Winners Never Quit

I've hit so many roadblocks since day 1 in this business that it doesn't come as a surprise to me anymore when I hear this line: "We can't work with you because you are in the financial industry and are a Money Service Business." 

I can't help but think that the big boys are influencing the regulations so that the growing businesses like PeerFX, that actually want to do something for the everyday consumer instead of ripping them off, cease to be on the playing field. 

Of course, I still think rules were made to be broken :)

I've spent most of my morning trying to get on board with some potential new partners with no luck.  I keep hearing that damned line - "We can't work with you because you are a Money Service Business". 
After being in the industry for 2 years now it's FRUSTRATING!  Seriously, the rules you put in place lock out everybody EXCEPT the criminals.  Would a real criminal tell you that they are a forex broker or that they are trying to launder money?  I don't think so.

If they do then they should be on the show World's Dumbest Criminals.  Plus, we know that the "successful" criminals cannot be barred out by these regulations anyway, so who are we kidding? 

Hitting 5000 walls has not stopped me from building this business and though this wall seems larger than the ones before, I'm determined to break you down.

Dear Employer, I am a fantastic candidate for this job...

How?

1) ...you are sending in generic cover letters?

Blows me away how most if not all of the applicants to our PR and Brand Management position send in cover letters that sound like they just changed the name of the company. 

I tuned out immediately after I read the first line.  "Dear Employer/who it may concern/hiring manager, I am a fantastic candidate for this job (because I have this degree). 

Guess what?  Another 10,000 people have this degree as well!  What have YOU done that makes YOU stand out as an individual?  Did you exceed sales quotas by 100%?  200%?  Did you drive tons of additional traffic to your company's website?  Did you get your company President on the cover of prominent business magazines? 

Be specific.  Identify yourself. 

OR....are you a fantastic candidate because...

2) ..you are not researching the company or reading the job description?

You know...we include certain tasks and responsibilities in the job description because its part of the job.  It doesn't say: "well, it would be great if you could do this, but it's ok if you don't."

So if you don't have all that we're looking for in that job, your time is better spent applying for jobs that actually fit your skill set.  That's where you can make a positive impact with your skills; not in a job where you can't shoulder the responsibilities required.   

Some people do manage to get past the first screening and we give them a call.  We usually ask them so...why PeerFX?  Amazingly we get awkward silence on the other side of the line or the attempt to make it sound like they went to the website.

"Umm...I went to your website, you guys do currency exchange right?"

YOU SERIOUS?!

Please. Please. PUH-lease.  My mom has always told me that opportunities come to those who are prepared to capture them; how are you going to capture any opportunities if you don't put any effort in up front?

Think about it.  Come more prepared and then you can stop wondering why you are unemployed.  

No Other Business Does What I Do - BS!

Complete BS.

If you seriously think whatever you're doing has not been done or is not being done by someone else right now - let me tell you, it WILL be done by someone else SOON, really soon.

Or for those that say other businesses can't do what they do - again - BS.
Have you thought about the number of substitutes out there that do exactly what you do?

Example:  Need: Quench Thirst

Substitutes: Coke, Water, Tea, Icetea, Nestea, Sprite, 7-UP, Beer(sssssssssss), Lemonade, the list goes on for about 5 million other choices

Coke Bombs

Example 2: Need: Foreign Exchange

Substitutes for PFX: Banks, Foreign exchange houses, online brokerages, online banking platforms, foreign exchange booths at airports, MoneyMart, Western Union, etc. the list goes on for another 5 million other choices.

Example 3: Want/need: Staying connected with friends

Facebook Logo

Substitutes: Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Blogger, Wordpress, Typepad, Blackberry Messenger, Whatsapp, MSN Messenger, Skype, etc.  This list also goes on for another 5 million choices.

SO....if you still think you are the ONLY ONE satisfying a consumer need/want, then you seriously must be from another planet.  Unless you've discovered a new need/want that we don't know about yet - which I must ask that you kindly share with us what it is and why it's so "new".

DELETE THE WORD SHOULD

...because it limits your creativity for what you can do with your business.

IMO, and this is similar to one of those theories that Dilbert makes up, the word should was not in our dictionary when we came into this world (yeah yeah, neither were the other 10 billion words we would soon learn). 

