Startup

Focus Is The Key To A Successful Startup

Focus Is The Key To A Successful Startup
by: Wil Schroter

The definition of a startup means you have very few resources to employ and little time to get them to do something valuable. The clock is always ticking, and the money (if you even have any) is running out by the day. With so little to leverage, you need to make sure that the focus of your company’s product offer is as razor sharp as possible.

Don’t be all you can be. Be as little as you can be.

Most startup companies fail because they try to be too many things to too many people right from the onset. They think of every possible option they could load into their product offer. While this may give them the feeling of being one of the “big boys,” the grim reality is they are not. In fact by trying to be too many things from the start, these companies often end up delivering no real value at all.

Instead of trying to be all things to all people, try being one thing to all people. Think of PayPal, the highly successful startup that allowed users to e-mail money over the Internet to each other. PayPal could have chosen a million options for their offer. They could have become an on-line credit card company, an auction site, a loan provider and so on. But what made the company successful was their focus on only one offer – e-mailing money from one person to the other.

PayPal did one simple thing so well that the industry giant eBay purchased them for $1.5 billion in 2002, even after eBay had already built the same service themselves. PayPal is a great example of a company keeping a sharp focus one doing on thing right even when so many great opportunities could have easily distracted them.

Bite off less than you can chew

Delivering your product to market is an amazing feat to begin with. Even still, a common problem among small companies is their inability to predict what it will take to actually support a product once it has gone to market. It’s easy to conceive complex products with lots of features. But actually bringing that product to market and supporting its use with customers is a whole different story.

Instead of trying to roll out everything and the kitchen sink in your approach to market, just roll out the sink. If you find that you can support your product just fine after it’s been successfully selling in the first year, then go ahead and add to it. It’s a lot easier to add features along the way than it is to support features you don’t have the resources for to begin with.

You have ten seconds to get it right

Your customer has a life, even if you do not. They are being constantly bombarded with marketing messages from the latest movies releases to the newest type of shampoo. They don’t have the time or energy to stop their entire day to focus on just your product. So if you are lucky enough to have ten seconds of their attention, you had better make good use of it.

The exercise of developing your value proposition in ten seconds is a great way to distill down your feature set to those items that will get people’s attention right away. If it’s not going to add value to the ten second pitch, it’s not critical to your product’s success. If you can’t get your customer’s attention with the one key benefit to your product, the rest of your features will never see the light of day to begin with.

Stay on target gold leader

Your product launch is just the beginning of keeping your focus. Once you have brought your product to market and enjoyed some early success, it may become even harder to stay focused. Now you have customers calling you and recommending (or demanding!) features to be added and services to be provided. All of these distractions make it even harder to keep you and your team focused on a single goal.

Fortunately the process of keeping your resources focused post-launch is entirely the same. You need to pick your battles and allocate your resources toward the few initiatives that will be best served to do the one thing right that is truly driving your company. Serving the needs and whims of every customer sounds great, but it can also be a terrible detour when trying to keep the forward progress of your company moving.

If at any point during your journey you’re unsure whether or not you’re spending your time and resources effectively, just ask yourself one question, “Is this driving the core benefit of our product?”. If the answer is “yes”, you’re headed in the right direction.

About The Author

Wil Schroter is a serial entrepreneur, author, and public speaker. His latest book “Go Big or Go Home” will be available in 2005. Connect directly with Wil at WSchroter@Yahoo.com.

Make Money In Your Own Coffee Business

A 2001 survey by the National Coffee Association indicated that over 100 million people drink coffee on a daily basis and that nearly 60 million more occasionally consume coffee. Based on average drinking habits, the daily coffee drinker will consume multiple cups per day – totalling hundreds of millions cups of coffee being consumed every 24 hours.

Such enormous consumer demand coupled with the growing trend toward gourmet coffee presents an opportunity for the enterprising coffee lovers to take their double shots at generating income while working in an industry which makes their coffee passions percolate.

Coffee-loving entrepreneurs can choose from a wide range of opportunities available to find ones that best matches their tastes. Interested in starting small? Start with a couple machines and a cart. More grande ambitions? Consider a coffee shop franchise.

