V.L. Thompson's Blog, page 7

6 Rules to Live by When Starting a Subscription Business

Alex Zhardanovsky is an evangelist for subscription-based businesses, as he co-founded PetFlow.com, an online service that ships kibble and pet toys to consumers’ doors. Just three years after its debut, the company is expected to pull in $50 million in sales in 2014.

But as gung ho as he is, Zhardanovsky sees that this model isn’t for everyone.

He dismissed an idea that someone pitched him recently for a subscription-based sock-of-the-month club, for instance, saying, “How many pairs of socks does a guy really need? Once I get a few months’ worth, I’ll cancel, and that’s not a good subscription model.”

That said, Zhardanovsky and others in the marketing industry see broad and lasting potential in an emerging subscription economy that’s so far dominated by companies like Netflix,Birchbox, Amazon Prime, Dollar Shave Club and Spotify. Even retail behemoth Walmart has planted its flag, with a food-and-treats-based subscription service, and H. Bloom does big business by consistently decorating spas, hotels and office buildings with fresh flowers.

Zhardanovsky has called subscription services “the holy grail” of businesses because “you can acquire a customer once and potentially keep him for life as long as you provide a service or product that he wants and values.”

Consumers will lock themselves into a monthly subscription to get the best a company has to offer, with convenience, access, reliability and selection being among the strongest selling points. Businesses, meanwhile, will be laser focused on keeping those customers happy because they want the positive cash flow, higher profit margins and peace of mind that come with loyalists who pay upfront.

It’s not quite as easy as some of the successful companies may make it look, though. Their enthusiasm aside, experts say there are a number of guidelines to follow if a small business wants to become a subscription service.

1. Be unique

Give consumers a product or service they can’t get anywhere else, whether it’s Standard Cocoa’s curated artisanal chocolates from around the world or Forrester Research’s latest data analysis and market forecasts.

NatureBox sends its customers private-label healthy snacks in custom-created packages each month, without a Clif Bar, Kashi product or anything else that could come from the corner deli or a neighborhood grocery store.

And if you have head-to-head competitors, it’s not a bad idea to point out the differences in your two offerings, says Zach Bulygo, a writer for KISSmetrics.

“It can be in your headline, on your home page, close to your call to action,” Bulygo says. “Make it clear that you’re different.”

2. Be convenient 

Every step of the process must be simple for the consumer, from signing up to placing orders to making returns. Netflix focuses on its all-you-can-eat, order anytime service, while Trunk Club emphasizes the hassle you’ll avoid if you skip the mall and use their virtual personal stylists to build your wardrobe.

Allow consumers to easily manage their subscription so they don’t run out of their necessities, saving them last-minute retail runs.

3. Be quirky

It’s no secret that Dollar Shave Club sells a commodity — men’s razors and shaving products — but the brand has also created a hip, almost party-like brand identity, experts said. It’s not that those consumers couldn’t pick up their Gillettes at Target, but they choose not to, instead paying to join the cool kids’ club.

New Master’s Academy, a Southern California-based school, offers subscription-based online classes in artistic endeavors like drawing, painting and sculpture. There’s more than 100 hours of content for budding Picassos to study at a price that no community college could beat.

4. Be valuable

When do most people realize they’re out of dog food? When the bag’s empty, Zhardanovsky says. That’s why PetFlow closely monitors its food manufacturers, making sure to have in stock what its customers need by their scheduled delivery dates. The company sends email alerts to its members one week prior to delivery. “You want to feel like the company is looking out for you as a consumer,” he said. “That’s a big value-add.”

PetFlow customers, who don’t pay a subscription fee in addition to their product orders, can control their deliveries and change schedules as often as they like.

Read full article by Terry Stanley on Mashable.com

Christian Dream Interpretation? Does God Use Dreams to Speak To Us?

Do Christians have dreams that have meaning? Is there a way for believers to interpret these dreams? Does God communicate to Christians by dreams or does God speak to us in our dreams?

Joseph, Interpreter of Dreams

The Bible describes situations where dreams are interpreted and one of the best examples of this is when Joseph interpreted the dream of the Egyptian Pharaoh (Genesis 41). Joseph had been thrown into prison unfairly and when he was able to interpret the dreams of the baker and the cup bearer and when the cup bearer heard that Pharaoh had a dream he remembered Josephs God-given ability to interpret dreams (Genesis 40). Pharaoh freed Joseph from prison and Joseph interpreted the dream by Pharaoh and by doing so, many nations were saved, including the nation-to-be, Israel. Joseph warned the Pharaoh of a soon-coming drought that would lay waste the entire region for 7 years. But does God still send dreams to those in the church and even those outside of the church?

