Thursday, August 31 by Anthony Putignano in Life | 3 Comments
As an entrepreneur, it’s an eminent fact that your business will change over time. That’s why it’s important to remind yourself how it all started.
For nearly any small business, the goal usually is to gain more clients, make more money, and grow the business to the point where “small” is not in the vocabulary anymore. Problem is, somewhere along the line, a lot of small business owners tend to forget what the catalyst behind their success was in the first place - usually some combination of excellent customer support, unparalleled service/product quality, etc.
Logic tells you that as your business grows, all of the elements that lend to that growth will only get better with time, like a fine wine. But in the real world, this is never the case. Small businesses without the right plan for growth tend to grow tremendously in certain areas (ie. client base) without quite figuring out how to support other areas, such as continued support and quality.
I am guilty of this, but knowing that is half the battle.
Recently, I’ve began looking through emails 1-2 years old. Here is what I found:
- Nearly instantaneous turnaround times on email replies
- Somebody was, apparently, available on the phone lines 9 - 5, everyday, without exception
- More articulate and well thought out advice for clients
- A lot of quality work for a very reasonable price
- Small projects/updates (10 minutes or less) were never invoiced and done as favors
Now, if you’re a small business owner who has not yet experienced a ton of growth, I know what your first reaction to this list of attributes is - “duh”!
But as your business begins to grow, you lose sight of these essential attributes. It’s harder to answer emails and phone calls 24/7 when you’re constantly on the phone with somebody else, in a meeting, etc. Furthermore, it’s hard to provide well thought out advice and suggestions for your clients when you can barely think about running your own business. And last but not least, it’s very easy to lose sight of all of the “extra mile” work your clients came to know and love you for.
Now, I understand that once a business grows, certain things just have to change. You can’t charge what you used to because you’re worth more, and you certainly can’t be doing free work. But that doesn’t mean you have to lose sight of the principles that brought you to success.
So, how do you stay true to your past while pushing on into future growth?
Well, read your old email, and analyze both your service and your clients’ reactions. This will help you remember why clients first flocked to you. Once you become more aware of how your business has fundamentally changed during that time, you can begin to decide which changes are for the better and which are for the worse. And once you identify the areas of your business that growth has negatively impacted, then you can begin to reverse the trend. For example, if you simply can’t handle the emails, phone calls, and overall attention that your clients demand, then it’s time to hire a competent employee who acts as a buffer, keeping your clients happy and you sane. It might seem like an unnecessary and overbearing expense, but it’s not.
I realize now that in the same manner I did not consider doing free/cheap work to be an expense or burden a couple years ago, I need to start looking at investing in my business now the same way. A couple years ago I didn’t worry about how much of my time was being spent doing work at dirt cheap rates because I knew it was an investment in my business’ future. Now, the only way I can move forward from here is to realize that an investment is required yet again, but this time around, it’s a different type of investment. This time, I need to invest in:
· Developing promising products & services
· More staff/labor to support existing + current growth
· Quality training to help ease this transition
· and the list goes on…
In business, stagnation = damnation. And despite all of the “rules” businesses must follow in order to be successful, I think one of the most important is:
Always analyze where you were, where you are now, where you want to be, and how you got to and will get to each of those places.
Thursday, August 31 by David Askaripour in Member's Stuff | Leave a Comment
Maketing, entrepreneurship, and ideas – Guru Gilbert is the latest addition to the Mind Petals Community. Through insightful lessons on how to increase the buzz and awareness of your business, Adam Gilbert is helping entrepreneurs grow and capture those must-needed clients.
We’ve all heard it: “It’s all about the marketing.” With so many startups popping up left and right, oh how true that is. If you can’t sell your product, generate that buzz, and create awareness, your chances of survival are slim.
Welcome, Adam.
Thursday, August 31 by Evan Prieskop in Start-Ups | Leave a Comment
The hard truth is, we mess up…often. Yet every once in a while we get it right, too. The same youthful inexperience that precipitates these errors, also leads to stunning breakthroughs of originality. Thursdays are dedicated to true stories from my own experience and from the experience of people I know. These stories are about successful experiments, lucky innovations, and happy coincidences.
Weird things happen when you own a business. The strangest people will inevitably drift in through your door. Now, this may not be true for you cybernauts, running web-based, home-based or consultancy businesses, but if you have a brick-and-mortar storefront, I guarantee you will meet some doosies.
I had a paranoiac come in once, trying to warn me about the hidden message being encrypted in the match-book covers.
I had a mother come in to extract her child from the store—after looking around, she proceeded to explain to me exactly why and how fast I was going to go to hell for selling role-playing games to children. (She seemed nice enough, maintaining a present tone of voice and such, but I never thought I would hear the words “eternal damnation in seething, sulfurous hellfire” spoken in perfect earnestness outside of a live theater.)
One of my most memorable such encounters came very early, before we even opened our doors. I was just looking over options for our storefront signs when an unfamiliar gentleman walked through our unlocked but uninviting front door. (At the time we had no signage, and our entire display window/glass door was covered from the inside by plain brown butcher paper.)
He was civil enough in manner, but clearly not fully socialized. He spoke in mumbles about some form of news media conspiracy, and his worn and disorganized attire spoke of an alternative living arrangement. (That is to say, some alternative to ‘indoors’.)
As I politely ushered him toward the door, he asked me what I was doing. Not one to be rude, I answered that I was trying to find a sign painter. He immediately stated that he was my man. He explained that he had painted signs and facings for several stores in the area, offering phone numbers and contact names as references, and explained that he was willing paint an 8′x4′ sign for no more that $75.
I was all ears. My best lead until then was $260. A few reference checks later, I invited him to paint our sign. He came in at the appointed time, bringing with him all of his own paints and sealants. He whipped out a beautifully painted sign in under four hours, integrating our elaborate logo in perfect detail amidst legible, distinctive lettering.
I was so satisfied that I later commissioned him to paint our entire storefront for $200. His work was unique and eye-catching, garnering a number of compliments. A friend of mine still has the sign, kept as a memento of the store.
You will meet some odd folks if you run a business, but keep an open mind. Unusual does not mean unreliable, nor unskilled, untalented, or unproductive. Look everywhere for your edge, and be prepared to take smart risks. It will pay off.
Thursday, August 31 by David Askaripour in Start-Ups | Leave a Comment
Bare Naked App, Ryan Carson’s startup journal as he builds his latest application, Amigo. This is one of the most comprehensive startup journals that I have ever come across on the web.
Ryan isn’t holding anything back with this startup diary – they are covering it all. Logos, trademarks, design, programming, team, timeframes, tools, etc… all the elements that are involved in a startup.
So many entrepreneurs are a doing just that – running a startup. We can all agree that this is one of the most stressful and grueling stages of any new company. It’s also the most exciting and exhilarating.
Being able to track someone else’s progress is priceless information. It’s a great feeling knowing that other people are actually going through the same things that we are facing as well. It helps keep us going and gives us the confidence to wake-up another morning to tackle even more problems.
Thursday, August 31 by Angela Gilltrap in Marketing | Leave a Comment
In this day and age we are bombarded with so many different messages we tend to switch off. Who can name one advertisement you saw this morning riding the subway? I stare at them all the time, yet nothing ever makes a dent. Research shows that today’s generation are working more and sleeping less. Although we tend to seek out information we are overall a little bombarded to say the least.
