Archive for March, 2010

Influences of the Entrepreneurial Spirit

As I prepare for a family visit this weekend to celebrate a milestone birthday (yes, mine), I reflect upon the choices I have made in life and the influences that got me to where I am today.  It also brings a bit of sadness in the fact that my father won’t be joining our celebration as we lost him to ALS in 2006… but when I think about influence, his strength and charisma still impact me today.

My father was a welding salesman, back in the 70’s-80’s when face-to-face sales were the only option.  He was an extremely successful business man within that format. Yet, my dad also always had something else ‘cooking’ on the side to fulfill his inventor spirit.  Most of his creations were related to the welding world, but he (and his partner) had one amazing idea way back when in inventing an above the ground swimming pool light – it installed in the side and lit up the inside of the pool, underwater, and was the first of its kind. Dad tested his invention on our pool and then worked to market it in local stores.  My sister and I were brought on board to silk-screen the product logos onto the lights in our garage.  It was exhilarating to be part of a new idea and see it grow, I was 9 years old…

While the underwater light venture didn’t expand, (there’s a long story of trusting the wrong manufacturing firm – another example of why choosing the right team is critical)  the perseverance my dad had in trying out his ideas and having that ‘side business’ was very inspirational.  Over the course of my life, my dad often encouraged me to make choices that may have seemed ‘out of my comfort zone’… which led me to a life of independence and a strong appreciation for the entrepreneurial spirit.

While my involvement in the KikScore venture started after my dad’s passing… I know he’s looking down proud as can be. What is your small business spiritual story? Share it with us!

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Archive for March, 2010

StartUp Tax Break: Let's Follow Wisconsin's Lead

Thanks to the fine folks at BusinessWeek, specifically Kay Koplovitz, I was introduced to a concept that should be embraced by Congress if we’re serious about jump-starting the economy — give angel investors a tax credit for investing in startup companies.  This concept just makes sense if you think about a few different points:

1.  Most people work for small businesses — to generate real job growth you’ve got to encourage small business growth.  Incentivizing investment in startups will pull up the slack created by massive job layoffs, and in turn will foster innovation.

2.  It levels the playing field with other investments — The government incentivizes other investments all the time.  If you want to buy a home or second home, you can write off interest expense.  If you invest in publicly traded stock (and lose money) you can take an offset on other gains or your income.  Why not also incentivize investments in the oft overlooked startups?

3.  It already works — as Ms. Koplovitz points out, this concept isn’t new.  In fact, thirty states already have similar programs in place (albeit on a smaller scale).  Seven years ago, Wisconsin started a program that provided angels a tax credit.  Investments in startups have since ballooned from $1.5M to over $15M.  Wisconsin working to expand the program (as it staves off pressures from unemployment and increases business tax revenues).

Thanks to BusinessWeek and Ms. Koplovitz for raising this idea.  Please send along any other small business tax ideas.

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Archive for March, 2010

Kikscore Interviews World of Toy Car's Mike Miller on Selling Online

I came across Mike Miller from the World of Toy Cars on Twitter a few months ago. The World of Toys Cars (WOTC) is an online store that focuses on diecast vehicles and vintage toys.  Its a car and toy collector’s paradise and Mike has some really amazing models including NASCAR, motorcycles,  Hot Wheels and aircraft just to name a few.  In this post,  KikScore sits down with Mike so that he can tell our community his small business story and more about his very cool website.

1. Tell us about WOTC and who you focuses on serving?

World of Toy Cars was created in such a fashion that collectors can easily find specific toy cars. Most collectors are always looking for specific models, either Volkswagons, Corvettes, trucks or maybe just Police Cars…but each collector is defined by something they like. There are always collectors that just collect Matchbox,..or just Hot Wheels,..but again, the ones they cant find in stores, they have to revert to the second market like eBay or sites such World of Toy Cars.

2. How did you get your started selling online?

I started selling online back in 1998, when eBay was just getting started. I was listing items with no pictures, and selling usually all the time. The client base was new and wanting items. I soon learned the art of pictures, uploading, taught myself HTLM, and created eye catching auctions which drastically improved my results.

