May 22, 2013

Business Blogging and the United States of Entrepreneurs

"The Third-Term Panic", by Thomas Na...

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I hate you! is so common in Social Media today

I thought I would take a break writing about business blogging and social media and talk about something that continues to drive me crazy. My biggest complaint about the world in which we live today is that our energies and focus are on all the wrong things.

Here in Indiana, the Republican controlled state house is trying to enact laws against gay marriage, collective bargaining, etc. Two years ago they voted on key legislation banning citizens of this state from fornicating with Chickens. Seriously, like this is a real concern for the majority of citizens.

All nations create myths about themselves. The United States is no different.

One fact about this country over all others is true – we are a nation of Entrepreneurs.

We are nation that sees opportunity when others see doom and gloom. Yet, today, this does not seem to be the case. We are allowing a new mindset to enter our collective consciousness about our country. “Everything sucks and I hate you because you are not like me.”

We are becoming like Europeans longing for the good ole days when the Kaiser ruled and we were an empire like no other in the world. Here, everyone wants to back to the 1950s when everyone had jobs, money grew on trees and church was the center of everyone’s lives. The good ole days. The killer of any society is nostalgia or the past for fear of the future.

The media says it. Our politicians say it. It is no longer fashionable to be smart. Mediocrity is the new cool in this country. People who state the facts are called “elites”, when there was a time when they were simply called “smart”. We are all yelling at each other when we used to talk to one another. (Sorry, I am getting carried away….that is another discussion for another time).

We are a nation of Entrepreneurs

Despite all this negative messaging in our world, there is still a number of people in this country who are Entrepreneurs building new companies. We were talking to a prospect who runs a business in the UK targeting new companies. He said, “The market for new business is harder in the UK because the number of Entrepreneurs is smaller than here in the US.” In the US, there are on average 100k -150k new companies formed each year.

And, the data seems to support this:

“The jobs and innovation that new firms bring reshape and accelerate the economy,” said Robert E. Litan, vice president of Research and Policy at the Kauffman Foundation. “Consistency of firm formation from year to year still means that hundreds of thousands of Americans are poised to become entrepreneurs at any given time. Policies and economic conditions will affect this number at the margins, but the most important thing we as a nation can do to encourage entrepreneurship is to provide a hospitable environment that helps more startups become fast-growing, job-creating companies.”

Despite the ups and downs of the economy, there is a consistent number of individuals trying their hand at self-employment or venture creation. For all the bad times, there is always opportunities.

If this spirit is broken, there really will be no hope of this country. Ladies and Gentlemen, let’s keep the spirit alive like Nike says, “Just Do It”

Paul is the President of Professional Blog Service. PBS works with clients making strategic investments into business blogging, social media and search engine optimization.

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It’s not all bad news in economic development

indianapolis startup weekend.

My friends and family who are all Cable TV junkies are always down and out about where the country is headed. I even have one relative preparing for the upcoming revolution, if it would happen. (Note: He is not participating in any group, he is just preparing himself to protect his property). This is all foreign thought to me.

I was asked, what do you think? I pointed out that there are a lot of smart people in this country always generating new ideas for business. Business is happening. The problem is Cable Television is not reporting on it because good news does not conform to the “economy of fear and anger” ruling our flat screens. I conveyed a story about a friend who I had not seen in a while.  Last time we had met, he was involved in a startup dealing with medical informatics. I asked him how it was going, he says, “I sold that company. It got bought by a big company recently.  I am now onto building a new company.”

And, this weekend, there was the Startup Weekend at Purdue. It was a marathon event where 60 bright people came up with several ideas to start a new business. Out of Indiana, one idea has made it to the Global Battle.

Startup Weekend Indianapolis

“StartUp Weekend Indianapolis has brought together people with ideas and people with skills. A mix of seasoned vets, and lots of rookies are spending the weekend, building something truly exciting. .. The weekend is filled with opportunities to learn new things, try new things, and possibly even build something. Check out the Schedulee .. Busy this weekend? Join us for just the Pitches Sunday night and see who goes on to compete in the Global Battle.

