Category: Business Ideas

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Business Ideas

Are You Playing to Win or Playing Not to Lose?

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You may have heard the phrase “playing to win or playing not to lose.” And while it sounds good to say “you’re playing to win” in your business, what exactly does that really mean?

Okay, well first off, let’s define these phrases. To me, playing to win means playing all out. Going for broke. Leaving nothing on the table. You’re putting everything out there to win and holding nothing back.

Playing not to lose means holding something back. Being conservative. Taking some of your chips off the table. Making sure if you don’t win, you minimize your losses.

Now is there a time for each of these? Of course. Playing not to lose makes a lot of sense in certain situations. Vegas for instance. Betting your retirement on a spin of the roulette wheel isn’t real bright. (Even if by some miraculous chance it works, it’s still not too bright.)
And if that’s the way you want to approach your business and your life (playing not to lose) then there’s nothing wrong with it. You can still be successful playing not to lose.

But typically, if that’s your approach, you’re not going to play as big as you could be. And you’re probably not going to make the kind of money you’re capable of.

So how do you know if you’re playing to win or playing not to lose? Well, here are a few signs.

Playing to win in your business:

  • You take risks (and a lot of those risks other people just don’t “get”). Maybe you invest in a high end coaching program or mentorship. Maybe you decide to launch a product that looks on the outside to be a bad idea. Maybe you decide to expand and hire a team even though you really can’t afford it right now.
  • You take advantage of opportunities even if they don’t appear to be a good idea on the surface.
  • You turn down opportunities even if on the surface they look perfect. (Ah, didn’t think I’d say that, did you?)
  • You make decisions from the place you want to be, not necessarily the place you’re at now. (Even if that’s a really scary place to be.)

Playing not to lose in your business:

  • You make decisions based on what you can afford rather than what you need. Okay, a caveat here. I’m NOT saying you should spend your life savings or go into massive debt with no way of paying it off. What I AM saying is sometimes you have to take a risk. For instance, hiring team members. What happens a lot of time is you need the help desperately but you don’t quite have the cash flow. If you never take that first step and hire someone, even on a small basis, you’ll never free yourself up to start making more money.
  • You’re ultra careful about the risks you take (or you don’t take risks at all)
  • You probably aren’t marketing as much as you should be because deep down inside, you don’t want your business to grow very big (after all, you’d start to lose control of it if it did grow to big). Or you aren’t marketing as much because what if it doesn’t work? What if you make this big public splash with your marketing and it fails? It’s bad enough it doesn’t work but now everyone will know it.
  • You don’t try a lot of new things — speaking, marketing, etc.

Now, I want to be clear. There’s nothing wrong with playing not to lose, but chances are you WILL be playing small. You’re going to miss opportunities to get your message and vision out in a big way. You’re not going to take chances where you might fall on your face (especially if you fall on your face in a public way).

