Here is a very good short 6 minute video of the great entrepreneur, Sir Richard Branson, on marketing and business. As always he has some great tips and stories that small businesses, entrepreneurs and startups can learn from for our businesses.
Please check it out and let us know your thoughts.
I was reading this article in the USA Today the other day about how Google’s next big product launch this Fall is going to be Google TV. Google TV promises to bring a more user-friendly web interface to our TVs than the consumers in this country have ever seen. Google’s vision seems to be to offer up web content side-by-side with the same television programs that we have been watching for years. Google also plans to offer an “app store” where consumers can buy free and paid applications that can run on the set-top boxes that will also be required to use this new service.
Whenever I think of the Internet on my TV I always think of those annoying wireless keyboards and terrible user interface that I have been finding in hotel rooms for over a decade for a $5 per day fee. I always thought that the major flaw in these systems was the terrible user experience – it is always very difficult to navigate the web on these systems because of the lack of a usable mouse and the slightly different web browsers that never seemed to support the web content I wanted to see. Google seems to be promising a solution to these problems by simplifying the browser and keyboard and supporting all standard web technologies.
I am still going to wait until I am able to use the new Google TV interface to form my opinion but I am hopeful that if any company can successfully bring the Internet to our TVs that it is Google. If they can convince consumers that the Internet on their TV is the same or comparable to the Internet on their PCs, then I think they have a good shot at being successful here.
On a side note, I also wanted to mention that today Skype announced that they have released a version of their product that is compatible with Android, the up and coming operating system for smart phones. Watch for the popularity of these mobile video calling applications to grow in the near future!
Marty Schotenheimer giving small businesses and startups inspiration
So as many of you may know, I am from the Cleveland/Akron area and a lifelong Browns fan. Yes, I am celebrating Sunday’s first victory of the season, but that is another story. My point is the great former Browns coach Marty Schottenheimer used to tell his team – “Try to win every play.” I believe his thinking was, forget the first half or second half or all 60 minutes of the game. Break the game of football down to the smallest element and that is each play. Win each play, and you increase your chances of winning the game. It really is a good way of looking at the game of football.
The Entrepreneur’s Dilemma: This got me to thinking about the overwhelming odds that most entrepreneurs, startups and small businesses face. We are up against larger companies, better funded competitors, new products being launched every day and the challenge of just trying to get our names out and keeping our customers happy. These and the many additional challenges that entrepreneurs face every day can be overwhelming. They often drown even the strongest and most driven people who take the entrepreneurship plunge.
Just one of these challenges is entrepreneurs, startups and small businesses are faced with being pulled in every direction. The job of focusing is so difficult (as we discussed previously). How many of you can not even send an email out or quickly resolve a customer inquiry without being interrupted a hundred times? We get half way through a three line email and it takes us two hours to get the rest of the email completed and by the time we are done we do not remember what we were responding to in the first place.
A New Approach? So taking Schottenheimer’s football quote, lets try to apply it to our small businesses and startups. How do you win each play as an entrepreneur? Here are some tips for us to try:
1) What do you control? Refocus your lens on the issues, tasks, projects and deliverables that are under your control. Forget the rest or at least do not spend a lot of time on items that are outside of your control for your business.
2) What can you attack? Make a daily list of these issues, tasks, projects and deliverables that are under your control and attack them in bite sized pieces.
3) What small steps can I take? The reminder is do not focus on trying to get everything accomplished at one time. That approach will get you overwhelmed. Instead, take small steps each day and the snowballing effect of this forward motion will eventually help you make progress on your list.
4) What is my daily plan? Take time for an “internal huddle” each morning to plan out your day and what items you want to accomplish for your business. Even if it is just you taking 5 minutes, it will be worth it. The alternative is just jumping into the day and letting your emails, telephone calls and employees dictate what you do. Fight that urge. The huddle helps you assert some degree of control of your day as Inc Magazine discussed here.
5) How can I give 110%? By concentrating on these smaller steps and items that you control, that should help you really focus your efforts and energy on particular tasks. That then helps you concentrate your efforts so you can do the best job possible on that task. This is much better than being distracted and trying to still make progress on these tasks.
6) What is my daily progress? Repeat, repeat and repeat. And oh yeah, also measure your progress too by giving yourself a scorecard of what you get done. That way you can track how well you are doing.