3. Where will WOTC focus most of its energy in 2010?

WOTC will continue bringing new and exciting models to the online community. The task of documenting each item, photographing, and creating each listing individually is exhausting. Its also something that can only be done by myself, as condition of the card or package, the item itself, are there variations, year, where it was made, and the rarity (value) of the complete item is Critical.

4. If you had 2 lessons learned from your business that you could pass on to others about selling online, what are those?

Two very simple things that MUST be done if you want to sell online. You must spell correctly! And you must have perfect pictures. Both those things tell everything about a seller, and yet the buyer has hardly seen your stuff. Once a buyer detects bad spelling, or blurry pictures, they are GONE.

5. As 2010 starts, what do you see as 2 new trends in your business this year?

The ever changing search engine optimization. This is critical again in the online world, and Google who basically controls the strings here, is always updating…so you as a seller must update also. The second is not really a trend, but its opening up, is worldwide shipping. People must get onboard with shipping globally if they want to be successful. More and more information is available now about different countries and their guidelines. People must educate themselves and grab those open markets.

6. If WOTC could have a dream spokesperson for your company who would it be and why?

It would have to be someone with a sense of humor, people relate and remember when they are made to laugh!

7. How do the folks at WOTC let loose after a busy day working?

Usually a good meal, and then out to check stores to find new and fun toys!!

8. Do you have any parting thoughts for our readers and the small business community?

If you want to succeed on the WWW, you must learn to ship worldwide. You have the whole world at your doorstep, looking at your items, and your telling most of them to go away because you dont like where they live. Imagine if stores or restaurants did that!! I have been shipping all over the world for 12 years now, I communicate to everybody in their own language with Google translate, and international sales account fo over 50% of my business.

The other thing I have noticed is many sellers have tons of rules to deter business. I have had people refuse to sell to me simply because they dont want to go to the USPS, or the forms are too lengthy to fill out, so they cancel my purchase. Why are you even selling things? That baffles me…you want to sell…make it easy to buy…it happens, it works…so do it!

KikScore would like to thank Mike for this interview. If you have questions for Mike, leave them in the comments section below and we will make sure they get answered.

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Archive for March, 2010

KikScore Says Goodbye to Windy, a One of a Kind Horse – RIP

Part of the KikScore family yesterday lost a wonderful horse, named Windy.  After nearly 30 years eating, playing, trotting, bringing a lot of joy to many people’s lives and making lots of friends with so many horses at his home at Missing Maple Farm in Centreville, Virginia, Windy moved on.  I could have easily disliked Windy because he came from Pittsburgh, and as many people know since I am from Cleveland I generally have a dislike for all things Pittsburgh (except from wife who happens to be from there!).  We moved Windy up from just outside of Pittsburgh around 2002 where he had been living on my wife’s mom’s farm since my wife was 11 years old!  Windy immediately liked his new surroundings on Missing Maple Farm where the owners Vickie and Frank showered Windy with huge amounts of love and gave Windy dozens of new horse friends to meet, hang out with on literally dozens of acres of gorgeous land that bordered historic Civil War battle fields.

One of my favorite stories about Windy was actually a story about how clueless I can be at times.  I have to try to set the scene for you.  Imagine a beautiful wintery, Saturday afternoon where there was probably 3 inches of snow on the ground.  My wife and I had gone out to one of the far fields at Missing Maple where all you are surrounded by are the vast rolling Virginia hills. There was a mass of trees off in the distance that bordered the outer boundary of the multi-acre farm.  The wind was cool but the air was not super cold.  It was really nice as you could see for miles and the field all around us were dotted with other horses and bails of hay.  In the distance well behind us was the owner’s farm where we had parked.

