Archive for the ‘Small Business Tips’ Category

What AC/DC Can Teach Small Businesses About Staying Power & Success

As some of you know I grew up in Northeastern Ohio back in the 1980’s and 1990’s.  One of the staples of my youth was the sound of AC/DC‘s hard rock classic “You Shook Me All Night Long.”  I played that song and so many other AC/DC songs while I got dressed before high school, on the drive in to school, in between Algebra 2 and Biology class, before, during and after soccer practice — well you get the picture.  It was AC/DC really 24/7 not just for high school, but through college and even those during brutal times in law school during the 90s.

The interesting thing is AC/DC has put out so many songs and albums so consistently over the last 37 years (yes, I said 37!) that they have fans that span multiple generations.  They are such an iconic band that one of this summer’s blockbuster hit, Iron Man, made its entire movie soundtrack a greatest hits anthology of AC/DC’s best tracks spanning four decades.  Now that is impressive! In fact, this is the second time in AC/DC’s career that they have had a movie soundtrack exclusively devoted to them. The first being Steven King’s “classic” Maximum Overdrive.

AC/DC’s decades of continuous success, incredibly loyal fan base that spans generations and nearly 70 million records sold in just the US  could probably be the basis of a business school case study – just maybe not at an Ivy League school!  So there are lots of lessons to be learned from my favorite Australian band (besides maybe the eternal Little River Band who sang “Lonesome Loser“- just kidding!).  Here are just a few items that small businesses can take from AC/DC’s years of success and ability to keep cranking out hits:

1. Pick a Theme & Stick to It Relentlessly – AC/DC has had a simple and very straightforward theme for their music over the last four decades.  I will not get into the substance, but lets just say there is a reason high schoolers and especially teenage boys like the lyrics and the stories in their songs.  Listen to AC/DC classics like Who Made Who, Thunderstruck, Highway to Hell, TNT, Shoot to Thrill, and Heatseeker. The theme is consistent in almost every one of these songs. So AC/DC takes this theme and pounds away at it so it is woven into nearly every song, every album and through their lead guitarist’s Angus Young’s antics at live shows that theme plays out in their concerts too.

So if you are a small business, pick a theme or core idea like AC/Dc has and make that theme be the central focus of everything that you do as a company.  Let that theme define you.  The most famous current themes for companies in 2010 are Zappos fabulous customer service and Apple’s innovative devices.

2. Avoid the Fads – Disco, 80’s hair bands and then grunge.  These were three fads that have come and gone over the last 40 years in music.  Some bands tried to ride the fad and they faded into obscurity when those fads died.  AC/DC instead kept to their core and avoided these fads that popped up over the years.  Their avoidance of these fads helped keep AC/DC’s fan base happy with the music they had grown to expect from the band.

For a small business, its takes discipline to avoid the fads like AC/DC has.  Stay very clear of the latest fads that are out there because those fads can be the death of your business – ask all of those dot com companies that vanished back in the late 1990s!  If your business sticks to what it does best and makes an effort to avoid the fads and latest gimmicks, that can help to keep your company focused on what is important to your customers.

3. Give Your Fans a Great Show Each Time – I have been to multiple AC/DC concerts in my life.  My first one was back on November 23, 1990 (actual ticket stub is pictured at the top of this post)!  I have also seen a lot of videos of them playing live too.  AC/DC consistently gives fans a great show.  Lets think about that for a minute.  This band has to play the same songs over and over again in different cities, states, countries and continents.  But each time AC/DC brings down the house when they play “Hells Bells” or when they end the concert with their famous “For Those About to Rock, We Salute You.”  Great shows means happy fans which then translates into more album sales for AC/DC!

So small businesses, rock out each time you have the opportunity to be in front of an actual or potential customer.  Treat every experience as a unique experience because it certainly is for that customer.  When I left the last AC/DC concert, I was exhausted it was such a great show and I wanted more!  That is the way small businesses need to leave their customers, exhausted and wanting more – in a good way.

4. In Adversity, Stay on Theme and Do not Waver – In February 1980, AC/DC lead singer who sang on classics such as Highway to Hell, Walk All Over You and Let There Be Rock, Bon Scott, died of an alcohol overdose in London.  The band considered quitting all together.  Lucky for us they did not.  Not only did they keep going, but they hired Brian Johnson to be the new lead singer and put together arguably the best hard rock album of all time, Back in Black.  The solid black cover with only the title of the album served as a tribute to the fallen Bon Scott.  In its darkest hour, AC/DC came back from near break up and put out an album that is the second best album selling worldwide ever beyond only Jacko’s Thriller.

