“One word that comes to mind when I think of Chris is "SOLID". He is coach-like, very creative with a brilliant work ethic and full of integrity. Love this guy!!!!" -- Greg Hemmings, Hemmings House Pictures
Part 1 - How People Find Your Business Today
If you are spending money on a Yellow Pages Ad, then watch these videos. Do you think your customers are looking for you in the Yellow Pages? Both offline and online.
Part 2 - How To Get Your Business Involved (Cont.)
Are you still going to keep your Yellow Pages ad?
Oh, by the way, thanks to everyone who recommended so many great options for my shopping needs. :-)
The process of building a business or product is hard work. It can be nerve-racking, tiring, and downright demoralizing if you don't go about it the right way.
Trust me, I have learned the hard way. :-) However, my pain is your gain.
Are you doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different RESULTS?
Ok, I didn’t come up with that question...well, I did come up with the question, but I stole the meat of the question from Albert Einstein’s quote that I found on Brainy Quote.
Maybe you are a “007” change agent when it comes to many things, but what about your WEBSITE??? And no, I am not taking about the pretty, new design you just created for your website.
The man, the myth, the legend, Donald Trump will be discussing Leadership, Perseverance, Entrepreneurial Thinking at SPARK in Saint John, New Brunswick on October 6th.
The Donald will share his secrets on how you can take over YOUR world Donald Trump style at SPARK on October 6th, 2011.
Spread the word and lets show "The Donald" we mean "business"
Get your tickets at http://sparkcanada.ca
Don't forget, choose your life! There is no better time then now to start your own business.
4 reasons why you need to start using YouTube for your business.
Need help getting started? YouTube Video Course
So, when do you plan on releasing videos? Or have you started already? Tell me your experience in the comments.
It's been close to a month in a half since I wrote a post about How Do You Digitally Start Your Day and in the post I mentioned that I would comeback with an update on the numbers. Well today is that day. Here is a quick snapshot of how the readers of my blog digitally start their day.
You can read the interview below, but a couple things that caught my attention in the interview:
How does a local hardware store not only stay in business but thrive over a 100 years?
Great advice from two wise entrepreneurs. Enjoy.
Dykemans celebrates 100 years of success
Dave Veale's interview with Don and Bob Shaw, Dykeman's Hardware
Published Thursday May 5, 2011 in the Telegraph JournalAccording to studies conducted by the Bank of Montreal Institute for Small Business, "The Six Success Factors" for starting a small business are self-motivation, business and industry knowledge, organization and management capabilities, marketing skill, customer/vendor relations and vision.
Now imagine what it takes to keep a small business growing and thriving for 100 years. Don (left, in the photo) and Bob Shaw, owners of Dykeman's Hardware Store in Saint John,
know a bit on this topic - their family-owned business just celebrated its 100-year anniversary. Originally named R.G. Dykeman (opened by their grandfather on April 20th, 1911), it was incorporated in 1965 and became Dykeman's Hardware Limited.
Business failure statistics show that only 70 per cent of small businesses survive to celebrate their five-year anniversary, let alone their 100th anniversary. I sat down with Don and Bob to learn what they believe has supported their business in reaching the century mark.Q: Tell me about the important milestone that Dykeman's Hardware recently reached.
Bob: Last month, April 20th, was our 100th birthday.
Q: You have a book in front of me, what is it?
Don: Starting inventory book, dated April 20th, 1911. It lists total inventory consisting mostly of groceries and everyday necessity needs of $233.30.
Q: So your grandfather started Dykeman's?
Don: His passion was to start his own business. He was 21 or 22 years old at the time. Dykeman's started by selling feed/flour and, in the early years, a lot of his customers were farmers from the Kingston Peninsula. There would be teams of horses with wagons and it was a two-day trip. They would come here and unhook their horses and back them into the warehouse where my grandfather would keep the team of horses overnight. Then the farmers would go and get their supplies and stay at a hotel on Main Street.
Q: I understand that your father took over from your grandfather?
Bob: Yeah, after the war dad came in and was on and off for 60 some years. He married the boss' daughter. He was originally scheduled to go to Chicago and my grandfather, not wanting to lose his daughter, asked dad if he would consider working here. So he took his three-piece suit off and put on a pair of overalls and came over and started lifting feed and cement.
Q: What have you learned over the years, in terms of running a successful business?
Don: My grandfather gave me a neat tip when I first started and I was just a young guy. He said "Don, let me tell you something. If you are going to be working in business remember people's names. It is very, very important - people like to be called by name." Treat people the way that you want to be treated yourself.