God, Giver of Dreams

God gives us all, believers and non-believers, the ability to dream. These dreams can sometimes have meaning and I do believe God does use dreams to send Christians messages but He also sends dreams to those who do not yet know Christ. I have communicated with some Muslims who had abandoned their love for the Islamic religion and they have informed many that they had dreams about Jesus. One former Muslim told me that he had a dream of Jesus on a boat in a river. Jesus was waving to him and asking him to come to Him. In this dream, the former Muslim said that he jumped into the river where there was danger and swam to Jesus and when he got on the boat with Jesus, the former Muslim asked Jesus many questions. God has and still does use dreams to reach lost people who have no access to a Bible or to Christian missionaries. This man woke from the dream and sought out a Christian and wanted to read the Bible. He later put his trust in the Savior. This squares with what is written in the Word that the Father draws men and women to Christ (John 6:44). The point is that there are literally hundreds of former Muslims who have become disillusioned with the Islamic faith and converted to Christianity because the love of Christ attracted them. What stands out most to these former Muslims is that God spoke to them in dreams, and some say, visions. There is little doubt that God has, can, and will in the future use dreams to speak not only to Christians but those still outside of the faith.

God Speaks to Us

We know that the Bible is God’s very Word and that His Word, contained in the Bible, speaks to non-believers as well as believers today. We cannot limit God or put Him in a box and so I cannot say that every dream we have is from God but at the same time, it is very possible that God will speak to us in dreams. John had a vision from God and that is recorded in much of the Book of Revelation. Even Paul was caught up into the heavenly realm where he saw many things, some of which he was forbidden to even speak about. In 2 Corinthians 12:1-4 Paul wrote about this, “Boasting is necessary, though it is not profitable; but I will go on to visions and revelations of the Lord. I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago—whether in the body I do not know, or out of the body I do not know, God knows—such a man was caught up to the third heaven. And I know how such a man—whether in the body or apart from the body I do not know, God knows — was caught up into Paradise and heard inexpressible words, which a man is not permitted to speak.”

God does speaks to us today through His Word but He also reserves the right to speak to us in our dreams and to those who are at present, lost. Then the question arises, how do we know whether a dream is from God or just by random chance and has no meaning?

Discerning Whether Dreams Are From God or Not

Since we know that God does use dreams to communicate to non-believers who are being called to faith in Christ and also sometimes uses dreams to speak to Christians, how can we know whether the dream or vision is from God? The main determining factor as to whether a dream or vision is from God or not and to whether we are to act on this vision or dream is if it agrees with what is written in the Bible. God will never contradict Himself. That is, He will never send a dream or vision that is contrary to what is recorded in His Holy Word, the Bible. Whatever a person dreams can be placed against what is recorded and revealed in the Bible to see whether it is His message or His will for us or someone else. We cannot just have a dream and claim that God spoke to us and use that dream as concrete evidence to do something or that it was a message from God…particularly if it goes against what is taught in the Bible. God is not the Author of confusion. The Holy Spirit always agrees with what is in the written Word. No dream or vision that goes directly against what is written in the Bible is from God. Who knows, this dream or vision may well be from the Enemy or one of his fallen angels, demons. We must use discernment to determine if God wants us to do something or not.

Joel, Peter and Visions

The prophet Joel spoke about dreams and visions when he wrote in Joel 2:28-29 saying that, “it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh; your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, and your young men shall see visions. Even on the male and female servants in those days I will pour out my Spirit.” This prophecy came true on the day of Pentecost with the birth of the church and the coming of God the Holy Spirit to men and women.

The Apostle Peter had a vision from God in Acts 10:9-16, “The next day, as they were on their journey and approaching the city, Peter went up on the housetop about the sixth hour to pray. And he became hungry and wanted something to eat, but while they were preparing it, he fell into a trance and saw the heavens opened and something like a great sheet descending, being let down by its four corners upon the earth. In it were all kinds of animals and reptiles and birds of the air. And there came a voice to him: ‘Rise, Peter; kill and eat.’” But Peter said, “By no means, Lord; for I have never eaten anything that is common or unclean.” And the voice came to him again a second time, “What God has made clean, do not call common.” This happened three times, and the thing was taken up at once to heaven. God sent this vision to Peter to tell him that the gospel of grace would now go out to the Gentiles. God was establishing the fact that the legalism of clean and unclean foods was now done away with and the analogy of the Jews thinking that the Gentiles were unclean was wrong. God wanted to take the gospel to the whole world and not just to the children of Abraham.