We can all learn the trait of resilience and the ability to get back up after a devastating loss from AC/DC.  Small businesses, there will be those dark days and tough hours especially as you deal with competitors, new technologies and angry customers.  The trick is to push through because when you come out on the other side of the difficult times, you will be stronger and you can be super successful too!

5. Keep the Band Together so Your Fans Stay Happy –AC/DC has had a relatively stable core set of band members that have been continuously centered around around two brothers – Malcolm and Angus Young. In fact, four of their five members have been with the band at least 30 years!  That is amazing.  AC/DC could have gone the way of Van Halen – another great rock band – but instead of multiple line up changes and replacement of lead singers like in Van Halen,  AC/DC’s stability has significantly contributed to band’s years of success.  It sure is a lot easier to stick to a core theme like we discussed in #1 above, when you do not have moving parts.

For small business, it is all about getting the right people in place like AC/DC has done.  Once you get the right people in place, give them the core theme for your company and then just let them do their jobs – even if they are outsourced vendors or part time employees.  The ability to keep a good team together for a long period of time and have appropriate succession planning for people who may leave increases your chances of small business success.

This really has been a fun post to write. I hope it has been a fun one to read too.  With AC/DC being one of my favorite bands, I am pleased that they could bring me even more enlightenment than they did in my early years.  If you can all be a little more like AC/DC in your business – there probably not too many people outside of the hard rock music world who say that  – your chances of having a successful small business will increase!

Did you think AC/DC would ever teach us small business lessons?  Or are you like my partner, Mike, who thinks I should have picked Whitesnake (probably his favorite) as the band to discuss here. By the way, I challenge him to incorporating Whitesnake into his next post….lets see if he can meet the challenge.

Tweet This Post

Archive for the ‘Small Business Tips’ Category

Un-LifeLock Your Life

I saw this article the other day in Wired magazine and it reminded me of how important security is while shopping online even if you have additional measures in place to help protect your identity from being stolen.  The article basically details how LifeLock’s CEO, Todd Davis, may get the worst marketing move of the decade award for publishing his Social Security Number in the ads for their product and on highway billboards in order to prove that their product will keep online shopper’s identities secure.

Sure enough, 2 years later and his identity has been “stolen” an unbelievable 13 times!  To be fair, it sounds like his identity may not have been “stolen” necessarily but his Social Security Number was used to fraudulently open a bunch of cell phone accounts and then they went into collection when they were never paid on.  I think some additional research needs to be done here on these cell phone company’s account creation policies because if someone can just write a social security number and name down on a form that isn’t theirs and walk out of the store with a cell phone and active account that may be another issue.

So back to the CEO of LifeLock…I guess the two lessons here are obvious but big ones: 1) Never under any circumstances allow your Social Security Number to get in the wrong hands online or in a store as the consequences are dire.  2) Don’t use LifeLock.  Sorry, this may be a great product but I can’t put my faith in a company that has a CEO that is this dumb/cocky.

By the way, LifeLock also has a few pending legal matters in the courts since they also claimed that if anyone used their product and still had their identities stolen that they would give them $1 million.  Apparently a few people used Lifelock’s product and still had their identities stolen, but Lifelock doesn’t want to cough up the cash.  I guess all these consumers would have had to do in order to get the $1 million without any complaints from LifeLock would have been to publish their Social Security Numbers on a billboard!

Tweet This Post

Archive for the ‘Small Business Tips’ Category

Memorial Day Weekend: Check That BBQ & Also Your Company's 2010 Goals

So Memorial Day weekend 2010 is here!  First, we all know Memorial Day is a weekend that we use to reflect on all of those that have given their lives in service to the country.  Beyond this very important commemorative part of the weekend, it also marks the unofficial beginning of the summer season.  Many people take this weekend as the first time of the year to roll out the grills, take out the lawn furniture and throw a little barbecue for family, friends and neighbors.

