Page 2 | Hafsah Fatimah bint Farooq | My journey, my dresses, my enerepentur and marketing experience

21Dec

One child cries | Humanity

The sound of new years is different depending on who you are and where you are born. – Something which you have no control over.

On one side we have our children. – On the other side we have those.

Picture by Starnlyi

I wrote down how some children are experiencing these times. Here it comes:

One child hears fireworks and runs to the window, to watch. – The other child sees from hiding, his whole family get shoot.
One child cries because of the loud noises coming from the fireworks. – The other one because the soldiers are firing at them.
One child cries because the firework blew up in his hand. – The other one because he is about to take his last breath, before he is shoot.
One child cries because he fell from his bike. – The other one because the soldier took his bike at gunpoint.
One child cries because he doesn’t like his food. – The other one of happiness because he finally found something to eat.
One child is hospitalized because he was standing too close to illegal fireworks and it blew up on the ground. – The other one because so many of his bones are broken, after being pulled out from under what used to be his home.
One child cries because his parent won’t buy him the teddy bear he wants. – The other one just saw all his siblings and friends get blown up by a teddy bear.
One child cries because he does not want to wear shorts. – The other one has been wearing the same clothes for a month.
One child cries because he doesn’t want to go to school. – The other one because he was late for school and just saw it blow up.
One child cries because his parent wants him to get a job. – The other one because he can’t find one, so he can feed his siblings.
One child cries because he doesn’t want to get vaccinated. – The other one because the hospital just got attacked, where he is admitted.
One child smiles because his parents hug him. – The other one because he finally got a little water after walking for miles in the heat.
One child looks at the fireworks with excitement. – The other one wondering if the bombs the plane is dropping, will reach him.
One child is continuously asking for things he thinks will make him happy. – The other one is dead inside.

It is just another new year.

Just another life.

08Dec

STOP you are stealing! | Entrepreneur

Seriously, it is not funny.
You have done it and you now it!

What I am referring to is stealing pictures, music, artwork, text and more from others.

I know you are guilty.

How? You have taken something from the internet for your school project, your own website, company, commercial use, using it in a banner, texting your friends that funny picture you just saw on Facebook or whatever.

See? I was right.

Stop stealing my work!
About the copyright law.
Picture by Tommyzwartjes

Especially pictures on the internet, are at great risk.

Most do not have the knowledge about what copyrighting is and others just do not respect other peoples work.

1. Is copyright really a law?

Yes, it is.

It is the law that protects certain kinds of work, from the moment it is done. You do not need to register it anywhere, except in some countries if you are going to sue.

Some of the work that are protected by the copyright law are:

Pictures, whether they are digital or printed.
Text, even if it is a school project, on a private website or a public website.
Videos, including homemade and professional videos, -movies, -dramas and the likes.
Paintings and artwork, even if the artist, is a non-famous street artist.
Music, and it does not matter it the artist is known or unknown.
And much more.

By publishing any kind of work you have not made yourself, you are breaking the law and it does not matter if you know it or not!

Yes, it is illegal!

You can read details about the law at Rights Direct.

2. Is it really stealing?

Absolutely, it is 100 percent stealing, if you take someones work and use it or publish it, as your own.

For the record it is not stealing, if you get inspired by a particular piece of work. You are allowed to produce your own, using the same idea. – Unless it has a patent. Then you cannot.

It is the expression which is protected and not the idea.

Let us go through a couple of examples to make it perfectly clear.

You may not:

Find any picture and post it all over your social media accounts.
Take a beautiful photograph, taken by a normal person and post it as your own on a blog.
Find the perfect picture and put it on your blog, even with a link to the original source.
Take any kind of text, which you just copy-paste.
Use your favorite music piece in a video you make.
Download a movie and upload it on Youtube.

You may:

Find a piece of text you like and use it as inspiration to write your own, then publish it on your website.
See a picture of a motive and take one just like it, to put it everywhere you like.
Upload a karaoke song to Youtube, which you have sung.
Like a movie so much, that you make your own, which is inspired by it.

3. What should I do, if I really want to use the picture?

Ask for permission to use it. – And with that are two possibilities:

The owner will say, no. – Meaning you will have to find a new picture, pay someone to take one or take it yourself.
The owner will say, yes. – They might just ask for a link and others will ask for a price and add some conditions.

