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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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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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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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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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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Master Head Shaver & Founder of HeadBlade, Todd Greene, Give Us Small Business Pearls

Do you like a clean shave?  No, I am not talking about on your face or your legs.  How about your head? I came across HeadBlade on Twitter late last year.  For those of you who do not know who or what HeadBlade is it is only the global leader in head shaving razors and headcare products for head shavers. HeadBlade  offers its head razors and related headcare products on its website and in more than 25,000 retailers, including Walgreens and Rite Aid. Company President Todd Greene founded HeadBlade for head shavers who adopted the look as their chosen lifestyle. Some well-known Headbladers include Deal or No Deal host and former doctor from St. Elsewhere, Howie Mandel, American Idol star Chris Daughtry and 2009 British Open champion Stewart Cink.  Todd not only is the founder and President of Headblade but is also a blogger for The Huffington Post.  Swing by the HeadBlade website to see the Picture, User and Letter of the month from happy Headbladers.

Todd took some time out to answer questions and give us his take on HeadBlade and growing a business.

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

The original HeadBlade was designed in 1999 and was the first razor designed for the scalp.  Ten years later we’re still the only company that makes and sells razor and headcare items for people who shave their heads.

2. How did you get your started selling online?

I came up with the concept in 1997 and it wasn’t until 99 that I brought it to market.  Since I had little start-up funding (think family and friends) I had to do everything myself.  I didn’t have any experience with wholesale and since my first production run was 1,000 units, I was not producing on a large enough scale to consider major box retailers.  And the costs to go into them are very high when you consider the margin is fairly low, you have to pay for sales and rep group, you’re responsible for shipping/returns/damages, plus slotting fees.  Really the internet was my only option at the time.  Since I had worked as an artist for software companies in Seattle, and had experience working for both GeoCities and ESPN.com, I realized the value of creating and website and selling direct.

3. What inspires you to grow the HeadBlade business?

HeadBlade is a my passion.  Essentially I created the better mousetrap.  I had been shaving my head since 1992 and there was no company that spoke (or sold) to the demographic.  Eventually I designed and made prototypes.  Once I went through the patent process, and realized none of the large companies were interested in my idea, I decided to go it alone.

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 is that everything takes longer and costs more than you originally plan.  I’m not talking Murphy’s Law necessarily, but pad your calendar for unforeseen disruptions. The other is that the customer is always right.  If someone sends you an email complaining about shipping costs, or items out of stock, etc; take a deep breath and realize you can empower them and give them a very positive opinion of your company.  Word of mouth is huge, especially with all the networking sites, and nothing is better than great word of mouth.  Just ask anyone who has written or read a restaurant review on Yelp!

5. Where will HeadBlade focus most of its energy in 2010?

We are focusing on social networking sites, our affiliate system, and new product development.

6. As we start 2010 what do you see as 2 new trends in your business?

The large razor companies, Gillette and Schick, are rolling out new versions and the emphasis is now on a comfortable shave, not the number of blades.  This is huge for HeadBlade because we were never part of the razor wars; we’ve been making ergonomic shavers and headcare for guys that shave their heads.  Now that the cold war is over everyone can focus on what makes a great shave; and our design and headcare products are both performance and price competitive.

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

We have a great company and very cool culture, especially since we make head shaving products.  Think Die Hardmeets Office Space.

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

Michael Jordan.  He broke down so many barriers and even dropped an endorsement deal with a haircare company to shave.  I’d like to say Gandhi would have been great but not sure if he wanted to be so commercial.

9. What is the biggest challenge that HeadBlade faces as a small business and how do you work to overcome that challenge?

Our biggest challenge is getting to the Tipping Point as Malcom Gladwell would put it.  People still don’t know about us.

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

Read “Dream” by Paulo Coelho.  Then go for it.  Oh, yeah, everyone should shave their head at least once in their life.  Use HeadBlade when you do.

We at KikScore would like to thank Todd and HeadBlade for giving the community his thoughts on the small business experience.  If you have questions for Todd, please leave them in the comments below.

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Is One the Loneliest Number? Should You Start a Business with Partner?

You have a great idea, some money in the bank and a little extra time.  So do you go it alone and launch a business?  Or, instead, do you find partners to help you make your idea a reality? 

It’s a common dilemma.  The upside about going alone seems to be having absolute control over the product direction.  No need to reach agreement on how to approach the market, pricing or even the name itself.  For example, with KikScore, we have several meetings each week to make sure we’re all on the same page and updated on development and partner development.  If this were a sole enterprise, that time could be saved (or at least redirected). 

But being alone isn’t all sunshine and flowers (or whatever else you may find appealing).  With sole control comes sole responsibility.  If there is an issue with your business or customer service, you need to solve it.  If you are great at product design but not sales, well, too bad.  And forget brainstorming, you’re the brain and the storm.  There’s a good summary of the pros and cons in this blog post.

How about the number of partners?  Does it get more or less complicated to run your business if the number of partners increases?  I don’t have any hard studies on this, but anecdotal information (i.e. KikScore’s experience growing from 4 to 7 partners) has not been too impactful.  I think the most important thing with partners is to have an odd number….that way you don’t have stalemates on important votes.

