A thought about venture capitalists.

March 29, 2012 by 2 Comments
Diagram of venture capital fund structure for ...

(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I just read an article from Fast Company entitled 7 Entrepreneurial Lessons from Shark Tank. It was an interesting article, one filled with helpful advice for sure. However, as I have watched Shark Tank, I have compiled my own list of lessons (actually only one lesson).

Don’t sell your soul (or your business) to a venture capitalists!

I have to admit that before the show aired, I didn’t know much about venture capital. I have written business plans and have successfully negotiated revolving credit from my bank for a micro-business start up. But, to subject myself and my company to the kind of pressure (and often ridicule) that “Mr. Wonderful” and the other VC’s on the show (or in any office anywhere) is a non-starter for me.

Here are my three reasons to save yourself and your business from the teeth of the sharks:

1. Remember that most small businesses are an extension of who you are as a person, a community leader, and a business owner. So, why would you want to change it to change your company’s character/culture to meet someone else’s bottom line projections.
2. Let your business grow and expanded organically rather than through the steroid induced growth from venture capitalists. (Just remember the long-term effects of steroids on the human body!)
3. Remind yourself that the hard work that it takes to build an organic business let’s you sleep well and live at peace with yourself, your customers, and your community. (Making money is fine, but having money/success too quickly has been the downfall of many sports figures, entertainers, politicians, and entrepreneurs.)

Let me finish this thought by saying that I am a capitalist through and through. I have owned a business of one sort or another since 1987. I understand the lure of the “quick kill” and have watched companies rise and fall under the weight of that allurement. (Remember if your business fails, the VC’s write it off and move on to the next business while you loose everything.) For me, the weight of the venture capitalist is just too much to bear.  The choice is certainly yours, but be sure to make the choice with your eyes wide open!

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Filed Under: Designing Success, Small Business Tagged With: , , , , , ,

What do you want to do?

March 28, 2012 by Leave a Comment
"Boomers on Wheels" at the CREHST ( ...

(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Sometimes I think that I am going crazy!!! I read a lot of books, articles, and magazines about Boomers and what’s best for them in their “retirement years.” I watch the “experts” all gussied up on the television talk shows and review training videos that try to convince Boomers that “life isn’t over” and “they can still do lots of things” as they transition into retirement.

Now wait just a minute! I am not dead, nor on the verge of collapse just because I’ve had a few more birthdays that most! My mind, as well as my back still work, and I don’t want to be “put out to pasture” just because someone determined that a date on a calendar said it was time! And neither should you …

The question you should be asking yourself is not, “What do the experts say I should do?” but rather, “What do you want to do?” While it is true that many of us reach this time in our lives when our children are gone and we have more time to consider our own, but that doesn’t mean we should be considered “less productive” or “less valuable” than we have been before. As a matter of fact, my opinion is just the opposite. I think we can use this second chapter in our lives to do magnificent, brilliant, and incredibly valuable things, that have to this point been “back burner thoughts.”

The question is, “What do you want to do?” Don’t listen to the voices who tell you to stop living and start sitting. Don’t let the younger generations tell you that “you had your time, now its ours.” Keep you head up, keep dreaming, and make the second chapter of your life a truly awesome experience!

 

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Retirement Businesses – Anonther Option

March 26, 2012 by Leave a Comment
retirement

(Photo credit: 401K)

Last week I wrote about an option for a retirement business. [One Option for a Retirement Business] That option was a franchise-styled home base business option. This type business has an “in the box” approach, with you purchasing the right to sell a companies product/service as a “distributor, associate, director, or some other title.” It is a great option for someone who wants to be in business without having to invent, produce, package, provide, or ship products/services directly to their customer base. Their only job would be to market the products along with promoting the business opportunity.

Today, we are going to talk about opportunities that can get a bit more complicated, but also provide retirees with a business option that can secure a comfortable retirement in some troubled economic times.

I am going to use some retired friends of mine as an example. Remember that there are many variations of this theme. You can pick what best works for you and you skill set.

My friend and his wife have for many years been interested in jewelery making. (I am wearing a wedding ring he made for me in 1983!) Their interest in jewelery was at a hobby level for most of their business life. While they owned and operated a couple other successful businesses they would relax by polishing stones and making jewelery.

