Up and Running Blog

September 2009

New Film: Dreams of Young Entrepreneurs

by Tim Berry on September 30, 2009

This was in the New York Times today:

Starting Nov. 13, the new movie, “Ten9Eight,” will be shown at select AMC theaters in cities including New York, Chicago and Los Angeles. In addition to a theater release, Ms. Mazzio is in talks with several companies to show the film next year on television.

There’s an interesting back story by Mickey Meece, a rgular contributor to the Times on subjects of small business and the like. It’s about Mary Mazzio, filmmaker, who has done one film on entrepreneurs already (Lemonade Stories), and was really interested in doing this one.

While “Lemonade Stories” looked at the impact of mothers on entrepreneurs, her new documentary “Ten9Eight: Shoot for the Moon,” follows a group of students from “Harlem to Compton and all points in between” as they compete in a business plan contest run by the nonprofit group Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship.

It looks like it could be fun. Here’s the link:

Practically Speaking – ‘Ten9Eight’ Documents the Dreams of Young Entrepreneurs – NYTimes.com

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Business Plan Pro User Featured on Rachel Ray Show

by Jay Snider on September 29, 2009

Congratulations to Sarah Lanphier, of Nuts About Granola. We recently featured her success story here on our blog. Yesterday, her granola was featured on the Rachel Ray show as the Snack of the Day (complete with a link to the Nuts About Granola website  from the show’s website).

Rachel and her guest Katie Couric being seen on national television with their products can only mean good things for Nuts About Granola. So congrats again, Sarah and company!

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The Single Biggest Mistake Small Business Owners Will Make This Year

by Guest Author on September 29, 2009

Did you know that small businesses could actually double their sales by simply following up with leads and contacts? That’s right: 99 percent of small businesses do not consistently follow up with their prospects and customers.

Look at the math: If you close 25% of 100 leads or sell to a quarter of 100 store visitors, you have 25 customers. If you close 10 percent of the remaining 75 leads or visitors, you have 32.5 customers—that’s a 30 percent increase. Close 20 percent and you’re up 15 new customers, or 60 percent more. Follow up with customers to get them to buy one more item this year, and you’ve added another huge increase.

Why don’t we follow up? Because we fall prey to an insidious and dangerous belief about our business that’s so bad it’s like having someone’s hand in your pocket, just reaching in to take our hard-earned money. It’s called product management and it will guarantee you don’t make the money you need and deserve.

See if this sounds familiar. You are a retailer, and you know the margin on every item in your store. More than that, you know exactly what it costs to keep an item in inventory, and how many times you have to turn your stock to maximize your return. You know your sales per square foot, and what every area of your store delivers in sales and profit.

Perhaps you are a manufacturer. You run tight controls on your raw materials, and you insist on just-in-time delivery from your suppliers, and just-in-time manufacturing and shipping to your customers. You control your labour costs and capacity utilization, and you manage your receivables really well. You have a good handle on foreign currency.

What if you provide a service, say accounting, financial planning or law? You know your billable rate, and how many billable hours you must account for and bill during the year. You review the realization rate for the firm regularly. You know where you make money, and where it’s better to put lower-paid juniors on the case.

Now all this activity is laudable, and we are not denying the importance of managing costs. In fact, tight controls are vital to a well-run business. But focusing on costs won’t do the one thing you need more than anything!

Managing costs will persuade ZERO customers to do business with you. In fact, this approach is so insidious it can actually make your business fail.

We fall into it because we manage our relationship with products, not clients. And let’s face it, products don’t write cheques; customers do.

If you are spending more time following up on products, shipments, and inventory than on leads, prospects and clients, you are literally throwing away the opportunity to double your business.

If you are a business owner, we urge you to delegate everything that takes you away from communicating with prospects and customers. We’ll be sharing a way to automate your follow up to ensure you don’t miss out on that potential 100% increase from now on.

ducttapemarketingbadgeKen Burgin and Elizabeth Walker are the Marketing Masters (www.MarketingMasters.ca), a full-service marketing and advertising partnership that helps build busy businesses. Send your ideas on How to Thrive in Times Like These to liz@marketingmasters.ca or ken@marketingmasters.ca, or call 1-866-908-5720.

web: http://www.marketing,masters.ca

blog: http://thebuzzwithkenandliz.blogspot.com/

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National Move to Local Investing

by Steve Lange on September 29, 2009

Since start-up funding and growth financing for small- and medium-sized businesses has been in such short supply these past couple years, I thought posting about this CNNMoney.com / Fortune Small Business article on finding novel local investment would be a welcome change.

