The Trump Blog

When people start businesses, they often hire staff when needed, where needed, with no strategic plan in place. Sometimes they are lucky and it works. But more often than not, it wastes money and hobbles the startup, as these typical scenarios show:

Ready, aim . . . wait! A software developer sits at her computer for more than a year, developing a product that she plans to bring to market. Finally, the product is ready, so she dashes out and starts looking for a marketing consultant. Two months later, she finds one. But during that time, she is not making any sales and her competitors are developing new products of their own.

Well, I needed her . . . last month! An entrepreneur who is launching a wine distribution company hires a full-time assistant to handle his travel plans, meetings with investors and office set-up. Her presence helps him whittle down his workload, but when he needs funds to hire a sales staff ASAP, his "necessary" assistant suddenly starts to look like an extravagance.

So you should expect things like that to happen in a startup, right? No, wrong! You can take preventive steps to be sure you hire the right people at the right time, strategically:

• Write your own job description first. If you are as smart as the software developer we mention above, you probably believe that you can do it all. You can develop and package your product, market it, sell it and keep it updated. Well, you can't do all those things. Write a job description in which you realistically lay out your "deliverables," meaning what you can do every week, every month, every quarter and every year. This job description keeps you accountable and serves as a yardstick for measuring your progress. It also helps you identify areas where you need assistance - and areas where you don't belong. In a startup, it is deadly and wasteful for people to be tripping over each other.
• Then write job descriptions for the other people you will hire. Don't think that a list of titles ("head of sales" and "office manager") will cover these bases. Unless write down the specific tasks that each team member will handle for you ("preparation of payroll"), you will leave bases uncovered. For example, we know one company where the owner forgot that he needed someone to answer the phones! Don't let that happen to you.
• Plan to start small. Don't hire too early and squander your limited resources. Remember, you can start out with consultants or advisors for marketing, technology and other responsibilities. You can hire part-timers, temps and others per-hour employees too, until your company income lets you expand.
• Hire to meet the big milestones you'll achieve this year, next year and beyond. Do you need a marketer to produce a marketing plan for you by next January, for example, and then a technology person to set up a fully functioning Internet retailing operation by next March? Whatever your goals are, write them down. If you do, you are more likely to succeed than if you just try to keep them in mind.

As you move from being a solopreneurship to an entrepreneurship, you need to build a staff of people who cover all the important functions and perform as a team. Don't, like many first-time entrepreneurs, hire haphazardly. Making the right hiring decisions, at the right times, can be the foundation of your success.

Beth Polish is professor for The Entrepreneurship Mastery Programat Trump University. Ms. Polish, who received her MBA from Harvard Business School, has held senior management positions in diverse industries including media, finance, private investment and technology. She serves on the National Advisory Board of the Women's Leadership Exchange and conducts seminars around the country as a WLE "growth guru."

Marilyn Byrd, President of Byrd Associates,is a seasoned executive recruiter with over 12 years of executive-level recruiting experience. She recently joined Beth Polish as a presenter for the "Team Building and Leadership" segments of The Entrepreneurship Mastery Program.We regret that we were unable to obtain a photograph of Ms. Bird in time todisplay alongside this post.

Beth Polish

Life-changing insights from The Entrepreneurship Mastery Program

I have the privilege of being Trump University's professor for The Entrepreneurship Mastery Program, the new class that met for the first time this week.

In a moment, I will share a truly remarkable quote from Amy Frankel, the guest lecturer for our first session, Understanding the Entrepreneurial Mindset. But before I tell you what she said, let me tell you about Amy.

For more than 20 years she worked in marketing for major corporations, working her way up to several marketing directorships. She then left to work for advertising and marketing agencies so she could master that side of the client/agency relationship. Finally, she and her partners founded TAG Creative, a brand communications agency in New York City.

That was five years ago. How well has TAG done? Let me just say that their client list includes Bausch & Lomb, Cosmopolitan, Coty, Hearst Corporation, Liz Claiborne, L'Oreal, Maybelline and Movado. Her company's annual earnings stand at about $5 million, which is incredibly impressive when you consider that only a few more than 275,000 of the 10.6 million U.S. companies that are owned by women generate as much as $1 million.

