Social Care: Managing Customer Service via a Facebook Page 27 July, 2010, 5:38 pm
If your company or brand has a Facebook page, whether you like it or not, you now have a new customer service platform. Customers will
flock to your Facebook page not only to become faithful fans, but also to
access support, ask questions and (unfortunately) post complaints.According to the 2009 Cone Consumer New Media Study, 62 percent of
social media users believe they can influence business decisions by voicing
opinions via new media channels. This fact alone should be motivation enough to
treat your Facebook page as a customer service platform.
If your company has a customer service or technical
support department or team, it should be assigned the task of monitoring the
Facebook page for customer service and tech support issues. But beware.
Customer service and tech support reps are notorious for providing canned,
impersonal responses, especially when replying via e-mail and live chat, and on
Facebook that type of approach doesn't fly.
On Facebook, maintaining a conversational tone is
imperative. If a customer service or technical support representative can't be
conversational, either train the individual or keep him assigned to support channels where canned and impersonal
responses are still somehow acceptable.
Keep in mind that unlike an e-mail response, your
responses on Facebook are potentially visible to everyone and can leave a
lasting impression. Always put your best foot forward by adhering to the following
guidelines:
Respond quickly. Don't allow a service-related item to be left hanging for everyone to see (to see that you didn't respond to it). Respond as quickly as possible.Be proactive. Post service or tech support-related solutions as status updates, so they are more visible than merely comments to Wall posts. This adds value to your Facebook page and can potentially prevent an onslaught of questions or complaints over the same issue.Have a strategy for nights and weekends. If your Facebook page is being hammered overnight or over the weekend with service and tech support-related posts, either monitor your site 24/7 or change the default view for Wall settings from "All Posts" to "Only Posts by Page" during overnight and weekend hours. This enables customers to post comments, questions, or complaints but prevents them from seeing posts by others (unless they choose to override the default setting).Don't post a personally-identifiable e-mail address when leaving comments. For example, "Please e-mail me at john.smith@companyname.com" when responding to a customer on Facebook. If you do, customers will pounce on that address and send everything to it, meaning your company will potentially lose the ability to monitor collective trends and related metrics. Use a generic e-mail address instead. For example, customerservice@companyname.com or techsupport@companyname.com.Check spelling and grammar before posting a response. Correct spelling and grammar show you care.Don't use 'I' statements. Brands are all about "we," "us," and "our."Keep public relations and corporate communications in the loop. They need to know what your customer service and tech support teams are up to so your company or brand is expressing a consistent message.Share your wins. Not everyone is going to post negative comments. Many people will pop onto your Facebook page to post about how much they love your products or brands. Share that information internally among the customer service and tech support team members. Everyone could stand to hear good news, especially if all they usually hear are complaints.
A Facebook page can be a boon or a bust for your business or brand. It all depends on how you manage your page and your customer relations. Treat your page as a valuable customer service platform, and you'll be on the right track.
Why 10,000 People Have Taken The Entrepreneur's Pledge 26 July, 2010, 3:03 pm
If you're an entrepreneur, you've probably sacrificed a lot to be your own boss -- security, maybe money, free time, fringe benefits. All to chase that dream of self-determination, of unleashing your creativity on the world, of letting your light shine.
Now, the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, which focuses on entrepreneurship, has created a way to stand up and tell the world why you do it all. It's called The Entrepreneur's Pledge, it's part of the foundation's Build A Stronger America movement, and more than 10,000 people have already taken it.
Before I get into why people are taking the pledge, here's a copy of it:
I am an Entrepreneur.
I am following a dream, pursuing an opportunity, taking charge of my own destiny.
I am bringing something of value to society, making a job for myself and for others, and creating wealth that benefits my family, my community, my country, my world.
I am one of a movement of millions of entrepreneurs and innovators who made America great, and who will continue to keep our economy going...and growing.
I am what I am because many people have helped me along on this journey.
Therefore:
I will tell my story, sharing my successes and failures, so that others taking the entrepreneurial path can learn.
I will strive to mentor an aspiring entrepreneur.
I will make my voice heard by those who make policy decisions that affect me and my business.
I will appreciate and celebrate my accomplishments, and the accomplishments of all my fellow entrepreneurs.
I will give back to the society that helped me to be successful.
I will Build a Stronger America.
Entrepreneurs are busy people. Why have so many taken the time to sign this pledge? Is it the cool video Kauffman made about it?
Well... the video is uplifting, but I don't know if that's necessarily it.
As a solo, home-based business owner myself -- one who's interviewed a lot of successful entrepreneurs -- I have a theory.
An entrepreneur's life is, very often, a lonely one. It's so easy to feel like you're the only one facing these challenges, confronting these problems, struggling to make payroll, sweating to keep the doors open. The feeling of satisfaction you get when it all works and the business succeeds...you're usually so busy it's hard to find the time to cultivate peers who'd support and applaud your progress. So it's lonely when business is down, and can be lonely when it's up, too.
The pledge gives entrepreneurs a chance to unite. To feel part of something big -- which they are. Entrepreneurs' startup companies are the engine that creates most of the jobs in this country -- which they do, a recent Kauffman Foundation study showed.
Why do you think so many business owners have signed the Entrepreneur's Pledge? Will you sign it? Leave a comment and let us know your reaction.
Want More Profits? Send Your Workers Home 22 July, 2010, 4:11 pm
There's a federal drive on to have more workers stay home from the office. Both houses of Congress recently passed new bills that would stiffen the requirements for federal agencies on telework. But remote workers aren't just for big government departments. A new study from the Telework Research Network shows the substantial benefits to letting workers telecommute for small- and medium-sized businesses.
The study shows that a company letting 100 workers switch to home-based work just half-time saves $1.1 million. In other words, that's $11,000 a worker in savings.
The telework study shows gains in home-based worker productivity -- up 27 percent on work-at-home days -- as well as reduced absenteeism, better employee retention, and of course reduced real-estate costs from housing fewer workers at the office or store. The benefits extend to the community, too, reducing greenhouse gases, traffic congestion, traffic accidents, road damage, and oil consumption. Of course, telework is not suited to every worker or to every job. But if your business has employees, it's worth taking a look at whether working a day a week at home might make them happier and more productive -- and save your business money, too. Interested to learn more? The TeleWork Research Network, Citrix Online (of GoToMyPC and GoToMeeting fame) and Focus.com have an on-demand Webinar on the topic you can take. Looking for a business opportunity? Virtual thinktank TechCast forecasts 30 percent of workers in industrialized nations will work from home at least a couple of days a week by 2019, representing a $400 billion market. Some great innovators will probably find creative ways to meet their needs.Do you let any of your workers work from home? If so, leave a comment and let us know how it's working out.
New Study Shows Single-Location Restaurant Owners' Tough Reality 22 July, 2010, 4:08 pm
Sometimes it seems like every celebrity and unemployed professional in America sees opening a restaurant as their natural second act. But a new study of single-location restaurants shows the brutal realities of this extremely competitive niche. To sum up: It isn't easy being a mom-and-pop restaurant owner.
Single-location owners have just weathered three consecutive years of declining average revenue -- down 1.8 percent in 2007, 2.5 percent in 2008 and 3 percent last year. This year, IBISWorld is forecasting, things will finally tick up again about 3 percent. Which of course, still leaves operators down nearly 5 percent from where they were in 2006.
The sector has shed more than 5,000 restaurants since 2006, sinking to 197,000 last year. Another study, from The NPD Group, showed the industry lost 5,200 restaurants just in the past year. The loss was almost evenly split between quick-serve and sit-down restaurants.Despite the presence of Red Lobster and Chili's restaurants on what seems to be every mall corner in America, mom-and-pop restaurants still have a big share of the restaurant market -- more than 62 percent, IBISWorld reports. On the dark side, the industry is considered basically mature -- there's not a lot of room for more restaurants in the marketplace. The average annual growth rate at established restaurants is less than 3 percent.The typical one-location restaurant brings in less than a half-million dollars a year. Successful operators, IBISWorld says, make the grade mostly because many owners save on labor by putting in a ton of hours themselves.Other factors IBISWorld found made restaurant owners successful:Good access to skilled hourly-rate workers and ability to staff as needed for peak timesUse of new technology to lower labor costsAttractively presented productAn accessible location near the eatery's target audienceSharp cost-control in ordering, and in pricing the menuAbility to adjust to new regulations quicklyA "commercial focus" on meeting customers needs and creating good word of mouthWhew! Still want to open a restaurant? Leave a comment and let us know what you think about single-location restaurants' future.
Finance Reform: A Mixed Bag for Small Businesses 20 July, 2010, 1:39 pm
After more than a year of Congressional drama, the biggest finance reform package since the Great Depression is expected to be law by Wednesday. What does it mean for your business? The bill is more than 2,000 pages long, and has the unwieldy name "Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act." To give a quick summary, it appears to have both positives and negatives for small business owners.
The big positive is for small retail businesses, which have been squeezed by rising debit-card or "swipe" fees in recent years. This part of the law is important, as the big credit-card issuers had cut a similar deal with the European Union, and there was concern our rates would skyrocket to make up for it. The inclusion of swipe-fee reform heads any planned fee hikes off at the pass.The Retail Industry Leaders Association and National Association of Convenience Stores both praised the inclusion of swipe-fee reform in the bill. The retail-industry trade publication Chain Store Age reports that for years, swipe fees have been the second-largest cost of doing business for convenience stores and gas stations.Among the improvements the bill brings: The right to decline credit and debit cards for small purchasesDebit card interchange fees must be "reasonable" and proportional to the costs the card processing company incursThe right to offer discounts for cash payments insteadCard networks cannot require merchants to use them exclusively - merchants must have a choice of at least two networksNext, on to the possibly not-so-good news: There's great concern that reforms aimed at keeping big banks from getting "too big to fail" and requiring government bailouts again will restrict the credit markets. The higher regulatory cost may also mean more consolidation in smaller community banks. And that all adds up to fewer small-business loans.Mark Zandi of ratings agency Moody's Economy.com site forecast the bill's regulations would reduce credit to households and businesses by $80 billion a year. Ouch. Often these predictions turn out to be sort of Chicken Little-ish, so we'll see what really happens here.Finance reform has two main prongs -- new rules on how big banks operate to try to keep them from getting too big and unstable, and new rules that allow the government to act more aggressively if a bank starts to run into trouble. A new "systemic risk council" can demand big banks, insurers, hedge funds, and other institutions deemed essential to the economy get added supervision by the feds. It would be easier for the Feds to seize and dismantle failing banks. One definite plus: Bank shareholders will get more say in executive pay, which we can only hope will cut down on crazy mega-millions salaries. Another: Derivatives and hedge funds come out of the shadows and must trade on exchanges that share the cost of any one party going bust.In all, swipe fees will definitely help small merchants. The effect of the rest of finance reform on the average small business owner remains to be seen.What's your opinion of the finance-reform bill? Leave a comment and let us know.
Book Review: My Life from Scratch by Gesine Bullock-Prado 20 July, 2010, 1:36 pm
My Life from Scratch: A Sweet Journey of Starting Over, One Cake at a Time by Gesine Bullock-Prado is pretty much what it sounds like--confectionery fluff. Add in a dose of Hollywood and the fact that Sandra Bullock is Gesine's sister, and we pretty much have the makings of a chick lit book or Hallmark Movie Channel special. But when one is at the beach (as I was) and trying not to think too much about work, it hits the sweet spot, especially if you like to read the recipes included at the end of each chapter.Despite all the saccharine sweetness of "Let's leave Hollywood to start a bakery in Vermont," the entrepreneurial lesson one takes away from the book is that running your own business is anything but glamorous and a whole lot of hard work. So what were Gesine's elements of success?
1. You are never too important to do the grunt work. When the bakery runs out of soy milk, Gesine, as the boss, is the most dispensable and therefore the one to drop everything and go.2. Running a bakery is not a "relaxing endeavor." Gesine at first imagined a tranquil life in Vermont. She quickly discovered that 15-hour days were anything but "relaxing."3. Focus on doing one thing well. Gesine knew that she made macaroons differently and better than everyone else. She started a mail-order business around those first.4. It helps to have America's Sweetheart as your sister. If you can get a Hollywood superstar to mention your product in InStyle magazine, it's a big help. 5. There are resources out there to help--use them. Gesine realized that trying to meet the orders that could be generated by a mention in a national magazine would be more than she could handle out of her kitchen. She found the Vermont Food Venture Center, which helps small-time food entrepreneurs get started. 6. Do your homework. My favorite exchange in the book was in her conversation with the food center:"What's the shelf life of your product?""Um, I don't know. They usually get eaten right away.""What's the nutritional breakdown of the product, for your label?""Um, I don't have one.""How are you intending to package the product for safe delivery?""No clue." ...This reminds me of the type of call I get a couple of times each year... Caller: "Hi! I'm launching the first website just for career women and was told I should talk to you."Me: "You mean the first one this week?"Caller: "Huh? No, mine is totally different; if you join for $150 you'll see."Me: "I'm not going to join to see, but if you called for advice you might want to tell me what your angle is."Caller: "We provide x, y, and z."Me: Well, Ladies who Launch provides x, Women for Hire provides y, and my own company provides z. Are you sure you researched the market?7. Finally, make sure your close family is on board. Gesine had a husband willing to partner and take on this risky venture, even helping out when he could. Plus she had a sister who not only gave them publicity but would willingly pitch in when needed. And, of note, Gesine makes blatantly clear that she does not have kids nor could she see fitting them in. Unlike some other entrepreneurial ventures that might be more "parent friendly," running a bakery is not among them.Things that can go wrong. Here are just a few:1. Taking your eye off the ball. Once things get crazy, quality is the first to go. 2. Natural disasters. For them it was winter. When people get snowed in, they don't go to the bakery.3. Bad luck. When your best baker slips on the ice and is incapacitated, you need a backup plan.4. Not vetting employees. You can save yourself a lot of headaches by checking out your employees before you hire them. Sometimes it's as simple as a quick Google to tell you you're about to hire a registered sex offender.Daily Dose Bottom Line. Fun, light fluff for the summer and about the only business book I could handle in the south of France. OK, I've had enough fluff: back to the hard stuff for next time, I promise.If you want more chick lit "let's start a business" book, earlier this summer I picked up Goodbye Jimmy Choo by Annie Sanders. Ignore the poor choice of title, as it really has nothing to do with the book. The book is about two women who start a beauty product company. The interesting angle on this one is how much of it is all "marketing/PR" and--oh yeah--hard work.