For businesses, the Memorial Day time of the year can serve as a great initial milestone to gauge where your company stands in regards to your goals, priorities and key initiatives that need to be accomplished for the year.  So take this time to  objectively look at some of the following areas of your business to make sure you are on the right track to achieve your goals for 2010 and beyond:

1. Focus. Is your business focused on the rights things to meet your goals?  If not, take the time to refocus and eliminate the clutter that is distracting your company.

2. Goal Review. Take the time to review in detail each goal you have for 2010.  Also take a close look at every activity that relates to that goal.  That will allow you to take a status check of how far along your business is toward meeting each goal for 2010.  If you do not have a list of goals and activities, here is a post that describes the importance to putting together annual goals and critical activities.

3. Team Review. Look at your team and make sure all of the team members are in the right place and that every team member is working toward the company’s goals.  Also this is a good time to make sure you are building the right team.  If you have a gap, make sure your team can fill that gap or hire the right person to fill the need so you ensure you meet your goals.

4. Customer & Product Review. Ask yourself these two questions we have discussed previously: A) Are you supporting your customers manically so they have a great customer experience and B) Are you improving your product on a daily basis?  These questions go to the fundamental core of your business so they are of critical importance for you to keep asking yourself and your team.  Once you take stock and get your answers, make sure you act on the feedback you give yourself for these two questions.

5. Flexibility. Now is also a good time to look at your goals, team, activities, tasks and plans and take the time to re-prioritize based on what you are seeing in your business.  The key is to stay nimble and do not get in your own way.  Reacting quickly to a market opportunity that has arisen or to a new customer demand that you can meet will put yourself in a position for even greater growth for your business.  But be careful, do not fall into the trap of lurching from one project or task to another and not fully completing items that your business and team have already started.

So during this Memorial Day weekend, take a little time to also do a status check on your business.  If you do this review, your business may be in a better position to achieve those 2010 goals.

So how are you going to spend Memorial Day weekend?

Tweet This Post

Archive for the ‘Small Business Tips’ Category

Ahoy, Matey! Pirates and Business

If you open your eyes and mind, it’s amazing where you can find business lessons in everyday life.  The book I am reading, Michael Crichton’s final novel: Pirate Latitudes takes the concept of war from the pirate’s view.  There are a good number of similarities to small business and overtaking your competition to be learned from it.  To come up with a new business idea, it doesn’t necessarily have to be ‘new’ but ‘better’ is critical to success.

Here’s some lessons that the privateers (often mistaken for pirates) of long ago still apply…

Build a good team – When Captain Hunter came up with his risky idea of attempting capture of a Spanish treasure ship in a far off, dangerous and assumed well protected island, he needed a strong team to accomplish the quest. Building the right team for business success can be tricky, but you can’t do it alone.   Delegate responsibilities that foster team member’s strengths.

Create a more comprehensive solution – After overtaking the treasure ship, the privateers are stalked by a Spanish warship that is more heavily armed with both men and weaponry. The weakened privateers come up with a risky yet tactical solution to attempt to take down the larger ship. Creativity and doing something different with your current resources is a strong business sense. KikScore wasn’t the first trust seal out there, but it is different and more comprehensive than the competition

Overtake the competition – I’m not finished reading Pirate Latitudes yet, so I’m only theorizing here… but based upon the creativity noted above and their zeal to secure the stolen treasure, I have confidence the privateers will conquer the larger warship and bring home the gold.  Obviously in business, war is not the best option, yet clever advertising and getting your business message out there can overtake the competition.   A strong and consistent approach helps.

Pirates and privateers are mysterious, resourceful and have a rather catchy form of conversation.

How is your business pirating through the marketplace?

Tweet This Post

Archive for the ‘Small Business Tips’ Category

KikScore & the Pittsburgh Steelers Promoted on the Same Pickup Truck? – My Worst Nightmare

Disclaimer, this is a vacation post (yes, I am out on vacation from my day job but KikScore never stops!) but I had to discuss what happened this weekend. This post is really about branding your business and how you sometimes have no control over how your customers will sing your praises.

My 5 month old daughter, Asha, made her first trip this weekend to see her grandma, uncle, aunt and cousins in my wife’s hometown just outside of Pittsburgh, PA.  Great idea, seeing the family, getting out of DC for a weekend and spending some time on my mother-in-law’s beautiful farm.  It actually was a lot of fun, even having my brother-in-law make fun of me when I made the crazy comment asking why does the backyard have so many rattlesnakes – are they attracted to the the vegetable garden back there.  Uh…..how many snakes do you know are attracted to vegetables over perhaps some chipmunks, small rodents etc that usually populate most farms?

