Mike Michalowicz's Blog, page 71

Episode 67: Cash Reserve and Profitability with Robin Robins

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Show Summary

This week Mike Michalowicz, Chris Curran and Kristina Bolduc welcome guest Robin Robins who took her business from $0 in 2003 to $10 million in revenue in 2015. This episode is chock-full of insights including why niche specialization helps grow your business (even if your niche industry collapses), the “enough is enough” stage, how to have a personal cash reserve and a business reserve, and how to diagnose the different products offerings you have and determine individual profitability for each one. Welcome to Episode 67 of the Profit First Podcast!

 

Our Guest 

Robin Robins is the IT industry’s most in-demand marketing consultant, sales trainer, and author who specializes in highly effective marketing strategies for VARs, Systems Integrators, MSPs, Solution Providers, and IT consulting firms.

Robin is the author of the Technology Marketing Toolkit and Million- Dollar Managed Services Blueprint. To date, over 7,000 IT business owners from all over the US and in 23 different countries have learned and implemented the marketing systems she has developed to create hundreds of millions of dollars in NEW sales, NEW opportunities, and NEW revenue streams for their business. Robin has been voted a #1 speaker at many industry events such as BreakAway, System Builder Summit and VAR Vision, ASCII’s boot camps, CT Summit, and SMB Nation. She has been published in VAR Business, eChannelLine.com, Sales and Marketing Magazine, Selling Power, and SMB Partner Community Magazine.

Robin is a true “marketing rock star” for small IT business owners and currently commands over $1,500 per hour for her consulting services with a 6-month waiting list.

In addition to her extensive experience with IT service firms, Robin has developed marketing strategies for over 1,200 businesses in 14 different industries across North America, Australia, and Europe. This includes both online and off-line marketing strategies for computer training schools and universities, franchise organizations, software companies (Novell, Surf Control, AVG anti-virus, and Microsoft), financial services, seminars and events, member organizations, and a variety of consumer products and services. This vast experience has given Robin a broad knowledge of hundreds of marketing and sales tactics used by some of the most successful, sales driven organizations in the world.

 

Show Links

Website: robinrobins.com  

 

Corporate Partners

Nextiva – VOIP phone providers for small businesses.

Fundera – Single source online funding for entrepreneurs. Also offers an adviser program for CPAs, bookkeepers and business coaches.

TSheets – The #1 customer rated time tracking solution!

Fundbox –  the simplest and fastest way to fix your cash flow by advancing payments for your outstanding invoices.

The Business Innovation Technique Of Blending

Entrepreneurs are natural innovators, but even the most forward-thinking people sometimes need a little nudge to help open their minds to new possibilities for growth.

One of the best ways to think outside of the box is to start asking “what if” questions. Here’s a “what if” question I’ve been kicking around lately: What if we took two disparate businesses and blended them to make something new? I’m not talking about merging or partnering with another company; I’m talking about blending business methodologies from two (or more) industries to create a new business, or dramatically improve an existing business.

A classic example of this is Commerce Bank. Founded by Vernon Hill in 1973, Commerce Bank blended two industries: fast-food restaurants and banking. The owner of a fast-food restaurant franchise, Vernon Hill’s bright idea was to bring the convenience and perks of fast food to banking.

For example, fast-food restaurants are open everyday, and they start early and close late; Hill implemented extended hours at Commerce Bank and kept the doors open seven days a week. No other bank had done this before.

Hill blended other systems from his fast-food franchise when he launched his blended business. He installed a “Penny Arcade” coin counting machine in his lobby, which had the same effect as video games in family restaurants. Kids could count money and win a prize, and the adults loved it too.

One of my favorite examples of Hill’s blending genius is when you use the drive thru window at Commerce Bank you get a treat for your dog, just like the toy in a kid’s meal. Is it any wonder people call it “McBank?” By blending two industries, Hill created the fastest growing bank ever.

Commerce Bank grew from one to more than 400 locations and the franchise sold for $8.5 billion in 2007. See what a little game of “what if” can spark?

What if you blended your business with hallmarks from another industry? Start thinking WAY outside of the box, looking at winning concepts from industries that may seem to have nothing to do with your business. (Of course you do have something in common with business in ALL industries: customers.) You never know— you just might make billions.

Consider yourself nudged.

That Problem? It’s Always Been There, You Just Noticed.

That employee who just quit? They were giving you hints for a long time now. It took them quitting for you to notice.

That client who just left you for your biggest competitor? They tipped you off multiple times. It took them leaving for you to notice.

That “I can’t this anymore” moment you just had? You knew it all along. It was just now that you decided to pay attention to yourself.

That problem? It’s been there a long time. Pay attention to the small things and you will notice it before it forces you to notice it.