 

Read full article by JACK WELLMAN on WhatChristiansWantToKnow.com

 

How to Start a Food Truck 01: Should You Go Mobile or Brick and Mortar?

Welcome to the first chapter of our new blog series: How to Start a Food Truck.

If you’ve ever wondered how to start a food truck business, you’ve come to the right place! Over the next several months, we’re going to take you all the way from the very first seeds of your dream to opening day.

Our goal is to help every food truck owner—from the seasoned veterans to the aspiring dreamers like you—take his or her business to the next level by providing the #1 resource of food truck business know-how. That’s why we’re so stoked to bring you an unprecedented level of in-depth information in the “How to Start a Food Truck” series—a comprehensive, chronological, and crazy-awesome guide to starting your very own food truck business.

What’s the first stop on our epic business planning road trip? Helping you decide whether or not a food truck is the right business model for you by looking at some of the differences between food trucks and brick and mortar restaurants. After all, all good cooks know that the baseline ingredients make or break the dish. Let’s make sure the most basic and important of business decisions is the right one for your tastes!

If you’re ready to go, let’s get started by defining the single-most important part of this entire journey—your dream.

Defining Your Dream

It’s no secret that career satisfaction plays a major role in determining our overall levels of happiness in life. Doing work that you love can seriously fulfill your life and nourish your soul—the key is to figure out what it is that you really want.

Are you entranced by the idea of a mobile restaurant that gives you the freedom to move around each day? Or do you dream of owning an establishment where you can decorate the walls with your favorite photos and have a special booth for your favorite customers? Imagine yourself in 10 years. Where are you—smiling through the window of a food truck that’s clocked thousands of miles as you greet a family who comes by every Friday night, or walking the well-worn floors of your restaurant and checking in on every table’s meals?

It’s easy to predict what some people might choose. Think of it this way: If you enjoy travel, discovering new cuisines, and exploring your city, you might thrive on the flexibility offered by a food truck. Aspiring entrepreneurs who are eager to get their hands dirty and get excited by the thought of a road trip will love the daily travel and adventures involved in owning a food truck. On the other hand, if you prefer stable routines, dream of being a famous chef, and love to host big parties for your friends and family, you might prefer the opportunities that accompany restaurant ownership. If the idea of traveling constantly exhausts you and you’re afraid to refill the windshield wiper fluid in your car, you’ll probably enjoy life in a comfortable, reliable building more than life on the road.

Or perhaps your dream involves a little bit of both. After all, some people get started in the food truck industry as a stepping stone to their larger dream of owning a restaurant. You might be excited to get in on the food truck trend while it’s hot so that you can build a name for yourself and open that chain of restaurants you’ve always dreamed about somewhere down the line—and that’s okay.

Every one of these options is a valid choice, so long as you realize that regardless of your long-term path, you need to fully understand the realities of each situation before making any choices. Entering the food industry is risky business—like any entrepreneurial endeavor—but you can make a calculated, informed decision about your dream when you know what life as a food truck or restaurant owner is really like.

Examining the Realities

Let’s look at some of the key differences between owning a food truck and owning a restaurant to help you understand what you’re getting yourself into.

Getting Started

Opening a Food Truck: There’s no doubt about it: starting a food truck is cheaper than starting a restaurant. Forbes estimates that most food truck ventures can get started for between $50,000 and $80,000, while a restaurant will typically cost at least $100,000 to $300,000 to get up and running. If your specialty is sandwiches or gourmet cookies, you’re going to need a lot of…well, a lot of dough!

Obviously, the biggest expense involved with either a truck or a restaurant is the physical space from which you’ll operate—and a truck is much cheaper than a brick and mortar location, particularly if you can find a used truck that is already outfitted to function as a mobile kitchen. You’ll also run into similar costs such as insurance, licenses and permits, marketing expenses, and staff salaries with either type of establishment. But again, each of these categories requires fewer funds when you’re aiming to open a food truck instead of an entire food building.

Opening a Restaurant: Opening a restaurant costs more, but the upside is that you’ll probably run into fewer legal restrictions than someone who is trying to start a food truck. Many cities across the country have laws in place that aren’t very friendly toward food truck owners. Aspiring FoodTruckrs have trouble getting operating permits, difficulty finding places to park, and face strict requirements about the size and standards of their trucks. Worst of all, they must navigate an entirely new set of laws every time they cross city lines.

Though aspiring restaurateurs must lock down a number of permits and licenses for everything from operating to serving alcohol, health code and food handling laws are designed with them in mind. You’ll also only need to figure out the requirements for the one city where your building is actually located. The food industry as a whole is more welcoming to entrepreneurs who are opening brick and mortar establishments—and for some people, this could be worth part of the additional expense.

