Archive for April, 2010

Online Shopping & Security Tips from CrunchGear's John Biggs

This is an excellent four minute video that KikScore recommends for both the small business community and online shoppers on tips to stay safe online.  The video features the author of Black Hat: Misfits, Criminals, and Scammers in the Internet Age, John Biggs.  In the video, John covers steps for staying safe when sharing data and information about yourself online, interacting on social networking sites, buying online and accessing the internet outside of your home. He has a lot of good guidance in the video including his rule to live by that you should not say or share information online that you would not be comfortable sharing in a crowded room.

Take a look, it is a good video.

Please tell us what you think about the tips John Biggs provided in the video in the comments section below.

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Archive for April, 2010

My Business is Hooked on the Internet (and Mad at Windows 7).

The other day I purchased a new computer (from the good folks at Dell…though they never hooked me up with a discount that I pleaded for on Twitter).  Love the computer and the new Windows 7 operating system.  I spend most of last weekend converting files and uploading all my computers to Windows 7.  All was right with the world. 

Then my home wireless network disappeared.  I couldn’t find it on my iphone or any of my computers.  Turns out that a lot of people that upgrade to Windows 7 have this same problem with their home network.  Since I’m not a full-blown technologist, I wasted most of Monday trying to trouble-shoot.  No success.  So I break down and call Geek Squad.  They are coming over tomorrow to fix. 

Besides being a pain, in the last couple of days, I’ve realized how much my business (personal and KikScore) relies on the ready availability of the Internet.  I can get by on certain things with my phone, but to really run a business, you need a computer hooked up to the Internet.  Which is really the opposite of how it used to be.  Back in the day, the Internet was a diversion to work…now it’s essential for business.  It’s more like a utility.

While it’s been an interesting social experiment — i’m ready for the return of my normal life.  I’ve got a lot riding on you Geek Squad.  Don’t let me (or my business) down.  As for you, Windows 7…you’ve got a lot of ground to make up.

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Archive for April, 2010

Who Do You Trust… and Why?

It is evident that building trust builds your brand. But, what encompasses trust? It’s critical in our personal lives, and imperative in business.

As a new ‘face’ in the eCommerce market, difficulties arise in not only reaching potential customers, but also in keeping them and creating the sticky bond.  A way to this is ‘trust‘, but what really defines trust?

It can be said that in the same fashion as beauty is in the eye of the beholder, trust is in the hand of the purchaser.  It’s a well known fact that if a consumer knows the brand, she will buy from a store that promotes said brand.  Even then though, it’s possible that a popular brand has been made available for sale on a not so safe website.  The underlying concern comes to what builds trust in a brand.

Trust not only applies to purchasing something online, but also in the decision making process of whether to hire Plumber A or B that you came across while frantically searching for someone to assist in the potential flood in your bathroom.  Just because Plumber A has a really cool logo on his website, does that mean he will be more trustworthy than Plumber B whose website is rather boring, yet touts that his repeat customers are the key to his business?

In certain cases, trust comes from gut feel and the more you can learn about the online merchant or service provider, the more informed a decision you are to make… and will most likely create a repeat customer if the experience is positive.

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Archive for April, 2010

Contemporary Furniture Expert, SmallBiz Owner & Blogger, Rebecca Malik, Talks to KikScore

Today’s small business interview is with the President of DC-based, 17thandRiggs.com’s Rebecca Malik.  Rebecca holds a dear place in KikScore’s hearts for a number of reasons besides the fact that she is just a very cool person, but she is also one of KikScore’s very first customers late last year when we launched.  Lucky for us she is very happy with KikScore.  Well, enough about us…..Rebecca comes from a family of a long line of entrepreneurs.  She has recently been tapping into that entrepreneurial lineage by working on a line of shoes, getting 17thandRiggs.com designed, developed and launched and blogging for two woman’s based small business and lifestyle community websites.  From these experiences and especially from her work that she has put in at building an ecommerce site from the ground up, she has some excellent guidance for our small business readers.

1. Tell us about 17thandRiggs.com and who you focus on serving?

17thandRiggs.com features contemporary furniture, lighting and home décor.  We focus on carrying pieces that have sleek, simple lines and evoke a sense of space.  The pieces are also chosen because they work well in many types of décor – they are not hyper-modern or too formal.  I feel that our customers are people who love a sophisticated, modern look, and focus on the overall picture.  They realize that an accent piece is as important as a focal point.  Also, I may be biased, but I think our careful selection of furnishings ensures that prestigious interior designers turn to us for their furniture and lighting needs.

