Archives for April 2015

Kevin Hogan and Other Marketing Masters Teach You About Growing Your Business

April 27, 2015 by Mike McRitchie Leave a Comment

[youtube]https://youtu.be/d3tRtcoy4hE[/youtube]

Check out the Google Hangouts video above for some interesting insights about growing your business. Here are some nuggets I took away from the session.

Get clear on what you want out of your business. Often people build the trappings of success but lose because the overhead is killing the bottom line. And many times they weren’t clear that what they really wanted out of their business and life wasn’t wrapped up in those trappings. In particular people commented about living their lives now for simplicity (less infrastructure, fewer or no employees, JV partners that know well, trust, and have good relationships with).
You need to fail and fail quickly.
Meet people. Don’t be a wallflower. Whether it’s tradeshows, meetups, mastermind groups, whatever. You may have a great home business but you need to get out too. Face-to-face relationships are much more powerful than someone just added to your list.
Give gifts instead of free stuff (“Free Gift” is an oxymoron – either it is a gift – which prompts reciprocation – or it is free, no strings attached – and no commitment). You need to provide Value. “Free Trial” is a better version of free (since the trial isn’t forever).
TV/Radio/Podcast exposure beyond being able to claim you’ve done it, unless it is something like being on Oprah (when she was the go to place), doesn’t tend to drive results. People don’t order when watching their TV (unless of course it is the Shopping Network).
Mastermind groups – it is helpful to have people from different industries and backgrounds who each bring something different to the table. Everyone needs to be able and willing to contribute. Otherwise people will stop seeing the value. It is also important to hold each other accountable.
Affiliates – don’t promise reciprocation on mailings – you need to respect your list and only promote what you believe in – or your list will leave you.

Comment below on what insights you gained from it. I’d love to hear.

How Young Entrepreneurs See Value and Make Sales

April 26, 2015 by Mike McRitchie Leave a Comment

How Young Entrepreneurs See Value and Make Sales

Today was one of those days. Where you just scratch your head and wonder how this ever came to pass.

My 11 year old son love finding hidden gems. He has no fear of asking anyone for anything. And he gets excited about selling and making money. And my daughter enjoys helping him do the same.

So I’m not that surprised when they bring things back from outside the dumpsters. One person’s trash is another person’s treasure.

Bike and Riprider

Today started no different. The treasure hunt began with well built BMX bike in good condition other than a missing seat and a couple flat tires ($50 value). Definitely fixable and a nice frame that would hold up for years. Good find for my son since he doesn’t have a bike at my place.

Next he comes up with a Razor Riprider ($50 value)

Ok. The little collectors are on a roll.

Then they take a break. And what do they do on their break?

Selling Bead Necklaces

Well they were at a St. Patrick’s Day parade this year and picked up a bunch of beaded necklaces that were tossed from the floats.

And then they came up with a plan to sell the beads to people in the apartment complex. And later at a couple parks we went to.

They even had sales letters and pricing sheets.

IMG_20150425_113805604_HDR — Necklace blowout – green for 1 dollar, purple for 5$, Gold for 10$, pearl for 6

IMG_20150425_141003666 — Thank you for buying…

IMG_20150425_141017732 — Your money goes toward sick children. Thank you for supporting. (Ok, that’s a little over the top)

Now I didn’t see them sell any of these beaded necklaces.

But they kept coming back with more money…and fewer necklaces.

They didn’t sell any for more than $2. Nearly all were $1.

But for kids their age they were excited.

They had no fear or doubt. They’d talk to anyone and everyone.

And by the end of the day they had $8 in their pockets.

Baseball Cards…and the Unique Find

So what else did they do? Well my son also located three 4″ thick three ring binders filled with 1981 and 1982 baseball cards in the plastic sleeves. They’d been left overnight so some of the cards were wet from the night’s rain. But nearly all were in excellent condition.

And I’m guessing some guy’s girlfriend gave him an ultimatum. Either the baseball cards go or she goes. And he dumped the baseball cards.

So we brought home the cards and took a run out to the baseball card shop that was nearby to see if anything was worthwhile.

Now the owner didn’t want to buy any today. He said these were the years when a lot of cards were manufactured so the values were pretty low.

But he did offer to look through them and give us an idea of which, if any, might have some value.

Well after a half hour review of the cards, he came up with a very nice one. Not life changing. But definitely an nice find.

It was a Cal Ripken, Jr rookie card. Worth about $20. And in better condition than the one he had in his store.

So as I look back on today I see my kids generated the following.