The Perfect Spot

Owning a Food Truck: The ability to move around is one of the greatest perks of owning a food truck. When there’s an event going on, you can take your truck to where people are. If someone wants you to cater a wedding or festival, you’ve already got a way to transport and serve your food on the go. And if you’re experiencing a slow day without many customers, it’s easy to pack up and move on to somewhere with a little more action.

Of course, no one said that opening a food truck is easy—so even this bright spot brings along some challenges. Finding a place to park can be one of the toughest parts of owning a food truck. Many cities have strict laws in place regarding where and when you can park your truck and for how long—and if you violate those ordinances, you could find yourself faced with a heavy fine that eats away an entire day’s worth (or more) of profits. Local governments are hungry, and they don’t accept burritos and cheesesteaks as payment.

Owning a Restaurant: When you own a restaurant, you clearly don’t need to worry about finding anywhere to park. A stable location also has an added benefit: Customers will always know where to find you, which makes it easy to build repeat business over time.

However, if you don’t have a good location, your business could be doomed before it’s time to change your calendar page to the next month. So, finding a prime location is the simple solution, right? Not so fast—good locations almost always have higher rent, and they might not be available when you want them. Though a food truck owner has to find a good spot every day, he or she can move on easily if it doesn’t work out. A restaurant owner needs to find a location that he or she will be happy with for many, many years.

The Daily Grind

Operating a Food Truck: Time for a truth-bomb: Food truck owners work long hours. This industry isn’t for the faint of heart. Even before you open for business (and even once you’re done serving for the day), there’s dicing, slicing, mixing, and other miscellaneous prep work to be done—plus an entire kitchen to be cleaned. The area you have to maintain and clean every day is a lot smaller than it would be if you owned a full restaurant, but you also won’t have as many people to help out. With a smaller team working on your truck, that means you’re going to be doing a lot more of the grunt work on your own.

And though you have less space inside your truck to clean, you also need to maintain the mechanical workings of your truck. A restaurant can’t get a flat tire, but something as seemingly insignificant as a stray nail or a shard of broken glass could derail a FoodTruckr for an entire day if he or she is caught off guard and gets stuck somewhere. Your food truck needs regular oil changes and tune-ups just like your car does, so be prepared to spend some time (and money) at your favorite mechanic’s shop.

Operating a Restaurant: Brick and mortar restaurant owners enjoy a lot more space to work and serve customers than food truck owners—but that also means that cleanup at the end of the night is going to take more time. In addition to cleaning your larger kitchen, there’s also floors to vacuum, tables to clean and reset, menus to wipe down, and a lot more food that needs to be dated and sorted regularly to prevent expiration.

While you have a much larger area to clean, you also probably have more hands on deck to help out. As the restaurant owner, you can hire a staff of servers, hosts, bartenders, and table bussers to handle some of the more unappealing parts of maintaining your space. Running a restaurant is typically more of a team effort than running a food truck, where the bulk of the work often falls on one or two sets of shoulders. Of course, having a larger team also means that you have to find more qualified applicants and train more newbies—and sign more paychecks every week.

Evaluating the Risk

Investing in a Food Truck: You can almost certainly open a food truck for less than six figures, but getting your truck up and running off the ground is going to require a lot of planning and a lot of time. Navigating your area’s local laws and restrictions will be challenging, especially if you’re new to the industry and unfamiliar with the policies in your area. Of course, that’s where FoodTruckr comes in—we’re here to make the process a little easier.

According to a report by the National League of Cities, food trucks made approximately $650 million in 2012—and that figure is expected to quadruple to $2.7 billion by the year 2017. Food trucks are more than just a hot trend. They’re quickly becoming one of the fastest-growing and most flexible small business opportunities for entrepreneurs around the country. However, that doesn’t mean there isn’t risk involved. Before you make this decision, understand that a lot of aspiring truck owners never make it as far as actually purchasing a truck because they get overwhelmed by all the red tape and challenges along the way. It’s a tough business, and you need to be prepared to dive in headfirst if you want to make it.

Investing in a Restaurant: As we established earlier, opening a restaurant requires a huge monetary investment upfront. You’re looking at spending at least six figures, and most likely several hundreds of thousands of dollars. There used to be a popular myth that said that nine out of ten new restaurants would fail in the first year. That statistic has since been proven false by researchers from places such as Ohio State University, who instead estimate that around 60 percent of new restaurants will fail within the first three years of business. That’s still a big risk to take right off the bat for a small-time entrepreneur with a dream—and you may have trouble finding someone to finance your aspirations.

