1. Dropbox

This powerful product ends the challenge of storing and syncing files and documents on different devices and computers. The free offering comes with 2GB of space, with paid plans for a fee.

2. Google Docs & Apps

Allows you to create and collaborate on documents that you can access anywhere. If you have a business, your e-mail address needs to end with @YOURDOMAIN.com which you can do for free through Google Apps.

3. Evernote

Great for taking notes and drafting blog posts. Keep everything you need in one place and access it from anywhere. The platform also comes with powerful apps so you can take it on the go.

4. HARO

Find reporters who are looking for certain information & quotes for stories in your field that you can help them with. If the reporter likes your information there is a good chance you will get featured in their story. There are hundreds of opportunities each day!

5. Quora

A well done and extremely comprehensive Q&A site where you will find answers from high-level entrepreneurs, ceo’s and executives. Of course you can ask your own questions and provide answers too!

6. Google Alerts

Set up alerts to monitor your business, your industry, your name or anything else. Great way to find out if anyone is talking about you or your business. This is a must so you can respond to any criticisms, customer complaints or thank someone for a great write-up of your business.

7. Free Conference Call

Use this free tool to attend and hold conference calls, webinars and more for free. You can easily collaborate with clients, employees or business partners. One of the best features is the free built in recording capabilities which allows you to save and reproduce the material for whatever you need.

8. Square

An easy way to accept credit cards right on your iPhone, iPad or iTouch. The app is free and you pay per transaction just like you would through paypal. There is no easier way to accept credit card payments on the go for your business.

9. Twitter Chats

If you are an entrepreneur one of the premier tools for personal branding and networking we have available to us is Twitter. One of the best ways to utilize this tool is through organized online discussions with other people on Twitter surrounding certain topics or hashtags called twitter chats.

10. Hootsuite

A must for small business owners who are active on social media. Manage accounts like Twitter, LinkedIn, Google Plus, Facebook and more all in one place. If you’re logging into each of your accounts individually then you are wasting valuable time each day!

11. Skype

Call or video chat with anyone else in the world who also has Skype for free. A must for doing international business in this growing global economy.

12. Mailchimp

A great way to build and manage your email list which is crucial for small businesses online. Your email list is usually your most valuable and important customers or readers. . You can use it for free for your first 2,000 subscribers to your email list.

13. Tumblr or WordPress

Two of the most powerful blogging platforms out there. With most small businesses running blogs today you will find they probably use one of these platforms for it. Tumblr is as simple as it gets while wordpress is more powerful but also requires more customization.

14. SCORE templates

Find business plan forms, financial templates, contract samples/templates and more. You can even ask a question to a local, volunteer mentor right through the website. SCORE has locations around the country and is a non-profit helping small business get the answers and resources they need.

15, Google Analytics

Analyze and monitor how visitors use and engage your website. Everything is customizable and it’s all free!

16. Doodle

Doodle eliminates the chaos of scheduling and saves you a lot of time and energy when you’re trying to find a time to bring a number of people together.  Instead of using just one option, Doodle enables you to propose several dates and times and the participants can indicate their availability online.

17. Wave Accounting

Wave is a 100% free (not just a free trial version) accounting app made for small business owners and freelancers. This free alternative to applications like Quickbooks, allows you to create and send professional invoices, track expenses, create reports, and eliminate accounting headaches.

18. Freshbooks

You can keep your time and expenses organized, send professional branded invoices, and even collect online payments by credit card, PayPal, or eCheck. It offers a free version with limited features that you can use forever.

19. Appointy

Schedule appointments, accept pre-payments, send reminder alerts, update personal calendars, offer discount coupons and more. There’s a free version with limited allowable appointments.

20. Remember the Milk

With this free tool, you can manage tasks from anywhere – via your desktop, your phone, etc. And it integrates with your Google Calendar so you’ll never forget the milk or anything else on your To Do list.

21. Mint

Don’t forget to get your own personal finances in order! Mint brings all your financial accounts together online or on your mobile device, automatically categorizes your transactions, lets you set budgets and helps you achieve your savings goals.

What free tools do you use in your small business?

Today, we are looking at some of the amazing women who are taking the startup world by storm. These women have raised millions in funding, have millions of users and are making money. Their companies range from one that creates a soccer ball that doubles as an Eco-friendly generator, to a 16 year old with a fashion accessory line backed by investors like Lori Greiner, Mark Cuban and Robert Herjavec. Check out the full list of these women and the great companies they are building…

Jennifer Carter Fleiss

Company: Rent the Runway

Age: 27

The numbers: $30 million funding with over 2 million members

Rent the Runway is a membership-based website that rents high-end designer apparel and accessories on a 4- or 8-day basis. The company was founded by two Harvard Business School graduates, Jennifer Hyman and Jennifer Carter Fleiss. Launched in November 2009, the website now offers over 25,000 dresses and accessories from over 165 designers such as Badgley Mischka, Vera Wang and Calvin Klein. The company is also on 150 campuses through their Runway Rep college ambassador program.

Alexa von Tobel

Company: LearnVest

Age: 27

The numbers: $24.5 million in funding

Alexa started her career at Morgan Stanley, left the job and invested $75,000 into her company LearnVest. LearnVest quickly recruited advisors like the former CEO of the Huffington Post and former COO of DailyCandy. After securing $1.1 million in funding in 2009 the site launched and has signed up over 100,000 members.

LearnVest focuses on helping young women develop good financial habits early on in life. Today, the company has raised over $24.5 million in funding and with an experienced team behind it they are poised for growth.

Juliette Brindak

Company: MissOandFriends.com

Age: 22

The numbers: $15 million valuation

Meet Juliette who released her first book at the age of 16 which has gone on to sell over 100,000 copies. Juliette came up with the idea for Miss O and Friends at the age of 10 and by 19 the company was worth over $15 million.

The company focuses on the “tween” market and prides itself on being for girls built by girls. Juliette prides the company on helping build self-esteem in young girls and developing who they are.

Clara Shih

Company: Hearsay Social

Age: 29

The numbers: $21 million in funding

Hearsay Social provides the first comprehensive social media SaaS offering for brands with local branches and representatives. Hearsay Social helps these “corporate/local” organizations centrally measure, manage, and deploy content, compliance, monitoring, and analytics across corporate and local social media presences including Facebook, Linkedin, and Twitter.

Maddie Bradshaw

Company: M3 Girl Designs

Age: 16

The numbers: $5 million+ in sales

Maddie Bradshaw is the founder of the $5 million a year company, M3 Girl Designs. What started as simple locker decorations has turned into a thriving company for young girls.  The companies necklaces and designs are sold throughout the U.S. and they sell over 50,000 necklaces a month.