It is a national program where hope is ever present. Let’s take some ideas and build a new company from it.

It really is time to turn off Cable TV and the “Economy of Fear and Anger.”

Look around your community and I am sure you will find an economy of Entrepreneurs in your area. People who live to turn ideas into action. These people are your leaders. They are the ones that turn ideas into jobs. Here in Indianapolis, there are several groups specializing in supporting their industries. Techpoint, Indiana Venture Club,  and Bio-Crossroads to name a few. These groups support new businesses and ideas in our community.

Now, we have Startup Weekend.  How cool is that? Turn off Cable TV, look around, you will find there is Gold in your community.  Join the real revolution – Entrepreneurs building new industries. It’s the American Way.

Stop whining

picture of stop walking sign - stop the whining

picture of stop walking sign - stop the whiningWe should have a national day of, “Turning off Cable TV”. We need to ween people off the we are all going to die channels and get people back into their communities actually solving problems.

It’s about the economy. Join your local Entrepreneurial group. Learn about new companies that need support. Find out where your local economy can engage into the global economy.

Our problems do not stem from minority groups or Mexican immigrants.  It’s because we moved all our manufacturing off shore along with the jobs. It’s because we need skilled workers today, not unskilled. It’s because our economy has been on a slow decline since the 1950s.

Yet, we can not look back to the 1950s. The advantage we had at the time is gone – a world devastated by war and rebuilding. The United States economy was the only one intact. Now, we have to compete again. Yet, today, we choose to compete with each other’s opinions about right and wrong – black and white – left and right – forwards and backwards.

Government can not solve the problems.  It can be part of the solution. Here in Indiana, laws holding us back were the inventory tax and daylight savings time. When the State Government repealed these laws, the logistics companies were able to take advantage of the Indianapolis being the Crossroads it always claimed to be. Government has a role. It can work towards the future without disrespecting the past.

This country was built on idea generation like no other in the world. You can still try anything you want here. You can succeed, but you are allowed to fail. Let’s stop arguing about social issues and encourage ideas, investment and creation of new industries. We are the only nation good at doing those things.

My favorite line from John Stewart, “We are not living in the “End of Times”, we are living in difficult times.” Let’s all stop whining and pointing fingers at each other.  If we lose hope as a nation, it’s too late to fix our problems.

Turn off the Cable Television and join a local Entrepreneurs group. If there is not one, start one because the future depends on it.

Paul is the President of Professional Blog Service. PBS works with clients making strategic investments into blogging, social media and search engine optimization.

At the Top- Entrepreneurial Networking and Learning

Ron Sukenick approached me several weeks ago and described a new networking event he was putting together called “At the Top“.

As he was describing At the Top, it had a familiar sound to it.  It sounded a lot like the old Entrepreneurs Alliance of indiana.  I thought, “man I miss the old Entrepreneur’s Alliance.”  I miss seeing everyone on the 3rd Thursday of every month to have drinks and learn about how business started, failed and succeeded.  See, I used to be President of EAI.  We had too much competition and everyone just kind of pulled out.

So, Ron asked if Professional Blog Service would like to be a co-sponsor of the event.  I said, “Absolutely”.

Here is why, I would not have co-started Professional Blog Service, if not for the Entrepreneurs Alliance.  It was there that I heard many stories from many different Indianapolis business people who were just like me.  My  all-time favorites were:

  • Ray Compton – “You don’t need a lot of money to market, you need to be creative.”
  • Harley Davidson – “There are three things needed to be a successful manager – knowledge, experience, and emotional competency.”  With the emphasis on emotional competency.
  • Jeff Smulyan – Great story about how he got started

And the other companies:

  • Ritters Ice Cream
  • JD Byrider
  • Scott Jones
  • Ontario Systems

The list really goes on and on.  There were a lot of great companies and speakers that participated at the Entrepreneurs Alliance of Indiana.

So, Ron has resurrected this idea with his “At the Top” program.  The venue is the excellent Skyline Club downtown.  (See the metaphor here, “At the Top”  on top of Indianapolis?)  The format is going to be similar to what we did at EAI.  There will be cocktails and appetizers with a guest speaker for each meeting.

