So you want to launch a business...

It's all about you!

Your business will reflect your image, including the one in the full length mirror.

Steve Jobs earned the privilege of wearing jeans and T-shirts in public appearances by building, then re-building,  Apple.  The rest of us haven't delivered that kind of value yet.  We typically have to dress in a manner that will be accepted or even praised by our clients, prospects, important members of our value chains and even our employees.  We have to look like they want us to look - like we mean business.

We're always selling, after all.  And people buy feelings.  The way we present ourselves affects the feelings we evoke in others.  So personal appearance is part of our corporate Message.

But Jim, you say, one of the reasons I started my own company was to get free of all that dress-up pressure.  Sorry, I say.  Get over it.  Unless, of course, you spend all your time in a back room and leave the public appearances to a hired suit.

It's not that hard, really.

"Business casual" for males typically means khakis and a collared shirt, perhaps with a blazer over the top.  But don't mistake that for khakis you have been wearing for three days and a collared work shirt that was wadded up in a drawer.  That's Hollywood stuff.

Oh, and by the way, this applies to the look and feel of your workplace, too.

And Steve Jobs wears really nice jeans and T-shirts.

Boring stuff that people actually need

What companies are doing well right now?  And why?

There's a nice summary in a January 20 blog entry at Economix.  Catherine Rampell checked with Sageworks and posted a table of industry groups with double digit growth.

So who are they?  And why are they growing?  Wow, this really takes me back.

I have an old Doonesbury cartoon framed and conspicuously posted on a prominent wall here at VT KnowledgeWorks.  Mike asks Bernie,the business mogul, what he is working on.  Bernie replies that he had previously been in wireless applications for handheld devices, but that he had recently switched.  Mike asks the obvious question, "To what?"  And Bernie's answer is classic: "Boring stuff that people actually need."  And he follows with, "You'd be surprised how lucrative it is."

Well, guess what dominates the Sageworks table.  Right.  Boring stuff that people actually need.  Whoda thunk it?

One of the handy bits of Business 101 truth to which I constantly return is this simple, but oh, so powerful, question.  "Is there is a compelling marketplace need?"  And in our current situation we might add "that can be expected to transcend macro-economic corrections." 

That's not to say that enterprising folks can't make lots of money on trendy gadgets.  It just points out the additional risk inherent in the profit bulges that arise from that trendiness.

A path to your door...

Your Magic can work on your Market, but only if people hear your Message.

Neil Sagebiel, one of our first-class bloggers here in southwest Virginia, recently posted a uniquely appropriate quote from William Randolph Hearst.

“If you make a product good enough, even though you live in the depths of the forest the public will make a path to your door, says the philosopher. But if you want the public in sufficient numbers, you better construct a highway.”

And, Hearst might have added, there had better be very clear signage at every intersection.

Read all of Neil's post here.  And, while you're at it, check out the rest of his good stuff about inbound marketing and other ways to craft and to publicize your Message.

Release 1 - the ultimate market survey

Consider strategic under-development.

Balancing the tension between perfection and expediency is one of the key challenges that face inventor/entrepreneurs.  The zealous creator of the next great gizmo is putting her ego on the line and wants the introductory version to be a flattering reflection of her vision and skill.  Meanwhile, the start-up money (from whatever sources) is running out; and near-term sales are the only answer.

Any number of clever folks have chosen to go to market with a purposely immature product - not a dysfunctional product, mind you - just a very modest one.  Think of the advantages -

• The time-to-market is shortened.
• An emotional milestone is reached by the development team.
  
• Money begins to flow in, not only out.
• All subsequent investment in development is in response to real market feedback!!!

The Market, of course, is always right.  And there is a huge difference between survey answers and trial by purchase.  Any number of failed enterprises have been launched on the strength of positive responses to survey questions.  When a customer makes a purchase, however, even a  small one, he puts some skin in the game.  The product's performance really matters.  And, in my experience, his responses to functionality and quality questions are truly thoughtful.

No strategy works for every company, of course.  A household detergent doesn't have a menu of optional features.  It either cleans or it doesn't.  But I have found the following rule of thumb to be useful advice on many occasions.

When in doubt, sell something.

Sales - the ultimate rush

The first few people have bought MOXIE - the book!!

MOXIE and other fundamental entrepreneurial concepts went up for sale online a few days ago.  My latest venture into entrepreneurship is actually live.  Several people whom I have not met and whose names I will never know have actually ordered copies.  Some came through my e-store, and some through amazon.com.  I am pumped.  My ego is safe, at least for now.

This, of course, is one of the big payoffs that all entrepreneurs live for.  There is no feeling quite like receiving approval for something in which you are emotionally invested.  That's why live performers endure years of practice and privation to get that one great role.  They've tasted applause and really, really want more.

You can transform the world.

You, yes, you, can change the behavior of a significant number of people through the power of your idea and the strength of your personal commitment.

We all know the powerful examples of how this has been done on a global scale.  All the great religious leaders have done precisely that.  Think about the work of Jesus, Mohammed, and the Buddha. 

On a national political scale we see people like Washington, Jefferson, Franklin, Mandela, Gandhi, as well as, unfortunately, Napoleon, Hitler, and Stalin. 

In the world of industry and commerce, we see Bell, Edison, Ford, Sarnoff, Watson, Gates, and Jobs.