Businesses have capitalized on this busy and overloaded market; it is quite a lucrative one. Think about it, when you are busy you have little time to spare but plenty of money to spend. You tend to need more pampering than ever and are prepared to pay for it. But have you noticed how much it costs to relax these days? Only yesterday I was in Wholefoods searching for some aromatherapy oils and stumbled across a whole range for the stressed out, at an obviously proportional mark up. Beautifully packaged they promoted every blissful state of being.
From alleviating stress to creating balance they were perfectly marketed to the overstressed. Now I’m not saying that these products don’t do what they say but they certainly do use all the right phrases. When you have five minutes after a long day what are you more likely to grab, the $5 bottle of lavender (which is said to have similar stress-reducing qualities) or the $18 bottle of blissful blends? Personally I think Wholefoods should provide the ‘stress alleviator’ for free, just for surviving the mile long express line without having a nervous breakdown.
Service industries have always capitalized on the stressed: personal shoppers, dog walkers, even nannies take care of things you no longer have time for, (or things you think deserve a little more attention). One lady in Manhattan even goes as far as to provide a service where she will trawl through the many second hand furniture stores for unique pieces for your home. And she is booked solid, at $100/hr, it seems hand me downs are very vogue.
If you can work out a way your product or service can make someone elses life easier you will win their business. Hell, just providing a service that runs efficiently, delivers on time - what they promised, goes a long way.
Thursday, August 31 by David Askaripour in Video | Leave a Comment
What does Silicon Valley 4.0 look like? Kawasaki does not consider himself a visionary, but he does see changes in the future. For example, everything will be wireless and have an IP address. Kawasaki reinstates that we should plan for a world where this is true.
Please visit the Stanford Technology Venture Program’s Educator’s Corner for more clips.
Wednesday, August 30 by Angela Gilltrap in Marketing | Leave a Comment
Recently I have been working on developing a marketing and promotional campaign for a small but successful business called Sydney Dance Zone. Like a lot of businesses it is a multi-faceted business providing several varying services to differing markets. The first market is children interested in dance and parents who are willing to pay their children’s dance tuition.
Each school holidays SDZ holds school holiday dance workshops enlisting the best, freshest commercial dance talent (video clips, movies ect.) to bring up-to-date choreography to children who normally wouldn’t be exposed to such talent due to geographical location, availability and cost. Over the six years SDZ has been holding these workshops they have built a loyal fan base with many repeat customers. The kids love the choreography, the parents love the professional way in which the classes are taken and the teachers enjoy the regular pay and chance to teach kids hungry for what they have to offer.
These workshops work simultaneously in several locations all over Australia and New Zealand. SDZ advertise in all relevant dance magazines, dance schools and via their website. They have a long and loyal subscribers list and sell SDZ merchandise (cool trucker caps/posters the teachers sign/DVDs) as part of the workshop. So the first thing we had to do was build on that already loyal following maintaining and increasing current enrollments.
This was done by getting some editorial exposure in the relevant dance magazines SDZ has been advertising in for all these years. Each magazine was pitched a different angle pertaining to their circulation using a combination of geographical association and a rags to riches story about director Jennifer Craddock. The second was to hype up the web-sites editorial content, tightening up the wording and focusing on the real strengths of the business.
SDZ are also branching out into the corporate sector offering in-house dance-fitness classes. This is a completely different market than what SDZ have been in before yet it is a lucrative and untapped one. SDZ’s teaching faculty, experience and star-association are the perfect company to provide such a service, all that needs to be done is to let them know it exists. With any luck some of the parents of those loyal children may already be SDZ subscribers it’s just a matter of letting them know that a company they already entrust their most valuable possessions to (their children) are offering a service that is appropriate for them.
Firstly, a corporate page needs to be added to the website with appropriately targeted copywriting material. The second is to elicit editorial endorsements. What better way to get corporate business endorsement than to offer a corporate business such as a magazine publisher a free in-house dance-fitness lesson? There is a reason editors are inundated with freebies.
But these are only the first steps in reaching new heights for SDZ. These are very unobtrusive measures to get more and long lasting business. The cost is kept to a minimum but the exposure is pushed to the maximum reaching a very focused, target audience.
If you do decide to get outside help from someone in marketing make sure you ask what costs are covered for example, because I have worked as an author and freelance writer I already have established connections with many editors, so editorial placement becomes a little easier. Plus I am able to do the copywriting and press releases something many have to outsource, costing you more $$. Ask about press campaigns as well as advertising.
The key to working with an outside marketing expert is to work together. If you pool your resources you will have much greater effect. Don’t expect them to cover every angle when it’s you that is the expert in that field. Success is not a solo project, use your resources wisely.
Wednesday, August 30 by David Askaripour in Communities | Leave a Comment
Mission:
Over 54% of Americans are interesting in starting their own business but don’t know where to begin. RoundOne - a platform of content and community - was designed specifically for aspiring entrepreneurs by experienced entrepreneurs who have been through it all - paralysis, failure, struggle, false starts and tremendous successes. Welcome to a growing community of aspiring entrepreneurs who have stopped dreaming and started doing.
RoundOne is an interesting entrepreneur network that combines blogs, groups, podcasts, and quizzes all in one.
At first site of their blog section, seeing that their most recent featured article, A Pending Deal is Not a Done Deal, was written almost 2 months ago, I began to wonder if this network had any contributors or not. Upon further investigation, I noticed that there were more recent articles in another section, two of which were repeated.
The blog section has a great library of useful information, albeit the information not being updated on a regular basis. They cover subjects such as management, technology, legal, management, finance, and entrepreneurship.
RoundOne Groups is another service. I’m not sure what the purpose of this section is. It’s pretty poorly executed and from the looks of it, with groups such as “Brown Men’s Rugby Club” I’m not sure how such a group would help entrepreneurs.
The network also has a “Connect” service that pairs you with entrepreneurs who share the same ideas and skills as you. I gave the idea section a shot. However, it felt more like hiring a coder than posting an idea to connect with fellow entrepreneurs.
If you place MySpace, Rent A Coder, facebook, into a pot and mix it up with some entrepreneurs, you have RoundOne. It’s a good network, but I get the feeling they over-extended themselves with too many features that don’t have enough driving force behind each one to really become sticky.
Wednesday, August 30 by David Askaripour in Video | Leave a Comment
Whatever you are building, it’s about passion, and less about the money. Your goals should be about changing the world, or making the world a better place. There are many people who set out to change the world a better place and didn’t make a lot of money. But there are even more who set out to make a lot of money, did not make a lot of money and did not change the world. Kawasaki then talks about his experience growing up and thinnking that money was most important…he advises students to study abroad, to spend as much time learning as possible.
Please visit the Stanford Technology Venture Program’s Educator’s Corner for more clips.
Wednesday, August 30 by Evan Prieskop in Start-Ups | Leave a Comment
There are types, shades if you will, of knowledge. There are facts and theories, rumors and rationales, but the most elusive—the subtlest and rarest shade of knowledge—is wisdom. I am a bit young yet to lay claim to vast stores of this valuable resource, but I have watched the rise and fall of more than a few start-ups. Thus I reserve Wednesdays’ essays for wisdom and weirdness, for the ephemera of enterprise, entrepreneurs, and existentialism.
I have read a lot of entrepreneur-targeted books. I have read personal accounts and ‘How To’s, histories and inspirational screeds, disaster stories and ‘lighter side’ collections. From all of them, once you dig deeply enough, a few common themes emerge:
1. Running your own business is hard.
2. Be smart.
3. Do what you love.
4. Change the world for the better.
Maybe this is all a little too high level, but there it is—the sum total, the crux, the very rub of entrepreneur-targeted literature. Contained within those four tiny points is all the wisdom in all the books for all the entrepreneurs in the world; after that, it is all details.
