Have an idea on how to change the world?  Burning up with ideas to help the environment, society, business, your friends, social media or anything else you can dream up?  UMBC wants to give you $750 for telling us your idea!  How can you win cash for your innovative solution?  Read on!

The UMBC Idea competition is designed to challenge you to think about problems facing society and what you can do to help.  If UMBC is one of the most innovative schools in the nation, then UMBC students are just the kind of innovators that can really change the world.  Now’s your chance to see it happen.

Entering is easy!  Go to www.umbc.edu/ideacomp to enter your idea before March 15th at 5pm.  Ideas can be inspired by a new product or service that:

·         meets a need in the marketplace or improves society

·         improves the UMBC campus

·         engages more people in the arts and humanities

·         is part of a research project with commercial applications

·         is currently part of another class or team project
This is your chance to use your idea to win some cash! The top entries will be judged, live, by a panel of professionals and alumni along with a crowd of students at the final competition on April 18th

In many ways, starting a business will be nothing like what you expect. One founder reflects on his top five reality checks.

Entrepreneurs spend a ton of time learning about how to grow a business--but not nearly enough time questioning whether they should start one in the first place.

About six years ago, I founded WordStream. It’s a search marketing company with about 100 employees that's based in Boston, and I’m happy to say that we’re doing great. However, I admit that I naively started it with certain expectations in mind that really didn’t quite align with the reality of starting a business.

Here are five ways that my experience in starting and building a company turned out to be nothing like I had expected it to be:

Expectation No. 1: You’ll be your own boss.
One of the most common reasons for wanting to start a business is to be your own boss. But generally, if you take on investors as I did, you lose control of the company when you accept the venture capital dollars. And even if you don’t have to take on investors, your customers become your new boss--and they’re likely to be much more demanding than your old boss ever was. I’d argue that there’s actually less freedom and more responsibility involved in starting a business versus having a regular job.

Expectation No. 2: You’ll make tons of money.
Admit it: You hoped (or still hope) to make boatloads of money by growing and selling a business. That was one of my end goals, too.

But I soon learned that founding a business creates value that isn’t monetary. I didn’t realize that one of the most valuable aspects of having started a business is the social capital and learning experiences you pick up along the journey. The opportunities I’ve had to meet other company founders and discuss crazy business ideas are invaluable. So though it’s possible that you’ll make tons of money, be sure along the way to savor the insight you gain--about life and work--from the company you keep. It will help you put any failures in the proper context.

Expectation No. 3: You’ll get to do more of what you’re good at and interested in.
You might start a business to follow your passion. But as your business grows, you’ll inevitably find yourself doing less and less of whatever it was you started out doing, and focusing more on trying to find people smarter than you are to do a better job than you could have done. Also, keep in mind that even the most fun hobby can easily turn into work when it becomes your full-time job and livelihood. Ultimately, the most important aspect of your job as a company founder is less about doing stuff you love to do and more about building a team, and then nurturing and encouraging that team.

Expectation No. 4: You have nothing to lose.
I’ve found that in life, it’s a lot easier to just fly under the radar and keep your goals and achievements--and any failures to reach those goals--to yourself. It’s a way to avoid embarrassment and judgment. But when you start a business, you need to market it, and as a result, you’re putting yourself out there in a very public way. Because something like 80 percent of businesses fail in the first year, the odds are good you could go down in flames. And sadly, some people actually want you to fail. So you do have a lot to lose in terms of your own pride. The key is to stay positive, ignore the naysayers, and learn from your mistakes so that things work out better the next time around. Some serial founders start multiple companies, and look at each company as a learning experience, not a failure.

Expectation No. 5: Your big dream will become a reality.
Of all the items on my list, this expectation comes closest to being true. However, I greatly underestimated just how awesome it really is to show up at work and watch your company grow over time, and to watch the dream become a reality. Stuff like getting your first office, moving into a bigger, “real” office, having a company party to celebrate your achievements, getting recognized with an industry award, or even just having really happy customers--it’s impossible to anticipate or describe how great it feels.

Starting a company is a big undertaking. My goal here isn’t to encourage or discourage anyone from starting a business, but rather to challenge you to think more deeply about what’s behind your motivations to start a business. Most likely, it won’t be anything like you expect it to be--but it’s possible that it will be better than you ever imagined.

The CEO and co-founder of Ajax Union has won over hundreds of clients and hired dozens of employees using these basic tenets of smart leadership.

Ajax Union CEO Joe Apfelbaum warns business owners not to fear change nor feedback--both will fuel your company's growth. Here, he explains the best pieces of advice he's ever received.

Since Ajax Union started five years ago, it has been my goal to make a difference in doing business. We have worked to develop unique and innovative online marketing strategies for our clients. As a result, in just five years, we've grown to managing two offices with upwards of 60 employees working with hundreds of clients.

