Business Thoughts
Exploding the Press Release “Freebie” Myth
If you do too many press releases editors will get tired of giving you a “freebie” is exactly the wrong point-of-view about press releases. The fact is, that the secret to getting a lot of publicity is to prepare press releases about products and product applications that interest editors. If you prepare press releases with…
Read MoreThe Alternative to Growth is Death
I’ve had many small business owners tell me that they like being small and don’t want to grow. Sound familiar? I understand. I own a small business too. But, businesses are organic. Like animals, plants, and people, the alternative to growth is death! It is as simple as that. Several years ago, I had…
Read MoreWhy Work With Small Companies?
I was introduced to a young man who was starting a company. In the process of our initial conversation, he let me know that he graduated Carnegie Melon with an engineering degree. Therefore, I assumed he was smart. That said, he went on to ask me, “If I was so good at what I do,…
Read MoreHave You Ever Anointed an Employee?
I had a client who took advantage of technology and bought his assistant, Susan a beautiful Nikon camera. It had every bell and whistle you could imagine. Ironically, she was intimidated by it! My client, an engineer who “didn’t know what he didn’t know” was looking to save money on the cost of product photography. …
Read MoreAre You Fundamentally Unemployable?
I love LinkedIn and appreciate its value. However, I read too many questions about starting businesses that are much too academic. Maybe because of entrepreneurship studies at universities? For many entrepreneurs, starting a business was a visceral need. My wife and I started our business from a spare room and worked eight and a half months without a day…
Read MoreBe a Fan for Your Kid, Not an Advocate
I met a professional woman who coached a basketball team of 12 year old girls. That wasn’t her primary job, of course, but it was clearly a labor of love. A self-confessed jock and the first girl to infiltrate her little league syndicate as a young female who could pitch a ferocious fastball, this woman…
Read MoreNews Releases Drive Prospects into the Sales Process
Regardless of how effective a salesperson you are, you have no control over the events that stimulate a prospect’s buying behavior. If they don’t have or perceive a need for your product or service, you will never “sell” them. Your challenge, therefore, is to get prospects to think about your company when an external event…
Read MoreBusiness Models do Matter
Not too long ago, I watched a TV program about COSTCO which explained why the company was so successful. It revealed several of their “secrets of success” such as no signs on their aisles, store layout to create maximum impulse sales, and most importantly, the preparation that entered into their apparent simplicity.
Read MoreWhy Don’t we Hear More About Corporate Philanthropy?
The short answer is because it doesn’t fit the Obama administration narrative about corporate greed and income inequality. Moreover, it doesn’t have the appeal of a good old fashioned Wall Street scandal featuring the latest greedy scumbag being walked out of his office in handcuffs to get media attention. The real answer is that…
Read MoreBoston Red Sox, World Champions
Last year the Red Sox top management micromanaged and hired Bobby Valentine as manager over the objection of Ben Cherington. By the second week of spring training Valentine alienated virtually every player on the team.
Read MoreInternet Changes Everything… and Nothing
Bill Gates said, “A fundamental new rule for business is that the Internet changes everything.” There’s no doubt about that!
Read MoreEarning the Trophy is What Feels Good, Not the Trophy
“Oh, that’s okay Johnny don’t feel bad.” That’s what a little league baseball player’s mother said after her son struck out with the bases loaded.
Read MoreSticks and Stones will Break my Bones, but Names will Never Hurt me!
That was a popular phrase in the 1950s, when I grew up. “Sticks and stones will break my bones, but names will never hurt me.” That’s how we were taught to respond to name-calling back at a time when personal freedom and independence were revered values.
Read More7 Suggestions for Building a Successful Service Business
These suggestions aren’t hypothetical. I started a service business with a few hundred dollars 36 years ago and have earned millions in the process of helping my clients grow. Here are 7 suggestions that I have for building a successful service business: 1. Understand “Positioning” – Read “Positioning: The Battle for Your Mind” by Al Ries and…
Read MoreIt Takes B.A.L.L.S. to be an Entrepreneur
B.) BOUNCE BACK – As Jack Welch wrote, “We would also add two other qualities to the must-have list. One is heavy-duty resilience, a requirement because anyone who is really in the game messes up at some point.
