Posts Tagged ‘business’

College Entrepreneur Kristen Santerian Is Moving [Out]

Saturday, December 11th, 2010

TILE showed up for part of the Global Student Entrepreneur Awards at the New York Stock Exchange this October, and we met some young folks who made us feel bad about sleeping through college.

Kristen Santerian is still in college, and she decided to forgo sleep entirely to start her own competition-crushing moving and storage business called PennMoveOut. She seems to be dealing with the sleep deprivation pretty well to us:

Watch the oh-ficial GSEA 2010 recap video here. To see all our GSEA interviews, click here..

Bernie Ferrari on Being Strategic

Thursday, August 26th, 2010

bernie-ferrari.jpg Bernard T. Ferrari is the Chairman & Founder of the Ferrari Consultancy, but before he became a professional strategy consultant, he’d been around the block more than once. Before establishing his consulting firm, he served for almost 20 years as a Director at McKinsey & Company. And before THAT, he was a surgeon and chief operating officer at a clinic in New Orleans. He’s racked up a B.A., an M.D., a J.D., and an M.B.A. during the course of his education, which we think makes him “Bernard T. Ferrari, M.D., J.D., M.B.A.” Bernie is a trustee of the Juilliard School and the University of Rochester, he’s a philanthropist, and he’s also a Life Member of the Council on Foreign Relations. Not a bad man to ask for advice.

TILE: What exactly is a strategy consultant?
Bernie: A strategy consultant works closely with a company’s senior management to help address how, when, and where to compete. Strategy consultants are essentially professional problem-solvers brought into an organization to provide independent thinking and an outside perspective on business challenges.

TILE: How old were you when you got involved in philanthropy?
Bernie: I was in my 30s. At that time I was in medicine and most of my philanthropic work was associated with that profession. I donated mostly to research being conducted on major medical problems and diseases. Then later I started to broaden my philanthropic interests.

TILE: Do you have a personal mission or giving plan?
Bernie: My personal mission when it comes to philanthropy is to provide outstanding education to the most talented students in our country.  I am interested in helping to build an extraordinary educational system that takes very talented individuals and makes them even more impactful members of our society.

TILE: What’s the best advice you would give your teenage self?
Bernie: Avoid cynicism. To lead a happy and productive life, you must stay optimistic and channel your personal passions to address society’s challenges through your career or your philanthropy or both.

TILE: What’s your advice to someone who knows nothing about business but who wants to learn the ropes?
Bernie: I have three pieces of advice. First, read as much about business as you possibly can, particularly in the news and the business press. Second, hang around business people and people who talk about business, as those individuals can sometimes be your best learning resources. And finally, go to business school, either as an undergraduate or as a post-grad, so you can learn the fundamentals and get plugged into the business community.

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A Business From A Buck

Monday, August 16th, 2010

In an economy like this one, it seems unlikely that any bright business idea could be realized without a significant amount of startup cash. However, a few savvy entrepreneurs are making it work.

  • Small businesses are getting their start from very little money.
  • The Wall Street Journal found three booming businesses that were launched on only a couple of hundred dollars.
  • Technology plays a large part in helping new businesses because professional looking websites and automated phone systems are widely accessible.

Facts & Figures

  • About half of all start-ups close within five years, usually due to lack of capital.
  • Babson College estimates that it costs up to $65,000 to start a business.

Best Quote

“It’s gotten so much easier to reach mass markets and test out ideas. This is something that’s becoming accessible to anyone with an idea.” – Bo Fishback, Vice President of Entrepreneurship, Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation

Revenue is…

Wednesday, October 14th, 2009

Revenue is the total amount of money received for a service or sale. For example, if you were to sell 100 apples on the street for $1 each, your revenue would be $100.

Profit is…

Wednesday, June 17th, 2009

Profit is the positive monetary gain after subtracting the amount earned and the amount spent over the course of a period of time.  For example, if you bought a pair of sneakers for $80 and then sold them on eBay for $120, your profit would be $120 (income) – $80 (expense) = $40 (profit).