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How To Launch A Business

From Your College Dorm Room

College students with an entrepreneurial spirit may be eager for the day they can leave the confines of their cramped dorm rooms, move into a spacious office and launch the business of their dreams.

But why wait?

“There are plenty of examples of college students who were still living in their dorms when they started what became very successful businesses,” says Adam Witty, co-author with Rusty Shelton of Authority Marketing: How to Leverage 7 Pillars of Thought Leadership to Make Competition Irrelevant.

Just to name a few: Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook; Michael Dell of Dell; Evan Spiegel and Robert Murphy of Snapchat; and Matt Mullenweg and Mike Little of WordPress.

Witty, the founder and CEO of Advantage|ForbesBooks (www.advantagefamily.com), knows something about launching a business in the most meager surroundings.

It wasn’t a dorm room, but he did start his now multimillion-dollar company in 2005 in a spare bedroom of his house when he was just two years out of college. Confined by the four walls but not by his vision, Witty mapped out a plan and mission that would see him become the leader of a growing company.

Witty offers a few tips for college students who have been bitten by the entrepreneurial bug:

• Find a mentor. A good mentor, such as a professor or local business person, can provide valuable advice, help with networking and perhaps even be the inspiration behind the business you launch. Witty’s mentor was Pat Williams, a motivational speaker and senior vice president of the NBA’s Orlando Magic. Williams told Witty that every motivational speaker needs a book, but most don’t have one. In cases where speakers did have a book, it was often self-published and of poor quality. It was Williams who suggested that Witty start a publishing company for people like him who could use the book as a marketing tool.

• Think of yourself as a brand. College students are well aware of such brands as Nike, Netflix, Apple and Starbucks, among many others. They recognize and maybe even trust these brands, and naturally will think in terms of the corporate brand for whatever business they want to launch. But Witty says that beyond a company brand, it’s also valuable to promote your personal brand. “Regardless of what service or product you plan to offer, it’s important for you to build your visibility and credibility in your field,” he says. “This is especially true when you’re going up against established businesses that have years or decades head start on you in terms of brand awareness.” This may be a challenge for a college student, but by getting yourself and your name in front of as many people as possible, you will be on your way to building trust with your intended clientele.
• Make use of social media. If you’re worried about how to pay for next semester’s textbooks, it’s unlikely you have a massive marketing budget. What you do have, though, are social media accounts that cost you nothing. Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook and Instagram all can help you spread your message, build your authority and connect with potential customers or clients, Witty says.

Even before you begin, whether you’re starting your business in a dorm room or an office park, you will want to know how you will measure your success, Witty says. What metrics will you use? Will you set as a goal a certain number of leads each month? A certain number of sales or new clients?

“You have to know what success looks like and where you want to end up,” Witty says. “If you don’t, how will you know you’re happy with the results?”

About Adam Witty

Adam Witty, co-author with Rusty Shelton of Authority Marketing: How to Leverage 7 Pillars of Thought Leadership to Make Competition Irrelevant, is the CEO of Advantage|ForbesBooks (www.advantagefamily.com). Witty started Advantage in 2005 in a spare bedroom of his home. The company helps busy professionals become the authority in their field through publishing and marketing. In 2016, Advantage launched a partnership with Forbes to create ForbesBooks, a business book publisher for top business leaders. Witty is the author of seven books, and is also a sought-after speaker, teacher and consultant on marketing and business growth techniques for entrepreneurs and authors. He has been featured in The Wall Street Journal, Investors Business Daily and USA Today, and has appeared on ABC and Fox.

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USDA Assists Farmers Impacted by Unjustified Retaliation

(Washington, D.C., July 24, 2018) – U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue today announced that the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) will take several actions to assist farmers in response to trade damage from unjustified retaliation. President Trump directed Secretary Perdue to craft a short-term relief strategy to protect agricultural producers while the Administration works on free, fair, and reciprocal trade deals to open more markets in the long run to help American farmers compete globally.  Specifically, USDA will authorize up to $12 billion in programs, which is in line with the estimated $11 billion impact of the unjustified retaliatory tariffs on U.S. agricultural goods. These programs will assist agricultural producers to meet the costs of disrupted markets.

