Although we cannot verify whether God Twitters (yet), many of his followers at Westwinds Church in Jackson, Michigan, conduct weekend worship services in what they call Twitter Church. I would have never known this had I not spoken to internet marketing guru Dan Hollings the other day and asked about the Twitter craze. He’s one of the most entertaining people I’ve met in a long time. So much so that I wanted him to be a guest blogger and share some of his wisdom. He has insider tips that on-the-go entrepreneurs really need to know.
10 Great Ways To Twitter Your Life Away (for fun and profit) byDan Hollings
You read a headline like this and you think, “Wait, Twitter My Life Away?” Why would I want to know 10 great ways to do that?
But, as you read on, the same headline says, “for fun and profit.” Aren’t these two ideas at opposing ends of the spectrum? The answer is: Not any more!
The whole blossoming panorama of social media and, more specifically, using social media as a part of your marketing strategy, is something everyone should be paying attention to. Especially if you’re an entrepreneur or business owner.
How do I know this? Well, I’m the guy who back in 2005-2006 orchestrated the phenomenally successful internet campaign behind the smash hit movie, The Secret. This was a pure internet launch, on a minimal budget, that tapped many strategies including pay-per-click (PPC), blogging, search engine optimization (SEO), master plot optimization (MPO), database marketing, JVs and–to no small extent–social media and social media optimization (SMO). The campaign proved beyond any doubt that there can be profit in social media marketing and–as the guy driving that secret social media Volkswagen bus–take it from me; it was a lot of fun.
Back in 2005, social media was just ratcheting up as Yahoo 360, YouTube, Bebo, Facebook and Ning took their spots on the horizon. Yes, many things came before that, all the way back to the way-ahead-of-its-time “Six Degrees” community of 1997; but in my mind it was 2005 when the social media roller coaster reached the peak of its incline and, wow, what a ride it has been since then.
All of the strategies I’ve mentioned could fill a dozen books, and over time I’d love to share my ideas and experiences on these and other topics, but today I’ve decided to focus in on a particular subset of social media known as microblogging. Yes, that’s blogging on a microscopic scale.
Twitter Is No Secret
When Twitter stepped into the social media scene in 2006 it changed blogging forever with the concept of limiting posts to 140 characters, much like posting an SMS text message–only you were blogging (thus the “micro” part of microblogging). Furthermore, because of the 140-character limit on posts, Twitter was a natural for bridging the gap between the internet and mobile.
The Twitter concept employs a “FollowMe” system whereby you elect to follow people you know or people you find interesting and, in turn, many will “follow” you–that is, if you are interesting.
Voila . . . the perfect, socially oriented, easy and portable communications system was born; and it would not take long before entrepreneurs began thinking about the “M” word: marketing.
Today I’ll be sharing some “Twitter secrets” (some marketing, some not) and I’ll focus on Twitter largely because it is the most popular platform exclusively devoted to microblogging. However, by no means is microblogging the exclusive terrain of Twitter. There are many others, such as: Spoink, Identi.ca, Pownce, Plurk, ReJaw, Blippr or Google’s Jaiku. But first . . .
Who Uses Twitter and Why?
NASA used Twitter to break the news of what appeared to be water ice found on Mars by the Phoenix Mars Lander. The Los Angeles Fire Department has put the technology to use to help communicate during California wildfires. The University of Texas at San Antonio College of Engineering is using Twitter to relay information to students.
Whether you deem Twitter as frivolous or genius largely depends on how you use it. No doubt you can twit away an entire day without accomplishing anything. Yet the rewards for exploring Twitter or any other platform for microblogging are compelling for both social and business/marketing purposes.
The new chant for socially aware marketers has evolved from subscribe, subscribe, subscribe to followme, followme, followme as lists of devoted followers are built. And the insights into a business’s niche can be greatly enhanced by scanning the collective commentary of followers and non-followers.
Wait, don’t move too fast. You’ll be required to create a Twitter username and that username is important. It will appear at the end of your Twitter URL: http://twitter.com/USERNAME
It should be socially acceptable and/or interesting, or it should be some variation of your name. If possible, keep it short, memorable and easy to spell. Be very careful about using a stuffy company name: This is social media, and people prefer to communicate with people. Few people would want to follow “IdahoRotoRooterLLC” - I think you’ll agree.
You are only permitted to use letters, numbers and ‘_’
Twitter Secret #2
Think of your Twitter username (and URL) almost like a domain name, and if there are variations of your name that you feel are important, secure those by establishing secondary accounts. For example, I suggest people follow me at: http://twitter.com/dhollings but I also have http://twitter.com/danhollings which redirects people to my primary account.
You’ll also note that you can have public or private Twitter accounts, so you can use separate accounts on Twitter for various private or public purposes. Don’t go nutty, but it typically makes sense to establish at least two accounts. As you expand your understanding of Twitter uses, you can add more if you like.
Twitter Secret #3
Invest 15 minutes and skim through the Twitter Help and FAQ area. http://help.twitter.com/
This is important. In fact, many people ask me how I learn all this “marketing stuff” since I rarely attend seminars of any kind. Here’s the secret:
Whenever you engage in any new tool or system, head quickly to the help, tutorial or FAQ area. Look around, click around, explore, read, think and absorb.
The next step in this secret is to visit a dozen or so users of the system. As you do, observe carefully what they are doing and think how you can do it better.
This might not sound like a secret, but I have a theory that if people did this, most seminar givers would be out of business today.
Twitter Secret #4
Within your Twitter account settings, you are allowed to add a web address. The setting form says “Have a homepage or a blog?” Caution, don’t think this is unimportant. Yes, add a URL here, but it does not have to be your “homepage or a blog”.
What URL should you link to? Answer: The URL that links to the most interesting page related to you that you have. If it’s your homepage or blog, OK, but you might consider creating a special page dedicated to your goal. A page that confirms in the visitor’s mind: “Yes, this is a person I’d like to follow!” Link to a page that illustrates in some way that you are interesting. That’s the secret.
Regardless of which page you use for this URL, make sure your page clearly provides a way for the visitor to get back to Twitter so he or she can click your follow button.
If your Twitter account is a secondary account, then add the URL to your primary Twitter page.
Twitter Secret #5
Definitely spend some time thinking about your one-line Twitter bio. This is a 160-character line (it can include a URL) that appears in the upper right corner of your Twitter home page.
When people discover your Twitter page, they will likely read your micro-bio, and wording it well can make all the difference in getting them to follow you or not.
Twitter Bio Secret: Make it real, make it fun, make it interesting, make it you. Literally make your bio Twitter “follow bait.” You are fishing for followers, and the better the bait, the more followers you’ll catch.
Twitter Secret #6
Try to keep your Twitter “Following/Follower” ratio balanced. If a potential follower sees you are following 1,532 people and only 32 are following you–rightfully or wrong, some people make assumptions about what’s going on.
You can prune your Followers and Followings easily within your Twitter account or, if your numbers get big, services like “Less Friends” http://lessfriends.com/ can be helpful. (”Less Friends” - ha! You gotta love that name.)
