Where Do the Internet & Local Markets Meet?

Last month we discussed how Revolutionary Entrepreneurs are Creative.

Here’s a place where creativity meets reality. How do you reconcile building a strong, web based business with selling to your local market?

How do you optimize local opportunity with the option to expand your reach through the internet via affiliate websites, social networking, blogs, etc?

It doesn’t take a revolutionary entrepreneur to realize that using the web and extending your reach is a good thing to do, but it does take some skill to know how to do it. With the preponderance of ‘do it yourself internet marketing’ stuff out there, it’s hard to know where to turn….especially when you want to make sure you don’t lose sight of your local market.

Let’s put our creative hats on here for a moment.

Consider doing an analysis of your customers and make a list of the problems they have, but you don’t solve. One way you can immediately extend your reach beyond your local market is to creatively solve your customers other problems using resources from other web based product / service providers.

What does that mean?

Here’s a specific example. You are a medical transcriptionist selling your services to local physicians. What other problems are doctors and medical offices facing right now? Compliance with all the regulations magnified by the unknown of socialized medicine creates uncertain times for doctors.

Suppose, as a thank you for being a great customer, you offered to add an extra hour of consulting at no charge for your best customers. You can tell the Doc’s or their office manager that your intention is to find out what other problems they are having so you can do some networking and try and find solutions for them. Who’s going to turn that down?

Even if you only visited with your top 5 clients and found out there were two or three common problems that could be solved by a web based solution, you’d have a great place to start. Let’s say you found out most of the offices were concerned about losing data in case of another nasty hurricane season. You could do some research and find out what companies cater to physician’s offices and offer off-site backup services with the capacity, restoration and responsiveness required by their regulations.

If you simply became an affiliate of the backup service provider and connected them with your clients through your affiliate link, you’d have the opportunity to get paid every month they were on the backup service.  In this example, you’ve simply added a new revenue stream by solving a problem for your client. You don’t have to deliver the new service … you only monitor the commissions… and ask for referrals.

So what actually happened in this example?

Yes, you created some extra cash, but more than that you found a way to connect your local business with the internet. You just leveraged yourself in ways most business owners don’t consider. The other challenge is that most people don’t want to begin with the simple, easy to do and usually not hugely profitable at first ideas. They want the big hit…ring the cash register programs.

Here’s the scoop. Getting started building some reach beyond your local market is critical. Even if you don’t know how to do it, find a couple of other people in your local area (who aren’t competitors) and have a creativity party and see how you can connect local with global.

Revolutionary Entrepreneurs start local and expand globally!

Cheers,

Steve

Steve Olds
Founder and CEO
www.STRATWORX.com

Entrepreneurial Survival & Prosperity Demands Creativity

Throughout the last few decades, it’s been fascinating to be an entrepreneur.

When I spend a few minutes to remember my first capitalistic venture, I recall there was no public internet, only hints of some futuristic ‘information superhighway.’ Getting a fax machine was a big deal and I thought I was hot stuff with a killer 286 machine with a huge 40 meg hard drive.

Time has just flown by in ways that are truly hard to fathom.

I always knew that owning a business would be hard work and had no guarantees. I was willing to work hard and my family was willing to sacrifice for delayed gratification. The good times were fun, the hard times were tough but the entrepreneurial future was always hopeful.

This era is different. Business moves extremely fast. The idea of building a debt free business in years past was usually laughed at. Now, it’s no laughing matter. If your business is based on access to credit…and you can’t access credit…you are out of business.

There are no unrestricted stimulus checks coming to small business…and as far as I’m concerned it’s just as well. Free cash is never free and I’m not interested in having a small business czar telling me how to think and which George Orwell books to read.

So the question remains…how do we not only survive, but prosper?

The simple answer is creativity. No longer can we just wait out the market. We can’t simply ‘give it another go’ and see what happens. The stakes are too high. We need to forge high performance teams of thinking people, operating in our collective strengths and creating synergistic results.

I believe it’s time to look at new ways to serve the marketplace.