4. I have been a victim too

Once I discovered that two of my competitors had stolen pictures and some text from my online shop, X2Nails.

One took a picture and used on their Instagram account.
And the other one took four product pictures and a text I had written for the products.

At first I could not believe that a company would steal something from mine. Fortunately, I knew the copyright law. I gathered all the evidence I could and contacted my lawyer. We sent a letter of removal and later an invoice for the violation.

The first case was solved fast and they paid as sum we both agreed on.
The other case went to court and was ruled in my favor.

5. What to do if you are a victim?

First of all, you need to gather all the evidence you can get against the thief. Take videos of the material and screenshots.
Back the evidence up in more than one place. For example in any secure cloud service, on an external drive, in an e-mail or another computer. – It it best to have more than one back up.
Now you need to prove that the work is yours. Find the original picture or what it is, which is dated. If you have had it edited or made by someone, find the invoice, e-mail and more. – Save that by filming it and take screenshots.
Now seek help from someone professional or someone who has a lot of experience with these types of cases. If you have a case in Denmark you can get professional, cheap and great help from Not Allowed. They will even take your case for 35% of the settlement amount, with the “no cure no pay”-principal. – For your own sake, do not use anyone who has not done copyright cases before.
Have the lawyer send them an e-mail or letter and ask them to remove your work. Also make a claim for the violation. The amount you can claim is different, depending on the type and amount of work which has been stolen.
If they do not want to pay, there is always a choice of suing them. It can be difficult if you live in different countries but it is possible. – Although it is best to settle outside of court, since it can be time consuming and expensive.

6. Protect your work

This is important!

Especially since it is such a common crime to steal someones work. The tings you can do to save your work and easily prove that it is yours, are as following:

Send an e-mail to a secret account, which only you know about, before publishing it.
Back it up i an online service, which can save webpages with dates.
Always have it saved somewhere else. For example on an external hardrive or a cloud service.
Put a logo on your pictures.
You can make sure your website does not allow anyone to copy the material.

7. What to do, if you have violated someones copyright

Simply, pay the owner.

You have committed a crime and you need to pay for it.

If you do not want to pay, then the owner will probably sue, costing you much more than the original claim. You will also waste a lot of time.

8. How to get amazing pictures without stealing

Since pictures are the most commonly stolen ting on the internet, here are some great ways to get amazing pictures:

Take and edit them yourself.
Take them and have someone edit them for you.
Buy pictures from a stock-site.
Get a photographer to take them.
Find royalty free pictures, but it can cost a lot of time, to find the right one. Here is a page, where you can find 73 pages with free pictures.

9. Would you like it if someone stole your work?

Probably not.
So do not steal other peoples work!

– Hafsa

P.S. Sign up for my newsletter about my entrepreneurial journey and let me write to you directly.
Yes, thank you! I would love to follow your journey!

15Aug

7 Shocking, amazing, different and broken things… Trip to Pakistan | Humanity

Pakistani flag
Picture by Kurious

This is why I have been so quite the past month.
I have been in Pakistan for three weeks!

Oh, and yesterday was Pakistans 69th birthday.
So, happy birthday Pakistan!

Yes!
Three whole weeks.

No work.
And in the heat!

I missed working and the danish rainy weather…
So, a little glad to be back.

Anyways, I just came back one and a half week ago.

I have been so tired and busy.
So writing anything at all…
Was too much work for my brain.

It sounds like I have been doing a lot there but not really.

1. Adjusting
I think it was caused by the shock I received by living there.
My first visit in 13 years.

Actually, living there wasn’t so bad.
Doing normal stuff there, like going out grocery shopping.
That was bad.

Here in Denmark women can go around doing all kinds of things.
Right or wrong.
Not many will care…

Literately.

When my uncle or uncles where with us…
No problem.

It not like everyone is like that.
Some respect women a lot…
Which are the religious people.

Which is awesome.

But the not-religious…
Ew…

2. Educational trip
We actually went for educational purposes.
Yes, in Pakistan.

What is there in Pakistan?

Let me just clarify.
Islamic educational purposes.

So yea, not much sightseeing.
And not much time for shopping either.
Which I was really happy about.

I did however take some pictures.
You can see some of them here.

3. Amazing news

Graduation: Mufti Imran bin Munir Husayn in the middle of
the first row. To his right is Mufti Tariq Amin also from
Denmark.