As soon as we learned the word should, here's what happened.

...you should eat your vegetables.
...you should not try to fly - somebody gonna hurt real bad.
...you should not stay up late.
...you should word hard at your academics.
...you should this, that, you get the idea.

Same goes for business.

...you should build your business this way because it's been proven.
...you should cater to this group of customers because according to research this group has the most money.
...you should hire so and so.
...you should fire so and so.
...you should get senior people on the team.
...you should not badmouth the banks.
...you should not take a stand early in your business to be "under the radar".

I think I've hit a spot where I am seriously sick and tired of the word should and how I have been running my business by it.  SO. Everything needs to get put back in its place. 

Who cares if that customer group has the most money?!  If they don't love what we have to offer, then they're not going to pay us!

Who cares if so and so is a superstar in the industry?!  If they don't love selling what we have to offer, they're not going to generate results!

Who cares if we upset some people out there by positioning ourselves as an anti-something?!  If we don't upset some people then we're neutral to everybody and the business might as well be dead.  I take a stand for what I believe in. It's time I let my business do that too.

So how is the word should screwing over your business or even your life?  Delete it from your vocabulary.  One book I recently read suggests replacing it with the word want.  Works if it's something that you need to get done.

For example:

I want to hire so and so.
I want to spend on marketing.
I want the company to be positioned like this. 

YOU. YOU. YOU.  You own and run the business.  Once you start using the word 'should' you are letting other things that exist determine what you should do.  That ties your hands, and feet, from doing and creating whatever awesomeness will come out of your business. 

We Humans are Social Animals

Image by Boris Veldhuijzen van Zanten via Flickr

According to the new book titled "Herd" that I've picked up and just started the first few pages.  It'll have to wait until I finish "Rework" today :)
Caught this excerpt from one of the blogs that I follow Inc.com by Max Chafkin.

Social networking? Feels kinda like falling in love. Over at Fast Company, Adam Penenberg talks to neuroeconomist Paul Zak who discovered that social networking--much like falling in love--triggers our brains to release of a "generosity-trust" chemical. Says Penenberg, "That should be a wake-up call for every company." In Zak's lab, Penenberg subjects himself to various experiments to find out why humans are "compelled to be social animals online and off" and what that could mean for brands, companies, and marketers.

This is a similar concept that I'm reading about in the book "Herd" and it is interesting that though we all insist on being individuals and having our own style, values, opinions...often times we see crowds of people sharing the same interest, activities, values, opinions.  Kind of makes sense, since if we were true "individuals", and no one shared our opinions and activities, etc. we would have no one to talk to about them - pretty boring I would say.

I'll give an update on my thoughts on this after finishing "Herd".  Stay tuned.

Planning Extremes - ZERO or 5 years out?

Image by adria.richards via Flickr

I started reading "Rework" by Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson.  I picked it up because on its front cover it said "Ignore this book at your own peril." - Seth Godin.

Just kidding.  I flipped through and it did appear to be written by founders of businesses and not some businessperson who has never built a business before themselves lecturing us on theories and what not.  Looked like it was in plain English :)

I started it yesterday and noticed that they basically said "Screw Planning Anything!" (at least that was the feeling I got) and I think to myself, well, I agree that for a start up you do have to do things differently as you go...I think we can all agree that the so-called business plan in the initial phases is like what the authors call business "guesses".  Sure. Since we all know that it definitely never goes according to plan with these things.  I also agree that it's silly to plan ahead for 5 years because you can't account for all the extraneous factors that will effect your business outcomes.

Here's the other side of the coin.

The business plan should be considered as business thoughts.  I use it as a place where I put down my thoughts on the who, what, when, where, how given the current situation.  It also makes you think about what you would do if sh*t hit the fan.  That's the key word - THINK.  If you stick to going through your day-to-day operations without ever THINKING about this how do you figure out your end game and how to get there?

Planning is almost a dirty word for entrepreneurs/starters/doers whatever you want to call start up business founders.  Why?  We want to be creative, innovative, whatever, that planning gives us the perception it inhibits our creativity.  This is why business plans are a pain - because of how we think of planning.

What if I told you that business planning as just taking a piece of paper out and jotting your thoughts down on how to get things done towards a specific goal?  Not so hard now is it?

