SustainableWork

Since moving into rural economic development I have learned many new perspectives for thinking about how to make things happen appropriately.

When I worked in heavy industry, our challenge was to get international as fast as possible. That fit the situation, and it fit the market.

Now I am privileged to be able to work with food and farmers, along with artists, and a wonderful quilt of small and large enterprises. I'm learning new markets and searching for models that will add real value to the communities I get to work in.

Entrepreneurs look for problems to solve. That's where our opportunities are. When I look around rural economic development I see a really unusual problem. There are customers galore but very little infrastructure in place to support the production and marketing efforts needed to fill the demand.

My friend Lois Federman, a farmer (Marr's Valley View Farms, their family farm since 1874), head of the great 'Something Special From Wisconsin' program, and an all round great observer of ag market trends helped me focus on this issue.

According to Lois, we have done an outstanding job of educating consumers and food retailers of the value of buying local and regional foods. We have created the demand. The problem is that we have not created the support infrastructure to fill the buy-local supply chain.

Specifically Lois Federman discussed the need for what she calls 'local food processing' to match the demand for local food purchases. I really love the phrase. It also matches the experiment we're building out in Iowa County, WI, to create a series of small, smart, nimble, interrelated food and ag processing plants at a county-wide scale.

Local food processing does not mean tiny unregulated food funnels in people's kitchens. Like technology in every other industry, ag processing tech can now create wonderful efficiencies of scale at points on that curve that used to be reserved for only the largest, most capital intensive plants. Now the equipment is faster, smarter and cheaper. Processing tools can be rapidly swapped in and out to match supply and demand in real time.

You don't need large monolithic food processing plants to reach economies of scale. Local foods can be gathered locally, processed locally, and distributed locally in ways that would be impossible for the large processors to reproduce. You can achieve economies of scale with smart new tools and business organization models that match the markets, that match the consumer demands of this early 21st century world we live in.

I know this to be true. We're running numbers for our first plant now and what's emerging looks to me like the early days of the Internet and the efficiencies that brought to enterprise. It feels like lean manufacturing and Six Sigma meet winter squash.

So I thank my friend Lois Federman for the concept of local food processing. I think it's the key to growing not only the local foods market but to growing farmers of all kinds and the communities they live in.


Lois Federman's family farm

Something Special From Wisconsin program

Labels: business plans, entrepreneurship, marketing, new product development, regional fair trade, The slow start up movement

I was privileged to be invited back to Wisconsin Public Radio this week to talk about entrepreneurship.

I had to skip out of my first economic development conference to do the show. At first I felt bad about this. Then I realized that most everyone in the state of Wisconsin that knew anything about economic development were locked away in one room and none of them would be able to hear the radio show. I've been on this new job for 8 weeks. OK, not such a bad set up after all…

It was a really fun show to do. Kathleen Dunn is a wonderful, funny, thoughtful host, and people are so interested in discussing entrepreneurship. What a great hour to spend with Kathleen!

If I stopped to write about all the cool stories that flowed into the show, this piece would be too long.

The one that I'll pick to shine a light on came from a woman who told us about a simple idea they turned into a business ready to launch into greatness.

This is not meant as an example of starting a high tech, venture-funded startup. This is a story of an enterprise started from the love of an idea. What I want to emphasize here is how enthusiastic both Kathleen and I were about this idea.

Ready? A pet expo. Specifically focused on dogs.

Two couples produce the event. It's a yearly event. They design their expo to be a healthy and beneficial experience for the dogs and fun for all involved. It includes a 32 foot long pool for dogs to jump in. Can you imaging the publicity photos?

Here is the small business focus. One simple great idea had both the host of a statewide show and their guest (me) competing to gush over how cool we thought this was. Kathleen had exclamation points in her voice. We both said we wanted to visit.

So, you're a small business struggling with costs to promote an event? If it's a worthy, unique value proposition - does it solve a problem and fill a need - there are many, many low cost, creative ways to promote your venture. This one small example had an entrepreneur calling in to ask for help on a statewide show and having everyone involved on the radio side doing everything they could to support the effort. Her details are in the show, which is linked below.

If I didn't love my job so much I'd do this.

You do not have to be Rembrandt to start an arts enterprise. You have to love your art. You do not have to be Mother Teresa to start a social entrepreneur venture. You have to love your cause. You don't have to be Bill Gates to start a new enterprise. You have to use your skills and your knowledge creatively to create solutions that make peoples lives better in some small way.

This was a wonderful hour with Kathleen Dunn and the stories from the entrepreneurs who called in were magic. If you have the time, listen to the piece about the pet expo. It's in the second half of the hour. You'll be inspired as to how quickly a simple idea can be swept up into a multi-state radio program where both the host and the guest wanted to walk to the event.

Go get 'em, friend.

Listen to our entrepreneurship show on WI Public Radio. Scroll down to the programs listed for Thursday 2/5/09. 9:00 hour. Program number 090205D

Labels: bootstrapping, entrepreneurship, marketing, startups, The slow start up movement

A good friend and mentor directed me to a wonderful book called Ripples From The Zambezi, by Ernesto Sirolli.