Can You Enforce a Non-Compete? 20 July, 2010, 1:35 pm
On the flight back from Tokyo last week, I struck up a conversation with an Asian-American entrepreneur whose company supplies fresh fish to some of the top Japanese restaurants in New York City. Founded by his father back in the 1970s, the business has thrived by selling top-quality tuna, salmon and other imported and domestic species to satisfy the city's seemingly insatiable appetite for sushi. Unfortunately, the burgeoning market has also spawned competitors, including several of the company's former employees. But didn't you make them sign a non-compete agreement?, I asked him.
Of course, he told me. But when he took one of his former employees to
court, the judge refused to enforce the contract, ruling that the
employee had the right to use his skills and contacts to make a living
on his own.
What's a fishmonger--or any of us business owners,
for that matter--to do when an employee quits and becomes a
competitor?Often, there's not a whole lot you can do."Courts
rarely enforce non-compete covenants in employment
agreements for
public policy reasons," says Arina Shulga, a member of the Fridman Law Group, a
New York City full-service business law firm that works with growing
companies. "They reduce competition and prevent people from
being
gainfully employed in the area of their expertise."Unfortunately
for my seatmate in the sushi business, "Merely preventing competition
is not considered a
legitimate business interest," Shulga says. "Customer lists are
generally not considered to be confidential
information unless such lists are discoverable only by extraordinary
efforts and
not through public sources."While judges
occasionally make exceptions to safeguard
a company's trade secrets or to protect a company from
irreparable harm if the employee's services were
unique or extraordinary, courts generally won't stop a former sales rep
from going out and peddling competing products.
A better strategy, Shulga advises, is to make your non-compete
agreement reasonable enough that a judge might actually agree to
enforce it. This means limiting the term and geographic scope of the
non-compete rather than trying to limit competition
in general. "I also recommend including a so-called 'blue pencil'
provision,
giving the court permission to modify the terms of a non-compete
covenant to
make it enforceable," Shulga says. The bottom line: If you're
really afraid that a departing employee may open up shop and compete
with you, you may want to consider paying him to take some time off so
you can reach out to the customers or clients he used to call on
and re-establish a direct relationship. It will probably be less
expensive than filing a lawsuit, and a lot more effective as well.
Lessons From the Old Spice Man 16 July, 2010, 2:33 pm
By Craig ReissThis
week we saw two days that shook the viral marketing world. Old Spice, a
decidedly old-school Procter & Gamble brand, unleashed a social
media blitz so profoundly brilliant that it not only changed the rules
of social network marketing, it may have written them for the first
time.
At first glance, an entrepreneur may dismiss the Old Spice phenomenon as an oddity of riches, something only a marketing behemoth like P&G could exploit. But when we dissect its marketing principles and practices, it becomes not only entirely applicable to the small business owner, but an essential (and low-cost) opportunity as well. Let's take a look inside.
For P&G, it began with a Super Bowl ad last February that introduced its brand character, the Old Spice Man. Played by shirtless baritone Isaiah Mustafa, a handsome, former NFL wide receiver with a polished comedic sense of timing and washboard abs, the Old Spice Man promised women he was "the man your man could smell like," even if no man could ever be as truly manly as The Old Spice Man.
The original Super Bowl commercial was created by legendary ad agency Wieden + Kennedy, which is best known (before this) for its Nike, Honda and ESPN SportsCenter commercials. It has been viewed on YouTube more than 13 million times.
Five months later, Wieden posted a simple message on Old Spice's Facebook and Twitter page: "Today could be just like the other 364 days you log into Twitter, or maybe the Old Spice Man shows up @Old Spice." And show up he did.
As people tweeted questions about manliness to the Old Spice Man, he began posting near-real-time video vignettes responding to the queries, all in character and with no small degree of humor as he stood bare-chested, abdominals front and center in a bathroom set with the creative crew and comedy copywriters of Wieden + Kennedy behind the camera furiously writing jokes and chasing down props.
In a two-day blitz, the team produced more than 180 video "shout-outs," including a marriage proposal (she accepted) and exchanges with celebrities including Ellen DeGeneres, Demi Moore, Christina Applegate, Alyssa Milano, George Stephanopoulos, Olympics speed skater Apolo Ohno, gossip blogger Perez Hilton, tech gadget blog Gizmodo, Stanley Cup champions Chicago Blackhawks and Starbucks (which now has 10 million fans on Facebook).
Key to the effort was the response to Kevin Rose, the founder of social network Digg.com. Rose tweeted the Old Spice Man about his own illness that day. Here's the accompanying video response.
Rose was enamored. He tweeted, "Holy sh*t, best get well video EVER from Old Spice." That message went out to his million-plus Twitter followers. A viral phenomenon was born.
The decision to include Rose and the celebrities was no accident. The Wieden team purposefully selected not only persons with huge followings on social networks--followings that dwarfed Old Spice's own--but specifically those with particular credibility and influence over the technorati and social media addicts. The social media kingpins told their followers, their followers told their friends, and the math compounded exponentially, fervently and quickly. Old Spice's Twitter followers increased more than 1,000 percent. Nearly 600,000 people on Facebook gave its ads a thumbs-up "like it" vote. And, according to Advertising Age, the Old Spice commercials received more than 7 million online views this week alone--and that does not include the viral vignettes we're talking about here. The cost of media: nothing.
You can see all of the videos here:
So, you ask, what's this got to do with me? Your voice isn't as deep as Mustafa's, you're more prone to have flab than abs, and you don't have a big-time ad agency writing on-the-fly copy for you. Fear not. The underlying social marketing principles and tactics are completely relevant and totally within your grasp. You don't even need to be funny.
The Post-Old-Spice Principles of Social Media Marketing
1. Create a persona that is strong and on point
Start with selecting someone, or something, as the character that captures your brand positioning. It needs to inspire people to interact. It certainly can be you, but you'll want to consider carefully. Not only will it require a commitment of time, energy and dedication, but you're going to have to live by the results. I've seen a handsome British owner of a business use his picture in a promotional e-mail, and then send the same e-mail only changing the picture to a clerk from his mailroom. The mailroom clerk drew 20 percent more response. The owner stepped aside. Business is business.
In the case of The Old Spice Man, the character is meant to appeal to women (hey, most men don't wear a scent to please other men) with manly insult humor that would appeal to men. You can select a humorous persona, but make sure you can sustain it. You can probably hire a local stand-up comic to play the role for you. People will think it's you, only funnier.
There are other character options that may be far more appropriate and just as engaging as humor, such as providing service, knowledge, empathy, honesty, sincerity, advocacy and the ever-utilized fanatical price-slashing or stain-removing screaming crazy. Only you can pick what's right, but the goal is to create the viral phenomenon that will make people compete for your attention.
We're also assuming here that these are ultimately video-driven personas. Even so, it is vital that you can capture the personality in a written and spoken voice. You're going to need to entice people to join in before you can let them see your act.
2. Seed social networks with invitations to interact
Ask people to play along, and somebody will. If it's worth it, they'll tell their friends. Let's look at a few hypothetical examples.
Suppose you have an auto parts dealership. You can invite people to submit their greatest auto modification desires. You can find the greatest influencers through auto clubs, your knowledge of your customer base or even the best auto shops in town and have them be the answer men. Or prove your own knowledge by answering directly in your chosen persona.
If you own a gym franchise, you can have people enter a "Biggest Loser"-type weight reduction contest and let others cheer them on. Have a dance studio or music studio? Stage your own online "America's Got Talent." Own a bridal shop, invite brides to be to play "Say Yes to the Dress" and let others vote. Run a wine shop, take questions on how to match food with wine and let chefs from the best restaurants provide the answers and recipes.
3. Engage the engaged, the famous and the influencers
There is fame on a big scale, and there is fame on a local level. Seek out anyone intriguing, like the mayor or the local newscaster. The main objective here is to engage people that others will find intriguing or impressive.
Don't forget bloggers. They have followings, some considerably larger than you might expect. You are trying to have others do the heavy lifting of spreading the word and gaining more people to participate. You'll have the additional benefit of gaining more links to your website, which over time will increase your ranking with search engines, especially in local search--which for most entrepreneurs is the most important. Bloggers also tend to have their own Twitter and Facebook followings, which will help greatly in compounding your audience.
4. Personalize the response and people will compete for inclusion
Whether it is a contest, advice, or just a conversation, every time you make the exchange personal with that one customer you create demand from others to also want your character to give a "shout out" to them.
That is at the core of the Old Spice phenomenon. People started competing to be witty or provocative, making their best bets on what would intrigue the Old Spice Man to want to respond to them. Many thousands did not get a response, but it seemed like all of them did. And the ones that didn't kept trying harder to impress the Man. Also, every blogger or celebrity who did get a response wrote about it. It was a badge of honor.
5. Make it episodic and easy to share
This is all about interactive storytelling. The more stories, the more consistent the delivery of new episodes, the more frequently people will check it out, and the greater the odds to become either a media habit or an outright addiction.
This also provides the greatest opportunities for people to share a link to an episode with their friends. You want to take every opportunity to feed the virus.
You will also be able to measure which subjects and types of responses get the best results. As with anything in business, provide more of what people want and less of what they don't.
6. Keep the videos simple and short
Find the location that works. It doesn't have to be elaborate. The Old Spice Man never left the bathroom, never looked anywhere but right at the camera, never changed his posture. There is power in familiarity. There is an old saying: An idea is finished not when you've put everything you can think of into it, but rather when you've taken out everything you possibly can.
Limit the personality traits of your persona. Don't attempt sophisticated cinematography. There is a real estate agent in Canada named Ian Watt who bought a camera mount, hooked it to the dashboard of his car, turned it on and just started talking about his market while he was driving from place to place. He came across as wildly aggressive, on the go, in the know, always working for you, with a personality as driven as Gary Vaynerchuk.
Vaynerchuk, too, is a great example of minimalist consistency. His winelibrary.com videos are all shot straight on in the dingy, poorly lit conference room of his wine store in New Jersey. Doesn't matter. He became a self-proclaimed $60 million wine shop and a frequent guest on Leno and Conan O'Brien. Don't let the setting or the production distract you from putting across the persona.
7. Promote it with tie-ins offline
Put up signage in your store promoting what you're doing online. If you advertise, make sure to promote your online contests or character. It will go much further than the classic--and clichéd--line, "Visit our website."
Get yourself a cell phone with a video camera, shoot simple videos and upload them to your website and YouTube channel. Engage people of influence, especially those who are either well-known or thoroughly engaged in social media like Facebook and Twitter, to play along with you. Make your character strong, appealing and consistent. And enjoy the fruits of viral marketing.
Craig Reiss is the former Editor-in-Chief of Adweek, Brandweek and Mediaweek, among more than 200 other magazines and Websites. He currently owns Reiss Media, an Internet marketing firm.
Tell the SBA How to Mentor High-Growth Companies 15 July, 2010, 11:28 am
In a time when banks just won't lend to small businesses no matter how much the feds cajole and offer to help, the Small Business Administration is putting its energy somewhere where it has a bit more control: Its mentoring programs.Sure, there's already SCORE, the Service Corps of Retired Executives. But how could SBA reach out and help more companies, particularly fast-growing ones?
The SBA recently put out a request for information, seeking to learn more about best practices of high-growth companies, and seeking to discover best practices in entrepreneurial education. Translation: what aren't we teaching entrepreneurs that could help them ignite the economy, and how can we reach more entrepreneurs and teach them more effectively?
The effort is part of an American Innovation initiative announced last fall by the president. It's no secret that high-growth companies are key to the recovery -- a recent study from the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation found new, fast-growing companies add an average of 3 million jobs to the economy in their first year, while big companies lose 1 million jobs annually. Those mass layoffs at the big companies really add up.If SBA could find new and better ways to help growing small businesses ramp, it could help keep the economy growing and avoid the specter of a double-dip recession. Got any ideas for accelerating mentoring for high-growth companies? Describe them in the comments below...and then tell the SBA. They're all ears.
2011 Healthcare Preview -- It's Uhhh-gly 14 July, 2010, 10:30 am
If you're excited about healthcare reform, you might want to slow down a little. Because in the short term, there's going to be a lot of confusion as to how to implement it -- or how to keep your small health plan from being subject to healthcare reform's rules.For starters, a new study from PriceWaterhouseCoopers found premiums will likely go up 9 percent next year, on top of last year's 15 percent hike.
