Can the Social Web be turned into cash...

So there appear to be 3 models for making cash in the world at this time - a) provide a paid service, b) provide a paid for product and c) provide a paid for place for people to advertise. I'm over simplifying but when it comes to what companies offer - this is probably a pretty clear way to look at things. (Please forgive me for ignoring real estate and natural resources - otherwise known as making money from selling materials and spaces.)

So let's look through the microscope at what's going on out there and see if there are some examples where there might be some examples.

Let's start with Google - are there products per se? Some would argue that Google has a whole bevy of software products. Are they paid for? Not by the average person through traditional means. How about services? Well, certainly the vast number of gmail users would seem to indicate that Google certainly has some services. Are they paid for? Again, not by the average person through traditional means. Alright, so what comes next - well there's the selling of advertising space. No question, hands down, this remains the way that google makes the bulk of it's revenue. Some comments from Google's own Founder's Letter from this past year's annual report reenforce this theme - according to the letter, 1/3rd of Google is currently working on Search and another 1/3rd is working on advertising. Since "Search Advertising" is in point of fact the basis of Google's fast revenue stream - this means that the company get's paid mostly for this. Alright - I may be selling them short a little bit. Google's search engine is a profitable "product" in that numerous companies rely on Google Search as the means by which they search and retrieve data from their own internal sources.

maybe this should be a series of posts...

I'll come back to this later for more companies to consider...

Finding Mentors - Joining a Network

So in the continuing discussion of Entrepreneurship in DC - I want to bring up the mentor option. Over the past 3 years as I've worked to get my first business to grow and as I'm considering the development of a 2nd business I've looked and looked for mentoring opportunities.

One of the most obvious opportunities for instance is SCORE - the community of retired executives. I'm definitely a fan of this but you really want to hold out and reserve your most challenging thorny obstacles for folks like that. Also - you've got to keep the dialog concentrated and to the point. This is not necessarily my strong suit when brainstorming and trying to flesh out thoughts that I'm working on.

So what else is there? Well of course there are free and sometimes nominal fee courses provided by the business development organizations of the state of virginia and fairfax county. Definitely worth remembering but this is not really the answer to the mentoring question.

What's next? Well there is the "friends and family" approach. Good if you have some good friends or family who are in the executive literati of the world, but not as helpful if everyone is sort of in the same boat as you.

Then, of course, there are the executives of your various government and commercial organizations in which all of us work. If you've got a very open organization and if you are working in an HQ location then this can be pretty great, but sometimes mixing business with business can be an uncomfortable option.

All is not lost however - it has come to my attention recently that there are a huge number of www.meetup.com groups dedicated to entrepreneurship and professional growth. I think we have a winner, Bob! Recently I went to the Arlington Entrepreneurship group meetup in Ballston. This was exactly what the doctor ordered. Although I didn't necessarily get my specific questions answered immediately I feel like this is the kind of group where a diverse dynamic set of folks who are all pursuing entrepreneurship can share experiences and grow with one another. Cheers then to the MeetUp concept for solving what for me has been a challenge in DC. I'm looking forward to meeting with other MeetUp groups in the area to see how this all progresses and maybe even start my own. We'll see... but for now? I think this may be an excellent way to go for the day in day out sorts of challenges that all of us face starting a business.

Motivation

The key to entrepreneurship other than having the stomach to risk it all - is motivation. The problem of course is how to stay motivated in a non-entrepreneurial climate such as Washington DC. While there is no clear cut answer to this, what follows are a couple ideas that may help:
1. Join a business network (preferably related to entrepreneurship) - there aren't a huge number in the area, but even one is better than none - just getting together with like minded people can take you a long way toward entrepreneurial success
2. Start a working group - there's alot to be said for having a group of folks who regularly come together to bounce ideas off one another and try new things
3. Start a blog - sounds sort of funny but really - taking the time to record and document what's on your mind whether 1 person reads it (you) or whether 100 people read it has an affect on your motivation
4. Tell a friend your plan - this set's into play a sense of accountability - none of us really wants to fail to do what we say when a friend knows all about it

Hopefully these 4 tips may help you get your own motivation going - see you at the startup!