I was talking with a friend the other day who recently started a business pursuing her passion. She was able to move into securing billable work relatively quickly through word-of-mouth and her network of contacts. As she is branching out, she is looking to develop a more formalized statement of services and marketing messages. The thought of it all, she lamented, was bumming her out. She wanted to DO the work but found herself needing to spend more time than expected to set up the business. Unfortunately, this is not at all unusual. Many people start a business to do what they love and then realize there so much involved in starting a business that its becomes hard to find time to do the “fun” stuff you started the business to do. You need more hours in a day to do both. That’s why it is crucial to find something that drives you – a passion – so it can feed your energy rather than drain it. The best book I’ve found for exploring solutions to this dilemma is The E-Myth Revisited by Michael Gerber. If you’re starting a business and haven’t read it, I highly recommend it.
We were talking about her business – a service many people could use – but I was (in my normal boot-in-the-butt form), asking who her target market was. Had she chosen a niche? What was her marketing strategy? The blank but overwhelmed stare told me what I suspected: she didn’t know. Now this is a really smart lady, but she was visibly frustrated by not having answers to questions that apparently nagged at her as well. What she had discovered is a trap many entrepreneurs fall into: shoot first, ask questions later.
I see it all the time. I have an idea/skill/talent/product. I think it is cool, that people need it. My friends and family see the need or the value, but that’s as far as I’ve gone to validate my idea or my fine tune my approach to the market. And when the capital requirements tend to be low, it is tempting to just quickly hang out a shingle and call it a business without doing any serious primary market research. In my experience, this can be deadly.
An elevator pitch is what you answer when someone asks you “So what do you do?” Everyone has one regardless of whether you’re in business or not. I came across the following company description on a website the other day and I have one question: What does this company do?
“Our success is built on a commitment to provide quality service, tailored to individual company needs. Our business is in providing high quality services in all areas of service we provide.
We are a team of highly skilled professionals with a proper blend of Experience, Reliability and Skill to provide high caliber solutions for a wide range of Industry challenges. We offer a variety of professional, affordable & personalized service capabilities and our commitment to reliability, quality & excellence is equal only to our dedication to our customer’s satisfaction.”
The more I talk to entrepreneurs and business leaders, the more I realize that so many of us share similar experiences. A dear friend recently received a call from her largest client – they were considering cancelling their contract with her firm. Nice timing – happy holidays. The frustrating thing was that it was a political decision, not a financial one. Ugh. Bad news that makes sense is a lot easier to handle. Getting kicked in the gut over political positioning within a company can be unbearable.
Her dilemma brought to mind a similar experience I had several years ago when my largest client lowered an equally devastating boom. I was actually out of town meeting with this client when the fairly-new manager (and career politician within the company) took me out to lunch. Just as nice as can be, he said “We’re replacing your software with our company standard offering…but we’ll give you a great reference.” That’s like the dreaded I want to break up but we can still be friends.
This news was not a complete surprise to me. I had been part of the team evaluating our software against their corporate standard solution. The team had determined that the systems they were currently using (ours!) were better suited to their operations and switching offered no clear financial benefit, which is what made this so much more difficult. The verdict made no logical or financial sense.
When I started my first business almost 14 years ago, I had no idea what “Intellectual Property” (IP) meant or how it applied to me. Nowadays, I hear that term ALL OVER THE PLACE. In fact, I’m teaching a couple of entrepreneurship classes where it comes into play and I’ve found that people don’t really understand that the only thing IP gives you is the right to protect it. It gives you the right to sue someone else for infringement.
Case in point: an article this week in our local paper about a company selling Cuff Links calling their company Cuff-Daddy. Sound like any rappers you know? Yes, Sean Combs is trying to block their use of it because it sounds like his nickname, Puff-Daddy. I could see that. The thing is, he isn’t being mean or nasty, he’s just protecting his brand. If you don’t protect it, you actually lose the right to do so.