However, restaurants aren’t going anywhere any time soon. People will always need to eat and they’ll always be willing to pay someone else to prepare their food for them and to deliver an enjoyable experience. You’ll just need to remember that there are a lot of other people out there who have the same dream as you—and having great food, a great staff, and a great location are only the first things you’ll need to do to set yourself apart.

Choose Your Destiny

Whether you opt for a food truck or a restaurant, the realities of the food industry can feel a little daunting and discouraging. Don’t let them get you down! At FoodTruckr, we believe in pursuing big dreams not because they are easy—but because they are worth it. We also believe that if you’re really determined to make a successful go of this journey, it’s smart to learn about the path that lies ahead of you. And most importantly, we believe in you and your ambition to squash hunger with magical, mouth-watering meals.

Read full article on FoodTruckr.com

The Introvert’s Guide to Networking

Networking in a new industry can be daunting for even the most socially adept. Here’s how to dissolve the nerves.

Networking is research-proven to be the overwhelmingly best way to land a job, better than job board hunting and recruiter services.

But for most of us–introverts, especially–selling oneself as a “brand” doesn’t come naturally. Something as small as fully owning the skills section of your resume feels like pulling your own teeth; shoving yourself out the door to walk into a room of strangers feels like a root canal.

Here’s how to calm the nerves and awkwardness that come with wading into a crowd of industry pros, in search of your next big break:

1. AIM CASUAL

Before you start sweating through your best suit at a job fair or luncheon, ease into the networking scene with a more casual event. Try a local Meetup that has the group doing an activity, like hiking or pickup soccer, where meeting like-minded professionals doesn’t mean standing less than a foot from close-talkers and business-card-hawkers.

Getting more casual also means smaller groups with more specific expertise. You’re less likely to wade through a dozen dead-end introductions, and have more relatable conversations, when you’ve narrowed it down to just “business analysts who also love bowling.”

More on getting specific, from Mashable:

Tech crawls, like pub crawls but with more tech talk, can be a more relaxed approach to rubbing elbows. Hackathons can also be a great way for tech talent to mingle, since there’s common ground to discuss and attendees can focus on work if the mingling aspect becomes overwhelming.

2. VOLUNTEER

Along the same lines as an activity-based event, volunteering gives you a chance to show off your skills, rather than talk them up and hope for a bite. That doesn’t mean pulling weeds and painting rec centers; you can volunteer your time and talents in ways that build a portfolio, whether it’s in web design or business consulting. Sites like Idealist focus on skills-based opportunities in nonprofit, part, or full time, and volunteer opportunities.

 

3. CALL IT OUT

Pretending you’re there for the joy of it, and not to meet people for their career connections, is exhausting. If a ladder-climbing competition thinly veiled as a cocktail hour makes you jittery, try finding or forming your own networking meetup group.

You’ll be able to control the environment, the size of the crowd, and the types of professionals that you send the call-out to. The downside to starting your own group: You’ll need to have attended a bunch of these already, to get a feel for how they should work and what your industry expects. But if you just can’t stomach one more hotel lobby full of stale hors d’oeuvres and science fair-esque poster boards, give it a shot. Maybe meeting strangers in a park for beers and barbecue is more your speed.

 

Read full article by SAMANTHA COLE from FastCompany.com

Why Won’t God Hurry Up?

A few years ago, I struggled every day to get up for my job. Describing the job as miserable would be a severe understatement. My boss was a modern-day Napoleon, and the commute was nerve wracking. I really wanted to be in full-time ministry and had been begging God to do something to get me there.

In prayer one morning, I felt the Lord tell me I would work for the church I had been faithfully serving. I was excited about this and expected it to happen soon. I ran off to tell my wife, then waited for the call from the bullpen to go play with the pros.

Maybe you have your own version of this story. You heard from God, but nothing happened or is happening yet. You’ve read your Bible and underlined the right verses, but the reality of the wait is crushing you. You’ve waited so long, you’re beginning to wonder if God is mad at you or if you offended Him in some way. You’re thinking if you just do the right things or pray the right mix of words, somehow God will notice you—because He hasn’t seemed to notice you yet.

Since that four-year season of waiting on God, I’ve learned a few things about this process of waiting. And the main thing I’ve learned is that there is a process to this waiting business. Here are a few reasons you might be asked to live in an “already but not yet” place.