So after walking a considerable distance through these rolling fields, my wife, Rebecca, went off  find Windy to feed him his favorite treats which consisted of a bag of carrots, a few apples and some sugar cubes.  (If we all could just eat so simply!).  There she was walking through the field as I stayed some distance behind her.  What was I doing?  To set the stage, this was back when I was working at my old law firm job and 24/7 work was just something we unfortunately did.  So I was doing the Blackberry death march through the field.  You know that, look down at your Blackberry tap a few keys, look up to make sure you dont step into a pile of horse manure, walk a bit more, bury yourself in the latest email and respond because it is just “so urgent.”  As I spent the next 10 minutes reading, typing, looking up for a second, returning to reading, typing, cursing the client (or my boss!), narrowly avoiding stepping in some fresh steaming droppings, typing some more I was in a world far from that snowy, beautiful farm.

I can not really now remember why, but for some reason I suddenly stopped in the middle of this snowy field, where all I was surrounded by was a few horses, some wood fencing that separated the fields from the trees and just acres of space and quiet. I looked up from my Blackberry.  There I could see my wife off in the distance feeding Windy his carrots and the last remnants of those apples.  You could tell from his face and how he was jumping around softly in the snowy field that he was so excited for the sugar cubes that were coming for dessert.  Windy was just so so happy eating away and all I could think was here I am buried in my Blackberry and I was missing this amazingly cool moment out here in the snow, deep in nature and so far from my law firm’s office that had me sucked into a Blackberry instead!

So Windy, thanks so much for making me realize I have to put that darn Blackberry (and now Iphone) down and take in these special moments!  You brought such special happiness to our family….when you were not trying to toss my wife out of the saddle, and we will all miss you.

Keep trotting Windy!  Make sure you now go see Blue from Old School because I am sure he will want to take a ride with you. We also want to thank Frank and Vickie for doing such a wonderful and amazing job taking care of Windy throughout the years.  We will never forget that and it is so appreciated. If anyone has a horse that needs bordered in the DC/VA/MD area, check out Missing Maple Farm.

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Archive for March, 2010

Business Lessons From The Wire

As a die-hard Sopranos fan, I resisted getting to involved into another t.v. crime drama.  So I’ve been avoiding watching The Wire for the past 8 years.  Not because I didn’t think it would be good, but because I knew it would be.  The last thing I needed was another drawn out man-soap-opera that sucks away my time.  Of course this past Saturday, with nothing good on my DVR, I got hooked.  But I noticed an interesting thing about the show — it’s mostly about small business.

Ok, the small businesses involved are necessarily legitimate or savory, but that doesn’t mean lessons can’t be learned.  If you think about it, the fact that the Barksdale gang is being constantly pursued/monitored by the police makes their success even more impressive.  If you’re running a legitimate business, all you have to worry about is the marketplace and your competition undercutting you.  The Wire entrepreneurs had to face the prospect of being wiped out (literally) by other gangs (Omar included) and/or going to prison.  Now they really didn’t have to worry about a market, as they were selling drugs to junkies, but still it’s impressive.  Now what are the actual business lessons?  I see a few of them:

1.  Clear Roles:  While flexibility is good, with lean operations, it’s also important that everyone on the team knows what they are supposed to do.  You never see a street-peddler trying to figure out what his job is.  He’s there to sell drugs to the entire neighborhood.

2.  Nothing Beats Face-To-Face Communications:  The Barksdale Crew stayed off their cell phones and resorted to pagers.  But most of the real conversations about business were done in person.  Of course it was done to avoid being tracked by the police, but the practice still seems to be a good one.  Take the time to talk with your employees/partners in person.

3. Ride out The Bad Times: Just because you’ve been convicted and sentenced to jail doesn’t mean you should give up.  Not universally applicable, but for some of this, this is great advice.  Seriously, though, business may be down at a given moment, but if you keep working on the product and marketing, good things are bound to happen.

Of course, if I’m missing any other vital business lessons, please feel free to let me know.

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Archive for March, 2010

Small Business Interview with Kimberley Stewart from OnBoard Outfitters

Kimberley Stewart with OnBoard Outfitters took some time to share some small business tips with us including her thoughts on website development, corporate vision, getting venture capital funding, and Matthew McConaughey (what else!).  Onboard Outfitters specializes in making comfortable baby carriers that can be used in water or on land.

Tell us about OnBoard Outfitters and who you focus on serving?