Mr Sirolli has been doing economic development work around the world and in the U.S. for more than 30 years. He is a 'bottom up' developer - nurturing small startups and then helping those entrepreneurs grow to the next level.

There are many great things to say about the book and the work. I want to focus on one aspect that I've always believed and taught to startup students and clients.

People often ask me what kind of business they should start. Often they're well along into researching business 'opportunities' being marketed to them.

I tell them that's the wrong question. The primary question is "What do you love?" Give me that answer, and I'll tell you what kind of business to start.

If you want to create your own small scale startup, focus on what you love. Build your enterprise around what you do beautifully or make with passion. The service or product will sell your enterprise in a way you couldn't duplicate with any other method, given small scale startup budgets.

Mr. Sirolli directs those that would help entrepreneurs first find the individuals who are passionate about their work and their ideas. Then he advocates getting the appropriate tools and structures in place to support that kind of enterprise.

He says this: "Success , we can therefore say, is to do beautifully whatever it is that you love doing…. And successful people come from every social stratum, race and sex. Some have been physically and psychologically abused; some couldn't see; some couldn't move and typed their books , letter by letter, with a stick held in their mouths. To be a genius in your own mind, however is meaningless; you have to dance it, build it, grow it, communicate it. Share it with the world."

The world gets made better by people solving problems. If you look around and can't see enough problems, I can't help.

Find a problem. Tell me why you know it passionately. Tell me what you love about your solutions, and I'll tell you what kind of startup you should organize. Your business will survive and grow only by continuing to solve problems with all the passion and skill that you can bring to your enterprise.

On top of that you get to live and work with what you love. It's a pretty great two-fer.

In closing, these kinds of small scale startups have never been more needed by the wider economy. The opportunities for small scale startups have never been greater. We are entering the renaissance age of entrepreneurship.

However, you need to remember that it will take longer than you think. The kinds of startups I'm writing about here are the most sustainable and most likely to succeed . But they take a while. I've called it the slow startup movement for a good reason. It's true.

What do you really love? Ready, Fire, Aim. Repeat. Good luck my friend.



Enersto Sirolli and the Sirolli Institute

Thanks to Sue at the Vernon County Economic Development office for the introduction to this good work.

Labels: business plans, entrepreneurship, marketing, startups, The slow start up movement

Today we had the biggest one day jump in oil prices in history. A couple of big economists at major banks predicted $150 or $200 per barrel oil this year.

Is this the end of the world? Of course not. Some Europeans are coming here to take driving vacations because energy is so cheap.

Is it the end of the road for inefficient, wasteful, energy intensive commerce? Yes, thankfully.

In my last startup I skimmed & recycled industrial fluids. I saw millions of gallons of oil going to waste. The industries I worked in called that oil a contaminant or pollution. They were paying to have oil hauled away. Oil. Honestly. I'm talking this century.

Long ago Buckminster Fuller said pollution is resources in the wrong places. If he knew how dysfunctional the transition would be, I'm sure he would have been shocked.

I used to give talks around the country, mostly in industrial settings. I loved speaking at the yearly industry conventions and professional education seminars for our industries.

I had to travel on the night of Sept. 11, 2001. I was giving a talk in Cleveland the next day for some of the heaviest hitters in my business. It was an awful drive. My society was seizing up. There were people waving flags on almost every bridge across 4 states. There were reports of Indiana Troopers seizing gas stations in Gary, IN for hoarding fuel as I drove past wondering where I could find the next open gas station. Weird, scary times.

During the seminar the next day, we were all politically numb but a new economic reality was in the air. The focus of every discussion was the need to protect our exposures - as a nation, as states, as industries, and as individuals.

Every single day since 9/11 more and more people have equated the idea of increasing efficiencies and cutting energy use as a way of decreasing exposures of all kinds.

Today - especially today - you can't escape the tidal wave of public support/demand behind getting all areas of our culture greener and more sustainable.

My point for this post is as follows: Think of energy use as a 'sin tax'. Something that costs you dearly for your guilty little pleasures. You'll pay more because you just gotta have it…..

Sure the revenues may not be going directly to the government as true taxes, but the money is flying out of your world as lost, not as a productive investment. You've got exposure. You're going to pay. Fix the exposure and you become safer, more productive, and more sustainable.

The idea of 'we just gotta keep to our old ways' is NOT inevitable. Good design can reduce the 'gotta'. Thoughtful, sustainable practices reduce the 'gotta'. Day by day, you reduce the 'gotta'. Day by day you get stronger, more efficient, and less exposed as an organization.

If you are an entrepreneur, or if you are an entrepreneurial company, this is a time of great opportunity to help.

I know the industrial world the best. The way we manufacture things, the way manufacturing energy is expended, the way manufacturing fluids are spent, the way manufacturing affects air quality and the overall effects of manufacturing on carbon emission issue are all significant, immediate opportunities.

Remediating these issues will only get more expensive over time, especially as inflation returns to the economy. Energy costs may dip now and then, but the upward trend is inexorable so long as we're exposed to energy insecurities.

The way to get the biggest bang for the buck is to remediate these exposures and build out new sustainable systems as fast as possible. Do the math. There's no other solution to that problem. Do it fast. Save the most. Decrease exposures and increase security immediately. Payback is forever. Duh.