So where does KikScore  and branding come in?  We had just arrived Friday afternoon on the farm.  I was pulling our car into the farm when my saw my wife’s family pick-up truck.  The truck was parked there outside the farm house and I had to snap the above picture.  So on the right hand side of the bumper is everything I have grown up to detest in an important part of my life – football – that would be the Pittsburgh Steelers.  Yes, when you grow up outside Cleveland, Ohio you are indeed taught that at a young age.  Then on the left side of the bumper is the gorgeous bumper sticker, of a company that I passionately give my blood, sweat and tears to every day – KikScore.

So on that one side of the bumper I see something I enjoy mocking and on the other side is my pride and joy.  So there I was – what do I say or feel?  I just had to laugh and be super proud that my family has so unconditionally adopted KikScore to the point that my mother-in law greeted us when we arrived in her KikScore baseball cap.

So what is the point of this post.  That sometimes your small business or your startup can not decide/control how your customers decide to evangalize your brand.  When you see your brand out there be promoted like this, just smile, laugh and be proud.  And also be sure to say thanks as I did when we pulled away from the driveway late yesterday right before we started our 4 hour ride home.

Have you seen your business being promoted in a similar way?

Tweet This Post

Archive for the ‘Small Business Tips’ Category

Quick Tips on Pitching the Media for Small Business

All of us small businesses and startup owners wonder how can we get more publicity and buzz about our product and business. Many of us also wonder what do we have to do to become a thought leader where the media actually comes to us for comment on industry matters.  Well I came across this excellent short video by one of the best small business evangelists that is out there, Anita Campbell, the owner of Small Business Trends and BizSugar.  Anita gives us some very common sense and practical tips for every small business and startup to use when they are pitching their business and product to the  media to try to get covered.  She also touches on how to build up your credibility with the media so you can be considered a thought leader.

Here is the video and its only a few minutes long, but it is packed with great tips from Anita Campbell.

Some of the tips Anita mentions in the video are:

1) To help get the attention of journalists and writers, blog about their stories.

2) When you blog about their stories, use the writer’s name and also link to their article. That will help get their attention.

3) When your product or company finally gets covered by a journalist, make sure you blog about the story and again include the name of the writer! We actually did this in a recent post when KikScore was covered by PressTV on issues of cybersecurity and safe online shopping.

4) When you are pitching journalists, give them useful information that will help them write a story.

5) During your pitch, give them other information besides about your business, including data about the industry, trends and even other influencers that the writer should interview.

6) Help the writer by giving them the names, contact information and as much information about those other people for their story.

7) Your pitching should not stop when you finally get some media coverage. Keep trying to build goodwill with the journalists and writers and that will increase the chances that they will come back to you for future stories.

These are excellent tips that we should all follow.  Anita really is a great source that we previously named one of her sites as one of our top small business blogs that we like.   I have met Anita on a couple of occasions including my day job out in Herndon, Virgina and at last year’s Grow Smart Business Conference in Washington DC.  If you own a small business or run a startup, we at KikScore highly recommend following Anita on Twitter and also checking out her sites.  Also she is from my hometown of Akron, Ohio – so I am sure she (and many others) may identify with my recent post about Lebron James and Small Business.

Please tell us how you pitch the media? Any tips would be appreciated!

Tweet This Post

Archive for the ‘Small Business Tips’ Category

Are You Smarter Than a Smart Grid?

I was reading this article in the Denver Post today when I realized that the next large source of consumer behavior-related data may not be Facebook or any other social networking site…heck, it might not even be sourced directly from the Internet!  Judging from the fact that the “smart grid” is supposed to be rolled out to 52 million people by 2015, the next source of data that marketers may very well be trying to get about you and I may be obtained by determining the patterns and type of electricity we use on a daily basis.

If companies were able to get their hands on this data they could apparently not only determine how many loads of laundry you do each week, but they could also figure out what kind of TV you own, how many times you shower and how many people are in your household!  I never really thought about it this way, but the way we use electricity can tell a lot about a person and an entire family.  Just think how powerful this data would be to consumer goods companies that could market certain products to people based on this information!