You’re not ready for the size of what you’ll receive

In the Old Testament, God promises the Israelites the Promised Land, yet He seemed to drag His feet on keeping His promise to them. But God gives us insight into His thoughts on this in a few small verses:

“But I will not drive them out in a single year, because the land would become desolate and the wild animals too numerous for you. Little by little I will drive them out before you, until you have increased enough to take possession of the land.” (Exodus 23:29-30, NIV)

God didn’t give the Israelites the Promised Land all at once because they were not yet large enough to occupy it. If God had given them all the land promised to them right away, the wild animals would have outnumbered them and destroyed the hard work they put in to cultivating the land.

As a father, I can understand this. I would never give my 9-year-old the keys to the car and tell her to be home by dark. At 9 years old, she isn’t prepared or experienced enough to safely control the car. That car is like a wild animal to her. But when she’s ready, I will give her the privilege and responsibility to drive it. Just like the Israelites, God will only give us what we are prepared to handle once we’re prepared to handle it.

You’re unlearning improper worship

God will only give us what we are prepared to handle once we’re prepared to handle it.

If we aren’t careful, the very thing that God intended for a blessing can turn into an instrument of destruction. We see this countless times with the Israelites, especially when they melted down the gold and made a golden calf to worship. We may not worship golden calves these days, but that doesn’t mean we don’t find other things to worship—and we can be especially tempted to worship God’s plans instead of God Himself. Right now, you’re being refined.

You’re learning dependence on God

The Lord gave the Israelites the Promised Land “little by little” because it required them to wait upon Him the entire way through it. When we have to wait on God it teaches us to depend on him more. Maybe the Israelites would have turned their backs on God if they received all the land at once because they wouldn’t have felt the need for Him anymore—they’d have gotten what they wanted, and life would be good.

Read the full article by ERIC SPEIR on RelevantMagazine.com

Ditch the Start-Up Pitch

How do you get somebody interested in investing in your startup? You pitch them the idea. Pitching skills are widely considered fundamental to basic entrepreneurship, and this skill is taught, evaluated, and rewarded as part of almost any entrepreneurial education. The problem is that pitching is a waste of time and teaching this as a primary skill of entrepreneurship is misleading and sets the wrong priorities for aspiring entrepreneurs.

Pitching ideas is accepted as an important entrepreneurial skill for two fundamental reasons. First, it requires aspiring entrepreneurs to create a short, precise description of their idea and why it is likely to result in a successful enterprise. With this first reason comes an implied assumption that entrepreneurs who can organize and present their ideas in a compelling and concise fashion have a better understanding of the potential business opportunity and will also be able to better recruit skilled talent to their teams. A second reason that pitches are well accepted is that they allow investors, professors, or judges evaluate a large number of ideas in a short period of time. An implied assumption associated with this second reason is that pitches are the best way to evaluate many ideas in a short period of time.

There is no evidence that the people who give the best pitches have materially better chances of entrepreneurial success than any other entrepreneur with the same motivations, traits, and skills presenting the same idea. Anecdotal evidence that comes from seeing many hundreds of pitches and having talked about pitches with many other startup investors, mentors, and academics indicates that people who are better at pitching are more extroverted and more willing to practice. I am not aware of any evidence that ties these traits to entrepreneurial success, but even if such a link existed, the pitch is hardly the best way to test them.

A counter argument could rest on the second major reason pitches are so popular, pitches are more about evaluating the idea than the entrepreneur and pitches are the best way to evaluate an idea. But this point has major flaws too. As good entrepreneurs (and investors) well know, even the best idea will not succeed without a skilled entrepreneur. Moreover, to the extent that the idea must be evaluated, the pitch is a poor way to do it. Start-up ideas are best evaluated in writing without the emotions created with a “live performance.”

If we want to produce more successful entrepreneurs then we need to realize that we must adopt a fast and effective test that evaluates all the things we know relate to entrepreneurial success: the entrepreneur, their idea, and their team. There are better ways to test for these three parameters within the same time frame as a standard pitch.  Here is a process that could simply and effectively replace the pitch for evaluating potential entrepreneurial leaders and their ideas:

- Ask aspiring entrepreneurs to send in advance a written description — under 400 words — describing their idea, their team, and why they expect to produce a good financial and/or social return.

 

Read full article by Derek Lidow from blogs.hbr.org

How to Use Public Speaking to Attract Clients

When Robert Middleton moved his marketing consulting practice, Action Plan Marketing, to Palo Alto, California several years ago, he started his business from scratch. He had left his well-established client base several miles away and now had to find strategies to generate new clients.

Because Middleton had always spoken to promote his business, he turned to public speaking with a vengeance. He researched local organizations whose members comprised professional business owners, his target clientele. He called chambers of commerce, business groups and others likely to be interested in his three-hour marketing workshop.