When they decided to sell their last business and retire, they looked at their finances and decided that they weres going to need to supplement their retirement and decided that making and selling jewelery was the thing they would like to do. So, they started to research both what to do and where to find the customers to sell their pieces to.

What they discovered was that the “craft show” circuit was something that appealed to them. It allowed them to travel (something a lot of retirees have on their list of “want tos”) as well as provided them with an ample customer base for their wears. They traveled in the warm summer weather around their mid-west home and spent the winters traveling around the state of Texas in the warmth there.

They are now looking to slow down a bit and looking for ways to expand their existing business through the development of a website. This will require new research and another learning curve, but one I’m sure they will master in the same way they have every other in the development of their retirement business.

What hobby could you turn into a business option for retirement? What obstacles have you had to over come in creating your own retirement business? What hints would you be willing to share?

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Filed Under: Boomers Helping Boomers, Second Career Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

Do You Really Want a Job?

March 26, 2012 by 9 Comments

According to a Forbes magazine article, “Cloud computing will potentially generate at least 14 million new jobs across the globe within the next three years.” While I readily admit that these numbers are impressive (albeit speculative), my question is, “Do you really want a job?”

Being an entrepreneur at heart, the thought of having to trust someone else for the direction of my life and the quality of that life, just doesn’t appeal to me. I would much rather test the waters myself and look for a self-reliant way of living out my life purpose than to trust the speculations of someone who might well let me go at any time for the benefit of a friend, relative, or someone the thinks might make him more money than I can.

I sat with a man one day last summer who was in just such a situation. He was, as I recall, either the number one or two salesman in his company. The owner came in one day and simply said, “we are cutting back and you are out.” The man I was having coffee with said he left that day with no job, and no paycheck. (By the way he had to call for a ride because the company took his company car keys as well!)

I have personally come to the conclusion that the kind of pressure that a job creates is way more damaging to me than that of creating a dream business that allows me to live out my life’s purpose every day.

What do you think? Is there a better option?

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Filed Under: Small Business Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Social Media and Real Business

March 22, 2012 by Leave a Comment

 

An example of the share buttons common to many...

An example of the share buttons common to many social web pages. Thanks to http://www.nouveller.com for the free icon pack image. The author (Benjamin Reid) releases the image into the public domain, with the following text available at the source page: "You can use them anywhere you like, absolutely anywhere, anything. No attribution, 100% free.". (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The lure of social media is everywhere today. (I watched my Twitter stream all day yesterday to see the fate of Tim Tebow.) Nearly anyone can be found online and in the social media world. As recently as the last couple years the largest segment of growth online were Boomers and Seniors.

 

Businesses of all shapes and sizes are being inundated with “gurus” who are insisting that no business can survive without a social media marketing plan. Yet, thousands and thousands, and thousands, and thousands (you get my point) of businesses don’t really know what to do with social media or how to do it.

 

Let me give you three quick tips on how to use social media in a real business:

 

  1. Create a social media plan that is heavy on the social. The point of social media for business is to build relationships and to actually carry on conversations with your customers and prospective customers. Most companies believe that if they just send out enough information to enough people they will gain enough customers. (That is really just “old school” marketing in a new medium.) Social means social, so talk!
  2. Create a social media plan that allows your customers and potential customers to ask questions that then get answered for everyone’s benefit. The more you can answer questions before and after the sale, the more people will buy from you again and refer you to others.
  3. Create a social media plan that allows you to monitor your brand and respond quickly to any negative comments. People today are more apt to take their anger with you and your company online these days than they are to talk directly to you. If you are monitoring your name and the name of your company, you can usually respond to and defuse most complaints in real time. This kind of open and thoughtful response will go a long way in repairing relationships with an existing customer and showing potential customers the kind of effort you will make with them should an issue arise!

Real businesses (not the shame groups teaching you to make money online by teaching people to make money online to teach people to make money online) need to have an online presence these days. But, don’t let the lure of the online cause you to loose sight of the rest of your business planning, marketing, and efforts. Social media is one tool in the tool box. Essential …YES! But, not to the expense of all others!