Related articles by Zemanta

• 1 principle, 3 memorable tips from 37signals' book "rework" (2above.com)
• Book Review: ReWork by Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson (blogcritics.org)
• Rework, by the founders of 37signals, explains that it's easy to start your own company. (slate.com)

CTV News Website - Florence's article "Learn Lessons from Failure, but Do it Fast"

So a while ago Darren Dahl from the Sauder School of Business asked me to chat with him about some lessons that every start up owner should know or may have experienced and be able to relate to.

I had just gone through an entire revamp of my website and made a decision to severe our ties with our old system, essentially incurring significant sunk costs.  It was worth it though, and a lot of times entrepreneurs hang on to poor decisions just because they feel like they've vested time into the process.  Doesn't work that way - you can't turn a poor decision into a great one by sinking more time and effort into it. 

Here's the article where Darren and I discuss some key things about mistakes in business and how to make sure you keep getting up when you hit your face on the pavement in business.

Learn Lessons from Failure, but Do it Fast
(Source: CTV News)

"How to Give the Best Performance Reviews to Your Team and Employees" - a PeerFX Power Tuesdays Webinar

Here we go again! 

Our team has been traveling the country to bring on board quality salespeople, and met some interesting businesses that I thought we could feature in our webinar series. 

I came across Rypple, and I see it as an online collaborative platform that makes performance reviews, an exercise that most managers dread and most employees hate because it's vague and fluffy, easier and more cost efficient. 

It's not just for large corporations, Rypple has actually tailored its platform to small teams and growing businesses as well.  This fits right in with PeerFX's user base, and that's why their Head of Community and Sales will be sharing some tips on how to give better performance reviews, what trends are in the market today and a quick demo of the Rypple platform to show you how they can make your life easier.  It's free to try so WHY NOT?

Register for your seat today at this link: https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/150007648

We look forward to seeing you online next Tuesday!

Related articles by Zemanta

• PeerFX HR Article on Manitoba Chambers of Commerce (changingexchanging.blogspot.com)
• PeerFX Power Tuesdays - May 4th! (changingexchanging.blogspot.com)
• PeerFX Webinar Series - Successful Online Marketing for Small Businesses (changingexchanging.blogspot.com)

Positive "Networking" = GIVING FIRST

I think within over the past 2 days I've had this same conversation with 4 different people.  How do you network?  How do you build your network?

I have to say that I rarely think about how I'm expanding my network, because I think what I do is build relationships instead.  Some people still like to tie it to the word networking, hence the term positive networking. 

The way to do it is just find out about the other person's business, what they are involved in, and how you can help them with your services or connect them to other people within your own network.  GIVE something first and don't expect that they will or can reciprocate right away.  Just know that when they do come across something that relates to your business, they will think of your first.  The power of building business relationships instead of just having a network of acquaintances is so, so, SO important in business.

I found all of my advisors, employees and investors through this type of relationship.  If you don't genuinely care about the other person's business, why should they care about yours and want to help you?

Related articles by Zemanta

• How to Network Like a Pro in 5 Easy Steps (marketingpr.suite101.com)
• The Value of Networking (vendorblog.weddingwire.com)

Writing Your Business Plan - Make it Modern?

Many of us learned how to write our first business plan in business school.  My first business plan, was a whopping 120 pages of...fluff, diagrams, thousands of pages of projections, etc.  Read like a textbook - BORING.

How does yours look like?  The longer I've been running PeerFX, the more I find that everybody is constrained on time, and usually a 20 slides slide deck or an exec summary is sufficient for an investor to decide if they want to see you.  Then it's your performance during your meeting that gets you the money.

What is a business plan for anyway?  As Seth Godin puts it - for us to think through the actual implementation.  Write it so that after reading it, YOU would be convinced to put money into it.  Seriously, if you can't communicate how your business is going to make a gazillion dollars in less than 20 pages (including appendixes!) then I question whether you've nailed down your business details enough.

I say that the business plan components have to be continually revisited - anyone that has gone beyond just writing the plan would know that it never happens just like it.  If it does, please go buy a lottery ticket because you're seriously super lucky.

