If you’ve ever wondered if there are certain qualities that make for a successful small business, you’re not alone. While there’s no magical formula for being financially healthy, the “Small Business Financial Health Analysis” (PDF), put together by The Federal Reserve Banks of Chicago and San Francisco, Pepperdine University, and online lending resource FundWell, shows there are four practices that successful businesses share.

Image: http://smallbiztrends.com 

After Chinese ecommerce portal Alibaba went on to create history being the biggest IPO ever worth $25 billion in initial opening, Jack Ma has become a common name on all media websites. Jack Ma or Ma Yun, as his Chinese name reads, is the Executive Chairman of Alibaba Group.

JackMa of Alibaba Jack Ma started off by learning English in his earlier days by talking to foreign visitors who would visit the picturesque land of Hangzhou in China. It was only his determination to learn English which made him a tourist guide to most English speaking travelers who came to his homeland.

Image: JackMa of Alibaba 

No, it’s not about a massive failure. Or a sudden interest from several investors.

From what I have seen and experienced, most of the first-time founders are never prepared for a sudden success moment (and everything that comes with it).

For founders, overnight success takes few years and that means one doesn’t really knows when he/she is successful. But for the world, the perspective is different. They look at the new new founder as ‘an overnight success'; a rock start; somebody who is playing a key role in their life and has suddenly made it to headlines of news channels/media etc.

image: http://www.freedigitalphotos.net 

The Texas Medical Center has more square footage, more doctors and more hospitals than any other medical center in the country. However, that has not translated into product commercialization necessarily.

Its new accelerator may be the catalyst that changes that, experts say.

The accelerator is expected to house dozens of startups, although an official number has not been given. No official guidelines have been given as to how the startups will be selected.

Image: Texas Medical Center is plenty big, but in search of an innovation accelerator. Patrick T. Fallon | Bloomberg

I had finally had it. I clicked on the delete button one by one and within about two minutes I had unsubscribed from nearly 600 email lists. But here’s the interesting part. I didn’t unsubscribe because they were a nuisance or I didn’t get value from them. On the contrary, they were all great sources of information. The real problem was that I realized that I was using them as a distraction. I was looking at each one, analyzing what they were doing and comparing myself with them.

Thanks to the rise of drone photography, it’s never been easier to get a glimpse of some incredible aerial views.

From scenic desert landscapes to hundreds of feet above the ocean, drones enable photographers to reach new heights to film both exotic and familiar locations from a new perspective.

We’ve collected the most “viral” drone videos, using YouTube to find the drone videos that have been shared and viewed the most.

Image: http://venturebeat.com

Even in Eric Barron’s early days as the 18th president of Penn State University, the former College of Earth and Mineral Sciences dean recognized the need for more vibrant economic development in Centre County.

As early as June — just a month after taking office — Barron emphasized to local business leaders the need for more entrepreneurship — the kind born of town-and-gown partnerships, linked to regional, national and international business organizations, of capital investment from angel investors to state coffers.

I thought it would be as easy as hitting print. Then, voila a miniature robot! A pencil holder! A pair of stunner shades! A Bulbasaur planter!

3D printing has the potential to change everything in our world: the Army is considering using it as an easy way to replace parts during war, and NASA even just sent a printer to space. So when I was given the chance to try printing an object for the first time, of course I wanted to try it.

Image: Biz Carson/Gigaom

An exhaustive study (link opens a PDF) of Norwegian entrepreneurial activity found that common stock investors (used as a measure of risk-tolerance) are about 1.5 times more likely to start a business than non-investors. The trouble is, they're also more likely to perform worse and eventually fail. Stock market participants who start businesses had, on average, 22% lower sales, 27% lower employment, and a 2.55% lower probability of surviving four years than their non-investing peers.

Image: Flickr / jfdervin.

A while back, I met with an employee to do an interim performance review. I was excited because I was about to surprise her with a significant pay increase in recognition of extra responsibilities she had taken on. Giving raises is one of the greatest pleasures for a business owner (at least it should be), and I had been looking forward to it all week. At the end of the review I told her what her new salary would be, and the entirety of her expressionless response was: "I thought this would come much sooner."

Image: smlp.co.uk | Flickr 164 412 88 

i2E’s SeedStep Angels network was founded in 2009 and began making investments in 2010. i2E manages the group. With chapters in Ardmore, Muskogee (the newest), Oklahoma City and Tulsa, SeedStep membership has grown to more than 45 members across the state. Even better news is that the group has closed 32 investment rounds with 66 checks being written. SeedStep Angels has screened more than 80 deals and invested $5.37 million. Computer software and biopharma companies dominate the portfolio.