There is a lot of low hanging sustainability fruit in many parts of our industrial and commercial worlds.

If you are an entrepreneur or work in an entrepreneurial enterprise, this economy is not the end of the world. You are living through a world-wide economic system change.

Thankfully there is a vast, public demand for measurable improvements in sustainable practices at every level of commerce. Thankfully you can be here to help.

We had a gentleman in town this week doing a seminar at the University for regional marketing execs. While not exactly talking about my world of commerce, his thoughts about branding any enterprise in this economy is an apt way to close.

The following quote is from Mr. Gary Hirschberg, one of the founders of the $300+ million revenue per year Stonyfield Yogurt and a well regarded business writer.

"The best brands are truly the most authentic ones. Brands that really set out to be solutions to environmental problems, water problems, energy problems, climate problems, are going to have an inherent competitive advantage, especially in a world where oil is heading for $200 a barrel."

Sustainable practices make money. Sustainable practices decrease exposures. Sustainable practices increase security.

Measurable, sustainable practices are also the greatest opportunity to build an authentic brand and to create a company that people want to do business with.

The world is changing. Change with it, my friends. Be diligent out there.

Labels: business plans, entrepreneurship, green tech, innovation, marketing, new product development

I've carried an idea around with me for most of 30 years, that I first read in an interview with Ken Hendricks of Beloit.

Ken's business was large and rapidly growing back then. It still is. But Ken himself was well grounded and a straight talker. The point I remember from his interview is that he said he could walk into any hardware store in the country, take one single thing off a shelf, and make a national business out of it.

Ken made billions of dollars with the formula.

I believe that idea is especially true for startups and emerging enterprises, though the kind of scale that Mr. Hendricks worked at is not my focus.

My focus is on the idea that you can create sustainable new enterprises within very small niches by becoming the most knowledgeable about one specific thing in that niche.

Then, network and market nationally from the earliest stages, even pre-launch. In an economy this big, you can usually aggregate a big enough audience to turn the lights on and catch some tailwind.

This is now called, 'Long Tail' stuff after a great book by Chris Anderson. Ken Hendricks, pointed me there 30 years ago, and it still works by whatever name you call it.

When Ken was named Inc. Magazine's Entrepreneur of the Year for 2006, there was a great story along with the honor. Ken was a high school dropout who became a billionaire. He has done countless wonderful things for his home-town area of Beloit, Wisconsin.

For those of us who live in Beloit, or pass through often, we know how beautiful that city has become thanks to Ken. The photo above is of one the murals Ken was instrumental in creating for Beloit's waterfront along the Rock River.

Someone said in a newspaper interview, "He didn't build new buildings, he took old buildings and made them into something beautiful."

Ken changed a national industry, working from the region I live in. He did it by focusing. Taking one step at a time. Not taking himself too seriously. Marketing his highly focused ideas nationally from the outset of his enterprises.

Ken died recently from a fall at a construction site at his home.

It is a sad tragedy for his family and friends. Ken's passing is a great loss to all of us in the region.

However, for entrepreneurs everywhere, Ken leaves a legacy that you can take to the bank. In your enterprise life, focus on being great at one specific thing and then do your best every day.



Newspaper article about Ken's life and times. Wisconsin State Journal

"Create Jobs, Eliminate Waste, Preserve Value." Inc. Magazine article about Ken, after naming him Entrepreneur of the Year for 2006

"10 Questions for Ken Hendricks", from an Inc. sidebar story. My favorite is this:

(Inc.) "What is the most overrated skill for an entrepreneur?"

(Ken) "The most overrated skill is skill. Luck is more important. The entrepreneur gets credit for being this genius, when really he was just at the right place at the right time."

Labels: entrepreneurship, Long Tail, marketing, new product development, startups

If your new biz is some kind of gotta-have-it, Web 2.0 breakthrough, it really won't matter what you name your enterprise (my hat's off to Wufoo.com).

If, on the other hand, you'll be among the 99.99% of us that will need to convince our potential customer base that our new biz has merit and value for them, I've found that you have to start selling your proposition immediately. This starts with the name of your enterprise.

It's the first thing your potential customers hear. I recommend you weave what you do into the name. Be subtle or not, just get your value proposition stated so that the target audience gets it and wants to hear more.

I apply this test to all kinds of enterprises... for profit, non-profit, social entrepreneurs, everyone.

My ex business partner Mary just told me about a GREAT name along these lines, called Bag, Borrow or Steal, the name of a new firm that rents designer handbags. It's fast, funny, hip, and gets the value proposition into the first moments of contact.

So, here's a short 10 step test I take clients through when naming their new biz:

1. Make the name say what your enterprise does. Use subtlety, humor, in-your-face shock or drama, but get the value proposition stated in your name.

2. Check that the domain name is available before you name your biz. You need a domain name equal to the name of your biz. Period. It's not as daunting as you think. Unexpected word combinations that describe your project will be laying around.

3. Make sure the name is legally available in your state. Most states have the name registration done through the Secretary of State or their Dept. of Financial Institutions, etc. You need the legal name as well as the domain name. Do these in parallel and do this quickly. When you find you have availability for both, and you REALLY like the name, jump on it.