So that is not going to help business owners or their staffs for the next few years, until all the pieces of reform -- especially the state-run healthcare exchanges -- are up and running. Looming even larger than premium hikes is the coming issue of what your plan must cover under healthcare reform -- and whether your plan will have to conform to the law. Tax attorney Barbara Weltman recently discussed the issue of the difficulties in getting your plan "grandfathered" out of healthcare reform -- namely, retaining the ability to keep you plan the way it is and not have to comply with the expanded coverage you might well need to offer workers if your plan falls under the reform bill. It appears to be a complicated mess.There's a fact sheet on the federal portal for healthcare reform, and it's miles long. But to give you a quick overview, grandfathered plans have to watch their step, because there are many ways these plans can find themselves disqualified for grandfather status and subject to the new law.Some of the ways your plan can lose its grandfathered status:Cutting or reducing benefitsRaising co-insurance or co-pay chargesRaising deductiblesLowering employer contributionsChanging insurance companiesIn other words, your plan may be somewhat frozen in time for the next three years if you want to keep it from having to add coverage, expand limits and make other changes to comply with healthcare reform. Which could be tough -- when premiums go up, companies usually look for places to cut to keep rates affordable.Basically, it's going to be a lot easier for companies looking to start offering healthcare to navigate the next few years than it will be for small businesses that already have a plan. As tax attorney Barbara Weltman recently wrote, don't make any changes to your plan without getting expert help.
5 Websites That Make Business Travel Easier 27 July, 2010, 3:58 pm
From Bianca Male, Business Insider: Skyrocketing ticket prices and lighter wallets overall have made the ordeal of business travel a big headache, especially for small business owners. Combined with tighter security, delayed flights, lost luggage, and cramped planes, it’s not tough for business travel to turn into a permanent migraine.
5 Energy Efficient Office Gadgets 27 July, 2010, 3:37 pm
From Stephanie Marcus, Mashable: The world has been talking about "going green" and "reducing our carbon footprint" for years. Anyone who runs a business knows that unnecessary waste simply isn't good business.
Companies who invest in greener (or more energy efficient) gadgets around the office save on electricity bills, foste
How the NYC Subway System Can Fix Your Culture 27 July, 2010, 2:40 pm
From Steve Strauss: What can the right culture do for your business? Short answer: more time, a better business, and happier employees all rolled into one. That's just for starters.
But how to get there? Consider the example from Malcolm Gladwell’s great book, The Tipping Point, in which he recalled the New York
Aug 17 - 19, 2010: WWDMAGIC 27 July, 2010, 2:23 pm
Unknown Location: Join OPEN at WWDMAGIC, August 17-19, 2010. Visit the American Express OPEN Business Zone at the Las Vegas Convention Center: Central Hall (74866).
OPEN will offer attendees the opportunity to sit and network with peers in the lounge space, check out The Independent Handbag Designer Award winner showcase, share their small business success story at a live filming, learn from industry experts during a sp
How To Create A Brand Ambassador For Under $10 27 July, 2010, 11:37 am
You’d be surprised at how many entrepreneurs do not see the promotional tee as an effective tool to generate interest and advertise a product for an extended period of time (life of the tee). Recently, the BrandMakerNews team made a small run of tees with the message “I Am A Brand”. We gave some to our friends and family, and sold the rest on our site (sorry, all sold out). We made back the money we spent to make the t-shirts and made a lot of people happy in the process. That
Who's the Business Partner of Your Dreams? 27 July, 2010, 11:30 am
BrandMakerNews asked 100 entrepreneurs to name the celebrity/notable person they would choose as the business partner of their dreams. As the responses came in, there were clear favorites, a few surprises and great explanation of how specific celebrities could help move a small business into the big leagues.
While reviewing the list of dream business partners, one name stood out above the rest...
Find out who topped the list, and tell us who you'd pick as the business partner of your dreams.
Great Customer Service Starts at the Top 27 July, 2010, 10:12 am
From Richard Branson: I have always liked Sam Cooke's old hit song, "Chain Gang." It really comes in handy when I'm talking about customer service.
That's because delivering good customer service requires that a frontline worker receives supportive assistance from an entire network of co-workers
5 Great Questions to Ask Vendors 27 July, 2010, 7:58 am
From Rohit Bhargava, Duct Tape Marketing: How easy are you to fool? Most of us tend to consider ourselves savvy professionals. After all, if you own a business, you clearly have some level of aptitude when it comes to the business world around you. Yet there are still situations where we may end up taken in, tricked, misled, or just plain romanced. The problem is, all around in the world there will always be some new technology or feature that could help change your business.
How to Get People to Work for Cheap (or Free) 27 July, 2010, 7:13 am
From Scott Allen: Payroll is typically the largest single expense in most businesses. It is therefore also the greatest opportunity for cost savings.
Social Profiling 27 July, 2010, 6:16 am
Based on both the amount of content they consume and produce, the five most valuable, in order of their total content usage, are Megaphone, Open Book, Social Butterfly, Business First, and Enthusiast.
http://roymorejon.com/social-profiling/
Picking investors for your start'up 5 September, 2010, 9:06 pm
May 9--Fledgling businesses in product development need capital to grow, possibly more than anything else.Banks are the traditional source for many, but when a start-up has an idea for something that could be a really hot technology-based product or medical device, angel investors and venture capitalists are two options.Both are investors and have similar expectations but differ in fundamental ways, and entrepreneurs need to understand the difference to not waste time pursuing the wrong match.
Out of work? Try working for yourself 5 September, 2010, 6:06 pm
When the job market hits the skids, employees start looking for a little more stability. Often, their gaze lands on franchising.In New York, more than 430,000 people make their living owning franchises, according to a report by the International Franchise Association. Franchises employ a total of 842,500 people in New York. That amounts to about one of every 10 jobs in the state."More people are getting disillusioned with corporate America, and that's nothing new," said Joel Libava, also known ...
10 Mistakes You’ll Make When Starting a Business 26 July, 2010, 3:30 pm
Are you thinking about starting a business? Well if you are, make sure you avoid these mistakes or else your business is probably going to fail.
1. Slow and steady doesn’t win the race
Most new business fail because they don’t have enough money. If you move slowly, it will take that much longer before you make your first buck. And even if you are already bringing in some cash, that’s not enough… you have to be profitable.
Time isn’t on your side, so do whatever you can to get your business out there and making money. And I know you probably don’t want to cut any corners, but the reality is, you’ll have to cut a lot of corners to survive.
2. Don’t hire too quickly
Doesn’t it sound nice to kick back, relax, and just watch all your employees do all the work for you while the money rolls in? You know you want to do this, so how do you make this dream come true?
Well, it isn’t by hiring people right away. When you are first starting out you are going to have to do more work than you’ll want to.
Hiring is a great idea, but if you don’t understand what the employees job duties are, how they are going to accomplish their tasks, and what roadblocks they are going to face, you’ll just end up hiring employees that don’t meet your expectations.
Before you hire someone for a new position in your company, make sure you first put yourself in their shoes. Once you understand what they are going to go through, you can then hire someone.
3. Emotions and business don’t mix
Let’s face it, you think with your emotions whether you like it or not. And don’t worry, it’s not just you, we all do it.
You are going to have to train yourself to make decisions based off of logic. Even if your emotions are telling you to do something else, you need to make the logical decision.
Emotions don’t mix well with business because they cause you to do whatever will fix your hurt feelings instead of whatever is the best for the business.
4. It doesn’t matter what you want, it’s what the customer wants
Do you have a cool idea for your new business? Maybe it’s a revolutionary product that is going to change the world, or better yet maybe it’s something that you dreamed about creating since you were a child.
I hate to say it, but it doesn’t matter what you want. You should only be doing what your customers want, as they are the ones who are paying you.
So before you invest too much time and money into a cool idea, find out if your customers really want it. You can do it through surveying them and by trying to understand the problems they are facing.
5. There’s nothing wrong with being in the trenches
Being a CEO sounds sexy, but it really isn’t. Being a CEO doesn’t mean that you get to boss people around and tell them what they have to do. It means that you are responsible for the company’s well being.
And the only way you can ensure that the company is going to do well, when you first start out, is by being in the trenches.
You should be taking with customers, understanding their pain points with your product/service, and even deal with customer service issues. By being in the trenches, you’ll be able to determine what steps your business needs to take to hit profitability.
6. Money doesn’t grow on trees
I know, it technically does grow on trees, but you know what I mean. Because capital is the one thing that new businesses lack the most, you have to be cautious with your spending.
Save every penny you can because you never know when you are going to need it. This may mean that you have to pay employees less than they need to survive, or bargain down your supplier’s prices, even though your supplier is your best friend.
Do whatever you can to save a buck. And don’t be shy, because if you never ask you’ll never receive.
7. The best partner is a business partner
There is only so much you can do on your own. And when you are starting out, you won’t have a ton of cash to hire employees.
So how do you get work done without paying people?
You find a business partner! A business partner will not only work harder than most of your employees, but it won’t cost you a dime to get them… well other than equity in your business.
And if you don’t think having a co-founder is worth it, just for a second think of some of the big companies out there. Now think about whom the company was founded by? The chances are, there were at least 2 co-founders.
8. Stop thinking about tomorrow
One big problem that you’ll run into is that you’ll continue to plan for the future. And although it is typically wise to be prepared, as a new company, there isn’t enough time for you to be thinking about next year, next month, or even tomorrow.
Everyday, you should just be working on things that are going to help make the company more profitable. And that’s it! Don’t waste your time planning for the future.
All that matters is that your company has enough cash to survive, and if you don’t work on achieving profitability, you’re going to be closing down your doors.
9. There’s nothing wrong with asking for help
You’re not a jack-of-all-trades. No one is! You’ll always have questions and hopefully you’ll always be learning how to solve them.
So in the mean time, when you are looking for solutions for your questions, make sure you ask other entrepreneurs. There is nothing wrong with having a few mentors that you can rely on for advice.
The best part about it is that most mentors will do this for free… it’s their way of giving back to the entrepreneur community.
So go out there and look for a mentor, because if you think you already have all the answers you need, you’ll be in for a treat.
10. All work and no play will make you a dull boy
If all you are doing is working, you’ll end up getting burned out. You need to take a break and have some fun so that way when you go back in work, you’ll be productive.
And having some fun doesn’t mean that you have to go to an amusement park. It could be spending time with your family or friends… or better, it could be going to networking events.
Networking events are a great place to meet other entrepreneurs, gain some free advice, and maybe you’ll even end up closing some business deals at these events.
The bottom line
Don’t expect miracles with your first business. No matter what, you’ll make some mistakes, but the key to success lies within learning from your mistakes.
Don’t be afraid of the unknown! We all make mistakes, but what separates the great entrepreneurs from the mediocre ones is that the great ones don’t repeat the same mistakes.
So what other business mistakes do you think people make when starting a business?
How to Rank on Page 1 of Google Without Buying One Paid Link 23 July, 2010, 9:22 am
For the past 9 years, I have spent the majority of my time as a SEO. Whether it is helping other companies or building out my own sites, at one point in time I ranked for some of the most lucrative keywords on Google.
Online poker, credit cards, online dating, forex trading, and hotels were just a few of the terms I ranked well for. And I wasn’t just on page 1 for these keywords, but for some of them I ranked within the top 3 results.
And unlike most SEOs, it didn’t take me years to do this, for many of the terms I mentioned above I was able to rank within a few months.
My big secret
So how did I do all of this? By building legitimate links.
Now don’t get me wrong, like most SEOs I have bought text links… and probably over 7 figures worth of links throughout my SEO history. The problem with buying paid links is, you’ll rank really well in the short run, but sooner or later you will get caught.
Trust me, I have had a ton of sites that I personally owned that got banned from Google… so take a page out of my book and learn from my mistakes. Don’t waste your time buying links.
If you don’t believe me that buying links isn’t worth the risk, here is a quick statement that Matt Cutts from Google’s Webspam team gave me:
Google continues to take reports of link spam, including paid links that pass PageRank, very seriously. I put out a call for linkspam reports in March and we’ve been investigating all those reports. We do use that data to improve our algorithms, but we also take manual action on those linkspam reports. In fact, we’ve been developing new tools to help us tackle paid links that pass PageRank and other types of linkspam.
Link building doesn’t have to be painful
There are a ton of ways you can build links without spending thousands of dollars. Here are a few tactics that have worked for me throughout the years.
Send out emails
It’s painful to send out emails asking for a links, but it’s really effective. If someone is linking to your competition, they’ll probably be willing to link to you.
All you have to do is send that website owner an email like this:
Hi John,
I know you don’t know me, but name is Neil Patel and I’m with KISSmetrics. I noticed that you link to a few of my competitors such as Omniture so I thought I would take a shot in the dark to see if you would be willing to link to us as well.
Don’t worry, KISSmetrics isn’t another me-too analytics solution, which is why your website readers will see value in us. Unlike some of the other solutions in the market place, KISSmetrics allows you to track, optimize and improve your conversion funnels with a simple and easy to use report.
Thanks for taking the time for reading this email.
Have a great day,
Neil
And before you start sending out emails, if you can’t figure out who links to your competition, all you have to do is go to Yahoo and type in link:http://yourwebsite.com within the search box.
Write great content
Lists, how-to guides and even white papers are a great way to build links. As long as the content you are writing is really good people will end up linking to it.
For example, Passages Malibu, a drug rehab center wrote a detailed article on illegal drugs. The article isn’t sexy, but it breaks down every illegal drug, where it can be found, the side effects, and how to spot if someone is high on that specific drug.
Good articles like that will always get links. It may not happen within a few weeks or even a few months, but over the years it will end up being linked to.
When you are trying to write good content make sure you are:
Thorough – you have to write really detailed content. If you don’t cover all of the aspects of the topic you are writing on, don’t bother publishing it.