Read MoreAt Least Listen Before You Decide
This past week saw an interesting contrast in companies. Last Tuesday morning in central Massachusetts, I met with a small manufacturer who we’ve worked for previously. However, when I first met with the president a couple of years ago he warned me that his Vice President Sales & Marketing wasn’t receptive to new ideas.
Read MoreFew Entrepreneurs Know What They’re Doing
Regarded by the Wall Street Journal as “The dean of America’s business and management philosophers,” Peter F. Drucker wrote in his book Innovation and Entrepreneurship that “Entrepreneurship is ‘risky’ mainly because
Read MoreThat’s How You Earn Someone’s Business
This morning, my wife called me and said that she had a flat tire. Some woman in the bank drive-thru line decided to back out at the last minute, rather than driving forward, and forced her into a curb to avoid a collision. Ten minutes later: flat tire.
Read MoreProud of our Police, FBI, and others
With tears in my eyes I watched the crowds cheering the police, FBI, and others after capturing the second suspect in the Boston Marathon terrorist bombing incident.
Read MoreExcessive Government Regulation is Bad for Small Business
In “The State of Small Business: A Report of The President” Transmitted to the Congress May 1985, Chapter 1. began with “The key word for the American economy in 1984 was growth, in terms of both employment and national output.
Read MoreAn Entrepreneur is not an Entrepreneur, is not an Entrepreneur
When reading people’s thoughts about entrepreneurs on LinkedIn, and the attributes necessary to be a successful entrepreneur, it occurred to me that “an entrepreneur is not an entrepreneur, is not an entrepreneur.”
Read MoreConsistency Counts in Business and in Life
When one of my clients turned 35, he was experiencing identity issues. When I said to him, “Who hasn’t?” He said, “What identity issues do you have? You are product publicity, that’s who you are, it is as simple as that!”
Read MoreAbout the Wisdom of Polls
I know from a great deal of experience working with small businesses that polling can be unreliable. Business owners have told me that they want more advertising, when what they really want are more sales leads, website traffic, or to increase their brand awareness.
Read MoreSEO Requires High Quality Content
We created high quality content for our clients long before the internet became popular. In fact, I started Venmark because the first step in any effective marketing plan always involved getting publicity. Why was publicity so effective?
Read MoreProduct Publicity Redefined
It used to be that you had to know how to create a great concept, develop great copy, create an accompanying photograph that was superior, and select the best media outlets in order to get product publicity. Today, however, all you have to do is
Read MoreSmall Business is America’s Canary in the Coal Mine
Back in 1978, there was a report published by the ninety-fifth congress of the United States of America entitled, THE FUTURE OF SMALL BUSINESS IN AMERICA. (Report No. 95-1810). In Chapter 3 was the following quote: “This country’s small business people are believers in the rights and responsibilities of citizens, and strong participants in the…
Read MoreSmall Business is the Essence of America
“The essence of the American economic system of private enterprise is free competition. Only through full and free competition can free markets, free entry into business, and opportunities for the expression and growth of personal initiation and individual judgment be assured.”
Read MoreCelebrate Entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurs ought to be celebrated the way we celebrate quarterbacks who throw touchdown passes, three-point shooters, homerun hitters, and the other athletes and celebrities who allow us to live vicariously through their successes.
Read MoreBiggest Small Business Hiring Mistake
So you started your own business and it is taking off. You’re “living your dream” and the excitement is unbelievable! You’re busy as hell, need someone to assist you badly and it doesn’t help that you’re totally exhausted,
Read MoreFailure was not an Option
When I was starting Venmark from a spare bedroom at my parents’ home, I remember an old friend who asked me what I was going to do if my business failed.
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