2. How did you get your started selling online?

I’ve shopped online almost exclusively for years and know how hard I would look for items that fit my aesthetic and that I knew were of high quality at a good price.  This site is truly a way for me to pick and choose items that I love and make them accessible to others.  Beyond that, my father actually started selling handmade fireplace mantels online years ago.  His ability to reach customers across the country from his small shop in Florida was eye-opening.  After I left my last job at an interior design firm, I decided to take my interest and passion for design, contemporary furniture, lighting and decor and launch an online store.  That is the way 17thandRiggs.com was born.

3. Where will 17thandRiggs focus most of its energy in 2010?

We will be honing our product lines to ensure we carry our favorite designs.  These are furniture and décor pieces that are high-quality, beautiful and a great value.  We will also be steering our efforts to create an even more specialized lighting category.  Our lamps and pendants are consistently some of our biggest sellers and with their broad spectrum of designs they are always such fun items to handle.

I will also be continually reviewing my business and my marketing plan.  I feel like that is something that every business needs to do on a regular basis.  Otherwise you run the risk of not being focused and not having an underlying theme to everything that you are doing as a business.

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

I would say to start out simply – don’t try to offer everything but pick items that make the most sense from an inventory/availability perspective and that are cohesive with your vision for your site.  That and SEO is key.  Integrate your keywords as you go along.  Small businesses like mine can spend forever trying to keep the product information on your site up to date let alone trying to update SEO information so my suggestion would be to do it well the first time around. Here is a post I wrote on the subject titled: How To: An Entrepreneur Improves SEO For Her Ecommerce Site.

5.  What are 2 new trends in your business this year?

Of course, anything eco-friendly is as popular as ever.  As far as new trends, I see people getting more and more adventurous with their lighting choices.  Fun pendants and table lamps are great ways to push the envelope in your décor without making a huge purchase.

For an overall business trend, I would say that outsourcing from a small business perspective.  But it would not be outsourcing as the “four letter” word we know it as.  This would be focusing your small business on your core skills.  Then getting experts, freelancers, consultants, and virtual assistants to fill out the rest of your business and support you as you grow your business.  I now source resources and support for website design, virtual assistants and marketing support from places like Craigslist and Elance.  But you have to be careful and rigorously interview these folks before they are hiredbecause they will never care about your business and your customers like you do.

6. How have you used social media tools like Twitter, Facebook and your blog to help 17thandRiggs?

For me, Twitter has been a great way to learn about other organizations and companies out there with similar or complementary businesses.  It has also been a great place to get leads and also converse with other small businesses. My blog  (https://blog.17thandRiggs.com) has been a unique way for me to process things and continually think big picture regarding my business and the 17thandRiggs.com brand.  Sometimes having to hone into choosing a topic for an article forces you to think about the direction you are heading in and evaluating whether it fits your overall vision of my website, the business and my brand.  That can be very beneficial, especially when your business is at a crossroads.

I have also had the honor of being a guest contributor at the woman’s entrepreneur, startup and small business community site called  Women Grow Business that has been run by the super awesome Jill Foster and Shonali Burke (though I have been on a short hiatus lately since my lovely daughter, Asha, was born at the end of December!)  I recently started contributing to LVC Mag, a woman’s lifestyle community. Guest blogging has been a great experience for me and a nice way to connect and network with other entrepreneurs.  I recommend it for small businesses, especially those that are just starting out.

7. Do you have any parting thoughts?

As this is an interview for KikScore, it makes sense to touch upon my thoughts on the KikScore seal here.  I appreciate that it is a centralized way for customers to share thoughts about my business.  I also think the information they compile provides a fair and verified representation of my business to visitors of 17thandRiggs.com.  As a regular online shopper, I feel that combining financial and management information, website history and polices coupled with interactive customers’ reviews is a genius way to prove that you are a reputable company to deal with and give shoppers a good idea of what they can expect from the experience.  I also think the level of transparency it provides is invaluable in instilling confidence in visitors to our site and helping us convert them into customers.



We want to thank Rebecca for this interview. If you have any specific questions for Rebecca, please leave a comment and we will make sure we get them answered.  Also just for full disclosure, Rebecca somehow married one of my partner’s in KikScore, Raj.  My wife and I wonder every time we see Raj & Rebecca, what was Rebecca thinking!!!

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Archive for April, 2010

How Did My Credit Card Go To Europe Before I Could?

A few weeks ago, I’m standing in line at Chipotle, ready to pay.  The cashier runs my card several times, each indicating a decline.  It’s getting embarrassing because not only am I holding up the line, but my friends now think I can’t afford a $6 burrito. 