Maddie has plans to expand the company into other accessories beyond just necklaces in the near future. You may recognize her from the show Shark Tank where she landed $300K from Lori Greiner, Mark Cuban and Robert Herjavec.

Hayley Barna & Katia Beauchamp

Company:  Birchbox

Age: 27, 28

The numbers: $11.9 million in funding

BirchBox is a monthly subscription service that delivers beauty product samples to users on a monthly basis. The site offers relevant editorial content and a e-commerce site. With $11.9 million in funding and over 45,000 users and launched in Sept. 2010.  Birchbox is invested in by Lerer Ventures and Sam Lessin who was featured on last year’s Most Influential Young Entrepreneur list.

Susan Gregg Koger

Company: Modcloth

Age: 26

The numbers: $19.8 million in funding

Founded by high school sweethearts, Eric Koger and Susan Gregg Koger, ModCloth.com is an online clothing, accessories, and decor retailer with a focus on independent and vintage-inspired fashion. Modcloth does alright for itself with $15 million+ in revenue in 2009 and a reported 138 employees.

Alexa Hirschfeld

Company: Paperless post

Age: 27

The numbers: $6 million in funding

Paperless Post was founded in 2009 by Alexa and her brother on the idea that people would use the internet to send wedding invites. So far that hunch has been a solid one as they have secured the company $6.3 million in funding and brought it to profitability in 2010.

Today, the company is continuing to grow as they bring the formal and personalized feel of offline communication to people with the efficiency and cost effectiveness of the online world.

Cathy Edwards

Company: Chomp

Age: 29

The numbers: $2.67 million in funding

Founded in 2009 by Ben Keighran and Cathy Edwards, Chomp, Inc. is the only company to enable app search based on what an app actually does. One billion apps are being downloaded every month. As the number of apps explodes, it’s become difficult for users to find the perfect app for what they want to do. Chomp’s patent-pending algorithm is able to understand what an app does and what a user wants and then makes the best match.

Danielle Snyder and Jodie Snyder

Company: Dannijo

Age: 26 & 29

The numbers: $1 million+ revenue

These two sisters have always had a thing for fashion and designing jewelery. Even in high school friends took note of their creativity which led them to open their first store in Jacksonville, FL.  Even though they ended up closing that store as they went off to college the two reunited in NYC a few years later to revisit their passion.

They launched Dannijo in 2008 and it quickly grew as their jewelry was worn by celebrities like Beyonce and has been seen at New York’s fashion week, in shows like Gossip Girl and the Today Show. Today, the company boasts over $1 million in revenue and has been seen on numerous celebrities and fashion magazines.

Alexa Andrzejewski

Company: Foodspotting

Age: 27

The numbers: $3.75 million in funding

Alexa Andrzejewski is the co-founder and CEO of Foodspotting, a website and mobile app that lets you find and recommend dishes instead of just restaurants. Foodspotting was named a “Hot Trend of 2010” by iTunes and one of Time Magazine’s “50 Best Websites of 2010,” and Alexa has been featured in Inc Magazine’s “30 Under 30” and Gourmet Live’s “50 Women Game-Changers” in food.

Jessica O. Matthews and Julia Silverman

Company: Uncharted Play

Age: 23, 23

The numbers: $2 million+ in revenue

In May of 2011, Jessica O. Matthews and Julia Silverman founded Uncharted Play–a new kind of social enterprise that would show the world that doing good and doing good business need not be mutually exclusive. The Uncharted Play dream began in 2008 when Matthews and Silverman met during their junior year at Harvard College. Both studying to be social scientists with no experience in engineering, they nonetheless worked together on a class project to invent the SOCCKET–a soccer ball that doubles as an eco-friendly portable generator.

Ooshma Garg

Company: Gobble

Age: 24

The numbers: $1.2 million in funding

Gobble is an online marketplace for home-cooked food. Local chefs may build a personal online storefront, and offer their meals to nearby families and companies. Currently in alpha mode, Gobble processes over 500 orders a month in the Bay Area. Founded in 2010, Gobble is based in Palo Alto, CA.

Jessica Scorpio

Company: Getaround

Age: 24

The numbers: $5.13 million in funding

Getaround provides a peer-to-peer carsharing marketplace that enables car owners to rent their cars – from Priuses to Teslas – to a community of trusted drivers by hour, day, or week using just their smartphones.

Car owners invest huge amounts of time and money into an asset they barely use. The average car is idle 92% of the time, while potential drivers walk past blocks of underutilized cars. “We are here to connect the dots… to help people get around.”

Shama Kabani

Company: The Marketing Zen Group

Age: 27

The numbers: Revenue in the millions

In 2009, at 24, Kabani founded The Marketing Zen Group, a social media marketing firm in Dallas. The company, which she launched with $1,500 of her own money, specializes in all aspects of web marketing for clients–from Facebook and Twitter to blogs and video.

Shama hosts a web TV show about technology. Her 2010 book, The Zen of Social Media Marketing: An Easier Way to Build Credibility, Generate Buzz and Increase Revenue, is the No. 4 seller about web marketing on Amazon.com.

Desiree Vargas Wrigley

Company: Giveforward

Age: 29

The numbers: $500k in funding

GiveForward pages empower friends and family to send love and financial support to patients as they navigate a medical crisis. Create a page today to spread hope and contribute to a loved one’s out-of-pocket medical expenses.

Caren Maio

Company: Nestio

Age: 28

The numbers: $823k in funding

Looking for a new place to live is frustrating, stressful and time-consuming. Listings are scattered, false advertisements are everywhere, and dead-ends are common.

Nestio is the easiest way for consumers to make the best and most informed decision on their next home.

The following answers are provided by the Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC), an invite-only nonprofit organization comprised of the world’s most promising young entrepreneurs. The YEC promotes entrepreneurship as a solution to unemployment and underemployment and provides entrepreneurs with access to tools, mentorship, and resources that support each stage of their business’s development and growth.

A. You’re Born with It!

A. How Old Are You?

1. Losing My Virginity: How I Survived, Had Fun, and Made a Fortune Doing Business My Way

“Oh, screw it, let’s do it.”

That’s the philosophy that has allowed Richard Branson, in slightly more than twenty-five years, to spawn so many successful ventures. From the airline business (Virgin Atlantic Airways), to music (Virgin Records and V2), to cola (Virgin Cola), to retail (Virgin Megastores), and nearly a hundred others, ranging from financial services to bridal wear, Branson has a track record second to none.

Losing My Virginity is the unusual, frequently outrageous autobiography of one of the great business geniuses of our time. When Richard Branson started his first business, he and his friends decided that “since we’re complete virgins at business, let’s call it just that: Virgin.” Since then, Branson has written his own “rules” for success, creating a group of companies with a global presence, but no central headquarters, no management hierarchy, and minimal bureaucracy.