Write good headlines – if no one reads your content, no one will ever link to it. So make sure you come up with a creative headline, as it will increase the odds of someone reading your content.
Include pictures – no one likes reading big blocks of text. So make it easier on your readers’ eyes by including pictures.
Spicing things up – writing factual content isn’t enough to build links. Write on up and coming trends and information that others haven’t written on. And make sure you do not regurgitate the same information over again.
Don’t forget the basics
One easy way to get more links is to submit your website to popular directories. Directories like DMOZ, Yahoo, and Best of the Web are good sources of links as long as you are submitting your website into a related category.
For example, if you have a tech website, you wouldn’t want to submit it to a financial directory. Instead you would want to submit it to a tech directory.
If you are looking for a list of directories to submit your website to, you can find them here.
Write a guest post
The easiest way to get a blogger to link to you isn’t to pay them, but instead it is to write a guest post on their blog… similar to this.
In every guest post you publish, just include a short bio that describes you and your company. And obviously, link your company name to your company website.
Here are the steps you need to take to become a guest author.
Go to Technorati and search for related blogs.
Once you have a list of related blogs do a bit of research and come up with some content ideas that may be useful for their readers.
After you have some topic ideas send the blogger an email asking if they are currently accepting any guest authors. And within that email tell them the content idea you have and how it would be beneficial for their readers.
If you are accepted to be a guest author, great! If not, move along and approach other bloggers.
Conclusion
There are tons of ways you can increase the amount of sites linking to yours. It isn’t rocket science and it doesn’t have to cost you an arm and a leg like these link building tactics.
I know the tactics I mentioned above aren’t fun and sexy, but they work. Try them out… trust me, you won’t be disappointed.
How to Use Game Mechanics to Improve Your SEO 14 July, 2010, 8:00 am
Video games are a big waste of time. We all know it, but for some reason you still end up playing them for hours at a time. Why? Well, it’s because the elements within games, such as a scoreboard and action points make them addicting.
These elements are called game mechanics. And although you probably don’t care about them, you should because you can use them to improve your search engine rankings.
Here’s how…
Scoreboards help build links
Have you seen those funny online quizzes such as what are your chances of surviving a zombie apocalypse or how long can you last chained to a bunk bed with a velociraptor?
When you take those quizzes, at the end you’re given a badge with your score. You can then take these badges and show them off to your friends by placing them on your website.
The reason this is effective is that your friends will want to beat your score, and once they do, they’ll also take their badge (that shows their score) and place it on their website.
This is a very effective way to build backward links and increase your rankings as long as the quiz is relevant to your website and you’re not stuffing the links with rich anchor text to manipulate search engines.
For example, bunkbeds.net created the velociraptor quiz and they now rank on Google for the term “bunk beds”.
Rewarding helps build content
Theoretically, the more content you have on your website, the more keywords you can be found for on search engines. So if you reward your users on your website, you can encourage them to do more things, such as participate in your community.
Judy’s Book does a great job of this by featuring their most active members on their homepage. For example, Kristen H. has her picture on the Judy’s Book homepage, which will encourage her to write more reviews.
In addition to showcasing their top users, Judy’s Book could also give members special badges on their profile page, such as a “Pro” badge to show a loyal user. And when Kristen’s friends see that she has a Pro badge, they’ll want one too so they’ll start contributing to the Judy’s Book.
Piece elimination helps you create even more content
Comments account for 83% of the content on Quick Sprout, which is why the blog is found for so many long tail keywords on search engines. But what you may not know is that the 5 most active commentors each week account for 27% of the content.
The reason the top 5 commentors account for most of the content/comments on each blog post is because they are rewarded with a link on every page of Quick Sprout, which helps drive traffic to their website.
The reason this is so effective is because it is a battle to stay in the top 5. Anyone can come onto Quick Sprout, comment a handful of times, and knock you out of your spot. And for you to get back into the top 5, you would have to come back to Quick Sprout and comment more than the people who are currently on the list.
By leveraging the mechanic of piece elimination, you’re not just encouraging people to add more content to your website, but you’re encouraging them to do so on a regular basis.
Goal completion helps you influence people’s actions
LinkedIn is notoriously known for using the game mechanic of goal completion. When you log into LinkedIn, they show you a status bar showing you how much of your profile you have completed.
This status bar encourages users to get to 100%. And if you aren’t at 100%, they push you until you get there.
Now although LinkedIn isn’t using this for SEO purposes, they could. For example, they could make users promote their resume on their blog, Twitter, Facebook and other social sites by making it a requirement to get to 100% completeness. And although most of those social links don’t help with SEO, they still help build your traffic.
Giving people territory control, helps improve your website
Wikipedia and DMOZ are two great examples of sites that are leveraging the game mechanic of territory control. Users have to participate frequently in the community to get special privileges, such as becoming a senior editor of a specific section of the website.
These users are then motivated to ensure that the content on the website is high in quality, or else they will lose control over their territory.
High content quality ensures that people will find your website useful. And the more useful people find it, the more likely they will be willing to link to it.
For example, Wikipedia has over 228 million backward links according to Yahoo Site Explorer. This in turn helps Wikipedia get over 1.67 billion visitors a month from Google.
Closing thoughts
Although videos games may seem like a waste of time, you can actually learn a lot from them. The video game industry isn’t a 10.3 billion dollar industry for no reason.
They’ve figured out how to get you and millions of other people out there addicted to their games. So much so that you’ll actually stand in line overnight to get your hands on the latest gaming system.
So take a page out of their book and start using game mechanics in your business. Not only can it help improve your SEO, but it can actually help you create a popular business… if you don’t believe me, just look at Four Square.
Don’t Screw Up Your Kid’s Future 7 July, 2010, 8:38 am
Do you want your kids to be successful? Well, there is no foolproof way to ensure that, but that doesn’t mean you can’t increase their odds.
When I was growing up my parents did a lot of things throughout my childhood that helped spearhead me into success. These things weren’t done intentionally, but if you replicate them with your kids, I think you’ll be able to increase their odds of success.
Pick your friends wisely
My parents are big discriminators. No, not against a specific race, but they hate dumb people. When I was growing up they always encouraged me to hang out with the smart kids. They never allowed me to hang out with kids that just wanted to mess around because they felt that I would develop bad habits from them.
By hanging out with people who were smarter than me, I had to push myself to do well in school. If I didn’t, I wouldn’t be in the same classes that my friends were in. And as you already know, the last thing a young kid wants is to be a loner.
Education is everything
In my family you only had one responsibility as a kid. It wasn’t to keep your room clean or to help around in the house, but it was to do well in school. Education was so important in my family that during my summer vacation my parents would give me homework to complete every day.
Most of the homework that they gave me was math related, which sucked, but it came in handy in the future. As the only thing I am really good at other than counting money, is solving problems. And if I didn’t spend as many hours as I did doing math homework, I probably wouldn’t be a good problem solver.
The best cartoons are on CNBC
Technically CNBC doesn’t have any cartoons, but that was the channel I used to watch every morning before I went to school. It wasn’t that I enjoyed watching it, instead my parents loved the stock market so much that the TV was always tuned to CNBC.
From the day I started elementary school to the day I went off to college, CNBC was on every morning. And even though I hated CNBC, you end up picking up a few things here and there. Such as how profit is much more important than revenue or that you can make a profit by trading currency.
I know these things sound obvious, but when you are 12 or 13 years old, you don’t really think about forex trading.
Money doesn’t grow on trees
I know it technically does, but you get my point. The way my parents encouraged me to save all of the money I got for Christmas or Birthday presents was by matching it. So for every dollar I placed in a bank account, they matched it with a dollar.
Throughout my childhood I was able to save up to $1000, which isn’t too shabby for a young kid. And although I never really used that money for anything, it taught me that value of having a bank balance.
You never know when the shit hits the fan, so you should always save money… especially in business. Because when times are bad, at least you won’t have to close your doors.
Financial statements are meant to be shared
Very few of my friends know about their parents’ financial situation. Throughout my childhood my parents always shared with me how much money they made, how much savings they had, and any losses or gains they encountered through the stock market.
The cool part about knowing your parents finances as a child is that it lets you know what you need to do. Should you be getting a job and helping out or should you be thinking about ways to invest their money?
Luckily enough I didn’t need to get a job, and although my parents weren’t the richest people out there it didn’t stop me from thinking about how I could make more money from their money. For example, one thing I dreamed about was to own a Taco Bell… which my parents always encouraged.
Spoil your child… but not too much
As I mentioned above, my parents aren’t poor or rich. They fit somewhere right in the middle. So when I was growing up they didn’t ask me to pay for my clothes, food, car, or even college tuition.
Although it seems like things were just handed to me on a silver platter, I wasn’t spoiled too much. For example, I never had the latest gaming system or a TV in my bedroom.
I didn’t have to worry about the basic necessities in life, which meant that I could focus on my education and on building a business. If I had to worry about making car payments or rent payments, I wouldn’t be where I am today in life. Instead I would probably be working for Microsoft.
I know spoiling your child sounds like a bad thing, but it allows them to take more risks in life. You just have to be careful and not spoil them too much.
Encourage business, even if it isn’t legal
No, my parents would have never let me sell drugs. But they did let me sell bootleg cable boxes, which is kind of in the gray area.
At that point it was the only business I was interested in. So they let me do what I wanted as long as I didn’t get in trouble. Eventually I made the transition into more ethical businesses, but if my parents would have stopped me, who knows where I would be today.
So if your kids want to sell lemonade even though it requires a city permit, you just let them do so. As long as they won’t go to jail or get in serious trouble, it’s good to encourage entrepreneurship.
The best policy is an open policy
By the time I was ready to start my first real business, I needed some money. I had some money saved up from some part time jobs, but I didn’t have enough.
Lucky for me, my parents had an open policy, in which they opened up their bank account to me. They had saved up money for their retirement, but they trusted me with it, and it was enough to get me up and running.
Without their money, I would have never built a company that hit 7 figures in revenue. So if your kids need some money, don’t be afraid to open up your bank account.
Granted, your kids could lose your money… just like how I lost my parents money the first few times. But if you don’t keep on encouraging them and helping them out, they’ll never succeed.
Business is business
While in high school I had a few ventures. Many of them didn’t work out but one of them did. So by the time I entered college, I continued to expand my mini empire… and as I was expanding I had a habit of being a nice guy.
I always want to please people, which caused me to lose around a million dollars. And I probably would still be a people pleaser if it wasn’t for my parents.
See, my parents always told me that I have to look out for my best interest. They always told me to watch out for others, or else you can get screwed. And I never really believed them, until I got screwed really badly and lost a lot of money.
More importantly they taught me that if I was doing business with friends or family, I shouldn’t let that affect anything, as business is business. And if the other party can’t accept that, then they aren’t worth doing business with.
I know it sounds bad to be a cutthroat businessperson, but sometimes you have to. I used to think that everyone’s problems were my problems. But my parents taught me that they weren’t and if you aren’t a cutthroat person when time requires it, people will just walk all over you.
Criticism maybe annoying, but it’s helpful
To this day my parents always criticize what I am doing. They always point out my mistakes and they never forget them.
If they didn’t do this, I wouldn’t have learned from most of my mistakes. So although I hate it when my mom tells me that I was wrong and she was right, it truly keeps me grounded.
No matter what your kids do in life, make sure you give them useful criticism. The key isn’t to be a pest, but it is to give them feedback they can learn from. And when doing so, your kids may hate or ignore you, but remember that the criticism is making them a better person. They may not like it now, but they’ll appreciate it in the future.
Closing thoughts
I wish I could look into my crystal ball and tell you that your child is going to be successful, but reality is I can’t. The average income for someone in the U.S. is $32,140 a year. Only 6.24% of the people who live in the U.S. make more than $100,000 a year.
Although the odds are against your child from succeeding, that doesn’t mean you can’t do anything to change it. Whether it is following what my parents did with me or doing what you feel is fit for your child, it’s up to make your child successful.
Why immigrants are more successful than you! 30 June, 2010, 12:17 pm
Who would of ever thought that there would be so many successful immigrants. If you look at it from a surface level, it just doesn’t make sense, right?
Many immigrants are coming from a third world country, they have little to no money, and they barely speak English. So how the heck do they become successful?
Well, if you dig a bit deeper, it makes a lot of sense…
Love is over rated
Immigrants don’t come to this country to do what they love; they come here to make money. Happiness is the last thing on their mind because all they care about is making money.
With that money they can provide a better future for the family and most importantly provide their kids with the things that they never had.
Now the big difference between immigrants and you is that in life you were taught to do what you love. For example if you want to be an astronaut throughout your life your parents and teachers encouraged you to follow your dreams. While with immigrants, they are taught to do whatever makes money.
The 80-hour workweek
Do you love the 4-hour workweek? Well immigrants don’t! If they don’t believe in the 40-hour workweek, there is no way they’ll believe in the 4-hour workweek.
Instead of trying to figure out how they can work less hours each week, they try to figure out how they can work more hours. 60, 70, and even 80 hours are the numbers immigrants try to work each week.
For example, I know a few Indians who have 2 full time jobs, which means they are literally working 80 hours every week. And although working 80 hours a week doesn’t give you the best quality of life, it gives you the potential to make more money.
Investors love immigrants
I am big believer in making money off of other people. Some of the people I always look forward to making money off of are immigrants. The hard part is just finding a business that they are interested in running.
Plus if you give them a small stake in the business they’ll work a lot harder than if I paid them to work 80 hours per week.