So, if you are an Entrepreneur seeking inspiration from other Entrepreneurs that have gone through what you are experiencing, go to the “At the Top” meeting November 18, 2009.

What:  At the Top

When:  November 18, 2009

Time:  5:30p

Where:  Skyline Club – Downtown Indianapolis

Professional Blog Service is very happy to be a co-sponser of this important series of meetings.  Without Entrepreneurs, there is no economy.

You can learn more about At The Top here.

From Boom to Bust – Flint, MI

“You can go from boom to bust, from dreams to a bowl of dust, you can fall from rockets red glare down to brother can you spare another war, another wasteland, another lost generation”

Neil Peart – Between the Wheels

When I go back to Flint, this line in a Rush song always comes to mind. See, Flint, MI is a case study in boomtowns gone to bust. At its peak, General Motors in Flint employed 82,000 people at plants around the city. This does not include all the industries that support General Motors. Today, General Motors only employs about 8,000 workers.

Back in the day when folks would travel north from Detroit or south from Saginaw, you would be greeted with a very proud sign that declared Flint, Buicktown. See, back in the day, Buicks used to roll off the lines in Flint. I remember the big Buick Park Avenue friends of ours had. One of my favorite cars we owned as a family was our Buick Riviera. It had a powerful V-8 that moved when you pressed the pedal. Flint was not a beautiful town, but parts were charming. It boasted a fantastic cultural center that included museums, a theater, and planetarium – all the things that patriarchal wealth from the Mott family bought. It always seemed that Flint started to die when Mr. Mott died.

Today, the big billboard that would boast you were entering Buicktown now advertises the greatest economic development solution for all struggling economies – a Casino. (I guess Mr. Potter won, we are transforming all our struggling economies into Potterville).

Go around town and you will find that its mighty past has been dismantled – literally. The factories that my Grandfathers, Grandmothers, Uncles all worked – no longer there. One of the largest manufacturing facilities that stretched 2 miles on the north side of town – gone.

Today there are a lot of weeds growing between the pavement throughout the town. Flint could become an episode of “Life after People” on the History Channel.

I have friends that are still making a life of it in Flint. A couple have their businesses downtown and are doing their part to make something happen. The bright spot being the investments being made by the University of Michigan into downtown Flint.

Where is the next Billy Durant and what industry will bring to the community? Or, is Flint just a footnote in the history of communities that have gone from boom to bust?

Maybe they should just shut portions of the city down, give it back to nature, and become a lumber town again. Sometimes, we have to go backwards to go forwards again. Maybe that is what a community like Flint should consider.

The one bright spot – they still have the best hot dogs/coney dogs in the world there.

Ego and the Entrepreneur

I have been working with a lot of Entrepreneur’s over the last 6 years as a consultant, a business leader, and one myself. There are two types of Entrepreneurs and I have definitions for them:

1.Successful Entrepreneur
2.Unsuccessful Entrepreneur
3.New Entrepreneur

Not very catchy definitions are they? Let me define them based on their characteristics because the “New Entrepreneur” out there could save them self a lot of headache if they look for behavior that generally leads them to failure.

Sucessful Entrepreneurs

These guys are easy. They know the game. They understand why you build a business. They do it over and over again because they love the challenge. They are not in it for their egos, the idea, or the need to have President on their business card. They do it because they can’t do anything else, but build things and then sell it off. They get it started, then hand it off to people to run it.

Unsuccessful Entrepreneurs

Things just don’t work out for the unsuccessful Entrepreneur. More often than not, they keep on trying, and get it a little more right next time. They take the initial risk, but can never really get it moving the right way. Or, they come up with ideas that the market does not really need. Eventually, some become successful. Often, they give up and return to the safety net of a 40 hour per week job.

New Entrepreneurs

I have a lot of respect for people that venture out into their own or try to turn an idea into action. These are people that generally don’t fit into the corporate structure, are generally liberal minded (not to confuse the Rush Limbaugh listeners of the world, liberal minded means finding new ways of doing things from how it is always done. Or, it simply means outside the box thinking). Having the audacity to question how things are being done and suggest there is a better way to do it.