Ripple Innovation In 4 Steps

When businesses get stale and lose their creativity and ability to innovate they do one of two things. They order in doughnuts or bagels and lots of coffee and call a staff meeting. Then they sit around a conference table, sweat and worry a lot while they brainstorm the same old ideas, hoping someone comes up with something new. Or, they hire a consultant, who usually knows less about their day-to-day routines than they do, and then they hope he (or she) finds a new way to innovate.

Neither way works very well. Why not? Because innovation is really about paying attention and seeing things you never noticed before, and in a new and different way. Brainstorming regularly falls into a ineffective loop of the same five ideas. And most (but not all) outside consultants bring an innovative approach, but fail to make the change stick.

If you’re feeling like your innovation generator is stuck and you are having trouble getting traction, use the four steps of ripple innovation to grease your inspiration and feed your creativity and jumpstart your innovations.

I call this four-step process “ripple innovation” because it expands out from the initial splash of thought in rings, just like the ripples that form when you throw a rock into a pond. The biggest wave is near the center, and the farthest reaching wave is on the outside. Start with your splash, what you want to innovate. Then follow these for ripples to find it:

Ripple 1 – Find The Solution Inside Your Company

What are you currently doing in another part of your business that you can use to drive the innovation you need in this part of your business?

For example, UPS used one little innovation to speed up their delivery times. They looked for existing drivers who were completing their routes faster than average each day (look for what’s working, not what’s broke). They found that certain high performers wouldn’t put their keys in their pockets when delivering a package. Instead they would have their truck key hanging off their pinky finger.

When they got back to the truck they didn’t need to fumble through their pockets looking for their keys. The 3 or so seconds it saved on each delivery added up. The 3 seconds times the 30 deliveries a day, times 200 times a year saved about 5 hours a year per driver. Not bad when you realize that UPS has 240,000 drivers. That little pinky innovation is saving UPS the need to hire 600 additional drivers to cover the lost time.

Ripple 2 – Find The Solution Inside Your Industry

If you can’t find the innovation inside the first ring (your business), you then go one ring out.

Ask yourself: What is your competition doing that you can use to innovate in your business?

Sam Walton was once said, “I believe I am Kmart’s best customer. I have visited almost every one of their stores.” He constantly evaluated other retailers and copied what they did best. Among the many innovations he extracted from his competition was the centralization of the checkout process. Instead of having a checkout in each department of the store, he centralized everything to one checkout line at the front of the store. Walmart leaped forward and set a new standard that we see everywhere today.

Ripple 3 – Find The Solution In Any Industry

If you can’t innovate from within your business or your industry, go another ring out and examine other industries serving the same customer need. Vernon Hill, the founder of Commerce Bank, which ultimately sold to TD Bank for $6 billion, wanted to make banking ultra-convenient.

Banks were notorious for being anything but convenient for their customers, so Hill looked outside his industry. He found that fast-food restaurants had a lock on drive through convenience. He took their best innovations and made them the new standard for banking—late hours every day, open 7 days a week, and he even copied the happy meal trick, by putting a treat in for the most common passenger in the car coming through the drive thru… the family dog.

Ripple 4 – Find The Solution In Nature

When there’s not a solution inside your business, inside your industry or even inside any industry, it’s time to look at the widest ripple in the innovation splash—look at the entire world around you. Nature is the ultimate innovator and inventor.

Case in point? George de Mestral. Mestral invented Velcro after he found his dog covered with burs. Curious about how stubbornly the burrs clung to his dog’s fur, he took a closer look. Then he replicated Mother Nature by making Velcro. The rest is entrepreneurial history.

Remember, innovation is just a matter of looking at the world and your business differently. Instead of innovating out of the thin air, start with ripple innovation. The innovations are all around you already, you just need to seek them out.

Episode 66: New Membership Organizations and Parkinson’s Law with Erica Wernick

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Show Summary

In Episode 66 of the Profit First Podcast, Mike Michalowicz, Chris Curran, and Kristina Bolduc welcome guest Erica Wernick, founder of LA Bound: a business that helps aspiring TV and Movie Actors/Actresses/Experts achieve their goals in Los Angeles. In this episode we learn what a new membership organization is like. We discover the essence of Parkinson’s Law: that every penny made is also spent. We guide Erica through her first step toward Profit First in setting up different allocation accounts, including running a basic profit assessment. In this episode we also explain cost vs. investment.  Make sure to tune in for a future episode where we invited Erica back after she implements Profit First!

 

Our Guest 

Erica Wernick is a Graphic Designer for television, and Founder of LA Bound: The Ultimate Guide to Moving to Los Angeles. You may have seen her work on hit TV shows like “Glee”, “The Office”, “Entourage”, or “The Middle”. After working on over 20 TV shows, and developing an obsession with wanting to help anyone struggling to land their own LA dream job, Erica started her business, LA Bound. She probably would love long walks on the beach, but LA traffic makes it impossible to confirm.