One of my uncles became a Mufti on this trip.
Mufti Imran bin Munir Husayn.

A Mufti is an Islamic scholar, who is an expert in Islamic law.

This is one of the greatest titles one can achieve as a Scholar in Islam.

He is the youngest of my mothers siblings.
Only in the beginning of his thirties.

Ma sha’a Llah, may Allah subhana wa ta’ala grant them a lot more.

The second one is Mufti Tariq Amin, which has studied Islam with my uncle since high school.

The two new danish Muftis are the first in Scandinavia, if not in Europe who has actually grown up in a non-muslim country, have educations by the “danish state” and choose to study islam.
In a country, where a large portion of the younger generation has been out “integrating in the danish culture”.

Amazing.

He is not only studying but also teaching others, mostly in danish.
You can check out two courses he is about to start at Islamakademiet.dk, in Danish.

If you just want to…
Browse or look for Islamic information then check out Islamisk.dk

Read some blog articles from him in English and Danish then check out Towards Enlightment.

Check out the books he has written and translated.
Just go to Books by Imran bin Munir Husayn.

Or watch some of his videos, just go to Profetens Vej.
They are in danish.

4. A place for everyone

Big church in or just outside Islamabad, Pakistan.

All right, you have probably heard…

1. That all muslims countries are very narrow minded.
2. There is not place for non-muslims there.
3. There is a war going on between muslims and non-muslims.

Take a peak at the picture of the church.

It is indeed in Pakistan.
Looking very peaceful.
Very open.
In good condition.
Clean.
Beautiful.

There is no sign of any kind of disturbance.
At all.

Do I really need to say more?

This is not the only church I saw in Pakistan.
I saw even larger churches.

I am just one of the persons who likes to enjoy seeing things, rather than taking pictures all the time.

5. Poverty vs wealth

Wealthy area

Try looking at the next two pictures.

It is like two different worlds.

I know the first one is a living area and the second one are small shops.

There is such a great gap.
That it hurts.

You see so much poverty in the streets every time you go out.

Poor area

Fake and real beggars coming up to you.

It has become a profession to beg for money there.
I don’t understand how people can get themselves to use that money on themselves.

Fair enough, there are a lot of poor people who has no other way of putting a little food on the table at home.

But there are so many who see it as a job.

You see things with your eyes.
You wish you could forget.

For example.
We were going somewhere and I saw a child.
He was not even 10 years.
Pushing a corn trolley, I think.
In the middle of the day.
When he was supposed to be in school.
Learning.

That broke my heart.

Why is that ok?
Why is the government ok with that?
Why are we ok with that?

I do not get it.

6. New buildings

Another new building project somewhere in Pakistan

Especially in Islamabad.
There are a lot of new building complexes.

And they are not just buildings.
These are luxurious buildings, where the rich people move in.

These are not only big apartments.
They have everything.

Including guards down stairs.
To the garage.
To the entrance for walkers.
And in the lobby.

Check out some of these apartments for rent in Islamabad.

They look like five stars hotels.
Most of them.

Mountain in Pakistan

7. Beautiful mountains
The mountains are gorgeous.

The picture is just a small one.
It is something everyone should go and see.

They are so beautiful!

We also have one of the worlds highest mountain.
K2 Mountain.

Pakistan is something everyone should visit at least once.

It is a great experience and there are differently many places to go sightseeing.

– Hafsa

P.S. I hope you enjoyed this, even though it was a unusual topic for me.

P.P.S. Follow my Instagram @HafsaFarooqX2 for motivation and the new IG-snaps!

27May

3 Reasons to love and ask for criticism | Entrepreneur

Picture by Skeeze
Is it just criticism or is it a storm?

Criticism is something you might see as a tornado coming but cannot stop or hide from it.

I have always been able to take criticism but it does not mean that I do not care or think about it. I will actually think about it a lot.

Sometimes even for days.
I might not show it.

It is not a bad thing.

It is not like I will have evil thoughts about this person.

Sometimes I will actually ask one or two persons to criticize me. Especially when I am doing speeches because I want to better myself.

Here comes the three reasons for you to love and ask for criticism.

1. Just because you are doing great
This criticism is the kind you get, when you are doing great and have reached a point where you now have haters.

Haters who does not have anything else to do than hate on you, your work and everything that has anything to do with you.