The Specialty Coffee Association of America’s “Market Report” forecasts that the number of coffeehouses in the U.S. will grow to 15,000 by the year 2006. Will one of those coffeehouses be yours?

You can take a couple different paths can to starting your own coffee themed business. One option is to buy the equipment and supplies yourself, building your own identity and business systems. The other option is to purchase a franchise and benefit from their proven image, proven systems, and established supply chains. Let’s look at some examples of coffee related businesses that you could start for yourself.

If you choose the independent route you can use a wholesaler such as Mr. Churro’s to help get you started. Mr. Churro’s is Miami-based wholesaler of professional grade machines for making espresso, coffee, and hot chocolate. Beyond acquiring equipment from Mr. Churro’s you would need to work out other details of your business details on your own. For example, you would need to find a coffee bean supplier, find a suitable business location, and also learn how to run a coffee business.

For a more turn-key type of operation, The Coffee Beanery, a global franchise based in Michigan, provides franchisees with a wide menu of coffee based drinks as well as an attractive breakfast and lunch menus. The franchisee benefits from a proven image, a proven menu, a fully developed method of operation, and an established supply chain. It might cost more to purchase a franchise, but if you are new to business, the long term benefits might outweigh the short term higher startup costs.

Coffee News USA is a third type of coffee related business opportunity. Unlike the previous two examples, Coffee News USA does not involve making and selling coffee beverages. Instead, Coffee News is publishing opportunity in which the franchisee provides a free local edition of the weekly Coffee News newspaper to restaurants and coffee shops. The franchisor provides most of the content, and the franchisee sells advertisements to generate income.

These three business opportunities a just a few of the coffee related businesses that are available for coffee lovers. Most of the other opportunities are franchises, but not all franchises are created equal. Examining each business opportunity carefully can bring to light some important differences that might lead you to an opportunity that is better suited to you than another.

With over 300 million cups of coffee being consumed daily in the US, a coffee-related business opportunity should be a strong consideration for the enterprising coffee lover. Contact information for Mr. Churro’s, The Coffee Beanery, Coffee News USA, and more than 400 other specific business opportunities is available in the eBook, “Mind Your Business 101: How to Select & Start Your Own Business,” for only $16.98 USD at www.LinkertonPublishing.com.

About the Author

C.S. Deam is a small business owner. His eBook Leverage Yourself Out of the Rat Race is available for immediate download at http://www.LinkertonPublishing.com where you can sign up for FREE E-Courses & Newsletters to help you on your path to self-employment.

Filed Under: Startup Tagged With: small business, start a small business, Startup

Starting an Air Conditioning Business

It’s hot outside and just yesterday my air conditioning unit went bust. It was literally just blowing hot air. I do have a service contract with a local company and preferred treatment when in need of a fast repair job to be done. Still, it was a painful and expensive experience. Afterwards I spent some time thinking through the entire situation and trying to analyze the business side of things. Running an AC or Heating related business is very interesting.

Most often when people call they do not a choice. The AC unit or the furnace is broke and they need help fast. They do not have much choice or time to shop around. You do not argue too much about price and waiting time when it is 98 degrees outside and 92 degrees inside. You know that these guys are busy and that you will be lucky to get someone out the same day. The business knows this and accordingly the repair prices always end up to be in the hundreds of dollars.

So, does it make sense to start your AC repair and service business? If you are a talented technician with some money at hand to start your own business, it’s time to stop making money for the boss and starting putting your talents to work for yourself with your very own air conditioning service and repair business.

Don’t worry about job security. You can start doing repair jobs for friends and family and then work the referral chain and word of mouth. You can also prepare things while still employed. Learn from your existing boss. Talk to customers and “pre-sell” your services – in an ethical way. You are still employed and you need to respect that fact that your boss is doing so many things that keep you employed. You do not want to burn bridges and you also need to be careful from a legal perspective.

Consider things like hvac estimating software, a delivery truck, phone service, billing and many other things. Watch how your boss is doing this. What services does he use and so on.