Immigrants stick together
One thing that I never forgot is that when my parents immigrated over here other immigrants helped them out. From free temporary living to helping you find a job, immigrants help each other succeed.
Even after being in the U.S. for over 20 years, my parents still have some stuff given to them by other immigrants, such as furniture.
There’s nothing wrong with being frugal
It’s easier to save money than it is to earn it. This is why immigrants are frugal because they understand that it is really hard to earn money… especially if you are working 80-hour weeks.
They are never afraid to ask for discounts, because they know that if you never ask you’ll never receive. From negotiating at clothing stores to only buying things that are on sale, immigrants always find ways save money.
Education is everything
When times get tough the one thing that increases your odds of success is having a good education. Whether you a teenage immigrant or a middle aged immigrant, it is never too late to go back to school.
If you have a bachelor’s degree on average you’ll make $900,000 more over your lifetime than someone who just has a high school diploma. And if you have a master’s degree, you’ll make $1,200,000 more in your lifetime than a high school graduate.
There is no excuse for not going to college, as there are online and nighttime classes.
You never take “no” for an answer
Just because someone tells you no, it doesn’t mean that you can’t change that no to a yes.
When my family first immigrated over here my mom could not find a job as a preschool teacher. So when they told her no, she told them that she would work for free. Months later they decided to hire her and more importantly pay her.
If someone tells you no, it just means not right now. That not right now can turn into a yes later on.
The grass is truly greener
Have you heard the saying that the grass is greener on the other side? For immigrants, it usually is greener.
Although they may not be living in a fancy home or a rich neighborhood when they first immigrate over, those living conditions are still better than the ones they came from.
This is why they rarely complain about life because there really is nothing to be sad about. In their eyes, life is truly good. They have a roof over their head and their kids are getting a great education.
Conclusion
The next time you see an immigrant walking by, don’t judge them because of their job, the way they talk, or the clothes they wear. Be careful as some of the richest immigrants I know still drive their beat-up car that is 15 years old and they buy their clothes from Wal-Mart… only when they are on sale.
Immigrants are successful because of their beliefs and the way they were brought up. So take a page out of their book and learn a few things from them because it isn’t too late for you to learn from them and more importantly become successful.
What other traits do you think make immigrants successful?
15 Warning Signs That Your Business Sucks 23 June, 2010, 9:40 am
Let’s face it, you’ve wondered if your business is going to succeed or not. You keep on pouring your heart and soul into your business but for some reason you aren’t making a ton of money.
Well the sad part is, there is no sure way to know if your business is going to fail or succeed. But these warning signs should help you determine your odds of succeeding.
1. You’re not making a profit.
It’s easy to say that you have to make money, but in reality that isn’t true. You need to be making a profit. Bringing in a million dollars a month is useless if you are spending a 100 million. That means you would be losing 99 million dollars every month.
Successful businesses make profit. And although you may not be profitable right now, you have to work towards it.
According to the Small Business Administration, most businesses fail in the first 5 years because they can’t make a profit.
2. You haven’t talked to a potential customer
Do you think your business is cool? Who cares what you think! All that matters is what your customers think because they are the ones paying you.
If you haven’t talked to a customer yet, you better get off your ass and do so. And more importantly, don’t just talk to one, talk to a few.
3. You don’t love what you do
If you love your business you are more likely to spend more time on it. And if you spend more time on your business, you are more likely to succeed. If you’re just in business to make money, there is a higher chance that you’ll get burned out and you won’t work as hard.
Working 40 hours a week just doesn’t cut it when you own a business. On average entrepreneurs spend 61.1 hours working each week.
4. You can’t take criticism
When a friend or family member gives you feedback about your business you shouldn’t get angry. Listen and try to really understand what they are saying.
Now this doesn’t mean you have to do everything they are telling you to do, but you have to at least listen. Who knows, one day they may give you advice that will change your business.
5. You don’t care about your customers
Customer service and support is something that can make or break your company. If you don’t care about your customers they won’t come back and buy from you again. Remember it’s typically easier to get repeat customers than new customers.
A good example of great customer support and appreciation is Zappos. They have great return policies and sometimes they’ll give you free next day air shipping.
And if you don’t think customer service is that important, Zappos was so good at it, that they ranked number 7 in customer satisfaction in the overall U.S.
6. People don’t talk about your company
Word of mouth marketing is the best way to grow your business. If no one is talking about your company, then you aren’t doing a great job.
Advertising and paid marketing is great, but the organic stuff is what really helps a business grow. For example people use Google because they heard about it from someone else. When Google first came out they never paid for advertising.
Out of all the marketing methods out there, word of mouth marketing is ranked as the most effective.
7. You’re not agile enough
The demands customers have over time change so you naturally have to adapt to them. If you aren’t agile you won’t be able to adapt quick enough, which means your customers will start going to your competitors who are adapting to their needs.
If you want to be agile, you have to learn about the 3 types of agility: strategic, operational, and portfolio.
8. You aren’t cheap
Lack of capital is the number one reason most businesses fail. This is why you have to be scrappy. Do whatever it takes to save a buck… as long as it doesn’t cost you more than it is saving you.
Plus in the business world there are always ups and downs. So if you don’t save while you are making a good amount of dough, you won’t have any cash to get you through tough times like now.
There are some things like recessions that aren’t in control. So save money when you can.
9. You don’t know when to spend money
It’s good to be cheap, but sometimes you have to spend money to make it. For example, paying more money for talented employees is a lot smarter than paying little money for mediocre ones. Mediocre employees can lose you millions of dollars by making the wrong decisions for your business. If you don’t believe me, just look at how Zappos lost $100 million.
10. You don’t have a good lawyer
Lawyers are worth every penny. A good lawyer can save your ass from a lawsuit or protect you when a customer refuses to pay.
Never skimp on legal fees and make sure you are working with a partner at a good law firm. If you can’t afford their fees, you can always bargain with them or come up with a payment plan.
11. You hate to delegate
If you try to do everything yourself, you’ll be limiting the true potential of your business. If you can’t trust your team to help out, then things will never get done quickly.
Plus I don’t care how smart you are, you’re not a jack of all traits. So you might as well delegate tasks to people who are better at doing them than you.
And if you don’t know how to delegate, read this.
12. You keep on making the same mistakes
There is nothing wrong with making mistakes, you just can’t keep on making the same ones over again. If you learn from your mistakes, you’ll save a ton of money and time.
And if you really want to learn from mistakes, you should learn from other people’s mistakes. Everyone makes them, so might as well learn from them and try to avoid them.
For example, you could always learn from my million-dollar mistake.
13. You hate taking risks
Sometimes you just have to roll the dice and take risks. Playing things conservatively works sometimes, but it doesn’t always work.
Switching up business models, laying off a whole department, or even moving your company location are just a few risky things that you may have to do. It’s too hard to predict what these risks will be for you, but when the time comes you have to be willing to take them.
If you hate taking risks, there’s actually a risk associated with not taking risks.
14. You’re on your first business
If this is your first business, you’re likely to fumble a lot. I hate to say it, but 78% of first time entrepreneurs fail. The odds just aren’t with you because you are stepping into a new territory.
And even if you are on your second business, your odds won’t increase drastically. Instead of having a 22% chance of succeeding, you’ll have a 34% chance of succeeding.
15. You can’t focus
It’s better to do one thing really well instead of doing 100 things at a mediocre level. Google, Amazon, Microsoft, Skype, and 37Signals are just a few examples of companies that did one thing really well.
Yes, later on they did start expanding their business, but at first they just did one thing really well.
You too need to focus your business and just do one thing really well. Don’t expand until you’re really good at doing that one thing. If you lose laser focus you can jeopardize your business like Legal Zoom almost did.
Conclusion
I wish I could tell you that everything is going to be ok and you’re going to do well, but I can’t. The odds aren’t in your favor so you have to look for the warning signs above and avoid them.
Best of luck with your business and if you have any other warning signs that you want to share leave a comment.
What I learned about you through KISSinsights 18 May, 2010, 4:01 pm
Disclaimer: I am the co-founder of KISSinsights.
Over the past few months you’ve probably seen little popup questions on the bottom right corner of Quick Sprout. And if you haven’t, here is what they look like:
By asking you questions over the last few months, I’ve learned a ton of things about you.
You love Quick Sprout
When I asked you how disappointed you would be if Quick Sprout no longer existed, 81.7% of you said that you would be disappointed. And although I already knew that the majority of you would be disappointed, I never really understand why 18.3% of you didn’t love Quick Sprout.
One thing I learned by asking this question is that the information I am writing on is too vague.
Dude all of the stuff you teach is not applicable to all small businesses, very vague and non-specific advice. I learn more from what you DO than what you say lol.
If I wrote more detailed blog posts, Quick Sprout would be much more popular. So from now on, one of my goals will be to write less vague content.
You may not have a business
Although a whopping 51.9% of you own a business, 48.1% of you don’t. A lot of the content on this blog is focused towards people who already have businesses that are up and running.
Based on this data a good portion of the blog posts should be on starting a business because that is where a lot of entrepreneurs make mistakes that could have easily been avoided. And hopefully some of the new content I write will help you avoid those mistakes.
You want to learn more about me
One of the questions I asked on my about page is “what else would you like to know about me”. At first I thought that I did a pretty good job with my about page because it is thorough, but I was wrong.
The most common response I got was that I need to provide more ways for you to connect with me. So I added links to my Twitter, Facebook, and Linkedin profile within the blog’s sidebar.
I need to start writing content that you want to read
I blog about topics that I feel you want to read about. The problem with doing this is that you may not care for that content. So instead of guessing, I have been asking you “what should I blog about”.
Here are some things you want me to blog about:
What are the traits of successful entrepreneurs
7 ways to market your startup
How to build a startup with no money
The startup checklist (the steps you need to take to succeed)
The great thing about your responses is that it helps solve writers block and it helps me take the guess work out of writing blog posts. The last thing I want to do is write something that you don’t care about reading.
Now keep in mind that I won’t be to blog on everything you request, but I’ll do my best to please you.
You need to learn about your customers
Now that I shared what I learned about you through KISSinsights, you should do the same with your website’s visitors/customers.
The first thing you need to do is sign up for KISSinsights. It’s really simple and best of all it is free.
After you sign up you want to start asking people questions. You can do this by using one of our predefined questions, or you can come up with your own questions.
And once you select a question you should pick who you want to show it to.
If you look at the above screenshot you’ll notice that you can:
Ask a question to anyone – no matter who visits your website and where they come from, they’ll see the question.
Only ask return visitors – if you only want to ask your loyal visitors a question, this is the option you should select.
Ask a question to visitors who view multiple pages – this is a great option if you only want to ask engaged visitors a question (they may have never seen your site before.)
Ask a question to users who have been on your site for a while – if you have a question that is only relevant to people who have been on your site for a while, then this is the option for you. For example, if I wanted to ask you what you thought of this blog post, I would only show you the question if you have been on the page for 30 seconds because the chances are you have at least read some of it.
Ask a person the same question more than once – if you think people’s responses are going to change over time you can always ask them the same question over again.
Conclusion
Hopefully you’ll get the same benefit out of KISSinsights that I got. It’s a great product… but then again I am biased because I co-founded the company.
I’d love to hear what you think about KISSinsights… especially the ways we can improve upon it. Feel free to be as harsh as you want, as it won’t hurt my feelings.
Do Business Like A Prostitute 3 May, 2010, 9:15 am
I know prostitution is illegal, but that doesn’t mean we can’t talk about it. As you probably already know, it is known as the oldest business in the world. And because it has been around for such a long time, the profession has been optimized so much that you can actually learn a few things from it.
Location is everything
You don’t see prostitutes standing on every street corner, right? Of course not because not all locations are good for business. It’s the same reason why you don’t see a gas station or a McDonald’s on every block.
You need to figure out where your ideal clients are and try to place your business in the center. And even if you are a web based business, location is still important because your customers don’t live inside a computer… remember, they are actual people.
Location also doesn’t just have to be latitude and longitude coordinates, it could also be your search engine rankings on Google or an advertisement on an industry website.
Whatever it maybe, just make sure your business is in the best location.
You have to stand out from the crowd
What do you usually see next to a McDonald’s? You see Burger King, Taco Bell, Subway and other fast food joints, right?
Once you find a good location, your competitors will come and follow… it’s just a matter of time. There isn’t much you can do, other than to differentiate yourself from the competition.
Prostitutes also have this problem, which is why you usually just don’t see one of them. So if they want to be successful they have to stand out.
This is the reason companies try to provide exceptional customer service, offer discounts and promotions, and most importantly try and create a personal touch. It’s the small things that make a really big difference, so don’t lose sight of them.
For example, Zappos is the number 1 shoe retailer on the web because of their return policy. And although Google wasn’t the first search engine, they are the most popular because their search results are more relevant. And lastly, although Apple was once struggling, they are now doing really well because of their extremely useful and simple products.
Have a clear message
If prostitutes didn’t make it clear with their clothes and actions that you could pay them for sex, no one would ever know that they were for hire. If they looked and behaved like a nun while standing on a street corner, they would all be broke.
You can be selling the best product or service with your business, but unless you have a clear message, your upside potential is going to be limited. If messaging wasn’t important, it wouldn’t have a big impact on conversion rates.
If you are having trouble figuring out the right messaging for your business, consider surveying your customers. There is a reason why your satisfied customers are happy and why your unsatisfied customers are upset. You just have to figure out what makes customers happy and try to use messaging that appeals to those type of people so you can get more of them.
Tell your customers what they are buying
Prostitutes just don’t tell you that you can get sex for money. They tell you exactly what they are willing to do, the amount of time they’ll spend with you, and what it will cost you.
