Value Schmalue

Value is an interesting word isn't it? So relative to what you believe, what you find worthwhile - what resonates with your own perceptions of 'good.' Or... bad. Or worst.... WORTHLESS.

Yesterday I lamented a poor judgement call. I love making new mistakes. It means I'm trying new things, pushing the envelope, taking risks. But the same mistakes? Now that - I can't stand. It's a good reminder though to stay the course. It reinforced many things that I already know :

FIRST: Value is relative.

I love hearing other opinions, learning new ways of looking at things and knowing that the world is most beautiful because of the tapestry of people within. And because of that - it's obvious that we all value different things. We must honor that not everyone sees the world as we do and in business - we need to surround ourselves with others who have similar values. Otherwise, even the most basic good ideas cannot take root. There is no foundation on which to build anything sustainable. The soil is not fertile - it's toxic.

SECOND: The best things in life really are not FREE.

Those who find value where we do will recharge our batteries and infect us with contagious drive and energy. This is the most important character trait to look for in business relationships. Surrounding yourself with these individuals will catapult your success.

Those individuals who want your knowledge and your time but don't value it aren't contributing to your business. They will not see value because you work harder, try more often. They will see value when you see it. Period. Dot.

THIRD: I'll sleep when I'm dead.

Ok, enough seriousness! I can't handle it. I have to laugh!!!! Back on the horse ... ready to ride and cover a lot of ground today. It's just who I am. I'm going to value every minute of every day that I have. Each one has the potential to turn nothing into something. #entrepreneurialspirit

I guess I'll sleep when I'm dead. Ha!

Chief Cook, Bottle Washer and Bathroom Cleaner - Just My Approach to Budgeting Time.

Being an entrepreneur for the last 25 years, the one thing I found as my greatest strength (even in hindsight) was how I managed my time.  I simply gave everything a monetary value, including my time and even my leisure time.

The first step to doing this is assigning a value to your time - this is much easier than you would think. Simply take your income from last year and divide it by 2000 - remember, this is MY rule of thumb, not a precise science.  As an example, let’s say you made $80,000 last year; divide that by 2000 (Standard work hours per year, not your actual!!) and you have an hourly value of $40 per hour.  Note this one exception, if you were not in business last year and/or have no cash flow, your hourly value is ZERO - you are still investing time only in your business.

Now let's try something easy - let’s pretend you hate mowing your lawn; it takes two hours per week to do so; that equates to $80 in your time.  The neighborhood kid will do your lawn for $20.  Decision made.

It's a little more complicated when you consider tasks in business as you also need to consider income opportunity as well.  Let's say your typical sales efforts for a day are what maintain that $40/hour.  One day a month you play catch up and do your bookkeeping.  If you can hire a bookkeeper for $30/hour and they can get the work done in the same time (or less – as they know what they are doing), it may be time to hire that bookkeeper.

This type of analysis can be done for every administrative task in your business.  The key for you is to increase time for one of two tasks - selling (which I preach) and leisure / family time which entrepreneurs desperately lack.

Don’t get caught in the trap of doing administrative work on the weekends; if you are going to do anything other than leisure, sell, sell, sell.

You will be amazed how your business will grow when you focus on sales and/or your own well being.

Bob

Entrapeneaurship on the Rise According to the Kaufman Foundation

This is one of those articles where I shake my head but still smile.  Even good people "Spin"....Despite Recession, U.S. Entrepreneurial Activity Rises in 2009 to Highest Rate in 14 Years, Kauffman Study Shows Contact.  The article should be titled "Because of the Recession..." rather than "Despite Recession..."  See..., the largest limiting factor to entrepreneurship is time, not money and definitely not know how.  Recessions create time through the layoffs of good people.  I see this much more in the SCORE world than in the Venture Capital world.  I have preached over and over,  "The greatest obstacle to the creation of an individual's wealth is an individual's job.

Given the NEED and not the opportunity (which always exists), success will come to us after all, Necessity is the mother of invention...

enough cliche'

bob

Sell, Sell, Sell – Part Two – It's a Game of Numbers

Non salespeople have the hardest time believing this one, but selling is simply a game of numbers.  Talk to X number of people and Y number will buy from you.  The bigger X, the bigger Y.  Yes there are techniques that will increase Y, but the biggest factor in making sales is talking to as many people as you can about what you do/sell..

Develop a strategy, a technique, a spiel – then go do it, don't rethink it until you have done it a few hundred times.  New sales people rethink their strategy with every person they talk to – don't - it slows you down – maybe that person just did not need what you were selling today.  Think about it – If can close 1 out of 20 people I talk to – BAMM – I am a happy camper.  That is 19 rejections (as perceived in YOUR head).  In reality, those 19 rejections are notifications of the business you are in – remember, they just may not need a plumber today.!.!   It’s a process we call "Filling the Pipeline".  Leave business cards, regular cards, magnets cards, sticker cards - again - over and over.

Watch the habits of great sales people and/or sales companies; watch how telemarketing firms operate – they are selling factories.

Great sales people are always selling – selling is socializing.  That plumber we mentioned earlier should be socializing and networking as much as possible – no one needs a plumber until they NEED one – the plumber's name should be in the customer's head when need strikes – who wants to flip through the phone book when the pipes burst - I wanna call a friend.

I know two very successful landscapers, one in Florida and one in California – both are "involved" - a fancy way of saying "well connected" through a variety of networks and their networking efforts (Parties, Chambers, Mixers, etc..).

