07.10.06
Been There, Done That…
John Vanhara, President of Eastbiz.com, is a self-made business man and true entrepreneur. Located in Las Vegas, Nevada, John has started several successful business ventures including an incorporation services called IncParadise, and several real estate ventures such as HomeParadise, MillionSaverHomes, and BuyVegasHome.
So, we thought, “who better to answer questions for entrepreneurs and new business owners then people who have gone through the process themselves?” We asked John the following questions regarding challenges and opportunities facing entrepreneurs and small business owners. Here are his reponses:
What do you think is or are the biggest obstacles that a entrepreneur or small business owner has to overcome?
“There is too much information around. It is not difficult to find it anymore. We don’t have to go to libraries to find information about anything. It is all available on Google, but there is too much information and it is really hard to find out what is the right one. There are solutions available to most of our problems, but business owners can end up spending too much time trying to find it (or they will never find it). Finding the right information directly influence how the business will be successful.
Example: Is there a software which can help solve problems in my company? Should I choose the ones offered by sales people or the one which are open source? Old rules don’t apply anymore. You can get excellent products which are free (open source) and pay for crappy software sold by salesman. “
What do entrepreneurs and business owners tend to underestimate or pay too little attention too that they should?
“Most of the time it is a lot of hard work so you really have to love what you do. If you don’t think about the business day and night and constantly improve everything from marketing, procedures, business organization then you don’t have a lot of chances for success. I don’t say work crazy hours, but think about the business, how it could run better and more efficiently (even if it is already running like that).”
If you could give one piece of advice to a new business owner or an entrepreneur with what they believe to be a winning idea, what would it be?
“I don’t believe in winning ideas. Successful business is taking care of all the boring details, which most of the people don’t like to deal with. I think you can do any business you want and make it successful. My advice is to build your business step by step, don’t rush too much, taking care of the details,and listen to your customers. Opportunities will come when you will be ready.”