In a twist of fate, I actually had cash on hand, so I paid and returned to my seat in shame.  Let me reassure everyone that I can afford a $6 burrito…in fact I can afford up to seven $6 burritos (hopefully I’ve laid that terrible rumor to rest).  The lunch banter steers away from me (which is always painful), so I’m sitting there pretending to listen while I try to remember if I paid my credit card bill.  I secretly used my iPhone and logged into my credit card site.  Everything looks good.  What the hell is going on?!

I then spend the entire Saturday working my way through several unhelpful menus and operators — and I finally reach someone from the fraud department.  I must answer a battery of questions to prove I’m truly Dojo Mike.  Then the gentlemen says “let me run through a few recent transactions”

Me: Ok

Credit Card:  Did you recently purchase $40 at [online company withheld]

Me: Yep

Credit Card:  How about $7,000 in Milan?

Me: Italy?

CC: Yes.

Me: Uh no.

Appears that I had made an online purchase that wasn’t secure.  Now a couple copies of my credit card were on an extended European vacation — spending a lot of time (and money) in Italy.  I had to cancel the card and put fraud alerts on my credit report for all three credit bureaus.  I’m also “encouraged” by the credit card company to monitor my bank accounts and online investments. 

I know online shopping is very convenient, but when security comes into question, the ill-prepared businesses can cause their shoppers quite a few headaches (and liabilities).  Clearly this is related to KikScore (as all online sites should use it to help prevent similar issues for their customers), but this truly did happen to me — and I’ll never shop at that online store again.  I’m also jealous that my credit card was able to enjoy Italy before me.

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Archive for April, 2010

10 Leadership Traits and Skills Needed at a Startup & Small Business: Part 2

This is the second in a two part series on leadership traits and skills that can help increase the chances of startup and small business success.  We discussed the first 5 leadership traits in a recent post. This post covers the next 5 skills.

There are literally thousands of books and probably many more blog posts on how to succeed in a start up or small business.  There are some great sites solely devoted to these topics like the Small Company Blog and StartupNation. Books on leadership in business are also everywhere including ones by like Jack Welch’s Straight from the Gut and Jim Collins who wrote Good to Great and Built to Last. This posts, however, actually tries to bridge these two areas and discuss leadership traits and skills that can help a startup or small business succeed.

In my time at Kikscore and also in conversations with friends, contacts and folks I have met at conferences like SXSW, there seems to be a consensus that the following traits really can help bolster your company:

6. Always Think about Costs:  Spending too much money too fast can kill your startup or small business. Paul Graham, a partner at well-known incubator Y-Combinator lists the failure to control costs as one of the main mistakes that can destroy your business. So it is critical that a startup or small business constantly be thinking about the costs of running their business.  This may sound like it is obvious, but I have found myself at times just saying with our startup – “We can afford that, lets go for it!”  That is dangerous thinking because if that thinking takes over your business, before you know it the business is bleeding money. So instead, for every expenditure a leader needs to ask: 1) Do I really need to spend this money?;  2) Is there a cheaper way for me to accomplish the same goal? and 3) What do expect to get out of this investment?  Then its also important to follow up and assess whether the money was in fact well spent after the fact.  Check out this post on 16 Strategies for Cash Stapped Businesses by Marissa Levin at the Women Grow Business Blog for help in this area. Also check out these 10 Money Saving Tools for Small Business.

7. Be Accountable and Demand Accountability: For startups and small businesses, it is easy to avoid accountability because teams are small and if something does not get done someone else steps in to pick up the slack.  But this lack of accountability can decrease morale, create tension between partners and lead to the business not achieving its full potential. Therefore members of startups and small businesses need to create a culture of accountability for both themselves and the team.  Amber Riviere writes at WebWorker Daily that an Accountability Partner is a good way to make sure you stay on track for your own goals.  Startups and small businesses need to make sure that each teammate serves as an Accountability Partner to each other.  Therefore you can demand accountability for yourself and also across the team.  This skill is also intertwined with Trait #2, Take & Give Feedback! Accountability goes hand in hand with accepting feedback.

8. Have Clear Milestones & Objectives for the Business: The accountability that we just discussed has to be based on something.  It based on clear goals, milestones and objectives for the startup or small business.  As we have covered before, these items are key to keeping a company focused.  The milestones and the objectives, if clearly defined, also allow the various members of a startup or the small business to stay on the same page.  As the Small Company Blog discussed in a recent post, all of this is critical in order to maintain a shared vision of the company.  It is the role of the members of a startup or a small business to measure everything that they are doing for the company against these milestones and objectives.  Even more importantly, it is critical that company goals are reviewed and appropriately updated to take into account new business opportunities or changes in market conditions.  A static set of milestones and goals can be just as deadly as none at all!

