Posts Tagged ‘Small Business’

2010 Is Here: 10 Rules for Killer Business Card By Steven Fisher

We all use business cards.  Can you tell me the last one that made an impact on you?  Some people would say that cards are just supposed to convey basic contact information.  But think about it.  A business card is the first item that a business contact sees that conveys your personality and creativity after a conversation.  So why not actually use your business card to make that impression?

As 2010 gets rolling, we at KikScore thought this would be a good 10 minute, highly enjoyable video of  a presentation from the GrownSmartBiz Conference that Steve Fisher gave on business cards (the presentation starts a little after the 5 minute mark).  Check it out and let us know if you are going to make a change to your business cards in 2010 so you can start making an impression.

Tweet This Post

Posts Tagged ‘Small Business’

2009 Blog Recap: My Favorite Postings of the Year

It’s the end of the year…a time for reflection and evaluation.  In this spirit, a few of us are going to highlight some of our favorite postings from the year.  Here are my favorite five postings we’ve done (I promise they won’t just be the ones I wrote):

1.  2009 Trends in ECommerce— Typical Raj posting, very informative and a great list of tools available for ecommerce businesses.

2.  Diary of a Tech Start Up: Idea to Soft Launch — Ok.  This is my post, but I like it because it starts our Diary series and it summarizes two years of our company.

3.  Making the Grade — Kristen’s first post and a really detailed view of what KikScore’s algorithm looks at when sizing up a business.

4.  A Few Good Blogs Part 1— A great list of blogs relating to ecommerce and small business.

5.  Brett Favre and Business — Despite the December let down, a got to love a post dedicated to the Minnesota Vikings’ quarterback.

That’s my list.  Feel free to let us know if you agree/disagree.

Tweet This Post

Posts Tagged ‘Small Business’

Small Business Interview with Simply Astro Founder Shiv Verma

Today’s KikScore Small Business interview is with Shiv Verma, the  founder of SimplyAstro.com. Shiv is a serious entrepreneur and runs multiple websites including the SimplayAstro.com website.  He is also a nights and weekend entpreneur so KikScore has a special bond with Shiv because we know the long hours that he pulls on a regular basis.  Shiv has just recently launched a very cool iPhone app and has received a lot of media coverage about that.

Tell us about “SimplyAstro.com – Your AstroSwami” and who you focuses on serving?

AstroSwami is the Brand Identity of SimplyAstro.com. AstroSwami Pro & AstroSwami Lite are the first every iPhone App bringing your personalized horoscope predictions AND remedies at just a click away! Merging today’s most popular technology and the ancient, scientific knowledge of Vedic Astrology, a pioneering concept “ASTROSWAMI PRO” offers solutions to your life’s problems on your iPhone. SimplyAstro.com is an online portal for astrological services providing the widest range of astrological and divination services in India and in western countries. SimplyAstro.com provides services to the people who believe in astrology as the science that may guide their path in life. All products and services offered by SimplyAstro.com reflect the philosophy that the purpose of Astrology is to stimulate the personal growth of individuals and create inter-personal harmony. Our services include online consultations and counseling built around Western Astrology, Vedic Astrology, Tarot, Numerology, Chinese Astrology, Vastu, Feng Shui, etc. backed by an internationally renowned panel of astrologers from across the world. SimplyAstro.com is a full fledged online astrology service provider and a platform for astrologers to export their services to Indians as well as Western people and all other people worldwide who believe in astrology as the science that may guide their path in life.

How did you get your started selling online?

The objective of the flagship company Vital Acts Inc., is to provide an easy, simple and user-centric online service that touches people’s Vital Acts of life! Keeping that in mind, SimplyAstro.com was started with our valuable and vital set of online services that is driving to create a community in itself. Vital Acts Inc. is growing to become the leader in service oriented online services catering to the needs of people through Internet and mobile. Our Series of website services ensures that an average individual is able to use the internet in the most effective, affordable and easy way! What we mean by that is well demonstrated by our website product services, product quality, customer service and one of the key items that are most affordable and beating the competition in regards to pricing that we have to offer or the amount of FREE services we have to offer!

Where will “SimplyAstro.com – Your AstroSwami” focus most of its energy in 2010?

SimplyAstro.com is growing to become the leader in service oriented online products & consulting catering to the needs of people through Internet and mobile.

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

1. Get clear understanding of what market segment you want to focus  on and determine if  you want to start by having a local or global focus.
2. Have a marketing game plan lined-up to test the market via at-least five different marketing strategies. Don’t spend put all your resources in 1 marketing strategy. Instead divide your resources between the 5 strategies and have a way to track the effectiveness of each.

As 2009 closes, what do you see as 2 new trends in your business this year?