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Business Ideas

Massive Growth: How Will You Handle It? Part 1

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Article by Michele DeKinder-Smith
Are you prepared for explosive growth? What will you do when it happens?
Does every entrepreneur seek growth opportunities? Growth can mean more customers, more income, or more opportunities to explore new ideas. Although exciting, growth also brings its challenges, and can spiral out of control if it’s not handled properly, causing a setback as big as the potential expansion. Our research shows that the five types of female entrepreneurs have very different attitudes toward business growth (some want it, some don’t!) and each will respond to growth opportunities differently. This article will examine the attitudes and reactions of Jane Dough, Merry Jane, and Go Jane Go.
Jane Dough
She is an entrepreneur who enjoys running her business and makes good money. She is comfortable and determined in buying and selling, which may be why she’s five times more likely than the average female business owner to hit the million dollar mark. Jane Dough is clear in her priorities and may be intentionally and actively growing an asset-based or legacy business. It is estimated that 18% of women fall in the category of Jane Dough.
Because Jane Dough is business-minded and pragmatic, she probably has a plan in place for handling growth. In fact, business growth is something she’s striving for, with most Jane Doughs saying they want to grow significantly within the next couple of years. As a result, she has no doubt delegated individual tasks to specific team members, putting her team and her business in an ideal position to take advantage of the appropriate opportunities that come her way. She has a system – and it’s in place and ready to roll.
Although Jane Dough’s systematic approach is one of her many strengths, there is a flip side to high levels of delegation. Sometimes Jane Dough relies too much on the system. She moves quickly to fuel her business growth, so she may not always be in touch with what’s happening within every functional area. When large opportunities come knocking while Jane Dough is distracted, weaker parts of the system can break down.
The solution: When massive growth arrives – and it will – a Jane Dough entrepreneur should gather her team for a quick check-in, making sure everyone and every system is aligned and ready to do its part in creating success. In doing so, she’ll make sure resources are allocated appropriately and can create plans to strengthen any weak spots.
Merry Jane
She tends to be “building a business on the side”—in addition to a day-job, or a focus on family or other pursuits. She doesn’t have a high personal income from her business, but she also tends to be working less than 40 hours a week, and she loves the freedom her business affords her.
Because Merry Jane’s focus is more on time freedom than on “big money,” major growth opportunities can be a daunting proposition. While many women in this group dream of a day when they land the mega-customer, Merry Jane does not. Although many know they are capable of building a much larger business, now is not the time. During interviews, when asked what they would do if faced with the chance to take on a big new account, most quickly came to the conclusion that unless they could manage the account in their own way and time, they would let the opportunity pass them buy rather than disrupt their lives.
However, many Merry Janes admit they would like their business to be more profitable, wanting more money without much additional work. Therefore, when faced with a growth opportunity, Merry Jane can consider several options:
* She can hire someone to take over some of the more mundane, day-to-day business chores, like bookkeeping and responding to customer e-mails, freeing more of her time to pursue the new business without taking up more time?
* She can pursue the new opportunity at higher rates, therefore increasing her profit. This may mean letting go of less profitable customers or delegating their care to someone else.
* Or, she can stand firm, turning the immediate opportunity down, knowing that at some point in the future, she may have more time available for new customers.
Whatever she decides, Merry Jane should stay true to the reasons she loves her business now so that she doesn’t add undue stress and time-pressure to her already busy life.
Go Jane Go
She is passionate about her work, and has no problem marketing and selling herself, so she has plenty of clients—but she’s struggling to keep up with demand. She may be a classic overachiever, taking on volunteer opportunities as well, because she’s eager to make an impact on the world and may really struggle saying “no”. Because she wants to “say yes” to so many people, she may even be in denial about how many hours she actually works during the course of a week. As a result, she may be running herself ragged and feeling guilty about neglecting herself and possibly others who are important to her.
Overall, most Go Jane Go women don’t seek out growth opportunities because they are already fairly busy. However, when an opportunity crosses their path, they will feel compelled to “make it work somehow.” Go Jane Go truly wants to help those who need her products or services, so it is difficult for her to turn them away. And because she’s excellent at multi-tasking, this Jane may underestimate the time that will be required or may justify sacrificing personal time in order to help someone else.
This is why Go Jane Go must be careful not to overwork herself. When faced with a growth opportunity, Go Jane Go will want to think critically about the amount of work she already has scheduled and either “say no,” attempt to postpone the project, or delegate some or all of the work. If she is not willing to do so, she will eventually face serious burn out – so it’s very important that this Jane be realistic about her available time and energy for new opportunities.
While every female entrepreneur dreams of growth, when it really comes, it can seem like a huge challenge – and though it may be, handling it the right way can create a huge payoff.
About the Author
Michele DeKinder-Smith is the founder of Jane out of the Box, an online resource dedicated to the women entrepreneur community. Discover more incredibly useful information for running a small business by taking the FREE Jane Types Assessment at Jane out of the Box. Offering networking and marketing opportunities, key resources and mentorship from successful women in business, Jane Out of the Box is online at www.janeoutofthebox.com

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Business Ideas

Is Your Timing Keeping You From Being Successful In Your Business? Part 3

Last couple of issues I talked about how either moving too fast or too slow can sabotage your success. (You can read part 1 and 2 here: http://www.michelepw.com/blog ) Today I’m going to talk about a place where entrepreneurs typically move too fast — launching their product.

I know. You just finished your product or program and you can’t wait to start selling it. In fact, if you could, you’d start selling it yesterday!

And it’s agonizing waiting to launch your product. You want to be making money NOW, not waiting for weeks or months before you actually see any income. Plus you want to get it into the hands of your ideal clients, they NEED what you’re selling. So who has time to sit around waiting to promote? Just get a sales letter up and start selling it, right?

Okay here’s the thing. There’s a reason why product launches work and there’s a reason why you reach more people (and make more money) if you control yourself and do it right.

What’s that reason? Urgency.