Many of Richard Branson’s companies—airlines, retailing, and cola are good examples—were started in the face of entrenched competition. The experts said, “Don’t do it.” But Branson found golden opportunities in markets in which customers have been ripped off or underserved, where confusion reigns, and the competition is complacent.
And in this stressed-out, overworked age, Richard Branson gives us a new model: a dynamic, hardworking, successful entrepreneur who lives life to the fullest. Family, friends, fun, and adventure are equally important as business in Branson’s life. Losing My Virginity is a portrait of a productive, sane, balanced life, filled with rich and colorful stories.

2. Steve Jobs

Based on more than forty interviews with Jobs conducted over two years—as well as interviews with more than a hundred family members, friends, adversaries, competitors, and colleagues—Walter Isaacson has written a riveting story of the roller-coaster life and searingly intense personality of a creative entrepreneur whose passion for perfection and ferocious drive revolutionized six industries: personal computers, animated movies, music, phones, tablet computing, and digital publishing.

At a time when America is seeking ways to sustain its innovative edge, and when societies around the world are trying to build digital-age economies, Jobs stands as the ultimate icon of inventiveness and applied imagination. He knew that the best way to create value in the twenty-first century was to connect creativity with technology. He built a company where leaps of the imagination were combined with remarkable feats of engineering.

3. Delivering Happiness: A Path to Profits, Passion, and Purpose

You want to learn about the path that we took at Zappos to get to over $1 billion in gross merchandise sales in less than ten years.

You want to learn about the path I took that eventually led me to Zappos, and the lessons I learned along the way.

You want to learn from all the mistakes we made at Zappos over the years so that your business can avoid making some of the same ones.

You want to figure out the right balance of profits, passion, and purpose in business and in life.

You want to build a long-term, enduring business and brand.

You want to create a stronger company culture, which will make your employees and coworkers happier and create more employee engagement, leading to higher productivity.

You want to deliver a better customer experience, which will make your customers happier and create more customer loyalty, leading to increased profits.

4. The Accidental Billionaires: The Founding of Facebook: A Tale of Sex, Money, Genius and Betrayal

Eduardo Saverin and Mark Zuckerberg were Harvard undergraduates and best friends–outsiders at a school filled with polished prep-school grads and long-time legacies. They shared both academic brilliance in math and a geeky awkwardness with women.

Eduardo figured their ticket to social acceptance–and sexual success–was getting invited to join one of the university’s Final Clubs, a constellation of elite societies that had groomed generations of the most powerful men in the world and ranked on top of the inflexible hierarchy at Harvard. Mark, with less of an interest in what the campus alpha males thought of him, happened to be a computer genius of the first order.

Which he used to find a more direct route to social stardom: one lonely night, Mark hacked into the university’s computer system, creating a ratable database of all the female students on campus–and subsequently crashing the university’s servers and nearly getting himself kicked out of school. In that moment, in his Harvard dorm room, the framework for Facebook was born.

What followed–a real-life adventure filled with slick venture capitalists, stunning women, and six-foot-five-inch identical-twin Olympic rowers–makes for one of the most entertaining and compelling books of the year. Before long, Eduardo’s and Mark’s different ideas about Facebook created in their relationship faint cracks, which soon spiraled into out-and-out warfare. The collegiate exuberance that marked their collaboration fell prey to the adult world of lawyers and money. The great irony is that while Facebook succeeded by bringing people together, its very success tore two best friends apart.

You want to build something special.

5. The Mary Kay Way: Timeless Principles from America’s Greatest Woman Entrepreneur

Mary Kay Ash built a global independent sales force that today numbers 1.8 million women, and is respected by business and academic leaders. How? The secret is in this book.

For forty-five years, the principles in The Mary Kay Way have helped the company succeed through changing economic times and explosive global growth. It has been said that no company wholeheartedly embodies the values and reflects the beliefs of its founder more than Mary Kay Inc. Now you can put the same inspiring principles to work for you.

Recognized today as America’s greatest woman entrepreneur, Mary Kay Ash stepped out in 1963 in a man’s world to blaze a new path for women. She grew her business based not on the rules of competition, but on The Golden Rule. By “praising people to success” and “sandwiching every bit of criticism between two heavy layers of praise,” this energetic Texas titan opened new opportunities for women around the world and built a multibillion-dollar corporation.

Mary Kay’s unconventional business philosophy was first published in 1984. Now revised and updated for the first time, with examples from her company’s top independent salespeople, The Mary Kay Way is perhaps her most important legacy.

6. Sam Walton: Made in America : My Story

Meet a genuine American folk hero cut from the homespun cloth of America’s heartland: Sam Walton, who parlayed a single dime store in a hardscrabble cotton town into Wal-Mart, the largest retailer in the world.  The undisputed merchant king of the late twentieth century, Sam never lost the common touch.  Here, finally, inimitable words.  Genuinely modest, but always sure if his ambitions and achievements.  Sam shares his thinking in a candid, straight-from-the-shoulder style.

In a story rich with anecdotes and the “rules of the road” of both Main Street and Wall Street, Sam Walton chronicles the inspiration, heart, and optimism that propelled him to lasso the American Dream.

The national bestseller that tells the fascinating life story and unique business philosophy of billionaire Sam Walton, founder of Wal-Mart. Meet a genuine American folk hero cut from the homespun cloth of America’s heartland, who parlayed a single dime-store in a hardscrabble cotton town into the largest retailer in the world.

7. Pour Your Heart into It: How Starbucks Built a Company One Cup at a Time

Since 1987, Starbucks’s star has been on the rise, growing from 11 Seattle, WA-based stores to more than 1,000 worldwide. Its goals grew, too, from the more modest, albeit fundamental one of offering high-quality coffee beans roasted to perfection to, more recently, opening a new store somewhere every day. An exemplary success story, Starbucks is identified with innovative marketing strategies, employee-ownership programs, and a product that’s become a subculture.

Whether you’re an entrepreneur, a manager, a marketer, or a curious Starbucks loyalist, Pour Your Heart into It will let you in on the revolutionary Starbucks venture. CEO Howard Schultz recounts the company’s rise in 24 chapters, each of which illustrates such core values as “Winning at the expense of employees is not victory at all.”

8. One Click: Jeff Bezos and the Rise of Amazon.com

Amazon’s business model is deceptively simple: Make online shopping so easy and convenient that customers won’t think twice. It can almost be summed up by the button on every page: “Buy now with one click.”

Why has Amazon been so successful? Much of it has to do with Jeff Bezos, the CEO and founder, whose unique combination of character traits and business strategy have driven Amazon to the top of the online retail world.