1. Like any other business, more players are entering the market although they may not be mature businesses and also do not deliver the same value!
2. People have become more and more price sensitive due to the economy and needless to say no other site providing similar values can beat our pricing!

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

Can I pick 2 here? Star Wars & Star Track (Trek), well for one simple reason, SimplyAstro.com – Your AstroSwami, guides your path in life towards success by means of predictions and remedial suggestions using the ancient science of Vedic Astrology, Western Astrology, Numerology & lot more! As you can see Astrology is all about Tracking the Stars (Star Track!) and giving solutions to the problems of your life by means of remedial measures which is like fighting the Star Wars!  And yes, both these movies have been very popular and highly successful, so you can see where I am going with this!

If “SimplyAstro.com – Your AstroSwami” could have a dream spokesperson for your company who would it be and why?

Our own customers & community, because their word of mouth is what creates the difference!

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

Absolutely, pursuing your hobby or passion in the form of a business is the best thing one can do in life and make a difference, so go for it! But always keep a good check on your budget and always apply a formula of multiply by 4 for any initially estimates when it comes to budgeting and time required for an activity/initiative. And yes, hurdles are part of the game, learn and adopt to get passed them and even if you hit couple of them, it’s ok, don’t stop or give up! Believing is achieving half the goal!

Tweet This Post

Posts Tagged ‘Small Business’

Your Holiday Gift: 30 Second MBA from Fast Company

One of the truly creative and ingenious ideas I saw this year to help small, medium and large business was Fast Company’s 30 second MBA.  What is it?  Fast Company gets industry and business leaders from Digg, Accenture, Ford, Pandora and many other companies to give tips and guidance on key areas of business such as Making Better Decisions, How to Change a Company’s Culture, How Should You Think about Failure, How Do You Retain and Nurture Talent, and many other topics.  Its really a top notch faculty covering key business areas in a short period of time!  Each week there is a new subject matter and five leaders speak on the subect Monday through Friday.  Here is just one excellent 30 second clip from the CEO of Digg, Jay Adelson on making better decisions.

So spend your holidays learning with these 30 second clips.  A great gift to all of us from Fast Company.

Tweet This Post

Posts Tagged ‘Small Business’

Happy Holiday? Do You Take Time Off From Your Business?

This week, my parents are doing something that they never do…travel to my house for the holidays. As far as I can recall, I have always traveled back home (balmy Minnesota) to see them. This has been true for the past 15 years. This year, we convinced them to come out.

Why the drought of visits. Is it because they don’t like me? Of course not. Why? Did you hear something? No the real reason is because 25 years ago, my Dad quit his corporate job to start his own business. He doesn’t have a lot of help running the business, so almost every holiday season, he didn’t have time to get away. As he would say, “the longer I’m away, the more work I have waiting for me when I return.”  The Wall Street Journal just touched on the same issue, giving a guide to small business owners on “How to Take a Vacation“. The advice is solid (the best has to be “Accept the Fact that You’ll Lose Money”).

Since we all have day jobs, and our nights and weekends are dedicated to KikScore, I’m getting a sense that it may be quite sometime before I start doing a lot of personal travel during the holiday season.  Just as sure as I’m going bald like my Dad, I’m inheriting his work schedule.  And I’m not alone (with regard to the work schedule…I mean I’m also not alone on being bald).  Simply searching “Small Business Vacation 2009” reveals a wide variety of blog postings about small business owners talking about the difficulty in taking time off.  Here’s a good one from Newsweek.

So, are you taking time off this holiday?  Any plans for a 2010 get-away?  Can I go with you?

Tweet This Post

Posts Tagged ‘Small Business’

A Small Business Discussion with Oregon Seafoods' Rick Shoop

KikScore likes to profile small businesses from around the world so that our readers can learn from other small businesses.  In this post we interview Rick Shoop the owner of Oregon Seafood.  Rick is a passionate small businessperson who has a wide range of interests and a number of small business endeavors in action right now.  This interview came out of Kikscore coming across Oregon Seafoods on Twitter which within about 15 minutes led to a great 30 minute Sunday afternoon conversation.

1. Tell us about Oregon Seafood and who you focuses on serving? ~

Oregon Seafood is a retail seafood market in Hillsboro Oregon. We almost went out of business a few months ago. I had to do something. I turned to the internet to educate myself. I learned the real world is indeed in the toilet. See this video as an example of how the recession has impacted employment by county.  As you can see the decline of our Nation. It is very scary. However, I also learned there are people making money online hand over fist. So I spent the next 3 months in study. I learned just how to locally target my market and as of today my Seafood Market is doing very well. To see just how I did this, I am creating a series of videos explaining the process. I have the first two drafts here for review. More to come. Part 1 is here and Part 2 is here.