$50 Bike
$50 Riprider
$8 Bead Sales
$20 Cal Ripken Jr baseball card
- $128 Total Value

Total Value…Priceless

Now I know that wasn’t all converted to cash. But it was definitely a valuable exercise for my kids to practice all phases of entrepreneurship including:

Locating hidden treasures
Acquiring them for nothing
Identifying the market to sell through
Crafting the marketing message
Selling the product
And learning the life and business lessons that go along with them

Are you working each of these phases in your business?

Are your eyes open to the opportunities? Go forth and sell.

Runner Falls. Wins Race. Warriors Win! How About You?

April 25, 2015 by Mike McRitchie Leave a Comment

[youtube]https://youtu.be/xjejTQdK5OI[/youtube]

Runner Falls. Wins Race.

Would you?

Life in the small business world isn’t easy.

The government can make it difficult.
The economy overall can suck.
It can be tough to get financing.

But your success is still largely in your hands if you’re a small business entrepreneur.

You can focus your time and energy
You can get joint venture partners
You can get advisors and consultants to guide you

It IS up to YOU!

The question is, are YOU up to the task?

Are you willing to get up. Brush yourself off. And get back in the race?

Nobody said it would be easy.

No one said business is fair.

You will fail. But fail quickly. And get refocused quickly.

Learn from those failures. Don’t overly dwell on them. Just figure out the lessons. Learn from them and move on.

How You Handle Adversity Makes All the Difference

As you can see in the video, having 300 meters, of a 600 meter race, to go when you fall flat on your face doesn’t leave much margin for error.

Think that is too esoteric for you and your business?

Ok. Let’s take it out of the individual sports metaphor and move to team sports.

Warriors Win! How Did That Happen?

The Golden State Warriors Game 3 of the first round of this year’s playoffs.

Going into the 4th quarter against the Pelicans. After three quarters of being shut down.

They don’t give up. they keep chipping away.

And with three minutes to go they have a shot to get back in it.

And they keep pushing. Keep believing there is a way.

They play with abandon.

They don’t think about it. They just go for it. All out. Just having fun and making plays.

All players crashing the offensive boards to get rebounds.

Bad calls? Who cares. Just win baby! (old Raiders reference)

Are You Making Your Own Luck?

And what happens? MVP Stephen Curry hits the 3-point shot (on the second attempt) to tie the game and send it to overtime.

The Warriors go on to beat the Pelicans at home and take a 3-0 lead in the best of 7 series (where no team has come from behind 3-0 to win the series in NBA basketball history).

Now what would have happened if the Warriors didn’t believe?

What if they didn’t keep plugging away. Running all the balls down. Making the plays that started to add up?

What if they started overthinking things?

Belief Is Power

Momentum is a wonderful thing. But belief is even greater.

How’s your belief in yourself and your cause?

You will get knocked down. Are you committed to getting up each time and continuing the race to the finish line? to get that final bucket and win the game with your business?

Runner Falls. Wins Race. Warriors Win! How About You?

Do You Prepare as Hard as Rush Limbaugh?

April 24, 2015 by Mike McRitchie Leave a Comment

Do You Prepare as Hard as Rush Limbaugh?

Today was a heavy research day for me. Trying to prepare multiple blog posts to stay ahead of life’s distractions that pop up to take you off course.

Listening on the radio to Rush Limbaugh as I was driving around today, he had a caller who asked him how he prepared for the show. I pulled up the show transcript (link below) that shows how he answered a similar question back in 2007. The insights he gave are as beneficial now as when they were first given.

How does Rush do all his show prep?

Here are some key strategies that have helped Rush achieve the success he has in talk radio. Many of these strategies contain universal principles that can apply to you and your business.

They can help you and your business grow to the next level.

Whether you’re researching ideas to design the next marketing piece. Or creating an information product. Or just keeping tabs on your competition.

Select your trusted sources

Not all information is equal. If you’re putting together blog posts or info products or trying to stay on top of business news, you can easily get information overload. Who you select to listen to is critical. You only have so many hours in the day. Use them wisely.

Play the Angles

Everyone looks at the information differently. They all have a different frame. A different set of experiences. A different goal for consuming that information. That’s your niche. Find it and build on that.

Check out the Other Side

Rush doesn’t do this himself but he does have his team members check that stuff out for him. He always knows what the other side is up to. It is like checking the competition. You want to know where they’re headed. It always helps you to differentiate yourself and understand the other side’s hot buttons (or sales propositions).

You Can’t Get to Everything

Rush is fed information and only gets to 30% to 40% of it in a day. Any remaining good stuff will carry over. Another way to look at this is from a marketing perspective. You always want to have a full pipeline of hungry customers. That gives you the ability to choose who you work with, at what prices you choose, and when you choose. Keep that pipeline full.