The article, originally published earlier in September, is about owners of several types of small businesses which opened, recovered, or expanded during the current economic crunch because local patrons were willing to invest in their favorite local businesses. Several types of money raising programs are discussed, including VIP cards/treatment for shareholders, $600 store and restaurant certificates sold for $500 (20% is a pretty good ROI), as well as “shares”.

Businesses showcased include restaurants, bookstores, pub/bar, and a fair-trade retail gift store. The focus of these financing efforts is on encouraging customers to become patrons or shareholders. And shareholders are a loyal customer base. Local shareholders feel vested in the company and want you to succeed.

Look to your customer base and your community. Including them as participants in your business and fostering a buy-local awareness could bring you that shot-in-the-arm financial boost to success.

Read the entire Love a local business? Buy a share article.

Steve Lange
Palo Alto Software

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WSJ on Why You Need a Business Plan

by Tim Berry on September 29, 2009

I liked Why You Need a Business Plan, a nice piece by Colleen DeBaise in yesterday’s Wall Street Journal. She has a lot more detail than I’m showing here for each item, based on a very useful five-point list:

  1. It forces you to identify your (and your company’s) strengths and weaknesses.
  2. It helps you figure out how much money you’ll need.
  3. It gives you clear direction, which can help eliminate stress.
  4. It will serve as a resume when you seek lenders, investors or partners.
  5. It makes you evaluate the market for your product or service and size up the competition.

I particularly noticed point three there, in the middle of the list, with its note about clear direction and helping to eliminate stress. Colleen explains:

As a business owner, you often have to juggle multiple roles–everything from bookkeeper to CEO–and that can leave you feeling distracted, disorganized and overwhelmed. A document that outlines your mission and plans for the future can prevent overload, help you set realistic goals, keep you on track and boost your productivity.

I’d also add a sense of the step-by-step process, breaking things down into more manageable pieces. And having numbers to use in tracking progress.

I noticed that four of those points (No. 4 excepted) apply equally to new businesses and existing businesses, and whether or not you’re looking for business loans or investment.

And also that only point No. 4 requires a fully formed, edited and polished business plan printed out and made available to outsiders. For the rest of those benefits, you can work with a plan-as-you-go business plan that lives on the computer.

And in all cases, the benefit comes from living with the plan, keeping it up to date, revising as actualities and assumptions change, and using it to manage your company.

(Photo credit: Gabi Moisa/Shutterstock)

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Commerce Department on Entrepreneurship Bandwagon

by Tim Berry on September 28, 2009

I’m cynical enough to write that I don’t think this is big news, but still, it’s good to see the Department of Commerce saying the right things about entrepreneurship. And jumping onto Twitter is a good way to communicate with entrepreneurs.

Secretary of Commerce Gary Locke last week announced the formation of its new Office of Innovation and Entrepreneurship, with the following goals:

  • Encouraging Entrepreneurs through Education, Training, and Mentoring
  • Improving Access to Capital
  • Accelerating Technology Commercialization of Federal R&D
  • Strengthening Interagency Collaboration and Coordination
  • Providing Data, Research, and Technical Resources for Entrepreneurs
  • Exploring Policy Incentives to Support Entrepreneurs and Investors

He also announced joining Twitter as SecLocke, which is an interesting development. Locke told CNN:

“It’s important that the Department of Commerce regularly communicates with American businesses and entrepreneurs to help them translate new ideas into economic growth,” Locke told CNN. “Innovation is going to be the key to our long-term economic growth, and we need to embrace new ways of communicating with small businesses and entrepreneurs.”

So that seems like a good step to take.

I posted here a couple of weeks ago how I don’t think real entrepreneurship sits around waiting for government policies one way or the other. And I’m sticking to that story. Still, at least they’re trying, which seems like a step in the right direction.

(Photo credit: from http://www.commerce.gov/CommerceSecretary/index.htm)

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Business Social Media: Authenticity or Disaster

by Tim Berry on September 25, 2009

I keep thinking the watchword should be “what part of the word publishing don’t you understand?” With complaints about invasion of privacy, pranks, and PR headaches, businesses using social media need to understand that what we do there (blogs, Twitter, Facebook) is publishing. Once you let it out into the world (or once somebody else does) it’s gone. You can’t take it back.

I picked up a good reminder and a list of tips today from PR pro Aaron Kwittken in Avoid Social Media Weapons of Mass Destruction in his PR Post, which is also on Entrepreneur.com.