4. Search the name online and see how many direct and closely related hits you get. If it's going to take you generations to climb the search rankings with a generic name, consider something more specific. I've had clients show up within 2 weeks at the very top of Google searches just because they named their enterprises wisely.

5. Say it out loud to see if you REALLY want to introduce yourself with that name, as in, "Hi, I'm Helen from Jumbledoodle Widgets". You're going to be (hopefully!) saying this a lot, so make sure you like the way it sounds to you and gets your meaning across quickly to your potential customers.

6. Answer a pretend phone call with that name in mind to see if it works for you, as in "Good Morning, Unsightly Undershirts, this is Bill"

7. Type out the name inside the space of a business card (2" x 3.5") to see if it fits, as in "AAA Articulated Angles and Architectural Anomalies of Albuquerque, LLC". Anything left for a URL or a phone number?

8. Put your new name into an elevator pitch, even if the content of th pitch isn't in place yet. Can you live with that name in that venue? "Hi. Scientific Sausage Products makes the best hot dogs for kids parties ever created." Hmmm. Perhaps reconsider if that's the market. What about, "Wacky Wieners will make parties so weird and so fun, that every kid in attendance will remember it 30 years from now."

9. Type up an imaginary eMail signature using your proposed name. Do you like the way that works?

10. Does the name attract attention in a press release. All small enterprises rely on guerilla marketing (link below). You need to snatch the interest of people who are being pitched more than you can realize. "Acme Products announces new flavors" does not hold a candle to "Flavor Explosions breaks Richter scale with new taste treat".

These are good tests. I do them with each start up for myself and for clients. Importantly, it helps set me up with a name I can be proud of and speak confidently about as I launch it into the world.

That confidence is priceless for a startup.

Choose well, and go get 'em friend.

Bag, Borrow or Steal

Guerilla marketing

Labels: business plans, marketing, naming enterprises, startups

I've been helping a new client launch his enterprise. It's one of those situations where the marketing possibilities are almost endless.

What I was having trouble expressing is that, especially for bootstrapped startups, too many possible markets is a problem.

My friend was having trouble getting his head around my suggestions that we ignore most of those possibilities for now and focus on the art of the possible (which, by the way, are code words for cash flow)

Then I remembered a great quote from Bill Cosby that made my point better than any business book or management theory could ever do.

Here is Dr. Bill Cosby's approach to success..

"I don't know the key to success, but the key to failure is trying to please everybody."

wiki Bill Cosby

Labels: bootstrapping, marketing, startups

I don't think I've posted the content or the class schedules for the courses I'll be teaching on line through the WI Technical College system starting next month. These are based out of Waukesha County Technical College (WCTC) and will be available to anyone in the US with a telephone line and an internet connection.

There are six separate courses, each devoted to a specific subject area of micro enterprise: Intro to micro enterprise, Business planning, Organizing, Managing professionally (money and taxes), Marketing, and Preparing your enterprise (data management).

I'm even setting up free demo web sites for members of the first (Intro) class, under their direction.

I really like the way this content has developed and look forward to teaching these courses.

They will be on either Tuesdays, Wednesdays, or Thursdays from 6:30 to 8 PM CST, taught live on the phone (toll free) and internet. I hope to have a wiki set up for each class to follow up with class members after each session.

You can see the schedule of all courses, download the info from WCTC and get registration info from the Business Diligence link below. Hope to see you there!

Micro Entrepreneurship course schedules and registration info

Labels: business plans, entrepreneurship, marketing, startups

I've always believed it was wiser to start enterprises that sold their services or products to some kind of organization. It didn't matter what kind: non-profit, for profit, YMCAs, insurance companies, manufacturers, universities, Fortune 500 companies, Moose Lodges or international associations.

The main reason for this is economic survival. You can find organizations easier, faster and cheaper than enough retail sales customers can ever find you. Beyond that, I find it’s much more sustainable, personally and professionally to work with business-to-business type transactions.

I acknowledge that sales to consumers is getting easier (see post 12/22/06, Jimi Hendrix's guitar, Amazon.com, and you). However, I find that doing business on an enterprise-to-enterprise basis is a good way to build a foundation under your organization. Both sides are looking for reproducible results. You deliver value, they are glad to pay.

What’s nice is that everyone involved in this kind of commerce understands the relationship. They’re looking for solutions for their organization and you, hopefully have one. You, in turn, use this same model for developing your own support teams, both in-house and in your supply chain. Everyone works for the good of each other and, surprise, (while that ethic survives) it works!

I was going write a piece about how to choose the types of target market organizations to dance with. That led me to think about the continuous waxing and waning of the all the different kinds of industries and organizations we’ve dealt with over the years.

I came to the conclusion that there wasn’t much of a conclusion to come to, save one. The organizations you need to partner with are searching for smart new ideas and smart new growth. If you want to be sustainable, customers and market partners with this profile will get you there.

Organizations that are stuck in their ways are going to stay stuck in their ways. You don’t have enough time or money to convince them otherwise, trust me.

Organizations that are actively in the hunt and actively looking for smart new growth are by necessity looking for valuable new ideas. If you’ve got a sustainable solution for their organization, prove it. Then round up all similar organizations in that market and make them your target.

I don’t care if it takes a city or a county or a state or a planet to make up enough potential customers. That’s your market.