Filed Under: Startup Tagged With: ac repair business, business startup, hvac estimating software

Nanotechnology Companies

Nanotechnology is booming. However, many of the market leading nanotechnology companies are not very well-known. If you are a B2B customer or supplier who wants to reach out to those companies it is difficult. Who are the market leaders? How large is the company? Who has invested into what nanotech company at all? The time you will spend on researching these and other questions will be imense.

I had to do this myself not too long ago for one of my business ventures I am involved in. By the time I had identified potential candidates I wanted to talk to, my closest competitor had already his foot in their door and I had a hard time getting in touch with the right person to do business with at these nano technology companies.

A business partner of mine stumbled across Nanovip.com and their nanotechnology companies business directory. She mentioned this to me and I gave it a try. I have not looked back since then, because now my competition is the one always a step behind. I have instant access to data on over 1,600 nanotech related companies. I have contact information and I know other critical pieces of information about them, too. My business volume has increased 17% easily.

About Nanotechnology: Nanotechnology revenues are estimated to reach $1 Trillion worldwide by 2015*. Nanotechnology generally refers to the manipulation of matter measured from 1 to 100 nanometers. As an example – a strand of human hair is 80,000 nanometers wide. By contrast, a strand of DNA has a width of just 2.5 nanometers. U.S. companies already are using nanotechnology to solve big problems, such as how to deliver drugs directly into tumors in humans affected by cancer and to make affordable solar panels.

Filed Under: Startup Tagged With: business startup, small business marketing, start a small business, starting a small business

Have You Been Thinking About Owning Your Own Business? Or Becoming An Entrepreneur?

Almost every day, I talk with people who want to start their own home-based businesses. I receive an interesting reaction when I ask people, “What are you looking for in a home-based business?” The most common response I get is, “Umm, well . . . I don’t know.” Keep in mind that these people have requested information about starting a home-based business. They have taken time and effort to go online and fill out a form, or do some research. And yet, they don’t know what they want.

At first this puzzled me, but then I began to realize that most of these people are in the early stages of seeking their independence from a job or corporate America. They have never done anything like this before, so of course they don’t know what they want in a business. Most people don’t know much about evaluating a business much less starting one.

A few years ago, I stood in their shoes. I wanted something different. I wanted financial independence, but I didn’t know what I wanted. When I look back at myself, I realize that I was incredibly naive and green.

I did know that I wanted something that would bring me financial independence, but I didn’t know what it was or how to go about finding it. Remembering my early beginnings, I’m not surprised that people don’t know what they want in a business. They just know they want something different or that there is something better out there. They want to find it. They are being proactive and looking, but they are not sure what that “something” is. People in this stage are very vulnerable. This could be the “make it” or “abandon it” stage in becoming financially independent. If people don’t get answers and understanding, they may give up!

If you are at this point in moving toward financial independence, I don’t want you to give up. I want to try and sketch out for you the steps that you should take to become successful. If you are past this stage, but not experiencing the success that you want, these principles could also help you to move forward.

There are six principles that can open the doorway to success. People must understand, implement, and practice, practice, practice these six principles. The principles don’t just apply to business but to everything in life. When people begin to understand and use these principles, they can begin to change and take charge of their lives.

The Six Principles:

1. YOU are your biggest and best asset.

2. Your attitude brings victory or defeat.

3. A purpose and goals are the compasses that give you direction and keep you on the right road.

4. Tenacity is more important than talent.

5. Education sets you above the crowd. Education may not be what you think it is!

6. Taking action is the only way to success.

These seem simple and straight forward to people who have been practicing them; however, to people who have not been taught these principles or who are newly awakened to the possibilities life has to offer, these principles sound good, but without explanation and coaching, they are shrouded in mystery.

Next: YOU are your biggest and best asset.

Cora Foerstner is on her road to success. She also wants to help as many people as possible find their road to success. She is a network marketer, sometimes writer, and often can be found teaching at a local university. Contact Cora at 714-774-0624, cora@usana.com, or visit her web site: www.corafoerstner.com

Filed Under: Startup Tagged With: small business, start a small business