Currently browsing the Business archives.
A few weeks ago, I rented the recently released “Friends With Benefits” (aff). Besides being a pretty decent movie, it (surprisingly) taught me an important lesson about life (and business).
If you know anything about me, you know that I’m a bit of a risk taker. I guess it comes with being an entrepreneur; but sometimes the risk is too high, even for me. And I often come across clients who are too conservative to be truly successful in their business.
Categories: Entrepreneurship
Right now you’re thinking I’m full of crap.
It’s true though! The key word here is can. You see, many small businesses just blindly throw up a page on their website listing all their testimonials. That, or they ask all their friends to review them on Yelp or Google Places (don’t look away in embarrassment! You’re probably not the only one).
Categories: Customer Service, Entrepreneurship
What do the most powerful brands have in common?
They have an army of loyal brand ambassadors willing to spread their message across the world. I read an interesting book a few weeks ago by Mark Hughes (pick up Buzzmarketing from Amazon.com – affiliate link). About half way through, he talks about Britney’s brand.
Categories: Branding, Entrepreneurship
Have you ever thought about our transportation infrastructure? It’s really something quite amazing. Millions upon millions of miles of paved roads connect us to each other.
Yet it seems like there’s a lot of waste in roads. They wander and curve all over the place. You’ll rarely find a completely straight road (especially outside of a city).
Categories: Entrepreneurship, Leadership
It’s easy (especially when you’re starting out) to work with any and all potential clients. You don’t think to screen your clients when you need the money to stay afloat.
But in my experience, it’s not always beneficial to “dog it out” and work with clients that might not pay on time, even if the alternative is no business. Of course, this principle is even more important if you’re selling a product that costs you money.
Categories: Entrepreneurship, Sales
If your organization has clients, you’re eventually going to have to fire one. It’s inevitable.
As much as we’d like to believe it, none of us is perfect. We can’t get along with every single consumer, and there are consumers that are just never happy. But there’s a fine line separating those clients who are unsatisfiable and those who just need some extra attention. And we all have different tolerance levels for those people.
Categories: Entrepreneurship, Sales
You may have heard about the Red Sox’ latest nightmare in the clubhouse and leadership. Those troubles reared their ugly face in September when the team suffered a historic collapse after starting the season one of the favorites to become world champions.
There’s been a lot of talk (and even more speculation) on what caused it, and where the team is going to go from here.
Categories: Business, Entrepreneurship
If I fail more than you do, I win…Be sure the cost of failing is less than the cost of opportunity.
Categories: Entrepreneurship
Are you one of so many folks that strives to be an influencer in their local community? Do you devote hours of time to networking groups (and sometimes some hefty fees too), but see little monetary return?
At MCG, we’ve built our entire client base on referrals and networking. Our Connectioneering blend is actually just an application of networking through traditional marketing channels.
Have you ever wondered what the difference is between a salesperson and a marketer? Don’t they have the same goal? Well yes.
By the way, just so you don’t get confused, every business has salespeople. They just sometimes happen to be in disguise. For example, a restaurant has salespeople in the form of servers. A grocery store has salespeople in the form of the cashiers (have you every been asked if you want one of the specials from the “bin” at the checkout?). If you’re an entrepreneur, you’re a salesperson yourself.
Music is easily one of the toughest businesses to be in. Yet so many musicians dog it out year after year with the hopes of someday “making it big”. There’s a lot that we entrepreneurs can learn from musicians (and vice versa). So what does it take to be a successful musician/entrepreneur?
It sounds cheesy, but you’ve got to have a vision and you’ve got to believe in it a thousand percent. It’s this passion that will end up deciding whether you see your venture through until the end or if you will give up half way. Musicians and entrepreneurs both know what they’re walking into when they start down their respective paths. In order to get their art or business out to the world (a vast majority) have to sacrifice money, time, and more. Having that vision of success is a huge part of what keeps them going.
Categories: Entrepreneurship, Music