The Stars Will Never Align

*I am on a email list for Go Big Network and wanted to send you some helpful information for starting and owning your own business. This is one of their Funding Tips series.

GoBigNetwork

Business Funding Series:
You're Already Ready

Entrepreneurs often ask themselves when the right time to start a company might be. They hang around waiting for the stars to align, for their moment of inspiration to hit, and for their career to prepare them for something big.

Well I have some bad news for you. The stars will never align. The brilliant flash will probably never come, and nothing you will learn or do working for someone else will make you more ready to start your own company.

Now here's the good news – none of that matters. The truth is that you're already ready. There's absolutely nothing to hold out for in order to start your company. You really just need to get off your butt and get started. If you still aren't convinced, and think you've got a few more excuses under your belt, let's get rid of those right here and now.

You don't need more education

No matter what you're about to learn in school (short of becoming a surgeon) it's not going to make a lick of difference in starting your company. Sure, you may learn how basic accounting and bookkeeping works, but who cares?

You're not going to do so much revenue in your first year that your bookkeeping skills are going to make or break you. Even if you do, you can hire a professional bookkeeper for peanuts and never think about it again.

Anything you don't know now you can either figure out when you need to or find someone else that knows the answer. More importantly, there isn't a class in any school's catalog that will teach you how to take huge risks and always succeed. You'll learn more in your first year of running a business than you will in your undergraduate and MBA tenure combined.

Highlighted Ethiopian Centers and Foundations

I have been having a great time interviewing Ethiopian centers and foundations for presentation in the upcoming year. I am amazed at the stories I have heard so far. You are going to enjoy hearing about these organizations in the trenches of non-profit battlegrounds. They are leading the way, throughout the United States, in humanitarian work, while they all hold full time jobs and some with families. Below are a list of candidates for the interview series (note there is no specific order to the list). Here's the line up:

• Ethiopian Community Center in Sacramento (ECCS)
• Ethiopian Dream Center (EDC)
• Wegene Ethiopian Foundation (WEF)
• Kidmia Foundation
• Ethiopian American Foundation
• The Praxis Ethiopia Foundation
• Marium Orthodox Church's Center

*Presentations will be featured on The Ethiopian Foundation's website.

The Ethiopian Foundation

The Ethiopian Foundation is here! As a result of contributions, hard work and great friends, TEF can continue it's work in helping Ethiopians abroad and coming in 2011, those here in the United States. This has been a dream for along time and it's exciting to see it take fruitation. My next goal is to give TEF the wings it needs to become large enough to take on its own entity, becoming self sustaining. The members of TEF want to build a connection between the work in Ethiopia to the Ethiopian community in the states. Here are our priorities:


The Ethiopian Foundation:

• Providing Scholarships
• Integrative Education and Training
• Crisis Intervention

We will keep you updated on our progress in the weeks to come.
All the best and Happy Holidays,
Our Trip to Ethiopia &
The Ethiopian Foundation

*We will be presenting the a Center in Sacramento as the next highlighted organization for the month of December.

Fundraising Efforts for OTTE

For the month of December we will be be interviewing different organizations who are helping the poor and needy. I wanted to start with "Our Trip to Ethiopia" (OTTE). OTTE is now incorporated under a new name. I will give more detail at the launch date. Until then, we have started our fundraising efforts for next years projected date for delivering funds to the children of Ethiopia. Hopefully, next year will bring more opportunity to help Ethiopian families here in the states.

We started our fundraising efforts using this blog as a voice to our humanitarian work, documentation for giving and encouragement for others to do the same. It's about finding your own voice and making a difference. This year is a new challenge as we have moved. I have been researching new ideas and prospects for raising donations. For now I came up with the idea of winter scarves that I started crocheting in October. I made 10 and they were all sold in one day. I am so happy but have to make 10 more to replace by Christmas, for my original targeted customers. I will be able to make it so I am not worried. I will be shipping them next week. I wish sooner but I want them to be quality work. I will probably sell more after the holidays. You can see a sample of a few below.

Funny I never thought I crocheted well enough to sell. I used to have heart disease that kept me in the hospital for two months, when I was a 11 years old. A nurse taught me how to crochet and the first thing I made was a yellow and green blanket. I rarely crochet now and picked it up as I had an eagerness to make something. I started with one scarf and couldn't stop. Ideas and creations continue to fill my mind. I want to start knitting also. I am a little rusty but inspired. Who would have known, hidden talent so small could help make a difference?