So what components are in a Modern Business Plan?  5 things

1. The TRUTH - look all around you, how does the environment affect your business - be realistic - you have competitors, existing alternatives, the economy...
2. Assertions - How do you propose to change the way things are done?
3. Alternatives - like I said, never happens like you want it - so what do you do for plan B, C and D?
4. MONEY - money, money, money - without money either in the form of revenue or investment, you don't have a business.  Figure out your finances!

Read more about Seth's push for writing a modern business plan here.  THEN WRITE ONE.  Reading without doing you learn nothing.

Related articles by Zemanta

• Seth Godin on Rethinking Business Plans (myventurepad.com)

The Mirror Test Book Review + Interview with Kodak's CMO Jeffrey Hayzlett

Image by www.dld-conference.com via CrunchBase

Jeffrey Hayzlett's book "The Mirror Test" is a hands-on guide for small business owners and entrepreneurs that are looking to start a business or are reevaluating their current way of doing business.  After reading it I actually think it's a wake up call for business owners and start ups that are getting too comfortable with what they're doing.  Jeff says that his job involves creating tension in his company, to challenge the way things are currently being done in order to get innovation.

I was fortunate enough to meet Jeff at an SMEI presentation where he was the keynote speaker.  I bought his book and asked him to do a book review - surprisingly he said "Sure."

So here are the 10 questions that I asked Jeff in 20 minutes.

F: Florence

J: Jeff

F: In your book, The Mirror Test, there are 3 mirror tests, with the first one being Proof of Life.  How about for businesses like Google, where they spent years developing in the garage before they ever turned revenue?  Wouldn't they think that they fail the first mirror test?

J: That's the key portion they anticipated that over a period of X number of years they knew they would be losing money before they give up; if they're not meeting their objectives; so that's the key thing in mind - you can still lose money the first couple years - but you need to figure out if you're hitting your set milestones and whether you're generating enough traction.

For entrepreneurs that hang on for way too long - you know when things are goin south and you see the writing on the wall - with enough experience you know when it's time to get out of the business, experience showed me that I can do a lot better than staying with what I was doing.

F: On Leadership - you say that we should fire ourselves from jobs that we aren't good at and focus on our strengths.  This is what small business owner struggle with; we have limited resources that don't allow us to fire ourselves.

J: There's an evolution for small businesses.  You start out as a one man band, doing everything.  You gotta do what you gotta do.  Paint the walls, clean the bathroom.  In the second phase you develop followers that join your business because they believe in what you are doing.  The third phase is where you start adding skilled technicians and experts; this is the step that people don't make the transition to and it kills the business.

To actually transition from the second to the third phase, it is understanding that I don't have all the answers and look beyond just myself for the answer; some people find it hard to do that and they get comfortable.  My belief as a leader, I have to create tension, continue to ask people whether I want to do it this way or that way, more innovative.  Not resting on your behind so to speak.

F: You say that we should get everyone involved in the process, but how realistic is it to show employees our roller coaster cash flows if we're running a start up business?

J: They know it anyways if you don't have money to pay them tomorrow; if that's the case, being transparent that they start seeing that things are coming in on credit.  You're better off having transparency so they can help you speed up collection and make sure you don't make an over commitment to a supplier and vendor.  They know when things are good when the business owner is taking more trips, afternoons off for golf and buying a new Mercedes.

F: I agree that a small business should never compete on price, like what you said "people can go anywhere for price but can't go anywhere for happy".  Can small businesses scale enough to compete on price with the big boys if they initially focus on providing quality?  

J:  I don't think it's possible to do both or even to do a switch strategy - I say you have to pick and choose - stick with one strategy, either high quality or low price.  It's like you're on a seesaw, you pushed down the other way had to give.

F: The story of Mike, your copier technician.  You paid for him and his family to stay at the hotel across from your print shop so you would have access to a technician in the middle of the night.  Looking at this buyer/supplier relationship, do small businesses have to treat our suppliers better because of our lower buyer power?

J: In a lot of cases yeah you can't have the scale of the big boys and you don't have leverage to pull on but there are things you can do better.  You can be more agile than the other guy and you don't have to go through all the steps to make decisions.  For example there was a customer in store A that told store A owner about the low prices offered by the big box competitor.  So store owner A picks up the phone and dials the service line for the big box competitor, only to be put on hold for the duration of his entire conversation with the customer standing in his store.  He then called his own service line, which was picked up immediately - this is a very good way to show how small businesses can be more responsive than the big guys.