Another use for this data is law enforcement…this electrical data could point police to homes that are using certain lights to grow marijuana in their basements or to other criminals who use certain power-consuming equipment to make methamphetamine.

To nobody’s surprise Microsoft and Google are already all over the management of this smart grid data.  Microsoft’s Hohmproduct and Google’s PowerMeter application are already being used by the 200,000 early adopters of the smart grid being tested in Boulder, Colorado, that now monitor their electrical consumption online using these tools.

What could your business do if you had access to this data?

Tweet This Post

Archive for the ‘Small Business Tips’ Category

SurePayroll's Michael Alter Talks Small Business & Online Payroll Services

In today’s KikScore blog interview, for the first time we are not profiling an actual small business.  Instead, to change up the pace for the community, we are profiling a company that small businesses rely on every day to perform a critical function – payroll.  As we do with many of our interviewees, we came across SurePayroll on Twitter and they graciously agreed to give us some insight into who they are, what makes them tick and also provide some fabulous guidance to the small business community.  Today’s interview is with Michael Alter, President of  SurePayroll.

1. Tell us about SurePayroll and who you focus on serving?

As the online alternative to ADP® and Paychex®, we’re dedicated to providing a simple, convenient and accurate online payroll service at a price small business owners can afford. Tens of thousands of small business owners across the U.S. rely on us to process payroll on demand, in as few as 2 minutes. We also offer efficient small business solutions for managing 401(k) plans, health insurance, workers’ compensation, HR compliance and employee screening. Our combination of online payroll service teamed with a small business focus has garnered recognition from PC Magazine, Inc. 500, Accounting Today, the American Business Awards and many others.

2. How did you get the idea for SurePayroll?

In the late 1990s, Chicagoland entrepreneur Scott Wald was running one of many successful small businesses and hated all the time he wasted faxing in payroll then rectifying the inevitable payroll goofs. He thought, “I should be able to do this online — and I bet I’m not the only small business owner thinking the same thing.” Because Scott’s the type of person who turns such thoughts into realities, he assembled a small team to make his idea a thriving business. He asked me to join him in this new venture, and I left my position with McKinsey & Co. We hit the scene in early 2000 with a staff of 10 in a small office in Highland Park, IL.

3. If you had 2 lessons learned from starting SurePayroll that you could pass on to others, what are those?

First Lesson: The last thing a small business owner needs is something that takes time. If you’re in business to help small business, your product is probably designed to save your clients money, but so does every other product like yours. Ensuring it also saves small business owners time is the emotional jolt that pushes them to buy — most sales aren’t closed on a logical rationale alone. Once you’ve saved them time, you need to own their worries. For example, SurePayroll tackles the most time-consuming aspect of payroll: paying and filing all federal, state and local payroll taxes. But this aspect is also the most difficult for most small businesses, and many who run payroll themselves incur frequent penalties from the IRS and other agencies. So we handle everything related to payroll taxes. If our clients receive notices from the IRS or other tax agencies, we’ll work directly with the agency on the client’s behalf. And if we make an error, we pay the fine.

Second Lesson: Never think what you’re doing today is what you’ll be doing 10 years from today. Markets change and products evolve. Learn to adapt quickly. While we’re still an online payroll company, we see the office moving from the computer to the smart phone. We’ve created a Mobile Payroll app for the iPhone® to keep up with our customers — and attract new ones.

4. Where will SurePayroll focus most of its energy in 2010?

The end of the twentieth century saw a massive expansion of the home office, and twenty-first century is greeting us with the burgeoning mobile office. When small business owners can keep their businesses running anywhere, anytime without computer access, they can spend more time closing deals and keeping clients happy. We started planning for 2010 a bit early with the launch of our Mobile Payroll app for the iPhone® in late 2009.

As the only company with a payroll app, we’re here to blaze the mobile payroll trail. This year we’re developing and launching an iPhone app for our customers’ employees to access their pay stubs and records. Later this year we’ll launch a payroll app for the Droid®, providing customers on two of America’s most popular wireless networks access to payroll from their smart phones. And, of course, all of our mobile apps are free to customers.

