You Should Want What CEO’s Want

What do CEO’s want?

Simplicity

Dexterity

Customer Intimacy

Creativity

IBM has just completed a study of over 1500 CEO’s (free registration required to read) and other decision makers from around the world with special emphasis on a group IBM calls “standouts”.

Simplicity. I don’t need to tell you how fast things are changing these days. Many people are being overwhelmed by information and technology overload.

A cell phone user manual is now 3 or 4 times the size of the phone. What did someone come up with? A simple-to-use cell phone. That’s all it does. It has oversize numbers. It’s cheap. It sells!

The idea is to simplify things for both you and especially – the customer. Split-test an ad containing two different keywords – learn vs. easy - and see which one has a better response. Read more.
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Can You Be A Successful Entrepreneur?

In Micheal Gerber’s book The E-Myth Revisited he breaks down small business owners as technicians, managers and entrepreneurs.

In our business I tend to be the manager/technician and my brother is the entrepreneur. He can’t look at much of anything without a business model popping up in his head.

So, are you cut out to be an entrepreneur?

Daniel Isenberg had a couple of posts in the Harvard Business Review on that very subject. The first – Should You Be An Entrepreneur? Take This Test has about 20 yes/no statements to determine your affinity to run a business. Statements like: Read more

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The Need To Outsource

Most small business owners start out doing everything themselves. If you continue doing everything, your business can’t grow. That leaves two options: outsource or hire local employees.

The do-gooder government has made hiring local employees a real hassle. pay requirements, Equal Opportunity, payroll taxes, and the possibility of getting sued if you try and fire someone, just to name a few.

Your other option is outsourcing. It’s just like hiring the services of an independent contractor and in the new digital age that contractor can be local, national or international. Contractors can by hired for a specific project or for continuing operations.

Here are the advantages of outsourcing: Read more.
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5 Items For A Memo From Myself to Myself

With the end of the year coming up it’s time to review what has happened last year and what will happen next year.

Harvard Business School asks CEO’s to write a memo to their Board each year summarizing lessons learned and plans for the new year. For a home office or small business owner you may not have a Board of Directors, but the principle remains the same.

So, what I recommend is writing a memo to yourself.

I’ve taken the liberty of modifying the list from Harvard, so here are the five things I recommend you actually write down in a memo…

1. Lessons learned in the past year
It’s okay if strategies or tactics didn’t work out as long as you realize why they didn’t work and correct it in the future. By the same token, write down what did work.

2. Top priorities for the next year
You should have 3 – 5 goals for the next year. Don’t add a new goal during the year unless it is replacing one has been completed.

3. Set parameters for those goals
Actually create a timeline for your objectives with earliest and latest completion dates and the top and bottom limits you want to spend to achieve them.

4. Lay out strategies
Sure, your goal is to make more money, but how? Create a new product, expand your mail list, improve customer service?

5. Review your memo regularly
Don’t just write it and forget it. Drag it out every month and see where you are. Are you on schedule? If one is near completion, what’s next?

There’s all sorts of gurus and coaches out there that will tell you to write your goals down. Why? Because it works! It only takes a few minutes and is well worth your time..
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Government vs. Small Business

I try to give solid advice to budding entrepreneurs looking to start an online business. But every so often I am going to drag out the soap box, stand on it and shout, like a bearded radical inciting the citizens in the town square.

First of all, the U.S. Government, especially now, is NOT a friend of small business. It is turning into the most anti-capitalist, anti-profit, anti-business government I’ve ever seen.

I’m not even going to how we got into the current economic crises, but the links below will give you an idea…

2000 – The Trillion-Dollar Bank Shakedown That Bodes Ill for Cities

The Clinton administration has turned the Community Reinvestment Act, a once-obscure and lightly enforced banking regulation law, into one of the most powerful mandates shaping American cities—and, as Senate Banking Committee chairman Phil Gramm memorably put it, a vast extortion scheme against the nation’s banks.

