Matthew and Adam Toren have some career advice for young people today: if you want a great job, start a great company. The Torens run YoungEntrepreneur.com, one of the Web's best sites for practical advice on starting, running, promoting and growing a business, aimed primarily at ambitious Millennials. Their first book, Kidpreneurs (which I reviewed at FastCompany.com), managed to distill business lessons into a concise, readable childrens book. Their latest is called Small Business, Big Vision (Wiley, 2011), and it weaves inspirational stories with hands-on guidance to motivate and educate the next generation of successful small business entrepreneurs.

Adam Toren recently sat for an interview to discuss the goals and purpose of their latest book.

What can readers expect to take away from Small Business, BIG Vision?

When we set out to write the book, it was important to us to provide entrepreneurial readers with the information they need most. We looked at the most common questions we hear from entrepreneurs – whether they’re just starting out or have been in business for a long time – and we provided answers in the book that are designed to really give the reader the advice and guidance they’re looking for. Small Business, BIG Vision answers questions like, “Do I need a business plan?” “Do I need outside financing, and how do I find it?” and “How do I know if it’s the right time to hire employees?” We also covered how to use social media to market your business, how to become a recognized expert in your field, and how to turn around a struggling business.

The book provides practical, useful advice on these topics and more, and then it backs up the advice with profiles of some of the most successful entrepreneurs out there. Each chapter has advice and lessons from self-made entrepreneurs who have been wherever the reader is now. It’s very relatable and timely.

 You and your brother, Matthew, have been entrepreneurs your whole lives. How did you get started?

 Our grandfather, Joe, was instrumental in getting us interested in business ownership. When we were in elementary school, he set us up selling these little glider airplanes called Dipper Dos at a local folk festival. We learned how to really wow the crowd with the tricks we could make the planes do, and we sold out quickly. It was a great feeling for a couple of 7 and 8 year old kids, and from there we were hooked.

 We were very fortunate to have the full support of our grandfather and our mother throughout our early ventures. They never told us we should just get jobs or pressured us to avoid the risks of entrepreneurship. They encouraged us to work hard and always do the right thing, and they always let us know they were behind us 100%. Having that kind of support ourselves is a major reason why we wrote the book Kidpreneurs. We want everyone to have the opportunity we had to succeed in whatever business they choose to start.

Given today’s economic climate, is this really a good time to start a business?

That’s a great question. Entrepreneurship comes with a certain amount of risk anyway, so isn’t it crazy to go into business with the added risk of facing uncertain economic times? We don’t think it’s crazy at all. In fact, we truly believe it’s the smartest move anyone can make. Read or watch any news about the economy, and you’ll eventually come across a story about the massive layoffs of the past few years and the fact that many people are taking a year or more to find work. And when they finally do land a job, many are settling for a position and pay far below that of the one they left.

Now, that’s risk. If my only option was to get a job, and I had no income during my search, life would be stressful and scary. No fun at all. On the other hand, with the time most people take to find a job, and the savings they use up in that time, I can think of 10 businesses I could start right now, and I guarantee I’d end up in a better position financially and mentally at the end of that timeframe. An economic climate like we’re in now is the perfect time to start a business.

 

 

From all of your experience, what are the most important entrepreneurial lessons that you can share with our readers?

 

Two things: 1.) Follow your passion, and 2.) never give up. In addition to our own experience, my brother and I have interviewed successful business owners from all over the world for our websites, and for Small Business, BIG Vision; and passion and perseverance are the two factors that stand out most clearly in the most successful entrepreneurs we’ve met.

If you’re passionate about what you’re doing, no obstacle is too big, and you never feel like you’re working. You’ll happily put in all the hours and effort that’s necessary to see your business thrive. Passion is the fuel that ignites your vision. And if you have #1, passion, #2 is easy – you’re much less likely to throw in the towel when challenges come up. We’ve never talked to a single successful entrepreneur who built his or her business without significant challenges, and having the perseverance to keep pushing toward their entrepreneurial vision is what made the greatest difference for them.

