Entrepreneurs create jobs, and they achieve the American dream — financial independence. However, having an idea doesn’t make you an entrepreneur. Taking an idea and turning it into a profitable business is the definition of an entrepreneur.

The decision to start a business was a big one for me, and I’m very passionate about it. I know that sacrifices will have to be made, relationships may become strained, and free time might become non-existent. So when approaching my potential partner, I needed for both of us to be sure that this would be a good fit.

Let’s face it, most tax tips are either really time consuming to understand or hard to implement. Here is one that isn’t. And, as an added bonus, it can help you get credit for your business later too.

College is a great place to learn how to work hard, party hard, and make friends–but not as much about the business world, because business in the real world is about experience, confidence, and the network you build. Here are 8 business rules you didn’t learn in college.

Part of what makes my new job such a blast is that I’m helping define the company, its culture, its brand, and ultimately its success. Except for maybe one night a week when I wake up in a cold sweat, dreaming about how the company failed and it’s all my fault.

My long weekend trip found me faced with a town full of businesses that seemed to care not at all about creating customers. Or keeping the customers they had.

Be prepared: This post is designed to get you thinking differently about your business and your life. Your ego is guaranteed to raise objections to this type of thinking. As those objections surface, write them down, and consider how you can overcome them as you give this advice a try.

Maintaining a core value of “listening to our customers” is trendy among companies big and small. But it’s harder than it seems. Albert Wenger absolutely nails it in this post about why listening to customers is hard, hard, hard.

When you run your own business there is no-one telling you what to do nor how to do it; there’s no-one nagging you to work on your client pipeline nor telling to you get off Facebook and go do some work. There is no-one streamlining your processes nor checking the quality of your output.

So what is SmartyPig you ask? Well, simply put, SmartyPig helps you save for specific goals in your life. Be it a vacation, a wedding, a big-screen TV, a home remodel, etc… Anything! It’s the only banking application that is truly social, allowing you to make your goal “public” so your mom, dad, family and friends can contribute to your interest bearing savings goals.