Twitter Secret #7
Make your personal picture (icon) good and, if possible, upload a really interesting background image under the “Design” tab. A quick search on Google for “Twitter Backgrounds” “Twitter Wallpaper” or “Twitter Templates” will likely help.
A compelling background I designed for the eccentric marketing entrepreneur, Joe Polish, can be seen here: http://twitter.com/jpolish Joe has significant rea-life followers in the offline world, but converting those to online followers is a new process he’s just begun. What do you think? Does this background convey a big message that Joe might be someone worthy of following on Twitter?
Twitter Secret #8
What do you post? Ah, that’s the magical part. Now, granted, what you post depends largely on your goals and purpose with Twitter, but in general this is easy: Post interesting stuff, preferably related in some way to what you do, who you are, what you are interested in, etc. Twitter is not a micro-advertising billboard.
Secondly. Engage in conversation with others and reference who you’re talking to or about in your post by adding their Twitter username in this format: @dhollings
Add links to interesting stuff (the links will be shortened automatically by Twitter) or you can use redirect services like:
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - About now many Twitter folks are thinking, geez Dan, good stuff but I’m way beyond the basics. Throw some really cool stuff at me. I want to take my Twittering to a new level.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Twitter Secret #9
One challenge with Twitter is that when you link out to other websites from any given post, and your visitor is not yet a follower, he or she may click away and be gone forever.
In addition, if you are marketing something and want an opportunity to display a banner or additional content to your Twitter traffic, there is little opportunity to do this within Twitter.
TwitterSplit.com goes a long way toward solving this by literally putting you on top of the page you link out to. It’s a simple script that requires you place it on your server, but once installed you can frame unlimited links very creatively.
EXAMPLE:
Let’s say I wanted to share with my Twitter readers a cool little tool called “Tweet 2 Tweet.” Something I found that lets you read both sides of a Twitter conversation, and I think my followers would benefit from it.
I could link to it direct, like this:
http://www.tweet2tweet.com -OR-
Using TwitterSplit I could link like below
(note: look what’s on top of page–my banner for TwitterSplit): http://twurl.nl/kr8exc
Twitter Secret #10
Honestly, I could continue for days with these Twitter tips, but here is my final Twitter Tip Secret. And this is a Twitter Gold Nugget.
Getting Twitter followers is all about getting traffic to your Twitter page and compelling them to follow you because you are “Follow Worthy.”
Once your Twitter account is set up and you have a healthy smattering of posts, the key is to start integrating “Follow Me on Twitter” messages and links to your Twitter page everywhere.
Every profile you have online (FaceBook, Google Local, Amazon.com, Your Blog, LinkedIn, MySpace, ReJaw, MerchantCircle, Ecademy, Pownce, Bebo, Tumblr etc etc) should include your Follow Me message and a link to your Twitter page or a web page dedicated to your Twitter activities.
Don’t think online only. Add a “Follow Me” message on your business card, on fliers, on bus benches, bumper stickers and let’s not forget mobile. You can send SMS text messages with your Twitter link as easily as e-mails. Just do it.
And for those of you that are SEO savvy, try a Google search for “Dan Hollings” and examine the top listing (not to mention others).
There’s a “Google Site Link” that says: “Follow Dan on Twitter.” How cool is that?
I spoke at the luncheon for An Empowered Woman on Sunday, July 13, and I met several women who left a lasting impression on me. Besides yours truly, there were two other speakers: Jodi Spindel of Spindel Farms and Marsh Engle, founder of Amazing Woman’s Day. If you aren’t doing anything this Saturday, July 19, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., I suggest you get your ticket for Amazing Woman’s Day 2008 in Palm Springs, California.
Marsh Engle’s riches to rags to riches story is one you won’t want to miss. Honestly, I wasn’t the least bit surprised when I overheard her tell someone that 1,000 women would be attending her event this weekend. I am going to ask Marsh to add a comment at the end of my blog because I know she can tell you the highlights of the event far better than I can.
I would be remiss if I didn’t tell you about Jodi Spindel, the first speaker of the day at An Empowered Woman. One thing I can tell you is that she didn’t try to glamorize her plight as a wife, mother and serial entrepreneur. Her up-close and personal story revealed not only stumbling blocks along the way but how her latest product, Simply Outrageous Pomegranate Vinegar, recently landed on the shelves of a couple of dozen Whole Foods stores in Southern California.
Marsh and Jodi are two of the most down-to-earth women I’ve met (in person) in a long time. They are both authentic and magnetic. When they spoke, everyone listened. I found myself either on the edge of my chair, giving the affirmative nod, or with goose bumps up and down my arms as I listened to them.
So here are three choices: You can hang out with Marsh in Palm Springs at her Amazing Woman’s Day 2008 this Saturday, you can buy a bottle of Jodi Spindle’s Simply Outrageous Pomegranate Vinegar at Whole Foods (or on her website), or you can do both.
For Las Vegas entrepreneur Richelle Shaw, dating three men in three cities didn’t add up to a winning proposition at first. No, this isn’t a Sex and the City rerun; it really happened and, after a few major bumps in the road, there is a happy ending.
Forty-year-old Richelle Shaw has a green thumb when it comes to turning a company into a mega-success. And it doesn’t matter if it’s a business she owns or someone else’s. For starters, finding out that more than 300,000 Americans lose their phone service each month because of missed payments was the premise for Shaw’s company.
As fate would have it, she built a multimillion-dollar company, and nowadays many fledgling entrepreneurs have her to thank for turning their businesses around. How-to advice can be found in her book, “How to Build A Million Dollar Business in Las Vegas Without the Casinos,” or you can check out Shaw’s coaching program. To read a free chapter of her book click here: FREE CHAPTER
No, this isn’t a sneaky sales pitch because Shaw isn’t your run-of-the-mill entrepreneur who turned to coaching to make a living. Quite the opposite, this single mom is incredibly successful in her own right and has a passion for helping others attain fame and fortune.
If you read the answer to the first question I asked her, you might be as curious as I was. And it takes a lot to get my attention. Bottom line, I just had to know. How can I be like Richelle?
Your six-employee firm reached $2.37 million in sales last year, what inspired you to start your company?
SHAW: I am the only female African-American public utility in the nation. I own FreshStart Telephone. I was dating three men in three different states and had a high telephone bill. I was selling advertising, and the vice president of a local telephone company asked me to come and work for them. I did–was promoted six times in five years and grew the company from $300,000 to $36 million. I ended up buying the company from my boss. Lost it all after the 9/11, World Trade Center tragedy and rebuilt it back to $1 million in about six months.
What is unique or special about your business that gives it an edge over your competitors?
SHAW: I understand how to market. The customers drive my business. Actually, the results from marketing campaigns drive my business. Not what I think, not what my friends or staff think.
Recent breakthrough?
