Virtually Yours Personal Assistants

While no one can deny the value of education, one should never use a lack of education as an excuse to defer a dream. Here’s an inspirational list of folks who didn’t receive their parchment but are still making paper!

Dave Thomas - High School Dropout, 15 - Thomas’s first job in the restaurant industry was at the age of 12 as a counterman. After a volunteer stint in the US Army he went to work with Col. Sanders and turned four failing KFC stores into million dollar successes. With the money he made there, he went on to open his first Wendys Old Fashioned Hamburgers. Wendy’s became the third most successful burger chain in the US.

Richard Branson - High School dropout, 15 - Branson made his first successful stint in entrepreneurship when he published Student magazine at the ripe old age of 15. His next venture was a record mail-order business in 1970 which evolved into a chain of record stores known as Virgin Megastores. The Virgin brand is now made up of over 350 companies including Virgin Records, Virgin Atlantic Airways, and Virgin Galactic.

Simon Cowell - College Dropout - Best know as one of the American Idol judges, Cowell’s career in music began in the mailroom at EMI Music Publishing. Several promotions, several companies, and a few failed ventures later, Cowell was able to combine his knowledge to successfully launch Syco Music Publishing, promote a number of recording artists, and several television franchises.

Peter Jennings - High School dropout, 10th grade - Jennings, the son of a radio broadcaster, started his career at the age of 9 hosting a Saturday morning kids radio show. After a short career as a bank teller, Jennings ventured back into broadcasting as a newscaster at a local radio station. By the age of 26, Jennings became to this day the youngest ever network news anchor. His career with ABC News would span 40 years.

John Mackey - Three time College Dropout - After dropping out, Mackey started a vegetarian health food store, with an initial investment of $45,000 borrowed from friends and family. After a slow start, he merged with a natural food store. This investment led to the country’s first supermarket style natural food store. The store which started in Austin, TX now has over 270 locations in the US, Canada, and the UK

Bill Gates - College Dropout - The chairman of the Microsoft Corporation and ranked the richest person in the world for the  last 12 years, Gates is one of the best-known entrepreneurs of the computer revolution.

The lesson to be learned from these famous dropouts is that dedication and hard work, whether in school or in the school of hard knocks, is vital in pursuing your passion and achieving your dreams.

The home business owner - or the business owner who has not yet secured a bricks and mortar location - is often hesitant about using their home address on business correspondence. Whether your address is very ordinary (142 Family Circle) or elite (1600 Pennsylvania Avenue) , most business owners would like to avoid any chance of a curious client, junk mail, or (gasp!) a salesperson appearing at their front door.

There is of course the option of renting a PO Box from your local post office. It’s inexpensive and you even have the option of having your mail forwarded to your home.

For those who want an address that is not as nondiscript or who feel their clients will be turned off by a business without a street address, there are yet other options.

For a few more dollars, UPS Stores and other private mailbox companies offer secure personal mailboxes with a real street address and “suite” number to give you the big business feel you want to project. They will even sign for packages on your behalf. 

Many counties have small business assistance and economic development offices that offer mailbox rentals to local business owners. For example, the Howard County EDA in Maryland offers this option along a library, conference rooms, business counseling, and training. Contact your local economic development or SCORE office to find out if options like these are available in your area.

Business cards to brochures, sales letters to business forms, budgets to invoices. As a business owner, there are a number of standard documents you know you’ll need to have on hand and a few you may have never thought about.  Save yourself some time and effort by starting with a template. Here are a few resources:

HP - This site offers a number of well designed, customizable templates for creating marketing materials, newsletters, and business forms.

Microsoft - Need a customer database? a sales presentation? a collections letter? Microsoft has it all. You can search by template or product to find the template you need.

Entrepreneur Assist - This site offers many great documents needed for day to day operations. Also included with your free membership is an online planner, web conferencing, and a tool to organize you favorite entrepreneur.com articles.