I will almost certainly return to this list in the future. I promise to come back to deconstruct it, explain why I chose the wording I did, and why I chose the order I did, but not today. Today I simply look over the list and ask, “Why think small?”
The fact is, drop point one and you have one of the most concise philosophical frameworks the world has ever seen. I cannot come up with better advice to someone searching for a few rules to live by or a simple path to happiness.
Today’s lesson: Live like you work. Work like you live.
Be smart. Do what you love. Change the world for the better.
Tuesday, August 29 by David Askaripour in Member's Stuff | 3 Comments
Starting a business. The Startup phase. The beginning. Yup, we all have come to know this part of the business all too well. It’s one of the most stressful, fun, and exciting times for any entrepreneur. It’ll be the time that you will always remember – the time where you are made or broken.
Andrew and Steve of Diary of a Startup are documenting their startup, Peer Sight, and sharing their experiences, insights, and what they are learning in the process. It’ll be fun watching their progress, learning from their mistakes, and seeing how other entrepreneurs are tackling this difficult and fulfilling stage.
Welcome Andrew and Steve.
Tuesday, August 29 by Angela Gilltrap in Marketing | 5 Comments
I was reading a marketing book this morning and something came up that I thought was worth mentioning. It wasn’t to do with the actual contents of the book but the impulse behind why I bought it. You see, it’s not my favorite book, in fact I find it quite tedious yet I spent $24 on it. Why? I looked over the cover pondering that exact question when I saw a quote on the cover in a bright red bubble, it read: “The one book on marketing I’d have if I could have just one.” It was then I remembered why I had bought it.
Don’t underestimate the power of an endorsement. Rather than an advertising pitch or in this case the blurb on the cover of the book, an endorsement to a consumer seems to be an unbiased opinion or review, a second opinion from a friend. In this case the person who uttered those immortal words is not even someone I have ever heard of. Yet, it was his opinion that swayed mine.
Big conglomerates do it all the time particularly with celebrity endorsements. I recently saw a big poster of Madonna around Columbus Circle endorsing H&M. I would hate to see how much that cost them. Obviously there is a great deal of capital needed to attain those sorts of endorsements but you don’t need a lot of money or in fact any money to achieve the same result.
By asking an expert in your field to comment on, or review your product you can attain a credible endorsement that can be used in future promotions and marketing material. Most will be flattered you asked and will gladly provide you with a quote that, if favorable you can add to your promo. Even unfavorable quotes have their place. The marketing for Jack Ass for example used exactly that, all the complaints and bad reviews they got. It created credibility among their target audience after all, it is gross, immature and revolting, exactly what the complaints said endorsing their pitch.
Over the years these endorsements can help you build a highly reputable business. Look at the column inches devoted to music and film reviews. A consumer wants to know that they are going to be happy with the product or service you are offering and seeing very few of us have the time to elicit independent research, someone else’s endorsement will have to do. So don’t waste anymore time, start getting yours now.
Tuesday, August 29 by Evan Prieskop in Start-Ups | Leave a Comment
Even when we go it alone we are seldom without help. From books to software to websites, young entrepreneurs are surrounded by a thousand resources dedicated to aiding them in their private quests. All the combined wisdom and experience of the generations which have come before is available to you…for a price. That’s why Tuesdays are dedicated to the tools of trade. Check here every Tuesday for reviews, previews, comparisons, and exposés on the vital organizations, support networks, and products relevant to you and your burgeoning enterprise.
Not every one sets up business in their own backyard.
Emerging markets, budding industries, and rapid globalization are drawing more and more entrepreneurs out of the safety of their first-world homes and into the Wild West frontier of developing nations all over the world. Politicians and aid workers are free to debate their endless rounds as to whether large corporations exploit or uplift local populations as they move in to leverage low-cost labor pools, but no one argues that small businesses are anything but positive. Entrepreneurs receives powerful incentives to bring their start-ups into the third world, the better to stimulate economies, modernize workforces, and energize communities.
One of those incentives is at www.smetoolkit.org. A product of World Bank Group member IFC, the SME (Small and Medium Enterprise) Toolkit is a catchall collection of free resources gathered and presented for the benefit of small businesses investing, moving to, or starting-up in a wide range of developing nations.
The shear depth and breadth of the SME Toolkit is staggering. From VC links to online seminars to free software to Business Plan authoring pointers. The region specific breakdown of the site means that all information is poignant and immediate to the unique legal and regional concerns of your business.
On the down side, the same vastness of scope and intricacy of detail that this site offers also makes it pretty difficult so first timers to find what they need. The site’s navigation assumes visitors have some idea what they are doing, where they are doing it, and what the terminology means.
I am not suggesting that first time business owners avoid the SME toolkit. Rather I suggest that any neophytes and explorers who click over to the site be prepared to spend some time exploring and orienting themselves. Set aside a block of time to check out the forums, the course offerings, even the advertisements. You are sure to learn something new and find something invaluable.
For experienced business owners and serial entrepreneurs however, this site is a must. If you are setting up a business in a developing nation anywhere in the world, bookmark this link: www.smetoolkit.org. The SME Toolkit will be an invaluable asset to you, useful throughout every stage of founding, establishing, and stabilizing your enterprise.
Tuesday, August 29 by David Askaripour in Video | Leave a Comment
Entrepreneurs: Then (1997) and Now (2003). Advice about foundation, priorities, financing, key employees, getting the word out, leveraging resources, scope, business development, raison d’etre, and the big picture. For example, a few years ago, cleverness was the priority. Today, expertise in technology is important…and we should be thinking of making the world a better place.
Please visit the Stanford Technology Venture Program’s Educator’s Corner for more clips.
Tuesday, August 29 by David Askaripour in Communities | 2 Comments
Last week facebook dropped their “notes” service. Otherwise know as their “blog” service for all of those out there who are reading between the lines. I guess that their cleverness to not use the term “blog” is pretty smart – they don’t want to confuse ( or should I say insult those tech-savvy) all of their non tech-savvy members with jargon only “nerds” would know about. Go figure.
Anyhow, this is great news for us young entrepreneurs who have facebook memberships and also own business blogs(any blogs). Now our entire network of facebook buddies can keep up-to-date with our latest entries directly from our profiles. Pretty cool.
I’ll be the first to admit: the term “blog” is pretty loaded. Heck, I don’t even like the term and some may even say that I’m in the blog business. Not the case. It’s all about content, pure and simple.
Facebook understands this basic principle: content is king. Whether it’s coming from a “blog,” website, portal, whatever… it doesn’t really matter. Being able to share your thoughts, insights, and experiences with the world is the bottom-line here.
Facebook is definitely heading in the right direction with such as move. Quite the power move. For all you entrepreneurs on facebook, please take advantage of this new feature. Your content now has the opportunity to reach a wider audience and essentially open up new doors for your business and making connections.
Now instead of checking facebook to locate the names of girls that I met in the bars (I kid… I kid…), I’ll start catching up on some great content from my entrepreneur buddies.
Monday, August 28 by David Askaripour in Communities | 2 Comments
Do a quick Google search for “young entrepreneurs” and sure enough you’ll come across a wide variety of entrepreneurship forums for you to bask in. I think that entrepreneurship forums are absolutely great for all entrepreneurs – especially young ones just starting out – to share ideas, thoughts, and get feedback. It’s all a part of the learning process.