5. What do you see as 2 new trends in small business for 2010?

We are quickly reaching the tipping point when it comes to expectations that all things capable on a PC should also be capable on a mobile device.  More and more business applications continue to be built for smartphones, and more and more business owners consider the smart phones an essential business tool. Whereas most people rely on their iPhone, Blackberry or Droid to check and respond to email, smartphones will soon be a standard business tool for business owners and employees to conduct nearly all business functions.

Additionally, business owners will continue to see the value of Software as a Service (SaaS) solutions to enhance productivity. More business owners will turn to hosted software solutions that free them from the responsibility and the cost of updating, maintaining and securing and traditional software solutions — and most importantly — free them from having to be in the office, at a PC to use the software.

6. If SurePayroll could put together a top 5 list related to your business, your industry, your customers or anything else what would that top five list be and what would be on it?

If we could create a top-five list for our industry, it would be the top five benefits of outsourcing payroll.

The list would go a little something like this:

A. Avoiding IRS Penalties. It is estimated that 40% of small businesses pay an average penalty of $845 per year for late or incorrect filings. We take responsibility for all IRS penalties that are the result of our error.

B. Reducing Costs. Our research indicates that a small business of 10 employees will typically spend $2,600 per year in direct labor costs associated with payroll. We’re usually well less than half the cost of doing payroll yourself.

C. Offering Direct Deposit. Employees want direct deposit. More importantly for business owners, direct deposit eliminates time-consuming and error-prone paper handling and the need to reconcile individual payroll checks every month. Direct deposit is included with SurePayroll.

D. Leaving Technology to the Pros. Using the wrong tax tables in outdated software can result in stiff penalties. Our constantly updated technology removes those risks and keeps payroll running smoothly.

E. Ensuring Payroll Knowledge Doesn’t Walk Out the Door. If your bookkeeper or controller gets a new job, they will walk out the door with their knowledge of the payroll process and how you do it. We eliminate that business risk.

7. What guidance can you give based on your experience to help small businesses out there that are facing difficult times?

First, take some solace knowing you’re not alone. From Main Street to Wall Street, nearly everyone’s business plan required major readjustments starting as early as 2007.

Entrepreneurs are the most practical and simultaneously innovative group out there. If there is a less expensive, more efficient way to get business done, they’ll find it – and a lot faster than the big businesses that are weighed down by red tape and processes. This is true about staying in business in tough times, too.

As their workloads increased and it become evident they required more employees, many small business owners turned to contractors instead of new full-time employees. While certain stipulations apply to contract workers, if it’s a viable option, it’s worth looking into. You’ll save money on matching FICA contributions as well as other employee-paid taxes, while providing employment during tough economic times. While you’re operating on a project-by-project basis, using a contractor labor force enables you to hire on a project-by-project basis.

Now’s also a great time to save money by review your existing contracts. For example, if your workers’ compensation insurance, health insurance and 401(k) plans come from different providers, see if one company offers everything and can give you better rates. And it never hurts to call your phone company, Internet provider and consulting services to see if you can create a package deal or negotiate cheaper rates. Some of the services we’re convinced we’ll use when signing up turn out to be an expendable luxury.

8. Tell us one thing that is unique about the SurePayroll culture that you want small businesses to know?

We’re like a lot of Internet companies: casual work environment, foosball table in the break area and a relatively flat organizational structure so employees aren’t confined by an insurmountable chain of command. But unlike many of our peers, we embrace and encourage length of service. To show our appreciation for the number of years an employee invests in us, we offer an all-expenses paid trip to an exotic locale (like Mexico) for our employees after every five years of service — we even let each qualifying employee bring a guest. A good number of our employees will soon be eligible for their second “5-year trip.” Quite a statement for a company that opened just 10 years ago.

9. If SurePayroll had a theme song, what would it be and why?

Perhaps No Doubt’s “Simple Kind of Life” because that’s exactly what we provide our customers — at least as far as payroll is concerned.

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

Kudos to you for your resiliency during this tough economy. You’ve probably had to adapt your business to survive. The upside of doing this is that you’re learning adaptability, like I mentioned earlier. Once the economy hits and upswing, the adaptability you’ve learned will prove invaluable in the new economy.

If you have questions for SurePayroll, please leave them in our comments section.