Because I am such a huge Browns fan (and I also want us all to succeed at KikScore!), I am going to commit myself to taking these steps to see if I truly can win each day. I will let you know what progress I make.
Please let us know how you “win each day!”
A few of the founders of KikScore spent much of their formative years within a few miles of Canada! We grew up cheering for Canada’s favorite son Michael J. Fox in Family Ties and jamming to the hard rock sounds of Rush. We even enjoyed a few too many Canadian beers growing up. So it’s only fitting that KikScore is excited to announce a great new partnership with a Canadian based company and global ecommerce leader.
Our friends at Shopster, the powerful ecommerce platform that has over 100,000 small business merchants, are teaming up with us to help small online businesses. KikScore is proud to launch a fully integrated trust seal offering to all of Shopster’s growing small business customer base.
Here are some facts behind the partnership:
1) Studies have shown small online businesses lose billions each year around the world because shoppers’ trust concerns with buying online;
2) Studies have shown that 63 percent of online shoppers fail to complete a transaction because of concerns about site security or trust;
3) Shoppers are increasingly seeking more information and data from online stores before those shoppers will complete purchases with these small online businesses;
4) Many small businesses have a strong track record of trustworthiness and would significantly benefit if they could show shoppers their history of reliability and stability.
Our partnership gives Shopster’s customers an opportunity to obtain KikScore’s independently verified trust score and seal. The KikScore seal along with the embedded merchant report card empowers small businesses to take their good track record and display it to shoppers and the general public. This will help these small businesses demonstrate trustworthiness and reliability to shoppers who visit their site. Shopster’s customers can then create an environment for website visitors to shop with far greater confidence. This enhanced shopper confidence means more sales for Shopster’s small business customers.
Here are more details on this exciting new partnership between Shopster and KikScore.
Also we want to say a special thanks to everyone both at Shopster, KikScore and our family and friends everywhere that helped support the launch of this fantastic partnership!
I’ve been commuting to college for a while now and I’ve noticed that in our library every newspaper except the USA Today is taken by 1:00 pm. What’s up with that? *shrugs* Anyway, guess what I’m going to talk about today!People living under rocks? No Patrick the starfish? No I’ll give you a hint. It was in the USA Today. Airline fees? Nope, I’m going to talk about Antivirus software! *fireworks* How many of you use antivirus software? *Looks around* Most of you, good. For those of you that don’t, get some! To help those of you that don’t have antivirus software or have had a trial version that’s now expired, USA Today has compared several antivirus software packages. Here’s the rundown.
Most anti-virus software offers the same benefits. Some go further and offer website health checks, parental controls, and one, Webroot, offers to monitor your credit card usage. There are a ton of anti-virus software companies out there and that can make it confusing for those of us who want decent security. So, everyone should do their homework and find out which anti-virus software best fits their needs. Some good sites to look at are:
One warning about free software (OK more like two), you might not get very good support and the software might not be updated very often. Make sure you check the frequency of updates before downloading. Also check the websites that you visit. Do they have a seal of authenticity, such as Kikscore’s seal? If not, be careful. For all you website owners out there, consider getting a seal.
What about the rest of you? What kind of anti-virus protection do you have?
I was reading this article in the Denver Post the other day about how in 3-5 years a majority of consumers will no longer carry credit cards or cash but will instead use their phone to pay for goods. While I am not so sure that this will be the case in such a short time period I think that consumers in the United States are definitely moving in that direction.
As this article points out, there are already convenience stores in Boulder, Colorado, and Starbucks coffee shops in Seattle that allow their customers to pay by using applications on their smart phone. Most of the stores that currently allow shoppers to pay by phone do so through the use of a web-based account that the shopper has to pre-register for and “load” money into their account. These consumers then bring their phone into the store and login to their account on the merchant’s website or through their “app” on their phone that displays an account number or bar code that the merchant can use to deduct the value of the goods purchased from the consumers account. While this process is definitely a little less time consuming for both the merchant and shopper and no longer requires the shopper to carry a credit card, it really isn’t all that revolutionary to the bricks and mortar world.
Here is a new product from a company called “Square” that does have the potential to change how and where merchants and shoppers interact at a retail location: the Square Card Reader (pictured in this post).