Bob: Another lesson is to have a broad knowledge base. Prices are important to a certain degree but, as Don mentioned, service is everything. We have been blessed with great staff and they have been with us for years. They are trustworthy, honest and very knowledgeable.
Q: What else has helped you survive in such a competitive landscape?
Don: You have to be competitive in your pricing and affiliated with a buying group in order to survive. Lee's Hardware is one of the largest hardware distributors in the world and we hook on to their purchasing powers, if you will. We can buy what we want, not what we are told to buy.
Bob: This also allows us to maintain our independence completely and we dictate which direction we want to go. We never want to give that up. Independence is huge for us.
Q: Since the business started more than 100 years ago, it's gone through a lot of changes. How do you guys embrace change?
Bob: You have to evolve according to what your surroundings are. We are not about to take on the Wal-Marts and Canadian Tires. We have our own niche hardware products and niche marine products. We have specialized - it gives us an advantage.
Q: So evolving with customer demand and finding niche product lines has been the key to your success?
Bob: We've had the same location for 100 years which is kind of unique. We just evolved and morphed into a different building from one door to the next but we have basically had the same address for 100 years.
Don: I've worked here for 44 years. When I started here I think there was something like 15 stores like ours in the city and I can't think of any that are left except for Dykeman's.
Q: What does the future hold for Dykeman's?
Bob: It will end at three generations in our family - there is no interest from our kids to continue with the store. So the family part will end at three generations. We would like to think that it has a future and business has been strong for the last couple years so that's encouraging. We just haven't figured out what that form is yet.
Q: If you could give other entrepreneurs out there one piece of advice, what would it be?
Bob: There are certain things that you may have to eliminate from a business because you just can't compete anymore and you have to accept it. We couldn't exist in just the houseware business that this business was founded on.
Don: Don't spread yourself too thin trying to please everyone.
Dave Veale is a business and leadership coach and founder of Vision Coaching Inc. in Saint John. He can be reached by email at Dave@VisionCoachingInc.com. His column appears every other Thursday. To read past columns go to www.LeadershipUnleashed.ca
Back to the Leadership Unleashed Interviews
Noel Chenier/Telegraph-Journal
Published Thursday May 5, 2011 in the Telegraph Journal
When I first heard about network marketing, I was against it. I would say that is probably the norm for most people? Or is it, please share. So, why do I have this perception?
Maybe it's the pyramid structure? You always hear the term, "oh that is a pyramid scheme!". But you can't really take issue with the tiered compensation structure—almost every large sales organization in the world has that. Salespeople get commission, and sales managers get overrides or bonuses on top of that, and sales directors on top of that, and VPs on top of that. The CEO is usually the one who sits at the top of the pyramid. Yes I know there have been some examples of true schemes, however, some Network Marketing companies have been around for years and I have some great respect for the founders who decided to market their business this way. Very creative.
Here is another example, that is close to my world. In the web space, you see affiliate marketing everywhere. We have our very own affiliate program with Big Santo. With affiliate marketing you give people/customers/partners the opportunity to share your product or service and they are in return compensated for delivering a new customer to your business. To me, this is very similar to network marketing.
Moolala, which is a group buying solution out of Michigan, takes group buying a step farther and integrates network marketing concepts into their group buying platform. Thank you Elaine Shannon for the tip. They call it a Pay Matrix. Watch the video to see how it works.
When you think about it, isn't network marketing very similar to owning a franchise? More like "micro franchsising". It really is a business opporunity for people who may want to own and operate a business. The one issue I do see when comparing it to traditional franchising is it does have a lower cost of entry, which may attract individuals who are not ready or have the skillsets to operate a business. These folks may sometimes come off as:
This is where I think the most damage is done to the brand of a Network Marketing organization . It is unfortunate that a small number can tarnish a business/brand, but it really can. Especially in todays world.
Even with the bad rap network marketing gets from some, I have opened my mind to it, and depending on the opportunity I am seeing advantages that few other business opportunities offer. If the Network Marketing company is selling a product you truly believe in and you are serious about building a business, then go for it! You will have my ear.
What is your take?
I am going to share my thoughts on why I think small businesses should love and use group buying. However, lets get the disclosure up front here. I am the owner of the Maritime group buying website, How She Goin'.
There, now lets get down to business and please do share your thoughts and opinions.
Why should a small business be interested in group buying? It is essentially an e-commerce site, bringing consumers deals from local merchants. Local online commerce is one of those opportunities where merchants have struggled with over the years. What I mean by struggle, is converting leads from eCommerce or social media has not worked as well as most merchants have expected. Through its online-to-offline coupons, group buying has figured out how to track that last mile in local online commerce between the ad and customers showing up at a store.