Tweet This Post

Archive for the ‘Small Business Tips’ Category

Cleveland Cavs Killer Lebron James Gives Small Business & Startups A Few Lessons

As many in the sports world today are talking about, last night’s Boston Celtics victory over the Cleveland Cavs to eliminate the #1 seeded Cavs from the playoffs was a real shocker.  It was made worse by the fact that it accelerated the summer of Lebron James’ free agency.  For the city of Cleveland and Cavs fans (like me), this was as close to a sporting apocalypse as they have seen since Cleveland’s past sporting meltdowns that are so famous, they have one word names attached to them: the Drive, the Fumble, the Shot and  the Wedge.  So from this debacle…actually they are calling it LeBacle in some circles, there has to be a few lessons learned for us small businesses and startups.  Here are a few quick ones that come to mind:

1. One Star Teams Often Fail– the ongoing critique of the Cavs is that they only have one star on their team, Lebron James.  In the NBA its generally known, that you need to have a team made up of at least two stars and several excellent roll players to win in the playoffs. The Cavs have failed for years to get multiple stars on the team to play next to Lebron.  They have tried, but each time the players have massively underperformed like Mo Williams the last two years. So lesson learned for us businesses is to make sure your team has multiple stars and if you have roll players that may be your contractors/vendors, ensure you have folks that can deliver in the clutch.

2. One Person Should Not Hold A Team Hostage – the Cavs have let Lebron James hold the team, the city and frankly Cleveland sports to some extent hostage.  Everything he wants, he gets.  New players, new coaches, new lineups, even new travel plans like when the team is playing in Miami because Lebron wants to stay out and party instead of returning home, guess what the coach orders – the team to stay an extra night in Miami (well who would blame him for that one – I would take an extra day in Miami too!).  That need to make one person hapy has lead the Cavs to make continual changes to their team to find just the right fit of players to Lebron’s liking.  This has had the effect of destroying any team chemistry. That was so evident in the series against the Celtics.  Cavs players that had succeed for the entire regular season (7 months!) found themselves on the bench. Suddenly the team that dominated the regular season, looked absolutely lost.  Startups and small business can learn from this and aim to have a consistent team, where folks play key roles, keep each other accountable and management makes every effort to not take people in and out of the lineup to match one “star’s” whims.

3. Play Your Heart Out & Show it – the now famous Game 5 where it looked like Lebron James wanted to be anywhere but in a sold out arena of Cavs fans (who absolutely adore and support him to no end) in one of the biggest games of his playoff career.  He played scared, he looked timid and in such a big game the star played so small that the whole world saw it.  This should be an easy lesson for us small businesses and startups.  Go 100% and go with passion and enthusiasm.  Even when you may get down, get back up and fight.  In the biggest “games” for your business, step up and seize control of the game.  Dont wait like Lebron did in Game 5 and let the “game” come to you.  Success will come to those that seek it out.

4. Do Not Ignore Your Fans – No one looks at it this way, but they really should.  The Cavs fans are Lebron’s customers.  If no one showed up to see him play, would he get those multi-million dollar contracts?  No! The Cavs fans have enthusiastically supported the Cavs and Lebron since he first put on that jersey.   There is simply no fan base in the US that will support Lebron the way he has been supported for years – even without the championships.  These fans are Lebron’s customers.  Can he get other fans/customers in multiple other cities?  Yes, or course he can but will they be as rabid, as passionate and will they literally make him the face of the entire city like they would in Cleveland if Lebron delivers that long lost championship that has eluded the city for over 40 years? Never.  So lesson learned for small business and startups, when you succeed and you start growing, do not be so easy to turn away from your bread and butter – the customers that got you to your success. That means be very careful because the grass is not always greener on the other side and be very careful in not serving and supporting your core customers.

5. Life/Business Goes On After A Loss – Ok, this lesson should actually be taken from the Cavs fans and less from Lebron.  Its maybe also a little self-healing from me.  After the loss and likely departure for Lebron from Cleveland, life goes on.  DO NOT LAUGH, but I will move on to the other team that I swore off a few years ago for their ineptitude, the Cleveland Browns.  As we likely close the chapter on Lebron in Cleveland and the chance of winning that elusive major sports championship that Cleveland fans so want, we just adjust and say well now our hopes are that Mike Holmgren can take the Browns to the promise land and end the 40 year drought.  So for your business, always be flexible and if someone/something or a major project is let down, bounce up and move on because that success will come.  It will come one day and it will feel so good…..just like I know I will feel when the Browns finally win the Super Bowl! (as my wife, the Steelers fan and Pittsburgh native, mocks me from across the room).