You should love this.
Even if the are saying mean things about you.

Why, you might think?

Well, look at it from this perspective.
They are jealous of you.
They secretly want your things.
Want your job.
Or whatever you are doing.

Do not take them seriously.
Do not remember the things they say.
Do not let it effect yourself or your work.

Just love it because you have reached so far, that you now have hater-fans.
Hater-fans who secretly wants your life.
Awesome, right?

2. Better yourself and your business
This one is used commonly among businesses.
They call it customer feedback.

It just sounds more friendly than criticism but is the same thing.

You can choose to ask for it or you can get it when you flop big time.
We can both agree on it is best to ask for it, right?
Then you are also prepared.
And do not feel like you were just found with your pants down.

When I have received some criticism I will look into what made the person say it and use it to better myself.
Then I will ask myself these following questions.

How can I use it?
What can I do to better myself?
What should I do next time, so I do not make the same mistake?
Is it something I can fix right now?

We often only look from our own perspective and that results in very slow or none growth at all. That is why it is important to get someone else to criticize you.

Always use the results wisely.

3. They want to help
These can be people you know or do not know.

We can divide these in two groups.

In the first group are the people who does not know anything about running a business but they think they do.

Or they have a great idea for you.
Or they think you are selling the wrong products.
Or you should just close your business and find a regular job.
Or you need to listen to all their ideas and do what they tell you.

You should probably listen and then ignore it if it is not something you can use.

In the second group are those who does know a lot about running a business.
They are busy themselves and cannot see your problems until you put them in front of them.
But they would love to help you.

They might just refer you to someone.
Even help you out.
Criticize you.
Or just give you a tip.

The thing is, that the words that come out of their mouths will probably help you more than the first group.

You just need to ask for it.
And you need to listen.

Tip
If you need to criticize someone then do it in a way so the person won’t feel hurt or attacked. – Always give an explanation.

Criticizing right is not an easy job.
Criticizing wrong is easy.

Until next time!

– Hafsa

P.S. Follow me on Facebook for updates Entrepreneur: Hafsa Farooq.

P.P.S. Criticism is actually a great motivator. Did you ever think about that?

28Apr

They don’t understand and I can’t stop | Entrepreneur

Picture by Wokandpix

I am 24, almost 25.
Yes, that age…
The age where I am supposed to get married.

I have gotten a professional bachelor and have stopped going to school.
I have not stopped studying.
I am just studying what I need and like.
It is called self studying.

But stopping going to school, means I want to get married. – In peoples minds.
Seriously.

It is like I am standing on a rooftop and yelling. “I am ready to get married!”
Just because I have stopped going to school.

No, that is not why I stopped going to school.
I stopped so I could focus on my business.

I have X2Nails, which is a toddler.
And I just got X2Writer, which is an infant.

It is not like it is a couple of people who do not understand.
No, no.
It is about 95% people from my family.

Every time I see most of them I have to hear things like…

Did you get a job?
Are you looking for a job?
Just close your business and find a job.
You should have a fixed income.
And much more…

I get where they are coming from but they do not get me.
Sometimes my mother do not even understand me.
Sometimes she does.

I cannot even blame them because they do not have the same mentality.

They do not understand the concept of building a business from the ground and up.
They think it should be easy.
They think success is supposed to come instantly.
They think normal is good.

Well it does not.
It takes time and a lot of work.

This is one of the many things that drives me.
To make them understand.
To make them realize.

It motivates me to work even harder and prove them wrong.

It is all right, if everyone do not understand you.
Even if nobody does.

Just keep going until you get in goal.
Make a difference.
An impact.

– Hafsa

P.S. Even if you are alone, just keep going and make it.

13Feb

Information and protection in 4 steps | Entrepreneur

Even if I have gotten my professional bachelor degree in international sales and marketing, it doesn’t mean that I am completely done studying.

If you don’t know what I am writing to you about, you should click here and read my previous post.

I am always studying.

The information age loved by entrepreneurs

Everyday there is something new in entrepreneurship.

Yes! I mean it. – Every single day.
Every day I see something new.

It can be some new innovation, another entrepreneur making it, a new way of marketing or even something that I just don’t know anything about.

1. The information age
There is so much information out there, that it is just amazing. The internet has made it so much easier for us to look up information and it even pops up when we are not looking for it. – This is the information age that entrepreneurs like you and me love so much. – Or at least should love.

