In my work launching new businesses (or fixing businesses that have plateaued), one place I see entrepreneurs in every industry get stuck, frustrated, or misguided, is in attempting to apply old models to new business.

Of course you should know your business, your team, your strengths and weaknesses, and your market. That's absolutely essential. But do you take the business time to describe it in comprehensive detail, with edited text, statistics and formal research? No.

Of course, there are a variety of skills owners need to know in order to make a business work. But after many decades of running my own successful businesses, I have come to the conclusion that these facts are the seven essential concepts needed to create a successful business life.

Have you had it with your 9 to 5? Stop dreading Monday mornings and start planning your exit from corporate America. Why not capitalize on the newness of the year and put together a solid plan to activate your dream of starting your own small business?

Like business, everything about Downton Abbey is about change. Changes in society after World War I. Changes in manners and the way people behave. Changes in wealth.

What's the point of a business plan if you can't seem to get your startup off the ground? If you find your company struggling, you might end up throwing that business plan out the window anyhow.

Interconnected, interdependent but definitely not independent -- four ways of looking at one thing: What you're bringing to this world.

You have an idea and you're quite sure it'll be successful. It might revolutionize the way people shop, eat, exercise, sleep, watch tv, you name it. What's next? Before you embark on writing that business plan or applying to business school, take some time to talk. To whom? Everyone.

The mission of the new contest, called ACCELERATE, is for teams to build demos of their idea, whether that be a hardware prototype, a beta service, or experimental data for a promising new drug.