F: You like to refer to ROI as Return-on-Ignoring, but even though you're not a huge fan of using tons of performance metrics, you still have to measure something in business right?

J: 

 
I measure 3 key things:

1. Increase in sales;
2. Increase in margins;
3. Increase in customer satisfaction.

These are the three most important things to measure.  I know whether things are working or not just by looking at the bottom line.  You don't need a lot of fancy tools to tell whether it's working or not.  I've worked in companies where they use predictive modeling to see where things are going - I just don't think I need to spend tens of millions of dollars when I can look at the results very quickly with these three metrics.

...then we get to know Jeff

F: You strike me as being high on intuition and your book says that people shouldn't be afraid of a little bit of Ready, Fire, Aim.  Is this a correct view of who you are?

J: Yes - but it's deeply grounded in a lot of experience; I'm shooting from the hip and some people think there's no process behind my madness.  My decisions are based on a lot of what I've been through - it's based on experience.  It's my gut telling me and it's also my head telling me.  To do what I do you have to go out there and TRY doing things yourself, not just go out and learn.


F: What's the biggest mistake you've ever made in business?


J: I think in business we're always going to be making mistake and I think I have yet to make my largest one.  If I'm running an innovative business I want to keep making mistakes because I gain a great deal from them.


F: I read the press release on your resignation from Kodak as their CMO 2 days from now - what's in store for you after this?


J: I am pursuing another book, some television projects, and probably do something more entrepreneurial - I have an idea of what I'm going to do but I'm not ready to announce it.  


F: You like hunting - does that affect the way you do business?


J: There's a soft side to me too.  Some people are just more aggressive than others and it's just more my style.


Thank you Jeff for spending your valauble time with me for this interview and I'm sure all of you reading this interview knows Jeff better now.  I would strongly encourage you to pick up a copy of Jeff's book The Mirror Test if you haven't already.  It is in your face but is a much-needed wake up call for some of us who are getting too comfortable in our business.

Related articles by Zemanta

• Jeff Hayzlett's Business Library (800ceoread.com)

Are You Guilty?

Judge Says I'm GuiltyImage via Wikipedia

For not doing things you said you would for your business?  For not being your best self everyday?

Here are some key points that would tell you if you are guilty:

1. You list out your agenda items for the day, don't end up completing them and push some items to next day (huge backlog)
2. You are busy putting out fires and make up some excuse for not calling a customer/sales lead/advisor/investor/your mom back.  Guess what?  You're not too busy to take a few moments to read this now right?  So you have a few moments to call them back.
3. You identify the problem and think GREAT! We're halfway there already.  Well, GREAT, you're ONLY halfway there, so get on it!
4. You offload all the tasks that you don't want to do to your employees.  Hey, I'm not saying that's wrong, because if you're not good at something, I don't want you working in that job either.  Try setting an example though, and try the task yourself - this small thing you do will win the respect of your employees.
5. You don't put your foot down when you say you would.  You have mistaken the part of being "nice" with your contractors and employees and are now getting pushed around by them. I have to admit it's an art to being firm with and respected by your employees and people you work with.  Or you might be on the other end of the spectrum where people call you nasty names for being bonehead aggressive.

I'm sure that there are many other items that you would come up with upon reflection - now write those down and tell yourself you'll NEVER do that again or else...make sure there's a consequence too or else without a downside you likely won't enforce this on yourself.


Here's my kick in the derriere for myself - I am too involved in the day-to-day of the business and not prioritizing correctly.  Ever had that feeling that you worked 100% but only accomplished 50% of what you intended?  Yup - that's what I feel right now.

I think there could be more structure to my day - it's great that everyday I'm challenged with a new problem and meeting new people, so what I mean is structuring my day so that there are specific time slots for each of these activities.  It seriously does enhance productivity.

I'm starting to understand why people need gatekeepers.  I run a small business and get tons of calls not only from customers, people seeking advice, people wanting to sell me stuff, that it's hard to take all of these calls personally.  Apologies but this is the truth - I still give out my direct contact but chances of me picking up on the first try is slim because I'm either in a meeting, on another call or concentrating on doing what I should be doing - running the business.