 

Show Links

Website: www.laboundguide.com

Facebook: facebook.com/laboundguide

Instagram: instagram.com/laboundguide

 

Corporate Partners

Nextiva – VOIP phone providers for small businesses.

Fundera – Single source online funding for entrepreneurs. Also offers an adviser program for CPAs, bookkeepers and business coaches.

TSheets – The #1 customer rated time tracking solution!

Fundbox –  the simplest and fastest way to fix your cash flow by advancing payments for your outstanding invoices.

Sammy Hagar: Red Rocker To Red Hot Entrepreneur

Anyone who has been paying attention to rock music over the last couple of decades can’t help but know about Sammy Hagar. He has proven that, in the music world, he is a force to be reckoned with. But what many people beyond his large fan-base don’t realize is that he is also a savvy businessman with an impressive record as a serial entrepreneur.

Establishing His Roots

Hagar has been making music professionally since 1973, when he got his start with Montrose. Since that time, he has been like a cat with nine lives, coming out on top in every area in which he has gotten involved. From his successful solo career, to producing such hits as “I Can’t Drive 55,” to making rock history with Van Halen, to being inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, he has had a career that most only dream of. Twenty years ago, he branched out, adding “entrepreneur” to his resume. He went into business with other celebrities and opened the first Cabo Wabo Cantina, a small Cabo San Lucas restaurant that serves up Mexican food and entertainment. He took full ownership not long after, when the others bailed because the company wasn’t making money. He had found a love for the area, a place where he could hang out, live his lifestyle, and enjoy life with a business of his own.

Lesson 1: If at first it doesn’t succeed, change the formula. And So It Grows

Little did people know, back when the Cabo Wabo Cantina opened, that it would go on to experience such success and growth. While Hagar, in this time, could have expanded to a lengthy list of locations around the world, he has been content not to “water down his brand,” as he says. To date, in addition to the original Cabo San Lucas establishment, he has only chosen to expand into the choice locations of Lake Tahoe and Las Vegas.

Lesson 2: Keep your brand pure and untainted.

But he hasn’t limited himself to the Cabo Wabo Cantina. Rather, he has gone on to open Sammy’s Bar and Beach Grill in McCarren International Airport in Las Vegas, with plans to open locations in other select airports. And then there is the story of Cabo Wabo Tequila, which he started because he wanted something authentically “Sammy” to serve in his establishments, after he tried and fell in love with premium blanco tequila. While tequila sales were steadily climbing, reaching 147,000 cases in 2006, he sold 80 percent of the company for $80 million. In 2007, it was reported that Cabo Wabo Tequila was the second-best-selling premium tequila in the country. Using his rocker image and lifestyle, Hagar has taken an outspoken route to fueling his tequila sales, mentioning it in interviews and performing the song Más Tequila, to get people pumped. It was reported that, in 2007 alone, Cabo Wabo Enterprises earned roughly $60 million.

Lesson 3: Be shameless in growing your brand’s exposure – offering products (songs) that exposure consumers to you other products (tequila). Success and Beyond

If there is one thing that Hagar sets a fine example of, it’s how someone can turn their passion and lifestyle into multiple revenue streams. He has been a successful business owner for decades, trying his hand in various areas. While he rocks the stage, he is also leaving an imprint on the tequila, restaurant/bar, and entrepreneurial worlds. Moreover, at the age of 63, he is now the lead singer for the rock band Chickenfoot, proving that age really is just a state of mind.

Lesson 4: Passion fuels persistence. Persistence fuels success.

So, how about you? Are you ready to write your own “red rocker” success story? Perhaps, like Sammy, it is as simple as committing to your own dream and letting your personality shine. Whether or not we realize it, we often have the keys to entrepreneurial success locked up inside of us, just waiting to take center stage.

The Sun Is Always Shining Above The Clouds

I was flying out of Newark Airport. The weather was miserable. It was wet and cold. The ground had puddles and the grass was covered in mud. The clouds were dark.

As the flight took off, the plane shuddered like it too was chilled to the bone.

A few moments later it burst through the clouds. The sun was beaming brightly. The clouds were a beautiful puffy white. The sunlight warmed the passengers through the windows.

I think the darkest days of our entrepreneurial life are the same way – dark, cold, makes you shudder. Almost unbearable.

There is no promise that you’ll break through, but I can promise you this: It is much closer than you think. It’s just a little bit above you. You just need to reach a little bit higher.

When you do burst through, things will be brighter than you ever imagined.

Keep striving, entrepreneur.

The Absolute Source for Every Entrepreneur’s Success

As soon as Donald Trump mentioned it about any of his competitors their pole numbers hit the skids. I’m referring to having low energy.