You see, probably the biggest reason why your ideal clients decide not to buy is lack of urgency. They may like the product, they may know they need it, they may like YOU. And I bet they even INTEND to buy — just not right now. Right now they have a million other things going on and a bunch of other things they’re spending money on but in a few months or a year they will have the time or money to “finally” invest.

Well, we all know how that works out.

The more time and energy you spend building up buzz for your product, the more you’ll start creating that urgency. And the more you’ve built that urgency into your ideal clients’ minds, the more likely they’ll buy (and USE) your product, thus getting the results they want.

So it’s a win-win. You win because you get your product into the world while being paid handsomely for it, and your ideal clients win because they get the help they need to solve their problem.

So how much time should you allow for a product launch? Well it depends on the launch. There are a variety of launch systems out there, and depending on what you want to accomplish (and who your ideal clients are) dictates your launch. But here are some guidelines to get you started:

If you’re doing a straight teleclass launch (i.e. a preview call that sells the product or program) I would allow a minimum of a 2 weeks before the preview call. (Note, if you want to get affiliates involved you’ll need to allow a lot more time to plan. The more time you give your affiliates to put in their promotional calendars, the more likely you’ll get them to actually promote.)

If you’re doing more of a “release a special report and/or video” which teases the product by providing information, then you’ll need 4-6 weeks. Those take a little longer to get the viral aspect going. Because a preview call has a “date” when the call is, there’s built-in urgency, but a special report or video doesn’t necessarily have that.

If you want to use surveys or a contest, you might be able to do it in a couple of weeks but it would help if you had a little longer (2 weeks to do the survey then 2 weeks to do something with the results of the survey).

Remember these are minimum times AND these are how much time to actually PROMOTE. No, you don’t have 2 weeks to write a squeeze page, once the squeeze page if up, you need at least 2 weeks to promote. If you wanted to add a couple of weeks to do some other promotions, that’s never a bad idea. (Remember, the more you promote the more urgency you build and the more your ideal clients will want to buy.)

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Business Ideas Business Trends Entrepreneurs Entrepreneurship Sales & Marketing

Hot New Entrepreneurial Enterprises To Consider

Sometimes, smaller is better–just ask the small business entrepreneurs also called micropreneurs flourishing in today’s marketplace. A growing set of entrepreneurs are building successful businesses by serving a niche market. Micropreneurs aren’t trying to become the next Bill Gates or Larry Ellison. They’re thriving small-scale on the strength of a loyal customer base and utilizing social business networking and utility tools to help with sales lead generation.
Micro-Enterprises Rely on E-Commerce Solutions

Micropreneurs are rewriting the rules of small business–and they’re relying on the internet to make their business model work. A New York Times feature on startups explains: “the Internet has given people an extraordinary tool not only to market their ideas but also to find business partners and suppliers, and to do all kinds of functions on the cheap: keeping the books, interacting with customers, even turning a small idea into a big idea.”Thanks to a range of online small business resources, today’s micropreneurs have the resources to build their venture on a shoestring budget.
With minimal upfront investment, you can:
1. Create an Internet storefront for retail sales. E-commerce solutions can create a Web site with point-of-sale (POS) capability. Online POS systems enables secure credit card processing on your site, allowing you to keep the doors open 24/7.
2. Reach your niche market. Online sales lead generation and marketing tools excel at targeting interested consumers and businesses.
3. Communicate with your customers via online business networking tools, a blog, or social networking tools. Social media sites offer powerful resources for finding your needle in the haystack, also known as your niche customers and partners. They can also help you keep in touch; today’s customer service agents use online media such as twitter, facebook, tradeseam and email correspondence to connect with the public.
4. Need niche supplies or equipment to launch your niche business? Tradeseam connects entrepreneurs and suppliers of all stripes. You’ll find business resources including manufacturing companies, international suppliers, and everything under the sun online.
5. Web-based technology offers a range of resources for small business owners. Time-tracking software and online accounting programs are just two examples of today’s affordable, productivity-enhancing business tools.
6.The Internet offers the reach and low startup costs to support a niche business.
7. For many micropreneurs, the Eureka moment–the business idea–derives directly from a personal passion.
The following entrepreneurs built a following–and a profitable business–catering to like-minded individuals.

