabot’s observations are in line with the findings of an infographic released on Thursday by Clarity, a professional networking platform.

The infographic, embedded below, points out that more startup employees are motivated by praise and commendation than by increased pay. The biggest motivators, it explains, are autonomy, mastery, and purpose.

Are you a startup employee? What motivates you most?

By: Erica Swallow

Source: Forbes

Tony Hsieh's Rule for Success: Maximize Serendipity

Create the opportunity for meaningful collisions, says the Zappos CEO. Then just watch as the best things unfold.

Tony Hsieh is a serial entrepreneurco-founded Zappos, the online shoe and clothing retailer he now runs. He's also co-founder of the Downtown Project, which is seeking to revitalize Las Vegas's downtown. He spoke with Inc. reporter Issie Lapowsky.

My fascination with serendipity started in college. I think for most people, college was the last time it was normal to just randomly run into people all the time. As you get older, you drive to work, see the same people every day, then go home. But the best things happen when people are running into each other and sharing ideas.

At Zappos, we do a lot to get people running into each other. At our office, for example, there are exits on all four sides of the building. We've locked them all except one. It's more inconvenient, but we prioritize collisions over convenience. The Downtown Project, our drive to revitalize downtown Las Vegas, does the same thing, but on a much bigger scale. We thought, How can we get people in the city to run into each other more often? So we're moving our office into the old city-hall building, and we've already got 10 tech start-ups to set up nearby. It's all about maximizing collisions and accelerating serendipity.

Even the idea of starting the Downtown Project came from luck. It happened at a bar. I just happened to become friendly with the owner of the place, and he'd been in Vegas for much longer than I had. I randomly mentioned that we might buy a plot of land and build our own Zappos campus, like Google or Apple.

He was the one who said, "No, you guys should think about moving downtown and working with the community here." It was something we hadn't even considered before, but that one conversation in a bar changed everything.

I think you can create your own luck. The key is to meet as many people as you can and really get to know them. If you're in an environment where you're always running into people, the chances of one of those collisions being meaningful is maybe 1 in 1,000. But if you do it 100 times more, your odds go up.

My advice is: Meet lots of different people without trying to extract value from them. You don't need to connect the dots right away. But if you think about each person as a new dot on your canvas, over time, you'll see the full picture.

By: Issie Lapowsky

Source: Inc.

Financial Advice I Would Give My Twenty-Year-Old Self

What financial advice would you give to your twenty-year-old self?  My twenty-two-year old son recently asked me that very question.  My first thought was that he must not have been listening, because as a financial planner, I have constantly given him financial advice since he knew a dime was worth more than a nickel even though a nickel is larger. But in contemplating the subject on a deeper level, I realized there are many financial lessons parents don’t necessarily share – not because they are too private but since questions like his can be unusual and the subject doesn't necessarily come up.

When you think about advice you’d give yourself, the mind tends to go to what we did wrong.  Of course we all have made mistakes, but we also have done some things right so I’ll include those.  However, twenty year olds today face additional challenges.  The expense of college was much lower on a relative basis when I was a student while today the tuition at universities across the country has almost doubled in the past decade.  New graduates are currently saddled with an average of $27,000 in student loan debt, which makes it harder to run out and put a down payment on a rental property.

If I had been faced with that as a young person, I would have attacked the debt by living incredibly frugally and made paying off the debt a priority to get it out of the way. Then, I could focus on other goals.

That being said, if I could go back in time and talk to my twenty-year-old self, here is the financial advice I would give her:

Learn to negotiate.  This goes for everyone but especially for women since women are 2.5 times more likely to have a “great deal of apprehension” about negotiations.  According to Linda Babcock and Sara Laschever, authors of Women Don’t Ask, failing to negotiate your first salary and starting your career at just $4000 less in salary can result in a career income loss of over $500,000 by age 60.  Since men are four times as likely as women to negotiate their first salary, this may have a major impact on the salary gender gap.  It may actually be a “negotiation gap” rather than a gender gap in income. Understanding the market value of your work is not too difficult to find on sites such as Glassdoor.com and Salary.com.  Taking that knowledge into face-to-face negotiations with your employer or prospective employers can have a significant impact on your finances.