Some of you may aspire to such greatness.  Most probably do not.  But all the same mechanics apply regardless of the size of your “world.”  Your world may be a club, a university, a town, a county, a state, or (since we’re here to talk about entrepreneurship) a selected group of prospective customers.

Interesting.  Let’s call that your capital-M Market.  Your powerful idea is your capital-M Magic.  And the strength of your personal commitment is your MOXIE.  Add a few solid Mentors and you have the Four Fundamental Factors covered.

You’re ready to get serious about launching a business.  You’re ready to transform the world.

Market, Magic, and (oh, yeah) Money

Self-negotiation - a common malady ...

One of the biggest challenges for start-ups is pricing.  It's particularly troublesome when the product or service is something truly fresh and the market value relative to substitutes has not been clearly determined.  And, naturally, having almost no clients and therefore almost no revenue adds lots of flavor to the soup.

I just had a most interesting experience.  A service company quoted me a price for four assistance sessions.  I accepted the deal and began preparation of my part.  A few days later they sent me a half price offer based on their assumption of how much value I was going to receive from the service. 

Mind you, I didn't request a lower price.  They just offered it.

It wasn't a lot of money, so I explained that my assessment of the value justified the original price, and why.  The reply was as you might expect, "Oh, that's why you are doing it.  We assumed that you were doing it for this other reason."

I've also seen numerous instances of companies offering lower prices just because the prospective client was slow in responding to an offer.  It's all understandable, of course.  When you really, really need the sale, your price-cutting trigger finger gets twitchy.

Buy a good book on pricing and one on negotiation.  Read them - before you negotiate with yourself and leave lots of money on the table. 

What's money?

"What's money? A man is a success if he gets up in the morning and goes to bed at night and in between does what he wants to do."

                                   - Bob Dylan

During our Concept Camps at VT KnowledgeWorks we spend a lot of time and energy addressing the payoff.  I'm not talking only about the liquidation value of the company at exit time.  The payoff includes the entire life led by the entrepreneur from launch day forward, including, but not limited to, the ultimate financial outcomes. And since Moxie is fueled by Motivation, understanding true motivating factors is a big, big deal.

Owner/managers make daily operating decisions in support of what they really want, not what they say they want; and money is only one of a multitude of wants.  As a consequence, we make a serious effort to enable the entrepreneur to express a clear notion of her motivation in launching the business in the first place.  That way the business may be governed by a plan that properly takes into account the real factors that will affect the boss's decisions.

Of course, at some point the owner's wants may limit the business's opportunities for growth.  Venture capitalists, for example, typically choose not to invest in "life-style" companies.  On the other hand, someone who "gets up in the morning and goes to bed at night and in between does what he wants to do" seems likely to be content.

Personally, I agree with Bob Dylan.  But I'm not looking for venture capital right now.

What do you want?

MOXIE - the Book - now available

Be the first on your block to master entrepreneurship!

Just kidding, of course.  Somebody else on your block has probably beaten you to the punch.  It's really hard to be first at anything.  Still, you can quite possibly be the first to have your very own copy of my irreverent little book. 

I asked my friend, Arthur Scharff, to read it, hoping for a cool, quotable endorsement.  Here's the polite part of what he said.

"I’ve worked with thousands of business people over the past 40 years, but I have seen only a few successful entrepreneurs.  I have, however, seen many who, had they read Jim's book first, might have saved themselves a lot of time, money and heartache."

Click on the book cover image to the right of the screen and make up your own mind.

The 2% dream...

It's a billion dollar market.  All we need is 2% penetration.

That's true.  If you capture 2% of a billion dollar market, your annual sales will be $20,000,000.  The trouble is that even billion dollar markets are made one deal at a time.  Before you get 2% of the market, you have to get at least one customer to buy.

There's an old joke.  I'll shorten it to get to the meat.  An aspiring businessperson asks a multi-millionaire for some advice on becoming rich.  In the course of the conversation, the multi-millionaire mentions that the second million came much more easily than the first million.  The youngster then decides to shorten her own journey to riches by starting with the easier second million.

Quite obviously, that's not the way the world works.

Multiplier is not one of the M-words.  It's not Market, Magic, Mentors, or Moxie.  Success comes (if it comes) from applying powerful Magic to address a compelling end-user need in a real Market, not from multiplying the size of a market by some fanciful penetration factor. 

Figure out how to get the first sale.  Then start a trend.

It's still who you know.

That's the tag line of a nifty regional blog - Handshake 2.0. 

I live in a great place.

Blacksburg, Virginia is loaded with bright, ambitious people who are willing to work hard and take some risks.  As a consequence, I have the good fortune to know a bunch of successful business owners who started from scratch, had the Four Fundamental Factors well in order, and succeeded.  Handshake 2.0 covers "who’s doing what, and how and why they’re doing it" with a view toward creating more real handshakes, first as greetings, and then sealing deals.

Over the next few weeks I'll be working with Handshake 2.0 to showcase a few of the standouts from our region, and to point out how their mastery of the M-words helped them succeed.  So - check out Handshake 2.0, and watch for some guest posts with plenty of meat for promising entrepreneurs.

You wanna see some MOXIE?  We'll show you some people with MOXIE.