OnBoard Outfitters designs products and accessories for the active lifestyle so you can get onboard with life!  We use performance fabrics to innovate and enhance the use of products that individuals and families use in their active, everyday lives.  We also develop fitness programs that utilize some of our products, to encourage families to be fit and active together, and to teach kids to love fitness at an early age.  Our products are made for all ages, in various markets such as juvenile products, sports/athletics, outdoor recreation, travel, health/fitness, and medical/therapeutic.

Our first product is the innovative SportsBabyTM infant carrier, the only dual water-land carrier on the market, made for active moms and dads who live life “on the go” and want to take baby everywhere with them:  in the pool, to the beach, camping and hiking, in the snow and rain, or just a walk in the park.  Moms swear to us that their babies don’t want to get out of the carrier – it’s so soft and comfortable.  And several parents tell us that it is their preferred carrier.  Dads love it because of its “engineered” design – “It’s not just a piece of cotton with shoulder straps.”  

How did you get your started selling online?

When I joined OnBoard in 2008, we created a new LLC and decided to sell the remaining inventory of our SportsBaby infant carrier (from my partner’s former LLC), while we prepared a business plan to obtain funding.  So, we needed a website to sell the carriers.  We have also reached out to several other online retailers who now also sell the SportsBaby.  OnBoard will not be a retailer to the public going forward.  We will sell via retail partners, such as small, independent retailers and boutiques, and larger mass merchandisers.  We will also have a limited B2B division to sell directly to practitioners.

Where will OnBoard Outfitters focus most of its energy in 2010?

Getting funding!  And developing our launch products and fitness programs.  We will also focus on building consumer awareness, sales, and brand loyalty.

If you had 2 lessons learned from your business that you could pass on to others about selling online, what are those?

1.  Spend the money to get a good website.  We went with a woman who did “websites for small businesses” but she really wasn’t experienced in sites with a retail/shopping cart component.  So, the site looked okay on the surface, but I later learned that she had used very amateur programming on the back end, making it enormously difficult for another web programmer to make changes.  This also limited our SEO.  And she chose archaic shopping cart software, which also limits us in being able to calculate international shipping, for example.

2.  Have a reliable customer service and fulfillment system in place.  You have to be able to ship within 24 hours of receiving the order.  With a new company and product, you can’t afford to alienate any customers with bad service.  Once, a woman from Ohio called me, wanting to buy a carrier for her daughter.  She said she had tried to apply a promotional discount to her order online but couldn’t get it to work, so I gave her our Friends and Family discount, which was a greater discount.  I didn’t have the capability to process her order and credit card over the phone, so I trusted her word that she would mail me a check that day, and I shipped the carrier to her.  I did whatever was required to give her a positive shopping experience with OnBoard Outfitters and the SportsBaby carrier.

As 2009 closes, what do you see as 2 new trends in your business this year?

We haven’t been in business long enough, or had enough sales, to see a trend, but we are now finding other sites that focus on active parents and outdoor living with kids, so we are gaining a lot of attention with these sites, and finding people who “catch our vision” of sporty, fun products for infants and parents.

Overall, the fitness/health industry and the juvenile products industry have remained strong in spite of the weak economy, so we think this will help us be competitive and see some growth in the next few years.

If your business/store could be any movie or movie character, what movie/movie character would it be and why?

Let’s see . . . If OnBoard Outfitters were a movie, we’d be a cross between “Baby Boom” (Diane Keaton) and “Gracie.”  “Baby Boom” is, at the highest level, about a woman (we’re two women) who saw a need in the baby market and created a solution.  “Gracie” is a film about a young girl who loves to play soccer, and pushes to get other girls involved in the game.  Both films also express the theme of not letting anyone tell you that you can’t do something – anything is possible with some effort and vision! 

OnBoard’s underlying goal is to help combat childhood obesity by getting kids involved in fitness at a young age – even as infants – and to exercise with their parents so family fitness becomes a way of life and a fun way to spend time together.

If OnBoard Outfitters could have a dream spokesperson for your company who would it be and why?

Based on our current SportsBaby product, our dream MALE spokesperson would be Matthew McConaughey.  He is the epitome of a cool sports-loving dad, who lives on Malibu beach and sports his baby around.

