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We all know that entrepreneurs find opportunity where others see only roadblocks. Sometimes those roadblocks are legal in nature. But from Prohibition to today’s ban on the sale of raw milk, enterprising small business owners have found a way to operate on the periphery—and some are even inspired by it. Lou Waddle uses his Chicago bar’s illicit history as a speakeasy as a marketing tool. Leon Rainbow sells his graffiti, an art form defined by its illegality, to corporate and government clients. And Kevin Mitnick used his skills as a hacker to transform himself from a jailbird into an international security consultant. These entrepreneurs have emerged from the underground to flourish in the mainstream. Read full story:

Technorati Tags: Business Week, Amy S. Choi, entrepreneurs, Lou Waddle, Leon Rainbow, Kevin Mitnick, Green Door Tavern, Mitnick Security Consulting, business, NCET, Nevada’s Center for Entrepreneurship and Technology

Lynn Jurich was flying from Hong Kong to Shanghai when a flight attendant told passengers to “look outside at the clear skies.” What Jurich saw disturbed her greatly: a blanket of gray smog. “It kind of hit me right then and there that this is a real issue. This is our Earth,” she says, adding that she decided that it’s “my responsibility as a business person to try to solve these problems.”

When she was at Stanford pursuing her MBA, Jurich and a classmate founded SunRun. The start-up pays homeowners to have solar panels installed and then signs the customers up for long-term contracts to buy solar power at fixed prices. “So they get benefits for the environment, benefit on a monthly savings, and they get to lock that rate in for the next 20 years,” Jurich explains. Her big goal: Displace half of the $150 billion annual residential electricity market with solar power over the next two years. Read full story:

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Bill Shander knows perfectly well how to start a business. Shander opened Chelmsford (Mass.)-based Beehive Media 15 years ago, and the six-employee, $3 million Web design group now boasts clients such as PricewaterhouseCoopers and the University of Chicago. But last year, when he started exploring the idea of a venture that would allow people to merge their online and offline identities, yet control the information available about them, Shander suddenly had the sense he was entering foreign territory. He had plenty of experience launching a services company, but "I never did a startup where we launched our own product," he says."It’s a whole different beast." And one that he could use some help taming.

An inexperienced entrepreneur might logically have turned to a business incubator for help. Surprisingly, that was the best route for Shander, too. Most incubators require a major time commitment or even a residency—a dealbreaker for someone who already has one business to run. But the Founder Institute was different. The institute, which calls itself an equity exchange program, provides online access to mentors and workshops for those who can’t come to its San Francisco offices. Shander enrolled as soon as the institute opened in June and is planning a soft launch of his company, Buzub, by yearend. "This experience has made me a better businessperson all around," says Shander. "And that is something I didn’t expect."  Read full story:

Technorati Tags: Anne Field, Business Week, Lizzie Roberts, Bill Shander, Beehive Media, Business incubators, Founder Institute, Buzub,Dinah Adkins, National Business Incubation Assn., entrepreneurs, business, NCET, Nevada’s Center for Entrepreneurship and Technology

Most of us look forward to unwelcome change in our lives with the same level of enthusiasm we feel when anticipating a visit to the dentist. For business owners, the alternative to embracing timely change in the face of shifting business conditions may well be described as a lost opportunity to make the necessary changes that will allow a business to survive and possibly prosper.

Because consumer tastes and preferences shift with the winds of economic and social change, business owners need to continually adapt and refine the value proposition offered by their company’s products and services. This process of reinventing yourself is a vital part of business survival in challenging economic times. The “hesitation cost” of not revamping a company value proposition is often not only a lack of sales, but the elimination of future strategic options that might have been available from a more stable revenue stream.

A company’s value proposition describes how the company will attract consumers and convince them to make a purchase. Features such as price, shape, color, packaging, quality, store location, the buying experience and many other factors, including product benefits, make up a value proposition. As consumer tastes and preferences shift, the business value proposition must also shift to reflect the new and current profile of consumer needs. Read full story:

Technorati Tags: Northern Nevada Business Weekly, Dennis Wengert, U.S. Small Business Administration, business, NCET, Nevada’s Center for Entrepreneurship and Technology

The Nevada Institute for Renewable Energy Commercialization, a nonprofit headquartered at Incline Village, is accepting proposals for development and commercialization of clean energy innovations. NIREC provides funding up to $100,000 for technology development and pre-commercialization activities and an additional $50,000 in business planning assistance.

For details, see www.nirec.org/nov09funding.html.

Technorati Tags: Northern Nevada Business Weekly, Nevada Institute for Renewable Energy Commercialization, business, NCET, Nevada’s Center for Entrepreneurship and Technology