Do a search on your problem and you will most likely find out how to fix it or where to get it fixed.

Before we… or rather our parents and grandparents, had to look things up in books or get consulted by someone who might knew about it og knew someone. It was hard, very time consuming and sometimes the problem didn’t even get fixed.

We are so lucky.

Really! Just think about it for a second… a life without the internet. – Just thinking about it is making me depressed.

It’s amazing how much information there is out there and just waiting for us. So much information that we can educate ourselves at our own pace and even share our own knowledge with others. – It is up to us to search for it and to use it right.

Don’t ever take if for granted. Some people work for many years at that special something they have chosen to share with you, so always compliment or at least use it wisely.

2. False vs real information
Unfortunately a trend have started where some people just like to spread false information. Whether it be something big or small, it can really affect or misguide the reader in the wrong direction.

It is very important to be aware of false information and be able to spot it right away.

2.1. You should first look at the site where the post is. Is the site any good? Does it make you feel like you are in an advertising jungle? Does it have weird pop-ups? – Look at the whole site, does it look like something serious? If not, you should probably leave right away.

2.2. How are the readers responding to the article? If they are responding in a very critical manner, you can read it but be aware that the post might not be very useful.

2.3. Who is the person behind? It is public, anonymous or a site specially made to spread lies or the like? If it is the last two you should probably be very critical. You don’t want to spoil your brain with untruthful information.

2.4. Always find more than one source. It is possible that the writer looks legit to you but everyone can get misinformed and therefore you should be careful.

3. Free help is easy
It is amazing how easy it is to get free help today. You can post a request in a forum or ask your network through social media. Someone will always be able to help or know someone who can help you.

Then on the other hand you should also help when you can. By doing so, so will not only spread goodwill but you will also “inspire” others to do so.

4. Information overload

Sometimes the information just gets too much. You have so many things that you need to do but the list only seem to get longer. – This is called information overload.

Yes, this is exactly the right time to take a break.

How you can take a break is that you stop clicking on the articles and start doing the things on your list. As you get through it then you can take one article at a time. Don’t read them when you are getting a lot of work or are about to.

– Hafsa

P.S. To get updates from me, you can sign up to my personal newsletter here: Hafsa Farooq

P.P.S. I hope you can use this article and protect your brain palace from unnecessary information.

23Jan

I am done | Entrepreneur

Finally got my professional bachelor in international sales and marketing degree. It hasn’t been easy to be a student-entrepreneur. I sometimes wanted to give up but those days are over now and I made it.

A new chapter, new challenges and new opportunities

Student-entrepreneur
About three years ago I was sitting in one of my professors office. He asked me why I had taken the education marketing management. I told him it was because I wasn’t ready to be an entrepreneur and I thought I would become ready by finishing this education. He then asked “Why don’t you just start now? You can always close it later if it doesn’t work out.” – Since I couldn’t answer that, I went home and started to work on my idea.

It wasn’t easy but I managed to start my company and I managed to get through with my education. I had the support of my study group and the business academic, ZIBAT started an environment for entrepreneurs, Drivhuset.

You can read my four reasons to choose ZIBAT here.

Study group
My study group was formed before the conversation with my professor I believe. We did have a drop out from the group but we ended up being five. It was a great group because we each have our different fields which we are great at. We all took the top-up professional bachelor in international sales and marketing and here we got a new member and she was just what we needed. The group consisted of Azmat, Christian, Maria, Nikolas, me and later Line. – Some of the other students even asked to be in our group but we had to say no because we would be to many.

Working as a team we have all been trough some things and we were there for each other. We understood the others needs and gave some space if one needed it. – We made it every time and were always getting the better results compared to the other groups. Nevertheless was it a great experience working with these people and I wish the best for them.

Education
After getting a good understanding of the basics in business high school I went straight to ZIBAT to study marketing management, where the focus was at Business-to-Consumer-market and the company itself. I learned a lot of the background of the companies and about the different types. How to strategize and forecast about the different initiatives.

At the PBA in international sales and marketing, the focus was on the Business-to-Business-market at the international level. I learned to measure sales and relationships, how to manage these and what tools to use in the different types of companies. I learned to go a step deeper and to know which tool to use.