2004 – Ex-SEC Official Blames Agency for Blow-Up

[An SEC] rule change in 2004 led to the failure of Lehman Brothers, Bear Stearns, and Merrill Lynch.

The SEC allowed five firms — the three that have collapsed plus Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley — to more than double the leverage they were allowed to keep on their balance sheets and remove discounts that had been applied to the assets they had been required to keep to protect them from defaults.

2008 – Barney’s Rubble

Mr. [Congressman Barney] Frank was publicly arguing for an increase in the size of their [Fannie Mae & Freddy Mac's] combined $1.4 trillion portfolios right up to the day they were bailed out. Even now, after he’s been proven wrong about a taxpayer guarantee, he opposes Treasury’s planned reduction in the size of the portfolios starting in 2010…

The resulting economic crises has put the government in control of investment banks, insurance companies, auto companies and over half of the home mortgages in America.

The government strong-armed Bank of America into paying 18 billion dollars too much for Merrill Lynch, told major banks they WOULD participate in TARP whether they wanted to or not, and short-changed Chrysler bondholders in favor of the UAW, then complained the bondholders were being greedy.

Next step – health care. A lot has happened since I wrote about the health care plan last month. An estimated 1.5 trillion dollars over 10 years, perhaps now whittled down to only a trillion, to “fix” something that over 70% of Americans are satisfied with.

Read more.
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Exposing Intellectual Property Myths

A Small-Business Guide to Intellectual Property is a recent article in the New York Times Small Business section that reviews some of the myths surrounding patents and trademarks, saying that it’s not just for large businesses.

I remembered it after reading about Microsoft’s injunction on selling it’s Word software due to patent infringement.

Some of the common fallacies that are explored are:

1. For small-business owners, it’s not worth the time or effort to secure intellectual property rights.

2. Once I get a trademark, my brand is safe.

3. Having a patent gives me the right to produce something.

4. If I have a patent or trademark in the United States, I don’t need to worry about the rest of the world.

5. People who collect patents but don’t actually make anything are “patent trolls,” parasites who can make money only by filing lawsuits against real businesses.

One of the subjects addressed was the fact the intellectual property doesn’t just mean patents (which can be expensive to file) but also trademarks, trade dress (a products look and feel) and Internet domain names.

In one example, a lady trademarked a term and someone monitoring the PTO web site bought the domain name of the trademarked term. Now, I don’t know if that’s legal but it’s going to be a legal hassle to get that domain name.

A word to the wise… purchase the domain names of any terms or phrases before you apply for the trademark.

The purpose of patents and trademarks is the protection of your intellectual property.  You then have the right to use it, license it or even give it away.

Now, don’t get me started on today’s ability to patent microbes or genes, but take a look at the article, do a cost benefit analysis for your business and take rational steps to research the matter. Don’t just assume that patents and trademarks are too expensive for small businesses..
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How To Start An Online Business

What do you need to start a small or home-based business? Especially an online business? Some people know exactly what they want to do, others are searching for home-based business ideas.

Many just start by saying they want to make some money online. Well, there are plenty of jobs you can do at home through the Internet. What we’ll show you here is how to actually start an online business, or use the Internet to promote your established small business.

Here’s what you what you need to start an online business, or any small or home-based business for that matter. It starts with your  business goals. Read more.
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Successful Online Business Tips: A Beginner’s Guide

Successful Online Business Tips: A Beginner’s Guide

Since its inception, the Internet has become a breeding ground for small businesses. You may not be aware of it, but there are lots of ways to earn additional income or profits online.

However, in spite of the many financial opportunities that the Internet has to offer, not all of them can be considered a “business”. So even if an online business today can give you the quick cash that you need, it does not necessarily mean that you will consistently earn the kind of income that you want.

Just like any small business, it takes a lot of determination, persistence, and motivation. Likewise, you have to have a sound business strategy to achieve your goals.

There may be many successful home business tips that you can find online but not of them may provide you the strategy you need to be successful. Here is a list of some of the most important tips that will lead you to a successful online business.

Read more.
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