Your target market does not have to be drawn from the hottest, coolest organizations in today’s headlines. For most start ups and emerging enterprises you can’t afford to play very effectively in that space anyway.

It’s better to look to the under-glamorized stories. In an economy the size of the one that’s operating around this globe, there are a zillion niches, more or less.

Within them are many, many hopeful innovators, just like you, looking for solutions to bring their organizations and their industries into the new century.

I've saved this clip from Tom Peters' 10/19/06 posting on his web site, in support of this idea.

"I also questioned the need to depend on "leading edge" industries. Significant participation in such industries is a plus, no doubt—but once again, it is the excellence of enterprise that matters most. There is, as I see it, almost no such thing as an "old industry"—most every industry is ripe for new approaches."

Note that carefully, “… it is the excellence of enterprise that matters most.”

Dead on, as always, from Mr. Peters.

A good solution is a good solution no matter what realm of enterprise you work in. If you can reproducibly fix to a real problem, you’re launched.

If it’s in an out of the way industry or sector no one is touting, all the better.

Your next task is to find the enterprises of excellence within that field that understand their need to grow and continuously improve.

When you find them, there is nothing more sustainable than joining hands and racing to the top together.


Tom Peters web site

Labels: entrepreneurship, marketing, Tom Peters

I like Kevin Maney's tech columns in USA Today. He's a good writer and he keeps up a nice blog about tech news.

Kevin had a piece in the paper on Nov 22, 2006 that caught my eye. He was writing about Amazon.com’s new vision for entrepreneurs. Amazon is beginning to unbundle their operations so that outside organizations can now pick from many Amazon in-house capabilities and apply them to their own enterprises.

This has been done with digital products in the past, but Amazon is gearing up to let us do this with 3D stuff, using their computers and providing physical distribution as well.

The businesses I’ve started have always sold things to other organizations. It didn’t matter what kind of organizations, just that there was a structure of some kind in place. For seed stage start ups, selling to other organizations has been a far more efficient way to start enterprises than selling things to civilians. The basis for this idea is that selling directly to the public has been far more expensive, and, most importantly, much more time consuming. Most start ups do not have the time available to waste dealing with anyone who can walk through the front door.

Obviously, that ground has been shifting daily as the internet emerges. The ability to sell directly at the retail level has been growing for the big guys as well as start ups.

The ability to keep enterprises small, fast and efficient has never been easier or cheaper. Now, the ability to sell to civilians seems to be emerging with the potential to take us far beyond eBay.

What I like about this Amazon development is that (hopefully) start ups and emerging enterprises can sell to civilians in ways they never could before, by opening different kinds of front doors.

Amazon won’t be the only portal you can do this with, but they are lighting the way. This trend will enrich the entrepreneurial community worldwide.

With the Amazon model, Kevin Maney says "You can rent space on Amazon’s computers to run a business, or to rent out its transaction capabilities to sell things and collect money, or rent pieces of its warehouses and distribution system to store and ship items - or all of the above."

Maney continues, "So with almost no start up costs, anyone anywhere could become a retailer. It's not just contracting with Amazon to sell your stuff, the way Target does. It's leasing pieces of Amazon to create something totally unrelated to Amazon."

Now, my seed stage friends, initially this is probably not set up for you. As Mr. Maney quotes Jeff Bezos, Amazon CEO, "We can take all the things that used to be fixed cost, and let people pay by the drink." That's code for ‘this service is going to be expensive’. At first, this is probably not for seed stagers, but it’s coming.

However, it looks to me like emerging organizations with the funding could jump right in. Storage space at Amazon distribution hubs seems to be about $0.45 per cubic foot per month. I have not used the electronic interface yet, but it's reported strength is it simplicity. The new access to Amazon's computing power is priced at a rate that looks cheap to me. This will be worth exploring. If you have a tech person on your team it would seem especially alluring.

Interesting side note. As this idea catches on, it will allow Amazon and others to offer increasingly lower costs for these services. According to Jeff Bezos, interviewed at this month's Web 2.0 conference, only 17% of the capacity of Amazon's servers are used. Mr. Bezos says it's like having a Boeing 747 and leaving it parked on the runway 83% of the time.

This move by Amazon is a clear, clarion shot across the bow of the emerging entrepreneurial culture announcing that the big guns get it. They are turning their ships to serve the needs of ever smaller enterprises with an increasing array of valuable resources. Good on 'em. Thank you Mr Bezos. I hope this idea evolves well.

Business Week did a very good cover story on the Amazon rollout in it’s Nov. 13, 2006 issue. I liked a quote there from an early adopter of the Amazon offering, Chris MacAskill, a former fierce competitor of Amazon. Chris is now president of an on line photo sharing firm, who says this about the Amazon approach, "Everything we can get Amazon to do, we will get Amazon to do. You're going to see all kinds of startups get a much better and faster start" by using Amazon services.

Is it for everybody? Of course not. Is it good news for all entrepreneurs? You bet.

As for Kevin Maney, I can't leave his column without applauding some great writing celebrating this evolving story.

"What's new about Amazon is the leap to physical products. This might be one of those evolutionary milestones, like when the first fish crawled up on land, or Jimi Hendrix discovered feedback on his guitar."