Suppose we actually look at traditional business models and begin to dissect them just like we’ve looked at our personal strengths. What are the strengths of current franchise models vs. corporate owned stores, how about retailing – storefront vs. virtual sales, direct face to face sales and telemarketing, traditional media marketing as opposed to social media & internet marketing?

There are an exponential number of permutations when it comes to business models and marketing…because the internet constantly creates new possibilities.

So how do you do it?

How can you become creative and prosperous without throwing caution to the wind? One thing’s for sure, I’m convinced that you can’t do it by yourself.

As an example, one of the companies we’ve worked with for over a year has a brilliant e-Commerce model. They combined a new online channel for retail consumer sales with network marketing and social media.

During initial formulation and testing in Europe back in 2003, they determined their customer acquisition costs were too high using internet and mainstream advertising. They decided to use MLM as a front end primer to educate consumers and fuel viral growth. What’s the result?

Unlike traditional MLM businesses that have virtually zero retail customers (because those models are usually wholesale consumption models driven by business opportunities), these guys have an over 80:1 customer to associate ratio. That’s what I call a creative solution to a business dilemma.

I must admit, initially I didn’t even want to consider their business proposal because I didn’t want to get anywhere close to network marketing…again. It took nearly 3 months before I would even have a discussion about their model. I was stuck in my old thinking about an old model.

FULL DISCLOSURE: My name is Steve … and I’m a recovering network marketer!

However, once I understood the model and the creative strategies that pulled the best of multiple business models and synergistically assembled them to solve a problem and create massive income, profit and equity, we at Stratworx decided to help them launch in North America.

That’s just one simple example of entrepreneurs coming together and using creativity to solve today’s business problems.

How can you apply this in your business?

Ask yourself this question: “What is the number one challenge I face for survival?”

Perhaps you can put a core team of people together from outside your industry and vendor mix and ask them to join you in an experiment…solving your biggest challenge.

Get some fresh ideas and do something novel to encourage them to help you. Maybe share your profits or invite them to join you on a cruise when the money is right…but please…do something creative.

Revolutionary Entrepreneurs are Creative!

Cheers,

Steve

Steve Olds
Founder and CEO
www.STRATWORX.com

Mentoring the Geezers!

As a ‘Baby Boomer’ entrepreneur, I often believe that I’m actually still in my college years. After all, that was only a few years ago… or maybe a quarter of a century. How does a Revolutionary Entrepreneur think about the difference between entrepreneurial generations?

We are at a unique point in history. While it’s always been true that the youth create big dreams with an open mind and a blank sheet of paper as Michael Gerber says, today they have an unprecedented edge.

They were actually born with a new kind of DNA… technology DNA. If you are a baby boomer (herein referred to as a Geezer) and you don’t believe me, just try and teach someone under the age of 21 something about the internet.

In recent months while working on an e-Commerce project, I thought it would be a good idea to teach my oldest daughter about the site. As I settled in with a cup of coffee and my instructor hat on, I realized the last thing she needed was me to teach her anything about the website.

GEEZER ALERT

All I really needed to provide was the URL and then simply get out of the way. What did I take away from this encounter, other than a bruised ego?

Revolutionary Entrepreneurs must think differently about our young people. Although I can’t keep the generations straight, Xers, Gen Y, Millenium, or Tweeners, anyone that’s not a Geezer is part of the ‘younger generation’ as far as I’m concerned.

In days gone by, it was commonplace to have apprentice programs for every part of business development. While there are certainly important places for teaching, technology is an area where us Geezers need to seriously consider putting the youth on a peer level.

While this may not seem like a particularly revolutionary idea, consider this. What impact would a conscious decision to treat someone who is 25 years younger as a peer have in certain areas of your business?

I believe this one decision can revolutionize our businesses. Not lip service, but real honor and respect for what they know. I submit that if we don’t actively decide to treat our youth as peers in the technology realm, we’ll shut down their input… and that’s a bad idea.

Ask yourself:

• How do you listen to peers?
• How do you respond to their input?
• How do you speak with them?