Start out saving a higher percentage of your income. The difference between saving 10% of your income (which is the rule of thumb) and 20% of your income is significant over your lifetime. A 25 year old who makes $50,000 a year and saved 10% of income would have over $800K at age 65 if they earned 6%. That doubles to over $1.6 million when you save 20% and right out of college is the best time to do that since you are used to living on the cheap.  Recent graduates today are saddled with student loan debt, which does make this more of a challenge but that said, starting early and committing to saving a high percentage of income is a sure wealth builder.

Marry someone you deeply love and stay married. Obviously no one goes into a marriage planning on getting a divorce but nearly 50% of marriages end in divorce. Divorce has an extremely negative impact on finances.  Just the legal cost of a divorce itself runs about $20,000 per couple, which instead could have grown to just over $64k in retirement savings if invested at 6% over 20 years instead.

There are other hidden costs.  Splitting assets may have tax implications with an investment sale triggering capital gains taxes.  Selling property may also result in a “fire sale” at an inopportune time in order to dissolve the financial union, resulting in thousands of dollars in losses. When the going gets tough in a marriage, I would like to tell my twenty year old self that 86% of married couples who reported being unhappy in their marriage reported that things had improved within a few years.  Though this is not true for all marriages and some couples aren't meant to be together, being happily married can be a great boost to your financial health.

Invest in real property.  Buying real estate can be an excellent long-term investment if you don’t mind being a landlord and you have six months of a mortgage payment lined up as a back-up plan to make the payment when tenants move out. The beauty of investing in real estate is the tenants make the payment over the years and when your property is free and clear, you have an income stream for life.  One strategy is to buy your first home with the intention that you will turn it into a rental property when you've saved enough for your next down payment.  You can also exchange properties using a 1031 tax free exchange to either trade up or to purchase like kind property in a better location – such as a resort property you rent to tourists and then can use two weeks a year yourself.

Learn how the tax system works.  Focusing on your career and moving up the ladder or starting your own business makes you money but you don’t want to give it all to Uncle Sam.  With the Federal deficit still hitting over a trillion dollars this year, the writing is on the wall that taxes are going to have to continue to increase. Become a tax expert and consider the tax implications of your financial decisions.  For example, if tax rates are expected to be much higher in the future, choose the Roth 401(k) instead of the traditional pre-tax 401(k) at your workplace – see this Roth 401(k) versus traditional calculator.  All of your employer contributions will be taxed at ordinary income tax rates when you withdraw them at retirement but your Roth 401(k) contributions and earnings can be withdrawn completely tax-free at age 59 ½ (if you've had the account for over five years).

Pay close attention to deduction phase out limits.  I wrote about this earlier in “When to Refuse Your Year End Bonus” because just a few thousand dollars in income can lose you thousands of dollars in tax deductions as your income increases. For example, when you own rental property, the tax deductions are phased out when your adjusted gross income is over $150,000 – you have to “carry them forward” instead of being able to use them now.  For a taxpayer in the 25% tax bracket who has passive real estate losses of $20,000, that translates into a $5000 tax deduction.  Being proactive about your taxes can save you thousands of dollars annually and in retirement.

Obtain an advanced degree or professional designation. Whatever your chosen profession may be, the time and effort in earning an advanced degree or professional designation is worth it. In my case, early on in my career I decided to obtain the Certified Financial Planner™ designation.  The knowledge I obtained as well as the ongoing continuing education required has been valuable to me but the contacts I made were just as valuable.  I was given several job offers from financial professionals I met in my classes – they called me when they had openings.  Also, when the banking industry was going through massive change in the 1990’s with merger after merger, I was always picked up by the new company when other very capable professionals who didn't have the designation were laid off since I held the CFP® designation.  Many companies offer a tuition reimbursement program as an employee benefit if the education has a direct impact on your current position.  In that case, all it costs is the time.

Looking back, I am also very glad to have hiked in Yosemite, danced in Buenos Aires, walked in Monet’s garden in Giverny, France and went skiing on the “Greatest Snow on Earth” in Park City, Utah – never going into debt to do so.  With the holidays here and families spending time together, the time is ripe for sharing financial advice.  You never know, it just might make for some interesting conversations.