My start up friends, big new evolutionary benefits are raining down on our community at an increasing rate. Many will help you and your enterprise become more sustainable. Follow those like Jimi followed his feedback loops.

Developments like those at Amazon are leading to a lot more opportunities for a lot more people.

That includes you.


Kevin Maney’s full article at USA Today

Amazon portal to learn more

Jeff Bezos interview at Web 2.0

ComputerWorld Magazine review of the Amazon project

Business Week story on Amazon

Kevin Maney's blog

Kevin Maney’s home page

Labels: innovation, marketing, platforms

Doing anything for the first time is hard and usually scary.

You don't know what's supposed to come next. Every step is a step into the unknown. You don't know the lingo. You're ready to accept any help that's offered. You make mistakes.

None of that is bad, except for one word. Any. As in "You're ready to accept any help."

Any help is no help. Specific help you target as a need to grow your own skills is good. Wading into something new and looking around to see who will help is bad, especially in the world of new enterprises.

You're thinking about going out on your own. Good. You've summoned the courage. Embrace it. You're heart is racing. I'm with you. Now stop. Exhale. Look in the mirror and check out the directions you're taking. Let life get quiet and listen to your own common sense. Of course your first steps into the world of enterprise need help. But not ANY help. You need help that builds your own possibilities, not the possibilities of people out to steal your dreams.

Far too often first timers take any help. They turn to the noisiest niche in the new biz world, multi level marketing. "You can get rich without selling", or "make money without risk". Followed by, "Hey Uncle Bert, have you been looking for a new, exciting opportunity".

Don't do it. Multilevel marketing is the essence of "any help". It's no help. It's worse than no help, because you can do so much better on your own, on a path blessed by your own good thoughts and fixing problems in the world that actually need fixing.

I'd intended to explore multilevel marketing in one of these posts, when a good friend linked me to a blog by Ramit Sethi. Mr. Sethi is a very good young writer and recent Stanford grad. His blog, subtly named, "I Will Teach You To Be Rich" focuses on "personal finance and personal entrepreneurship for college students, recent grads, and everyone else."

Personal entrepreneurship for college students and recent grads... Yikes, somebody please buy Mr. Sethi a cup of coffee (not the cheap stuff - make it McDonalds) and give him my best. College students and recent grads REALLY need to learn the stuff of new and emerging enterprises. The world REALLY needs college students and recent grads to get their enterprise asses in gear and fix this place for their own benefit and the generations that succeed us.

Mr. Sethi is a person of Indian ancestry. I hope that it’s then OK for him to title his Nov. 14, 2006 post “Why I Hate Indian Network Marketers So Much.”

He’s not picking on Indian people, but using his personal knowledge of the ways scammers exploit people by maliciously utilizing cultural seams.

With Mr. Sethi’s post, you get a nice overview of the different types of multilevel scams out there. You get a short case study, some precise and funny analysis, and finally, a great set of rules to live by when considering this pathway of multilevel marketing: Ramit’s 5 Maxims of Network Marketing.

Two of the biggest tragedies multilevel marketing inflicts on the wonderful folks who have summoned their resolve and subscribed to the leap are highlighted by Mr. Sethi. First, is the distraction from your real goals. Second, and most important, is the cultural and spiritual misuse of enterprise creation that can deflate your ambitions and waste your abilities.

Here’s s good piece from his post:

”These programs are a scam on your time and your relationships. Yes, there are exceptions and a few people make lots of money. But dig into the data and you'll discover that most people--and I mean that statistically--most people make less than $100/month. Most people don't last very long, either. "But Ramit," you might say, naively, "how can it hurt? If I can make $50/month, what's wrong with that? PS I think I can actually make $50,000/month!!!"

There are four things wrong with that: First, you won't make that much. Second, you're not creating any lasting value or building a skill set for you. Third, have you seen how friends treat you if you try to turn your friendship into a sales relationship? And fourth, engaging in these stupid "opportunities" distracts you from real entrepreneurship and your goals.”

It was a cool recent grad that brought this blog to my attention. She reads Mr. Sethi all the time. I would pass along his link to anyone, but I would especially recommend his writing to young folks.

We need you in the game young people. Don’t take “any help”. Look for contributions that you can make, then build sustainable commercial pathways to get there.

The antithesis of sustainable work is multilevel marketing. Don’t do it. My thanks to Mr. Sethi for defining it so well.

You’re smart enough. There are plenty of problems to fix. Common sense and hard work rule. Go get ‘em my young friends!

Ramit Sethi’s blog

Wikipedia info on multilevel marketing

MLMwatch.org Lots of good links shining lights on multilevel marketing scams. A private site run by Stephen Barrett, MD

Labels: innovation, marketing, multilevel marketing, startups

Sooner or later I'm going to get around to posting about selling something you love as a fast way to sustainable work.

In my opinion, developing sales for new and helpful products and services is the lowest hanging fruit you'll ever find on your way to your own enterprise and sustainable work.

You've got to do it right and you've got to have some pretty thick skin. I offer this as a reminder that it's still called work. Happened this month.

I was on a call where I was to meet up with a distributor of our stuff at a potential customer's plant. I'd never been there before. Just stopping by to see if I could help our distributor.