Let's face it, there are things I love doing and things I hate doing (I am quite extreme like that).  I tend to push things I hate doing, like endless hours of market research and reviewing 500 pages of our patent to the end of my day, and sometimes I push it to next day - GUILTY.  I'm going to stop doing that.  I'm going to stick to the schedule down to the minute and make sure I leave some time at the end of my day to put out fires - deal?  Yes, deal.

This is my shortlist of things I do that is hindering my productivity right now and that I am promising myself to change.  What are yours?

PeerFX Webinar Series - Successful Online Marketing for Small Businesses

Since you guys liked the first webinar we decided to share more ideas with you through our webinar series - this time it's will be on successful online marketing for small businesses.

Most people don't know where to start since there are 500 different tools they can use to measure different things such as website traffic.  Where should you put your money so that it generates the best returns for you?  What type of content should you be writing so that people actually bother reading?

That's what we're going to tell you and you will get your chance to ask questions to our online marketing and SEO specialist Damon Holowchak.  Damon has generated tens of thousands of hits for budding businesses and increased web traffic to millions of hits for growing companies in industries such as sports betting and news. 

Register for your seat today - right here!

Related articles by Zemanta

• PeerFX HR Article on Manitoba Chambers of Commerce (changingexchanging.blogspot.com)

PeerFX HR Article on Manitoba Chambers of Commerce

As a teaser for our upcoming webinar tomorrow, we have put together an HR article that goes over 4 key questions for small businesses and of course included the answers from Raymond To, Founder and managing partner at Go Recruitment. 

If you haven't signed up for our webinar tomorrow yet now is your chance!  RSVP by emailing webinars@peerfx.com!  Our next webinar will be on online marketing for small businesses on May 10th. 

The full HR article is here.  Enjoy!

Related articles by Zemanta

• PeerFX Power Tuesdays - May 4th! (changingexchanging.blogspot.com)
• Free Webinar Will Teach HR Organizations the Secrets of Great Social Strategies: NAS Recruitment Presentation is Second in a Series Focused on Social Media Strategies (prweb.com)

PeerFX Power Tuesdays - May 4th!

We're starting a webinar series sharing knowledge for small and medium sized business owners and key management personnel.  Our range of topics run from recruiting the right people, managing your finances, online marketing and more - everything you need to know if you plan on getting your hands dirty and getting things done for your business.

Our first session is set for May 4th (Tuesday) and will be hosted by Raymond To, Founder and Managing Partner at Go Recruitment.  Raymond has specialized in IT recruitment for the past 18 years and was one of Business in Vancouver's Top 40 Under 40.  His company has sustained a high retention rate for all of their clients and Raymond is looking to share some key points on how you can attract, engage, manage and motivate your employees.  Join us at 11am on May 4th for this half hour session and register for it by emailing webinars@peerfx.com today!

2 Cent Ideas can Boost Business Performance

I've started reading the new book by Tom Peters called The Little Big Things.  In the first couple pages he mentions that little things that cost you 2 cents can be worth much more to your business.  Such as candy on the counter top of your receptionist's desk.

Yesterday I saw my own version of this.  I went for a quick lunch at a Chinese restaurant that served value lunch meals so the price point matched with the quality of the food they served.  I ordered and had to go to the restroom; I noticed one distinctive difference that was out of place for the restaurant in the restroom - they had three-ply tissue rolls in there.  THREE.  When other restaurants with the same package of benefits (price, promo, place and product) were offering their customers one-ply tissue, here they were giving us three-ply.  Seems like a very, very small thing that they could have gotten away with.  They chose to offer something slightly better and I'm sure it does not go unnoticed every time a customer goes to their restroom.

Interesting to actually see the concept at work.  Small ideas can make your business stand out and even retain or attract new customers.  Have you seen any 2 cent ideas in action? 

Related articles by Zemanta

• Little BIG Things - Tom Peters - Video Book Review (chrisbrogan.com)

Are you an Expense or an Income Stream?

When a business is in its early stages of growth, I say that we should spend our resources focusing on generating MORE money inflow for the business. 

What this means is we shouldn't be spending money on things that are an expense not directly related to generating more sales. Expenses related to generating more sales are salespeople, client lists, marketing efforts, etc.