Within a few months, Middleton had spoken at over a dozen organizations, establishing his reputation as a marketing expert for professional service firms. He quickly became a known entity, having personally introduced his business and credentials to hundreds of prospects. Better yet, Middleton’s speaking strategy helped him land all the business he could handle in a relatively short time period.

Over the course of sixteen talks, he averaged one new client each time. Today, the seminars he conducts at business groups and, increasingly, teleconferences promoted through his web site generate more than 50 percent of his business.

Speaking Is Selling

Many business people never consider standing in the front of their buying public to share professional wisdom. If you’re one of them, you’re missing the boat.

Speaking is a marketing strategy you can immediately embrace to get in front of potential customers. Speaking puts you within handshaking distance of your best prospects, many times helping you close sales before you leave the room.

By speaking regularly you can end the uncertainty of knowing where your next client will come from. Speaking can help you reach dozens, and sometimes hundreds of your best prospects every time. Speakers report that speaking regularly continuously fills their prospect pipelines, ensuring a steady stream of new clients and customers.

Speaking is effective because it showcases your knowledge before groups of people who eagerly show up to hear it. Your prospects may tune out advertising, but they’ll pay attention to your talk because it presents your knowledge in polished form to people who think it will help them.

Speaking gives you tremendous visibility and credibility that increases over time. Whenever you are in the front of a room, you get noticed.

People will remember who you are and what your business does. The more people see you speak and see your business name, the more successful people think you are.

Speaking gives prospects a taste of what you offer in a non-threatening environment. When they are in a room full of people, they feel comfortable.

There’s safety in numbers. They do not feel the sales pressure of a one-on-one meeting. It’s also low risk, as chances are, they didn’t pay as much to hear you speak as it would cost to hire you.

Get On The Program

You don’t have to be a seasoned speaker to put speaking to work for your business. If you’re willing to speak for free, you’ll find that there are more outlets available than you’ll know what to do with.

“If you can get up there and do a decent job you will immediately position yourself as an expert in the minds of an audience,” says business coach, author and professional speaker Caterina Rando. “You only have to be ‘decent’ to make an impact. Even though speaking can be scary at first, anybody can find groups to speak to and master the basics of giving a good speech.”

Choose the right topics

Before you contact an organization about speaking, create sample talk descriptions with catchy titles. For example, a financial planner could avoid generic descriptions like “Planning Your Retirement,” and use a more snappy title like “Enjoying Your Gold Years On A Champagne Budget”.

Read full article by Steven Van Yoder on Advertising.About.com

Challenges Are Advantages For Women Entrepreneurs

We hear a lot about the challenges faced by women in business. Many of those challenges are very real, but I believe there can be a huge advantage to being a women entrepreneur if we can all learn to focus on a few key things.

Project Confidence

When I first set out on my first round of funding for Restorsea, I was so uncomfortable the first three investors took pity on me and insisted on investing. Yes, I was successful in securing my first three investors, but that wasn’t exactly the tactic I was going for. I knew I needed to find a way to project confidence, so I road tested my presentations to other Harvard Business School women, took their feedback and perfected my script. Now, Restorsea is a well-funded business and I could give my presentation in my sleep.

Listen to Your Inner Voice

We hear a lot about a women’s intuition.  We tend to be pretty good about listening to our intuition in our personal lives, but it’s just as important in business. Often times that little voice in our head is telling us to go right, when everyone is telling us to go left. We always hear it, but we need to start listening to it more often.

During my first round of funding for Restorsea I was contemplating participating in a pay to play angel forum. (I’ll caveat this by saying if you’re asked to participate in a pay to play, I always recommend speaking with the head of the angel forum extensively to get a good understanding of their motivation to charge. Obtain a list of attendees to qualify investors and ask for references from past participating companies.) I was advised against participating by my attorneys and one of my founding investors. They ultimately left the decision to me and I elected to participate.  I was the only woman presenter and was exposed to investors I likely would never have met, specifically VC firms and family-run trusts, which provided great practice. I presented to 40 investors and 18 expressed interest immediately! I ended up securing my lead investor days later, but I still am in contact with many of them who are huge fans of the product and still offer both financial and key opinion leader support.

Your Friends are Your Biggest Supporters

Once I built the team and established the product, packaging and favorable terms, I gave the product to my three best friends from business school.  These women became my founding investors.  Interestingly, they didn’t know each other, as most of my HBS friendships were made ironically post-HBS.  As a result, our network expanded immediately.

They invested because they had seen me create and build brands from concept through launch over the past 20 years.  And because they witnessed this first hand, they all were supremely confident in asking their friends and family networks to meet me and listen to my story.