9. Over Communicate: In large companies, its almost a staple for managers to be trained to over-communicate to their staff, especially in times of change.  On the flip side, startups and small businesses can slip into the path of having information remain tightly held by founders and owners.  This is one area where startups and small businesses should strive to do exactly what management gurus recommend.  Communicate.  Communicate. And keep Communicating!!! To who you may ask?  To everyone.  Communicate with fellow partners and employees in the company.  Communicate with vendors, partners and outsourced contractors.  And finally, go well beyond so you over-communicate with your customers.  When in doubt, pick up the phone and call or email and check in with your customers. The ability to communicate is critical to a success of a leader at a startup or small business.

10. Always Seek out Guidance:  As a startup or small business owner you should come to grips with the fact that many people have been in very similar shoes as you are.  So why not seek out guidance from those other people about the challenges you face?  Chances are they may have faced the same challenges that you are dealing with right now. Paul Mullan at Bloggertone uses the great saying in a post ““To know the road ahead, ask those coming back” when imploring people to Ask For Directions! The lesson from this is tap into your network and your friends of friends.  At KikScore, we found out first hand that not only does our network help us out with guidance but through a simple 15 minute conversation with a close friend, we discovered a whole new channel opportunity for us.   Startup and small business leaders should not be shy to talk to their contacts in order to get feedback on any assortment of items including strategic goals, marketing, partnership opportunities, management challenges, expansion of operations, hiring and a whole host of other items.  All you have to do is be motivated enough to ask for the guidance!  You will be surprised with how many people will Pay it Forward!

11.  Lose the Ego: This is a quick bonus trait.  As startups and small businesses grow, the dynamics of a team change.  The dynamics of the leadership and management also change.  Often the change can be traced back to growing egos, needs to claim credit and demanding recognition.  Leaders should do everything to lose that ego.  In the end, if they are selfless in their acts and are focusing on making sure they are doing what is truly right for the business and putting aside their ego, that will help the management and the company ease that transition to a more successful and growing startup or small business.  Also it will save the business from the perils of dealing with egos and all of the baggage that is typically created from dueling egos or a super ego in the company.

So these traits and the skills we covered in the first part of this series are some of the key characteristics I have seen in my experience.  Of course, these traits and skills are not the only traits you need for success.  So please tell us what you think about the traits and skills you have seen in successful startups and small business.

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Archive for April, 2010

Company Blogs: Why are you blogging?

Pretty much everyone on theKikScore team takes a turn at blogging — we do it every day and we create a lot of content.  In putting together the blog, we’ve reviewed other company blogs and compared notes.  There definitely seems to be several takes on why they blog (not necessarily all of which we subscribe).  Interestingly, this blog best describes the different view on blogging.  I’m going to discuss a few of them below.  

But before I do that, here’s a good question — should your own people be in charge of actually creating content?  We’ve heard from several companies that they outsource their social media effort.  The upside:  time savings and, if you find a good third-party, access to a lot of content.  The downside seems bigger:  you’re not authentic and seem not to be in control of your own brand and messaging.  In case you’re wondering, we don’t outsource and, for good or bad, our company messaging rests completely on our shoulders.

Ok, now let’s discuss a couple of the top reasons why companies blog:

1.  Improve SEO:  It’s inarguable…if you blog regularly, your content will be recognized and ranked on important search engines.  But there’s a catch…not all of your content will be actually relevant to your traffic.  For an example, I’m known as the “empty calorie” blogger at KikScore.  I write about American Idol and the new Karate Kid movie (I actually haven’t yet, but I will…I’m pumped about it).  I usually tie it back to a relevant business topic, but we have traffic from sources looking for opinions on American Idol.  I’m glad our traffic increases due to the blog, but is it the right traffic (assuming there is “the right” traffic).

2.  Become a Thought Leader:  The more you publish content on a particular topic, the more links will appear with your byline (and the more other bloggers will cite to  your content).  Whamo…you’re a thought leader.  But does that mean your thoughts are worthwhile?  I mean, if I kept publishing posts on how Earth is the center of the Universe, I become a Thought Leader — unfortunately, my thoughts are completely useless.  Don’t you have to be right too?  This is really the Old Media’s main argument against bloggers and social media.  Old Media might have a point.

3.  Get to know your customers:  There are definitely instances where you can get valuable insight from your customers on your blog (and you can respond.  But some of this seems to be taken over by Twitter, Yelp and…ahem, KikScore(where you can collect and respond to customer feedback).  More often than not, when we get a new comment, it’s a fake name and desperate attempt to have us post their link to some third party site. 