You Need Help

Rush outsources the blog research to his team (on top of his own research). This allows him to get to information that he would just run out of time getting on his own. It also allows him to cull down to the best information. Are you outsourcing less critical functions to others so you can focus on the most impactful areas to your business’s success? If not, why not. You’re holding back your success if you’re not outsourcing.

It Isn’t All About You

Being entrepreneurs we often think things wouldn’t run without us. But if you have employees or joint venture partners or outsourced elements, you need to develop those relationships too. Be human. Be understanding. Give some of the credit to them. They’ll work harder for you and build you up more than you ever could on your own.

Now I understand that you probably already work 10 to 12 hour days running your business.

And I get that the last thing you want to do at night or early in the morning is research. But I would challenge you on this front.

Whether it is pure research, reading, etc.

Or it is working “On Your Business” while the other hours are focused on working “In Your Business”.

You need to get more out of what you do. Keep these tips in mind.

And you’ll find yourself preparing as hard as Rush Limbaugh. And getting the results you deserve.

Earth Day 2015 – Have We Left the Dirty Air of the 1970’s Behind?

April 23, 2015 by Mike McRitchie Leave a Comment

Now many of you know I’m not the biggest fan of government. Ok that’s the understatement of the century. And so looking at today being Earth Day I decided to challenge myself a little. Do some digging into the facts. And look at one aspect, cars and clean air.

So lets dive in.

What is Earth Day?

According to Wikipedia, “Earth Day is an annual event, celebrated on April 22, on which day events worldwide are held to demonstrate support for environmental protection.”

Now I know that depending on which side of the political fence you lean, it could mean different things. It could be about saving the planet from human destruction. Or it could mean environmental socialism run amok.

But today lets step back from the rhetoric, and look at some of the facts and positive elements we can all possibly agree on.

And of course there will be a business bent thrown in for good measure…

Now Earth Day was first celebrated in 1970. So lets take that as our starting point for looking at how we’ve done in terms of reducing our impact on the environment since then.

Fuel Economy

Looking first at fuel economy, Dean Bill Chameides, of the Duke Nicholas School of the Environment, shows in a Chart of Miles per Gallon from 1975 to 2011, that MPG went from about 13 to 23 MPG – a 76% improvement

U.S. Fuel Economy: Past, Present and Future

Fuel Prices

What about fuel prices?

According to Energy.gov’s inflation adjusted pricing, in 1975 you could buy a gallon of gas for $1.81 (actual price was $0.53). in 2011 it was $3.53 (actual price was $3.64) – a 95% increase.

So if we compared the cost per mile of 1975 to 2011 we’d get the following comparison.

1975: $1.81 / 13 = $0.13 dollars per mile

2011: $3.53 / 23 =$0.15 dollars per mile

So a 15% increase in fuel cost per mile traveled over this time period. Not a huge increase but certainly not savings to the consumer.

FACT #835: AUGUST 25, AVERAGE HISTORICAL ANNUAL GASOLINE PUMP PRICE, 1929-2013

RESULT ==> Significantly better fuel economy but higher cost to the consumer

Emissions

But that’s all great that the consumer didn’t see much of a negative effect from tighter emissions. But how about our environment? Are we doing any better there?

Let’s look at the facts.

According to the EPA’s data, since 1975 allowed car emissions have dropped (GPM=grams per mile of pollutants) significantly:

1975: 3.1 GPM

1977: 2.0 GPM

1981: 1.0 GPM

1994: 0.6 GPM

1993: 0.3 GPM

2004-2009: 0.07 GPM

EPA Car Emissions by Year

This has resulted in allowed emissions from cars to be in 2009 at 2.26% of 1975 levels.

A tremendous victory for clean air and a clean environment!

So what does clean air feel like to you and me?

Well I remember growing up in the 70’s in Northern California and my trips to Southern California. I remember the smell of leaded gasoline (you can leave your window down and not smell anything now).

I remember the refineries in Benicia that smelled like someone farted (yes, everyone asked who cut the cheese in the car lol). I don’t smell that today when I drive by them.

I remember hardly being able to see for more than a mile driving through Los Angeles in 1970. Not so today; even the worst days today are better than many of the best days in the ’70’s.

So should we go farther? That is a subject for another day. I think we can all agree there is a time for government intervention and a time when businesses are best left alone. Both are at play in this discussion.

But for today let’s celebrate Earth Day. And celebrate leaving the ’70’s. And disco sucked too…in case you’re wondering.