SHAW: I understand that what I did was unique, and it was actually a template for business building. People kept asking me how did I do it, and I started coaching and consulting entrepreneurs to do the same things. The best thing is that now I have consulted with entrepreneurs in more than 47 different businesses and determined that no business is different. My strategies and techniques work for any kind of business.
Were there any challenges that you experienced along the way that appeared to be more difficult because you are a woman?
SHAW: When I first decided to buy the business, I went to SBA. I was approved based on my credit and experience; however, they did not like the business. SBA told me that I would never be able to compete with AT&T. Eight years and almost $100 million in sales between the two companies, I think I learned how to compete. Also, I found a venture capital group [that] was going to give me $5 million; they asked for an engagement fee of $75,000. I wired the money and never heard from them again. Just dumb! So when I bought the company I had to start with no money in reserves. I created a deal with my boss to finance the company with receivables, but I had to get new business fast. We sold off the less profitable divisions and laid off staff to make it work. Then, after 9/11, I was forced to start over. This time, with no customer base that I could leverage, no cash and no credit because I had to file bankruptcy; so I had to use my creative sales and marketing skills to rebuild. The best thing to ever happen, because when things turned around, I did not owe any loans or half of my company to any other investors. Were these challenges because I was a woman, I am not sure, but they were difficult.
Did you need to have a certain mindset to achieve success?
SHAW: I have had every obstacle I think there is, including being diagnosed with a pulmonary embolism. I tell entrepreneurs when I speak that I was young (27), black, female and a little chubby. What did I have to lose? I just kept my head down and kept working. Even after I lost it all. Was it hard? Yes. Did I cry? Yes. Did I stay in the bed for a week? Yes. But then my mind started working again, and I went back out there to put another deal together. I also became a true student of marketing. Not the kind they teach in college. . . . Funny story:
Went to UCLA and graduated with a history degree. So after my business failed, I thought maybe it was because I did not have an MBA. So I enrolled at UNLV for classes. Because I had no business classes, I had to take basic business classes. At the time I owned workz.com that I purchased out of bankruptcy court, and it contained [more than] 4,000 articles about small business and how to grow online. Back to UNLV, I opened the textbook and went to the internet section and it said–a great place to find resources and information about starting a business online is workz.com. What? The same website I owned, in the textbook? I decided that as an entrepreneur I could now focus on what works, allow the results to rule (not the textbook) and keep doing what I had been doing.
Has the media picked up on your story and what have you done to attract them?
SHAW: Yes, I have been featured in USA Today, Wells Fargo Online, Black Enterprise, Entrepreneur and Smart Money. Then, after USA Today and Smart Money, I began to write my book, “How to Build A Million Dollar Business in Las Vegas–Without the Casinos.” It is about my successes and failures building my business, and a step-by-step guide to build a business from scratch without money, without a big client and the essential fundamental skills to make it work every time.
Can other individuals reproduce your business model?
SHAW: Yes, absolutely. They can reproduce the business model even if they are not in the telecom industry. I have helped entrepreneurs including a performing arts school, a gynecologist, urologist, music store, CPA, solar screen provider–even a psychic!
What resources were most helpful to you when you were starting your business?
SHAW: Lots of books! I read daily. Lots of marketing books–anything by Dan Kennedy. The Ultimate Marketing Plan is my favorite.
What ways have you found to be most effective in marketing your product or service to get sales?
SHAW: I practice what I call the 5 Star System. It starts with the three R’s. Reactivation, Retention and Referral. Each one of these has a system to bring in business daily. The fourth piece of the star system is new-client acquisition through lead generation, and the fifth piece is a multi-media marketing funnel.
I don’t just do one thing. I don’t know one way to bring in 84 customers but 84 ways to bring in one. Currently in the telephone business I have 84 ways to bring in a new customer. From joint ventures with bankruptcy attorneys to charity events. It all works. What took my business from ordinary to extraordinary was when I implemented them all at the same time each month. This is what I teach business owners to do now.
What tips can you give others who want to embrace their dream but don’t have the confidence or who feel they don’t have what it takes to succeed?
SHAW: You have nothing to lose! If you are waiting for the perfect time, perfect never comes. I was waiting for the perfect time to have a child and it never came–but I was blessed when I least expected it, and everything is just fine. The same with the business. Just start! Every day you wait, you are losing money.
As you know I love getting feedback, so let me know how Weekend Entrepreneur can continue supporting your goals and aspirations with the best content around.
Once upon a time Nancy McCord held a position in the colorful world of interior design. Nowadays she taps into the same type of skill sets, as the owner of a web design firm. What we found valuable about her journey from corporate life to becoming an entrepreneur in May of 2001, was the process she went through to determine how to transfer her years of corporate experience, knowledge, skills and passion to a new profession. Her sales enjoyed a 50 percent increase in 2007 from 2006 sales by expanding her services, staying true to her concept and adding independent contractors to her operation.
McCord Web Services offers its clients creativity and marketing which include web design, e-newsletter design, content creation and subscriber management to name a few. Of course, a big motivating factor in her life was the fact that she’d taken a two-year break to have and raise her… triplets.
Tell us about those first few years as a “corporate employee turned entrepreneur”. What did you learn from those early years that helped you move forward?
McCord: Planning yet staying nimble is important.
I tried not to create any corporate overhead before I could afford it. I strived to stay profitable by bootstrapping the resources that I had. When I had money, I carefully invested in the training and products that I really needed (not wanted) to be able to be more productive.
We have selected the services we offer slowly over time as our clients’ needs became apparent. We started only as a web design firm. Then clients asked if we could do newsletters or how about updating their website? Then it was what about updating their friend’s website when we did not do the design–and so on.
In fact, we will be rolling out a new service next month on release writing and circulation.
Typically a new service plan starts first with a client or two or three asking if we can do it. Sometimes the service seems like a good match, but before we roll anything out to clients, we test it on ourselves first. How easy or hard is it to perform? How much time does it take? We check with our staff and encourage their feedback on pricing and requirements. Only then do we introduce a new service.
Copywriting for articles and magazines is a relatively new service for us and sprang out of our clients’ blog writing needs. So from my perspective, it is important to listen to clients and then evaluate what is a good match for you. Not all services clients have asked for have turned into services that our business provides. We want to offer the best value and top-notch service level when we choose to provide something, not make a quick buck just to satisfy a customer once.
I have also found that if I cannot step in and do a service–in case a contractor cannot follow through–that I should not offer the service. I must understand what it takes for my contractors to provide a service in order to offer the service. This helps my contractors to be loyal to me and accept my guidance, as I am experienced and have walked in their shoes, but also keeps me from disappointing a customer. If there is an illness or accident, I can step in and still make a client deadline.
This is one reason why I do not provide programming services, as I do not have strong programming skills even though several of my contractors do. I feel that I must always be focused on exceeding a client’s expectations and, in doing so, have aggressively grown my business.
Approximately how much money did you have to invest before your business became profitable?
McCord: My first year I broke even, and every year after that I’ve made a profit. I have low overhead, as I work out of my own home office and have not taken on undue expenses until I had the money to pay for them.