Amy is an extraordinary and successful entrepreneur, so when I asked her to lecture to my class, I expected her to explain skills that entrepreneurs need to start a business. Instead, I heard a statement about pure passion - a passion of a very unusual kind. I was blown away, and I think that my students were too. Let me share some of Amy's words with you:

"I had entrepreneurship in my blood and my spirit . . . I always ran my businesses like an entrepreneur, even when I was working for someone else. I always felt like a puppy on the end of the leash. There were things that I just had to run my way.

"While my partners and I were working for different agencies, we were always having a conversation that went, 'What would this be like if we were doing this our way? How would this be an expression of who we are, why we come to work, how we want to be treated and how we want to treat people?'

"In the corporate world, I often felt that I was much more of a champion of the people who worked for me than I was a champion of the company to them . . . and that was one clue that I needed to become an entrepreneur. It was about creativity, values, doing things my own way. But it was also about having my work become an expression of me . . . to have a sense that I am in my own skin, that I am doing what I am meant to do. When you become an entrepreneur, you are not fitting yourself into someone else's suit. You know it is the right thing for you."

I hope you agree with me, that those are inspiring sentiments. Let me share some news about upcoming sessions of my class, which I know will be just as exciting:

• Session Two: Market and Industry Analysis. Tim Goertel, a world-class thinker who runs strategy for ReedExpo, the leading trade show company, will explain how to gauge the potential of a new business idea.
• Session Three: The Customer and Competition. Don Sexton, a highly respected Trump University faculty member, will help students master the skills to do business in today's ultra-competitivand the founder of e marketplace.
• Session Four: Marketing and Branding. Nancy A. Shenker, a visionary marketer and founder of theONswitch, will explain how to cut to the heart of marketing and branding.

I believe that in these sessions, we will hear ideas just as inspiring as Amy's. As that happens, I will report them to you here.

Trump University professor Beth Polish teaches The Entrepreneurship Mastery Program. Ms. Polish, who received her MBA from Harvard Business School, has held senior management positions in diverse industries including media, finance, private investment and technology. She serves on the National Advisory Board of the Women's Leadership Exchange and conducts seminars around the country as a WLE "growth guru."

Seek the company of fellow travelers on your road to success

There is a mistaken belief that if you are starting a business, you have to go it alone. The fact is, success will come a lot faster if you share the journey with other people.

Some of those other people will be the attorneys, accountants and other professionals who will join your "kitchen cabinet" of advisors. But you should include fellow entrepreneurs too - some farther along than you, some less so - to provide advice and encouragement.

Above all, avoid the common misconception that asking questions makes you look stupid. Of course, you have to make sure that the people who are offering advice are qualified to do so. But asking questions makes you smart, not stupid. It eliminates obstacles and speeds success.

That's one reason why I am so pleased that The Entrepreneurship Mastery Program, the course I will teach at Trump University beginning this week, offers bulletin boards and other resources that will help students connect with each other. I will be doing everything I can to create a supportive community of entrepreneurs who willask questions and offer advice to each other.

Wherever you are in the process, don't go it alone. In addition to Trump University, these organizations are ready to offer support and community:

• For all entrepreneurs, The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, as well as local chapters.
• For women entrepreneurs, The National Association of Women Business Owners and The Women's Leadership Exchange.
• For African-American entrepreneurs, Black Enterprise Magazine and The Black Entrepreneur Association.
• For Latino entrepreneurs, The Association of Hispanic Entrepreneursand The Latin Business Association.
• For Asian and Pacific entrepreneurs, The National Association of Asian American Professionals.
• For gay and lesbian entrepreneurs, The International Gay Entrepreneurs Association.

No matter who or where you are, take time to connect with fellow travelers on your road to success. There's no better way to make the journey smoother and faster.

Trump University professor Beth Polish will teach The Entrepreneurship Mastery Programthat meets for the first time at Trump University this week. Ms. Polish, who received her MBA from Harvard Business School, has held senior management positions in diverse industries including media, finance, private investment and technology. She serves on the National Advisory Board of the Women's Leadership Exchange and conducts seminars around the country as a WLE "growth guru."

Editor's note: Limited space is still available in the session of The Entrepreneurship Mastery Program that begins this week. Click here or call 800-893-0677 to register now.