Weekly Economic Report | LAEDC

THIS WEEK’S HEADLINES:

• California’s Budget Position in May
• Median Home Price in SoCal Hits Five-Year High
• Retail Sales in May
• Events of Interest
  • July 17, 2013: LAEDC Mid-year Economic Forecast: The Future of Energy in the Southland

Dr. Richard Sudek Interview | Peter Mehit

Below is the transcript of the full interview I conducted with Dr. Richard Sudek, Director of Chapman University’s Leatherby Center for Entrepreneurship and Business Ethics. The center is nationally recognized as a leader in the field and Chapman has produced a number of notable entrepreneurs, including our client, Frank Delgadillo, creator of the Ambiguous and Comune action wear lines.

Excerpts from this interview appeared in Impact (formerly Caypen) magazine in both their online and print editions.

Q: Can you give us some background on the Leatherby Center and what you do here?

Sudek: I’m the Director of the Leatherby Center for Entrepreneurship and Business Ethics.

PM: What is your background?

Sudek: I had my own computer company, built starting with $250 and sold it, so I’m not your typical academic. What I’m really trying to do is change the entrepreneurial ecosystem here in OrangeCounty. The entrepreneurial ecosystem is poorly connected from my perception. We’d like Chapman to be involved in helping connect it. We’d like Chapman to be the place where entrepreneurs, inventors and investors meet and collaborate.

Most of our energy is outward facing rather inward facing.

One of the things to point out is that Chapman one of the best kept secrets here in OrangeCounty. We’re a top 50 business school. We have a Nobel prize winner in economics. Our entrepreneurship program is ranked 13^th by BusinessWeek. Because I wanted to cross connect the university, we built this thing called ESUN, Entrepreneur Student University Network. Originally it was designed to be small, so we started with the local schools; Cal Tech. USC, UCLA, Loyola, Pepperdyne, UCI, Fullerton and Claremont McKenna to try to cross connect our centers which we’re starting to do.

The thing that really launched this is we created this competition called California Dreaming. And we brought in other schools such as Oklahoma, BYU, Berkeley and Hawaii, etc and created a $100,000 business plan competition that we have in April. Next year it will be a $200,000. It’s going actually be two different competitions a business plan competition and fast pitch competition. Microsemi will be the anchor sponsor, as they were last year. The idea is to get students in front of investors, not just to win cash. I brought in VCs and angels from the bay area and local VCs and angels.

One of the teams, BYU, who won the competition, got some equity funding from this in late April. So that’s the idea is to get students connected to that.

PM: So you’re trying to build the hub for this kind of activity here?

Sudek: Yes. Now this reaches outward across different states so the idea is the help students in general although focused on Chapman, OrangeCounty, Southern California, going out from there.

10 Lessons College Won’t Teach You — But Entrepreneurship Will | Entrepreneur.com

College is a step toward adulthood for many, but the transition from bachelor’s degree to entrepreneur can feel a bit jarring. Keeping your chin up, a stiff upper-lip and other empty clichés everyone says to you can’t really prepare you for one really important truth: There isn’t a curriculum for adulthood. Knowing this, here are a few changes to expect when you take your first steps away from college and into starting you own business.

1. Attendance is always mandatory.

In college, you may have ditched class or ducked out early and still managed to pass. This isn’t going to fly in the startup world.  Rain or shine, young treps need to show up and do so in a punctual fashion. Not only will it keep you in the loop of the day-to-day activities but will also set a good example for employees.

2. Scheduling isn’t set in stone.

Your Friday morning biology lab is finally over. What a relief. While you may be thanking your lucky stars you don’t have to roll out of bed after a crazy night to go and dissect a frog, don’t get too excited. Adult life and entrepreneurship means you’re beholden to a schedule of necessity rather than attendance sheets. As a young trep, you are the harbinger of your own success, meaning you sometimes will need to ask yourself to come in on a Saturday.

3. Free time isn’t free.

Just as there is no such thing as a free lunch, there is no such thing as “free time” in the world of startups. During college you may have had huge breaks between class or long holidays but startup reality is quite different. While most of your friends are working at finding a nine-to-five job and attending happy hour, you are slaving away at your business plan or putting out fires at your company. And that’s just the reality of being an entrepreneur — sacrificing free time in exchange for freedom.

via 10 Lessons College Won’t Teach You — But Entrepreneurship Will | Entrepreneur.com.