What resources were most helpful to you when you were starting your business?
McCord: I used our local community college and went to free business startup seminars and asked lots of questions. I went to the state tax office and asked lots of questions.
What is the single most important piece of advice you would give to a current corporate employee who wants to become a “weekend entrepreneur” first, then grow a business?
McCord: Don’t start with a corporate mentality. Startups cannot typically afford high-powered consultants, the best software or glamorous offices. Spend what you can afford and plan for the future. Work to own your local market and then spread your sights. I harvested word of mouth traffic initially and then moved into the national sphere and then globally. Start with baby steps and build a strong foundation that builds customer loyalty and good repeat business and referrals.
I already had a college degree and a strong entrepreneurial background as well as management background. I had been in interior design and furniture sales management as well as [being] a licensed interior designer.
I thought that a web design career would allow me to work at home to be near my kids, use my strong color and design skills, and leverage opportunity from my strong selling background.
I knew that I needed web design and web graphics training, yet not a degree. I went to the local community college and took not-for-credit night classes to get a certificate in web design. I worked hard for nine months and created a portfolio while in class so I could hit the ground running and get special help from instructors when I needed it.
I was also able to buy some of my most expensive software while in school as a student using the college’s student discount (Photoshop at a 50 percent discount).
I was thirsty for knowledge and really worked hard at developing my skills outside of class. I practiced, practiced, practiced.
I created my own website for my business as my last project so I could hit the ground running. My first customers were neighbors and family members. My first employees were family members as well, as I could trust them to help me and to work cheaply in a desire to help me succeed.
Do you have a book or information product?
McCord: I have a free informational download section on my website where you can pick up our top white papers on a variety of topics.
Our newest whitepaper is “The Tangible Benefits of Blogging.” This in-depth analysis reviews statistical results of web traffic, site stickiness and organic search placement of websites that use blogging as a way to build content and authority on their selected topic. You will walk away from reading it knowing that blogging is the new medium for your marketing arsenal for your own business.
McCord: Our most popular white paper that has been downloaded [more than] 800 times is “Google & Yahoo Advertising Comparison White Paper.“
This in-depth analysis compares Google AdWords to Yahoo Sponsored Search and, in easy-to-understand terms, helps you to decide which program is best suited for your needs. We compare results for users of both products for click traffic, expense and the number of impressions. You will walk away from reading this white paper having a clearer understanding of what each offers, the pros and cons of each, and a better idea of which vehicle will be best for your needs.
While some employees simply dream of starting their own business, others actually put a plan into place and get into action, even if only on the weekends or in their spare time.
Melanie Benson-Strick is our Weekend Entrepreneur poster child this week, and we congratulate her for not only making the escape from cubicle nation, but for persisting until she got it right, and then creating a template and system for other motivated, would-be entrepreneurs to follow her footsteps.
Benson-Strick: We help busy, overwhelmed entrepreneurs discover simple strategies to exponentially grow their business while creating more time and money freedom.
One of the key secret weapons we teach is leverage.
Through learning how to leverage our time, money and resources, we can discover how easy it is to delegate more, create passive revenue and make money without lifting a finger. Sounds good, huh? Who wouldn’t want to do that?
When did you start your business?
Benson-Strick: I started my business in 2001. I officially left my corporate job two weeks before 9/11. It was the worst time and, in many ways, the best time to have left.
Did you go straight from corporate employee to full-time entrepreneur or did you transition from part-time to full-time entrepreneur?
Benson-Strick: I was the quintessential “weekend entrepreneur.” I filled every night and weekend with starting my business for one year. I was literally consumed with my goal to leave as I knew that inside I was dying. It wasn’t that I didn’t have a great job, I just didn’t feel like I fit and I had to do something I was passionate about.
But one year to the day I set my goal, I handed over my car keys and my business accounts and said, “I’m starting my own business.” I had landed just enough clients to cover my necessities, and I was off and running.
If you transitioned, how long did it take you to go full-time and what were some of the challenges you had?
Benson-Strick: Right off the bat, some of my biggest challenges were trying to get everything done myself. I had a website and marketing materials to create, tons of networking events to attend, and I was still completing not one but two trainings to help me be the best coach I could be.
Secondly, I was not clear about what I wanted to do and what target audience I would serve. I was basically willing to take on any kind of client, which made it very hard to market. I faced huge obstacles in trying to promote to corporate coaching clients and private clients simultaneously. I basically tripled my work requirements by not understanding the power of focusing on a smaller niche.
Tell us about your first two years as a corporate employee turned entrepreneur. What did you learn from those early years that helped you to move your business forward?
Benson-Strick:One of my most important lessons was putting leverage into action. I did this in three ways:
I hired a team of virtual assistants to delegate to so I was always focused on my high payoff activities.
I focused on offering generating income without having to lift a finger.
I created ways to mentor my target audience so I could do something once and have it continue to work over and over again.
Leverage was so important to me, it is now one of the core principles we teach in all of our programs. One gentleman, who was full-time employed and building his business on the side, found that he was moving forward an inch at a time. By the time he got home from work, he was already exhausted. I encouraged him to learn and apply the principles of leverage and put a team in place to get things done while he was at work. By just adding one person to his team, he was able to get 10 times as much done each month and now has his business up and running.
I also discovered how essential it is to have a strong inner game. I know now that my inner game dictates my outer game. I literally sat around waiting for someone to deliver leads to me. When I was willing to be someone who did whatever it takes, I became someone who accomplished massive results. I stopped waiting to align with a joint venture or salesperson to deliver coaching clients.
I created a way for people to discover what problems I help them solve. This one mindset shift was worth thousands in my bank account.
What do you know now that you wish you had known then?
Benson-Strick:One hindsight lesson is the power of having a financial plan. I didn’t. I was flying by the seat of my pants. If I had had a clear picture of my startup costs, I would have secured a line of credit before I left so that I could leverage other people’s money to get going.
I also would not have waited so long to build my team. It literally dawned on me one day, about two years into it, that I was not using one of the strategies I had mastered when I worked for Motorola. I am much more of a collaborator than an isolator, yet I was isolated every day. Within 90 days I hired my first assistant and never looked back.
Looking back, I wish I had had access to more information on how to hire and manage virtual assistants. I made tons of mistakes, hired a few of the “wrong” team members and, honestly, I had no idea what I was doing. I was just winging it. After investing over $40,000 in mentors, systems, resources and making those mistakes, I now have a system that works very well and allows me to seamlessly manage a great team of contractors.
Approximately how much money did you have to invest before your business became profitable?
Benson-Strick: This is a hard question to answer because I did everything wrong the first time.
I invested a lot of money in things that didn’t matter, like a pretty website versus an effective website and coaching that wasn’t the most effective. This is probably why I created my Fast Track to a 6 & 7 Figure Lifestyle Coaching Program, because there just wasn’t anything out there that pointed me in the right direction.
That being said, I probably invested over $75,000 before I started getting profitable. Knowing what I know now, I could have invested less than $25,000.