Here’s a list of some forums that I have recently encountered:
Startup Nation is a full-blown entrepreneurship community. From articles, blogs, podcasts, events, and forums, you’re sure to find plenty of resourceful information there. Though their focus doesn’t seem to be on young entrepreneurship, I would tend to think that many young entrepreneurs also frequent this community.
If you’ve been an active young internet entrepreneur, you have surely heard about Young Entrepreneur forums. It’s a well established forum with a thriving community. Based upon the questions being asked on the forum – “With a brand-new site that I have just gotten on-line, and the need to generate some quick revenue to continue on, would it be a reasonable idea to buy traffic to my site, and, if so, whom would you all recommend?” – it seems as though the community has plenty of fresh entrepreneurs looking for advice.
Last but not least, we have Young CEO Forum. It doesn’t really stand out from the rest, but I am sure that it wouldn’t hurt to give it a shot and see what happens. You never know, someone on one of these forums may be your next business partner that you will go off to make millions with.
All in all, I think that entrepreneurship forums can be extremely helpful to the budding entrepreneur. However, I feel that they are all one in the same. I see no originality or “wow-factors” from any of them. It’s always the same old topics and same old bulletin board software – usually just another template thrown on to change the design. I have yet to see one forum that has truly separated itself from the pack. Hopefully someone will create that forum one day.
Forum on!
Monday, August 28 by Angela Gilltrap in Marketing | Leave a Comment
It always amazes me how brand names can become the actual name for a product, or how a well known and liked service can be turned into a universally understood verb. For example, when I want to search for a product on the web I tell people to ‘google’ it. What I mean is, use a search engine to get the information you want but what I say is ‘google it’, spreading the brand name while identifying and endorsing the service. Even if the person I speak to doesn’t use google as their primary search engine it is in the forefront of their mind and most likely the first phrase that comes up when they tell someone else to search for information on the web.
If you can create a branded brand you will forever hold the market share of your field. Ipod is the best example. Nobody at Apple ever refers to the Ipod as Apple’s MP3 player. MP3 players have been around for years, I was recently in Taiwan and I cannot tell you how many different brands and variations there actually are on the scene – hundreds maybe thousands. Yet even people who own rival brands of MP3 players refer to them as Ipods. The product has surpassed being a brand name and has become branded as the actual product.
Naming your product or brand can have a big impact on this sort of word-of-mouth endorsement. ‘Go yahoo it,’ doesn’t have quite the same ring as ‘google it’. ‘Sony’s MP3 player’ isn’t as easy to say as my ‘Ipod’. When you are thinking about naming your product or service have these things in mind. How will your service become a verb? How will your product brand the brand?
You don’t realized how much brand names have an impact on your vocabulary till you go to another country. I for one recently tried to find ‘Saladas’ (a brand of Australian crackers) in an American store. It had been used so often as a branded brand that I didn’t realize that the generic name for them was saltine biscuits. Very embarrassing! If you can find a way to make your brand the name of a product, do. If you can find a way to make your service into a verb do it. The best way to begin is to start using it yourself, in every conversation and piece of literature you produce.
Monday, August 28 by Evan Prieskop in Start-Ups | Leave a Comment
The corporate workforce is full of jokes about the pain and consternation of Mondays. Those of us who start our own businesses generally would not know a weekend if it stole our wallets, but out of respect for the else-employed I have chosen to dedicate Mondays to the hardest part of starting up your own business. Monday’s are dedicated to the mistakes and missteps I and others I know have made in the working-without-a-net world of entrepreneurship. Here is to hard knocks, prices paid, and lessons learned on the hoof.
After finding and leasing my first business’s location, we set about remodeling the space to suit our needs. Some friends and excited prospective customers contributed greatly to the remodeling effort (I will write more about this phase of remodeling while doing a ’success story’ column’.)
It finally came time to select and install furniture. Our tables and chairs we custom built, right there in the building, using spec’s provided by a friend of the store and built by a cheery labor force requesting only cheeseburgers and future discounts for their aid.
By the time we started looking for shelving, the aid coming our way from a snowballing community of potential customers was enormous.
The same supporter who designed and supervised the very successful chairs and tables job gave us some sturdy shelf designs utilizing 2×4s and plywood. Another, newer customer offered a cheaper, unsupported, interlocking plywood design plus access to a woodshop needed to build it. My partner and I liked the sturdiness of the 2×4-based design, but our budget was getting tight and we could probably bang out the twelve needed units of the second design in a day and for half the price.
The result less than optimal. The plywood was warped. The shelves, though finished and standing, leaned into one another like drunken sailors. Worse still, we were out of time. Opening day was upon us, and building the other shelves would have taken time and money we no longer had. Much finagling and creative decoration was needed to disguise the disheveled fixtures as ‘rustic’.
Remember, not all help is good help. Cheaper is not always better. And ugly is ugly, whether you call it ‘distressed’ or not.
Monday, August 28 by David Askaripour in Video | Leave a Comment
Kawasaki always uses a top 10 format–and thinks that most presentations are terrible. Either the presentations are too long, or they use Powerpoint poorly, or the font is too small to read…there are a number of factors that lead to poor presentations.
Please visit the Stanford Technology Venture Program’s Educator’s Corner for more clips.
Friday, August 25 by David Askaripour in Video | 1 Comment
Mind Petals, over the course of the next few weeks, will be broadcasting a series of video presentations from the legendary Entrepreneur and Venture Capitalist, Guy Kawasaki.
In this first clip, Guy introduces himself and explains what he is doing with his current VC firm, Garage Technology Ventures. This is a great insight into the mind of a VC and how one goes about seeking talent.
I encourage you to speak out about each presentation with comments on anything that you take/learn from the presentations. Enjoy.
Please visit the Stanford Technology Venture Program’s Educator’s Corner for more clips.
Friday, August 25 by David Askaripour in Communities | Leave a Comment
Today I came across a very interesting entrepreneurship network that goes by the name, Young Go Getter. The network is broken down in three sections that appear to be in frames (yikes!) on the homepage.
The first section is the YGG blog which gives the user the option to continue reading the post in the tiny frame or to view it in another window. I would love to see just one clean internal section where I could simply read the content on the homepage in its entirety, forget these mini frames… I feel trapped in a cage when trying to read out of those sections.
The second, ENTREPRENEWS, is pretty interesting. It’s basically another frame with links to various entrepreneur-related articles on the web. This could prove to be very resourceful for many entrepreneurs.
And lastly, they have a discussion/forum board and guess what it’s housed in….? yup, another frame. The board allows for anyone to sign-up and begin discussing from topics ranging from “General Business” to “Ideas & Concepts.” Sweet, I think that’s the best feature of the network and it’s great for throwing ideas back and forth with other entrepreneurs.
Overall I think that YGG is off to a great start, but I’m not quite sure if it lives up to its tagline “The business playground for entrepreneurs young at heart.”
Friday, August 25 by Angela Gilltrap in Marketing | Leave a Comment
Good morning all, here is the third and last installment on the benefits and pitfalls of loyalty and reward programs. This time, as predicted it’s about thinking outside the square. Apart from the key chains, plastic cards and bar coded cardboard there are many ways to set yourself apart from your competitors creating buzz (conversation about your product/service) and newsworthy pieces suitable for free press coverage.