Richard Brandt charts Bezos’s rise from computer nerd to world- changing entrepreneur. His success can be credited to his forward-looking insights and ruthless business sense. Brandt explains:

- Why Bezos decided to allow negative product reviews, correctly guessing that the earned trust would outweigh possible lost sales.
- Why Amazon zealously guards some patents yet freely shares others.
- Why Bezos called becoming profitable the “dumbest” thing they could do in 1997.
- How Amazon.com became one of the only dotcoms to survive the bust of the early 2000s.
- Where the company is headed next.

9. The Snowball: Warren Buffett and the Business of Life

Here is THE book recounting the life and times of one of the most respected men in the world, Warren Buffett. The legendary Omaha investor has never written a memoir, but now he has allowed one writer, Alice Schroeder, unprecedented access to explore directly with him and with those closest to him his work, opinions, struggles, triumphs, follies, and wisdom. The result is the personally revealing and complete biography of the man known everywhere as “The Oracle of Omaha.”

Although the media track him constantly, Buffett himself has never told his full life story. His reality is private, especially by celebrity standards. Indeed, while the homespun persona that the public sees is true as far as it goes, it goes only so far. Warren Buffett is an array of paradoxes. He set out to prove that nice guys can finish first. Over the years he treated his investors as partners, acted as their steward, and championed honesty as an investor, CEO, board member, essayist, and speaker. At the same time he became the world’s richest man, all from the modest Omaha headquarters of his company Berkshire Hathaway. None of this fits the term “simple.”

10. Oprah: A Biography

For the past twenty-five years, no one has been better at revealing secrets than Oprah Winfrey. On what is arguably the most influential show in television history, she has gotten her guests—often the biggest celebrities in the world—to bare their love lives, explore their painful pasts, admit their transgressions, reveal their pleasures, and explore their demons. In turn, Oprah has repeatedly allowed her audience to share in her own life story, opening up about the sexual abuse in her past and discussing her romantic relationships, her weight problems, her spiritual beliefs, her charitable donations, and her strongly held views on the state of the world.

After a quarter of a century of the Oprah-ization of America, can there be any more secrets left to reveal?

There is a case to be made, and it is certainly made in this book, that Oprah Winfrey is an important, and even great, figure of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. But there is also a case to be made that even greatness needs to be examined and put under a microscope. Fact must be separated from myth, truth from hype. Kitty Kelley has made that separation, showing both sides of Oprah as they have never been shown before. In doing so she has written a psychologically perceptive and meticulously researched book that will surprise and thrill everyone who reads it.

Book reviews and descriptions via Barnes & Noble

Business owners are getting younger and younger, it seems. At the same time, unfortunately, many of our parent’s generations are facing job loss due to layoffs, a receding economy, or changes in trends. Interestingly, these young entrepreneurs are now providing jobs to the hard working, dedicated workers of older generations.

As the head of a company and a leader of the team, the entrepreneur has the responsibility of bringing harmony among employees, regardless of age. However, being a young captain of a ship full of seasoned business people can be quite challenging. Here are 10 ways emerging business men or women can make it happen:

1. Seek to Understand Differences

As Stephen Covey’s fifth of Seven Habits of Highly Effective People begs: “Seek First to Understand, Then to Be Understood,” it’s critical for a leader, especially one of limited experience or wisdom, to learn the differences of their employees. The knowledge of these differences is the key to understanding what your employees need from you as a leader to assist them in performing at their highest potential.

2. Leverage the Wisdom and Experience of Your Team

One way of warming up to older employees who are uneasy to work subordinately under you is to get them involved in the company beyond the duties of their job description. Everyone loves a little stroke of the ego, and asking for their advice or opinion is sure to make them feel appreciated and needed. You’ll also gain their respect because they’ll appreciate your good sense.

3. Be Confident and Stand Firm

Nothing makes employees more uneasy than 1) The insecurity of their jobs and 2) The insecurity of their bosses. Do you and your team a favor by having a backbone and making confident decisions as a leader.

4. Consider a Double Mentorship

Depending on age, some of your employees may benefit from being taught about new technology or trends. You also may be able to learn from the experience of one of your seasoned employees in one way or another. Exchanging mentorship may be a great way to connect with employees and share skills. However, be careful not to overstep boundaries by becoming “buddy buddies” with any one particular employee, or it may present complications later. Keep the relationship at a professional business exchange and it could be mutually rewarding.

5. Communicate Openly

An effective leader, regardless of age, will acknowledge and address the concerns of their employees. You may consider acknowledging that despite your young age, you hope to manage a company that provides a great place to work for everyone, and perhaps even welcome any suggestions on how you can be a better leader. The humility and honesty will put your employees at ease.

6. Generously Show Appreciation

Maslow’s hierarchy of needs included esteem as one of the fundamentals of human needs. Esteem presents the normal human desire to be accepted and valued by others, and is certainly important in the workplace. To gain the respect of your employees as their younger boss, show your appreciation. Thank them, compliment them, and acknowledge them for what they do consistently, and they will give back their appreciation to you by being an outstanding employee.

7. When Addressing Areas of Concern

When discussing the area of concern, remember to treat each employee with the same high level of respect and appreciation while being specific about what you expect of them.

8. Give Up Trying to be Popular

Instead of focusing on being liked and accepted by everyone, turn your attention on building a company where everyone likes to work and customers like to do business with.

9. Don’t be Intimidated

Although you may be young, there’s a reason you’re at the top level in the company, and every employee who works for the company needs to understand and accept that and give you the respect that you deserve. Don’t be intimidated, you rock at your job!

10. Set the Example

Remember, if you want your employees you respect you, you have to respect them. If you don’t want them to walk all over you, then don’t walk all over them. If you don’t want them to walk around with a big ego, then lose the ego. It’s simple. Of course, older employees may discredit your experience or assume immaturity because you’re young which can be very frustrating, but you can prove to yourself and to your team that you have what it takes to lead the pack, because you do!

While it can be challenging to manage a team of older employees, it can also be a very rewarding experience for both the business owner and employee.  With a little effort and practice, entrepreneurs can continue to successfully provide jobs to hard workers of all generations and ages.

Sara Schoonover works as VP of TicketKick, an innovative legal service that helps drivers contest traffic tickets through the mail in California. At 23, she holds the second to the top position within the company and is the youngest of 8 employees.

Mark Zuckerberg

Company: Facebook

Age: 27

The numbers: $75 -$100billion after IPO

Mark Zuckerberg launched Facebook in 2004 at Harvard and since then, the social network has grown to over 800 million users. He is the world’s youngest billionaire with Facebook receiving a valuation of close to $100 billion with it’s upcoming IPO. Zuckerberg has literally changed the way people interact and has broken down social walls faster than ever imagined. Time Magazine named Zuckerberg Person of the Year for 2010 and is going to be the first of this group to build a public company.