I also want to address the time investment. It took me over three years to really get the right focus and the right opportunities aligned so I was generating a good income. Again, if I knew then what I know now…well, I guess it wouldn’t be such a good story then, would it?
What resources were most helpful to you when you were starting your business?
Benson-Strick:One of the most invaluable resources I had was my mentor coach. When you are first starting out, there are so many things to figure out and it was very helpful to have someone who had “been there and done that” to guide me through making choices.
I waited to hire the right mentor because I was concerned about my costs at first. But what I realized once I invested in my business coach was that the advice and guidance were an easily justified investment.
I also found that building my virtual team, starting with a virtual bookkeeper/general administrative support was essential. My sanity increased tremendously as well as my results because I could outsource the more tedious tasks that I procrastinated, that sapped my energy or that I made mistakes on. I freed up a tremendous amount of energy to focus on my highest-payoff activities.
One thing I always tell people is to get what’s at stake by hiring others to support you. For instance, I broke six figures with my first two assistants (a virtual bookkeeper and virtual assistant.) Then I added two more people to focus on marketing and web support, and I generated another $150,000 in revenue. Do you think you could find about $2,500 a month when you are making that much more in revenue? Of course!
Who should read your ebook, The Power of the Virtual Team?
Benson-Strick:This ebook is invaluable for any entrepreneur, service professional or small business owner who is ready to accomplish 10 to 100 times more without having to work harder. Even if you think hiring employees is the route for you, this online resource will help you discover insider secrets to hiring the right team members the first time and eliminating costly mistakes along the way.
What is the single most important piece of advice you would give to a current corporate employee who wants to become a “weekend entrepreneur” first, then grow a business?
Benson-Strick:One of the insights I had was that I wasted a lot of time and energy on what I call the “J-O-B mindset.” I literally spent the first two years in this mental trap of waiting for others to deliver clients and make me successful. On some level I was unwilling to do marketing and sales properly because I was uncomfortable with it.
It wasn’t until I had that insight that I realized I was the CEO of a company and I had to start making decisions like one. I couldn’t sit around waiting for things to happen. I had to take action every day to move me toward my desired outcome, or else I was going to have to go get a job again.
There is one sure strategy for success as a full-time entrepreneur: action.
So if you are working in a job and starting your own business, your job is to figure out how to take action, even while you are working. One of my clients, a VP for a large health insurance company, struggled with finding time to work on his business on the weekends so he could make enough money to quit. So we devised a plan for him to hire two virtual assistants to implement the marketing tactics we devised so he could accomplish five to 10 times more while he was working.
That’s how you have to think. “How can I get more done with less effort?”
What’s next?
Benson-Strick:There are always about five to 10 “what’s nexts?” around Success Connections. The big focus for this year is to finally write my own book. I’ve contributed to two books: Visionary Women Inspiring the World and Entrepreneur.com’s Start Up Guide to Information Marketing Businesses (due out this summer.) Writing my own book has been on my mind for years, but for me I had to get the other, higher payoff projects in motion first.
We are also taking the virtualteambuilding program into new markets this year. We love opportunities to collaborate with other entrepreneurs, so taking a proven system and bringing it into other coaching and consulting programs is a no-brainer.
I’ve learned that when you stick to your strengths, have a lot of passion and stay open to new ideas, all kinds of opportunities come your way. I never imagined I’d have a business teaching entrepreneurs to leverage their time and build virtual teams, but based on my corporate experience, it’s perfect. And I love it.
If you’re a celebrity, you’re used to red carpets being rolled out for you and being greeted by name and with a smile. Wouldn’t it be great to be admired and complimented by strangers on a daily basis? I sometimes wonder what it would be like if business associates bent over backward to cater to my personal desires and needs. That may sound far-fetched, but in Hollywood it’s the norm.
The good news is that someone has actually taken some of the most coveted secrets from those who serve the Hollywood elite and applied them to real-world business. Meet Donna Cutting, author of The Celebrity Experience, and president of Donna Cutting Presents!
Donna Cutting wasn’t a typical kid. Instead of playing games and watching TV, she was busy putting on talent shows for the neighbors, rehearsing her Oscar speech in the bathroom mirror, and signing autographs for anyone who asked–usually her parents.
But when she grew up, she took a second look at the path she had taken. “I was a frustrated stage actress who had pushed those dreams aside in favor of collecting a regular paycheck. I worked for a while in the field of senior living and, although I loved it, I felt the ‘actress’ and ‘entrepreneur’ in me tugging away.â€?
As soon as she figured out a way to combine her theater experience with her business skills, she was off and running.
What is the most important piece of advice you would give to other weekend entrepreneurs who want to grow their businesses? Cutting: You’ve got to be willing to go the extra mile and do those things that your competition isn’t willing to do.
In my presentations, I will sometimes suggest that employers buy a red carpet to welcome new employees. One of my audience members went back to his workplace excited by this idea, and was met with groans and questions, such as, “Who’s going to be in charge of that, who will store it, who will clean it?” As you can imagine, he was deflated.
When I spoke to the director of wow at High Point University, one of the featured companies in The Celebrity Experience, he told me “that would never happen here. Here we would buy the red carpet and figure out how to seamlessly make it part of our everyday life at HPU.”
It’s that kind of “yes” attitude that has HPU campus visits up 70 percent and enrollment up 63 percent in three years’ time. It’s that kind of “yes” attitude that will quickly put you on the entrepreneurial A-list and move you from just weekends to full time.
You’ve got to be willing to go the extra mile to wow your customer.
Tell us about the early years as a weekend entrepreneur. Cutting: I did keep my position at a senior living community for about a yearafter I decided to start a speaking business. I spoke here and there on weekends and evenings, for fee and for free. If you wanted me to speak for your organization, I was there, as long as it would fit around my work schedule. To be honest, I probably left my job too early. With a few months’ salary in the bank and high hopes, I took the leap and soon discovered it was not as easy running a business in my 30s as it had been selling Avon when I was 10.
So I took a variety of different positions during those first few years that enabled me to keep my schedule flexible to accept speaking engagements. The jobs were varied. I did a bit of consulting for a former employer, I worked as an “observer” for a company that built museum exhibits, I even waited tables and would pray that no one who was in my audience at the Rotary Club that day would come in for dinner. There were two additional jobs that really contributed to achieving my business goals. I produced and performed interactive theater shows for children, which became another company in and of itself. Since it grew very quickly, I was able to learn some business basics through trial and error. It was through those performances that I developed my interactive speaking style that I am known for today.
If you were to ask me the single position that really helped me get to where I am now in this business, it would be taking on the role of assistant to another speaker. A coach I was working with asked me what I needed to learn to build my speaking business and encouraged me to find a job that would help me learn it. So I offered myself as an assistant to a successful speaker. I was able to learn how to effectively run a speaking business, and that speaker is my mentor and one of my best friends to this day.
