New V. Old: Can You Trust One More Than Another?

Experience versus Energy.  Wisdom versus Enthusiasm.  Age versus Youth.  Which is better?  Which is more trustworthy?  Very similar to the question, which is a better movie Transformers or Transformers 2, there is no easy answer.  Both have their merits. 

With a older, established company, you have a track record and proven technology.  Whatever problems they may have, the older company has established itself in a competitive market.  Established, older companies also have a lot more to lose (like the owner’s or shareholders’ assets), so they engage in less risky activity.

The newer company is more cutting edge and usually offers more services (or at least offers an easier way to access their services).  In terms of security technology, they are usually more up-to-date on the latest industry trends.  On the other side, they are hungier and, usually, more aggressive (i.e. cutting corners).  Newer and startup companies also, usually, have no money.  So they are “judgment proof”.

So, who do you trust with your business (or shopping) old companies or new ones?  Also, do you like Transformers or Transformers 2?

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Why I missed my first class in my first week of college

So, I just finished my first week at the University of Maryland-College Park.The Entrepreneurial Opportunity Analysis class I’m taking is fun;I learned that altogether Blockbuster is worth about $11 million which, apparently is a two night’s stay at a Daily Inn. I’m finding Philosophy to be difficult and History to be what we already covered in high school(so far).

My schedule’s not too bad, although I could do without the class that ends at 8:45 p.m. However, I missed my first class Wednesday because of the situation in Silver Spring. I have a  yr old brother, whose school started yesterday. Since my first class was at 3 in the afternoon, my mother asked me to watch him. So, we started from the house at two and were on the beltway when we hit traffic at a standstill. We turned on the radio(to WTOP) and heard that there was a gunman in the  Discovery Headquarters in Silver Spring. Immediately, my mother turned towards Bethesda.  Then, we called my father for directions and he told us to take the East-West Highway, which would, eventually,hit Baltimore Avenue. However, the local roads were all congested and since we didn’t know the area really well, we had to rely on my father and the maps that we had in the car for directions. We wound up getting to College Park a few minutes before my next class.

This reminded me of the Crisis Data summit I attended a few weeks back. It’s situations like these where social media becomes very useful. For example, someone  could have tweeted saying “Gunman in discovery bldg. beltway clogged. take alternate route”(Yes, this is what I think the twitter post would have looked like, except for the periods; those are mine.) Then, my father could have read it and then called us and, if we hadn’t gotten on the beltway already, we could have taken an alternate route. I anticipate that with smartphones becoming more common, a social media network will become more able to deal with these crises and everyone on that network will be fully informed of every crises that takes place.

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Is a Trained Entrepreneur More Likely to be Successful in Small Business?

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?

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5 Post-Labor Day Steps To Help Your Business Close 2010 Strong

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.

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Comics!

So, I started college this week. Not too bad, although the walk is a bit steep and I could do without the mosquitoes and gnats in the evening. Anyway, here are some comics for your enjoyment, since I couldn’t do a full post this week.

So what do you think about these and the idea that technology is so prevalent in our society?

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Online Business – Necessity Or Luxury?

Is your favorite restaurant or local boutique online?    Would you be more likely to purchase something from the local boutique if you could order the latest chenille scarf from your bedside table?

Website hosting companies such as Shopster have made it very simplistic to create a new website and start selling online in minutes.   Having an online site builds trust between consumer and merchant because it can allow a browse before you buy (or eat).   Yet there are still a great number of local restaurants and shops that are reluctant… why?

With the boom of social media, not having a site could be detrimental to your company’s future success.

There are other ways to be active in the online community without a dedicated ‘full’ website.   Creating a dedicated company blog promotes trust and transparency by sharing your company values, and can be done without a full website.

You may think if you only have one or two items to sell, a website is overkill. Even if it’s just one product (such as this unique product for avid boaters –TuftedTopper), the mass consumer base enjoys the convenience of online purchasing. As a merchant, you need to determine what drives the intrigue in your product base.

You’re here reading this, do you have an online business?

How have you built trust and transparency between yourself and your consumers to create repeat customers?

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Video: Business & Management Lessons from the Girl Scouts

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WAaDJY1UHq0

Here is a great 4 minute video from the Harvard Business Channel from YouTube on some great management lessons from the Girl Scouts.  Check it out and let us know your thoughts!  Who would have known that the folks that bring us Girl Scout cookies could teach us so much about managing a business.

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Customer Service 2.0: Is the Phone Number Dead?