The receptionist let me through, and as I opened the door the plant manager looked at me, then looked at my distributor and said, "At least you're not the most hated guy in the plant anymore."

In the peddler biz, we call this a rough start.

I turned down most of the work that this potential customer wanted us to do.

Did we need the work? Hell yes. You'd better never answer no to that question, friend. You'll always need more of the work your sustainable worklife thrives on.

Did we need that specific work? No.

Clearly the circumstances on the ground were troubled and the need for our stuff couldn't be adequately demonstrated to me by anyone involved. All they could say was that they were in some kind of crisis and needed help.

Don't we all?

You've got to get paid for solving problems, not screwed for participating in someone else's emergencies.

Avoid the idiot jobs and run from the kind of customers that create them.

As a peddler doing something you love, you can change the world, while making a better life for yourself, your family and the rest of the planet.

My friend, please understand the value of saying no to the wrong jobs.

Labels: entrepreneurship, marketing, sales tales

Commerce and cooperation are typically touted as opposites.

You've heard it. Business as war stuff. Grind your opponent down. Rip their ears off as you speed by. Take no prisoners.

I don't think so. I see enterprise as the great new global commons. Sure, it's been co-opted from the top down in its early stages, as most good ideas usually are. But successful participation in enterprises of many types is increasingly available to more and more of us. The commons of global enterprise needs to be defended from the bottom up. That's you and me, doing it right.

It is a hard enterprise lesson to learn but cooperation, when justified, is far more efficient than conflict.

When you begin your enterprise you'll be tempted turn your own personal fears into enterprise fears, reacting to the world with your fists up. That's not all bad. There's a lot of jerks out there. But it's not all good either.

Life is continuously imperfect, but it's also a world of countless everyday miracles. In your enterprise life, watching trust work and, importantly, trust being rewarded, is one of those everyday miracles. Not just on the personal level, but more so in the ways it builds and grows the public commons for all of us.

If you want to succeed on any enterprise path, look for ways to cooperate with your enterprise partners rather than battling with them. The goal is to create ever increasing value for the solutions you provide. That's means involving customers, vendors, peers, investors, board members and everyone in between in this trust thing.

Sure, you always need to remember the good fences/good neighbors rule. That helps spot the bad ones sooner. Let them fall away. The good ones will reward you with the small miracles, the pathways and the tools of your sustainabe enterprise.

This I Believe, is a radio production based on the original series done by Edward R. Murrow in the 1950s that's been revived by NPR. An essay submitted by former Secretary of State Warren Christopher spoke beautifully to this idea of trust and the public commons, I thought.

"One night recently, I was driving down a two-lane highway at about 60 miles an hour. A car approached from the opposite direction at about the same speed. As we passed "each other, I caught the other driver's eye for only a second"

I wondered whether he might be thinking, as I was, how dependent we were on each other at that moment. I was relying on him not to fall asleep, not to be distracted by a cell phone conversation, not to cross over into my lane and bring my life suddenly to an end. And though we had never spoken a word to one another, he relied upon me in just the same way."

"Multiplied a million times over, I believe that is the way the world works. At some level, we all depend upon one another. Sometimes that dependence requires us simply to refrain from doing something like crossing over the double yellow line. And sometimes it requires us to act cooperatively, with allies or even with strangers."

Your enterprise life may be geared toward non profit work or social entrepreneurship or your own business. In every circumstance, you'll need friends more than you'll need enemies.

Here's Warren Christopher, closing the piece: "In my own life, I've put great stock in personal responsibility. But, as the years have passed, I've also come to believe that there are moments when one must rely upon the good faith and judgment of others. So, while each of us faces -- at one time or another -- the prospect of driving alone down a dark road, what we must learn with experience is that the approaching light may not be a threat, but a shared moment of trust."

Don't worry about roadblocks or competitors. Work on creating ever increasing value with your own work. Provide an ever better mousetrap, day in, day out. Out work and out shine lesser competitors and less valuable solutions.

Then, keep your powder dry and trust those who earn your respect. It's the only path I know to sustainable work.

Warren Christopher essay at NPR's This I Believe project

Labels: entrepreneurship, marketing

Our current enterprise was the creation of two friends. Start ups and emerging enterprises are usually staffed about this well. Ain't no job you ain't doing.

When we hired our first outsider the culture of the whole deal was moderately at stake. We needed someone to act as our Inside Sales Manager, someone to back up all the helter skelter street level peddling. The detail work behind the scenes to support successful sales and marketing is critical. It's not rocket science, but do it wrong and you're out of business. Doing this right requires a passion for capturing important details accurately.

We needed this person long before we ever thought about looking for them, of course, but I'm jumping ahead of myself.

Dave and I were going to meet the very first person we'd ever interviewed. Dave had seen a guy who stood out from his workplace because of his relentless ability to want to contribute in a friendly, cooperative way. He was operating like this in an environment wildly cultured up to do things exactly the opposite.

We were going to meet this person for breakfast at the Hardscrabble in downtown Streator. I made Dave agree in advance that we wouldn't make any promises. We'd just hear him out. Then we'd carefully look at other folks and make our choice. Slow, Dave. Go slow.