What did you learn from those early years that helped you to move your business forward? Cutting: How much I needed to learn. Like many entrepreneurs, I started my business because I loved my topic and I loved speaking. Instead, I found I needed to learn bookkeeping, marketing, sales, etc. Fortunately, entrepreneurs and other speakers are very generous with their knowledge. Perhaps more important, the more I focused on my audience or my customers and what they needed and wanted, the more business came my way. It’s not about me; it’s about them and how I can make them feel. When I began focusing on making others the stars of my show, whether from the platform or through our customer-service practices, that’s when my business really began to soar.
Who should read your book? Cutting: My book is perfect for business owners, entrepreneurs, managers or anyone who works in a service industry. The Celebrity Experience shows how to turn customers into lifelong, adoring clients by delivering consistent red-carpet customer service.
If you work in health care, education, association management, hospitality, car repair, PR and marketing, HR, banking and finance, retail, insurance, airline or travel, plumbing, roofing or trades there are examples and information in this book specifically for you.
If you are striving to create bonafide buzz for you and your business, then you should be giving everyone who walks through your doors The Celebrity Experience.
Donna Cutting is living the life of her dreams in St. Petersburg, Florida, with her husband, Jim, and Snowball, their Maltese puppy. You can find out more about her at donnacutting.com.
Remember the game called Telephone that you played when you were small? Everyone stood or sat in a circle, and then the designated person whispered something in the ear of the person to the right. Then that person had to whisper what he or she heard to the next person. And round the circle it went, a whisper at a time, until it came back to the originator. Usually by the time it got back, it was so garbled and misconstrued it wasn’t even the same message.
Not so with Pass It On, the movie.The message comes through loud and clear: Pass on your knowledge to others, so that your legacy can live on.
Reminiscent of The Secret which embraced the Law of Attraction. In the moviePass It On, for the first time, a diverse lineup of modern-day masters collaborate to reveal that it’s the action behind the attraction that makes your dreams come true. Movie watchers learn how to maximize their potential.
We caught up with Greg Reid, co-creator of Pass It On, and got him to share what it was like to be involved in a project that gained enormous popularity using viral marketing.
Greg, you seem to be in a period of reinventing yourself from author and “millionaire mentor” to movie producer.
Reid: That’s true. Very few times in life do we have the opportunity to completely reinvent ourselves or re-create ourselves.And I don’t know if it’s reinvent as much as it is just shed your skin and blossom. Just because a person is a caterpillar one day, the next day he or she can be a butterfly. I feel that’s what this is, going through a transition, so even though we’re “reinventing” ourselves, we’re really just blossoming and growing into something we truly were destined for in the first place.
What prompted you to create this movie?
Reid: My partner Scott and I realized that, since the beginning of time, people had painted on the inside of cave dwellings to pass their information on from one generation to the next. The Egyptians carved it in stone, and there are also sea scrolls and leatherbound books.
So we thought, “Why don’t we take today’s medium–seems like everyone’s making DVDs now–and go out and interview all of our friends, and friends of friends, and ask them what did they do to get where they are?”
Then The Secret movie came out, and I realized I knew a lot of those people; and not all of them sit around and just think about it–they work their tails off!
They don’t just sit around and dream it, they don’t think “I want a fruit tree” and one appears–they get off their butt and go to Home Depot and buy a fruit plant, dig a hole, fertilize it, water it and it takes two years to grow, and then they have a fruit plant. Well, they manifested it, but they took action to make it happen.
So we decided to go to a few people and find out what their sequence to those action steps are to be successful in four categories. It’s an acronym, W.I.S.H., which stands for:
Wealth – What does it truly take to live a prosperous, financially free life?
Inspiration – Everyone’s got an idea for a book, a play, a song or something. How do you get from the idea in your head to actually having it become real?
Success– deemed by doing what you truly love to do in this world, not based on financial success – but loving what you do when you wake up.
Happiness – is there really a blueprint for living a joy-filled, happy life?
We decided we wanted to interview 12 people–just some friends and friends of friends. Seventy-two people came to us, all wanting to share their story. We had to turn some away, and we ended up with about 60 in the movie.
It was amazing because everyone wanted to pass on what they knew and had learned.
Did you already know about video production and distribution?
Reid: Absolutely…not.
Scott and I were sitting in a car and talking about doing a project together, and we both said at the same time: “Let’s make a movie!” And then we said to each other, “I don’t know how to make a movie.”
Six months later from saying that, we already had the movie produced and manufactured.
The response to the movie has been incredible. Already it’s received awards from state and city officials for the impact it’s making in people’s lives.
We are very clear that this more than a movie–it’s truly a movement.
At the end of the day, people want to have a tool to pass it on–their knowledge and wisdom.
Who should see Pass It On?
Reid: Anybody who truly wants the action steps to making a change in his or her life, from a high school kid to a corporate CEO to someone in prison.
In fact, we are the only program in the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation helping people who are getting paroled. A lot of people don’t know this, but if you are from Florida and you commit a crime in Wyoming, you get paroled to the state that you committed the crime in, and you are on probation for a year in a place where you don’t know anyone or have any support system.
So, we created an entire curriculum for people who are going to be paroled in 90 days. We use the “pass it on” steps, teach them about association, about finding your passion, about doing things different. And the response is unbelievable.
The best part of Pass It On is that it involves people from all walks of life sharing what they learned. Everything–gender, nationality, spiritual belief–because it’s not one-dimensional what everyone has learned along his or her journey of life.
We put that into a movie form and used the best common denominators they all shared.
Let me be clear: You can ask a thousand people how they got rich, because there are many different variations, and I don’t care how they did it–insurance, pork bellies, stock market. They all did five exact steps.
No matter what. Everyone. And that’s what this movie is based on. Those exact five steps.
From (Albert) Einstein to (Thomas) Edison, the greatest inventors and people who just got their ideas out there followed the exact same sequence to get there.
And that’s what we did–we created this movie based on the actual five steps. It’s not fluff. You know, there are all of these motivational books that say you need to be rich and you need to be happy. No one tells you how to do it.
So we decided to go ahead and put it out there in this movie, no BS allowed. We decided we’d lay it all out for you and say, if you want to be wealthy, go out and do this, this, this, this and this and you will be successful.
You can see an eight-minute trailer and get the DVD of the movie, too.
You are also creating a community on the PassItOnToday.com site, right?
Reid: Yes, we want to create a positive environment where positive people could come network with each other. We are calling it Success Space.
What would you tell someone who wants to know how Pass It On is different from The Secret? Reid:The Secret is a wonderful tool and starting place because it talks about having that dream and having that vision and clarity of what it is you want to do in life. Well, once you have that, you need a roadmap to get there, and then you need to take action toward that roadmap.
In fact, we say in the movie, it’s the action behind the attraction that makes your wish come true. You gotta think it, you gotta feel it, but then you have to do it.
We actually did something crazy. We applied all the information in the movie to make the movie.
Find a mentor;
Get confident (Before you have those two things, everything else doesn’t make a difference);
Set a clear vision and create a plan;
Take action on the plan; and
Duplication – surrounding yourself with the right people.