So, if you’re not some weirdo spammer, please share with us in a comment why your company blogs.

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Archive for April, 2010

The iPad is iCrap

Let me just start by saying that I fully admit that I am a “gadget guy”.  I love having the latest gadget that can make my life easier and/or more efficient.  Let me also start by saying that I think that Apple is a great company that has made some innovations over the last decade that have single-handedly advanced technology and changed the way people live their lives.

Let me continue by saying that I believe that the newly released iPad from Apple will not be nearly as successful as the iPod, iPhone, iPod Touch, or even the iMac.  There is no place in my life for the iPad…believe me, I looked…I just do not have a need for a device of this size at this price with it’s current capabilities.  Everything that I can think of that I might want to do on the iPad I already do on either my smart phone or my laptop.  I would also argue that my smart phone or my laptop are more appropriately equipped to do those things as well.

If I wanted to send an email while I was on the train I would go straight to my smart phone…it is more compact and can connect to the Internet through a mobile hot spot or a cellular connection.  Why would I want an iPad to do this?  Not only does it only connect to the Internet through a wi-fi signal (unless you add a data plan from AT&T for a monthly cost) that I may not be able to get on the train, but it is also the size of a text book so I can’t hold it in my pocket.

If I wanted to work in Microsoft Excel I would use my laptop because the screen is larger and I can easily edit the spreadsheets using a full size keyboard and the processing power of the latest laptop chip set.  Why would I want an iPad to do this?  The screen is smaller so I would have to scroll all over to find things, I have to type out letters using a smaller touch screen keyboard, and the processing power isn’t that of my laptop.

Sorry Apple, I really tried but I just can’t legitimize throwing down $500 (and up) for the iPad just so I can read an eBook in color, assuming that I would even rather do this on the iPad than on the Kindle from Amazon that also already has received rave reviews, is $240 cheaper than the iPad, and is already readily used and supported in the eBook industry.  I hope all of you Apple supporters out there don’t hate me for saying these things…remember, Apple has had other minor failings in the last decade, the Apple TV player (iTV must have been taken) from a few years back comes to mind, so it isn’t unheard of.

Again, this is just one person’s opinion, let me know if you think I am wrong!

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Archive for April, 2010

When Success Hurts Your Brand

When you launch your business or new product, all you can think about is it being successful and embraced by everyone.  I mean what could be better than that?  Maybe the better outcome would be a less popular product.  Hear me out on this.

My wife and I were sitting outside at the Cherry Cricket this weekend (a great place to grab a burger in Denver).  About every 5 minutes, we saw a different Range Rover.  They drove by in different colors and different levels of cleanliness.  But they all seemed to be driven by the same person.  He had spiky hair, big aviator glasses and a preppy shirt.  At that moment I declared that no matter how much I liked the car, I would never own one — as I didn’t fit the prototype.

The same thing has happened with Burberry.  It used to be rare to see the Burberry pattern on an item of clothing.  Now you have Burberry wallets, baby clothes and hairbands.  And these are being worn by near-homeless people. 

At what point does success hurt you?  While Apple makes excellent products, there are certainly more people that are using a Mac because they don’t want to follow the crowd and use a PC.  This will continue to be the case until, of course, Apple becomes too popular and then something else will take the place of those rooting for a niche player.

Does this matter for a small business owner?  Probably not right away.  As when the your product or business takes off (and becomes the newest thing for the aviator glasses, prepster set) you’ll likely sell your business.  But if you hold on, take some time, watch the crowds, and decide if your brand is being hurt by its own success.

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Archive for April, 2010

PressTV Interviews KikScore on Hot CyberSecurity Issues

Late last week, PressTV asked to interview KikScore about some recent developments in cybersecurity and cybercrime.  PressTV’s Rhonda Pence sat down with me to discuss a number of topics related to online fraud, safe online shopping, the security of our networks and the rise in power and damage that hackers inflict on the public.  Her report also covered a recent study that found that 1 in 5 online shoppers have experienced a cybersecurity issue when they shop online.  This echoes what we previously covered in an earlier post about a March 2010 government report that found a 22% increase in cybercrime complaints.

Take a look at the video report. It is short and about 2 minutes long.

After watching the video, you may want to take a look at our 5 Must Read Tips for Safe Online Shopping.  It will help you increase your chances of staying safe.  Also special thanks to Rhonda and Nick Ewing for helping me with getting a copy of the video interview.  Let us know your thoughts in the comments section.

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