Our dream FEMALE spokesperson would be Kathy Ireland.  She is an amazingly successful female entrepreneur, mom, and a dedicated spokesperson for families and family fitness.

How do the folks at OnBoard Outfitters let loose after a busy day working?

My business partner, Lisa LaBelle, is the fitness expert, so she’ll do something like run a marathon.  I eat chocolate.  All day long.

Do you have any parting thoughts for our readers and the small business community?

Starting a business is hard work, and requires a clear vision and plan of how to move from point A to point B to point C.  Get good, seasoned advisors on your team to guide you and also open doors for you.  Spend time at your local Small Business Community Development Center for free advice (or for a nominal fee) on all aspects of business development.  And network like crazy!

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Archive for March, 2010

Why PowerPoint is Destroying Business

I know this phrase has jumped the shark, but the use of PowerPoint has officially jumped the shark.  Don’t get me wrong, PowerPoint is a very useful tool, but I think we’re now addicted to its use.  In my day job, you can’t have a simple meeting with out putting together a “deck”.  And sometimes, and I’m not kidding about this, we do a summary “deck” of other “decks” we’ve reviewed in the past.  There are also education PowerPoint presentations that teach you the latest in presentation tips.  In my mind, this over-reliance on bullet point communication is destroying business communication.  How?  Let me explain in the following bullet points:

• Encouraging Business ADD: First thing you do when you’re in a meeting and you receive a powerpoint print out.  Due you walk through each page, as intended by the presenter (who has taken a lot of time preparing for the meeting)?  Nope.  You flip ahead and start focusing on anything other than what you’re supposed to be.  And you have way too much time to review a summary slide, figuring out a very specific question that shouldn’t be included on a big-picture slide.
• Style Over Substance:  Instead of working on the actual message, you spend hours trying to determine which is more persuasive — a circle graphic or a pyramid graphic.  In one of my last presentations, the only question I received was on my color selection. Never mind the actual work product…they didn’t like the use of light green.
• How to Create a Damn Pyramid:  Ok.  It’s clear, that a pyramid shape best conveys what your point.  The only question is how in the hell do I create a Pyramid graphic?  I know there is the “Smart Art” tool, but it only insures that the presentation looks like every other corporate deck created by someone that doesn’t know how to do a presentation.
• Squeezing Complicated Concepts into a Bullet-Point:  You’ve got that wonderfully persuasive Pyramid graphic.  Unfortunately, you don’t want to include all the relevant information, because it doesn’t fit well into the slide.  So what do you do?  See the next problem.
• Slide Pride:  When you have a beautiful slide and you don’t want to burden it with content, you…create another slide.  This relates to the college equivalent of “feels like an A” syndrome.  If you have 40 slides, it must be thorough.  You know you have a real problem when you create an Appendix — a place to store all of the slides you’ve created but can’t really find the right place to include them.

Am I alone in hating the overuse of PowerPoint?  Let me know.

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Archive for March, 2010

Small Business Interview with History In Action Toy's Sterling Ashby

We met Sterling Ashby at the KikScore sponsored Social Commerce Camp DC and he has a very intriguing story that any small business would be interested in hearing.  Sterling is a lawyer by trade (like a couple of us at KikScore), but his real passion is his business that sells children’s toys that are based on real-life American heroes. Using real heroes from history, Sterling has created a series of action figures for children that are fun, can be positive role models, and whose real-life stories awaken both a child’s imagination and appeal to the kid within us all. History in Action Toys was born from this.  He now sells these highly popular action figures online at www.hiatoys.com. I can tell you when my two month old gets a little bigger, I am buying some action figures from Sterling’s site!

In this 5 minute small business video interview of Sterling, we cover a wide range of issues including:

1) the challenges of having a business online;

2) crowdsourcing  marketing and ideas;

3) building buzz on Twitter, Facebook and other social media channels for your  online store and business;

4) a few of the tips that Sterling learned from Social Commerce Camp; and

5) a few examples of real life heroes that Sterling now offers as action figures at HIA Toys that the community should check out.

Please tell us your thoughts on this interview in the comments section below.