El Reno was a Killing Field | YouTube Videos

The El Reno EF-5 Tornado that killed three storm chasers surprised them by changing from the typical northeast track to a southerly track, trapping them.

There are literally dozens of videos of this tornado, but I’ve posted the ones that communicate the instantaneous threat those following these storms found themselves in.

Adding to the mix were scores of amateur chasers and hundreds of regular citizens, who left the relative safety of their homes because they mistook the advice of a weatherman who advised a portion of the viewers to head south. Hundreds clogged the roads, making retreat impossible for those at the front of the line.

Weekly Economic Forecast | LADEC

THIS WEEK’S HEADLINES:

• March S&P / Case-Shiller Home Price Indices
• April Personal Income and Consumption
• Events of Interest
  • June 14, 2013: Think Asia, Think Hong Kong
  • July 17, 2013: LAEDC Mid-year Economic Forecast: The Future of Energy in the Southland

Speaking With Russian Entrepreneurs | Peter Mehit

Last Friday, we had the honor to speak with a room full of entrepreneurs in Surgut, Siberia via teleconference. The conference was set up by Michelle Skiljian of the Inland Empire Women’s Center and Dr. Tapie Rhom, an IT professor at CSUSB along with the help of many others. We filed into  the tele-learning center at Cal State San Bernardino for a 7:00pm start. The tele bridge started late because the participants on the Russian end had to fight a snow storm to get to the venue. The crowd was slow to build but after about twenty minutes there were fifty or so participants involved in the conversation with about 15 Southern California business owners.

They aren’t all that different than us, except they have higher expectations for what America does for it’s start up nation. Most of their questions centered on sources of capital (with an interesting sidebar about support for parolees), the kinds of businesses we start here and, in particular, the kinds of businesses women are getting into. The Russian audience was majority women and the only three business owners that spoke were women. They explained the split of business owners in Russia 85-15% male, with the majority of women owning care giving or service businesses.

Fake It Until You Make It | Entrepreneur.com

Do you ever feel like you don’t quite deserve your success or aren’t fully qualified to do what you do? That common feeling is what psychologists call the “impostor syndrome,” a phenomenon where successful people feel like frauds waiting for someone to realize that they’re unfit for their leadership roles.

“Millions of people, from entrepreneurs to celebrities, have a hard time internalizing their accomplishments,” says Valerie Young, an expert on impostor syndrome and, author of The Secret Thoughts of Successful Women (Crown Business, 2011).

Photo Credit: Shutterstock

The impostor syndrome is especially common among people who become successful quickly or early, and among outsiders, such as women in male-dominated industries. “They explain away their success as luck or timing,” Young says. “They feel this sense of waiting for the other shoe to drop.”

That fear is stressful, and often leads people to hold back instead of pushing for bigger clients or more challenging opportunities.

Most of the people who feel like impostors are actually exceptionally capable. It’s their self-image that’s off. “Feeling like an impostor is different than being an impostor,” Young says. “Feelings aren’t facts.”

Read More.

Rebranding Helps Nudge Clothing Lines to a New Level | Apparel News.net

Last year, iconic fashion house Yves Saint Laurent renamed itself Saint Laurent Paris, and just recently, its parent company, PPR, one of fashion’s most esteemed companies, announced its own name change. It will be called Kering, according to Chief Executive and Chairman Francois-Henri Pinault.

DENISE’S NEW LOOK: Alpinestars by Denise Focil changed its name to AS by DF and debuted a more contemporary look.

The new name demonstrates growth and new focus, Pinault said. “In a few months’ time we will have completely transitioned from a holding company with an unfocused portfolio into a cohesive, integrated, international group focused on apparel and accessories,” he said.

Some veteran Los Angeles–area fashion lines are in the process of renaming, or “rebranding,” themselves, too. The process is risky, but rebranding can make the difference between sagging sales and stellar business.

Read More.