By: Nancy Anderson

Source: Forbes

Why Success Depends on Attitude

Why Success Depends on Attitude

Caring About the People You Do Business With

How do you view the people you do business with? Do you care about them? Do you care about their success? Are you there to serve them, help them get what they want, better their lives? Is that important to you? Do you think about that, is it something you’re fully conscious of, proud of? Or are they there simply for you to make a living, to serve your needs, to be nothing more than the pawns of your “professional” existence?

Do you speak well of the people you do business with? Do you think highly of them? Or do you speak ill of them, make fun and belittle them, tell stories to your family and friends about how dumb and ridiculous they are? Do you admire them, learn from them, or do you see them as idiots who are successful in spite of themselves?

Who are these people to you?

If you’ve never bothered to think about it, I suggest you take a moment or two to ponder the question—to ponder all the questions above, because the quality of your entire sales career, the degree of success you achieve, depends on your attitude towards these people.

Is it all about you?

If you really don’t give a damn about the people you do business with, I urge you to find another line of work or you’ll never be a top-tier professional salesperson.  You may make a living, it may even be a decent living, but it’ll never reach the success levels of the great ones, the true professionals, who deeply care about their customers and their welfare. To these professionals, the relationship is more important than any individual sale. Always make the customer’s welfare paramount, and never sell him/her anything they don’t believe is in his/her best interest.

Successful salespeople wake up every morning excited about their work and ready to start making calls, looking forward to meeting people and giving presentations—they love being a salesperson! Do you? Or do you wake up every morning and groan when you think about the day that awaits you? Do you get a sick feeling in your gut because you dread the day ahead? Which is it for you, excitement, enthusiasm, or dread?

People Deserve the Best

You have one life. Meaningful work should be a part of that life. If your work isn’t meaningful to you, and a joyous experience, go find some work that is—you deserve no less.

The people you do business with deserve to be served by only the best. If that isn’t you, move aside and let the professionals do the job the right way; then go become a professional is a line of work that excites you, a line of work you’re enthusiastic about.

Everyone will win!

By: Robert Terson

Source: Sales Gravy

8 Simple Steps to Extreme Personal Productivity

How to turn an ordinary workday into an incredibly productive day - no programs, expensive tools, or fancy apps required.

Teaching others to improve their personal productivity is big business: Tony Robbins, Stephen Covey, David Allen... they and others have turned improving individual productivity into a massive industry.

At least for today, forget them.

If you want to finish a major project, knock out a task you've been putting off, or just complete a lot of work in a relatively short period of time, there's an easier way.

And it's free.

Say you need to complete a task you estimate will take 10 to 12 hours. Here's how to pull it off in one day:

1. Tell everyone what you're doing.

This step is an absolute since interruptions are productivity killers. So is the, "How much longer do you have to work?" guilt trip family members sometimes can't help but lay on you. (Of course they want you at home. They love you.)

At a minimum tell coworkers and family, but consider letting certain clients know as well. Send a brief email a few days ahead of time explaining you will be tied up that day and will respond to calls, emails, etc. first thing the next day. A few customers might get with you ahead of time; most will make a mental note you can't be reached.

Either way, you're good.

Plus you get an additional benefit: People important to you know what you intend to accomplish... and they'll know if you don't succeed.

Peer pressure can be a great motivator. Use it.

2. Decide how long you will work.

Don't go into the day thinking, "Well, I will work as long as I can," or "I'll work as long as I feel productive." Set a specific target. Commit to working 12 or 14 or however many hours you choose.

Then something cool happens: The longer the time frame you set, the quicker the early hours seem to go by.

When I worked in a factory we normally worked 8-hour shifts; the hour before lunch dragged and the last couple of hours always seemed like death.

Yet when we worked 12-hour shifts the mornings seemed to fly by. Something about knowing you will be working for a long time allows you to stop checking the clock; it's like you naturally find your Zen (work)place.

Try it--it works.

3. Start really early--or really late.

Have you ever taken a long car trip and left at 3 or 4 a.m.? Those first few hours on the road flew by because you stepped outside your norm.

The same trick works with accomplishing a major goal. Start at 4 a.m. Or indulge your inner night owl and start at 6 p.m. and work through the night.

An extreme productivity day is not a normal day, so it shouldn't feel like one. Set the stage by breaking free of your normal routine.