By being clear with your customers you are going to have a lot less complaints and returns. Deceiving them may make you a quick buck, but in the long run it will hurt your brand and cost you a lot more money.
Especially with social sites like Twitter and the blogosphere, it has never been easier for customers to complain about your company. And boy when they do complain, it can spread like a wild fire on the web.
Supply has to meet demand
Prostitutes are known to be masters of supply and demand. If they feel that a lot of people want their service, they jack up their rates. And if they feel very few people want their services, they’ll reduce their rates to increase demand.
If you have a ton of demand for your company’s product or service it may not be wise for you to increase supply. You maybe able to turn a higher profit if you increase your prices. And if you don’t have that great of a demand, it maybe wiser to reduce your prices so you can sell more units instead of decreasing your output.
It’s easier to upsell than it is to sell
A prostitute knows that once they have some of your money, it’s a lot easier for them to get more out of you. At this point, you have more than showed that you like the services they are providing you, which allows her to play off your emotions.
As a business your primary goal is to get new customers, right? Well if your existing customers are happy, why not try to upsell them? It’s a lot easier to get someone who has already paid you to give you more money than it is to get a random person to become your customer.
I personally feel upselling is so powerful that I try to dedicate at least 10 to 20% of my company’s effort into getting more money out of existing customers. And I don’t mean this in a bad way… by no means should you squeeze your customers. Instead you should figure out what other value added services or products you can provide them.
Account for the unexpected
You can’t account for everything… it’s just impossible. For this reason prostitutes tell their pimps where they are going to be and if they really want to be safe they carry pepper spray or taser.
Now you probably won’t have violence issues with your company, but you could have lawsuits. Always have cash on reserve for the unexpected because things will always go wrong. Even the most successful entrepreneurs make mistakes, you just have to be prepared for them. And if you aren’t, make sure you can adapt quickly.
Conclusion
Just because prostitution is illegal and looked down upon, it doesn’t mean you can’t learn from it. Knowledge is everywhere… just like how a flight attendant taught me a few things about business.
So what do you think? Are there any other things we should be learning from prostitutes?
How Not to Market Your Startup 21 April, 2010, 8:00 am
Marketing your web-based business is never an easy thing to do. You’re bound to make a lot of mistakes and waste money on things that just don’t work.
Over the past 8 years, I have worked with dozens of startups. Many of these startups got acquired, but most of them failed. And one trend that I noticed between the successful startups and the failures, is that the failures made a lot of marketing mistakes.
Here are 7 marketing tactics that you should avoid with your business:
1. Useless splash pages
A common trend on the web is to create a splash page before you launch your startup. On this splash page you’re probably a bit vague on what your company is about and you have a message saying that you are launching soon.
The problem with creating a splash page like the one above is that it isn’t useful to the people visiting your site. If you create a minimalistic splash page like the one above, the chances that someone is going to come back to your website in 30 days is slim to none.
Here is how you can create an effective splash page:
Grab people’s attention – you only have a few seconds to grab someone’s attention. A catchy headline that’s relevant to your business is a good start.
Don’t be shy – tell people what your product or service is going to be before you have created it.
Include visuals – if you have a screen shot of your product or service, include it. It doesn’t have to be perfect, it just has to visually explain what you are creating.
Promise a solution – tell your ideal customer what you are going to do for them.
Collect emails – at the end, you should collect people’s name and email address. This way, you can send them an email when you launch.
2. Links at the bottom of each page
Who doesn’t want to get ranked at the top of Google? Not only does search traffic convert well, but it also usually provides a high ROI. So what’s the best way to get ranked on the top of Google? Well, it’s isn’t by adding a ton of rich anchor text links at the bottom of every page of your site to other internal pages.
There are a few wrong things with the image above:
Internal links do help increase rankings, but external links are much more effective.
Internal links are typically more effective when they are placed within your content.
Rich anchor text links are a great way to increase rankings, but once again it is more effective to have rich anchor text links coming from external sites.
3. Meta keywords tag
Wouldn’t it be nice if you can tell search engines what keyword they should rank you for? The most common way to do this is to create a meta keywords tag and enter in all the keywords you want to rank for.
The problem with meta keywords tags is that you would probably put every keyword you can think of in it, even if your site wasn’t 100% related to those keywords. For this reason search engines ignore them and they determine what keywords your website should rank for based on your content and the websites that link back to yours.
4. Blogging for Diggs
One of the most common trend startups are riding is that they are creating infographics, comic strips, and other viral related content on their blog. And by creating viral based content, their traffic typically sky rockets.
It’s a great idea, but only if the content is relevant. For example Mint.com does a great job of creating viral content that was related to finance. If they created viral content that wasn’t related to finance they could have probably still increased their traffic, but those visitors wouldn’t have signed up for their service.
So if you are going to create viral content, make sure it is related to your business. If you don’t, you won’t see an increase in your revenue, which at the end of the day is all that matters.
5. Creating unnecessary buzz
Doesn’t it sound like a cool idea to get covered by popular blogs like TechCrunch, Mashable, and ReadWriteWeb? If you have a tech related business, then yes it is cool. If you don’t, those blogs probably won’t drive that many customers.
For example, if you have a business that is targeting moms, you shouldn’t care if TechCrunch writes on you or not. Instead you should care if the top mom bloggers covers your business. You’ll get a lot more moms over to your website if a mom blogger writes on you versus TechCrunch, even though that mom blogger probably has 1000 times less readers than TechCrunch.
At the end of the day, don’t just get bloggers to write about you for press and traffic, get them to blog about you because your product or service solves a problem for their readers.
6. PR helps build brands, not revenue
When you are starting out it may seem like a great idea to hire a PR firm to get you into the New York Times and Wall Street Journal, but that won’t necessarily help you increase your bottom line.
I have been covered in over 20 major publications like the Wall Street Journal and although it helped with my company’s brand, it didn’t get us many customers. If we put more time into marketing efforts that had a direct ROI, we would have been better off.
Now if you are approached by a journalist, this doesn’t mean you shouldn’t talk to them. If you can use a New York Times logo on your website to increase your conversion rate, that’s great. Just don’t go crazy and spend a lot of time seeking a full-page story in the New York Times. If it comes to you, great… but don’t chase it.
7. Bribing customers isn’t smart
Contests, prizes, and gifts are a great way to get potential customers coming to your website. But if you have a good product or service why should you have to stoop to that level?
Your product or service is great, so customers should gladly want to use your product. If you keep on giving stuff away for free, people will just continue to expect it. And more importantly you’ll find yourself gaining customers who are using your product or service for the wrong reason.
Although throwing contests may seem tempting, use it as a last resort. You’re better off spending that time and energy into building a better product or service.
Conclusion
There are tons of ways you can market your startup. But the worst ways are usually the easiest ones. Before you start marketing your business online, really think about what’s best for your business and customers.
There is no reason to rush things, as it will just cost you time and money. Plan things out and if you happen to make mistakes, learn from them and adapt quickly.
Examples of Enchanting Things 25 July, 2010, 2:20 pm
In the comments area below, please tell me some things that you find enchanting. For example: Car—1966 Mustang, Computer—Macintosh, City—Istanbul, Movie—Wizard of Oz, etc. I’m looking for a wide range of categories and examples. Thanks!
Why too much money is worse than too little 20 July, 2010, 9:55 am
Many entrepreneurs believe that they key to success is adequate (or more) capital. I think they’re wrong—too much money is worse than too little. It’s because spending expands to the level of money that you’ve raised. I explain the hazards of too much money for the American Express Open Forum. Read it by clicking here.
Happiness explained by @Zappos 20 July, 2010, 9:50 am
Whether you love shoes or not, you’ve got to admire the job that Tony Hsieh and the rest of the Zappos gang has done. I got a chance to interview Tony during the book tour for his new tome. in our interview he explains the keys to happiness in life and business while being Asian-American. Check out what he has to say here.
How to decode the US immigration process 20 July, 2010, 8:47 am
If you’re confused by the U. S. Immigration process, I recently posted an explanation of it at the American Express Open Forum blog. Robert C. Meltzer, CEO of VISANOW, provided the information. His company is in the business of helping people obtain visas, so he should know. (Disclosure: Garage is an investor in VISANOW.) Learn how to decode the immigration process here.
How to Find Your Lost iPhone 19 July, 2010, 11:12 am
Think about this: How much time, effort, and expense would it take to replace your iPhone if you lost it? You’d have to go to the Apple store, buy a phone, get it hooked up to your number, sync it with iTunes (you did back it up, right?), and then tweak it to just the way you like it.
Over at the American Express Open Forum I posted an article about two ways to increase the likelihood of getting your phone back if you lose it or it gets stolen with two simple apps. Check out the posting by clicking here.
The Zen of PowerPoint, Facebook, and Twitter 19 July, 2010, 12:02 am
Over at the American Express Open Forum, I recently posted an article about the application of ten Japanese concepts to PowerPoint, Facebook, and Twitter. Check it out here if you want a conceptual framework to simplify your use of these tools.
Example needed: How companies celebrate success 1 July, 2010, 3:40 pm
Looking for unusual and cool ways that companies celebrate success. Not interested in the usual "more money than creativity" methods like parties with famous entertainers, taking everyone to Hawaii, blah-blah-blah. Send me enchanting and clever examples: guykawasaki@gmail.com
Examples needed: Enchanting websites 24 June, 2010, 5:21 pm
I’m collecting a list of websites that are “enchanting.” That is, they are inviting, communicative, and cool. For example, I think that Work Awesome is enchanting. I’d love to see what websites are enchanting too. Please add list them in the Comments section below.
Example needed: Getting enchanted by an employee 20 June, 2010, 10:56 pm
Looking for a story of being enchanted by an employee. I need an example of a boss (you) getting enchanted by an employee. What did he or she do to enchant you? What was the feeling like? Please send to guykawasaki@gmail.com
Examples Needed: Personal stories of enchantment 16 June, 2010, 10:24 am
I would like to include a few personal stories of enchantment in my next book. I am looking for examples of how people, products, services, organizations, ideas, or causes swept you off your feet.
Specs:
Written from your personal experience, not an external, academic view.
150-200 words
Ideally, all the basics would be in your essay: who, what, when, why, and how.
As an example, here is how something enchanted me:
The second most enchanting moment of my life occurred in 1983 when Mike Boich showed me a Macintosh prototype. (The most enchanting moment was meeting my wife.) This life-changing event happened in back of a non-descript building on Bandley Drive in Cupertino, California. Boich was the software evangelist of the Macintosh Division of Apple.
Back then, personal computing was very different. The best case was text on a screen, and if you were lucky, your computer (if you had a computer) displayed upper and lower-case text, and you moved around the screen with cursor keys. Seeing Macintosh for the first time was an epiphany and transformational moment. It removed the scales from my eyes, parted the clouds, and I thought I heard angels singing.
Please send your 150-200 word essay to guykawasaki@gmail.com. Thanks.
“All I had was an idea, a few contacts…and $2000. And off we went” – Priya Sharma on her deep dive into entrepreneurship and the birth of Toronto Custom Suits 7 July, 2010, 9:21 pm
Are you an armchair entrepreneur waiting to open your dream business but don’t have capital to do so? Are you waiting for the ‘right moment’ to jump into the deep, dark world of business? Wonder what it’s like to ‘bootstrap’ a new business? If you answered YES to any of those questions, you want to hear the inspiring story of my newest guest, Priya Sharma, founder of Toronto Custom Suits. Join us as Priya talks about her initiation by fire into entrepreneurship and her adventures in the fashion world…
Faheem Moosa: Thanks for joining us, Priya. Tell us about Toronto Custom Suits and why you started it. What makes TCS different from other players?
Priya Sharma: Toronto Custom Suits is a men’s custom suits business that I started a little under a year ago. I have been a part of the corporate fashion world in Toronto for sometime now, but like many other people I wanted to start my own business and to have my own line one day, but there was never a right time for that. When the recession started in 2008, many people in the industry were victims to downsizing and I was no exception. Suddenly I found myself with no job and I was pondering, “Do I apply for a job that I don’t really love just so I can be secure and go through the motions? Or do I take the opportunity to follow my dreams?” It’s not as though I was giving anything up first place. I decided to go with the latter and wondered, “What can I do that will allow me to use my experience and my knowledge in fashion and be profitable in the Toronto market?”
I realized that in Toronto, you could either go to Harry Rosen and get an incredible bespoke suit with great customer service for $4000, or you go to a Hong Kong or a Thailand based agent – such as Maxwell’s – that puts out a decent product for a cheap price but with little to no service. I realized there was a huge gap in the market. I realized that if I kept my overheads low, offered great customer service and utilized master tailors from the Far East, I could really be on to something. And that is how Toronto Custom Suits was born. What makes us different from all the other people that do this is by far our customer service. When I ask my customers what keeps them coming back to Toronto Custom Suits, they mention customer service, not the price point. It’s all about relationship building and offering what’s current in the market for men, in addition to working with different body shapes and sizes and determining what’s going to be perfect for each individual client. It is much better than offering a cookie cutter suit to our clients and saying ‘Here’s what all the Bay Street folks are wearing, so you should wear this too!’
FM: Talk us through the start-up phase and your bootstrapping experience.
PS: Well, the startup phase in general was tough, honestly, it’s probably the one phase with this whole experience where you really feel like giving up – it’s one massive, uphill battle. But if you get through it then it’s really rewarding. I had an idea, I had some contacts from my previous work (I did product development, so I have some contacts in Asia) and I didn’t have a job. And so I took $2,000 from my savings and I told myself that I am going to start this entire business on this $2,000. And with that, off we went. I didn’t know for sure that this was going to work, I didn’t know what was going to happen but I knew that I needed to try it.