In my experience, consummate entrepreneurs tend come up with more startup ideas than they can ever implement, and some of the ideas may not even make business sense. But how does any entrepreneur know which ideas to implement, and which ones are best left behind?

After all, most great breakthroughs, like a computer in every home, seemed like a crazy idea before Steve Jobs and Bill Gates made it happen. Now we soon expect a computer on every wrist.

September 20, 2014 Sir Ronald Cohen, chair of the UK Taskforce on Social Impact Investment, and Matt Bannick, Managing Partner of Mission Investors Exchange member Omidyar Network, penned an opinion piece, "Is Social Impact Investing the Next Venture Capital?", for Forbes.com, arguing in the affirmative.

The pair believe impact investing's growth can be "dramatically accelerate(d)" by "partnering with government to remove roadblocks." Citing extraordinary growth in venture capital investments in the mid-1970s after the U.S. government implemented policy changes, including "clarifications to ERISA's 'Prudent Man' rule that allowed pension funds to make VC investments and a safe harbor rule making it clear that VC managers wouldn't be considered plan fiduciaries," Cohen and Bannick argue that the U.S. government should now make impact investing-friendly policy changes.

Image: Free Digital Photos

Thirty years ago, a smart young entrepreneur stood up in front of a group of investors at the first Madison Venture Fair to talk about a company that was selling molecular biological products, such as enzymes and nucleic acids, to researchers and laboratories. That company is now called Promega and the young ’trep was founder Bill Linton.

Along with 11 other companies, mostly in their early stages, Promega was one of the first presenters in a conference format that has endured in various forms since 1984. Known the past 10 years as the Wisconsin Early Stage Symposium, it was previously the Madison Venture Fair, the Wisconsin Venture Fair, the Wisconsin Venture Conference and the Wisconsin Life Sciences Venture Conference.

A total of 534 out of 3,361 companies successfully hit their equity crowdfunding target in year one, thank you Title II of the JOBS Act. According to Crowdnetic, $217.7 million equity capital was raised, which averages $407, 685 per company. Despite the 2, 824 that did not get funded, I see the one-year anniversary of the JOBS Act Title II provisions as a success—perhaps this is because of my rose colored entrepreneurial glasses, but $217.7 million capital raised is an indicator that publicly soliciting funds from accredited investors has created access to a new funding stream.

1. It's all a lie.

The idea that you have to be or do or have anything in particular in order to create your success is nothing but BS. YOU get to decide what's important. Yes you are also the one who has to screw up when you choose something that doesn't work out but better to do so on your terms and by figuring things out your way.

2. You can't avoid the screw-ups.

You're going to fail. You're going to fail again. You're going to fail again and again and AGAIN. Can't handle that? Don't get into business.

Image: http://www.huffingtonpost.com

I am not one to be doom and gloom, preferring to take an optimistic view of most things, but what has me really nervous is the state of K-12 educational curriculum in our country, as I am witnessing first-hand with my school age kids.

First, business is very much a global ecosystem today, not a U.S. centric ecosystem. Other countries don't play by same rules we do here, allowing them to be more nimble, and they are better training their kids for the most employable skill sets, like tech.

While Silicon Valley superstar investor Marc Andreessen found wisdom in fellow venture capitalist Bill Gurley’s criticism of startups burning through money at a dizzying pace, it seems Andreessen has a big caveat.

Naturally, he banged out his thoughts in a series of tweets, in his now imitated style known as a tweetstorm.

Image: Fortune Live Media/Flickr

President Barack Obama and Prime Minister Narendra Modi have an incredible opportunity to reset faltering ties—and to do each other a big favour. In addition to forming a strategic and global political alliance, they can boost each other's economies. Both countries are hampered by protectionist policies. They can negotiate a bold and grand bargain to correct these.

Image: http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com

Is your smart, but totally independent-minded teenager driving you crazy? If you've rolled your eyes with a yes, I have good news: your child might just make a fabulous entrepreneur one day. 

A National Bureau of Economic Research working paper, "Smart and Illicit: Who Becomes and Entrepreneur and Does it Pay?" by Ross Levine and Yona Rubinstein picked apart a variety of social, demographic, and personality traits to figure out who becomes an entrepreneur and how successful they are relative to everyone else.

Image: Flickr / kamshots.