This all sounds great, but how does this benefit the merchant? Let me try explaining by telling a little story about a new bakery, called Grandma's Kitchen.
Grandma's Kitchen is mildly profitable. They pull in 50-100 clients per day each person spending roughly $5. Profit margin is low because costs of goods (fixed and variable) are high around $3. That means the markup is 40%.
Grandma's Kitchen wants to generate buzz around a new product called "The Best Cookie Ever" where they add some organic chocloate to the cookie and they toast the cookie in front of the customer to turn it into the best cookie ever.
What are their advertising options?
This is where I think it comes down to a comparison between what I call traditional advertising and non-traditional advertising. Now my math is not the best, but I will try. :-)
Yes, group buying does cost small businesses money, but where would that money have gone otherwise? Most likely other forms of advertising that cannot be attributed to direct sales (discounted or otherwise). When a small/medium business offers a deal through group buying, at the end of the day they know exactly how much business they can count on. For a lot of small businesses that means a lot.
Which would you choose?
With Grandma's Kitchen, a group buying deal can be a great way to drive traffic to the store and build brand name in their city.
What are your thoughts on group buying?
Almost overnight, it seems online group-buying services have taken the world by storm.
Companies such as Groupon, which is apparently worth $15-billion (yes, billion), WagJag, TeamSave and LivingSocial have attracted millions of bargain-hungry consumers. Group-buying services work by providing deep discounts on products and services if enough people buy within a certain period of time, usually 24 hours.
More related to this story
- Scratch that spinoff itch with care
- Yes, a fun workplace pays off
- ‘No website’ means it’s time to get to work
Poll
Would you share your plastic-surgery experience with others online?
For companies like Groupon, the phenomenal popularity of these sites has made them lucrative, high-margin businesses. But what about the companies hoping to use group buying to attract new customers? What are the pros and cons of using a group-buying service when it means offering deep discounts – usually more than 50 per cent – to drum up business?
To get a better handle on the group-buying experience, I spoke to Nicole Van Damme, who owns a massage studio in Vancouver. As a way to jump-start her business, which opened in September, Ms. Van Damme spent a lot of time exploring different group-buying services, and weighing the pros and cons of each company.
Her interest in group buying was sparked after she used a variety of advertising vehicles such as Facebook ads and marketing brochures with little success. As a Groupon member, she saw how much business it was attracting so she decided to give group-buying a shot.
“I figured ‘what better way to launch myself with a bunch of people who had not heard of me before?’” she says.
After reaching out to several group-buying services, Ms. Van Damme eventually settled on WagJag because it was willing to let her offer a discount that wasn’t super deep. As well, she says WagJag did not make her sign an exclusive one-year deal, unlike some other services.
The response to Ms. Van Damme’s offer for a relaxation massage was enthusiastic, with 219 customers signing up during the week the offer was available. She says about 75 people who bought the deal have signed up for more services.
“Group buying has been fantastic for me,” she says. “As new business owner, it was invaluable. I would encourage every new business owner to try it just to get clients in the door. For people who bought from me, not all of them are from Vancouver. They are from Surrey, Coquitlam, Richmond and Burnaby - people I would never reach even with my website.”
Ms. Van Damme says one of the bigger lessons she has learned about group-buying services is not to offer a deal you can’t afford. This is especially important, she says, for services in which there are no opportunities to sell customers other services or products.
“Don’t undersell your services because you would only hurt yourself in the end,” she says, adding that WagJag allowed her to reduce the discount price she originally agreed to offer.
Ms. Van Damme says the biggest piece of advice to businesses considering the idea of using a group-buying service is recognizing that it is a marketing tool rather than a way to make money.
“You don’t do it to make money, you do it get clients in the door. If you do your job right, they come. If anyone is looking to make money off it, it probably isn’t for them.”
Special to The Globe and Mail
Mark Evans is a principal with ME Consulting, a content and social media strategic and tactical consultancy that creates and delivers ‘stories’ for companies looking to capture the attention of customers, bloggers, the media, business partners, employees and investors. Mark has worked with three start-ups – Blanketware, b5Media and PlanetEye – so he understands how they operate and what they need to do to be successful. He was a technology reporter for more than a decade with The Globe and Mail, Bloomberg News and the Financial Post. Mark is also one of the co-organizers of the mesh, meshUniversity and meshmarketing conferences.