Bhutan to Go 100% Organic by 2020 – GreenPacks.org

Bhutan, the tiny remote kingdom nestling in the Himalayas, is already a largely organic nation. The kingdom however wants to do more on that front. Bhutan has now announced plans to go 100% organic.

And, when that gets done, Bhutan will become the first country in the world to follow fully organic agricultural practices. Thus it will ensure food safety and security to its population of around 700,000. They are planning to attain 100% organic in its food production by 2020.This decision by the state was announced by Bhutanese minister for agriculture and forest Pema Gyamtsho at the Delhi Sustainable Development Summit 2013 as a part of their decision to live in harmony with nature.

Read More.

Wet Seal Agrees to $7.5 Million Settlment for Employee Discrimination | Apparel News.net

To settle a class-action lawsuit alleging racial discrimination against African-Americans, The Wet Seal Inc. agreed to pay $7.5 million, including $5.58 million in relief and damages, to its African-American staff that was fired in its King of Prussia, Penn., store in 2009.

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Big Brother – Facebook Style

My friend Ben Hillman is an animator and graphic artist who has his own firm in New York. He possesses an acerbic wit and very definite political opinions. When he learned that Facebook’s Mark Zuckerman was a proponent of (and investor in) the Keystone Pipeline and drilling in the Arctic Wildlife Reserve, he developed a little graphic to display his ire:

Ben posted this on his wall on Facebook. Shortly thereafter (less than a minute) I saw the post and shared it on my wall. It appeared on my wall for less than one minute. There was a page refresh and then it was gone. It was also removed from Ben’s wall as well. 

The take away is this: Everything you post is being monitored by Facebook in real time. You have no privacy. They will censor your political and social opinions.

Finally, Mark Zuckerberg is a thin skinned douchebag.

For some interesting reading on the same subject, click here.

The censor of the graphic is mine. We’re trying to run a relatively PG blog here. For the actual, uncensored NSFW graphic, click here - Ed.

Weekly Economic Update | LAEDC

THIS WEEK’S HEADLINES:

• First Quarter GDP: Moderate Growth
• California Housing Market: Inventory Dips Below 3-Month Supply
• Global Economy
• Events of Interest
  • May 15, 2013: LAEDC International Trade Outlook

What the Rolling Stones Can Teach You About Business | Inc.com

In December, my wife, Elaine, and I attended a 50th-anniversary concert of the Rolling Stones at Brooklyn, New York’s new Barclays Center. They’re often referred to as the Strolling Bones these days, and with good reason. They’re old. You can’t help noticing how weathered their faces look. So it’s all the more amazing to watch Mick Jagger, at 69, strutting around the stage just like he did half a century ago. I couldn’t take my eyes off him. He and I are about the same age. “Why is he doing this?” I asked myself. “He doesn’t need the money. What is it?”

Then it hit me. I dropped down into my seat and started to laugh. “Why are you laughing?” Elaine shouted over the din. “I just figured out what’s been driving me all these years,” I shouted back.

As I told her later, I’d had an epiphany. I’d suddenly understood the meaning of the word passion. Mick Jagger, I realized, keeps doing what he does for the same reason that I keep doing what I do: because he has to. Performing defines him. He has to do it in order to feel alive–which is also why I start and build businesses.

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Yahoo Buys Coolness From Teenager for $30M | Wired.com

There’s no logical explanation for Yahoo’s reported $30 million acquisition of Summly, an app created by a 17-year-old Brit that launched five months ago. The team and technology are unexceptional and the app itself will be shut down. What Yahoo really gets for its big check is momentum and buzz.

In other words, Yahoo bought Summly to appear cool again.

Read More.

The Real Cost of Self-Publishing: Beyond Vanity | Bloomberg

Beyond Vanity

Stephen King rocked the publishing world when he began distributing books online in 2000. J.K. Rowling roiled the industry again in 2011 when she decided to self-publish her Harry Potter series through her own platform, Pottermore. Such big names join thousands of others who are self-publishing books — though many do so because it’s their only option.

More than 235,000 books and e-books were self-published in 2011 in the U.S., four times the number in 2006, according to Bowker, an agency that assigns books unique identification codes.

Read More.