Get a Good Legal Team

My advice to you is to identify and find the best legal team and convince them to work for you within your budget.  When you have no money, it’s really temping to go with the lowest bidder.   I’ve learned that it is really important to find the best legal team, one who has extensive experience with start-ups.  I can’t tell you how grateful I am to my legal team for saving me from making a lot of mistakes and facilitating a very cumbersome and complex process.

Help people just because…

Networking shouldn’t be only one-sided.  I always believe that you need to help people and not expect anything in return.  Interestingly, we found our lead investor as a result of this philosophy.  One of my interns was looking to secure an interview for a summer job with a major consulting firm.

Read full article by By Patti Pao on Forbes.com

Should Your Company Give Clients 30 Days To Pay Invoices?

For many small business owners – such as marketing professionals, consultants, and IT companies – getting a contract from a large, well-established company can be a financial windfall. If you manage the relationship correctly, you could gain a well-known brand as a client. More importantly, these clients have the potential of becoming great repeat customers.

However, most large companies often insist that vendors provide credit terms. These net payment terms give them up to 60 days to pay invoices. This request is very common for commercial sales and is often included in boilerplate contracts. Unfortunately, business owners seldom consider the full financial implications of accepting these terms, only to find themselves with financial problems later.

 

Can you afford to give terms? Be sure to double-check

Before offering credit terms to clients, determine if you can actually afford to do so. Keep in mind that your company needs to spend money to service clients. You will need to  pay salaries, subcontractors, and vendors for up to 60 days before you see any payback.

You need to calculate the approximate cost to deliver your services and then determine if you can wait to get paid. Make sure that your company does not run out of money while waiting for payments. This is often a problem for small firms. Unfortunately, once you run out of money you are usually also out of options.

 

Does your client deserve credit?

Even if you can afford it, offering payment terms is not always a good idea. Make sure that your client has a good payment reputation; otherwise, you could find yourself with a collections nightmare and serious cash flow problems. And don’t assume that a client is a good payer just because they are a large, well-known brand. Many large companies are bad payers.

Perform a little due diligence to determine how well a client pays by getting a commercial credit report. Unlike consumer credit reports, which have restrictions, commercial credit reports are available to anyone. A commercial credit report allows you to see how a company pays its vendors. This is an indicator of how quickly they will pay you.

Most reports also provide a credit score, guidance on how to interpret the credit score, and, often, a suggested maximum credit line. Well-known credit report providers include Dun & Bradstreet, Experian, Cortera, and Ansonia.

 

Tricks to improve your cash flow

You can do a few things to minimize the financial impact of offering terms. The easiest technique is to offer your clients an incentive to pay quickly. For example, many companies offer clients a 2% discount if they pay invoices within 10 days. This simple trick works well and improves your cash flow as long as your clients participate.

 

Read full article by MARCO TERRY on SteamFeed.com

5 Ways That Joining a Trade Association Can Help You Boost Business

Ever feel like an ant crawling through a landscape of giant big-box competitors? If so, consider this: The average anthill packs plenty of collective power, and when its residents gather in large numbers, they can send even the largest beast running.

Trade associations can give small businesses similar leverage, affording them access to innovative business practices and winning business strategies. These industry-specific groups can also give independent operations more political clout, which may be helpful whenever proposed local, state, or federal legislation threatens to harm small businesses.

Here are five ways to boost your business by joining a trade association.

1. Tap into knowledge.

Odds are that someone, somewhere, in the industry has already discovered the solution to a vexing problem in your particular niche. Workshops, meet-and-greets, newsletters, blogs, and forums create opportunities to share those best practices and fresh ideas. Small merchants can also reap benefits from joining state or regional retail associations. Additionally, by networking, small-business owners may spot emerging trends, which could impact their bottom lines.

2. Enhance your reputation.

Trade associations sort out bad apples through self-regulation, which bolsters the reputations of all their members [PDF]. Professional organizations often award credentials and certifications, too, which can help to build consumer confidence in your products or services. The Organic Trade Association, which assures that organic growers and handlers adhere to the law, is one example.

3. Make personal connections.

By participating in a trade association’s regional chapters, small businesses can gain access to potential new customers in their area. Note that some small-business owners choose to join a group whose members are decision-makers in their target markets vs. their peers. For example, a social media professional may get ideas and best practices by participating in a marketing association but generate new business by hobnobbing with members of an automotive trade group. (To this end, carefully choose which trade shows you attend, too.)

Read full article by Jan Fletcher from Quickbooks.Intuit.com