Tim O’Shaughnessy

Company: LivingSocial

Age: 29

The numbers: $808million funding

LivingSocial is the social commerce leader behind LivingSocial Deals, a group buying program that invites people and their friends to save up to 90 percent each day at their favorite restaurants, spas, sporting events, hotels and other local attractions in major cities. LivingSocial has an extensive user base of more than 85million and has spent over $353million in acquisitions.

Naveen Selvadural

Company: Foursquare

Age: 29

The numbers: $71.4million in funding

Naveen founded Foursquare with partner Dennis Crowley to simply help he and his friends explore more things in New York City. Today, Foursquare has become a leader in location based networking, helping to spring numerous other startups looking to capture a similar model. The company has a valuation near $600million with 15million+ users.  Naveen and Dennis’ celebrity has even brought them appearances in Gap advertisements.

David Karp

Company: Tumblr

Age: 25

The numbers: $125million in funding

David started Tumblr in 2007 with his own savings from previously held jobs in the software industry. By early 2010, Tumblr was reportedly getting 15,000 new users per day, with over 2 million daily posts being made. Tumblr now has over 85 employees and is ranked as the 39th largest website in the world by Alexa.  As of February 13, 2012, Tumblr had over 44.3 million blogs with 15billion monthly pageviews.

Aaron Levie & Dylan Smith

Company: Box.net

Age: 26 & 25

The numbers: $159million in funding

What started as a college project for their business class exploded into a venture backed startup with millions of users. Box provides more than 8million users with secure cloud content management and collaboration. They say their platform “allows personal and commercial content to be accessible, sharable, and storable in any format from anywhere.” The company employs over 225 people.

Daniel Ek

Company: Spotify

Age: 28

The numbers: $183M funding

Spotify has created a lightweight software application that allows instant listening to specific tracks or albums with virtually no buffering delay. Spotify was launched in the fall of 2008 and had approximately 10 million users by September 2010.  It certainly helps that Spotify has landed Napster Co-founder Shawn Parker on their board.

Brian Chesky, Joe Gebbia, and Nathan Blecharczyk

Company: AirBnB

Age: 29, 29, 28

The numbers: $120million in funding

Airbnb is an online service that matches people seeking vacation rentals and other short-term accommodations with those with rooms to rent who are generally not professional hoteliers. The site was founded in August 2008 by Brian Chesky and Joe Gebbia. In July 2011, the company had over 100,000 listings in 16,000 cities and 186 countries.  Not bad for a few guys who started out by renting out an air mattress on their floor to help pay their rent.

Drew Houston and Arash Ferdowsi

Company: Dropbox

Age: 28, 25

The numbers: $257million in funding

Dropbox was founded in 2007 by Drew Houston and Arash Ferdowsi. Frustrated by working from multiple computers, Drew was inspired to create a service that would let people bring all their files anywhere, with no need to email attachments. Drew created a demo of Dropbox and showed it to fellow MIT student Arash Ferdowsi, who dropped out with only one semester left to make Dropbox a reality. Today, they have 25million registered users who save over a million files every five minutes.

Jennifer Carter Fleiss

Company: Rent the Runway

Age: 27

The numbers: $30million funding with 1.5million members

Rent the Runway is a membership-based website that rents high-end designer apparel and accessories on a 4- or 8-day basis. The company was founded by two Harvard Business School graduates, Jennifer Hyman and Jennifer Carter Fleiss. Launched in November 2009, the website now offers over 25,000 dresses and accessories from over 165 designers such as Badgley Mischka, Vera Wang and Calvin Klein.

Adam D’Angelo

Company: Quora

Age: 27

The numbers: $11million in funding

Quora was co-founded by two former Facebook employees, Adam D’Angelo and Charlie Cheever. D’Angelo quit his position at Facebook in January 2010 to create Quora and said he was inspired to create Quora because he thought: “Q A is one of those areas on the internet where there are a lot of sites, but no one had come along and built something that was really good yet.” Quora’s base of users grew quickly and even has rumors of a near billion dollar valuation, with only 34 employees.

Cathrine and David Cook

Company: MyYearBook.com

Age: 21 & 23

The numbers: Acquired for $100million

Cathrine and David Cook created one of the most popular teen websites in the world with MyYearBook.com. In 6 years the site grew to 20million users, and generated 1.2billion monthly pageviews. They also raised $17 million in financing before the sale.  Catherine attended Georgetown University while building this company.

Matt Mullenweg

Company: Automattic

Age: 28

The numbers: $30.6million in funding

If you use WordPress to blog you have Matt to thank for that opportunity. Automattic is the software and services company behind popular blog platform WordPress.com. In addition to WordPress.com, Automattic runs several additional Web services, including Akismet, Polldaddy, IntenseDebate, Gravatar, VideoPress, After the Deadline, and WordPress VIP Hosting. Mullenweg started WordPress in 2003 and then started working on it full-time in 2005. WordPress has over 20million blogs run on it.  Mullenweg mainly works from home.

Gurbaksh Chahal

Company: RadiumOne

Age: 29

The numbers: $33.5million in funding

Gurbaksh founded RadiumOne in 2009 as a social media currency platform that went on to raise over $12million later that year. Prior to RadiumOne, Gurbaksh had already sold two previous ad networks, one for $40million and the other for $300 million. Today, he heads up RadiumOne which connects advertisers with over 2billion digital consumers accessing the web on desktop and mobile devices.

Pete Cashmore

Company: Mashable.com

Age: 26

The numbers: 50+million monthly pageviews

Mashable is one of the world’s largest websites and reports on “All thats new on the web”. Cashmore bootstrapped Mashable in 2005 from his home in Scotland to a company with 50 employees today. The site is larger than Techcrunch which sold to AOL for between $25-40million. Revenue is in the millions but that is as much as Cashmore will say about it.

Michael Seibel, Emmett Shear, Justin Kan and Kyle Vogt

Company: Justin.tv

Age: 28, 28, 28, 26

The numbers: 41million+ monthly visitors

Justin.tv allows you to live broadcast anything out over the web. The four founders have created the largest live streaming, life-casting platform that handles over 50 million hours of video streamed each month. Justin.tv has become the most widely used live video system in existence and with a huge fan base and even major artists on board, it shows no signs of slowing.

Matt Mickiewicz

Company: Sitepoint.com, 99designs.com and flippa.com

Age: 28

The numbers: Companies valued at over $100million

Matt launched Sitepoint.com in 1999 to help educate web developers at the age of 14. The site quickly grew into the industry leader and a multi-million dollar company with no outside investment. Since then he founded 99designs which currently sees a new graphic uploaded to the site every 7 seconds and pays out over $1,000,000 to designers every month. Matt then launched Flippa.com in 2009, which currently sells over $2 million worth of website assets per month.