Specialty Food Carts
El Dorado tacos? Chow Fun to go? More and more specialty food carts are cruising urban neighborhoods, with offbeat menus to serve the random craving. Restaurant consultant Clark Wolf notes: “Mobile food is one of the hottest things going all over the country. Brooklyn has its ribs truck, Manhattan has its dessert trucks, and now Los Angeles has the cupcake patrol.”
Specialty food carts rely on social networking tools such as Twitter, Facebook to broadcast their coordinates. The strategy seems to work. L.A.’s Kogi taco truck draws between 300 and 800 by tweeting its location in advance, “setting off a taco-minded flash mob.”
Pedicab
A physically fit duo in Spokane, Washington has pedaled to success with a pedicab service. Cheaper and more eco-friendly than a cab, the bike-based taxi is finding no shortage of riders around the downtown area. To get the wheels rolling in your own leg-powered cab service, you’ll need pedicabs, licenses, insurance, and a local marketing campaign. Once you’ve gained a loyal ridership, you can establish a call center or online-based dispatch service linking riders to your mobile phone.
Guerilla Marketing Agency
Seattle businesses looking to make a unique statement can count on Wexley School for Girls to get the job done. The agency uses off-the-wall guerilla marketing stunts to build publicity for clients. For example, they created a buzz around Copper Mountain ski resort by staging a National Snow Day with improv ski-patrol actors and fake snow. The stunts aren’t for everyone; “either you get what Wexley is selling–a very particular sensibility and approach toward marketing–or you don’t,” comments an admirer. But the agency isn’t looking for mass appeal: “Wexley is biting off little pieces, looking to take on a particular niche of a business.”
Build your own businesses staging publicity events for businesses. Start with an eye-catching Website Design and online marketing campaign to get the word out. As the costs of running a business come down, micro-enterprises are flourishing. These small businesses focus on a loyal niche, taking advantage of online business networks to communicate with customers, source, distribute, and to manage the venture.
In today’s Internet-driven economy, it’s no longer necessary to chase the next big thing. A great small idea can take you even further.
NirmalKumarPhoto.jpgNiki is an entrepreneur, business consultant and advisor to several small business entrepreneurs in the San Francisco bay area. She writes extensively on the small business blog and is a frequent contributor to several small business resource and networking sites that offer tools and resources for entrepreneurs and small business owners, including Tradeseam, Dell, Women On Business and Small Business Community.

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Business Ideas

3 Reasons Why You Aren’t Making Money From Multiple Streams of Income

Imagine — money flowing into your business from all sorts of places. That’s what it’s like to have multiple streams of income. Your business isn’t dependent on one stream of income but instead you can make money from a variety of places.

Is that what your business actually looks like? Or are your streams limited to one or two?

Especially for you service providers out there, I know it can feel a little daunting to think about creating other streams of income. But the reality is, if you don’t do it you’re really going to be limiting your growth.

So, with that said, if your multiple streams of income look more like trickles or maybe a ditch filled with water, you’re in the right place.

Below are 3 reasons why you aren’t making any money from multiple streams of income and what you can do to fix it.

1. Start selling something other than your services. Okay, this sounds really obvious but we got to start somewhere. And this might be the reason why your business doesn’t look the way you’d like it to.

So which category do you fit in? Are you working on the same info product or book for the last 6 years and are (almost!) done with it? Or do you create products the way you change your clothes but you never actually put a marketing system around them so you actually sell a few?

Regardless, you need to stop what you’re doing right now and take stock of what you have. If you’re still struggling to finish your first product, remember good is good enough, and you’re losing money every day you’re not selling that product. Ditto for the too many products and no way to sell them. Put a plan together to get them on your site so you can start getting some income in the door.

2. You have info products but they aren’t selling terribly well. There could be a number of things wrong, but here are some of the top problems:
* You don’t have a sales letter (or the sales letter you have isn’t very good)
* You don’t have anyone visiting your sales letter on your web site
* You don’t have the RIGHT people visiting your sales letter on your web site (i.e. those who would actually be interested in buying your product)
* You’re selling something your target market isn’t much interested in buying

You may need to hire an expert to help you pinpoint which one (or ones) is the problem.

3. You’re not thinking outside the box. There are more ways to get multiple streams of income then selling an info product. There are group programs, licensing, certifications, classes, events and more. Or maybe you need to vary your service offerings or offer a high-ticket program.

There are a lot of different ways you can package what you sell, and depending on your prospect, they might want something different than your usual offerings.

My guess is you have a bunch of loyal fans following you, but if you’re not packaging what you offer in a way that’s attractive to them, they won’t bite. They need to feel like what you’re offering is a fit for them.

So try mixing it up. Offer some out of the box things and see what happens. Who knows, you might discover a whole new product line out of it.