 

Last week I blogged at Fast Company about how high-tech skills and the knowledge economy can give younger entrepreneurs an edge, despite research that shows that older people are more prolific and more successful as entrepreneurs overall. Today Nathaniel Hindman responded with a piece at Huffington Post.I'm not sure if he takes issue with my larger points, but he concludes with this:

"Whichever entrepreneurs -- young or old -- end up founding the most successful companies, if the past few decades are any indication, it's clear that a small number of innovative startups will grow into billion-dollar businesses and drive economic growth."

On that, I think we can both agree.

Tony Stark, the entrepreneur-turned-superhero from theIron Manmovies and comics may be fictional, but the Tony Stark Innovation Challenge, an award for young entrepreneurs, is quite real. Earlier this month, MIT graduate student Nathan Linder flew off with the $15,000top prizefor his invention of adigital bulbto project Web content onto any surface. The prize was furnished by Audi of America.

The Stark Challenge is only the latest (and most opportunistic) of a booming trend in innovation and entrepreneurship competitions that is helping to bring new ideas to the attention of investors, customers and a public hungry for some good economic news. In the U.S., where entrepreneurial culture and infrastructure are already well-developed, this is an incremental increase in opportunities for the mad scientists and dreamers among us. But in the rest of the world, it's a revolution that's kicking up a new wave of business creation with the potential to uplift billions.

Last month in Lima, Peru,The Innovation Contest of the Americas(TIC Americas, sponsored by the non-profit Young Americas Business Trust in collaboration with the Organization of American States) recognized more than a dozen young entrepreneurs from Central and South America, culled from over 3,200 submissions. Full disclosure: I was a judge in this contest and saw with my own eyes the depth, sophistication, ambition, and ingenuity that is fermenting throughout the hemisphere, from Mexico to Argentina, Chile to Jamaica.

In addition to providing a forum for great ideas, these contests accelerate the flow of resources to promising ventures in parts of the world where venture capital, seed money and incubation are only starting to emerge as alternatives to traditional bootstrapping or family-based financing. "Finance is a big problem," said Luis Viguria, Executive Director of Young Americas Business Trust. "The financial sector doesn't give money to young people because they are too risky. That's something we're trying to fight with TIC Americas: to showcase to the financial sector that investments in our young people will pay back. We need to give them a chance."

In India, one of the world's burgeoning centers of new entrepreneurship, innovation contests are becoming one of the premier venues for attracting attention from private finance, NGOs and government. "Idea competition is very recent in India," said Dr. A.S. Rao, an official in the Indian Ministry of Science and Technology who judges these contests from time to time. "There is a large number of young people and students putting themselves in competition for these idea awards. Their perspective is very different. We feel they probably would be able to fix long-festering problems because of the technology now in their hands."

Typically, the contests showcase the best new ideas in social entrepreneurship and eco-innovation alongside commercial and technology-oriented projects. Sometimes the lines are not so easy to draw.DUTO, SA, the winner of the 2007 TIC Americas award as well as a host of others, invented a sensory-based display that allows visually-impaired people to perceive information on a computer monitor. Their socially-oriented goal is to make the product affordable and accessible to primary schools in Latin America, but DUTO is a commercial business.

Winning an innovation contest brings financial resources and recognition, which are both valuable commodities to startup businesses, but in emerging markets, they serve an even more important function. They validate the risks and efforts of innovators: the long hours and sacrifices that dreamers have made, rather than settling for the traditional paths of advancement or stagnation.

Never mind Tony Stark and Iron Man: the winners of these contests are real-life heroes in their hometowns and role-models for young people hungry for change and new opportunities. Very often, successful entrepreneurs in these regions invest considerable amounts of their time and resources to build, strengthen, and advocate for a local entrepreneurial ecosystem, including better infrastructure, greater attention from the financial sector, and more pro-entrepreneurial policies from the government.

A very fair and complete representation of the book and my social/political orientation from the country's premier Libertarian journal.

"US Book Lauds CDO IT Firm" from the Mindanao (Philippines) Gold Star Daily News, casts a spotlight on the great efforts of LetITHelp to train young graduates of IT technical schools into world-class developers. Thanks to Rene Michael Banos for the link.