 

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One Option for a Retirement Business

March 21, 2012 by Leave a Comment
Retirement

Retirement (Photo credit: 401K)

You know, as I write this post, I am a little nervous. Every time you suggest something might be a good thing, you are open for criticism. So, let me start with a statement of intent:

I would love to see every Boomer who is or is about to “retire” find a passion that would make a great retirement business AND allow them to have a part in changing the world for good.

But, some Boomers are just tired. Tired of work, tired of long hours, and tired of just getting by. They have worked hard in their job/career and the prospect of starting something brand new from scratch, while appealing in theory, will likely never happen.

If there was something that already existed, something that they could do from anywhere, and something that would handle most of the monotony that owning a business requires, then there might be some interest. A sort of “home-based, franchise-styled” business. That might well be an interesting option to many Boomers.

Well, those kinds of businesses do exist. Most of them are found in the Network Marketing arena and many of these businesses can provide a reasonable income for the retired Boomer. (In the interest of full disclosure, I have worked in this arena on and off for more than 20 years and am active with my preferred company today.)

Before any Boomer jumps into this style of business, you need to know the real skinny:

  1. Understand the business that you are considering. Don’t let anyone “excite” you into a business. Many network marketers use this kind of “excitement selling” to get people “into the business.” Only after you are in do you get to know what it really takes to be successful for the long run.
  2. Make sure that the product of the business is both saleable and something that you can put your name on. If you don’t understand the product or whether or not it is really a good value for your customers, don’t “get in.” I heard a network marketing leader just the other day say that the product he sold “had not done anything noticeable” for him, but he was sure it was a great product. Beware of selling something with questionable value.
  3. Understand the compensation plan. You need to know how you are getting paid, not because of the company is going to “rip you off,” but because some compensation plans have unique rules that can drastically reduce your compensation from month to month.
  4. Be sure to read the policies and procedures manual. There are some companies that have a provision to stop paying affiliates/distributors at the discretion of the company (usually with only 30 days notice).
  5. Only join a company that you have done your due diligence on. If you are being pressured to join “right now” be careful!

I have been in companies that collapsed and ceased to exist and in one’s that have succeeded beyond the wildest imagination of the owners and its distributors. In those that have done well, the opportunities for Boomers is real and those willing to learn and work hard, can enjoy a business that can be run from anywhere and can allow even the tired Boomer to make a dent in the universe.

PS – I would love to hear what you have to say about this arena of business but don’t comment with the idea of recruiting other readers into your business. Those comments will not be posted.

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Filed Under: Boomers Helping Boomers, Second Career Tagged With: , , , , ,

How to Make Your Start-up Succeed

March 19, 2012 by Leave a Comment

 

Homeward bound

Image by Steve-h via Flickr

In my last post [Where most start-ups fail]I wrote about the negative side of the whole
entrepreneurial “game.” So, I figure that I ought to go the other direction today and look at entrepreneurialism from the positive side and talk about how to make your start-up succeed.

 

  1. Define the word success. It is such a rich word and is filled with so many nuances that a single, sterile definition is simply not applicable in most cases. So, take time to think and wonder to yourself (and even out loud) what does success look like to me?
  2. Take time to do your research. By research, I mean looking at your start-up from every angle. Look at the pros AND the cons. Be diligent and honest about the possibilities, but don’t let the naysayers rob you of your dream either.
  3. DON’T QUIT YOUR DAY JOB!! Since I work almost exclusively with micro-businesses, I can say this without hesitation. Until your business is producing approximately twice your needed earnings don’t quit your day job. There are so many benefits to that paycheck that most start-ups don’t consider that they leave early, only to find that what they had at work was better than what they have in business and that struggle alone and wrest your life’s dream and purpose right out of your hands.

I know that what I have said here isn’t particularly profound, but I also know most entrepreneurs fail in their start-ups for these very reasons (particularly the micro-businesses that I work with everyday). Take stock, take time to think, but, in the end, build, grow, explore, and change your world. Success (by your definition) awaits. Go get it!!

 

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Filed Under: Designing Success, Small Business Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,

What do you want from your “Chapter Two?”