One program particularly springs to mind, developed by a restaurant in NY. For this high end establishment, those deemed worthy were given their own key. This key opened a personal locker which held specials such as free bottles of wine to accompany their dinner.
What better way to impress your business clients or visitors by, not only knowing the staff and them you, but having your very own wine locker at the restaurant. Brilliant! There are a million other examples of great loyalty programs. If you know of a particularly wacky one, let us know. Perhaps it will spark the brilliant loyalty program in all of us.
Friday, August 25 by Evan Prieskop in Start-Ups | 14 Comments
It is story time. Every Friday I will tell another piece of a growing story centered on one or more fictional young entrepreneurs. Throughout the story we will watch every minute step of our protagonist’s journey, examining the necessary choices made in the founding of a small business and how those choices are made.
Elise has an idea. She wants to open a fashionable used clothing store near her community college campus.
At first she is filled to bursting with plans. She wanders around in a daze dreaming up fashion racks and trading schemes. She bores her friends with a constant stream of imagined details about the store’s ambiance, background music, and layout. Only after a week of this is she confronted with the terrible question (asked by one of her friends, more out of annoyance than curiosity), “What do you know about starting a business?”
Elise’s only answer is, “Nothing.” As her excitement ebbs, Elise is faced with the hard truth that she has absolutely none of the qualifications she feels a business owner needs. She has heard of double-entry bookkeeping, but has no idea what it means. She does not know what is required to get a business license. She does not understand the difference between a sole proprietorship and a corporation, let alone the difference between an “S” corporation and a “C” corporation. In truth, most months she cannot even balance her own checkbook, let alone a business’s finances.
What is a girl to do?
Elise talks the problem out. She talks to her friends. She talks to her friends’ parents. Eventually, she even talks to her own parents. It is her mother who gives her the best idea. “Sweetheart, you know that music store you used to spend hours in after school? The young man who owns it has been there for years. He can’t have been much older than you when he started. Why don’t you ask him how he did it?”
Of course. Elise has been hanging out with Dave at Syncopate Records since high school. He has run small, counterculture store for most of a decade, and he is not even thirty. She immediately drives down to his store.
“I think it’s a great idea,” Dave answers brightly, “But starting up a storefront is a crap-load of work. You kinda have to give your whole life over the beast.”
Elise, perhaps a bit too blithely, answers that she is totally ready…if Dave is willing to help.
Dave frowns at her, “I am pretty busy, I don’t know how much help I can be.”
Elise responds with her best lowered-chin, pouty-lipped, batting-eyelashes look.
Dave, not unfamiliar with Elise’s wiles, bursts out laughing at her false-mawkishness. “Alright, kiddo. I’ll walk you through the stuff I did. If you are willing to do the work, I’ll tell you what you need to do.”
Elise swings behind the counter and surprises the wryly-smiling Dave with a hug.
Elise has a Mentor. Next week: Step One.
Keep up with Elise and her story of becoming a successful entrepreneur:
Thursday, August 24 by David Askaripour in News | 1 Comment
Mind Petals is proud to sponsor Ma.gnolia. With thousands of sites popping up on the web in a never-ending cycle, social bookmarking sites have never been more important than now. Sure search engines are great, but with the advent of tagging, people – not machines — are helping connect more people with what they are actually looking for, making the web more efficient and accelerating the entire search process.
Thanks for pushing this evolution forward, Ma.gnolia.
“Found is the New Search”
Thursday, August 24 by David Askaripour in News | 2 Comments
The Mind Petals eBook
Calling all young entrepreneurs… calling all young entrepreneurs… Mind Petals is putting together a free eBook, 101 Motivational Notes for the Budding Entrepreneur.
We are reaching out to the world of young entrepreneurs who have stories to tell and insights to share with other entrepreneurs building a business.
Become a part of Mind Petals history and submit a 250-600 word essay/article on a motivational topic that would help another entrepreneur who is starting a business. Topics can range from “How to Build a Team” to “Bootstrapping your Business.”
Send article(s) along with a short bio to: book@mindpetals.com
For more information.
Thursday, August 24 by Angela Gilltrap in Marketing | Leave a Comment
Yesterday I spoke about VIP cards and the benefit of loyalty programs. I’d like to revisit that again today. There are so many differing sorts of loyalty programs out there at the moment – your wallet may never be filled with cash but it will certainly be inundated with cards for coffee, books, CD’s and many others. You can’t even buy a coffee these days without people asking for your postcode or if you’d like to join their club.
I think the key to a successful loyalty program is to be seen as giving something for nothing, as I previously mentioned. Many of these initiatives are labeled ‘reward programs’ and that is what they are supposed to do, reward your customers for their loyalty. In return your business is able to track customer trends, locations and purchasing behavior.
I personally think making your customers pay for a loyalty card defeats the purpose. Yes, it can be an expensive process but so too is conducting market research. It is a cost that should be absorbed by the increase in business you receive from such a program. If you start charging for the benefit, you have the potential to alienate your loyal customers and drive them into the reward-card-arms of your competitors.
Take Borders and Barnes & Nobles for example, Borders provides a free loyalty card with many benefits, Barnes & Nobles charges for the privilege, $25 in fact. Now, that’s twenty-five dollars I would rather spend on books. My other half, is a Barnes & Nobles addict, well he’s a book addict and happens to think B& N is the Mecca of printed literature. He spends a fortune there. He is hesitant to step into another store because of his consumer loyalty. Imagine his annoyance then, when I dragged him into Borders one day and he found out that he had paid for privileges others receive for free. Now he, like many other B&N customers spend a significant amount of money continually, he’s not the type of customer you want to alienate. By giving him or other high purchase buyers a free reward card it would ensure their loyalty instead, they have shelled out money in good faith and are made to look like a fool for that loyalty.
Don’t give your competitors a hand in poaching your customers. Loyalty and rewards programs are just that, they are to reward your customers for their loyalty. It is much more expensive to attract new customers than it is to look after the ones you have.
Thursday, August 24 by Evan Prieskop in Start-Ups | Leave a Comment
The hard truth is, we mess up…often. Yet every once in a while we get it right, too. The same youthful inexperience that precipitates these errors, also leads to stunning breakthroughs of originality. Thursdays are dedicated to true stories from my own experience and from the experience of people I know. These stories are about successful experiments, lucky innovations, and happy coincidences.
Our current, not-for-profit school has been an eye opening experience for me. Before starting here I participated in the raise and fall of one standard company and assisted or advised the start-up and reorganization of a handful of others. I was brought in precisely because of the experience I had to offer. My partner is a retired schoolteacher with 38 years of educational experience and not even one day’s experience with business. I cannot even begin to guess whether I have taught her more about running a business or vise-versa.
After purchasing the land upon which to build the music school, we built a “Pan-Yard” in which to house the instruments. We based the yard’s construction on the standard pattern of such structures used both on the island of Trinidad and on neighboring Caribbean islands. Specifically, the structure consists of tight-spaced storage room backing a large, wall-less space under a high tin roof. Steel pan bands traditionally play on packed dirt floors in the open air, retaining a roof only to keep the tropical rain or the hot sun from ruining the instruments.
I do not know if any of you have ever been to a tropical island, but there are a lot of bugs. The students and teachers were beset on all sides by biting insects the day we opened. The lack of walls combined with the relatively “dead-air” space under the roof to result in a kind of insect Sargasso, attracting and trapping the little bloodsuckers in swarms.