4. Withhold the fun for a while.

Say you like to listen to music while you work. If that's how you "treat" yourself when you're working, don't, at least for the first few hours.

Then when your motivation starts to flag your playlist will provide a powerful boost.

However you treat yourself, remember that each treat is like a personal productivity bullet; shoot too early, too often, and nothing is left when you really need some motivational ammunition.

Whatever you typically use to carry you through your workday, hold off on it for a while. Delayed gratification is motivating gratification.

5. Recharge early.

If you wait to drink until you're thirsty when you exercise, it's often too late.

The same is true when you work. Any time you allow yourself to feel discomfort your overall motivation and resolve weakens. Plan to snack or eat a little earlier than normal. If you sit while you work, stand before your butt gets numb. If you stand, sit before your legs start to ache.

And plan meals wisely. Prepare food you can eat quickly without lots of preparation or mess.

The key is to refuel and keep rolling: As Isaac Newton said, an extreme personal productivity body in motion tends to stay in motion. (Or something like that.)

Refuel, recharge, and keep yours in motion.

6. Take productive breaks, not rest breaks.

Again, momentum is everything. When you take a break don't watch a little TV or check your social media feeds. You definitely need breaks, but every break you take should reinforce your sense of activity and accomplishment.

Pick a few productive tasks you like to perform--and gain a sense of accomplishment when you complete--and use those for your breaks.

Spending even a few minutes in the land of inactivity weakens your resolve.

7. When you start to feel overwhelmed, stop thinking.

Some projects or tasks can seem so daunting, so overwhelming, so, "No way am I evergoing to finish this," that it's almost paralyzing.

I saw an extremely overweight man working with a personal trainer. As he was trudging  up some stadium steps the man broke down emotionally. The thought of having to lose a couple hundred pounds, of needing to diet for years, of having to exercise every day until every muscle ached... the immensity of his challenge crashed down on him.

He sank to his knees and closed his eyes and started crying. "I should just quit. I'll never be able to do this," he sobbed.

"I know it's tough," the trainer said. "I know it feels impossible right now." He put a hand on the man's shoulder.

"But right now--right now--is not about trying to lose all that weight. Right now is just about walking. The only thing you have to think about is making it up the next step. That's it. Don't think about tomorrow or next month or next year. Just think about walking up one more step.

"That's all you have to do. I know you can do that."

And he did.

When you start to feel overwhelmed, stop thinking and just do whatever you need to do next. Then think about what comes immediately after that.

Every journey, no matter how long, is just a series of steps. When you feel overwhelmed... just think about the next step.

8. Don't quit until you're done--even if finishing takes longer than expected.

Stopping short is habit forming: If you quit this time what will keep you from quitting the next time?

Success is also habit forming, so make sure your first extreme personal productivity day marks the start of a great new habit.

Besides the fact you completed a huge task, there's another benefit to knocking out an extreme personal productivity day. We all unconsciously set internal limits on our output: A voice inside says, "I've done enough," or, "That's all I can do today," or, I'm whipped--no way I can do more," and we stop.

That's natural.

But our internal limiters lie to us: With the right motivation, under the right circumstances, we can do more--a lot more.

An extreme personal productivity day automatically ratchets your internal limits a little higher.

After a few extreme productivity days you'll perform better every "normal" day too--because you will have unconsciously raised your own bar.

By: Jeff Haden

Source: Inc.

5 Seemingly-Small Secrets to Hyper Growth

The co-founder of Likeable Media explains how the company's culture has contributed to its five-year catapult to $5 million in annual sales.

Over the last five years, I had the good fortune to lead the expansion at Likeable Media. I'm proud of the fact that Likeable made the Inc. 500 twice, as the company grew from $100,000 in revenue to more than $5 million in our first five years. But I'm even prouder that this year Crain's New York Business named Likeable the 28th best place to work in New York. 

I believe Likeable's success can be explained more by the company culture than strategies. Happier employees lead to much higher employee retention rates (which are notoriously low in marketing services); that, in turn, keeps clients more content, and signed up longer.

Here are five aspects of Likeable's culture that I know contributed directly to the company's hyper growth:

Empowered Employees

The Likeable team and I developed "forums" to allow employees at every level to contribute to company-wide decisions. The forums each have a focus: philanthropy, marketing, office culture, health and wellness, and social events. Every employee is on a forum, and each forum meets weekly on company time. My co-founder (my wife, Carrie Kerpen) and I also recently gave all of our employees 12% of the company in an options plan, so now literally everyone has a stake in Likeable's success.