He includes this excellent list of specific practical tips:

  1. Be careful what you say and what you post.
  2. Be vigilant about who’s recording you and what’s being said about you and your company online.
  3. Be prepared with an emergency action plan so you can react quickly to legitimate threats.
  4. Minimize any fallout by quickly going on the offensive. Respond genuinely on the same social media channel.
  5. Build a bank of goodwill among people who influence your brand; the fans, bloggers, online media, customers and commentators. The best defense is a solid offense, right?
  6. Never masquerade online (pose as someone else) or pay a third party to blog on your behalf.
  7. Train yourself and your employees on the above steps.

All of which, in my mind, is basically reiterating the basic fact that what you do in social media is publishing. It’s not private unless you set it to be private. You have to live with it. It’s authenticity whether you like it or not.

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GrowSmartBiz_Logo_365

Grow Smart Business Conference – Washington DC Area

by Chelle Parmele on September 24, 2009

We’re extremely pleased to be a part of Network Solutions first ever Grow Smart Biz Conference in Washington DC next week (October 29th).

GrowSmartBiz_Logo_365Jake Weatherly, our VP of Customer Experience will be speaking on a panel during the one-day educational workshop and  networking event at the Renaissance Hotel in Washington DC.

All small business owners, entrepreneurs and aspiring CEOs should attend to learn how to overcome challenges that all small businesses face. Attendees will leave the conference with:

  • Insights into best practices of successful small businesses
  • Strategies for growth despite the current economy
  • Cost-effective ways to market and promote their businesses
  • Tips for raising capital, and
  • An opportunity to connect with small business owners, experts, and solution providers

Check out this link for more information about the other speakers and how to register before time runs out!

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Good planning for succession in the family business

by Steve Lange on September 24, 2009

Small businesses, individually owned or family-owned, are really the backbone of this country’s economy, employing more people nationwide than the big-name giant corporations, and serving most of our daily living needs.

For many of these businesses, family continuity, the transition/succession of ownership/management from one generation to the next, is a huge issue. I’ve worked for four different family businesses in four very different industries, and have seen four different approaches to generation transition.

The most interesting I think was a local grocery store chain. The company was owned by several brothers, was a couple of decades old and had been holding its own, and expanding, in the face of pressure from the big national chains.

As a family business, it was not surprising that many of the brothers’ family (wives, kids, and siblings) worked there. What was surprising was the family employment structure. Each of the brothers managed different stores. When a family member wanted to work in the company they got jobs with their in-laws, as it were.

The short story is that the kids my age all worked for their uncles, not their dads. The process was interesting to watch as a young employee, and over the years I’ve become impressed by the brothers’ wisdom. These guys were shrewd businessmen and canny managers.

When their kids began working, they started at the bottom of the heap, waiting the bakery counter, stocking shelves, bagging groceries, etc. In working at their uncles’ stores, each of the next generation got to choose whether they would apply themselves, simply work for some cash, or screw off.

The uncles were able to objectively supervise their young kin, while listening to and supporting their department managers (who could give honest feedback without falling afoul of the “nobody-can-criticize-the-boss’-kid-trap”), and showed very little favoritism or preferential treatment that I could see. I don’t recall any of the kids who were my peers being jumped up to better jobs or inflated pay rates. If they worked hard, they were trained and tutored. When they slacked off they got chewed out, just like me, or they got canned.

A couple of the kids who were a few years older than me seemed to be genuinely interested in the business. After working in several departments at one store, one of the boys had been moved to the store where I worked to start his training as assistant manager, again, with his uncle. Having worked up from the inside and the bottom, this scion, as near as I could tell, encountered minimal resistance or resentment from other current employees and department managers, when he eventually became general manager. He was not there simply because he was the boss’ kid. He’d worked and earned his way there.

For this company, the conscious, planned, process of testing and training (and weeding out) of their children as participants in the family business paid off as the brothers, in their turn, handed off management of this successful grocery business to the next generation.

Steve Lange
Palo Alto Software

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The Blog Week in Review — 9/24/09

by Jay Snider on September 24, 2009

Get Nuts About Granola — A Success Story — The story of a college student who turned a fundraiser into a successful business.

Why do so many people reach success and then fail? — Richard St. John lays out his simple  principles for success in a four-minute talk called Success is a Continuous Journey.

How To Win at Business Negotiation — A brief post by Tim Berry on the win-win approach to business negotiations.

Who’s the Boss — You or Your Inbox? — Email productivity doesn’t require seminars and learning new ways of handling the same old inbox. It’s easy when you adopt new tools to help manage your work flow.

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