We were still looking at the breakfast menu, just one or two coffees into it, when I offered Dan the job. Dave just shook his head.

In a very polite way Dan asked just what the sales job description entailed. Dan had not worked in sales previously. He thought it sounded great but, well, what's the deal? What do you need to do for a sales job?

Since I clearly hadn't scripted this whole process very well I didn't have a ready answer. Sure I had the talking points of a printed job description at hand. But I wanted Dan to see the job was something I hoped would be cooler than just a listing of the parts.

As we ordered I also thought about giving him my rant about a passion for capturing details accurately, but it was a little early in the day for that.

The mission critical goal for Dan was keeping our collective asses out of trouble. The right answer to his question was obvious.

If your enterprise is to be sustainable you can't build it on lies. You can never shortchange your product or service. You need to be the best at something but never over-promise your way into defeat. You can't under-deliver. You can't execute poorly and survive. Every single thing in your operation needs full transparency, repeatability and grand slam data control. Above all you need honesty in your data and honesty in your life. Sustainable work.

Are there nefarious enterprises bilking people and running economically amok? Duh.

Are there zillions of enterprises set up to scam the system short term? Double duh.

However, that isn't you. That isn't what this is about. This is about sustainable work. First and foremost that means work that keeps growing. Next, it’s work that keeps you growing.

Starting honorable, well executed, properly documented, new enterprises looks hard. The reality is that it's far easier than wading into the world of cheating and lies. That stuff always takes far more time, work and effort than doing things right. Plus, you end up with the bonus of living a miserable personal life. Sign me up.

Breakfast ordering done, I told Dan his sales training came in a package of three words. Tell the truth.

He said “I can do that” and we shook on the deal.

Dan and I live and work in different states. Dan works in our sales office in Illinois. I work from Wisconsin. Since Dan joined us, weeks can pass between times we actually see each other. He doesn't need any direct oversight. He wants to do a great job and does. If we have stuff to work on together we find each other by phone, eMail, and all the usual suspects.

That frees me up to stay out there creating all the seeming chaos my kind of peddlers generate. We’ve since been joined by my sales partner, Bill. Being my kind of peddler he also has to meet his monthly quota of seeming chaos and he typically exceeds that goal, bless him.

Dan has to back all this up. I’ve done Dan's job in other places. It can be a miserable, inefficient mess if you’re not prepared.

Did I worry turning over this chaotic step? For his sake and mine? Of course. If this job is done wrong, you’re out of the pool, my friend.

Are there downsides to growing and expanding your enterprise so that you can do your evangelizing? Of course.

Enterprise is full of risk. Minimize it. But if you want to participate, you’re going to have to prepare, then learn to live with it.

Was there risk in hiring Dan? Sure.

Was there reward in hiring Dan? Immediately.

Why? Because Dan succeeds for all of us by minimizing the risk.

How does he do that?

Telling the truth.

Labels: entrepreneurship, marketing, sales tales, startups

Many people in the good city of Austin, TX promote a great phrase... "Keep Austin weird". Many other areas are also adopting the phrase.

The words are meant to promote trade with locally based enterprises as much as possible. The radical precept behind this is that it's nice to support your neighbor's enterprises whenever possible. Big boxes have their place but for goodness sake, we need to keep it a little weird, or we'll all be welcoming guests to Wal-Mart.

If you want to get involved in starting up an enterprise, exhale and look slowly and carefully at the ground you're entering.

If you are proposing a new economic entity to the world, you'll have to learn to deal with a reality of your new commercial life nobody talks about much.

You're position is that you have a solution to a problem no one has figured out before. You need people to pay you to execute that solution. With new stuff, both sides typically have very little to go on.

I'm sure you're a nice person but you're going to look, well, a little bit weird.

Good. Recognize you're running on a bit of a different track and be thankful we have society that enables you to be weird.

However, if you get the right to participate in free enterprise, I believe you also have the responsibility to support the weird environment in which you hope to live and thrive. You need to shop weird. You need to talk to new people who are talking about new stuff. Spend a little money with the better ones. Do your bit to keep the system afloat or there won't be much water for you to paddle in.

This is certainly important for consumer spending, but it's vital for business spending. If businesses do not get a good, continuous supply of new tools, we've got no future in business. Businesses need to support emerging enterprises as much as individuals do, maybe more so.

If you want to be a success as an independent enterprise you need to support the system of independent, start up, unusual restaurant, better mousetrap, healthier widget economies that are struggling to take hold all around you, largely unnoticed in the glare of big box logos.

Even if you're just thinking about your own enterprise, but not ready, go out there and participate. Drive past the big boxes. Think about what the people out there in those edgy or oddball or just plain lovely enterprises you've heard about and wanted to interact with. Do it. Go say hi. Support the ones where you can find some value. Ask them how they like being an entrepreneur. You'll learn a lot from the answers.

That wonderful radio icon Paul Harvey once said, 'You don't believe it unless you do it.'

Learn to look for what's weird. Learn to find the enterprises that are finding better solutions to problems. That's what you'll be peddling so get out there and help them out. Vote with your feet and get off the beaten path.

I think this enterprise stuff is getting to you.

You're looking a little weird.
.

Labels: innovation, marketing, startups