Thought Leadership

We encourage every employee to write for Likeable's daily company blog, and each month we award a blog-of-the month bonus to an employee who wrote an exceptional post. As an incentive to write thoughtful and engaging blog posts and encourage thought leadership, we also created bonus opportunities for employees who reach certain milestones in pageviews and shares. (It's certainly useful that we can promote the very service Likeable sells--social media--among employees.)

Open Communication

We hold weekly all-staff huddles. These meetings give the management team and me an opportunity to inform all employees of new Likeable activities and initiatives, discuss firm development and improvement, and recognize employees for outstanding achievement and effort. Once a month, I also host Pandora's Box, an anonymous forum for all employees to ask any questions of management at the team huddle. 

Full Disclosure

Likeable's offices have open floor plans and glass walls, allowing for seamless collaboration and open communication. Every employee knows where the company stands financially and where it's headed. The strategic and business plan is blown up and hung on the wall in offices in New York and Boston; everyone can see quarterly priorities, one-year projections, and a three-to-five year plan. 

Fun Atmosphere

We try to make Likeable a place people love to come to work each day, full of surprises and delights. It's a Likeable tradition to prompt celebrities to tweet employees happy birthday wishes. Everyone tweets to a particular celebrity the day of a co-worker's birthday. Adam Levine, Adrian Grenier, Michael Ian Black, and Richard Simmons are among those who have obliged with a Happy Birthday tweet.

For the last three years, at our holiday party, I've also loved hosting Dave's Favorite Things, an annual takeoff of Oprah's trademark holiday giveaways. The company’s gifts to all employees have included a cruise to the Bahamas, weekend in Miami, trip to Atlantic City, Mets tickets, Amazon Kindles, and Donors Choose gift cards.

By: Dave Kerpen

Source:Inc.

How to Grow Like Rita's Italian Ice

 How to Grow Like Rita’s Italian Ice

The CEO of Rita’s Italian Ice says franchising your business starts with finding the right partners.

 

Jim Rudolph, CEO of Rita’s Italian Ice, has been in the franchise business for over 30 years. He started out in the 1970’s by opening up a number of Wendy’s franchises with partners, which proved successful. His next venture, Rudolph became the CEO of an East Coast ice and custard shop called Rita’s Italian Ice founded in 1984 by firefighter Bob Tumolo. The company became a franchise in 1989 and has since opened 550 stores across the country. Inc.com reporter Matt Rist talked to Rudolph about what it takes to effectively franchise a business while keeping it profitable and bringing on the right partners.





How do you begin the process of preparing to franchise your company?

The key is having a business that is very successful to begin with—and not everybody understands that. You also need to be able to package the business and be able to sell it to somebody. Most importantly, it’s important to make sure that what you are selling can be transported and that somebody else can do it. There has to be a business model that works and is easily transferrable. Next, you’ll need to work up a franchise disclosure document.


What’s the most important part of the process?

Excluding what I just mentioned—the foundation of the business, the operations manual, the processes—absolutely by far the most important thing is picking the right partners, your franchisees. If you pick the best location and not the right partner you got a problem.


What do you look for in franchisees?

You have to do what’s necessary to qualify the franchisee. Ask, do they want an area that’s available. Are they financially capable? We, at Rita’s, have a model criteria of what we believe makes the right partner. Nothing is perfect, but this is as close as we can get to. We look at that and if that person doesn’t match up, it’s unlikely that we will go forward with them.


Why is it important to have franchise owners that match your companies’ vision?

If you don’t get the right people, you are not going to have a successful franchise. I think I can relate it best if I give an example: my brother, father, and I bought the Wendy’s franchise back in 1974 when there were only 23. We opened in 1976 with 100 stores. We were with Wendy’s for a long time and we were successful. Why? Because we were committed to Wendy’s and their brand and their people. When you step back, we were the right people to be the right franchisee. 


What is the average investment for a business owner who wants to begin to franchise?