Ben Lerer

Company: Thrillist

Age: 29

The numbers: $50M+ in revenues

Thrillist is a newsletter that caters to men’s lifestyle in 20 cities in the U.S. and U.K. The newsletter has over 3million subscribers and has a revenues around $50M/year. The company employees 160+ people and was founded in 2004 by Ben Lerer and Adam Rich.  In a recent interview, Lerer said his company could hit $100m in revenue this year and does not rule out an IPO in the future.  Lerer also runs the venture firm Lerer Ventures with his father Ken, Co-founder of the Huffington Post.

Trip Adler

Company: Scribd

Age: 27

The numbers: $25.8million in funding

Scribd is a social reading and publishing website with over 40 employees. The company houses tens of millions of written works, including best-selling books, magazines, research reports, recipes, presentations, and more. Recently, Scribd’s document reader has been embedded more than 10million times across the web, on sites like The New York Times, USA Today, Guardian, and TechCrunch.

Eric Koger & Susan Gregg Koger

Company: Modcloth

Age: 27 & 26

The numbers: $19.8million in funding

ModCloth.com is an online clothing, accessories, and decor retailer with a focus on independent and vintage-inspired fashion. Modcloth does alright for itself with $15 million+ in revenue in 2009 and a reported 138 employees.

Hayley Barna & Katia Beauchamp

Company:  Birchbox

Age: 27, 28

The numbers: $11.9million in funding

BirchBox is a monthly subscription service that delivers beauty product samples to users on a monthly basis. The site offers relevant editorial content and a e-commerce site. With $11.9million in funding and over 45,000 users and launched in Sept. 2010.  Birchbox is invested in by Lerer Ventures and Sam Lessin who was featured on last year’s list.

David Gorodyansky and Eugene Malobrodsky

Company: Anchorfree

Age: 29, 29

The numbers: 7.5million monthly users

AnchorFree enables millions of users across the globe to surf the Web freely and securely through Hotspot Shield. Anchor Free is the world’s first and most popular ad-supported, virtual private network. More than 7.5 million monthly users, in 100 countries, rely on Hotspot Shield to secure their Web browsing experience, proliferating freedom of information online and democratizing the Web. It is the only free way to ensure privacy and total anonymity online on desktop computers, laptops and iPhones.

Ryan Allis

Company: iContact

Age: 27

The numbers: $50million in revenues

Ryan started iContact with Aaron Houghton in 2003 to help small businesses better manage their email marketing campaigns. The company started by solely marketing through Google AdWords and has grown to over 70,000 customers and 300 employees today. Ryan is the author of the book Zero to One Million, published by McGraw-Hill, which reached the Wall Street Journal Bestseller list.

Junaid Shams and Ahmed Khattak

Company: GSM Nation

Age: 25, 25

The numbers: $35million+ in revenues

The pitch: Customers get cheaper, contract-free service and save hundreds of dollars each year, says Shams.  This gives GSM Nation an advantage over retailers that sell phones only with expensive, multiyear commitments. With about $150,000 from savings and friends/family, free office space and support from the Yale Entrepreneurial Institute, the two launched GSM Nation in March 2010.

Alexa von Tobel

Company: LearnVest

Age: 27

The numbers: $24.5million in funding

Alexa started her career at Morgan Stanley but left the job and invested $75,000 into her company LearnVest. LearnVest quickly recruited advisors like the former CEO of the Huffington Post and former COO of DailyCandy. After securing $1.1million in funding in 2009 the site launched and has signed up over 100,000 members.

LearnVest focuses on helping young women develop good financial habits early on in life. Today, the company has raised over $24.5million in funding and with an experienced team behind it they are poised for growth.

Ben Kaufman

Company: Quirky

Age: 24

The numbers: $23.3million in funding

Quirky is an industrial design company, located in New York City, that uses crowdsourcing to determine which products to design and manufacture. The company solicits ideas for new products via its website; ideas are voted on by readers of the website, as well as by employees of the company. Products that are chosen get designed, manufactured and marketed by Quirky. The inventor and any other contributors then get up to 30% of any resulting revenue.

Matthew Corrin

Company: Freshii

Age: 29

The numbers: $50million in revenues

Freshii was founded by Matthew Corrin in Toronto, in 2005. Originally called “Lettuce Eatery”, the store opened to large queues and ran out of food on the first day before the end of lunch. Corrin’s vision of fast, fresh food, custom-built, inspired Freshii’s reputation for healthy, environmentally sustainable meals and snacks served quickly in a cool, clean setting for breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks. Today, they have over 500 employees, in 35 stores, across 4 countries.

Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger

Company: Instagram

Age: 25, 27

The numbers: $7.5million in funding

Instagram is a free photo sharing application that allows users to take a photo, apply a digital filter, then share it a variety of social networking services including Instagram’s own. A distinctive feature confines photos into a square shape, in homage to both the Kodak Instamatic and Polaroid cameras. The application had over 12 million users in Oct. 2011, 1 year after launch, with hundreds of millions of photos uploaded.

Jeremy Johnson

Company: 2tor

Age: 28

The numbers: $64.8million in funding

In 2008, at 24, Jeremy co-founded 2tor with John Katzman, founder of the Princeton Review, to explore the final frontier of online higher education. 2tor supplies universities with the tools, expertise, capital, and global recruiting needed to compete in a space currently dominated by mediocre programs. 2tor has partnered with schools like USC, UNC and Georgetown to use their technology and grow their university programs online.

Siamak Taghaddos, David Hauser

Company: Grasshopper

Age: 29, 29

The numbers: $15million in revenues

Founded by two entrepreneurs, Grasshopper has been making it easier to start and grow a small business since 2003. Since then the company has served over 100,000 entrepreneurs and their small businesses. The company has over 45 employees and was formally known as GotVMail.

Nick Friedman & Omar Soliman

Company: College Hunks Hauling Junk

Age: 27, 27

The numbers: $10M+ in revenues (acquired)

Nick and Omar started a franchise of junk collection and removal from a summer business they had started in 2002. A way to earn some summer income during college turned into a company that has over 38 franchises and 654 employees. The company was acquired by full-service waste management and recycling company 1-800-Junk-USA in August 2011.  These guys can be seen making appearances on ABC’s Shark Tank and Bravo’s Millionaire Matchmaker.

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The following answers are provided by the Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC). Founded by Scott Gerber, the YEC is an invite-only nonprofit organization comprised of the country’s most promising young entrepreneurs.  The YEC promotes entrepreneurship as a solution to youth unemployment and underemployment and provides its members with access to tools, mentorship, and resources that support each stage of a business’s development and growth.

A. The Happiest, Smartest City on Earth

A. Make It Phonetic

Crazy startup names and quirky misspellings have become quite a trend, but it’s frustrating for consumers. No one wants to have to spell out the name of a business every time they talk about it. Make your business name phonetic so that people will be able to Google it from hearing it out loud.