This flaw was only discovered on opening day, by which time our startup budget had been thoroughly spent. Our operating capital and “cushion” were far from sufficient for anything so massive as building walls or a floor onto our pan yard, so things looked desperate. My partner shrugged lightly and said, “I’ll just ask for some help.”
I was baffled. “Ask whom?”
“Everyone.”
She proceeded to do just that. Social and gregarious, she had already formed at least a nodding acquaintanceship with most of the wealthy ex-pats on our small island. She went to them. As a non-profit school providing free education to local children, we had already been well received as an asset to the community. Once she positioned herself carefully, explaining the nature of the problem, the expense of the solution, and promising public appreciation for potential donors the money came flowing in. In 100 to 300 dollar blocks the local real estate agents and retirees gladly gave in support of our desperate need for walls. Our architect worked nearly for free. We paid less than wholesale for the gravel, sand, cement, and cinderblocks.
Add the donations and the support to a handful of well-positioned fund-raising gigs and we managed to gather perhaps 7,000 dollars in cash, discounts, and assistance in just over a month. The walls were up and a gravel floor was laid within 6 weeks.
I never would have thought of asking.
This entry may seem to only be applicable to non-profit start-ups, but I doubt it. Remember that even lose acquaintances and nodding friends are likely to be excited about and supportive of your venture. It may be a little hard on the pride, but when things go wrong do not be afraid to ask for some help. Explain the purpose of the donation, offer some positive press to the donor, and ask. The worst that they can do is say “no”.
Wednesday, August 23 by Monica Bowers in Life | Leave a Comment
You only get one chance to make a first impression. Yes, we’ve all heard it. That’s why we buy expensive clothing, pay top-dollar for fabulous shoes, exercise religiously on low-carb diets and only let stylists at the hottest salons touch our contemporary “doos.”
And yes, it matters. You, as a business owner—regardless of whether you own a small or large venture—must make good impression on your clients in order to sell your products and services. But do you have to pay top dollar to woo your potential clients?
I believe the answer is no. I own two pairs of dark slacks from Express, two pairs of khakis from Banana Republic, several nice collared shirts and one relatively expensive “cocktail party” button-down. I bought my leather shoes at Macy’s for 50% off. Nugget of advice: Look for sales! Plus, there are plenty of coupon codes online for various e-merchants.
I do go to the gym every day, 90% for personal health, 10% for my “image.” Let’s face it; many overweight individuals are discriminated against in the workplace. Countless studies have demonstrated this unfortunate fact. So, I try to eat healthy and exercise everyday, in order to keep my waistline trim and my sanity intact.
As for my hairdo: Instead of going to the hip, new contemporary salon for my cut, I “slum” it over at the Carlton Academy student salon. Yes, students cut my hair; yes, they are supervised by hawk-eyed instructors; yes, it is incredibly affordable.
So, you can be a hybrid of thrifty and sophisticated, while also making a great first impression on your clients. Keep your eyes open for sales, but make sure to take a shopping partner with you as a sanity check. Stick with dark colors for interviews, and always comb your hair.
Wednesday, August 23 by Angela Gilltrap in Marketing | Leave a Comment
I’m a lover of VIP cards. There’s something about sashaying past the line of waiting onlookers at a New York nightclub that gives you a sense of pompous, unfounded (but greatly appreciated) night club nobility. Years ago, as other people collected stamps, antique vases and couture wardrobes I set my sites on acquiring a collection of elusive VIP cards. Do you know, if used properly you can live like a princess on a pauper’s salary thanks to these little beauties? It’s great for consumers but do loyalty programs and VIP cards really work? My answer is hell yes!
I was once at a function ‘drinking for charity’ when I was approached by one the staff asking if I would like to be a VIP member of this particular club. I didn’t frequent it often but it is a nice venue so I agreed. Within a week I received a card in the mail, packaged beautifully in an art deco envelope/brochure. The text on the front went something like this:
“Because of your sophisticated style and demeanor we would be honored if you would accept our VIP club privileges as a new member of _______.”
Now what woman in their right mind would say no to that? The privileges included: no waiting in line, table reservations for your friends, free canapés for groups over seven and regular discounts. All for the price of $0. When you have friends coming to town where would you take them? To a club that will make you wait as if you are one of the unclean or somewhere that treats you like royalty? The fact that the drinks are over priced only adds to the air of exclusivity. Soon others, see these privileges and want to know how they can be a part.
For the price of a plastic card and printed envelope the club has created a steady influx of people who, want to bring their friends introducing a new crowd to the club on a regualr basis.
Making your customers feel special will create customer loyalty. You don’t need millions of dollars you just need to think how you can give something for nothing, whether that something is information, products or merchandise.
Wednesday, August 23 by David Askaripour in We're Talkin' | 6 Comments
Juxtaviews, a new site covering the hottest news on the web, has just launched the most comprehensive interview that I have ever given. Wow, they really dug deep into my head and I held nothing back. From the time I started my first venture roughly 3 years ago to the starting of Mind Petals, it’s all covered.
Here you go: MindPetals Interview - A Blog Network for the Entrepreneural Mind
Wednesday, August 23 by David Askaripour in Innovation | Leave a Comment
Twenty year-old Andrew Cargill of UK launches Pocket Plant. Being inspired by his entrepreneur hero, Richard Branson, Andrew decided to bring this latest Japanese craze to his home country.
The concept of Pocket Plant is to be able to have a mini pet plant that you can take with you anywhere you go. Nice and simple. Prices seem pretty reasonable for one of these little plant chains. It’s surely an interesting business model, one that I haven’t seen before.
Having an actual plant that is growing in your pocket while you take care of business all day is pretty neat. The plant can actually be transported to a larger container after 3-6 months of growth.
I was able to contact Andrew to get an insight into how this idea came about:
The idea all came about last week when out of pure curiosity searching for the latest crazes over in Japan. I discovered a few articles about ‘Pocket Plants’, and just thought they were simply amazing, real living, breathing plants on the end of a key-ring.
I try to be as entrepreneurial as I can so thought to myself that these would sell fantastically well over here in the UK, and I hadn’t seen any around in the shops as of yet, so started working on the site. I then decided to contact the press so to stop others from having the bonus of the mass media to advertise similar products and ended up having a full page in the Western Mail as well a chat live on the Good Evening Wales show.
It’ll be interesting to see if Andrew can get this company to take off in the UK. If he does, who knows, maybe I’ll start to see people selling them on the streets of Manhattan soon enough.
Wednesday, August 23 by Evan Prieskop in Start-Ups | 2 Comments
There are types, shades if you will, of knowledge. There are facts and theories, rumors and rationales, but the most elusive—the subtlest and rarest shade of knowledge—is wisdom. I am a bit young yet to lay claim to vast stores of this valuable resource, but I have watched the rise and fall of more than a few start-ups. Thus I reserve Wednesdays’ essays for wisdom and weirdness, for the ephemera of enterprise, entrepreneurs, and existentialism.
Sometimes I get a knot in my stomach. It is neither tight nor painful, just a slow, constant, uncomfortable reminder that I am worried. I suppose that some entrepreneurs never get worried. I suppose it is possible that there are start-ups out there that are so calm and collected, so well-financed and so well-patronized that the owners float freely through their days, unconcerned with the vagaries of fate and circumstance. I have never met one, but it is a large world.