Expenses that add no value right now include: redesigning your business cards just because, adding/fixing minor details on your system/software that you can do without and are nice to haves, hiring on more developers than you need, hiring more of anything that you don't need...the list goes on.

So when we have consultants or other service providers approaching us to sell us stuff, the first thing I ask is whether they are an expense or an income stream for my business.  Usually its the former, and I send them on their way. 

I'm also constantly surprised by the quality of work provided by tech developers and designers.  I say I'm surprised because sometimes a really good one goes for cheap (ie.$40 or $50 an hour) and then you find one that really sucks and they are charging $80 an hour.  Yet there's still a market for them.  Totally got sidetracked there.

Point is, in an early growth phase I am only interested in growing sales.  What things do you worry about as a start up owner?

Using FREE to Market Your Business

I think most people have heard of Seth Godin and maybe most of you have seen/heard/read the book Free Prize Inside!  written by Seth.  We are aware of these marketing tactics and Seth does a good job of bringing it to top of mind, so that we remember that "oh hey, this worked on ME before, so I should try out this tactic for my own business."
Soon enough there were a ton of different businesses trying this tactic.  Free trial, samples, sign-up, giveaways, etc.  You've probably been suckered into this yourself a couple times. 
Today I was on LinkedIn checking out one of the groups that I had joined for Treasury Management and noticed that a lot of people postings were for these free ebooks.  The thing is there was less than 5 views for most of these postings and even fewer downloads. 
What does this mean?  That everybody has caught on to this trend of handing out FREE stuff, and this has caused a huge backlog of FREE stuff that customers/consumers have to absorb/read/take their pick. 
So many things are FREE right now that after narrowing down from the original list of product/service offerings, a customer then has to filter out all the FREE stuff.  Decisions, decisions. 

I don't have an answer that solves this issue but it's something to think about; if you have any suggestions please leave a comment on this post!

"I Want to Pick Your Brain..."

I want to pick your brain, Pinky and the Brain.Image by drumecho via Flickr

and do what?  I'm sure other entrepreneurs who have been building their businesses for a while now and those who are already successful have been approached by an email that involves the words "I want to pick your brain..."

Most of the time I'm left wondering...where does this person think I can help him?  Usually these emails do not clarify what it is that the person is actually looking for.  A complete request would be: "I want to pick your brain because I am trying to build my own retail business." or something like that.  In this case, I would be able to say that "My apologies Sarah/Jack/Jim/Ben (whatever their name is), my background isn't in that area and I wouldn't be providing enough value add if we were to meet."

So, help us out by clearly stating what it is that you want, because maybe we can point you in the right direction even though we can't help you ourselves.  Saying "I just want to pick your brain." isn't even a complete sentence unless you tell me what it is you want to pick my brain about. 

That's my weekend rant :)

Warren Buffet and The Interpration of Financial Statements

Image via Wikipedia

On my flight out to Toronto I read Warren Buffet's book on the Interpretation of Financial Statements. Quite a quick and easy read for those of you who have a grasp of financial statements already (ie. know that the names and components of the statements)

So what does Warren look at when he's investing?

1) A consistent product - ie. low R&D costs. If the company has to keep investing to change it's product then that means it's in an extremely competitive industry, not a good sign when searching for a company with a durable competitive advantage.
2) Low Debt - looking at the cash flow statement, if a company generates enough cash from operating activities, it doesn't need to finance its investments through debt or equity.
3) Zero Preferred Stock - his theory is that a company with a durable competitive advantage doesn't need to issue stock for capital - they have such tremendous earning power that they have enough to buy back shares, which leads us to our next point.
4) Treasury Stock - this means the company has enough money to buy back its shares and it's sitting there waiting to be reissued.
5) Leverage - Warren stays away from companies that are highly leveraged. Banks borrow at 6% and lend out at 8%, generating earnings for the company. However, once the borrowers start defaulting on their loans, the earnings disappear and the need to pay back the loan is left on the shoulders of the company - a total disaster.

Those were a couple things I took from the book, a quick summary for your benefit. Back to work!

Related articles by Zemanta

• Using Financial Ratios - An Investor's Most Important Tool (benzinga.com)
• Understanding Financial Statements (mint.com)