Laura Roeder, LKR

A. Focus on the Product First

Focus on building the best product you can; you can always choose its company name at the end. Don’t waste too much time or get stuck because of the name. Keep building and improving.

Ben Lang, EpicLaunch

A. Read the 22 Immutable Laws of Branding

Read the 22 Immutable Laws of Branding by Al Ries and Laura Ries to get help naming your new company. Remember, with most businesses, generic names are doomed to fail. You want to be as different from your competitors as possible, so as to avoid possible confusion. Finally, before you pull the trigger, ask ten people to spell out your company name and see if they get it right!

Matt Mickiewicz, 99designs

A. Stay Away from Wit

Although you’ll see lots of stores and brands with cheeky, punny names, it is important to stay away from that. This is like getting a tattoo that seems good at the time, but you’ll later regret. Think about some of the leading brands; some of these are simply names or just one bold word. Keep it simple by boiling it down to its essence. Brevity is appealing, profound and confident.

Steven Le Vine, grapevine pr

A. What Do You Do?

Find a name that describes what you do. This way, there’s no question what your company is about. The company name will resonate with people more; they’ll have a much easier time finding you. Keep it simple and be able to express your services in two or three words maximum.

Louis Lautman, Young Entrepreneur Society

A. Get the .com Domain

In the case that you are struggling to come up with a memorable branding identifier, work backwards and start researching domains that may or may not be available. Use a domain suggestion tool like nameboy.com to come up with ideas. From there, pick a strong .com that makes the most sense. Then, brand accordingly.

Logan Lenz, Endagon

A. Can They Remember It?

Tell ten people the name you are considering. A week later, connect with them again and ask them to recall that name. How many people were able to accurately remember it? If it was less than seven, you may want to consider other more memorable alternatives that truly grab people’s attention.

Justin Beck, PerBlue

A. Evaluate the Search Competition

Before you file the paperwork, make sure you’re choosing a name that’s unique enough to come up on top of search results when someone Googles you. You don’t want to fight for the top as “Creative Industries LLC.” And an added bonus, a unique company name will make it easier to monitor for mentions of your company in social media and engage with your community.

Allie Siarto, Loudpixel

A. Don’t Get Sued over Sloppy Seconds

In the naming stage, you do not want to select a name that you may have to change later or, even worse, get sued for, because someone else has a registered trademark on the word or phrase. This can be easily be avoided by visiting the federal patent and trademark office’s site, USPTO.gov, and doing a search on any potential names.

Nick Cronin, ExpertBids.com

A. Crowdsource Your Ideas

Come up with some ideas on your own, but also enlist friends, family and other folks in the industry to come up with something unique and memorable. You could also turn to social networks to get other people’s opinions and ideas. Don’t forget to check if the domain name is available, too!

Heather Huhman, Come Recommended

A. Say It Out Loud!

Sometimes you come up with a name that looks great when written down, inspires a visual brand and makes for a snappy domain where the .com is still available. But how does it sound when you say it out loud? Do you feel proud and cool saying it or do you feel slightly embarrassed? You’re going to be using it a lot when you launch, so make sure it’s something that works well verbally.

Lea Woodward, Inspiring Ventures

A. It Doesn’t Matter!

The name of your company doesn’t matter. Yahoo? Google? Woot? Amazon? Zappos? Gatorade? Nike? These names don’t typically mean anything and the majority of them are made up. The key is to market your company well, reinforce your branding everywhere and try to do something unique and memorable. The more people see your name, the easier it is to remember it.

Jason Sadler, IWearYourShirt.com

A. Pick Something Versatile and Memorable

Choosing a startup name can be tricky, because chances are that the business you start today is not the business you’ll have three years from now. Think of companies like Yahoo and Google, who have evolved their products and offerings. Their company names still apply, and are both memorable enough to stick.

Nathalie Lussier, Nathalie Lussier Media

Are you reading this while wearing a bedazzled Ed Hardy t-shirt? Is your ensemble rounded out with an airbrushed trucker hat perched atop a majestic mullet? If so, you might suffer from Style Blindness (SB), a type of trend disorder. While you should definitely see a doctor about that, your problem with trends doesn’t have to affect your business decisions. Like the world of fashion, the business world has trends of its own – and staying ahead of those trends means the difference between looking like a business maverick and well, just looking like an outdated idiot. What changes can you expect to see in the business world this year? Use these 12 predictions to stay ahead of the curve.

1. Big business starts to socialize. Mitt Romney isn’t the only one who wants you to think of corporations as people. The corporations themselves want to get personal, and in 2012 they’ll be using social media networks to do it. Get ready for requests from corporate giants like Walmart on your Twitter and Facebook, and expect to see a change in the way these giants interact with their consumers online. With Occupy protestors calling attention to economic inequality and corporate greed, companies will create personal connections with consumers, partly in an attempt to manage their reputations. They’ll nix the business-speak and create conversations instead of sales pitches.

2. Younger entrepreneurs take the stage. Like the future of the Twilight saga, the future of the global economy is uncertain. Asking when and how the economy will improve is almost like asking what will become of the Cullen clan – no one knows. That uncertainty is causing young people to break out of traditional molds. They know the business world is changing, and they’ve not afraid to adapt. Instead of taking the reins at Dad’s auto shop or accounting firm, they’ll continue to go into business for themselves, forming cutting-edge start-ups and changing the face of small business in the process.

3. Social media works better. Business appraisers are starting to truly understand social media, and they’re now much better at determining which strategies will result in a profit and which will be a waste of time. As a result, social media practices are becoming more and more structured around actual ROI. Instead of constantly spamming consumers with emails and excessive tweets, businesses will slow down and focus on quality content that actually leads to sales instead of headaches.

4. Businesses go mobile. Which members of N*SYNC were originally part of the Mickey Mouse Club? When important questions like these come up in conversation, all you need to do is whip out your smartphone and do a quick search for the answer. When you need to find a pizza shop, tow truck or repair man you probably do the same thing. Smart phones make it easy for us to Google on the go, and brands are finding ways to adapt. Businesses who want to stop you from stumbling onto a competitor’s contact info are creating vanity numbers that customers can easily recall. These 1-800 numbers are a traditional business tool that will see a surge in popularity as mobile culture grows in 2012.

5. Green gets greener. Consumers are getting smarter. Brands that try to cash in on the green trend without truly upholding environmental standards aren’t going to get away with it anymore. In 2012, many new and existing companies will adopt green practices, but we’ll also see some companies get called out on their false claims and misleading marketing. Green will actually get greener, because these businesses will find they can no longer fake it.

6. Health insurance shrinks business size. New insurance regulations and systems will provide insurance for the self-employed that is more accessible than ever before. Workers who had previously relied on company benefits packages at jobs they didn’t enjoy will now be able to afford to go it alone, and you can expect a lot of people to seize the opportunity this year. Businesses that want to cut rising health care costs will keep their workforce as small as possible and employ independent contractors whenever they can.