Tongue-in-cheek, I have referred to starting a business as like performing a high-wire act without a net. In fact, for many young entrepreneurs, starting their first business is like learning to perform on the high-wire without a net. Lacking the experience of our elders, we have to make things up as we go along. Throughout this website and a dozen other sources you will read and hear a great deal of encouragement. People, myself included, are eager to share their success stories with you and tell you all about how your youth is an asset, forcing you into innovation and change, how through drive and creativity you can change the world. All of this is true. But sometimes, when the rent is due and you do not know whether your new, expensive ad campaign is going to pay for itself and you just bought a case of a new product that may not excite your customers the way it excited you…sometimes when your risks are still being weighed and your rewards are still pending, all that talk of innovation seems pretty pale.
I get a knot in my stomach. My partner just smoked a lot. Even without looking in the boxes, I could always tell how many of our special orders failed to come in from the wholesaler by counting the number of cigarette breaks she took while doing inventory on a new shipment.
Everyone has his or her own way of dealing with stress and uncertainty. Some go to the movies. Others nap. Some micro-manage and others cry. I like coffee and newspaper, as long as they are in a coffee shop well away from work, but this essay is not about stress management. This essay is about stress sympathy.
I sympathize. I know what you feel. I have felt it myself. Every business owner has felt it. I lied above when I wrote that the world might be large enough to contain a stress-free business owner. No world is that large, but the world is full of business owners all the same. Take a breath, keep the facts in mind, and forge ahead. I am pulling for you.
Tuesday, August 22 by David Askaripour in Funding | Leave a Comment
Imagine waking up in the morning, eating breakfast, going to class, studying for your exams, then proceeding to run your own Venture Capital firm. Well that’s exactly what the students from the University of Utah’s School of Business are doing.
With the collaboration of professors and professional investors, these investment-savvy students have the ability to invest capital into business of their choosing through their University Venture Fund (UVF). Such a program is great because the group heavily invests in companies that aren’t “safe” enough to go public or businesses that are deemed too “risky” from banks. That should bring a smile to the young entrepreneur who is currently running a start-up and looking for capital.
Forget the books! Forget the boring lectures! Forget the presentations! These students are learning the ins-and-outs of investing, start-ups, and entrepreneurship while using real money to make real investments — they are not only learning but they are actually doing. This student-run fund is the first that I have ever come across and it looks like one of the most promising educational experiences that an entrepreneurial student can ever be involved in.
Let’s be honest, who better to seek and invest in young start-ups than college students? Students are the ones creating these “risky” businesses that nobody seems to want to invest in, so it only makes sense to empower a bunch of students to fund them. Over the years we have become extremely savvy and intelligent when it comes to understanding what works and what doesn’t, notably with web-related services.
UFV is definitely one of a kind as it takes the number one spot for the largest student controlled venture fund in the nation. If these funds continue to pop-up around our colleges, many young entrepreneurs can look forward to brighter days when it comes to seeking capital.
I think many of us will agree with the legendary Warren Buffet when he states:
“If this were around when I was in school, I’d probably still be in school.”
Tuesday, August 22 by Angela Gilltrap in Marketing | Leave a Comment
The on-line community is a powerful one. Bloggers, once written off by the media, are being treated with respect and credibility as companies understand the influence they can have on the general, information-seeking public. Have you noticed Aol and other big servers have ‘blog this’ on every page? They entice bloggers, who are continually searching for content, to talk about their service or product, to generate free buzz and tell hundreds if not thousands of people ‘what’s new’. What better advertising could you get?
Blogs are great word-of-mouth advertising. The internet gives such immediate up to date information that many will google a subject before they reach for a newspaper or magazine. You see a movie that you like, you tell five friends via email, who tell five of their friends via email and ten of their friends via word of mouth. But what happens if the bloggers denounce you, is the saying ‘no publicity is bad publicity’ true? To an extent I think yes, anyone who talks about your product or services is one more person that knows about you. For every person that dislikes it, you will find others that will come to your aid, defending your product. You have, without doing anything other than putting a ‘blog this’ button on your web page, got people talking about you. And that sort of advertising is worth millions.
Tuesday, August 22 by Evan Prieskop in Start-Ups | Leave a Comment
Even when we go it alone we are seldom without help. From books to software to websites, young entrepreneurs are surrounded by a thousand resources dedicated to aiding them in their private quests. All the combined wisdom and experience of the generations which have come before is available to you…for a price. That’s why Tuesdays are dedicated to the tools of trade. Check here every Tuesday for reviews, previews, comparisons, and exposés on the vital organizations, support networks, and products relevant to you and your burgeoning enterprise.
From strangers to parents, friends to neighbors, start-up owners seem to be blessed with no end of cheerful advisors. Every one and his brother is happy to tell you what he thinks you should do and what he thinks will work best. Sometimes this advice is poignant; sometimes it is misleading. One source of advice, however, is guaranteed. One advisor not only has your best interest at heart but intimate experience with the start-up of tens of thousands of small businesses. This advisor is the SBA.
The US Small Business Administration maintains offices in every major city in the country, accompanied by business oriented libraries and local representatives who are willing to provide one-on-one advice and assistance to any small business start-up. www.sba.gov contains nationwide resources and links alongside free online learning courses.
More than links and contact information, however, the SBA’s contribution can come in the form the SBA advisors. From aiding you in writing your business plan to putting you in contact with local venture capitalists and lenders, an SBA rep is an invaluable assistant. The SBA advisors are real people, with real, on the ground, knowledge of the local business environment and the local economy. Your SBA rep may be the only person who will explain the real risks inherent in your venture in clear, concise terms.
Whether you are working on a website or a charity, a storefront or a co-op, go down to your local SBA office and ask for help. Lean on you rep for advice, listen to your rep’s warnings, and accept your rep’s aid and the future of your small business will be brighter.
Monday, August 21 by Angela Gilltrap in Marketing | Leave a Comment
It’s not what you know it’s who you know - an overused, clichéd statement that unfortunately rings true. In marketing never was there more of a need to know people, not only in a business sense but to connect with people as a market. I mentioned before about creating buzz about yourself, marketing yourself as a leader in your field and getting your idea out there using print/broadcasting media (see column entitled Finding Your Niche). Meeting important people in your industry and creating a good impression can lead to opportunities arising without you even working for them. If you’ve managed to create a real impression based on mutual respect and a quest for knowledge you will continue to be in the forefront of people’s minds so when opportunities arise it’s you they call.
The fact is we all like to work with people we know. Inevitably the work done by people that we have suggested, hired or fired is going to reflect on us in some way. So if you are looking to establish yourself in a new field you have to earn the respect of your peers. And this is not done by being a subservient, groveling human being with a badly concealed, hidden agenda. In all my years in the slimy but wonderful world of showbiz and fashion I have never invested my time and energy in people I don’t respect. I call a spade a spade, a rarity in our industry where bull-shit reigns supreme. It has meant that many producers, directors and casting agents have called me asking my opinion on hiring a specific person, people that are far higher up in the food chain than me.
Over the years, I have always made time for people I respect and admire. In turn, they have gone from assistants to owners of multi-million dollar production companies; they have provided me with support and financial backing without me having to ask for it and they have watched my progress over the years waiting for the right opportunity to collaborate.
Fostering relationships with peers you respect is paramount to your success. Don’t bother groveling, act like a human being, humble and appreciative, and people will respect you for it. Remember, when you are dealing with people in power, they are used to everyone wanting something. The best way to receive respect is to not ask for anything. Make sure they know that you are open to the opportunities they can provide and be patient. Use the relationship to gain insight into their world and learn from their experiences. If they truly respect you, they will in due time, insist on you becoming a part of their team. In the meantime you can learn a whole lot by making some powerful alliances.
