Alex Tchekmeian founded AKT Enterprises in 1999. He was 13. Now, Alex is the President and CEO of a ‘boot-strapped’ company that not only bares his initials, but also caters to over 500,000 customers, clients, vendors and consumers, employs over 100 employees, and was recently ranked No. 511 among 5000 of the nation’s fastest growing private companies by Inc. magazine (which, impressively, is attributed to a 3-year sales growth of 592%). Yes. We’ll hear his [...]

Social Media is a beast and it’s obviously here to stay. Some feel that its bombarding effects are diluting the effectiveness of marketing/advertising on the internet. Some feel that Social Media IS marketing/advertising on the net. In any case, those who refuse to embrace it as a necessary tool in business will undoubtedly suffer the consequences and surely be left in the dust. One company that appreciates and runs with this newer idea of social [...]

Be Remembered Those words are surely prominent in the minds and hearts of most people in regards to passion, and a driving force by which we base our actions and decisions. They permeate through business, art, science, and (for the most part) every other facet of society or life. I assume that’s why Go Media decided to make those two seemingly simple words the largest and most pronounced words on their website’s main page. Go [...]

Are we seriously asking you a question about Entrepreneurial Swagger?? You bet we are! For those of you born before 1999, let’s clearly define “swagger”: a very confident and sometimes arrogant or aggressive style. Now wait a minute, some of these words don’t sound popular in our society. We tend to think of arrogant and aggressive people as annoying and problematic. While that may be true at first glance, we want you to review the definition [...]

Do you ever contemplate how you could make your business ‘great’? Do you think about strategies that would help you make gains on your competitors by attaining that Entrepreneurial Greatness? It’s a funny thing – most successful entrepreneurs want to do more than simply ‘make it’ - they want to be GREAT! Do you still have that fire in your belly? Or maybe you are satisfied with just getting by? Oh wait, have you bought in to [...]

As a current or future independent business owner, you may have considered the path of a franchise. Our intent with this article is not to weigh the countless pros and cons of being a franchise owner – that’s a personal decision that rests ultimately within you. At the same time, we do want to offer insight to those small business owners who have decided to forgo the franchise path. You have made a conscious decision [...]

For our first article in the ‘Boss 5‘ series, we felt it imperative to list the top 5 (get it?) characteristics that we’ve encountered among knowledgable entrepreneurs. These 5 Most Common And Important Characteristics Of Successful Entrepreneurs should be seen as the necessary building blocks for accomplishing goals. Passion. The most welcomed and repetitive characteristic encountered here at BossStart comes in the form of Passion. Whether you are a new or a seasoned entrepreneur, passion [...]

‘Bootstrapping’ your business is defined as starting a business with minimal resources. Essentially it’s a ‘do-it-yourself’ scenario where you aren’t using any funding other than your own. We at BossStart are intrigued by any successful business that has come into its own through this type of start-up process. This week we were fortunate enough to snag an interview with Shane Levi Gould, Creative Director and Founder of Fuel. If you’ve ever been involved in the [...]

Recently, Taco Bell was sued for allegedly using something other than ‘real beef’ in their taco products. Can you imagine being a franchise owner and waking up to this news? If we follow the story close enough we come to realize there are several learning events for our entrepreneurial followers in regards to Damage Control. A class-action lawsuit was filed by an Alabama based law firm alleging that the meat used by Taco Bell was [...]

Greg Rollett is the CEO with ‘rock star flair’ of Radically Ambitious, an Internet Marketing and Lifestyle business. Rather than steal his thunder, we’ll let him take it away in this weeks addition to our “10 Q’s With…”; our question and answer series that’s aimed at offering insight to our readers who are interested in the ‘Adventure’ of becoming: The Boss. Q. Tell our readers about your business, your passion, and what it is that [...]