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Archive for March, 2010

Today, Even Hermits Engage in Social Media

Last night I went out with a couple that I would best describe as “my wife’s friends”.  This is a completely different blog topic, but have you ever noticed how rare it is that you and your partner like the same people?  It’s pretty universal that if you like someone, your significant other will not.  And what about an entire couple?  You’re more likely to win the Powerball.

To protect the identity of  the offensive couple, I’ll call them Mr. and Mrs. Dennis Brown (or DB and Mrs. DB for short…take a moment…yes, that was intentional).  So, this couple spent the entire dinner talking about how technology obsessed Americans are and that we really don’t need to be so connected.  That’s why they spent the last 6 months sailing…away from the trappings of modern society.  It went on and on.  Three drinks into the evening, after DB made snide remarks about the need for iPhones, DVRs, and steady work, I was done.  Unfortunately, the waiter decided to take a 30 minutes smoke break. 

Luckily the delay happened as it led to my favorite moment (only favorite moment) of the evening.  Here’s the set up.  In discussing the isolated places where they sailed (the DBs were in places where there wasn’t daily mail delivery!) they noted that they used a cell phone to call for a new engine and had to wait a week.  Ah-HA…cell phone is technology!  Then they drifted into the lack of internet coverage, and how it was hard to update their website and blogs (blogs…multiple blogs) in certain areas. 

I did my best to not “spike the football” about the need for these young idealists’ need to have a blog, but I didn’t resist that well.  Let’s just say the evening didn’t end with an attempt to set up another dinner.  Oh well.  That said, I did think it was very telling that an aspiring hermit need to have Internet access on his sabbatical and then to blog on multiple blogs to let the world know how isolated he was.

Please tell us about any other hypocritical stances you’ve encountered…or if you too have had dinner with DBs.

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Archive for March, 2010

A Small Business Interview with Mark Sarpa from Frecklebox

Mark Sarpa from Frecklebox took a few minutes out of his busy day to share his thoughts on focused marketing, Dr. Seuss books, and what makes him passionate about what he does everyday. Mark is the CEO of Frecklebox.com, a small business that sells personalized gifts for children.

Tell us about Frecklebox and who you focus on serving?

We are focused on parents and grandparents with children between the ages of one and 10.

How did you get your started selling online?

We are part of a digital printing company which was looking to diversify its business from the fine stationery and corporate marketplace. We had the tools and developed the products to take advantage of what we do well for others.

Where will Frecklebox focus most of its energy in 2010?

Growing the market will be our primary focus in 2010 and we plan on adding more books and additional products in the children’s educational marketplace.

If you had 2 lessons learned from your business that you could pass on to others about selling online, what are those?

The first lesson would be to study more marketing. We think we have great products but sometimes it is tough (and can be expensive) to get your message out there. The second lesson would be to focus on a specific marketplace. I believe the more focused you are the more successful you will be.

What do you see as 2 new trends in your business this year?

The first trend would be more competitors (which is a good thing). Our market is fairly new and still small. As more competitors enter there will be growth for us all. The second trend would be more powerful customization tools. Later in the year we hope to add much more sophisticated tools where people can actually edit the story.

If your business/store could be any movie or movie character, what movie/movie character would it be and why?

That is a tough question. I would say Aladdin because he started out as a street urchin and became a prince. Not to say that a corporate printing company is a low form but if we can transform into a company which changes children’s lives I would think we might have become a prince.

If Frecklebox could have a dream spokesperson for your company who would it be and why?

It would have to be Dr Seuss. He was a pioneer in children’s books and paved the way for the rest of us in the children’s book market. Our HipHopHowie book was actually modeled after many of the Dr Seuss classics.

How do the folks at Frecklebox let loose after a busy day working?

All of us have families so playing with children and making them do their homework makes up our wild and crazy nights.

Do you have any parting thoughts for our readers and the small business community?

In my opinion the most important ingredient in a business’s success is the passion of the person or people running it. When I receive an email from someone that thanks me for helping their child learn how to spell their name it gives me that warm feeling that we all strive for and makes me passionate about bringing better things to the market to make children and parents smile.

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