All posts tagged: entrepreneur

Expanding overseas: should go it alone or use an agent or distributor.

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Today we will examine the pros and cons of use of an agent or a distributor when expanding overseas compared to using your own sales force. I will focus on working with a partner in our target market but consider entering the market with a company from your home country.  If you know of a company with complementary products, consider forming a Joint Venture to enter the country together. Much of your research will apply to your potential JV partner. You may even have identified that you will have a higher degree of success if you bring a complete package to the marketplace. But you need to assess their financial resources, the robustness of their business, and the capability of their people before agreeing to a Joint Venture. More importantly, does their enthusiasm for the project match yours? Remember, there will be setbacks, and troubles lie ahead unless their commitment is as strong as yours. For marketing your products or services, there are three common approaches: What is the difference between a distributor and an …

Marketing to Gen Z without the cringe

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A special post acknowledging the election of Maxwell Frost the first Gen Z member of Congress. We are entering an era that sees a considerable shift of purchasing power from millennials to Generation Z. Millennial spending sits at just over $65 billion – while Generation Z is at almost $100 billion. The Bank of America estimates that Gen Z’s combined income will reach $33 trillion by 2030. If you are going to develop a successful business, millennials are not the only generation you need to keep in mind. Connecting with younger generations has always been a challenge for businesses. Connecting with Gen Z, roughly those born in the mid to late 1990s through the early 2010s, is a challenge of a different magnitude. Gen Z is in control of their own media in a way that may be unfamiliar to older generations. They skip over advertisements that do not grab their attention, unlike the days when you could not avoid advertisements on the TV or radio. You could make yourself a cup of tea or …

Are you thinking about expanding overseas: Week 1

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Thinking about expanding overseas? What you need to know. In this 13-part series I am going to explore what you need to know if you are considering taking your business overseas. Why might you consider expanding overseas? Maybe you have outgrown your home market. Some markets are relatively small, take Singapore, a vibrant economy, but still less than 6 million people. There is limit to how big you can be serving a relatively small population. I believe Singapore ranks 36 on the list of GDP by country.  But companies serving the largest economies move overseas so there must be other reasons. Clearly one reason is to increase sales of your business. By making yourself available to a broader range of customers the potential for growth exists. You may find there is less price competition in overseas markets. Beers seem to be particularly prone to this. By entering a new geography you may be able to sell to early adopters at a price premium. The lure of higher profits can be a driver, you would not …

Bring your breakthrough ideas to life. Learn from successful innovators

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In 2003 the Indian environmental researcher Narayana Peesapaty spotted an alarming trend: Groundwater levels in the region of Hyderabad were falling precipitously. He examined rainfall records but found nothing to explain the drop. Looking deeper, he discovered that the culprit was a change in agricultural practices. Many area farmers had abandoned millet—a traditional crop increasingly regarded as “the poor man’s food”—in favor of rice, a thirsty crop that requires 60 times as much water to grow. And because they had access to heavily subsidized electricity, the farmers were continuously pumping water into their fields. Peesapaty tried to influence agricultural policies by documenting the problem in government reports, to no avail. So, he looked instead for ways to boost demand for millet. He hit on the idea of turning it into “edible cutlery”—a solution that could attack not just the groundwater deficit but also the scourge of plastic waste. Peesapaty quit his job to pursue the project. A decade later, after a video he posted about the cutlery went viral, orders began pouring in. Two crowdfunding …

10 things you need to consider before you launch your second career.

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Thinking about launching a second career as a consultant, coach or content creator? It’s time to grab a notebook and pen or pencil and start jotting down the thoughts that are going through your mind about your new business venture. I do strongly suggest that you do physically write down your ideas rather than typing them on an electronic device. Research has shown that the act of writing by hand leads to better retention of ideas. And if you are like me I love a high quality note book combined with a fountain pen. There is something deeply satisfying about liquid ink gliding over smooth paper. But then I know I am a bit of a throw back.   Consult your spouse, partner, or significant other. You may be planning a second career but your partner maybe dreaming of lazy days at the beach, lake or even home. Take the time to discuss your plans and reach an agreement between the two of you of what is going to work. As a generation we are …