Look around your office, your business, or perhaps even your home and ask one of the ‘youth’ to ‘Mentor a Geezer’ on some technology issue. You’ll be surprised at what you learn…and have fun.

Here’s to becoming a smart Geezer!

Cheers,

Steve

Steve Olds
Founder and CEO
www.STRATWORX.com

When Do Revolutionary Entrepreneurs Speak Out?

Last month, I shared the core tenets of the “Entrepreneurial Revolution” and why I believe it’s important to band together to protect our free enterprise system. Stratworx has defined 7 Truths we believe to be at the core of “Revolutionary Entrepreneurs.”

One of those truths is that we need to understand history, debate ideas and contribute to the democratic process. We must study historical successes, failures, and free market influences that impact business. When we understand actual history (as opposed to revisionist history), we can effectively participate in the democratic process and let our voice be heard.

Times are extremely challenging right now, but there is one topic that demands our attention. Unless you’ve been on a ‘media-free’ vacation, you’ve likely been inundated with the discussion on Healthcare Reform. While there are a number of issues that demand analysis about medical treatment, the impact on business, our freedom to make decisions and the right to privacy are all under attack.

No matter what your politics, religion or level of entrepreneurial experience, I can think of no more critical issue worthy of our time to understand so we can input to our local, state and federal representatives. When you study the history of what led to the Second World War, especially the transformation of Germany, there are a number of clear policies proposed in this bill that are eerily familiar.

Many of our Congressional Representatives haven’t bothered to read the 1018 page bill, which is an insult to citizens of our representative republic. If they don’t read the bill, they may ‘forget’ to share some of these business centric mandates. When you read these and the full list (which is linked below), you may begin to wonder what country we are living in.

• Sec. 113, Pg. 21-22 of the Health Care (HC) Bill MANDATES a government audit of the books of ALL EMPLOYERS that self-insure in order to “ensure that the law does not provide incentives for small and mid-size employers to self-insure”!

• Sec. 163, Pg. 58-59 beginning at line 5 – Government will have real-time access to individual’s finances & a National ID health care card will be issued!

• Sec. 163, Pg. 59, Lines 21-24 -Government will have direct access to your bank accounts for electronic funds transfer.

• Sec. 312, Pg. 145, Lines 15-17 – Employers MUST auto-enroll employees into public option plan.

• Sec. 313, Pg. 149, Lines 16-23 – ANY employer with payroll $400,000 and above who does not provide public option pays 8% tax on all payroll.

• Sec. 313, Pg. 150, Lines 9-13 – Businesses with payroll between $251,000 and $400,000 who do not provide public option pay 2-6% tax on all payroll.

• Sec. 1156, Pg. 317, Lines 13-20 – “PROHIBITION on physician ownership or Investment.” Government tells doctors what/how much they can own.

• Sec. 1401, Pg. 503, Lines 13-19 – The government will build registries and data networks from YOUR electronic medical records. “The Center may secure directly from any department or agency of the United States information necessary to enable it to carry out this section.”

• Sec. 1651, Pg. 734, Lines 16-25 – Proposes, for law enforcement sake, that the Secretary of HHS will give Attorney General access to ALL medical data.

These are just a handful of proposals that directly affect business owners, healthcare entrepreneurs, i.e. doctors,  and our privacy. Click here to download a summary document with 10 pages of eye opening proposals summarized by the Liberty Counsel. When you are done reviewing that and getting your blood pressure under control, write, email and call your representatives and give them your opinion…before it’s too late.

Now is the time for “Revolutionary Entrepreneurs” to speak out!

Here’s to Freedom!

Steve

Steve Olds
Founder and CEO
www.STRATWORX.com

Stratworx® is leading an “Entrepreneurial Revolution”

July is the month most people in the United States of America take a few minutes to relish in the land of opportunity in which we live. This year is different. When you examine the country right now, you begin to see cracks in the landscape. What were unimaginable scenarios are becoming everyday occurrences.