Tell us what you learned from Lebron’s and the Cavs collapse.

Tweet This Post

Archive for the ‘Small Business Tips’ Category

Diary of a Startup: A Few Lessons Learned For Entrepreneurs

On a day that I am bewildered by my Cleveland Cavaliers and their absolutely horrendous performance last night, I am a little reflective.  After all, us Cleveland fans likely have just watched Lebron James‘ last home game in Cleveland as a Cavalier.  When he officially leaves (I truly hope he doesnt but I am a Cleveland fan and we are used to such let downs), maybe I will do a post on how startups and small business can learn from the Cavs/Lebron breakup.  Until then, here is another installment in our continued feature at KikScore called Diary of a Startup.

This one is a quick summary of a few lessons learned from our experience and from other folks I have talked to about their startup experiences:

1. Bandwidth Limitations. No I am not talking about your broadband cable access.  Instead, bandwidth as in you and your team’s ability to keep iterating and making improvements while also juggling all of the operational and marketing aspects of a startup.These types of bandwidth and resource constraints are especially present in nights and weekend startups.  One of the ways we have dealt with the bandwidth issue is continually working to prioritize items/tasks/enhancements/issues as a team.  But as you prioritize do not forget about that enhancement that you talked about doing three months ago that may have been de-prioritized along the way! Also as needed, it is key that contractors, freelancers and outsourced resources get used to increase overall bandwidth for the startup. But remember these tips and tools when using offshore resources.

2. Manage Expectations – As with anything in life, it is important to manage everyone’s expectations including yourself.  The reason why?  Nearly everything you do at a start-up from getting going, getting something developed, partnership discussions, getting funding, optimizing your product and your homepage, takes longer than you think.  That does not mean you should sit back, because you still need to push and push hard.  However, you just need to prepare yourself, your team, customers etc and appropriately manage timelines and understand that sometimes things beyond your control come in that may delay things.  The trick is not to get upset, but figure out how to keep things on track and moving forward.

3. Continually Get Feedback – This is an underestimated one, but has been incredibly valuable to us.  Talk to everyone about your product, your business model and especially have customers (and potential customers) give you feedback.  This is so helpful in giving you and your team a new perspective and has also, at least with us, given us some great new ideas for channels for KikScore.  Here is a an excellent post at the Untemplater Site by Jun Loayza on a feedback plan for startups. Another related note is take the negative feedback in stride.  Frankly, some of the negative or constructive feedback is more valuable than the other feedback.  And please be careful not to just dismiss someone’s feedback, especially customer feedback because you think you know better or you say, “What does that person know?”  That is a sure ticket to failure.

4. Put That Feedback in Perspective – So you first need to get feedback, but then what do you do with it?  The trick is not to act on every piece of your feedback that you receive.  That will set you off in 1,000 different directions and be counterproductive.  Also you do not want to just dismiss feedback.  This is where it is important for the team to approach the feedback from three very basic perspectives: a) common sense; b) what will make the customer experience better; and c) what is “doable” and actionable based on resources, priorities and strategy. Here is a recent post on how we acted on customer feedback.

5. Social Media is Not the Marketing  Savior  – Don’t get me wrong, using social media is a low cost way to build brand awareness for your startup, get leads, make connections to though leaders, get great introductions to partners, manage your startup’s reputation and respond to customer issues.  Frankly doing all of this via Twitter, Facebook, a blog and other social media channels is a must these days for most startups.  BUT, doing all that does not guarantee success.  Frankly, these days doing all of things and having a social media strategy allows you just to play in the game.  In order to win and really succeed as a startup (and be a repeat MVP like Lebron James), you need to give your customers a great customer experience, make your product easy to use and help your customers solve a problem that they have.  As my friend Shashi B has told me before, no amount of marketing, social media or marketing campaigns will protect your company from a sucky product! Make your product great, make sure your customers are happy and that they evangalize your product and the marketing then comes a lot easier.  That actually will make the social media marketing easier as Zappos has demonstrated. In fact, here is a good post on the story of Zappos with an excellent and informative powerpoint deck that is worth a read.

Let us know if you have any lessons learned from your startup or small business.

Tweet This Post