We're firm believers that marketing is all about testing; that said, here are three tips I've tested and learned while leading one of the fastest-growing companies in the United States.

1. Look to build relationships, not business. Relationships will bring youthe business.

If you remember one thing, it's this: Business is not just about sales. It's about meeting people. Making connections. And developing those connections into potential future business relationships.

People want to do business with someone they trust. Listen before you start talking about yourself. Focus on getting to know the person. And understand that it helps a great deal if you genuinely understand their industry. This will make the probability of engaging in business with them more feasible and realistic later on. It will also allow you to personify your own business--to humanize your company and show your clients that you care about them and want to help them succeed.

2. Survey everything; ask everyone.

It's not always what you think will sell or be attractive that's the best solution. Look at it this way: You are one person with one opinion. Look to your friends, colleagues, and associates for advice. Ask as many people as you can when surveying a new product, service or idea. Get input. Invite change and opinion.

It's very easy to get too embedded in a project. By divorcing yourself from a situation and asking for input, you're inherently working towards creating a stronger, better-developed idea. Welcome advice with open arms; reward creativity and carefully weigh opinions that are different than your own. Remember: "Different" does not mean "bad."

3. Embrace change.

The old, "tried-and-true" methods of business don't always work in a corporate culture this fast-paced. Rather than competing with the changing atmosphere, it's best to embrace the change--and even use it your advantage.

For instance, we're an online marketing agency. If we stuck to traditional print advertising, we could only help a small number of businesses achieve success. This applies with operations, sales and overall business methods. Stay on top of your own shifting landscape. For our part, we're constantly learning new techniques and discovering new technologies that help us stay ahead of the curve and reach the greatest number of people through the most mediums and venues that we possibly can.

Apply the same principle to your business: Test new software. Read up on new developments. Change is a little scary, but that doesn't mean you should cower from it. Face the times, change with the times, and be glad you did.

Joe Apfelbaum brings more than thirteen years to the online business, technology and marketing community. As CEO and co-founder of Ajax Union, he has been featured on Fox Business Network and was selected as a Certified Google Trainer.

Some start-ups rely on almost round the clock face time, but others--like Bolstr--find hanging out together less means getting more done.

If you're going to be basically sleeping under your desk to get your start-up off the ground, why not make things a little more comfortable and actually merge your place of business with your place of residence? At least you'll have a proper bed handy.

That's the thinking laid out by Victor Ho and Matt Dok, co-founders of business loyalty network FiveStars, recently. The pair came up with an elegant solution to the long hours demanded by starting their company: They cohabitated and then had early employees move in too.

"We locked ourselves in a room for three months straight, had ramen for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and taught ourselves Python. We transformed our living room into a work space. We’d wake up, walk 20 feet down the hall, sit down at the table, not move except to eat, then go to bed," Ho tells Fast Company, claiming the unusual arrangements helped the team be more innovative and productive, save money and instill a horizontal, hierarchy-free culture.

But this approach isn't for everyone. Charlie Tribbett and Larry Baker, the founding team behind small business crowdfunding site Bolstr, at first tried something a slightly less extreme form of constant togetherness.

"When we first started working together we actually set up a fold out table and sat across from each other all day with our laptops," Tribbett told Inc. "We had just quit our jobs—structured, finance jobs. Unaccustomed working outside of an office, the fold-out table seemed like a good idea. And early on, it was. That works tyle helped us maintain focus. But over time it became a distraction."

The pair found that they were actually taking the homey vibe too far, becoming so companionable that they ended up simply hanging out when they should have been working.

"It became very easy to spend chunks of time chatting about things unrelated to Bolstr," says Tribbett. In response the pair decided on a trial separation, working remotely from their separate apartments, but that approach "led to some fragmentation. It became a little more difficult to iterate the broader strategy for the company and product. And projects that required collective collaboration became more challenging to knock out."

The solution for this team was a middle way. "We’ve found that 2-3 days a week in the same space lets us set the week’s agenda, talk strategy and whiteboard. We then prioritize, divide, and conquer the remainder of the week," says Tribbett.

But, argue some credible voices in the start-up community (including VC Mark Suster), doesn't working at a distance reduce opportunities for a team to build a culture of camaraderie and a basis for trust?

To which Tribbett responds: there's no reason you can't build company culture over chat and video. Some young startup teams create camaraderie, he says, by "staying up late and working hard together. This is actually true for us too—it’s just done through technology. We have an open chat called 'The Watercooler' where team members chat about anything. Sometimes work-related, sometimes not."

While the team believes a Bolstr HQ is in the company's future, at these early stages of the start-up the 24/7 work-life mash-up model just didn't pay dividends, concludes Tribbet, and he doubts he's alone in being unable to resist the lure of socializing.