March 17, 2012 by Leave a Comment

For so many Boomers these days, the answer to the question, “What do you want from your “Chapter Two?” is a mystery, maybe even a luxury that they haven’t even considered. With the economy the way it is and with the need to continue to make a living so prevalent in our generation, can there even be a “Chapter Two?”

I remember writing about this subject several months ago. I got an emphatic comment back from a reader who said basically that she didn’t have time for what could be a “Chapter Two” because she was so overwhelmed with “Chapter One” and could see no way out of it. Her life was stuck and that was just that!

While I understand her frustration completely, I think that to live life without a vision of what could be condemns us in what is and right now that’s not a very pretty picture for most. Now, I’m not telling you to abandon your current responsibilities or to walk away from the present, but to just take a few minutes a day and see if, at this stage of life, you might want to consider something new.

Think of the who, what, when, where, why, and how of it and see if a vision of “Chapter two” might take shape. Then research what it would take to move you in the direction of that vision and perhaps be courageous enough to take the first step. (Remember the journey of a thousand miles begins with the first step.)

Be cautious, be smart, but also be brave. Our purpose in this world does not revolve around just paying the bills and watching another Star Trek re-run. Your second chapter awaits. What do you want it to be?

Filed Under: Boomers Helping Boomers, Retirement Tagged With: , , , , ,

Where Most Start-ups Fail

March 17, 2012 by 3 Comments
Food and Drink(8)

Photo credit: JustABoy

I was sitting in a local coffee shop the other day and while doing some computer work when the large table in front of me began to fill. The conversation around the table was louder than any other and so my curiosity got the best of me and from my spot hidden in my booth, I listened in.

The conversation was about business (so I interest was piqued even more). There was one central figure in the conversation telling the rest of those around the table (and anyone within earshot) about how he was once a truck driver, deep in debt, but because of his opportunity was now out of debt, making a strong six figure income, and that anyone with the right motivation could do the same thing.

He then explained that the compensation plan was very complicated and would only confuse those at the table if he tried to explain it, but he assured them, it worked and worked well. He also said that all that you had to do to be successful was to use the product and find three other people to use it while everyone taught those using it to find three others to do the same thing.

He then assured these folks that if they would just “go to the website and place their first order, they would be on their way to the success he has come to know.”

As I listened, I thought about what I do (Helping entrepreneurs design success.) And, as I thought, I was struck by this conversation and how it teaches about three areas where most start-ups fail:

  1. They start-up based on the “if I can do it, anybody can do it” philosophy. This is simply not true. There are some things in life that no matter how much we want them and/or how much we practice, we are not going to succeed in doing. (Playing second base for the St. Louis Cardinals as a 56 year old rookie who can’t field, run, or hit a 90 mph fastball would be a good example.)
  2. They start-up based on the “everyone is going to be as excited as you” mentality. As a business start-up you must remember that your enthusiasm is important but that most customers are skeptical and that doesn’t change until you create value for them.
  3. They start-up before they fully understand the risks and how the money is really made. If the way to make money in a business is not clear and/or the person asking you to “get in” can’t/won’t explain it, you are asking for both trouble and eventually the failure of your business.

I don’t in anyway want to disparage the guy talking at the table that day. He was telling people, most likely what he was taught to tell them. His business might well be the answer for many, but to start-up with such vague promises and such little understanding doesn’t make great business sense. Make sure you know all you need to know and then go out and design success!

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Filed Under: Designing Success, Small Business Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

I Just Can’t Stand It Anymore!!

March 16, 2012 by Leave a Comment

I just can’t stand it anymore!! I said in my last post (The Doulos Group Launches) that I was going to combine my efforts at Baby Boom Entrepreneurs with those at The Doulos Group. I was wrong in trying to make that work and want to let you know that I can’t stand being away from my fellow boomers any longer.

I will be working hard again to provide you all with valuable content that will help you make the best choices when it comes to creating the perfect “second chapter” for your life. I hope that what is done here will serve you well and I am always available to answer specific questions you might have.

Thanks to all of you who have continued to check back here to see when/if I had come to my senses and begun to post again. You were very much apart of my decision to “re-open” BBE.

Talk to you all soon …. Dave!

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