“This is a short-term solution to allow President Trump time to work on long-term trade deals to benefit agriculture and the entire U.S. economy,” Secretary Perdue said.  “The President promised to have the back of every American farmer and rancher, and he knows the importance of keeping our rural economy strong. Unfortunately, America’s hard-working agricultural producers have been treated unfairly by China’s illegal trading practices and have taken a disproportionate hit when it comes illegal retaliatory tariffs.  USDA will not stand by while our hard-working agricultural producers bear the brunt of unfriendly tariffs enacted by foreign nations. The programs we are announcing today help ensure our nation’s agriculture continues to feed the world and innovate to meet the demand.”

Background: Of the total unjustified retaliatory tariffs imposed on the United States, a disproportionate amount was targeted directly at American farmers. Trade damage from such retaliation has impacted a host of U.S. commodities, including field crops like soybeans and sorghum, livestock products like milk and pork, and many fruits, nuts, and other specialty crops. High tariffs disrupt normal marketing patterns, affecting prices and raising costs by forcing commodities to find new markets. Additionally, there is evidence that American goods shipped overseas are being slowed from reaching market by unusually strict or cumbersome entry procedures, which can affect the quality and marketability of perishable crops.  This can boost marketing costs and discount our prices, and adversely affect our producers.  USDA will use the following programs to assist farmers:

• The Market Facilitation Program, authorized under The Commodity Credit Corporation (CCC) Charter Act and administered by Farm Service Agency (FSA), will provide payments incrementally to producers of soybeans, sorghum, corn, wheat, cotton, dairy, and hogs. This support will help farmers manage disrupted markets, deal with surplus commodities, and expand and develop new markets at home and abroad.

• Additionally, USDA will use CCC Charter Act and other authorities to implement a Food Purchase and Distribution Program through the Agricultural Marketing Service to purchase unexpected surplus of affected commodities such as fruits, nuts, rice, legumes, beef, pork and milk for distribution to food banks and other nutrition programs.

• Finally, the CCC will use its Charter Act authority for a Trade Promotion Program administered by the Foreign Agriculture Service (FAS) in conjunction with the private sector to assist in developing new export markets for our farm products.

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Starting this fall, Heritage Action will be actively backing 12 conservative Republicans for re-election.

We will be spending at least $2.5 million to protect vulnerable conservative representatives like Dave Brat from Virginia and Scott Perry from Pennsylvania.

This is the first time Heritage Action has spent money directly on elections. Too many conservative policies, like tax reform, are at stake if Democrats retake the House of Representatives -- or even if the GOP holds on and strong conservatives lose their seats.

Securing enduring conservative policy victories means not only winning the war of ideas -- it means enacting these ideas into law and ensuring they remain in force and even strengthened --  and that requires conservative lawmakers in Congress.

The Wall Street Journal has a great article explaining this new initiative. I’ll be sure to keep you informed about this critical project and how you can get involved. 

Thanks for all you do for Heritage Action and the conservative cause.

Best,

Tim Chapman

Executive Director

Heritage Action for America

P.S. - If you are excited and want to fight directly for strong conservatives for the upcoming election, you can donate to Heritage Action here -- https://secure.heritageaction.com/2018donate/

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Briefing by Secretary Perdue and Senior USDA Officials on Plans to Assist Farmers Impacted by Illegal Retaliation 

This afternoon, U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue and senior officials from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) will hold an off-camera, on-the-record briefing regarding USDA’s plans to assist farmers in response to trade disruptions from illegal retaliation. The briefing will be conducted via conference call at 1:30pm EDT, and the information will be embargoed until the conclusion of the call. Please find the dial-in information below. The number of lines are limited and available on a first-come, first-served basis, so please limit to one per outlet.

Participants:

Secretary Perdue

Undersecretary for Marketing and Regulatory Programs, Greg Ibach

USDA’s Chief Economist, Dr. Rob Johannson

USDA’s Trade Counsel to the Secretary, Jason Hafemeister

USDA’s Assistant Deputy Administrator for Farm Programs, Brad Karmen

Participant Dial-In: 800-857-9832

Access Code: TRADE