I’ve never been particularly a neat person - but sometimes I look at my desk and just think “things are out of control.”

I’ve visited other entrepreneurs or start-up CEOs and have seen pretty much the same exact thing - my guess? THIS is what Entrepreneur desks are like…

A) Messy
B) Messy
C) O So Messy…

But still, ask me to find anything and I’ll find it in 10 seconds (me brain knows where it is).

I also just bought a cool little gadget - a Flip Video Camera, so here’s my first shooting.

For the next 60 seconds, you’re a humble guest in what I call my office…

More where that came from later…

Popularity: 37% [?]

I used to be an avid “Business 2.0″ magazine reader, I’d wait at the door like an excited dog, waiving my tail the day it came to my mailbox. The day I found out that it was being discontinued, I think I may have actually shed a tear. Well, long story short, I just now convinced myself to start reading Entrepreneur magazine.

Nope, it’s not the same at all (I’ll do a full review later)…but, it’s not THAT bad either.

The April 2008 issue is the first one I’ve actually sat down to read and I was immediately caught by the Editor’s Note.

She repeats a statement that was made by an entrepreneur and her friend: “Every day I go to work, I’m either excited or I’m afraid…” This sentence really caught my attention because it was the quickest way I’ve ever seen someone else sum up my day!

The more I think about it, I bet LOTS of Entrepreneurs feel this way - if you really think hard, you’ll find that it’s true.

I either have days where I run into work high on my horses, ready to “close the big deal” and take over the world.

The other days, I’m worried about payroll, growth, meeting deadlines, board meetings and god knows what else.

She actually continues to talk about how both excitement and fear are the same emotion (physiologically) and that your environment and how you REACT to it is what either converts the emotion into excitement of fear (that part was a bit over my head).

So, what about you? Do you find yourself either excited or afraid?

Popularity: 26% [?]

BRING IT ON!

I just applied, I was actually just scrolling the site and it showed up so I took about 15 minutes of my time to apply - heck, why not?

Entrepreneur Magazine picks two “Entrepreneurs of The Year…”

1. Entrepreneur of the Year: Must have less than 100 employees in 2007 and more than $3M in revenues.

2. Emerging Entrepreneur of the Year: Must have had less than 5 employees in 2007, more than $500,000 in revenues.

It’s the same application though - I guess they automatically shuffle you one way or the other. Guess which one I’m shooting for?

The application is pretty easy - although they really should offer more insight on how MUCH they want you to write in the short essays. You basically give some general business information, then you fill out a few questions:

1. Have you owned previous businesses? (briefly explain)
2. Briefly explain how have you impacted your industry?
3. Briefly explain how you have impacted your community?
4. Briefly explain how you have impacted your employees?
5. Briefly explain how you have impacted your customers?

I wrote about 200 words or so per question and think I had pretty good answers! Anyways, go apply, even if you make the Top 10, they give you pretty good publicity…

Popularity: 24% [?]

Many people really confuse these two into being the same thing. The more and more I learn about business, I’ve learned that they are actually two VERY different things. An Entrepreneur has a mind that seems to race - they are full of ideas, exuberant and a bit hard to control (of course there are exceptions).

Now, of course, by default, when an Entrepreneur starts a business, they are the CEO by default. But, what you find overtime is that many entrepreneurs are not fit at all to remain a CEO (I’ll explain why in a second). Many of these start-ups eventually go hire a “professional CEO” and the entrepreneur takes a different more targeted position (many times either technical in nature or marketing related).

Now, of course with that said, there are also many Entrepreneurs out there that have proven to be a great CEO, every day, I strive to be that Entrepreneur (and have to say that I’ve done a fairly good job at it so far).

See, a CEO is a manager. A CEO is good at building organization, structure, watching the details, the financials and keeping a “company afloat.” A CEOs entire job is to keep the company in the right line. A CEOs biggest responsibility is to build “share-holder value,” most entrepreneurs could, by nature, care one flying hoot about “shareholder value” - they just want to paint on the canvas!

The biggest difference I have personally experienced and seen between an entrepreneur and a CEO is that an entrepreneur can be FULL of ideas and always generating new ones as well. However, new ideas can give CEOs headaches (since new ideas challenge structure and organization).

Of course, again, there are many cross-overs here. Most “start-up” type CEOs can be close to an entrepreneur, but they still have a very structured way of looking at business.

It’s like someone said to recently… “Entrepreneurs are like artists…a business is their art, and we all know that most good artists don’t paint for the ’selling price’ - they paint to fulfill something inside them.”

Popularity: 30% [?]