Square is a new smartphone application for the iPhone and most Android-powered phones that allows merchants to sign-up for a free account and receive a free Square Card Reader that easily plugs into the headphone jack on their phone. Merchants can then use the card reader to swipe a consumer’s credit card for payment or they can also just type in the credit card number into the smart phone application in order to accept payment. The merchant is charged 2.9%-3.0% of the value of the transaction plus $0.15 for each transaction which is comparable to what other online payment companies, like Paypal, charge. I think that Square has the ability to change how we define a “merchant” since their product makes it easier for the smallest of companies to compete with the larger players in their industry.
How popular is the Square Card Reader? Right now Square has a special message on their website when merchant’s sign-up for a new account indicating that it could take weeks to get their reader in the mail because they currently have such a large backlog!
How do you see mobile payment systems changing the way business is done in your store?
We came across Brian Esposito, the CEO of Avenue You Beauty Store, last week and immediately knew we had to feature his great store on the KikScore blog. Brian’s energy and passionate entrepreneurial spirit even comes across in his emails that he sends out. We figured that the small business and startup community just needs to hear from Brian as he has so much to teach all of us. Do not take our word for it by the way, his company was awarded by our favorite magazine Inc. the very prestigious honor of being listed as an Inc. 5000 company. We are excited and honored here to not only have Brian share his thoughts with us here but also be one of our KikScore customers!
1. Tell us about AveYou and who you focus on serving?
AVEYOU is Your Unique Beauty Boutique. We specialize in carrying some of the most exclusive beauty and personal care products in the industry. Our entire concept is being all about you! Our loyal online and in-store customers. We focus on servicing beauty buffs around the globe. With our extremely friendly domestic and international flat rate shipping rates we are able to put orders into our customers hands very quickly. 99.9% of all orders are processed and shipped the same day and are packed in our eco-friendly reusable AVEYOU personal shopping bag. We are very big on personal experiences and sometimes that is very hard to accomplish with online shoppers. Because of that we try as hard as possible to achieve that result when a shopper opens their AVEYOU box. The box is carefully wrapped and all items are placed in the appropriate size AVEYOU Eco Friendly Reusable Shopping Bag. Also included in that bag are samples, promotional items, coupons or special discounts on future orders, and of course the correct item(s) ordered by our shopper. AVEYOU currently has one of the highest positively ranked feedback (check out the comments on Amazon!) in the beauty and personal care industry. Our product selection is very important to our brand and image. Because we specialize in very exclusive products, we try not to carry items that can be found at drug stores, discount stores, or supermarkets. Because we do not discount or jeopardize the integrity of our brands, manufactures and vendors are at a point in our growth cycle where they want to be part of our company and be placed on our shelves, or web site.
2. How did you get your started selling online?
In 2002 we re-vamped our store and philosophy. We created a new brand known as Avenue You. The store was placed in Deal, NJ. A very prominent and affluent area. As the store opened in April sales were incredibly strong and stayed that way all summer long. Come September we ran into a dilemma, as most of the town was filled with summer or vacation homes for those residents. We needed a way to reach these customers all year round in order to survive. It was then when I created and developed AVEYOU.com. The site was mainly created to keep in touch with our local shoppers who were back to their winter homes for the season. However because of the brands we carried any my passion for marketing and branding, customers from all over the world quickly began ordering at AVEYOU.com. I knew we had something special and needed to be focused on and enhanced. Because of how quickly we process and ship orders, people began talking and to this day word of mouth has been our best marketing tool.
3. What inspires you to grow the AveYou business?
Pride. Whatever I put my name on I do all I can to ensure it doesn’t fail. As a family owned and operated business you create a sense of home for the company and our employees. As we began to grow and hire great employees, they also became part of our family. We are at a point where we have created an incredible team of beauty consultants who each have so many different talents and strengths. I have, and will continue, to do all I can to ensure each and every one of them will always have a job/home at AVEYOU.
4. If you had 2 lessons learned from your business that you could pass on to others about selling online, what are those?
The first would be to be honest. This was my number one asset and at some times biggest downfall when creating AVEYOU.com. The beauty industry is still filled and mostly run by its originators. These people are threatened and do not understand the internet. When I would go after a line I would have to spend hours and sometimes even days convincing them that the internet is a great place to be and we are not a company that would never jeopardize the integrity of your brand by discounting, diverting, or by not giving it the respect and dignity it deserves. I am not sure about other industries, but I can still say to this day that we run into problems with manufactures not wanting their brands to be sold online. Every vendor or manufacturer we work with, fully understands our business model and are kept 100% in the light as to what we do and where we sell. The 2nd lesson I have learned is be fully compliant with every aspect of an online presence. Of them I strongly suggest having a privacy policy that is backed up by a firm or organization, run your emails in an ethical and CAN-SPAM compliant manner, and make sure your site is fully PCI compliant with SSL security to not only protect yourself, but to also protect your customers who are choosing you over the thousands of other potential sellers.