So let's start getting rejected - You will be amazed how little you care on your way to the bank!!!!

Stay tuned for Part Three – Sell, Sell, Sell – Technique.

Go back and Read Part One - Sell, Sell, Sell – Business Does Not Occur Until Transactions Occur.

Bob

NICHE. I'm all in!

Are you in the market for a byzantine mural? If so, I now know the guy. I didn't realize there even was a market for byzantine murals. I do now.

We all search for the niche. Finding a niche isn't hard. It's finding a unique niche that can be challenging. However, if found and evaluated as genuine... you've got to be all in.

Time4 has established a niche. And we're heavily invested. We're all in.

Like so many others, you may not have realized you were in the market for cooperative advertising. You may not have considered how collaboration can solve your budgetary woes and leapfrog you ahead of the competition during these challenging times. You may not have known we can help you with your print marketing, your sales collateral, your advertising campaigns .. from business cards to banners to funding all of your printed sales systems - the right way. The way that builds transactions.

You do now.

What Makes Time4 Different from the Competition?

First, there really is no competition to what we do within the markets we play. That is because none of our real competition is local and, not being local, they can’t service the market with a program like we offer. I am not writing this to differentiate ourselves, but to clarify what you may have heard about those other companies and not classify our Time4 programs and processes with that bunch.

The Time4 process involves putting together teams of businesses who target the same customer base and maintain that team in a professional and organized fashion for a 12 to 15 month period. At minimum, every quarter, peer meetings are held to discuss business and plans for the future. Those quarterly meetings give everyone the opportunity to reinforce relationships and reintroduce themselves when new players join the team through attrition. In addition, we facilitate networking outside the group and assign tasks to different members to help the group become more professional in appearance and responsive to the market. We also facilitate team sponsored events at the venue. It is called collaboration and cooperative marketing - sometimes we find individuals that cannot do this and thus don't play well with others. The team acts as a board of directors to the program. The other guys do none of what we just described – oh yea, we do a book similar to the ones they publish.

We ALWAYS "face-to-face" venues with partners – we don’t tell people we work with the venue; we let the venue tell people they work with us. We NEVER falsely represent who we are and what we do.

We NEVER make the team exclusive in any way, nor do we support this practice. Competition is healthy for the development of strong units.

We ALWAYS advise Time4 teams to work like a BNI.

We ALWAYS time limit our programs so the program stays as fresh as possible. This does not prevent partners from going out of business, which in bad time happens to some of the best – my crystal ball does not have that channel in spite of in-depth due diligence. Our due-diligence goes way beyond “write me a check”.

We ALWAYS do extensive due diligence on venues – we do and have walked away from venues that appear hap-hazard in their organization or appear to be having financial problems or are already in bankruptcy. The last thing we want is a change of name or ownership shortly after kicking off a program. Our crystal ball has serviced us well here.

Our agreements are ALWAYS with the business, never with an individual.

People who are not getting the jobs and/or the leads from the venue, we find, have either alienated themselves from the venue or totally screwed up – we don’t guarantee an ongoing relationship – we just provide a forum to create and maintain one. You screw up, oh well; our babysitting fees are substantially higher. We eliminate bad partners, not from the book, but from all future programs.

What does our competition do? They sell ads and print a book from afar.

Bob

Taming the Devil's Advocate

You'll find a new book on my bedside table these days. Yep - Added another one to the extensive collection of "to-reads" and "in progress." It's a recent fave because it speaks to me on a professional AND personal level. It is Tom Kelley and Jonathan Littman's The Ten Faces of Innovation, a follow up to the Art of Innovation, one I also enjoyed.

Here's an excerpt from Tom Kelley's site

We've all been there. The pivotal meeting where you push forward a new idea or proposal you're passionate about. A fast-paced discussion leads to an upwelling of support that seems about to reach critical mass. And then, in one disastrous moment, your hopes are dashed when someone weighs in with those fateful words: "Let me just play Devil's Advocate for a minute..."

Having invoked the awesome protective power of that seemingly innocuous phrase, the speaker now feels entirely free to take pot shots at your idea, and does so with complete impunity. Because they're not really your harshest critic. They are essentially saying, "The Devil made me do it." They're removing themselves from the equation and sidestepping individual responsibility for the verbal attack. But before they're done, they've torched your fledgling concept.

The Devil's Advocate gambit is extraordinary, but certainly not uncommon since it strikes so regularly in the project rooms and boardrooms of corporate America. What's truly astonishing is how much punch is packed into that simple nine-word phrase. In fact, the Devil's Advocate may be the biggest innovation killer in America today. What makes this negative persona so dangerous is that it is such a subtle threat. Every day, thousands of great new ideas, concepts and plans are nipped in the bud by Devil's Advocates.

• See a list of the Ten Faces of Innovation Here
• Read or write your own story about the Faces of Innovation Here

My top take-aways?

• Naysayers be warned. Innovation is not for the faint of heart. Get over it.
  
• Recognize: "Innovation is now recognized as the single most important ingredient in any modern economy."- The Economist.
  
• How to spot a Devil's Advocate?: (or more appropriately entitled - Innovation Killer) Look for talk without action. I know a good number of these folks. All talk.
  
• How to avoid being a Devil's Advocate: Provide constructive and proactive solutions. Seek to deliver greatness with passion and don't give up. Ever.