"There are a lot of inefficiencies that are born out of the sexiness of start-ups. For the young startup in a coworking space, it takes discipline to not partake in every nerf fight or happy hour," he says. "For us, though, with flexibility comes responsibility. The luxury of working from wherever means high standards of accountability."

In your experience, could some start-up teams sometimes get more done by spending less time together?

A quick reader’s guide: The Icarus Deception, by Seth Godin

Seth Godin has built a name for himself as the go-to writer for marketing. His most recent books, however, have started tying the concept of marketing into the larger picture of entrepreneurship and The Icarus Deception follows that trend. The book offers insight into creative entrepreneurship in particular — how to sell things you make, from software to products that are a little more crafty.

It’s important to know that The Icarus Deception isn’t a technical book going in. It’s a business book with some seriously inspirational elements. But by the time you’ve finished reading it, you’ll be very motivated to get to work and you may have some new ideas on how to handle the business and marketing sides of your projects.

Development: Ditching responsive design
Lately, it’s seemed like an article of faith that any new website has to be designed so that it can easily adapt to multiple platforms. But responsive design may be more of a bandaid in certain situations — something that doesn’t fix the underlying issue. For some companies, it may actually make sense to ditch responsive design.

Funding: On Deck raises $42 million to finance cash-strapped small businesses
It can be tough to get a loan for a business, particularly if you need a smaller amount than your bank typically deals with or you need the money quickly. But On Deck is working to make sure that short-term loans are available for small businesses, a process made easier by the $42 million the company just raised for itself.

Operations: 6 reasons to use crowdsourcing
Have you been considering crowdsourcing, anything for establishing your company? These reasons may convince you to try out crowdsourcing some of the design work or research necessary to get you started, as Wild Creations did.

Marketing: A realist’s guide to marketing in 2013
Colin Nagy has put together a fast read on what marketing pitfalls are currently facing tech companies. The bottom line is that marketing is quickly evolving and you need to keep ahead of any problems in the pipeline.

Beyond Tech: Future Woman in Tech
This letter, from Stacey Mulcahy, to her eight-year-old niece, lays out the best possible world in which that girl could work in technology.

Our most popular link this week: A short guide to surveying your customer base

The No. 1 factor that prevents entrepreneurs from starting a new company or meeting goals is fear. Simple ways to check your fears at the door.

I interview entrepreneurs every week for my radio show. I also coach business owners over coffee and cheap bar food. The recurring theme across these conversations: overcoming fear.

We all have fears. But the good news is they're generally easy to overcome. Just look beyond them. Think it's easier said than done? Here are the common entrepreneurial fears I see and how to attack them:

Fear of Failing

This is the most obvious entrepreneurial fear: What if the business isn't successful? What if it doesn't work out? What if I end up living on the streets? The stats you hear about the likelihood of company failure would put this fear into any entrepreneur's mind. It's also the one you are most familiar with from the days of taking tests and turning in projects at school.

What to Do About It

Understand that every start-up is a failure at some point. If you look back on the original business plan, a company rarely, if ever, follows the plan as it was conceived. The difference between companies that succeed and those that fail is their ability to course correct. Make sure you pay attention to what's working and what's not, and continually work to capitalize on the positive.

Fear of Success

Believe it or not, success is some entrepreneurs' biggest fear. A hesitant salesperson is actually afraid that if he makes the sale, the company won't deliver on the promise he's made. Success brings the requirement to perform, to fulfill the obligation, and to manage scarce resources in an attempt to satisfy demands. Many companies fail because they simply can't service the demand, and their customers move on to a competitor.

What to Do About It

Find a fellow entrepreneur who is in a similar space. He or she has been there before and will have connections and advice to help you through. Look for resources you can borrow: an industrial kitchen if you are making a food product or a company's excess office space; or rent another company's equipment to get the job done.

Fear of Starting

One of my colleagues once gave me some great advice about getting started on a big task. She told me, "How do you eat an elephant?" The answer, "One bite a time." OK, it's a little creepy, but you get the point. Often we are so overwhelmed by the task ahead of us because it looks too big and daunting that we just don't start.

What to Do About It

It may sound simple, but just simply start! If you are going to write a book, write 350 words a day and you are writing about a page. If you are going to start a company in a space you have never been before, find a mentor or spend some time interning with a company you respect. Do something small today for the future you want tomorrow.

Fear of Loss

This fear grips entrepreneurs who have built something up and are afraid to make a change or go in a new direction. They are afraid that the new direction will put what they already built in jeopardy.

What to Do About It

Realize that the second you stop innovating your company, you are already slipping. There is no such thing as maintaining the status quo in the entrepreneurial or small-business space. If you think you are afraid of losing what you already have, then know that unless you take some risks, you are already headed down that path.

Entrepreneurs are a resilient breed. You know how to take a need, problem, or bad situation and capitalize on it to build something great. If you can remember that your entrepreneurial instincts make you more likely to succeed and to learn from a failure, you have nothing to fear.