5. Where has AveYou focused most of its energy this year?
While we continue to gain market share with our online presence, we are looking to once again rebrand and re-energize our store location. We are working on a brand new prototype store that will offer more of a studio feel where our shoppers can come in, try products, have makeup, mini-facials, and nails done. The personal experience is crucial for our brand and image. We want our customers to feel special and of course feel beautiful. Having more types of fun energy filled services that can be done in our boutiques will definitely create a stronger bond between our customers and AVEYOU. Once the new prototype boutique is finalized we are looking to launch more locations in areas similar to Deal, NJ
6. What do you see as 2 new trends in for small business and in your business?
A trend we are seeing is to be careful where dollars are being spent. Using money wiser and in areas that have a successful ROI is overshadowing the riskier areas. Another trend is tapping into more social media platforms and applications. Combining sites such as Facebook with applications developed by Wildfire you are very quickly able to promote coupons, contests, and/or sweepstakes.
7. If your business/store could be any movie or movie character, what movie/movie character would it be and why?
I am sure this has been used a lot in many situations but it would have to be the movie Rudy and we would be Rudy. Every day we are met with opportunities, but also challenges. The challenges come in many shapes and sizes. The fortunate thing to date is that we have been able to overcome those challenges and survive. Even through the worst of economical times our company was able to grow and become part of Inc. 500|5000 2010 list of fastest growing private companies in America.
8. If AveYou could have a dream spokesperson for your company who would it be and why?
Aishwarya Rai as she is often cited by the media as the most beautiful woman in the world. She would make a tremendous spokesperson for AVEYOU Beauty Boutique. Having fans and admirers all over the world and with no negative news she would be exactly the type of woman we would want relaying our brands messages and image.
9. What is the biggest challenge that AveYou faces as a small business and how do you work to overcome that challenge?
As a small business I believe our biggest challenge is gaining trust in a potential new customer. If a shopper sees a Macys logo or a Best Buy logo they are not going to question is this a secure company/site. As a brand that is growing, we are not mainstream and are years away from becoming a staple in the beauty industry. We overcome that challenge by gaining one new customer at a time. Proving to that customer we are legitimate business, that is not going to sell their name to any third parties, is going to ship their order, their most private and intimate information is in a very secure area, and if there is any problems whatsoever with their order we will do everything we can to correct it and make it right.
10. Do you have any parting thoughts for our readers and the small business community?
I know it has been a tough few years, but if you have the capabilities and mental strength do not give up. If you strongly believe in what you are creating or have developed stand behind it 100%. Don’t let outside influences discourage your dreams or interfere with your visions. All you really have in this world is your beliefs. Take that vision, access all the tools you need, build the necessary team, and then make It happen.
Thanks Brian for sharing your thoughts.
Please let us know your thoughts on this interview with Brian Esposito.
When your team is lean and everyone is wearing multiple hats, it causes quite the glitch in everyday functions when one (or multiple) team member experiences a life changing event. How do you prepare for it? There are some situations that are emergency impact that cannot be prepared for, but others can.
Since the inception of KikScore there have been a mixture of life changing events across the team…
— 3 new births across different team members (all first time parents),
— spousal job changes
— infants becoming toddlers
— loss of pets (and additions)
— demanding day job impacts
— and an upcoming one for me – moving cross-country to ‘the big city’ for an amazing new day job opportunity.
So how does a small night/weekend entrepreneurial company stay focused?
It is very easy for the impacted member to get caught up in the life event and KikScore takes a back seat. While not the intention, human nature makes us selfish.
We can’t let this happen as the business would in turn suffer. As a small team, we need to regroup and delegate items out to others during the transition time, arming the business with communication channels to stick together and react to customer needs.
Some other tips that can prove useful are to continue to conduct weekly meetings to re-establish expectations. The team member going through the transition (me soon) should be able to commit to a once/week discussions to ensure they stay informed and can lend a hand as their life calms down and they rediscover their head.
How has your small business coped with life changing events? Please share your story with KikScore.