First off, you know you’re getting old when you begin a blog post with the phrase “this new generation”…and then comment on how things used to be done.  Of course, you’re probably not that old if you’re writing a blog post in the first place, but my point is, when you start noticing differences, you’re aging is noticeable.

But this new generation has a different view towards customer service.  In my day (ahhh, the 90’s…Nirvana was popular, there were new “Twilight” books, and I had a full head of hair), customer service meant an 800 number.  A big break through was an email address, but you never really relied on getting a message back…so you called customer service to get an answer.

As our customer base at KikScore grows, there is something very noticeably absent — that would be phone calls.  Instead, people are looking at our product videos, sending us emails, asking questions on Twitter.  It’s great in many respects — phone calls are time consuming to process and that costs money.  But the written word and videos often don’t convey specifically the information what a customer is looking to get…so it can either result in a frustrating customer experience or it results in a lot of interaction to get a question answered.

So, I’m getting older and I can roll with the punches and not complain about how things have changed…but I’m not sure if the extinction of the phone number is a good thing.

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McIntel-Intel buys McAfee

Unless you really live under a rock( or you’re in a place where you don’t have a cell signal[but, really who doesn’t nowadays? On vacation recently, my father and I saw this one man hiking in El Yunque, Puerto Rico(the U.S’s only rain forest) talking on a cell phone]), you’ve probably heard about Intel buying McAfee for about $7.68  billion(figure courtesy of news channel 8 Portland). Now why would Intel buy McAfee? To get into the security market of course. Traditionally Intel’s core market has been PC processing, however due to the recent economic changes, Intel has decided to branch out into the security market.

What does this mean for us consumers? Apparently Intel has indicated that the impact of the purchase won’t be felt until 2020. Why? Well Intel is most likely planning on putting McAfee’s software on it’s chips. This would better protect cell phones, tablets, e-readers other mobile devices that can connect to the internet. That would make it easier to protect user’s personal data, on those devices where security products can’t be installed easily.

What does this mean for small businesses? Well, according to Intel, it’s to better protect the systems from threats.  After Operation Aurora, Intel decided to up it’s  security measures. Operation Aurora revealed gaps in how protected one’s data really is and Intel has made the deal to step in and try to fill that gap. Therefore down the road, with McAfee software on Intel’s chips, small businesses could assure their customers that their data is well protected.

With this deal, Intel has made security a top priority and has sent our the message that security is more important than ever. Since the internet is changing minute by minute, companies are beginning to change the way they view security and are taking measures to update and upgrade their security measures. And as for the consumers, tools such as McAfee and Kikscore are helping protect against hackers, identity thieves and all the other bad guys out there.

So what are your opinions on the deal and what does this mean for small businesses and consumers?

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iTunes Shopper Fraud, Overstock News, New Denver 4G Service and Another Sign the World May be Coming to an End

iTunes Shopper Data Leak – I was reading in TechCrunch the other day about how some fraudsters apparently hacked into the iTunes accounts of some customers that had their accounts attached to Paypal for payment and purchased thousands of dollars worth of music, videos, and applications.  It sounds like this was due to a glitch in the iTunes software and that Apple has agreed to make things right with the customers that were impacted but this is a reminder that money sitting in a Paypal account is essentially the same as a debit card attached directly to your bank account.  If someone gets a hold of your Paypal credentials, your actual money can be stolen instantly so shoppers should be very careful where they allow their Paypal information to be stored.

Overstock Starts a New Shopping Site – Overstock, a publicly traded company, announced yesterday that they are opening a new “private” shopping club site that will offer exclusive deals on certain brand-name merchandise on a rotating basis every 24-72 hours.  This new online store called Eziba should compete with the likes of Vente Privée, Beyond The Rack and One Kings Lane.

Downtown Denver has 4G Service Through Sprint – Like I mentioned in a previous post, I have been the happy owner of a Sprint HTC EVO 4G for almost 3 months now and have been waiting with baited breathe for Clearwire and Sprint to activate their 4G network in Denver that they promised “before the end of 2010”.  Well, nobody is really saying anything yet, but I now get 4G service throughout the downtown Denver area and am loving it!

The Situation Commands $5 Million this Year – I try to stay away from tabloid-type news in my posts here but I just couldn’t stay away from this…in a sign that the apocalypse is near, Mike “The Situation” Sorrentino from the MTV reality series “Jersey Shore” is reportedly pulling down over $5 million this year from endorsements and salary.  Something is wrong with the world when a guy can make that kind of money for making out with trashy women in hot tubs and getting drunk in night clubs!

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