Being an entrepreneur is more than a full time job. A successful entrepreneur is constantly on the run. Their mind needs to race at 100 miles an hour. In order to do this, you need many sources of energy, from fueling your car, truck or jet. So when Donald Trump said Jeb and Dr. Carson had low energy, he was asking that without adequate energy how could they be effective presidents?

This article is not about politics although the wrong policies can either enhance or challenge the ability of the American entrepreneur to succeed. When I refer to energy I am including fuel and a healthy balance sheet which propels a company forward. Just like a balance sheet has pluses and minuses, energy has positives and negatives. Ultimately your furnace is your health and enables you to harness your company’s resources.

The ongoing cycle that fuels a business is cash flow and profits. The cycle that fuels a CEO is health and enthusiasm. Both of these parallels continue to feed off of each other. Without adequate health and vigor, a CEO can’t fuel success. The ones s/he leads also feel this lacking.

We know all the obvious energy boosters and busters, which are part of various cycles.

Let’s start with eating and exercise. If you eat the proper foods, you have the stamina to exercise and put energy into your business. If you eat the wrong foods, you feel sluggish. This affects everyone around you.

The next cycle is sleep and getting on schedule for the next day. If you get a good night’s sleep and wake up refreshed, you are like a thoroughbred foaming at the bit ready to get out of the starting gate. But if you get a restless night’s sleep the next day won’t be very productive. Everything you do will further drain you, leading to a vicious cycle.

If you eat, sleep and exercise properly, you don’t need to read further. However, if you don’t, the tips below could be a game changer for you, your family, and business.

Below are some of the reasons you don’t sleep well;

1. Poor sleep hygiene. Having good sleep hygiene involves having a steady sleep schedule, keeping the bedroom cool and dark, blocking out digital displays and having a routine before bed, like taking a bath, brushing your teeth, maybe reading a book. Don’t read from anything digital because that re-engages your brain at a time you want to unwind. Adapting these routines may sound easy but for some people, they are very difficult.

2. Eating the wrong foods, especially close to bedtime.

3. Nighttime Acid Reflux.

4. Stuffy sinuses.

5. Some other undiagnosed health issue.

We are going to discuss reason 3 & 4. There is a well-known solution in the medical community but for some reason it doesn’t get much attention when Doctor’s make recommendations to their patients.

Doctors tell almost all-acid reflux sufferers to lift the head of the bed. Studies have shown that this leads to great results. Not only does it help with acid reflux, it can also help with other drainage issues.

But it’s easier said than done. There is a simple device that lifts the head of the bed. It’s called an under mattress bed wedge. It’s also called a mattress wedge or mattress bed wedge.

What this device does is it inclines the entire sleeping area, to a medically recommended angle, to introduce gravity while sleeping. This position helps by keeping someone from refluxing. If someone should happen to experience reflux gravity drains acid back into the stomach as opposed to letting it sit in the esophagus and causing damage all night long.

If you do suffer from Acid Reflux you could find Reflux Guard© at www.refluxguard.com and learn a lot more about the product and acid reflux.

Episode 65: Health and Profitability with Bryn Davis

Also Available On

 

Show Summary

Bryn Davis joins Mike Michalowicz and Chris Curran to share his inspiring story of how his passion for healthy eating exploded into a booming business. Welcome to Episode 64 of the Profit First Podcast!

 

Our Guest

Bryn wasn’t a chef or restauranteur. He was just a guy looking for a healthier way to eat. So he started where all healthy food starts – on a farm. His grandfather’s farm to be exact. That’s where he earned the start-up money for the first Bryn and Dane’s. He took his savings and started building the dream of serving healthy, fast, and delicious food to the masses.

Bryn Davis understands the challenges faced by healthy eaters because he dealt with them himself. What to eat? Where to eat? And how much? Facing these issues when he was 70lbs overweight, Bryn decided to change his habits and change the fast food industry. He learned how to make food that wasn’t just good for you, but also just plain good. He shed the weight, gained some experience, and now he’s ready to share healthy fast food with the world. That’s how Bryn and Dane’s was born.

 

Show Links

Website: http://www.brynanddanes.com/

 

Corporate Partners

Nextiva – VOIP phone providers for small businesses.

Fundera – Single source online funding for entrepreneurs. Also offers an adviser program for CPAs, bookkeepers and business coaches.

TSheets – The #1 customer rated time tracking solution!

Fundbox –  the simplest and fastest way to fix your cash flow by advancing payments for your outstanding invoices.

Now Was Two Words Ago

Now was two words ago.

Now has actually become four words back now. There it is again.

Now passes so quickly. Don’t wait. Catch it now.

(If you don’t, now becomes then.)