2. Where will Oregon Seafood focus most of its energy in 2010?

Local marketing and adding global marketing type products to seel off the website.

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

Be willing to change.  Always look at your business in a new way.

4. As 2009 closes, what do you see as 2 new trends in your business this year?

I think it’s a world wide trend. People are buying online more now than ever. We need to monitize this trend.

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

Dare Devil. Instead of following most small business into the OUT OF BUSINESS trend. We Dared to change our antiquated methods and adapt to the future.

6. If you could buy a potential customer a drink, what drink would it be?

Cup of Coffee so we can be friends.

7. While having that drink with the potential customer, what would you like to talk about with them?

What makes them unique as a business and a person.

8. Do you have any parting thoughts?

Eat Healthy, Eat Seafood. Visit some of my other sites. I build WordPress Blogs and also am a Graphic Artist. Here are some of my other sites.  I encourage everyone to please check them out.

Tweet This Post

Posts Tagged ‘Small Business’

Is your business a trail adventure?

A favorite route - Apex Trail

Living in Colorado is refreshing and rewarding… and can force one to tackle adventures with a free spirit. The assumption is that if you live in Colorado, you are hitting the slopes every weekend. Well, I’m not a skier, but give me a good pair of trail running shoes, a crisp morning and a trail that winds up a mountain or hillside – now that’s what I call adventure! Will there be the unavoidable tree root to navigate or an elevation change that I wasn’t quite prepared for? Maybe encounter a snake or snow/ice which forces one to slow down and proceed with caution. Starting a business is a similar adventure in putting on those running shoes, climbing up the mountain, yet not certain what you may encounter along the way.

When launching a new business, we are forced to be selective of which trail to tackle first and more importantly to keep track of where we’ve been so as not to make repeat mistakes. The path of a new business needs to be able to react and learn from last weekend’s trail run and plan accordingly for next week’s adventure. My favorite poem, Robert Frost’s The road not takencan be interpreted many ways. In the success of business, we over analyze which can paralyze… How complex should your beta launch be? How are we going to support customer inquiries/issues in a timely manner? What enhancements should we concentrate on? How will we measure success? I can go on…

In trail running, I cannot be afraid to take that challenging trail and have an incredible story to share from my adventure. In starting a business, we need to be brave enough to take that less travelled road that can pave the way for others to follow, which will be our loyal customers.

When in doubt, run uphill! What twists and turns, and unexpected elevation changes have your business taken you on? Share your experience with us.

Tweet This Post

Posts Tagged ‘Small Business’

Small Business Grit & Social Media Buzz Turn Zhu Zhu into Holiday Bonanza

Have you purchased your Zhu Zhu?

I have to admit, I never heard about a Zhu Zhu until this past weekend.  I did not even know what the big holiday toy was this year.  Chalk it up to traveling, being busy, not having any kids (yet, my first is due in 4 weeks!), or being distracted by our last minute (before baby arrives) home renovation that my wife and I are undertaking (its being chronicled over at another blog).

That brings me to opening up the Saturday Washington Post and reading all about the Russell Hornsby who has had a family toy business for over 35 years.  He has spent a lifetime fighting the likes of Mattel and Hasbro who each have million dollar marketing and R&D budgets.  His story and the story of the family business that is behind this year’s holiday must have toy should bring a smile to any small business and inspire everyone. Zhu Zhu is this year’s Pokemon and Furby (my wife actually still has this must have gift of holiday past).

The Zhu Zhu Idea

In Spring of 2008, Hornsby and his daughter, who are employees in the family business named Cepia, literally put their thinking cap on and debated whether a hamster toy could sell.  As market research, he literally watched hours of YouTube clips of hamsters to learn their peculiarities, unpredictableness and just how they can be plain cute. From this research came the Zhu Zhu idea.  But not just the pet hamster, but a bunch of accessories such as a ramp, slide, skateboard and even a fun house.  So they had the idea, the product, accessories but how the heck did they plan on marketing the Zhu Zhu and all of the accompanying accessories?

Social Media Creates the Zhu Zhu Buzz

Most small businesses face the same challenge of a limited marketing budget, Hornsby and his company were no different.  This is where social media and some very thoughtful planning lead to a smashing small business success.

Mommy Party: Hornsby with the help of mommy marketer, BSM Media first, held 300 “mom mavens” parties where 10 moms and their children were invited to parties where they could play with the Zhu Zhu toys and all the accessories. Brilliantly, nothing was for sale at these parties, but the kids and the moms got hooked and went home thinking about Zhu Zhus.