Do you have any business partners?  Or are you going it alone?

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How you respond to customer issues is important… anyone can be reading!

While researching a couple of issues from a recent KikScore customer signup,  the importance of a quick and informative response to current and would be customers became critically evident.  As a small business, you need to educate your customers so they have confidence in the product you are providing, and also share information in layman’s terms to alleviate confusion and not tech-speak your customers into oblivion.

I struggle with this balance while straddling the technical and marketing role at KikScore (and in my day job too).   Your customer base doesn’t share the in-depth knowledge that your team has on the inner-workings of your system, and thus you need to take a step back when responding to a customer inquiry/issue and put yourself in the customer’s shoes.   This entails not only empathizing with the issue at hand, but also providing deeper context surrounding the potential resolution/fix to the customer’s concern and conveying that back to them in a timely and informative manner.

In the world of social media today, any response you share with customers (and prospects) can (and most likely will) be posted or passed along the internet waves and will have an impact on not only the legitimacy of your business/product but also on its future branding potential.

SocialSmallBiz is doing a series on customer support and social media and the intertwining of each.  A fantastic quote to live by, for ANY small business owner “It Takes Months to Find a Customer… seconds to lose one”

How do you handle your customer inquiries and responses?  Please share your best practices and lessons learned with us.

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Company SWAG: Does it Help Your Small Business?

I love being a small business owner for several reasons: you’re on the forefront of trends; you interact with other small business owners and share ideas; you are forced to think creatively about getting the word out about your business.  But the thing i love more than anything about owning a small business is wearing my KikScore baseball hat.  First off, it’s pretty cool as far as those type of caps go (it’s a washed out grey, so it goes with almost anything…my wife disagrees, but what does she know?) 

I’ve been wearing corporate baseball caps for years…usually from my day-job/corporate employer.  So it has special meaning to me to wear my own branded gear.  But here’s the question — does it actually do anything for KikScore?  I’ve been walking around every airport, city park and taco stand with my hat on, but I haven’t seen a spike in traffic since I’ve been wearing it.  Same goes for my KikScore bumper sticker.  So is this just a vanity hat? 

This weekend, my parents flew out to Denver to visit my wife and me.  I’m at the airport by 7:30 am on Saturday morning.  Through the crowd I see the outlines of my parents.  My Dad is wearing a baseball cap.  But as he approaches, it’s not the KikScore hat I gave him, but some free hat his neighbor gave him.  What the hell is going on?!  So I ask him about it and he sheepishly said he can’t find it.  Can’t find it?  Not sure if I mentioned this, but this is my DAD.  So if the hat doesn’t engender any positive mojo with him, what are my chances with a complete stranger?

That all being said, I’ve now run out of the second batch of hats and bumper stickers — as friends and family keep asking for the free gear.  So I’m probably going to order more, but is it just an ego thing or is it good business? 

What are your thoughts about the effects of branded SWAG for your small business?  Does your Dad at least wear your gear?

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Internet Crime Report Finds 22% Increase in CyberCrime Complaints

The Internet Crime Complaint Center is a partnership between the National White Collar Crime Center and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and is set up to receive complaints of crime on the internet. The Complaint Center is known as IC3 and annual issues a report notifying the public of trends that they see in complaints that they have received from the public about cybercrime.  IC3 received complaints across a wide spectrum of cybercrimes including online fraud, computer intrusions and hacking, theft of trade secrets, identity theft and international money laundering.  The 2009 Internet Crime Report was just published in mid-March 2010 and  here are some of the key findings:

1) There was a 22% increase in cybercrime complaints in 2009 compared to 2008 (336, 655 total complaints)

2) More than a half billion dollars in monetary losses were reported in 2009 – $559.7 million – from cybercrime

3) The top 5 categories of reported offenses from victims were: a) non-delivered merchandise(19.9%); identity theft (14.1%), credit card fraud (10.4%), auction fraud (10.3%) and computer fraud (7.95%).

4) Of those victims that reported monetary losses from the cybercrime, the mean dollar loss was $5,580 and the median was $575.

5) The vast majority of the complaints were made from the United States, but IC3 received complaints from victims in Canada, the UK, Australia and India.

6) The perpetrators in the United States tended to reside in the followings states: California, Florida, New York, the District of Columbia, Texas and Washington.  A number of perpetrators were also alleged to have been in the UK, Nigeria, Canada, Malaysia and Ghana.

What does all of this mean?  All of this reinforces that online shoppers must remain vigilant when they shop online.  Cybercrime is only increasing.  We have covered in previous posts 5 Steps for a Safe Online Shopping Experience.  Shoppers should familiarize yourself with these and other steps to keep you safe online.  The Ic3 also listed a good resource at www.lookstoogoodtobetrue.com that consumers can look to for consumer alerts, tips and fraud trends.  Separately, we have also given online sellers guidance as well on ways that merchants can build, demonstrate and increase trust for their website visitors so they can sell more.

We imagine cybercrime will only continue to grow and so we must be prepared to combat it by demanding transparency online and arming ourselves with information and safe shopping tactics so we do not become another victim.

Please tell us what you think of the 2009  Internet Crime Report and these statistics.

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