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Saturday, July 29, 2006


This week's featured woman entrepreneur or executive is Maria Gonzalez, VP of Content Development, EduCel, LLC/Willitfly.com (Emeryville, CA).

about EduCel/Willitfly.com
Willitfly.com, for small-to-medium business professionals, is a 100% owned subsidiary of EduCel, a pioneer and a leader in technology that accelerates learning and supports performance at the time of need. Willitfly.com's mission is to make it easier to avoid the failure that frequently accompanies new undertakings. With expert prep modules designed to speed up knowledge transfer and support users at their time of need, Willitfly.com provides a quick way to find out if you are ready to perform according to best practices for important business tasks. Based on the cognitive sciences and the methodology used by experts for their own prep, the core technology on Willitfly.com (the Will-it-Fly? DKTS) was also developed by EduCel. The Will-it-Fly? DKTS technology is consistently rated by users as easier to use and more useful than other knowledge transfer tools - making life easier for enterprising minds everywhere. Gonzalez comes to EduCel with 14 years of experience in biotech, which included scientific research, manufacturing processes and the building of business infrastructure. Her last job included setting up the foundation for a corporate university at Chiron Corporation (Novartis) in Emeryville. Her quality management expertise and degree in molecular and cell biology from UC Berkeley ensures a quality approach to content development that is difficult to find.


Maria's Top 10 Tips.


1. Know yourself
Would-be entrepreneurs who fail to analyze their reasons for starting out on their own, and who don't take an objective measurement of their initiative and background, could end up facing family issues, competition and money problems they cannot deal with, which ultimately may cause the loss of the new business. Performing a self-analysis of your entrepreneurial readiness is worthwhile in order to make sure you have a solid grip on why you want to go into business.

2. Accept that you need help and support
Starting and running a business isn't anything like being part of a support group. Nevertheless, trying to do everything yourself is likely to end in failure. It's important to accept that you cannot succeed as a Jack (or Jill)-Of-All-Trades, and that you need to look for expertise and support where you can find it. You should also spend a moment to define the difference in value between the support your family and friends offer (good for emotional support, not so good for expertise), and that of real experts and good resources.

3. Know your field
Entrepreneurs that don't make the effort to assess if their industry knowledge is sufficient to operate their business could end up starting a business without the proper background and possibly end up failing. It is critically important to understand the industry dynamics in your chosen field. This understanding often comes by default when entrepreneurs start in a field they love (and know inside out). However, if you are new, or relatively new to a field, make sure you spend enough time to pick up the nuts and bolts of what you are about to do.

4. Always start with best practices
According to the Small Business Administration (SBA), 80% of new businesses fail within five years - more often than not because attention was not paid to best practices in new undertakings. While there's no shortage of proponents that will tell you the trick to success lies in building a better mousetrap, that advice does not apply unless you first cover the basics. If you do not know the rules of the game, you really shouldn't play (your established competition has spent years refining their game).

5. Understand how to deal with others
Managing people is an enormous task with a steep learning curve. Business owners that have never managed employees usually have very little preparation or support when they need to do so, which can lead to serious problems with employees and suppliers that eventually destabilize the business. Acquiring the basics of good people management is essential to success.

6. Create a business plan
A business plan needs to address a business' strategic needs and potential for healthy growth. Ignoring the need for a business plan or crafting one that does not detail every aspect of the business could undermine revenue generation and possibly lead to failure. Creating a business plan is also an excellent exercise for increasing your understanding of your new venture. However, when it's done, don't consider it set in stone, think of it as a sailboat: You can (and sometimes should) adjust course while underway, but don't be so eager to replace the boat itself until you know how it handles.

7. Develop and execute a marketing plan
Not focusing enough on marketing goals and strategies (or not integrating them with business goals) could lead to misallocating the marketing budget on a poor marketing effort and burying the product before it even gets to market. Staying with the sailing metaphor above: Your marketing effort should not be impulsive in nature, but much more like the charted course on a captain's map.

8. Pay attention to legal matters
Not paying attention to legal matters can quickly sink a new business. If you end up in litigation, you can lose even when you are in the right (too much cost associated with defending yourself). It always pays to spend some resources up front on important legal considerations: i.e., each type of legal entity/structure has different ramifications. Choosing the wrong one could leave you with having to pay more taxes than necessary, or also open to liability and increased litigation.

9. Keep accurate books
Businesses fall into one of several categories, which can legally require the use of specific bookkeeping methods. Failing to keep the most accurate records for the type of business category, could lead to an IRS audit and/or penalties. Accurate bookkeeping also has the added benefit of letting you know where you are financially at all times. This benefit is essential to your continuing planning effort and ultimate success.

10. Never run out of money
Sounds almost silly, doesn't it. However, what if I told you that this phrase is considered one of the most essential teachings at Harvard Business School's entrepreneur program? In fact, at Harvard they teach that this point about money is to entrepreneurship what the location mantra (location, location, location) is to real estate: 1) don't run out of money, 2) don't run out of money and 3) don't run out of money. So, there you have it. If you don't remember any of the other tips, remember this one - and I'll say it again: Never run out of money.


Contact Information

Maria Gonzalez
EduCel, LLC
4099 Harlan Street
Emeryville, CA 94608
510-295-4114
maria.gonzalez@educel.com
Web: www.willitfly.com


A big thanks to Maria for her wise words.




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