Continuing from Part 1 and Part 2, Thinkandgrowchick.com sits with Gwen Bell today as she answers your questions about the nitty-gritty details of entrepreneurship. Enjoy!

Photo Credit: Gwen Bell

Reader: What advice would you give to online entrepreneurs who have websites with great content to give others but are trying to build an audience and online presence? How do you achieve this without overkilling it? And when can advertising and sponsorships come into play?Gwen: The key is focus. A few years after I started blogging, I went to a number of blogging conferences to learn the secret art of blogging. I heard "you have to focus." And I continued to lack focus on my blog. It wasn't until I chose a focus that I got clarity for myself on how I could serve others. While my focus is still broad, it's much more focused than it was when I started out.My fear was that choosing a focus meant limiting myself. The truth, I discovered, was in giving myself a focus, I took the burden off my readership (and future clients) to find a way to connect with me. Choosing a focus doesn't mean limiting yourself, it means clarifying what it is you can offer (be the best in the world at) and leaving behind the rest.You can continue cultivating other areas of your life, but your site needn't be all things to all people. Nor does it have to tell the world everything there is to know about you. Choose your best. Share it well. (And if you'd like to process privately, do so with a site like 750words.com. Private journals are a great way to write in a broad, wild, unfocused way.)Reader: What do you do when the people around you don't believe in your idea?Gwen: It depends on the idea. It depends on the person. It depends on what you mean by "don't believe." If it's an idea in which I believe strongly, I go into question-asking mode. I dig deeper with the person pushing back.Sometimes you find those who oppose or attack your ideas are doing so out of love for you. They may not be able to express it well, but they want to see you succeed and sometimes hope you'll take an easier path to be sure you'll succeed.Other times, people are so deeply invested in you staying the way you are that they become antagonistic about your idea to keep you where you're at.Be discerning when sharing ideas that matter most to you. Consider sharing only with your inner circle of advisors first. You might not want to update your blog with your big idea until you're sure you're ready to move forward with it. Even then, consider what you'd like to get out of sharing.Finally, let those listening to your idea know how you'd like them to respond. Would you like them to simply listen? Would you prefer they only share supportive feedback? Do you want them to wait a few minutes and then share their thoughts starting with positive first? It helps to guide people to help us the way we need to be supported.Reader: What is your best advice for someone who wants to start a business but does not have the funds to do so?Gwen: Like the previous question, there is a lot of "it depends." I think it depends on your comfort with risk. You may not want to quit your day job until you have a good financial cushion in place. You may work nights and weekends on your project.It also depends on the kind of business you're starting. If it's the kind of business that might get funding, begin to think about your friends and family. Would they be willing to loan you the funds to get started for a percentage stake in the business? Are you up for that? Start asking these sorts of questions. Consider hiring an advisor who has started a business. Seek advice on blogs like Entrepreneur.com and Fortune.com. Go on a treasure hunt - creating ways to fund your dream is a remarkable way to learn about yourself (and your relationship to money).Reader: What are your favorite creative, inspiring, or entrepreneurial websites?Gwen: This is probably best answered by pointing you to my lists on Twitter (especially The Creatives and The Technologists)Reader: What is the biggest lesson you have learned as an entrepreneur?Gwen: I've learned that life is extended lesson in self-study. That everything we fear "out there" is a reflection of something going on "in here." I've learned to trust my intuition in every business deal, every transaction, every conversation. I've learned that there's no more compassionate boss, no more tyrannical boss, than my own mind.I've learned that I'm capable of doing great good, and that the best way to do good is by living my life in service to others. Most crucial to my path, I've learned I can only serve others and contribute to the happiness of the people I serve, if I am, myself, happy.Final thoughts:Gwen: Before I close the laptop tonight, a few final thoughts on the term "personal brand" because it came up in a lot of your questions. (Thank you for your questions!)The term “personal brand” is a misnomer, as herbal tea is a misnomer. There’s no such thing as herbal tea. Tea is a leaf. There are no leaves in herbal teas (the technical term is tisane). It’s non-tea.In the same way, personal brands are true and not true. A company may want to work with you because you have a strong online presence. But presence is different than brand. I’d prefer to focus on presence.How do we cultivate presence? By being present. By showing up wholeheartedly on the social web, and offline. People respond at a heart level to tenderness. To humanness. Model it.There’s a middle way here. You cultivate your online presence and refine your properties around the web, the people behind brands may start to take notice. The clearer you are on what your offering is at that point, the better. It’s definitely about packaging your offering. But remember to take a step back before (and as) you do that. However you do it, unplug frequently. Go hang with your grandmother for a few hours and listen to her stories. Go indulge in a milkshake with a pen and notebook. Sketch!Get offline, take a breath around all of this. Doing so will help you align your self with your message. I sometimes think to myself: if this were my last tweet, would I be ok with it? If no, I edit undo. If yes, publish. While not life or death, see your presence online as an evolving part of your journey.May this interview series serve you well on that journey.

***

I'm really sad to see this train pull into it's final stop, but it has been a really great ride learning from Gwen Bell over this week-long interview. Many thanks to Gwen for taking the time out of her busy schedule to answer our most pressing questions. To get more enlightenment from this very down to earth entrepreneurial maven, check out her blog Gwenbell.com/blog.