The essence of freedom in America is the choice we have to make decisions about our families, our future and our fortune. We have been granted by our Constitution the right to Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness. Unfortunately, we live in a society that has been systematically convinced over the years that it’s better to be given guarantees of sustenance rather than the opportunity to pursue happiness.

What does this really mean to entrepreneurs?

It means…EVERYTHING.

In years past, business owners and entrepreneurs could largely ignore geo-political issues and focus on their companies. If entrepreneurship is to survive in America as we know it, we cannot bury our heads in the sand and hope everything will simply be ok. It won’t.

Regardless of your political persuasion, this is a discussion about numbers and control. The budget numbers and entitlement programs are not sustainable. Taxing the producers is proven to kill production.

Where’s the motivation for us to develop our ideas into intellectual property, turn our IP into products and services to pursue a profit if those profits are going to be confiscated at higher and higher rates?

What’s an entrepreneur to do?

Stratworx by definition is an Entrepreneurial Development Company. Our organization is founded on a passionate belief that men and women can parlay their strengths into profitable businesses to provide for their families. We believe that as we look into the future, if we work together as entrepreneurs, business owners, professionals, and supporters of capitalism, we can turn the tide back toward freedom.

We see our work as much more than simply finding ways to create products and sell stuff at a profit. That’s simply a result of the passionate entrepreneur pursuing his or her dream. There are young people across our country in high school and college asking themselves what their future holds…and with good reason. A state run economy or free enterprise?

We choose free enterprise.

We are leading an Entrepreneurial Revolution that is rooted in the passion and talent of each of our team members. In the coming weeks and months, Stratworx will be extending many different opportunities to ‘change the game’ of entrepreneurship. Stay tuned for more info.

Cheers,

Steve

Steve Olds
Founder and CEO
www.STRATWORX.com

Employee vs. Entrepreneur?

As we rapidly approach 10% unemployment, many people are asking themselves if it makes sense to pursue entrepreneurship. You may be in this conversation around your own kitchen table.

“Should I start my own business?”

Perhaps you have a job now, but given the market conditions, your debt load, projected living expenses, etc., you have come to the conclusion that you need to increase your household income. One solution would be to get a part time job, but with rising unemployment, that’s not easy to do. Then what?

Starting your own business is a romantic idea. The elixir of freedom from a boss, ability to pursue your gifts and create the kind of income you’ve dreamed of have spurred millions of people to pursue entrepreneurship. Where do you start? Many people start with Google and start searching for ways to make more money. They have business opportunities presented to them online and from friends & family.

• What’s good and what’s not?
• How do I actually make a good decision?
• Where do I begin?

I mentioned in last month’s “Income, Profit, Equity.” newsletter an adage we at Stratworx refer to frequently; ‘Take your time and get there faster.’ Dr. Bill Greenman a long time entrepreneur, business partner and visionary told me a long time ago, “There are only two things that happen quickly, Miracles and Disasters.”

If you are going to pursue entrepreneurship, you must have a long term view. That’s not to say you can’t create income in the short term, because there are effective ways to do so, but you have to make decisions based on short and long term consequences. The starting place is what we call, ‘Entrepreneurial Due Diligence.’ In simple terms it means doing your homework.

Here’s an example.

Suppose you think you want to build an internet based business marketing your own line of landscape decorations. You have developed a unique way to make gardening fun (something I would buy because gardening and I don’t have a good working relationship). You think you can find a source that can manufacture and ship orders for you at a reasonable price.

Where do you begin your entrepreneurial due diligence?

New entrepreneurs would probably put together a contract with the manufacturer and shipper, get an e-commerce website built with an integrated merchant account, hire a graphic artist and a printer to create brochures that match the website and start selling as fast a possible.

Experienced entrepreneurs would start asking questions in the marketplace and gathering prospective customers BEFORE the manufacturing contract is ever signed. Why? Because when you float the idea of this landscape decoration, you need to know what the market is willing to pay for it. They may love the idea at $19.95, but it may cost $25 to manufacture…bad numbers.

