The Power of Cash Flow Management

Found a really amazing story about an entrepreneur of sorts in New Jersey via TiredbutHappy blog. The original story in the Philadelphia Inquirer is here. It really shows the power of conserving cash as a core principle. From the original story.

Paul Navone worked in mills in and around Vineland for 62 years, never earning more than $11 an hour. He buys his clothes in thrift shops. He doesn’t own a phone. And he doesn’t have a TV: The last thing he recalls watching was Neil Armstrong walking on the moon in 1969.

Yet through a combination of frugal living and smart, disciplined investing, the 78-year-old retiree from nearby Millville was able to give $1 million to Cumberland County College last month.

And on Wednesday, at a gala to honor major donors, Navone was recognized for a $1 million gift to St. Augustine College Preparatory School in Richland, Atlantic County.

Belmont Entrepreneurship Program Wins Award

Belmont University in Tennessee, where Jeff Cornwall teaches and blogs out of, has just been named ‘model’ undergraduate entrepreneurship program by US Association for Small Business and Entrepreneurship. Here is the blog post from Jeff. I don’t know much about the school or the program, but Jeff is one of the best writers out there on entrepreneurship and entrepreneurship programs.

Interview with Tim Berry

Found a nice interview with Tim Berry at his blog. Last week I recommended his article/book on planning as you go. Well, here is the audio version in the form of a podcast by SmallBizPod. (btw, he did this interview/podcast in London at a ‘rather nice’ Bloomsbury Hotel — about a block from where I lived when I attended the University of London’s School of Oriental & African Studies. Very cool urban campus environment)

Again, Tim is focused on the ‘living document’ with built in check ins and metrics. Also - always pay attention to cash flow. Great little analogy of a map vs navigating.

Its interesting to hear about Tim’s background/career development as a journalist turned MBA turned software entrepreneur/writer/blogger.

New Site for Web Journalism Biz

Found this story over at Mac Slocum’s Indie Publisher Blog. According to Mac, “Paul Bradshaw’s new site, JournalismEnterprise.com, is a great gap-filler in the Web journalism world.”

From Journalism Enterprise,

Journalism Enterprise.com reviews websites that are attempting to make money from journalism in the new media age. That may be a mainstream organisation launching a new media spin-off, an internet startup looking to make millions, a non-profit news venture, or an entrepreneur setting up a solo project.

Media startups have long come off of campus as students are often the first to pick up on lifestyle trends. Mental Floss Magazine is one that recently came out of Duke University. Though it did not start online to the best of my knowledge.

Its the Students Stupid!

There are many reasons that we are seeing more and more students becoming entrepreneurs on campus. Changes in the economy and technology as well as increased offerings of entrepreneurship classes are major influences.

The growth of higher education — the campus as market — is another reason. There are just more and more opportunities in and around the university in America as the scope (in all ways) of higher education expands. Here is an article from the Economist — Just Add Cash; the expanding American University.

The Department of Education estimates that American high schools pumped out 3,176,000 seniors in 2006, up 26% from 1995. Consequently, university enrolments swelled 24% during the same period and are projected to rise another 13% by 2015. Naturally, the universities need places to house and teach all these new students. According to the National Science Foundation, American academic institutions began constructing 10.2m square feet of new scientific research space in 2004-05

But with more students entering university, there are also more desirable applicants, a fact that encourages universities to try and expand the number of highly qualified students they can attract. New student amenities and labs help universities outdo each other. The competition for prestige, in the form of top students, prominent faculty members and grant money, is intense: it can also get remarkably petty. Last year the Dallas Morning News reported that Baylor University increased the height of its planned rock-climbing wall from 41 to 52 feet after learning that Texas A&M University’s was 44 feet. Then the University of Houston built a climbing wall that was 53 feet high, and even that was later surpassed by the University of Texas at San Antonio.