Yep, you read that number right.  It wasn't $150.  It was actually at LEAST $150,000 of 'guaranteed money'.  A term I spent my entire lifetime thinking was the end all, be all.

You see, I quit my job thinking I had this entrepreneurship thing down, and the typical rules of an entrepreneur wouldn't apply to me.  I knew what I was doing and because I had done it before, it would all come easy.  Well, reality set in, and although I'm making major progress, it wasn't major enough.  It wasn't fast enough.  It just wasn't enough, and I went into scarcity mode.

I was offered a pretty awesome opportunity.  Contracting at a company just a few miles from my house for at least 6 months, and going back to the old life and what I knew well.  I knew if I took this, life would get hectic, but I knew I could do hectic.  I had made a life out of doing hectic. I imagined the money this would allow me to pour into my business, the help I could hire,...

Kristi was introduced to the retail world out of college.  In the past 11 years, she has worked in various aspects of the business, but has remained in the corporate world.  In the past 3 years she had been doing consulting, and had to do a lot of traveling.  It was when she was going to a yoga retreat, she was frustrated when she had to stuff items into a smaller suitcase.  She realized the clothes she had weren't really versatile. She then came up with her first design.  

When you start in an industry that you don't have a lot of experience in, where do you go?  There wasn't a lot of resources for Kristi because it's a very closed lip community.  She joined a fashion incubator and started researching.  They had a great library, and she took an illustration and sewing course.  She started learning and up-leveling her skills.  

She just dug a lot and kept searching and continued to find the answers.

How are you working this retail...

Andrea Travillian of Take a Smart Step is back to bring more great advice for those want to be entrepreneurs getting ready to take that huge leap of faith.  Today we're talking the Top 5 Tips to set up your business financially.  Make sure you're protecting yourself, and making the 

1. Select a Legal Structure - When you pick a legal structure, every single structure has a different way of how you're going to track your business financially.  An LLC will record your finances very differently than an S-Corp.  

This is going to be something you definitely want to discuss with your accountant and attorney to really determine what's going to be the best for you.

2. Figure Out Which Software You're Going to Use to Track Your Finances - The one most commonly known is Quickbooks.  You can do an online version or you can download it to your computer.  The data then is all yours, and on your desktop.  Quickbooks is really easy to use, and you don't...

Megan Flatt has always been an entrepreneur.  She went from first a personal trainer, and then moved to a business consulting job.  After she had her son, she was traveling a lot and wanted to scale back.  She wanted to make things a little easier so went back to personal training.  She was working exclusively with soon to be or new moms.  What she found was they were talking so much about the cross roads these women were in.  Many of them were coming from corporate background and were trying to decide if they should stay home or continue to work.  

Megan talked a lot about being able to be present for their kids, but also find a way to start their business, where they could bring in money and flex their brain muscles.

How did you transition from personal trainer to this new business?  She was working at a gym and was having to leave her son behind.  So she started exploring having an online business.  Her natural move, because of...

Chandra has always had the entrepreneurial spirit.  She started her current business, after what she felt like was a failure.  She had a product that had been approved to be in Neiman Marcus.  It was at that moment where she felt that her heart wasn't in it, so she stopped the business.

She then moved to Moxie Moguls with the idea she could help and consult with people to help them stop feeling overwhelmed in their business.  Her business model ended up being mostly consulting.  She decided in order to be able to leverage herself more and help other people, she needs to putting together a podcast, and some courses.

Chandra also has a business called Photogher and it helps people build and start their photography business.  She also helps people who learn how to take better pictures.  Chandra is also a mom who is giving home schooling a try.  She had never imagined being the stay at home/home schooling mom, but she's having to find her...

Tom used to work for the subway system in New York for 13 years.  After becoming frustrated with bureaucracy and politics,   he had an ah-ha moment when he realized his bosses weren’t living the life that he wanted, but instead it was the business owners who were.  So he started to look at franchises because essentially they were businesses with training wheels and that was really what he needed at that moment; training wheels.

He contacted FranChoice and matched him to a franchise which was a smoothie and coffee franchise.  He built it into 3 locations in less than five years, then sold it and semi-retired at 41 years old.  FranChoice had him come on board, and help people to figure out if Franchising is the right choice.

What are some things I need to look into to make sure that I’m investing in the right franchise?  There are no rules or regulations or laws that dictate if it’s a franchise or not.  There is, however,...

Talk about a feel good story of just helping people, and making a business out of it!  It in The D is one of those.  Bob and his friends wanted to find a networking group where they could meet like-minded IT people.  When they failed to fall upon one, they decided to start their own. 

IT in The D is now over 5,000 members, has a podcast with almost 2 million downloads, and they have helped over 1,000 people find jobs.  Not bad for just wanting to network.  Their company continues to evolve in more of a pull versus push fashion, and they're doing great things for the IT industry in Detroit.  

It started when Bob and two of his friends got together and started a networking meeting where no MLM'ers were allowed, and they just wanted, good solid networking to take place.  They made it a goal to really police the people coming so it was quality people.  

When the economy tanked just a bit they decided to have an alternative to the...

If you’re anything like me, I thought I knew a little bit about branding, but I really couldn’t tell you what it truly meant.  It seems now days everyone and their mom is a branding expert.  However, I wanted to bring Dacia on to get the lowdown of what it really means to create your brand, and how this can be applied to a new business.

Dacia is a B2B marketing strategist and helps companies make sure their marketing efforts line up with their brand efforts.  So much of the research of businesses is all done online now.  It’s all about how people understand you.  However, that brand needs to move your sales cycle forward.  Your brand has to have a job that at the end of the day means more clients and more money for you.

When it comes to your brand, what does that really mean?  Simply put, your brand is your truth.  It’s what is true about you, about how you interact with your customers and your employees, and about how...

Carol Sankar is the ultimate entrepreneur, and she juggles more in a day than most do in a decade.  She’s a Mom, Real Estate Investor,  Author, Speaker, and Business Consultant, to name a few.  She started as an unhappy law student back in 2001, and she knew she had to do something that was going to make her happy.  After a layoff, she realized she didn’t want to be disposable, and wanted to do things that she actually wanted to do.

Her first business was in her living room in New York.  After hustling and building her business, she took an interest in real estate.  She ended up moving to North Carolina, and she has evolved into business consulting.  She saw people doing business in more of fantasy than profitable. 

How did you start structuring your first deals in real estate?  She has tried it all.  However, as she got started in the entrepreneur world, she came down to North Carolina to keep a friend company. ...

Cynthia of Oh So Pinteresting is the go to expert on using Pinterest for your business, so I was beyond thrilled when she agreed to come on and tell us some tips and tricks for using it.  I am in love with the social media site for my personal use, but I have struggled to figure out a way to use it for my business outside of recipes and basic crafts and products.

Cynthia gave some awesome tips, and some ah-ha moments for really being able to utilize this site to grow your business.  

How exactly can you use Pinterest if your business doesn't revolve around food, crafts, or products?  If you have a business and are offering info, then people will find it interesting.  The key is to have content or images to share on Pinterest on a regular basis that people will find attractive and share on their own boards. Pinterest really revolves around your interests, and that's what it's about, bringing the stuff that interests you, all in one place.   

Are there...