When KikScore came to be, the team was comprised of members from a variety of backgrounds and influence. We banded together and outlined the best approach across our experience to build the business — which is still fluid and we continue to review our progress and make changes, you have to!
We had many say ‘what do you know about starting a business’? We answered, the practicality of having those lessons learned from previous experience is critical in making a new business a success. And of course we all have some entrepreneurial zest within us.
There are always those out there thinking that the quick fix money maker opportunity is business for yourself — think again my friend, it takes work, lots of work and perseverance.
It amazes and intrigues me that there are actually college programs geared at entrepreneurship. Are they really more successful in the long run? I had a good friend who went into one of these programs a few years ago… unfortunately I’ve lost touch with him, but last I’d heard, he was working for a big business.
Do you know anybody who has taken these classes and has a billion dollar business today?
I went to Ohio for Labor Day weekend to visit my family and also be surrounded by Ohio State Buckeye madness (come on you beat Marshall, lets see what happens this week against Miami, Fl!). The 8 hour trip from DC there and then back again today got me thinking that we now only have a little less than four months left in 2010. Wow, this year has passed quickly and I got to thinking about my “to do” list for KikScore. I kept coming back to one thing as we left Ohio and made our way through WV, PA, MD and finally DC – – – I have to get my rear end in gear! So here are my thoughts on how I am going to approach the last four months of the year to help our team at KikScore increase our chances of success. Maybe these steps will help your small business and startup:
1) Revisit 2010 Goals – As the months of 2010 have passed by, we are constantly reminded of what we want to accomplish by the end of the year. Now is the time to look at those 2010 goals again and take a hard look in the mirror. Many things have happened in the last few months which may have switched the focus from one goal to another or to a new objective that popped up mid-year. Now is the time to look at your collective goals and objectives and determine what can be accomplished by focus, planning and executing. We did this back after Memorial Day when we discussed checking our goals at that time! Now is the time to eliminate the items that you will not be able to accomplish and really devote the time, energy and effort to goals and objectives that can be accomplished or substantially progressed by December 31, 2010.
2) Outline Concrete Steps to Execute on Your Plan – For each of the key goals you see a path to accomplishing, make sure you have a plan on how you are going to accomplish these items by the end of the year. Not just a general plan, but outline concrete steps that you can objectively measure your progress on through the coming weeks and months.
3) Get Low Cost Help – So one of the conversation pieces between my wife & I (between trying to soothe 8 month Asha to sleep through the mountains of West Virginia), was how more small businesses and startups should use high school and college interns. We at KikScore have a few interns and they have been a tremendous help. One of them even writes for the blog and her post on identity theft and kids’ social security numbers has a KikScore blog record for most Retweets on Twitter! So when you are looking at your goals and your overall plan to achieve those goals, carve out a few discreet projects that an intern can help you with. That help will free up your time to focus on other key steps in your implementation plan. Some great sites to find interns are your local college career planning websites. You can visit those sites and fill out a job opening for any type of position. We have received applications from students of University of Maryland, Cornell University and American University! Interns can really help give you “more hands” around the business.
4) Talk to Your Customers – As we push to meet our 2010 goals and close the year strong for our business, we are making an effort to talk to our customers so they can give us feedback. Customers can sometimes provide very useful and even unexpected information and insight into what your business should focus on. Also one idea for your small business or startup is to simply ask the question what do your customers need to help them close the year strong. You may even get some information that can help you increase your own sales just by asking your customers what else you can do to help them!
5) Measure Team & Business Progress Daily, Weekly & Monthly – Often we all get buried in the daily slog of activities and endless distractions (even more of a risk with NFL season starting & Fantasy Football!). What results from that is we do not track our progress and then deadlines slip, tasks do not get completed and we end up hearing the ageless excuse – “I am too busy, I don’t have time for that.” For entrepreneurs and especially operators of small businesses and startups, that excuse can destroy your chances of business success. The remedy is accountability. That is accountability to yourself, your team and to the plan that you have developed to complete the goals. We have discussed the importance of accountability previously in this post about keeping your business focused. So every day, at the end of each week and month set aside time to review your task list, the overall plan and where you are at for meeting the objectives/goals. Then make adjustments accordingly to help you execute on your plan.
And always remember the quote of Hal Moore: “There is always one more thing you can do to increase the odds of success.”
Please tell us your thoughts on how you are going to close strong in 2010.
© 2010 Interactive Security Group