Mommy Bloggers: Then the moms who went to these parties started blogging about how great the parties were. They also posted pictures on Flickr and uploaded videos to YouTube.

Zhu Zhu Twitter Party: Then they decided to have a party for moms and kids on Twitter to talk about…….Zhu Zhus.  According to the article, more than 1,000 people attended and there were over 8,700 tweets in a one hour period.

Buzz Sells!

All of this buzz helped start the Zhu Zhu craze.  From there it was word of mouth marketing and further coverage in the lead up to the holiday season.  The rest is truly history.  Hornsby’s Zhu Zhu has crushed anything comparable from the big guys of Hasboro and Mattel.

The Zhu Zhu story gives me hope that through a good idea, great execution via social media and word of mouth marketing, that any small business can recreate this success.  This type of glass half full optimism that we highlighted before is the fabric for small business success.

Tell us your thoughts on the Zhu Zhu success story.

Tweet This Post

Posts Tagged ‘Small Business’

Brett Favre and Business

I may be starting something I shouldn’t with this post, as most of us on the KikScore team are ardent professional football fans (except Raj, who likes the Cleveland Browns).  The first 20 minutes of our Monday meetings are consumed with rehashing Sunday games (we get a lot more done during baseball season).  This year my favorite team, the Minnesota Vikings, signed Brett Favre and, in turn, they are having a great season.  So, to the disgust of Mike Collins (my business partner and Green Bay fan), I’m going to write what Business lessons can learn from the Brett Favre acquisition.

Patience:

Everyone assumes that when you come out with a new product or service, it has to have immediate market success, as-is.  But as Nassim Nicholas Taleb makes clear in his book “The Black Swan”, one of the greatest strengths entrepreneurs have is the ability to tinker.  Tinkering with a concept until it suits the market is the whole point of business.  What’s the tie-in to Brett Favre?  Well, his first year in the NFL wasn’t notable.  He was a back-up quarterback for the Atlanta Falcons — and didn’t show any indications of being a future Hall of Famer that he is.  But over time, he changed his work-out methods, how he approached the game and now, at the age of 40, he’s having one of his best years ever (that’s after 20 years of tinkering).

Talent:

Last year, the Vikings had almost every member of the current team.  They lost in the first-round of the playoffs.  Now, who knows how it will end this year, but this year’s team is much different than last year.  The biggest difference is Brett Favre — his experience and talent.  The business lesson is pretty obvious.  You can have all the supporting pieces, but talented leadership (or lack of it) can raise or sink the level of everyone else around him/her.

Brains Over Brawn:

Somewhat related to patience, is the importance of experience/intelligence.  There are a lot of faster, younger players than Brett.  In fact, the Vikings have two younger/faster quarterbacks and they still chose to hire Mr. Favre at $14M/year.  When it comes to business, it may be tempting to promote the new HBS graduate — she knows all the cool Malcom Gladwell terminology and interned at some investment bank (that no longer exists).  But maybe you should look again at the company veteran, the one that knows your product and industry well.

This posting could go on and on…so out of interest of preserving my dignity, I’m going to now end my love-letter to Brett.  Feel free to send any jeers or life-sports lessons.

Tweet This Post

Posts Tagged ‘Small Business’

Small Business Funding: Tarp Banks, Goldman Sachs or Powerball?

We’ve posted earlier about funding a start-up, talking about whether to get venture or angel investment, or self fund.  So, if you go the self-funding route, small business owners face a question of dipping into their savings or seeking a small business loan.  But is that really a choice for small business owners?

A recent article examined small business lending by the banks that are the Top 22 TARP recipients — which just so happen to be the largest lenders to small businesses.  According to CNN, though TARP was intended to provide liquidity to small businesses as well as large, it’s just not happening.  The top TARP recipients have trimmed back lending to small business by over $8B.  Though the new administration required $15B be set aside for small business lending, that money has gone untouched.

So if a small business can’t get a loan, what about a charitable fund for small business?  Doesn’t exist, right?  Well, maybe not.  For 10,000 businesses, there is a chance for a cool $50k gift card…thanks to Goldman Sachs.  Goldman, with the encouragement Warren Buffet, has created a $500M fund to benefit 10,000 small businesses — providing access much needed liquidity.  Some media outlets are a bit cynical about Goldman’s motivations, but really what does it matter?  Goldman paid back its TARP funds and really didn’t have to create the small business fund. 

If your business can’t get a loan, and doesn’t luck out with the Goldman Sachs free money give-away, there is also the Powerball — with a 1:195M chance to win.  Or, you could do what KikScore is planning — a lemonade stand offering $100k organic lemonade.  It only takes one customer.

Let us know if your business has had any good or bad experience in obtaining a small business loan/credit line.

Tweet This Post