I used the $2,000 to get myself set up legally and just to get the initial word out so I could sell a few suits and test the market, and also finance my growth. That was my plan. This involved me getting really creative. I hired a web designer that came recommended through friends. I promised them I’d give them a lot of future business if they could help me get started for a small fee. They did a fantastic job, and eventually when I was profitable I went back and I did a complete overhaul. But the point was in the beginning I just did what was necessary to have something that represents who we are, without compromising on quality.
When I started there was no retail space. Our pitch was that we are mobile and will come to your office or home. Our main clients were the finance professionals who just don’t have the time to book appointments for an hour and go through the buying process. That was our big pitch. It really helped keep overheads really low – which is the biggest key to our business model. In the beginning all these things are really tough when you only have $2,000 and don’t take a pay cheque. Every cent that you earn, you put back into the business, because eventually you need to purchase things like rolling racks and steamers and mirrors which cost a lot of money. So, the startup process was definitely rough, but once word of mouth started to spread, it made for an easier ride.
Another secret to the business model was that I initially carried no inventory. All I had in my hand when I started this business were some books, some fabric swatches, and a catalogue that told you what kind of options you can get, and just one sample – a jacket and a pair of pants. Every time a client placed an order, I used the payment as working capital. There was no inventory, there were no stocking of things and the business functioned just on a per order basis.
For the most part, I still operate this way. But these days I do have a lot more samples. If I come across a novelty piece I will order a few of them in standard sizes to show customers. So we have a lot more samples to show people but we don’t sell anything off the rack.
FM: How did you get the word out about your company? What methods did you try – what worked and what didn’t?
PS: When I first started I thought my target audience was going to be downtown Toronto professionals that wear suits everyday. But as we started growing, a new clientele opened up that I didn’t focus on but just evolved…and that was the wedding client. Wedding suits soon became the number one item we sold! And it wasn’t planned but just worked out that way.
In terms of advertising, there were a lot of things that worked, and a lot of things that definitely did not work. And when you are on a slim budget, hindsight is always 20-20, so when you go back you think ‘Oh, I wish I wouldn’t have put any dollars into this’, but by that time it’s too late.
Sales events didn’t work for us. Sales events are where you are hoping to get walk-by clientele during a launch party of sorts, etc. where you are trying to attract a large group of people. We now realize the reason that didn’t work was because your typical custom suit customer wants to have an intimate experience, a one-on-one sales process. You can’t have that sort of consultation with somebody in a large group setting where there are people walking by and asking questions, so that did not work. Handing out fliers and all that type of ‘in your face’ advertising did not work either.
On the other hand, Google advertising and search engine optimization worked extremely well for us. If you’re looking to buy something, especially for the first time, you are very likely going to Google it. So if we can make ourselves rank #1 on Google, then that allows us the opportunity to connect with first time suit customers, who don’t already have a tailor or supplier. Once given that opportunity, if we give them a great experience and a great product, there’s no reason why they should go anywhere else.
That being said, by far the best advertising for us has been word-of-mouth. Happy customers are walking advertisements. If someone feels confident and happy in their garment and is walking down the street and someone asks, ‘Where did you get that?’, they will say with pride – Toronto Custom Suits!
FM: What has been the most challenging aspect of your bootstrapping experience? Is there anything you would’ve done differently? What learning can other entrepreneurs take from your experience?
PS: I think for myself, honestly, the number one most challenging aspect was the internal battle to stay positive and focused. There are external things such as managing cash flow, etc. but the one thing that’s important is to have a positive attitude everyday. When you start and there is not a cent coming in but just money going out, it can be tough on you.
It’s easy to get stressed out when small things don’t go your way, like when you have a few leads and they don’t work out. That can get you all worked up and make you wonder if it is not going to work out. Once you give up mentally, you are done. There’s no way you are going to be profitable if you are not on your A-game – it’s going to go downhill from there.
If you believe in your gut that you’re on to something, then everyday you must tell yourself when you go to bed that you are on the right course. Even though you didn’t sell anything today, remind yourself it will get better, and that way people believe in you. If you don’t believe in yourself, nobody is going to believe in you. For anybody else out there who is thinking they want to start a business, we all think that we want immediate results right away, but even though that doesn’t happen in most cases, follow your passion and then the rest will come.
FM: What’s next for Toronto Custom Suits? Where do you plan on taking the business?
PS: Right now, I’m focused on building the Toronto client base. When I walk outside my door everyday I am surrounded by potential clients. So I don’t know that I’ll ever be able to stop. There’ll always be more room for growth, but when I think of the future I feel that with the way this is going, once we have a solid presence in Toronto, then Calgary Customs Suits or Vancouver Customs Suits or Ottawa Customs Suits are really not that far behind. I was toying with the idea of starting these operations myself…
That’s the direction we are moving towards. However, we are still very new and I definitely haven’t reached all my goals. There is so much work to be done but it’s tough not to get excited when I look at the kind of growth we have had so far. That being said, right now I really, really want to build the Toronto market, have a substantial presence and have a lot of happy customers wearing Toronto Custom Suits!
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Check out Toronto Custom Suits here.
The single most important factor in FreshBooks’ phenomenal success – with Mike McDerment, CEO 11 April, 2010, 9:26 pm
If you’re a FreshBooks (online invoicing service) user, you know how obsessive these folks are about customer service. The benefits of delivering a great customer experience are obvious – more loyalty, leading to more sales and (hopefully) more profits. But how do you even begin to build a customer-centric company culture? How do you remain consistent, especially when your company’s growing really fast and things keep changing at the drop of a hat? Can you measure something as vague as ‘good customer service’?
These are questions that kinda keep me up at night. Being a FreshBooks customer for several years, I’m convinced that an awesome customer experience is the single most important factor that catapulted the company into the spotlight in a fiercely competitive industry. Since launching in 2004, FreshBooks has over 1.25 million users! I’ve always wondered what it is that really goes on inside FreshBooks that allows its team to deliver exceptional customer experiences. So I invited the devil himself – Mike McDerment, CEO – to find out:
Faheem Moosa: Mike, thanks for taking the time to speak with me – it’s always great to have you here. FreshBooks is known for its strong customer service culture. Was this a conscious decision you made early on or has your customer service philosophy evolved over time?
Mike McDerment: I think there have been a series of conscious decisions along the way but where it came from I would say it was more our culture, and the truth is I didn’t realize where it came from until I went through an exercise with an outside consultant a while back. We had had somebody have a look at what we were doing and give us some objective feedback. And the first thing that this guy did was he sat down one at a time with the founders of our company and went through the various stories from our inception to understand our motivations and the way we work. He made something very clear to me, which I never really realized until then. Before I was running FreshBooks I was running a successful little consulting firm. We never did any marketing for it – we basically just built the business through word-of-mouth one customer at a time and had pretty big clients by the end of it (largest real estate brokerage in Canada, largest privately-held real estate company in Canada, travel companies, etc.). We built the business doing a great job for each client and were really good with setting expectations and delivering against them, all of which is very long-winded way of saying that when we built FreshBooks we had a culture that kind of migrated to this business. When we were running our consulting firm in a basement, we were very focused on customers – we spoke to them, took good care of them, we wanted them to come back and we had done everything we could to foster that kind of attitude and orientation ever since.
And so now the conscious decisions are around ‘how could we do a better job of that?’ Why would we invest two months of our employees’ time, (everyone at FreshBooks starts and spends their first two months in customer service)? It’s a massive investment – we think it’s very important so we do it.
FM: Describe some of FreshBooks’ customer service initiatives that have delighted its customers. Which of these initiatives are you most proud of, and why?
MM: Well I am going to be dead simple…everything we do here is about the customer – everything! I love the days when we improve the product - that delights the customers. I love it when I see new things deployed that have been built by our development and design teams. I love it when our customers are happy about it and give us feedback and are up fired up…that is extraordinary. We run a Software as a Service business where adding new improvements to the product is a big part of offering great service – we do that every two weeks.
And then there are things like…we just always answered the telephone from day one and we still get phone calls from people who literally phone us just to see if we’re there and to see if its not a hoax that our phone number is on our website. So every time we take one of those calls I am really proud of that. It’s a simple thing but I love being able to deliver that experience to somebody where they weren’t expecting anyone to be there.
In terms of specific stories…we have done all kinds of things. For example, one of the more noteworthy ones is we send things to our customers from time to time. We will send somebody – who is nice with us on email and really like what we are doing – a T-shirt or flowers. There has been times when people had a late night issue, were really cramming to get some invoices out the door and just needed support because their credit card was toast and they needed to get into their accounts so they can send some invoices. I go, ‘Okay you send some invoices and pay us back when you get paid’. And sure enough, they do. Pick any one at FreshBooks and speak with them because they’ve have all been in service, and have all done a million little things for people. Sometimes the really heroic stuff is the ‘little thing’.
FM: What challenges have you faced while building a strong customer service culture amidst rapid growth? Is there anything you would have done differently?
MM: I honestly feel like we make it a lot easier on ourselves by hiring the right people – people who share our values. We don’t hire people who we think are going to be short with customers because chances are that it says that they are not a fit for this culture. I also think we make things a lot easier on ourselves by starting everybody – no matter what department – for the first two months in customer service, because they get so grounded in our customer, our product and our culture that they understand the importance of this. For example, the marketing team always knows that they can talk about great service because they lived it themselves and they continue to do so during our ongoing rotation that sends them back to customer service once a month or so. I think just ingraining customer service as the bedrock of the experience of everybody who is on the team has made it a lot easier for us to get buy-in.
I think in several other organizations service is perceived as a cost centre whereas I perceive it as an opportunity. The better you know your customer, the better you can serve them. And the better you know them, the faster you can realize other opportunities in the marketplace. If you do a better job of developing a product you are going to generate more word-of-mouth – all of which creates this virtuous cycle where when you take care of customers, they help you market the product. This helps drive more business so you can work on the products some more so customers can continue to tell people about it…and on it goes.
It’s hard to say if there is a massive change or anything that I would’ve done differently. I actually think our culture has evolved and the way we teach people has been extraordinary. Everybody who starts here gets a ‘buddy’ who works with them for their first two months to answer questions and lead them through some of the internal curriculum about how we do things. And this has evolved as it needed to, which is fascinating. So, I can’t say that I would do a lot differently. Frankly, it has been wonderful to see all of that evolve out of our culture naturally and that people want to do the best job they can to help others get up and started.
FM: What tools, systems or processes do you recommend entrepreneurial companies make use of to deliver extraordinary customer experiences?
MM: First of all, I think it helps if you break down all the experiences your customer has – whether it is trialing your product or visiting your website or just visiting your office – and designing the hell out of those experiences. For example, when someone’s visiting your office, ask yourself how you can make that experience extraordinary. Can you do better than just say, ‘Hey how’re you doing, sit over there and here’s a newspaper?’ I think you probably can. So, break down all the touch points your customers have with your business and try to make them more remarkable. Frankly, I feel like we still have a lot of work to do there, which is just great because it means there’s just lots of opportunities to improve. So that’s not just about using ‘tools’. It’s about creativity and taking the time to not accept whatever you have today but to reinvent and try to improve it.
As for tools, I think you need to figure out what works best for you – its not so much the tool that matters. I’m a big fan of the telephone. I’ve been talking to customers on the phone for a long time. Also, there are tons of services and software that will help you manage, for example, email that comes in from your customers or a phone system that will help you manage calls. However, it’s my belief that it’s not about the tool but about how you use it. Tools can help efficiency, but if you don’t have right team to use those tools, just forget about it. The tools are always secondary to the execution.
FM: How does FreshBooks measure its customer service initiatives and ensure a high Return on Investment (ROI) from each initiative?
Mike McDerment: Interestingly, this is something we are thinking more about. There are several metrics in a recurring-revenue business like ours, such as churn rate, lifetime value (LTV) etc. that can be influenced by customer service. Historically, we just focus on answering all our phone calls from 9 to 6 or sometimes even later than that. We are returning emails within two business hours or less (except maybe on Monday mornings when it might be three hours because of the backlog from over the weekend), so that’s really important. We also focus on responsiveness to date, and now we are looking at things that we can go further in. There are other metrics that we look at, but the trouble is some of the stuff does not relate just to customer service, right? There are metrics like the Net Promoter Score (NPS), which is the measure of your whole business, of which service is a component. Can you directly attribute NPS to customer service? It’s hard to say.
We currently don’t ask customers to rate their customer service experience on a scale 1 to 5, which might be something we would do in the future. I should point out that we don’t look at our service team as just a service team. Our customer service team does a lot more than just respond to emails and pick up the phones and stuff like that. Our core support team only does support for about three days a week. On the other two days they are working on projects that help advance the business in one way or another, whether it’s by developing content that teaches people how to use the product, working on some of our internal systems – perhaps documentation – to make people better in doing customer service themselves. I think that’s a balance that most outsiders wouldn’t expect, where sixty percent of our customer service folks’ time is actually spent on the role itself, while the other forty percent is spent doing other important stuff. I think that speaks to the kinds of people we like to have in customer support and the influence we think they can have on the business.
If we have this same conversation in a year, I feel like I may have more to say on the subject (of metrics), as we are just kind of opening this up and seeing how we can apply ourselves to this. I think the opportunity is for us to do more to service than we offer and I have a feeling I will never have that feeling go away. I am also very reluctant to describe certain metrics like average call time – I don’t ever want to know how long the average call time is. Because I just think a call should be as long as a call is.