What do you want people to take away from the movie?
Reid: I want people to get that everybody has a gift and a talent, whether it’s a recipe for the best cooking you ever ate, how to play a video game better than the next person or how to do your job better than the person in the next cubicle.
Because that’s where we get all of our excitement. Someone said to me, “Do you want to sell a million DVDs?”The answer is, “absolutely,” but what would be even more special to me is to if we sold one DVD and a million people pass it on.
That would be the coolest thing ever, because that’s what it’s about.
It’s about taking this information and then being quiet. Apply the information and then pass it on to someone else so he or she can do the same. We want you to learn it, we want you absorb it, then we want you live it, and we want you to apply it in your life and then pass it on to someone else.
Any other information you want to share? Reid: We also have a complimentary Action Guide that comes with the DVD, which is really a workbook. Because we throw about 26 different items out at you that are very in-depth, so we created an action guide that you can actually pause the film, for example, to talk about confidence–if you don’t have any, how do you get it?
So we give a blueprint, step-by-step in the workbook, that tells you how.
Here’s my biggest confession–someone can buy one DVD and get five of his or her closest friends together and have a meeting and work through it together. Well, it could simply be life-changing because you’re hearing the stories firsthand as you work through the process.
What’s next? Reid: Getting the DVD out there, getting the book, and informing people of the movement.
Pass It Onoffers the opportunity of a lifetime to gain practical insights from an all-star cast including legendary athletes Evander Holyfield, Ken Norton and Olympian Ruben Gonzalez, stars such as Blair Underwood, Elaine Hendrix, Mario Lopez and Neil Patrick Harris, motivational giants Denis Waitley, Brian Tracy, Les Brown, Debbie Allen, Niurka and Bill Walsh, syndicated radio personality Dennis Prager, former congressman Ed Foreman, teachers John Assaraf and Michael Beckwith, featured in The Secret, best-selling authors Steven E and Harry Paul, and a host of other great minds.
More than a movie, it’s a movement led by the most dynamic, inspirational and diverse assembly of legendary figures ever gathered to mentor the masses and share the WISH.
Why, the Women Presidents’ Organization, that’s where!
People like to talk about the glass ceiling. For Marsha Firestone, founder of the Women Presidents’ Organization (WPO) for women business owners with $2 million or more in annual revenue ($1 million for service businesses), there was not only a glass ceiling, there was also a “sticky floor.â€?
Marsha founded WPO in 1997 with one chapter…this year the group celebrated its 10th anniversary with 75 chapters, and it is 1,100 members strong.
We first read about Marsha when she was quoted in a New York Times article on women businesses trying to reach that million-dollar milestone.
What inspired you to create the Women Presidents’ Organization?
Firestone: While I was working for the American Women’s Economic Development Corporation, I realized that there were many programs for startup and young businesses, but nothing for women who had already achieved success–women who had businesses that were making $2 million or more. There was simply nothing for this particular market.
While I was there I applied for the presidency, and they gave it to someone else.I had proposed to them that, as president, that I start the Women’s Presidents’ Organization for them.
When I didn’t get the job, I cried for two to three months, and then started the Women Presidents’ Organization on my own.
How did you keep your focus and handle both your full-time job while you were starting this other full-time organization?
Firestone: I worked a lot of extra hours.I worked on things at home and talked about them over the weekends, too. In terms of finances, it was hard because I didn’t have lot of money coming in to run WPO. Actually, one of my dear friends, Mary Leeman-McGlocklin, and I were on a plane going to a Women’s Leadership Board that we were both on.She asked me how much money I had in the bank for this–I said zero.She opened up her checkbook and wrote me a check for $10,000. And that’s really what enabled me. I just was blown away.
She passed away from cancer in 2002, and WPO has an award in her memory.Mary firmly believed in economic empowerment of women–which is really what the WPO is about. We want to strengthen women businesses so that there is a lot of economic security, not just for the women who are the owners, but also for the people who work for them, many of whom are women.
We want women to be able to take care of themselves financially.
In the NY Times article, you mentioned women business owners being “motivatedâ€? vs. “stalledâ€? in business–what did you mean?
Firestone: If you walked into a room of any one of our WPO events, you’d see these women who are very driven–motivated. They don’t even have to have a big dream or be seeking international business exposure or want to own a large number of franchises. They just have this passion and fire for excellence and achievement.
The Center for Women’s Business Research has actually identified certain characteristics of successful women business owners. They use professional advisors, bootstrap their revenues, get creative with finance, and many of them start “nontraditionalâ€? businesses…manufacturing–not retail, fashion, fitness or beauty.
We just did a survey of the top businesses in our organization. The number-one business is manufacturing. Number two is consulting, training and communication. Number three, believe it or not– is information technology.More and more women are starting IT businesses.
What types of businesses fall into manufacturing?
Firestone: One of our women businesses actually makes parts for NASA. Another manufactures parts for the airplane’s black box. Another one manufactures parts for Harley-Davidson.
Some are in furniture–specializing in a particular type of office furniture. Another woman makes paper. Women are in every industry from real estate to manufacturing to marketing to construction.One of our members is listed on the top 25 largest consturction compaines in New York; she’s the only woman, and she’s number 11.
One of our members is Taryn Rose. She’s a doctor, an orthopedist who wanted to look nice when she went to work but her feet would kill her, so she developed the shoes.
What practical steps would you tell a woman today, who’s at the bottom of the mountain–at the $50,000 level and wants to get to the $2 million level?
Firestone: First of all, don’t get distracted into many different directions simultaneously. Focus on a specific product or service, know what that product or service is (and) make sure it’s unique–that you are fulfilling a market segment or a product or service that isn’t already out there and a zillion people are carrying it.
I think a lot of people have the idea to improve upon an already good product. People see something that is working and they think they are going to make it even better–but it doesn’t necessarily work that way.
So, making sure you have a product that there’s a need for and an interest in and that’s unique and fills a hole in the market is the first most practical step.
Second, focus your resources. Because you only have a certain amount of dollars, and you have to spend those dollars on your primary product. Let’s say you start spending your resources and you’re doing well. Don’t all of a sudden decide that you are going to go off in 10,000 directions simultaneously. Make sure that product is well-rounded before you start expanding
Another point I want to make…you have to be highly motivated, even on your bad days. You have to be able to say “OK, that was a bad day; I just lost my best customer, but I’m going to figure out how to rebound and keep going.� That’s keeping that fire in your heart going.
Where can they go to find out about how to research a market?
Firestone: I think a lot of people have an idea, and they think it’s a really good idea, but they haven’t spoken to their customer or their customer-to-be.Market research can be expensive; there’s a lot of good market research on the internet. One good way is to go stand at the mall, do a little intelligence work yourself. There are ways to go online and do market research that years ago you could not do, certainly not only researching what already exists, but creating a survey you can get a response to. What can a woman do who feels like she’s stuck or stalled vs. motivated?