So the new Entrepreneur has this great idea! Then, they get excited because they could make a lot of money doing it! “I am going to be rich!” So, they embark on the emotional high of becoming an Entrepreneur. They become infatuated with their idea. It is the best idea and the only idea worth investing. Most need money to fund their idea, yet they don’t want to give anything up to get other people’s money. Their valuation of the business is way over inflated and they have no sales. Ego and control start to get in the way.

I have been involved in several start-up ventures and this is a common pattern that occurs. As I sit at the Venture Club and listen to new ideas being pitched around the table, the pattern is there. The “New Entrepreneur” is excited about their great idea, yet they cannot really articulate how to make money with it. Their assumptions about their market are not well defined and they do not really understand what it takes to get a business going. They don’t understand why no one will invest in their business. They are passionate about the idea and their ego loves the fact that they can now put President on their business card.

So what is important for new Entrepreneurs? It is all about sales.

When I was President of the Indiana Entrepreneur’s Alliance, one of the guests to our meeting made an important point. He said, everyone says you need and accountant and a lawyer to get a business started. So, everyone goes out and gets and accountant and a lawyer to make you feel good about your idea. This is backwards. He points out that you need customers first to determine if the idea has merit, then go out and hire an accountant and a lawyer. Is what you are doing in demand and are people willing to pay for it?

In other words, it is about sales and marketing. As a New Entrepreneur is weighing the idea, the emphasis needs to be on sales and marketing. Get the idea, product, or service out there and see if someone will pay you for it. Do you need an infrastructure to support it? Yes. Do you need to be able to deliver it? Yes. But figure out what kind of expectations you can put out there and manage. As another successful Entrepreneur told me, don’t be afraid of success. You can always find money, if you have a book of business to show an investor. And, you can always find ways to deliver.

In our web consulting, we see the New Entrepreneur all the time. Some people are looking for the “Mirror”. “Come in and tell me that I am great, my idea is great, and that you can sell it the way I want it to be sold, even though I have had mediocre success to date.” In our case, the web plays an important part for most customers trying to sell products or services. They focus on their logo and their image, their name. Unsuccessful entrepreneurs gladly feed into their egos and leave results starving at the table.

The reality is New Entrepreneurs need to focus on results. In business, results equal sales and profits. Logos, names, and images can have value – only if people buy because of the name, logo and image.

Get centered Answering the questions of the buyers will:

1.What is it?
2.What is the value?
3.How do I get it?
4.Has anyone else used it?
a.What do they say?
b.If not? What is the edge I get with it?
5.Yes, I want one!

With limited resources and limited time, investment needs to be on finding the market, bringing them to you, engaging the market, and closing some deals or selling product. The question to always ask:

Is what I am doing or spending money going to help me generate more sales?

Case in point, people always feel like they need to reinvent something that has been tested to work. (Ok…I respect out of the box thinking, but dollars can be wasted on IT projects that bring very little value in the end). E-Commerce is an area that people feel the need to “customize”. We had a client that need to change e-Commerce systems because the one they were using did not support standard marketing practices for e-Commerce sites. Yet, they would not do it because the one they were using had a feature that really brought no value to the buyer or their business. Again, was what they were doing going to help them generate more sales? The answer was no, yet they chose to spend $20,000 when $3,500 would have done the job for the next five years.

So, New Entrepreneurs, here are some things to keep in mind:

1.No one cares about “the idea.” They care about what the idea will do for them.
2.Investors don’t care about “the idea.” They care if their investment in the idea will make them money.
3.Investors don’t invest in “the idea”, they invest in the people behind the idea. If you do not demonstrate your ability to execute, you will not get investment.
4.Being President of nothing with no sales has no value.
5.It’s about marketing and sales, particularly for start-ups.
a.Always ask, is what I am doing going to help me sell more?
b.Is what I am spending my money on going to help me sell more?
c.Can I apply metrics to what I am doing?
6.It’s about execution.

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