Having said that, I think there are other things that are important like ‘responsiveness’ times or maybe the percentage of your customer base you talk to every month, etc. I am curious to see what we come up with in this regard. So I think there is a whole bunch of things that we will be exploring in greater detail; as we get larger obviously it will get more challenging. Today we’re a 40-person company and have everyone involved in support. Maybe we are 90 people or more, we will have learned a lot and look at this stuff differently than we do today.
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The 10 Goals That Changed An Entrepreneur’s Life – with Joe Cirulli 8 April, 2010, 6:29 pm
This post first appeared on Mixergy.
When Joe Cirulli reached in his pocket for some money to buy a soda and discovered that he had only 12 cents left to his name, he was embarrassed. Then he got angry that he allowed himself to get in that position.
Soon after, Joe wrote down a list of 10 goals. The list included “Save $1 million,” and “Own a Mercedes-Benz like the one driven by the Six Million Dollar Man” and “Own a health club in Gainesville.” (See the full list below.) He read his list every morning and every night. Then, one at a time, he achieved all of those goals.
In this program, you’ll hear the inspiring story of how he did that, and you’ll get advice on how you can too.
Can’t see the video? Click here.
The 10 goals
1. Own a health club in Gainesville
2. Make it respected in the community
3. Earn $100,000 by the age of 25
4. Own a Mercedes-Benz like the one driven by the Six Million Dollar Man
5. Own a home in the mountains and one by the ocean and build another for his parents
6. Become a black belt
7. Become a pilot and own a plane
8. Travel all over the United States
9. Travel all over the world; and 10. Save $1 million.
About Joe Cirulli
Joe Cirulli owns the Gainesville Health & Fitness Center, a 65,000 square foot club with over 28,000 members, along with Gainesville Health & Fitness Center for Women, a 24,000 square foot women-only center. 2004 marks the 28th year of business for GHFC.
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Involver’s Founder Reveals How The Smartest Brands Use Facebook – with Rahim Fazal 25 March, 2010, 6:36 pm
Regular readers of this blog might remember my interview with Rahim Fazal, Founder of Involver, a few months ago. If you missed that interview, you can check it out here.
Andrew Warner of Mixergy recently caught up with Rahim and engaged him in a fascinating conversation, primarily revolving around how brands can get the biggest bang for their buck on Facebook. Here’s what Andrew had to say, followed by the interview:
I asked Rahim Fazal to teach the business side of using Facebook because his company, Involver, has helped brands like American Apparel, Us Weekly and Puma grow their businesses using social media.
Here’s an example of what they’ve done. “We started working with Us Weekly, the popular gossip magazine, in April 2009,” he said in this program. “And they used the Involver product, and its suite of applications, to grow their Facebook Fan Page in about six months, from 2,700 fans to over 250,000.”
Why does growing fans even matter to a business? And more importantly, how can you go from building your business’s fan-base to monetizing? Those are the two big questions that this program answers. Along the way, you’ll get to know the entrepreneur who co-founded Involver, a guy who negotiated the sale of his first company for $1.5 million while taking his senior year final exams.
Business Tips via Mixergy, home of the ambitious upstart!
Can’t see the video? Click here.
About Rahim Fazal
Rahim Fazal, is CEO and Co-Founder of Involver, the fastest growing social media platforms for brands. He is a three-time entrepreneur. While still in high school, Rahim co-founded a web-hosting company and negotiated its sale for $1.5 million while taking his Senior Year final exams. He then started a web services platform business and eventually took it public, becoming one of the youngest directors ever of a publicly traded company in the United States.
In 2008, Inc Magazine named Rahim one of its top 30 entrepreneurs under 30, and in 2009, iMedia named Rahim one of the advertising industry’s top 25 digital thought-leaders.
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Want to be notified when there is new content to read on this blog? Just enter in your email address here and we’ll shoot you an email when there is new content for you to read. If you prefer using your RSS Reader, subscribe here. Don’t worry, I promise not to spam you or share your information with anyone else. Thanks! – Faheem
How Serial Entrepreneur Noah Alper Created The $100 Mil Noah’s Bagels After Bouncing Back From A Failure 23 March, 2010, 7:12 am
This interview first appeared on Mixergy.
Noah Alper is open about his setbacks. His previous company, which aimed to sell giftware from Israel to born-again Christians, “was a total and absolute failure,” he admits. But things change fast for entrepreneurs and just 6 months after he closed that business, he launched Noah’s New York Bagels and “had a tiger by the tail.”
In this program, you’ll see how he did it by being a mensch, a Yiddish word which means “a person of integrity.”
Business Tips via Mixergy, home of the ambitious upstart!
Can’t see video? Click here.
About Noah Alper
Noah Alper is the founder of Noah’s New York Bagels, which he sold for $100 million 6 1/2 years after launching it. He is also the founder of six other ventures, including the grocery store company, Bread & Circus, once the Northeast’s largest natural foods chain and now part of Whole Foods Market. Today he consults in areas of entrepreneurship, strategic management, executive coaching and business planning.
He is also the author of Business Mensch, a book about lessons from his business experiences.
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Want to be notified when there is new content to read on this blog? Just enter in your email address here and we’ll shoot you an email when there is new content for you to read. If you prefer using your RSS Reader, subscribe here. Don’t worry, I promise not to spam you or share your information with anyone else. Thanks! – Faheem
How Australia’s Internet Pioneer Helped Get The Country Online – with Lloyd Ernst 17 March, 2010, 5:45 pm
This interview first appeared on Mixergy.
Lloyd Ernst introduced Australians to the internet by getting the country’s most tech savvy into hotel ballrooms and blowing them away by showing off how email worked. He was introducing them to the future. That’s what he does.
It started when he hooked up a computer in his garage to a phone and created a bulletin board called PowerUp. At first, only one person could log in at a time, but as the business grew he paid for more modems and more phone lines and pretty soon his customers could talk to each other. Then the internet came and PowerUp let its customers connect to the world. But how do you explain something so new? That’s where the ball rooms came in.
After selling PowerUp, his next company, WebCentral, helped companies set up their first web sites, back when the concept of web sites was still foreign. Listen to this interview to hear how he built and sold WebCentral, and how he continues to ride the cutting edge with his latest company, Event Zero.
Business Tips via Mixergy, home of the ambitious upstart!
If you’re reading this on your RSS Reader or email and can’t see the video, click here.
About Lloyd Ernst
Lloyd Ernst is a founding shareholder and Director of Brisbane based Event Zero Pty Ltd, which developed a Complex Event Processing CEP platform which is design to provide organisation with Real time operational intelligence by analysing very large amounts of data in real time from disparate data sources. He’s also the founder of PowerUp Pty Ltd, WebCentral Pty Ltd, XtreamLok, and SinoCode Ltd.
You can see is full biography on Lloyde.com
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Want to be notified when there is new content to read on this blog? Just enter in your email address here and we’ll shoot you an email when there is new content for you to read. If you prefer using your RSS Reader, subscribe here. Don’t worry, I promise not to spam you or share your information with anyone else. Thanks! – Faheem
How The Founder Of iContact Reached $1 Mil In Sales A Few Days After Turning 21 – with Ryan Allis 15 March, 2010, 4:56 pm
This interview first appeared on Andrew Warner’s Mixergy.
When he was 16, Ryan Allis wrote and framed a big goal: to build a company with $1 million sales by the time he was 21 years old. “I missed it by 18 days,” he says. “But I sure as heck would have missed it by 18 years had I not written down that goal and figured out how to align the people in my life and the knowledge and resources I needed to bring into my world in order to make that happen.” Ryan says you can get there too.
He made it happen by launching iContact, whose motto is “email marketing simplified.” In this program you’ll see how he hustled to get his first customers. You’ll see the struggles on his way to reach his first million and how the business generates over $3 million in monthly (not annual, but monthly) sales.
Oh, and now he has new goals. He wears 2 of them on his wrist every day. You’ll see them in the interview and hear Ryan explain what they are.
Business Tips via Mixergy, home of the ambitious upstart!
If you’re reading this on your RSS reader or email and can’t see the video, click here.
About Ryan Allis
Ryan Allis is is the Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of iContact, the leading global provider of email marketing services to small and mid-sized businesses. He is also the author of the book Zero to One Million, which reached the Wall Street Journal Bestseller list. And he’s the founder of The Humanity Campaign, a non-profit organization that provides support to community-based organizations in the developing world.
If you appreciate this interview, you can thank him on Twitter.
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Want to be notified when there is new content to read on this blog? Just enter in your email address here and we’ll shoot you an email when there is new content for you to read. If you prefer using your RSS Reader, subscribe here. Don’t worry, I promise not to spam you or share your information with anyone else. Thanks! – Faheem
“The Smartest Unknown Indian Entrepreneur” Talks About How He Built Zoho Into A Bootstrapped Powerhouse – with Sridhar Vembu 11 March, 2010, 5:27 pm
This interview first appeared on Mixergy.
“The Smartest Unknown Indian Entrepreneur” is what Forbes called Zoho’s co-founder, Sridhar Vembu. He’s become a little less unknown since that article came out, but when it bubbled to the top of Hacker News recently I read it I wanted more details about how he bootstrapped Zoho into a profitable online application provider.
So I invited him to Mixergy to tell us the story of how he built his company.
Business Tips via Mixergy, home of the ambitious upstart!
If you’re reading this on your RSS Reader or email and can’t view the video, click here.
About Sridhar Vembu
Sridhar Vembu is the co-founder of Zoho, Corp. The company is organized around 3 major divisions. Zoho.com provides a comprehensive suite of applications for businesses – from on-line productivity to CRM and custom applications. ManageEngine allows enterprise IT organizations better manage their networks, servers and infrastructure. WebNMS focuses on the needs of original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) in the network and telecom space.
You can see his Hacker News submissions and comments here.
How A Driven 16-Year-Old Built A $100 Million Net Worth By The Time He Turned 25 – with Gurbaksh Chahal 8 March, 2010, 9:56 pm
This interview first appeared on Andrew Warner’s Mixergy.
Oprah showed how dramatic the transformation was for internet entrepreneur, Gurbaksh Chahal. In the before pictures, she showed a tiny Indian kid with a turban, who was picked on by other kids and how’s family struggled financially. In the after shots, she showed an adult with a stunning penthouse, hot car and confidence to spare.
I invited Gurbaksh to Mixergy to talk about how he did it. In this program, you’ll hear how at 16 he got the idea to create ClickAgents, the ad brokerage business. And how he funded it by selling ads before he could even run them. You’ll hear why he sold the business. And how he made his next startup, BlueLithium, profitable within 3 months. You’ll hear why he sold that company to Yahoo! and about his vision for gWallet, his latest startup.
Business Tips via Mixergy, home of the ambitious upstart!
If you’re reading this on your RSS Reader or email and can’t view the video, click here.
About Gurbaksh Chahal
Gurbaksh Chahal is currently the founder and CEO of gWallet, a virtual currency platform for social media. He left high school at 16 to form Click Agents, an Internet advertising company, which he sold two years later for $40 million. In January 2004, he launched a second company, BlueLithium – the next generation in Internet advertising. The company was focused on data, optimization, and analytics and became a pioneer of behavioral targeting. On September 4th, 2007, Yahoo! announced that it was acquiring BlueLithium for $300 million in cash.
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How to negotiate like a pro – with Jim Camp 4 March, 2010, 5:40 pm
I really appreciate the comments and emails from many of you about the usefulness of this blog. I know I’ve been inconsistent with my posts lately and have none to blame but myself. Part of the reason for this is that Springboarders, my business planning company, has been commanding much of my attention lately. And of course that’s a good thing – business is terrific and no complaints! However, I am a bit frustrated at my inability to post interviews frequently and don’t want to let you down, especially those of you who enjoy reading my interviews with successful entrepreneurs. So, today I am going to try something different.
There are several websites/blogs out there with fantastic interviews of successful entrepreneurs. My intent is to periodically post a select few of these interviews on my blog so you guys can get the benefit of reading/viewing an eclectic mix of interviews. I assure you I will pick and choose only those interviews that I feel would be of value to you guys. I plan to continue interviewing entrepreneurs whenever time permits, so you will see original content from time to time. I would love to hear from you whether or not this idea makes sense. I’m always open to suggestions, so feel free to leave a comment below or email me at fmoosa [at] springboarders.ca
The following interview first appeared on Mixergy, which in my opinion is one of the best websites showcasing interviews with successful entrepreneurs. Check them out if you haven’t already.
In the video interview below, Andrew Warner (Founder of Mixergy) speaks with Jim Camp, whose “Start with No” negotiating methods have been trusted by over 500 multinationals and have been taught to over 100,000 students till date. Negotiation is an important part of everyday life for most of us. For entrepreneurs, it’s even more important. I know I’ve made several blunders both in my personal and business life and when I look back, I realize how I could’ve gotten what I wanted simply by knowing how to negotiate with, convince and influence people better. Enjoy the interview!
Business Tips via Mixergy, home of the ambitious upstart!
If you’re reading this on your RSS reader and can’t see the video, click here.
About Jim Camp
Jim Camp is a leading global expert on negotiations and has trained and coached over 100,000 people through thousands of negotiations in more than 500 multinational organizations, including Texas Instruments, Intel, Applied Materials, Merrill Lynch, IBM, Cisco Systems, Prudential Insurance, and Nationwide Insurance.
Camp is the best-selling author of two negotiation books in 12 languages, Start with No and No: The Only System Of Negotiation You Need For Work and Home.
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