Monday, August 21 by David Askaripour in Life | Leave a Comment
If you have an entrepreneurship program at your college then consider yourself lucky. Back at my old school, Pace University, entrepreneurship programs were nowhere to be found. In fact, I believe that the first entrepreneurship club was started during my last semester, let alone an actual course or program for the students.
It’s great to see colleges such as ASU taking entrepreneurship so seriously. Their Edson Student Entrepreneur Initiative Program offers a wide selection of opportunities for entrepreneur students wanting to get their business off the ground.
They have an annual $200,000 fund for start-ups which they will provide office space, training, and even mentoring. Programs such as this go a long way in helping spark that entrepreneurial spirit that so many of us have but never act upon.
We see it over and over again, colleges preparing students to become middle-level managers to work for corporations for the rest of their lives. When was the last time you had a professor encourage you to start a business?
We have a long way to go until entrepreneurship programs become the norm in colleges throughout the country and until that time, we’re going to have to rely on the encouragement of one another and from those who have already taken the path of entrepreneurship to push us in the right direction.
Monday, August 21 by Evan Prieskop in Start-Ups | Leave a Comment
The corporate workforce is full of jokes about the pain and consternation of Mondays. Those of us who start our own businesses generally would not know a weekend if it stole our wallets, but out of respect for the else-employed I have chosen to dedicate Mondays to the hardest part of starting up your own business. Monday’s are dedicated to the mistakes and missteps I and others I know have made in the working-without-a-net world of entrepreneurship. Here is to hard knocks, prices paid, and lessons learned on the hoof
Today’s story comes from my second start-up, a non-profit music school on the Caribbean island of Roatan.
The business is non-profit, we do not charge our students any fee for their education, but do have to cover operating costs somehow. 501(c)3 filing is a slow process and certainly does not guarantee grants or donations sufficient to maintain a building and instruments (much less educators’ pay).
Thus we pursue some means of income. We had to be careful to avoid what lawyers call “unrelated business activities”, a legal but limited moneymaking option for registered non-profit corporations.
In order to find profit center that falls within the purview of our original charter as a music education institution we conceived of a program called “The Steel Pan Alley Experience.” Targeting the affluent international tourists who are a constant presence on this tropical island, the Experience converts musical education to a tourist excursion. The Experience encourages even the musically inexperienced to pay a small fee for a 90 minute lesson that teaches all the basics and ends with them playing several full songs on the Trinidad Steel Pans.
When we experimented with the idea everyone who tried it raved. Those who joined us for early versions of the experience gladly paid the basic fee and often volunteered additional funds for the support of the school.
This encouraged us to “go public” with the program, inviting guests from the local resorts and the cruse ships. The result was a devastating failure. Stretching our budget to the limit to extend advertising and transportation for the tourist attraction, we managed to attract exactly zero customers in three weeks.
Our problem was that no one understood our advertising. The successful tourist attractions on the island (after whom we modeled our advertising program) all had one thing in common: simplicity. From horseback riding to canopy tours to swimming with the dolphins, everyone actually understood the central concepts of the other attractions.
Our attraction lacked this basic simplicity. We needed to explain to 90% of our potential customers what a Trinidad Steel Pan was, how many types existed, and what the attraction of learning to play them might be, to say nothing of convincing them that the program was valuable no matter how musically naive they may be.
We fell victim to a classic catch 22. They could not understand it ’til they tried it, and they would not try it ’til they understood it.
The solution lay in retooling our marketing from the ground up, hard to for a small operation, harder still after already spending so much on a fruitless campaign.
Remember that innovation and experimentation are good, but sometimes you run the risk of ending up with a product for which no market exists. It is not the end of the world; you just have to create that market yourself, the hard way. Plan for it.
Friday, August 18 by David Askaripour in Communities | 1 Comment
Wow, can you believe it? Myspace recently broke the 100M mark of subscribers – that’s excellent. Why is that excellent? Well, just imagine how many entrepreneurs are on Myspace. When it comes to networking and linking up with fellow entrepreneurs, Myspace can be an amazing tool to make those connections.
Today while surfing around Myspace, I came across bizMAVERICKS page. I was impressed with their mission:
We, as bizMAVERICKS, are rebel businesspeople who will do whatever it takes to create success for ourselves, our businesses, and the world we live in. Our entrepreneurial spirit is strong; and the energy it radiates, is felt by all who encounter it.
It’s great to see people utilizing Myspace to reach out and connect to other entrepreneurs. When most people think of Myspace, they think of flashy pages filled with music, images, and all types of bells and whistles coming at you. Sure, MySpace is a fun and hip place to keep in touch with friends, no doubt.
However when the entrepreneur thinks of Myspace, he or she must also think of the networking possibilities. Com’on guys, we’re talking about over 100 million people here! Just setting up a page with a link to your business can go a long way. Imagine the possibilities if you are actively reaching out to people and educating them on your business and how it can help them – Geeezzz… talk about potential!
Sites like bizMAVERICKS are great because it brings entrepreneurs together from all over the world; entrepreneurs who already have a Myspace account and are keen on networking and building relationships with people just like themselves – people working hard to become successful and change the world. Keep it coming bizMAVERICKS.
Rock on!
Friday, August 18 by Monica Bowers in Life | Leave a Comment
Regardless of what your company does, you must provide some service in order to sustain an existence. And where there’s a service, there’s a price. So how do you know what to charge your customers?
In my field (freelance writing), there are always bidding wars. Most customers discern equally talented writers by comparing the price of their services, often picking the cheapest hourly rate. This trend can be applied to most fields, whether it is business consulting, coding, graphic design, massage therapy, etc. So how much do you charge when you’re just starting out—you have to make enough to survive, right?!
My method (which has worked thus far) was to compete with more experienced writers (with lot more “street cred”) by charging 65-70% of their hourly rate. Then, once I had a few successful projects under my belt, I started raising each one of my service rates by $5 - $10. Also, so that potential customers weren’t scared off by “concrete” rates, I posted rate ranges to my website. So, your next question probably is, “how did you figure out a baseline rate?”
For freelance writers, a great resource for baseline rates is the Writer’s Market “How Much Do I Charge” website. Similarly, based on what service you provide, you can easily find sample rates by analyzing your competition on Google. Also, do a reality check for yourself. If you have a brand new company, offer promotions and special discounts to new customers. Although your talent may speak for itself, many business owners just don’t have the reputation yet to charge above market rates.
Charge your clients fairly, but don’t de-value yourself. Your services are worth a certain amount now, and hopefully, will be worth 5x that certain amount later. Also, keep in mind that if customers feel that they’re being overcharged, chances are, they won’t come back.
Friday, August 18 by Angela Gilltrap in Marketing | 1 Comment
The easiest way to market yourself, is to find a niche and fill it. Attain some buzz from the media as an expert in a particular field. Offer your services to radio stations, magazines and newspapers as the person to seek out when newsworthy pieces that are relevant to your area of expertise pop up. Writers need experts to quote in articles, radio shows need knowledgeable people to contribute content to their program, if you can make their lives easier by putting the information, your information, at their fingertips you will always succeed. Even if a particular talk back show, newspaper or magazine doesn’t call on your expertise, it’s one more person that knows about you and your services. It is one more person that may divulge your information to a desperate friend at a BBQ who is looking for a service or product that you can offer. So how do you find those contacts?
First of all, grab a copy of the