Firestone: Well, we know from research that women, not just women adults, learn best from each other. And every entrepreneur should have a peer advisory group. And that’s what WPO is.It doesn’t exist for the women below a million dollars in revenue, but go out and find a group of advisors that can help you with those days and with the problems in running your business.Taking courses in community colleges are fine; there are lots of starting and growing your own business courses, those are good. But you want someone who can support you, who is going through similar experiences that you’re going through, whom you can learn from and really share the experience with.
What mentors played a role in your success?
Firestone: Neat story–Margaret Meade was on my dissertation committee. I took her course on birth, marriage and death. There were 3,000 people in the auditorium, and I waited until all of them were gone and asked her.She came into my dissertation wearing a cape and trident. It was very cool.
I learned a lot from her. She said to all of her students that if we gave her a 3 x 5 card with our contact information, and our photograph and something about us, that she would keep the card and anytime we needed a recommendation she would write it for us. And so I made a commitment that when I became involved in the women’s business community, that whoever called me I would respond to.
Kika Keith is very familiar with adversity and tough times. She prevailed in the face of being homeless with her two children in tow and a burning desire to create a sustainable future. Somehow, she never lost sight of her dream to market Gorilla Life, which is what she named her green drink made from 100 percent organic alfalfa chlorophyll.
We found out about Keith at a phenomenal kitchen incubator program in Los Angeles called Mama’s Hot Tamales Cafe. Keith took a little time out of her hectic schedule to share eight insights she discoverd along the way. My hope is that her story will make your journey a kinder and gentler one.
Gorilla Life has made great strides. It is sold in several trendy Los Angeles health food stores and, recently, a supermarket chain expressed interest in selling Keith’s drink. Kika’s s mom created and named the drink over a decade ago. What kind of business do you have? Keith:Gorilla Life is a functional food and beverage company. My inspiration to become an entrepreneur came from several sources. As a 5th grader, I was infused with the principles of business and exchange in school; my parents trudged the road of self-employment; and my grandfather set the example of owning and operating a hotel/club. It’s in my blood!
What is unique about your business that gives it an edge over your competitors?
Keith: In a day and age where children are plagued with obesity and people are dying at earlier years, health/wellness is a major issue. Gorilla Life offers a unique, on-the-go option for the whole family to provide their bodies the necessary nutrients to restore and renew themselves. Gorilla Life’s flagship product is a first-to-market green drink made from 100 percent organic alfalfa chlorophyll. Our competitors offer green drinks that are thick and unappetizing, like wheatgrass. Gorilla Life’s Green Drink is a delicious and refreshing clear green beverage that builds the blood naturally, removes toxins and acts as a nutritional aid for the immune system. It is a food, cleanser, energizer and healer all in one.
Did you need to have a certain mindset to achieve success?
Keith: I had to change my mindset before the door to success could be opened. The number-one thing I had to do was focus. In the past, I would move from one project to the next or think that I was good at multi-tasking because I was good at everything, but I completed nothing! Once I removed all of the good intentions out of my mind and life, the doors opened.
Can other individuals reproduce your business model?
Keith: Absolutely! We met an owner of a beverage company, and he told us it was imperative that we read Michael Gerber’s The E-Myth Revisited: Why Most Small Businesses Don’t Work and What to Do About It and From Kitchen to Market: Selling Your Gourmet Food Specialty. We left the meeting and went right to the bookstore. We adopted Gerber’s philosophies and began to structure Gorilla Life (www.gorillalife.com) into a Franchise Prototype model. This was such a simple concept. The business needs to be run in such a way as it would be a model for five thousand other businesses just like it.
What resources were most helpful to you when you were starting your business?
Keith: I joined a wonderful program at SBA Women’s Business Center/PACE Business Development Center that has utilized the fact that I am a woman in business to provide invaluable technical assistance as well as grants.
We have read books, taken classes, been involved in business seminars but the most helpful resource has been the people. We have consulted with other entrepreneurs along the way and have tapped into their experiences in business. It is all the same path; the only difference is the product that we each offer.
What ways have you found to be most effective in marketing your product to get sales?
Keith: Direct contact with the customer has proven to be our most effective means to marketing the drink. From farmer’s markets where we directly interface with hundreds of people and give out 500 samples in a day to in-store demonstrations–once people taste the drink, we get the sale.
What tips can you give others who want to embrace their dream but don’t have the confidence or feel they don’t have what it takes to succeed?
Keith:Feel good! Once you feel good about yourself, you can believe that you have the ability to do anything–that nothing is impossible. Whatever your dream is, believe. All you have to do is be confident enough to know that you have everything to gain and nothing to fear! Just do it. Trust in God and have faith.
Please share your story, questions and comments. We are here to support and celebrate your dream. Check back to hear other exciting stories. We will tell you more about the kitchen incubator program at Mama’s Hot Tamales Cafe soon. In the meantime, you can read about Sandi Romero, the owner of Mama’s Hot Tamales, in the November 2007 issue of People en Espanol.
QUOTE:“A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty,” by Winston Churchill.
“Employee to Entrepreneur” Discussion Groups are being set up at locations worldwide and will launch in January 2008. The groups are based on Suzanne Mulvehill’s book, Employee to Entrepreneur: A Mind, Body and Spirit Transition and are designed to help people deal with the emotional challenges of starting and growing a business.
Topics of discussion may include: overcoming fear, building confidence, dealing with insecurity, frustration, and understanding what success means when money is not coming in. Essentially overcoming one’s own internal obstacles to starting and growing a business.
The discussion groups will be facilitated by Emotional Endurance trainers. Emotional Endurance is the ability to withstand the emotional challenges of starting and growing a business. Suzanne Mulvehill will be providing the facilitator training free of charge (value $500) for individuals who would like to facilitate a group in their area. Training will be held via a teleseminar/webinar, from 7:00-8:15PM EST, November 7, 14, 21, 28.
Suzanne Mulvehill, MBA, is the executive director of the Emotional Endurance® Institute and the creator of the Emotional Endurance® Training Programs. Suzanne has presented at conferences throughout the U.S. and Europe and has trained thousands of entrepreneurs worldwide. Suzanne believes that every person who has the desire to become an entrepreneur also has the ability to do so.
Suzanne’s emotional endurance training program was designed based on her own struggle leaving her job and becoming an entrepreneur and her experience counseling more than 500 entrepreneurs at the largest Small Business Development Center in the U.S. Suzanne firmly believes that Emotional Endurance® is just as important as business planning when starting and growing a business.
Suzanne won the 2004 Points of Light Award from Florida Governor Jeb Bush and is the recipient of the 2004 U.S. SBA Champion Award, being one of 10 people recognized in the southeastern United States. She is also the recipient of the 2004 U.S. SBA Women in Business Advocate of the Year Award.
Suzanne holds an MBA degree and a bachelor in social work degree from Florida Atlantic University.
Her second book, Empowerment for Entrepreneurs; A 90-Day Guide will be published in early 2008. She two fabulous grown children and enjoys scuba diving, camping and walking her dog Sandy..
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