Or they may like the idea, but not want to pay anything for it because they are saving every dime possible. This is the type of information that is CRITICAL and it requires patience to pursue.

When you are diligent in researching the market, paying close attention to the money and asking the market for feedback in advance…you can be a successful entrepreneur!

Cheers,
Steve

Steve Olds
Founder and CEO
www.STRATWORX.com

Social Media Starting Points

Do you have profiles on any of these (or other) social media websites?

• LinkedIn
• MySpace
• Facebook
• Twitter

If so, why?

Perhaps to drum up business, connect with old friends, network for new opportunities or because everyone else is doing it? A lot of professionals looked at social media sites as a waste of time or just for kids. While many social media sites did start with younger people, there is no doubt social media is a powerful part of business development … and it’s here to stay.

So the question is, “How do you use Social Media in your marketing efforts?”

That’s a trick question. Here’s why. Have you ever been on a blog or in a forum and read comments from people who weren’t really interested in contributing to the conversation? They were clearly there to just pitch their stuff.

Timing is everything. With social media, and everything else on the internet, you need to realize you can quickly get a bad reputation if you violate social protocols. These norms vary depending on the site.

Get to know the social media website.

It’s best to get to know the site and understand how people interface with each other. You can also consider setting up separate accounts for your business and your personal identity. For example, Facebook made a change in recent months that allow businesses to open up special accounts. Business can ask people to become a ‘fan’ of the organization.

As you get to know the sites, you should begin to study best practices recommendations from the site itself. You can read internal forums and support information to get a feel for the best way to optimize your social networking. This is a good way to learn the ropes and what may or may not be socially acceptable.

Once you have a good understanding of how you can be a good citizen of the social network, then you can dig in and learn more about appropriate ways to begin to consider a marketing conversation. A key Stratworx precept applies here; ‘Take your time and get there faster.’ If you ruin your social networking reputation, it’s hard to get it back.

Cheers,
Steve

Steve Olds
Founder and CEO
www.STRATWORX.com

What are the real numbers?

Tax time reminds us of the need to accurately know the numbers. While it seems to be optional for governmental officials to keep good books, business owners and entrepreneurs live and die by the numbers. Last month we talked about the practical differences between strategies and tactics. We also touched on the importance of ‘counting the costs.’

There is a prevailing mantra in the halls of congress that we have to pass earth shattering legislation spending trillions of future dollars and we have to do it TODAY or the world will come to an end. Think about it. Political issues aside, how in the world can anyone make decisions that have such extraordinary financial consequences WITHOUT EVEN READING THE BILL? Hard to comprehend, isn’t it?

Didn’t expect a political rant?

Actually, the politicians illustrate a very important point for us. Entrepreneurs are famous for making quick decisions without scrutinizing the numbers. In times past, we could get away with it much easier because cash flowed and when all else failed, access to credit was easy.

Suppose, from this day forward you couldn’t borrow a red cent? Would you operate your business differently? Would you carefully project the numbers and clearly understand the pro-forma for every strategy you planned to execute?

Seriously, think about it for a minute.

Whether you have access to capital or not isn’t the issue. Remember, nobody ever thought the banks would stop lending money and that happened last September. So if you run your business as if everything must produce results and positive cash flow, you win. You’ll be producing products and services that your customers really want and are willing to pay for in this tight economy.

That’s the core of turning great ideas into income, profit & equity.

Cheers,
Steve

Steve Olds
Founder and CEO
www.STRATWORX.com

How do you find Strategies that Work?

You have 2 options.

1. Attend the school of hard knocks

2. Learn from other people’s experience

This isn’t rocket science and you’ve heard it before. True…the concept has been around since biblical times, but what’s the specific application in your business. Before we dig into how to make that happen, since many people often confuse strategy and tactics, let’s define our terms:

Strategy – A plan of action intended to accomplish a specific goal.

Tactic – A procedure or set of maneuvers engaged in to achieve an end, an aim, or a goal.