No doubt if you’ve read any news medium in the past few days, the story of Michael Phelps‘ incredible gold medal run at the Olympics in Beijing. In the U.S. especially, his 8 gold medals is already becoming a legend. In reading about his extreme focus and physical determination I’ve come to the conclusion that I do not have what it takes to reach that level of athleticism. It is just not in me. So what, then, can we mere mortals learn from his – and every other Olympic athlete’s – experiences and successes?
Linda Robertson in an article for the Miami Herald provides great insight:
“Five years ago, when Phelps first plotted his record, it seemed like a presumptuous, wacky fantasy. He was like a baseball player declaring he would break Joe DiMaggio’s 56-game hitting streak. He was like an astronaut declaring he would step foot on Mars.
Have you ever dreamed or even considered starting your own business? Do you know you want to be an entrepreneur but maybe haven’t found that killer idea or unique business proposition yet? If so, the ACTiVATE program may be for you and we are actively recruiting potential women entrepreneurs for the Class of 2008.
Don’t worry if you don’t have an idea for a business – that is part of what we help you with! We provide you with lists of technologies (patents and copyrights) from Maryland Universities and government labs which are available for licensing. Then, we take you through the licensing and commercialization process with the hopeful outcome that you will launch your own business at the end of the program (or before, as the case has been!).
I am going on my 4th year with the program and my 3rd as the Lead Instructor. I can honestly say I have never seen ANYTHING LIKE IT. First, it is taught and led by seasoned entrepreneurs who offer their practical experience with a no-holds-barred approach to sharing the good, the bad, and the ugly. You get the opportunity to learn from our mistakes and build on our successes. Second, this is a HANDS ON program, where we measure success by your success in starting and building a viable, sustainable business. Third, the cadre of women who have gone through ACTiVATE, many of whom have started their own business as a result of the program, provides a support and networking group that is unparalleled in their experience, connections and desire to help each other succeed.
I found Family Matters Radio on the internet and after listening to a couple of interviews by Caroline and Jacquie, I just knew I wanted to talk with these dynamic women! We had a fun conversation – check out our radio interview (scroll down to the audio portion)…
For those of my friends in the United States, Thanksgiving provides a time for us to reflect on what we are thankful for. A recent e-mail from a woman in upstate New York really brought that home for me.
Erin contacted me earlier this week looking for help with her business idea. She has a vision of an organic plush toy line that will be eventually expanded to include bedding products. In talking about what is needed to get her business off the ground, she broke down and revealed to me that they were drowning in debt and couldn’t see how she could finance her start-up. Not an unusual story unfortunately. But it is a little different for her. Her 3-year-old son (the youngest one in the photo) was diagnosed with Leukemia a little less than a year ago. A couple months later, her 8-year-old son was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes. Each of those are tough to handle alone, I can’t imagine dealing with both in succession.
She’s come to realize over the past year how precious the time with her three sons is. Erin’s goals for her business is to build something she and her kids can be proud of, but work that will also enable her to be more available for them. Starting a business to take control of your life…does that sound familiar to anyone else?
Revisited by Michael Gerber. If you’re starting a business and haven’t read it, I highly recommend it.
needs. Our business is in providing high quality services in all areas of service we provide.
The more I talk to entrepreneurs and business leaders, the more I realize that so many of us share similar experiences. A dear friend recently received a call from her largest client – they were considering cancelling their contract with her firm. Nice timing – happy holidays. The frustrating thing was that it was a political decision, not a financial one. Ugh. Bad news that makes sense is a lot easier to handle. Getting kicked in the gut over political positioning within a company can be unbearable.
When I started my first business almost 14 years ago, I had no idea what “Intellectual Property” (IP) meant or how it applied to me. Nowadays, I hear that term ALL OVER THE PLACE. In fact, I’m teaching a couple of 
No doubt if you’ve read any news medium in the past few days, the story of 
unusual story unfortunately. But it is a little different for her. Her 3-year-old son (the youngest one in the photo) was diagnosed with 
on 
on 