7. It’s an app world. When’s the last time you checked your Words With Friends score? Five minutes ago? Ten? If you find yourself slightly obsessed with your mobile apps, you’re not alone. Think about Angry Birds – the mobile game is so wildly popular that you can now find Angry Birds toys, school supplies and even clothing. Businesses see our app obsession as a valuable marketing opportunity. That’s why you can expect to see an influx in corporate apps this year, from the useful to the downright silly.

8. Retirees reenter the workforce. A lot of baby boomers who thought they had it made are now finding that their savings alone can’t sustain them through retirement. Grandpa knows his job options don’t begin and end with “Walmart greeter,” and he’ll be looking to apply his skills and experience at a job he can enjoy. Watch for workplace dynamics and demographics to shift as retirees reenter the workforce and apply their traditional knowledge and insight to new business systems.

9. Daily deal sites cater to you. Sites like Groupon and LivingSocial experienced wild popularity last year, but consumers are growing tired of the flood of emails. More, they’re annoyed by all these deals that have nothing to do with them (laser liposuction, really?) The sites are evolving into something more customizable, like the system you’ll find on BigTip, the new deal site that allows customers to search through thousands of deals by category. This system will also pay off for business owners. They’re just not equipped to deal with a flood of customers who try to redeem their coupons all at once.

10. Target demographics shift. The largest population demographic is made up of people 85 and older. Though many brands pander to the young and hip, businesses will begin to shift their focus to this much larger age group instead. Pay close attention and you’ll see a change in marketing strategies everywhere. Does this mean advertisers will finally stop slapping the buzzword “extreme” on everything from deodorant to cheese puffs? That would be such a welcome change, wouldn’t it?

11. Businesses focus on the local. In a world where we’re constantly inundated with newsletters and pop-up ads, consumers yearn for that personal touch. They’re reaching out to find a real sense of community, and businesses are hoping to meet them halfway. From children’s sports team sponsorships to non-profit fundraisers, we’ll see more businesses getting involved on the local level.

12. Everyone gets an online shop. From bill paying to gift buying, consumers are more comfortable with online shopping than ever before. Smart business owners will get in on the action in an attempt to get their hands on all those digital dollars. While giants like eBay and Amazon will stay strong, you can expect surprising new players to enter the field. The boutique down the street will create an online catalog featuring their vintage dress collection, and your local grocery store could even start taking delivery orders online. Consumers will start making more of their formerly “in-store” transactions online instead.

Style blindness is the rarest of medical conditions: an illness that actually is a laughing matter. But while you might require a one-on-one consultation with Dr. Tim Gunn to talk you out of those Crocs, remember this: you have the power to prevent your horrible fashion sense fashion from affecting your business decisions. Keep these trends in mind and you’ll be sure to stay ahead of your competitors in 2012. Sure, they might look a little more GQ at the marketing conference, but your profits will say what a million tailored suits can’t – that when it comes to business, you’re a true trendsetter.

Perry Sheraw is the founder and executive vice president of eBusiness Appraisals. She is a dedicated business owner advocate with a mission to ensure all business owners have access to critical information in order to make the right choices and achieve the highest possible value from their life’s work.

Beatrice L., Concord, NHThe following answers are provided by the Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC). Founded by Scott Gerber, the YEC is an invite-only nonprofit organization comprised of the country’s most promising young entrepreneurs.  The YEC promotes entrepreneurship as a solution to youth unemployment and underemployment and provides its members with access to tools, mentorship, and resources that support each stage of a business’s development and growth.

A. Fear of Judgement

I launched my first business in college. At first my friends thought I was weird. In order to get over this fear of being judged, I surrounded myself with people who would support me whether my business succeeded or failed. This gave me the room to build a business without worrying about what my peers were thinking. These supporters were a key in building my business into what is is today.

Nick Reese, Microbrand Media

A. Unrelenting Debt

When I founded my publishing company as as teen I turned to family and friends of family to raise capital. It was terrifying to think about how much money I owed to people I cared about. But it was also extremely motivating. Each night I went to sleep thinking of new ways to generate income and each day I hit the streets running. If viewed constructively, fear can be an excellent fuel for success.

Kent Healy, The Uncommon Life 

A. What if I Get Sick?

I have a chronic illness, and I was very concerned about not having any stable healthcare when I launched my business. After meditating on my decision to pursue my venture, I realized that there would always be excuses not to work for myself. I had faith in my own abilities and thought that things would naturally work out over time. It did for me and will for you.

Eric Bahn, Beat The GMAT

A. No adoption

Before launching my education startup I was worried it wouldn’t be adopted by students. After dedicating so much time to building our product I didn’t want it to launch and risk no one using it. I worried that way for quite a while and was only relieved when students began to use and it continued growing.

Ben Lang, MySchoolHelp

A. Am I Too Young?

When I was starting my business during university, I had so many people say, “You’re pretty young, shouldn’t you go work for a company for awhile?” These naysayers caused me to really doubt myself and question whether I was too young to be taken seriously in business. I finally came to realize that age really is nothing but a number and it would only be an obstacle if I made it an obstacle.

Natalie MacNeil, She Takes on the World

A. Instability and the Unknown

The greatest fear I had when starting my business was the instability of it all. The lack of revenue and not knowing whether I would be able to make ends meet. After bootstrapping and eating pasta for many months, persistence paid off and my fear passed.

Zach Cutler, Cutler Group

A. Was I Making the Right Choice?

I quit my full time job at Ernst & Young to start my company. I had my mom yelling at me every day to get a real job. “What are you crazy?” was all I ever heard — even after I had quit my job. But ultimately, I trusted myself, my vision and what we were going to offer the world. If you believe strongly in what you do, it’ll help you push past the fears.

Adam Gilbert, My Body Tutor

A. Lack of Education, Experience and Training

In the beginning, I was worried about not having all of the skills and experience I needed before launch. I overcame this by simply starting with what I had and learning along the way. Business planning is needed, but the process of doing is the only way of conquering the fear of “starting.”

Lucas Sommer, Audimated

A. A Black Hole in My Bank Account

My biggest fears were about money. Could I survive on my own? What if I went for six months without earning any income, and I ended up in debt, foreclosed on and feeling like a giant failure? I had a six-figure salary (that came with endless perks), so I was terrified to leave my job. I conquered the fear by reminding myself, “If not now, when?” and “What will I regret more, leaving or staying?”

Jenny Blake, Life After College

A. Cold Calling Chills

I started my business by cold calling real estate agents to find ways to help them. Each day on the phone was a brutal, painful experience. Over time, I became numb to the rejection and I realized that each ‘no’ is simply one step closer to a ‘yes.’

Andy Drish, Referral Squirrel