Education doesn’t just end there. It is a constant process you have to go through otherwise you will be left in the dark. A person constantly has to look for new sources and new knowledge. Why it is so important to be up-to-date with the newest knowledge and trends in ones field is simply because the business world is moving in an amazing speed. There are so many new and better ways to do things that you constantly have to keep up and that is why I take a lots of courses. If I don’t have time to go out and take them I will take them online. I also read a lot of articles and I have learned to sort the better articles from the bad ones. Which is also very important to learn because it has become so easy to write and some people just write something they have found from a very untrustworthy source.

Under the time of my PBA I also started longer Successful negotiation course online from the University of Michigan. I like to negotiate and since I have to negotiate a lot with my suppliers I took this course. I got great tools to different kinds of negotiations and I also learned about how to make a great lean-contract.

Experience
Before starting my own company I had worked for my father as a secretary. I had to help with the accounting, keep in contact with his business relationships and do other small work. Later I became a Mystery shopper, where I got an eye for detail. I learned a little acting and wrote reports after every visit. I worked for two different companies and when I later decided to quit I was headhunted by the first company. In the mean time I had tried to be a telemarketer and that was not something I found very interesting, so when my former workplace wanted me, I went back to work as a mystery shopper.

Then I started my own company X2Nails alone. This challenged me in great ways and I had to learn a lot of new things. I have gotten a broad experience. I have to take care of the logistics, the economic, marketing, sales, design, product development, business development, negotiations, knowledge about the relevant laws and so much more. I even got to try being a boss. I had an intern in three months and today I have two. It’s has been a great learning process for me and it still is. It’s amazing how much I have developed myself by becoming an entrepreneur and I still get amazed how much i sometimes can and know. – That is also why I have started this blog so I can share out of my knowledge.

I have started to give voluntarily speeches about my entrepreneurial journey and to inspire others. I was even one of the GEW ambassadors last year. Today I am a voluntary venture pilot for Mind Your Own Business, where I am with six others, helping 10 teenage boys startup their company.

To read more about my experiences and my projects you can check out my LinkedIn profile.

Now it’s time for a new chapter in my life. – I hope to learn a lot more and to make a positive impact!

I am a student for life.

– Hafsa

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P.P.S. I’m actually looking for a part-time job in Denmark, in my field. You’re welcome to contact me if you have found my profile interesting.

15Jan

The 4 Reasons to choose ZIBAT to study | Entrepreneur

Read the Danish version here: De 4 grunde til at vælge EASJ

With the great interest in entrepreneurship by the younger generations it has also become important for many students to have an environment at school, where they can work on their ideas and businesses. Get help, meet other entrepreneurs and much more.

I’m one of them.

Supplement your business with your education

Short after I had started my business the business academic, ZIBAT where I am studying at, started up an environment for student entrepreneurs called Drivhuset, which in English would be The green house, if translated.

1. Getting the last push
The last push I needed to start my own business I got by one of my professors. This was in the end of my first semester or the beginning of my second semester. – The reason I started at the business academic was because I felt like I wasn’t ready to jump out as an entrepreneur.

Apparently I was.

2. Mixing school with business
By starting my own business while studying I not only got great advice from my professors, I also got to mix my studies with my business. I was allowed to write five different exam papers about X2Nails and was allowed to take the obligatory three months internships in my own company, twice. This way I could instantly put the theory I learned into practice and develop my business.

This has been a great learning process for me especially because I am one of those who learns best by trying.

3. Free office space
The Drivhuset is not only for danish students or the international students at ZIBAT but it is also for the people in the city. Everyone is welcome but you have to go through a small screening process to become a member. You can follow Drivhuset at Facebook, all the postings are in English. – And you don’t have to pay anything to use the available facilities.

4. Opportunity for international and danish students
This is great opportunity for the international students because most of the programs in Denmark are mainly targeted danish entrepreneurs but at ZIBAT they focus more on international students and to give them a great start and opportunities in Denmark. Even the website is in English. It’s a great opportunity if you want to study aboard and would like to work on an idea or startup something.

– Hafsa

P.S. I’m almost done with my studies but I can still use Drivhuset. 😉

P.P.S. To follow my entrepreneurial journey, you can follow me on my Facebook-page Entrepreneur: Hafsa Farooq.