It stands to reason that before you can identify a specific strategy, you need a specific goal. Stephen Covey says you should ‘Begin with the end in mind.” Michael Gerber, author of the E-Myth Revisited says you should have a Strategic Objective which he describes as your vision of the business when it is complete. So if you have a clear, written, motivating goal, then you can begin to identify a strategy that works.

Determining whether a strategy will work is also dependent on your capability to execute the strategy.

For example, suppose you want to launch a new product to the North American marketplace. Your competitor may have launched a similar product using TV Ads and full page Ads in the USA Today. Even if the strategy worked for your competitor, you need to consider the tactical requirements of executing the strategy, not the least of which are budget and fulfillment.

This brings to mind many of the other considerations that businesses leave out of their thinking on a regular business. Marketing and sales can drive a company to execute certain strategies, but you have to evaluate the required tactics to execute the strategy. Consider your skill sets, staffing, spin-up time and cash flow.

If you are going to use an internet marketing strategy to launch a new service, do you have the marketing expertise to write the copy, create the specialty websites, connect the sites to a CRM (client relationship management) system, acquire the appropriate merchant accounts to process the credit cards with satisfactory limits….and on and on and on.

Here’s one consideration we’ve found helpful in planing the execution of tactics for a particular strategy. Start small and TEST a lot. Test your idea, test your product, test your copy, test your scripts, test your software, test your people, as a matter of fact TEST EVERYTHING. I know, who has time to test all this stuff, can’t we just sell stuff and make enough cash so that it doesn’t really matter?

Most people would say they believe testing is important, but when they don’t really know what to test or how to do it, they convince themselves it’s best just to press on and start selling. I contend, just the opposite is true. The market is careful with it’s dollars, you should be too. Make sure your strategy is practical and you or your team can execute the tactics.

So in the end, you can choose a strategy and tactics that you get from the school of hard knocks, or find a way to learn from others’ experience. You can do that by hiring consultants, reading books, taking courses, bringing new employees on board or outsourcing the project. Whatever you choose to do, please do it on purpose.

Cheers,
Steve

Steve Olds
Founder and CEO
www.STRATWORX.com

Strong Sales Teams are Key to Business Success

Entrepreneurs face many challenges and libraries are filled with books describing these hurdles in great detail. One of the most critical challenges any new concept or product must address very quickly is how to effectively communicate your value proposition to the marketplace.

While this may seem like a ‘no brainer,’ the fact of the matter is many entrepreneurs and small business owners miss this completely. Often times, the entrepreneur is the parent of the great idea…the person who ‘gave birth’ to the product or service. This gives them a unique advantage since they know their product better than anyone else. However, this also creates the potential for a BIG BLIND SPOT.

Entrepreneurs who are undaunted by the challenges in running a company, often miss the simple fact that the marketplace does not care how much we love our idea, service or product. The market only cares about the value proposition. Your business will only succeed IF (and this is a BIG IF) you can communicate clearly, efficiently and directly to the end user who is willing to exchange their money for your product.

There are many strategies to sell a product or service. Frequently the entrepreneur or owner becomes the company’s first sales person and may even eventually lead a sales team. This plan can work, but usually isn’t the best use of the owner’s strengths. If the business model will support a sales team, you may want to consider the impact of a high performance, professional sales team. Coupled with an effective marketing plan, a strong sales team can communicate very effectively with your prospective customers.

One of the many benefits of a high octane group focused on sales is your ability as the owner to focus on market segmentation, value added services to your product, territorial growth and most importantly — profit. Remember the adage, “no margin…no mission?”

Have you ever considered engaging a strong sales team?

If not, this may be a great time to do so. The rapid changes in the economy dictate we focus on our core strengths AND profit. There are top tier sales professionals looking for options. Think about how you might be able to create a win-win relationship with a sales team. Having a great sales team can expand your opportunities, open up new markets, create jobs, and most importantly…. grow your profits to keep you expanding while your competition is wondering how to survive.

Cheers,
Steve

Steve Olds
Founder and CEO
www.STRATWORX.com