A person will need anywhere from $200,000 to $500,000. That’s not what I would be focused on though. It’s really about the commitment your making and the time and work it’s going to take. No. 1, it’s going to cost more than you think. No. 2, it’ll take you more time than you think. No. 3, it’s a very difficult question because it depends on what you are franchising and the work you do.


What processes should you document along the way when you begin to franchise?

All the right processes—everything that makes your business successful should be documented so that franchisees know what it’s going to take to be successful. Every business is different and it’s all about the business owner writing down everything.


What is the key to a successful franchise?

I’ve been a franchiser for over 30 years. It’s not about the concept, it’s the person. Why is McDonalds so successful? It’s a hamburger, let’s not get carried away here. You’re going to find 100 percent of the time that a franchise is successful because of the people.

By: Matt Rist

Source: Inc.

10 Start-up Mistakes to Avoid in the New Year

From failing to supervise the sales team to being just a little too feedback-happy, these young entrepreneurs learned some tough lessons about running a start-up in 2012.

We asked 10 successful founders from the Young Entrepreneur Council to reveal which business mistakes taught them the most this year as they get ready for smarter growth in 2013. Here are there best answers.

1. Moving Too Quickly

Hiring too many people has been both the biggest mistake and the biggest success for us this year. We've hired almost two dozen people, and that expansion has been difficult for us. We've lacked the experienced people at the top to help train our new recruits. If I were to do it again, I would have hired fewer people and spent more time getting them running smoothly.
-- Liam Martin, Staff.com

2. Teaching Pigs to Fly

I mistakenly attempted to get my CFOs to take an active role in business development. When this experiment fell flat, I realized that people have core strengths and competencies and should be assigned roles and responsibilities accordingly. See your employee's true values and help them to work to their potential--don't try to make them into something they're not.
-- David Ehrenberg, Early Growth Financial Services

3. Not Enough Personal Time

My biggest mistake was not scheduling enough personal time. Entrepreneurs are "on" 24/7; the only way to overcome that is to schedule time for yourself. This is different from time spent with family, friends, or other commitments. Next year, I'll block time for my entrepreneurial sanity.
-- Matt Wilson, Under30Media

4. Feedback Burnout

After going through the past six months collecting tons of user feedback, we faced an ever-growing desire to please people who were suggesting things for us to incorporate to make our platform better. Ultimately, we became unfocused, and had to learn the difference between unhelpful and helpful feedback in order to solve our core problems.
-- Stacey Ferreira, MySocialCloud

5. Not Sharing Enough With the Team

I aim to be transparent with my team to the point of feeling uncomfortable about it. Since we're so small and what we're doing is so important, believe it's key to express that trust. This year, I failed to share my general thoughts on the future a few times, so I've learned to be more proactive. We're all in this together--and I need their help!
-- Derek Flanzraich, Greatist

  

6. Hiring Woes

We hired a candidate for a senior management position that we weren't yet in a position to fully leverage. We learned that hiring for senior roles requires more scrutiny than entry-level positions, and are now trying to fill the position with a much more informed perspective on what's required.
-- Robert J. Moore, RJMetrics

7. Lack of Sales Goals

My biggest mistake this year was to try to lead a sales team with minimal supervision and no weekly goals set. I tried this for a few months and quickly found out that it does not work. The biggest lesson for me here was to really understand human nature. More often than not, what leads people to failure is the lack of initial planning and goal-setting.
-- Felix Lluberes, Position Logic

8. Don't Hire Entrepreneurs

I learned to never hire other entrepreneurs. Partner with them, don't hire them. It never ends well in the long run. They want the same thing you do.
-- Peter Nguyen, Literati Institute 

9. Not Controlling Our Own Operations

I learned the importance of controlling your own operations. When you depend too strongly on a service or tool, you are gambling your business. We had a customer-management tool that simply decided we were breaking its terms of service and it banned our account temporarily. Controlling your own operations is worth the time and money invested.
-- Brian Moran, Get 10,000 Fans 

10. Forgetting a Budget Buffer

One major mistake that I faced this year was simply being too zealous with projections and budgeting the company on that. What I have learned from that is to budget at least 30% less than that in order to have a buffer. It is always better to budget and operate the company with less than what you believe you will generate.
-- Adam DeGraide, Astonish

By: Young Entrepreneur Council

Source: Inc.