Affiliate Marketing

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Following the various ideas we have covered in earlier episodes you may have been able to build a substantial following. Now is the time to consider affiliate marketing as a low-cost option to generating income.  This is particularly attractive if you do not yet have a product to sell. What is affiliate marketing? It is an agreement where you agree to promote a product or service in return for a share in the income generated from your lead. If effect it is a fancy term for the historical, but still relevant, finder’s fee. The most widely known affiliate program is the Amazon associate program where if someone clicks on your link you earn a commission on anything they buy in the next 24 hours, with some caveats. It is easy to set up your associate status, I did it in a few minutes. But there are a few things you should know, and I will share them in my new blog The Geriatric Entrepreneur launching to tie in the start of season 9 on IBGR …

Lower cost options – Help all your followers.

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You can cater to the rich, and I’ll take the rest; the good Lord made more of them. Kemmons Wilson founder Holiday Inn Not everyone can afford to spend a couple of thousands of dollars for a course. And it is likely that many of your followers fall into that category. They have been devouring your free content and would love to buy something from you. But $2000? That’s way beyond their budget. If you have built up a decent following it is possible to generate an attractive income from a $100 product or even a $10 product. Jason Van Orden of Internet Business Mastery thinks of these varied product offerings as ascension ladder. He says it is foolish to only think of selling big ticket items. Instead, you must think about customer lifetime value. A customer spending $25 per month over five years is worth $1,500. And done right your marginal cost of serving this customer can be near zero. That $1,500 is pure profit. And the folks who do buy your big-ticket items. …

Leverage your platform by creating online courses

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You have an expertise; you know others want to learn it because you have been building up your following. What can be more obvious than to develop an on-line course? The ultimate make it once, sell it many times. If only it was that easy. The truth is creating and launching a course is difficult. That’s what Jared Kleinert found when he tried to launch a course called “Yourself with Wealth”. In a very transparent Forbes blog post he detailed his failure. It started with three numbers $997, $11,000, $0. The first number $997 was the price that Jared intended to charge for his course. $11,000 was the amount he had spent preparing his course. $0 was the sales he achieved. What went wrong? As Kleinert puts it; “As entrepreneurs we like to chase the next shiny object, like a cool online course. In my rush to make a quick buck, I missed a vital step. I never interviewed my potential customers” Jared has moved onto other things but his advice to others thinking about …

Build a Speaking Practice.

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Last week we learned how you can start building your brand and then ways to use that brand to monetize your skills. We looked at the steps needed to build a consulting or coaching business. And then how to break away from the tyranny of the clock, which limits your earnings to the hours you can work. If you can command $300 per hour, and very few consultants are able to charge more, then earnings more than $250,000 per year are possible. But wouldn’t it be nice to earn that, or more, working fewer hours.  We learned lessons from folks who have developed as systemized approach and others who had the courage to offer a premium product that could be sold over and over again. To some extent this week we start by returning to a paid by hour activity. Building your own speaking practice. The difference? Once you have established your credibility as a speaker your hourly rate will be very very attractive. Event organizers often have a generous budget speakers. And why not? …

Break free of the clock

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Continuing to learn from Dorie Clark’s excellent book “Entrepreneurial You” In an earlier post I mentioned Michael Port’s book “Book Yourself Solid”. Let me share with you the changing ways Mr. Port was able to capitalize on his book’s success. After publishing his book in 2006 Mr. Port suddenly had a massive new audience. He now had the scale needed to build a group coaching program. He started with teleseminars, most internet connections at the time were not fast enough to support video conferences. The cost for a three-month program was $1,200 and demand was strong. Then he tried a yearlong mentoring program for $8,000 per person which entitled his clients to several training calls per month and three, three-day retreats per year. His initial program had 40 participants. Even when he increased his price to $12,000 demand remained strong attracting between 150 and 250 clients each year. But his participants found travel to the retreats pricey, and Michael Port found executing large live events, costly and stressful. Like all good entrepreneurs he took the …