30Dec

My 7 step idea process | Entrepreneur

Read the danish version here: Min 7 trins idé proces

Getting from idea to results

Getting an awesome idea is just awesome but executing it and getting results, needs attention and work.
I’m differently better at getting ideas than executing them so it is important for me to go through a whole process so I know that I will be able to execute the idea as well as possible. In this post I will go through the seven step process I put together for myself.

1. Getting the idea
I usually get my ideas at strange moments and strange places but sometimes it also happens in a normal environment, like in the middle of a conversation or when I’m particularly trying to find an idea. Sometimes I will even dream them.

Ideas are different and they can be too early. They get categorized as: saving for later, execution right away, giving it away and in the trash.

2. Excitement
Getting a great idea is amazing and I get really excited. I work, walk, eat and sleep thinking about the idea. I will be forming it in my mind and as I find something unique about it I will write it down. This will probably take a week or so, depending on how complicated the idea is.

3. Testing
It’s important to test all ideas otherwise you can loose a lot of valuable time and money. First I will start bouncing the idea off my family and friends. Then I will do some research and find out if it already exist or if it needs some modifications, then I will do it.
After I have the idea in place I will ask the potential customer about their thoughts and critic of it. It usually gives a new perspective and helps form the product.

4. Evaluating
To evaluate I will use the Business model Canvas. See if it looks like it could be something.

See the nine step business plan I use.

If the idea passes I will try to make it as unique as possible and find the so called Blue Ocean, otherwise I will throw it in the trash. – Here it is very important to listen to your gut too. Learn to trust it because reaching your goals is not only hard work but your gut has to be with you too. May sound strange but if it doesn’t feel right, you wont be able to give 100%.

5. Working on it
This is were I will work on getting all the necessary agreements in place, the different key partners involved and prepare everything necessary to launch the product. This process doesn’t always go as planned. It can take extra time than expected and that is all right. Everything doesn’t always go as you plan.

6. Execution
Just let i go. Even if it isn’t perfect. Even if it’s not all done yet. Don’t wait for perfecting the product because when it hits the water you might have to change some things about it. If you keep waiting for the product to be ready, you will never be ready.

Don’t put all your energy in one blow. Test the water little by little and then when you have done the necessary modification you can let the ship go. Normally I will go through step four, five and six a couple of times to get the best result.

7. Getting results
When the product is done and ready you can for example use Google Analytics to get an overview of your results. If you have launched similar products before, you can compare the results and see what you did better or worse. By doing that you can better your next product launch.

– Hafsa

P.S. Be the first to receive my most important news from my entrepreneurial journey, subscribe to my newsletter.

20Dec

The nine step business plan | Entrepreneur

Læs den danske version her: Forretningsplanen med de ni blokke.

I have myself been in the situation where I had to write a 20 page business plan otherwise my bank wouldn’t open a business account for me. So I had to use my vacation from school on writing a 20 pages long business plan.

I got my bank account but the thing is, as soon as the bank account was opened there were already changes in my business plan. So it went straight into the trash. – I didn’t want to waste my time on writing a new one thinking I knew exactly what I was going to do with my company, so I left it alone and focused on getting my online store ready for sales.

Using the Business model Canvas

Business Model Canvas
I don’t remember exactly when but I guess it was the next semester, one of my professors told me to check out a model called Business model Canvas. At first I was very hesitant because he is my economics professor and for me economics is an important subject but it’s differently not my strong suit. So I kind of though that the model would be like economics.

It is not. Trust me.

The model Business Canvas is a great tool to get a good picture of how the company’s different processes work together. It can be used as a goal, as the company is now and for the different ideas that the company chooses to evaluate or carry out.

It is divided up in nine different blocks and is easy for the different departments to understand the whole picture and so to say, speak the same language.

Down under you can watch the short two minutes video about how to use the model.

The Business model Canvas is developed by Alexander Osterwalder, who has managed to simplify a very complicated process. He has also lead authored the best sellers: Business model Canvas and Value proposition Design. Both books gives you the opportunity to take your business to the next level.

Using it

As explained in the video it is quite simple but using it and understanding it, has been a great progress in understanding and developing my own business. When you really get into it, you will be amazed how much you can actually learn from it.

Check it out before it’s too late.

– Hafsa

P.S. If you don’t want daily updates from my entrepreneurial journey, then don’t follow me on my new Faceebook-page Entrepreneur: Hafsa Farooq.

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