Business: Old School vs. New School

As we all know everything has changed since the financial collapse of 2008, but how exactly have businesses changed?  I'm going to break it down to its simplest form in this "old school vs. new school" post.   Alright, here we go! (seasonally appropriate colors are a coincidence)

Old school: Profits above everything else.  New school: Triple-bottom line (Economic, Environment, Social).

Old school: Keep business units separate. New school: Integrate cross-functional teams.

Old school: Large capital investments (infrastructure, people, resources, assets, etc.). New school: Bootstrap.

Old school: Pleasing shareholders is the be-all-end-all. New school: Equally pleasing shareholders and stakeholders.

Old school: Very few industry players. New school: Ultra-competitive across industry.

Old school: Focus on short-term goals and gains. New school: Focus on long-term sustainability.

Old school: Put all eggs in one basket. New school: Have multiple baskets.

Old school: Productivity measured by how long/how many hours worked. New school: Productivity measured by how much you get done.

Old school: When facing declining profits -- cut, cut, cut, no matter what (mostly employees). New school: Do what you can to keep the team in place.

Old school: Vertical hierarchical structure. New school: Horizontal organizational structure.

Old school: Money flows up to executives at the expense of employees. New school: Money still flows up, but in a more balanced way.

Old school: High barriers of entry. New school: Low barriers of entry.

Old school: Control of consumer behavior. New school: Consumers have the power.

Old school: Cold calls. New School: Social Media.

Old school: Huge slow moving entities. New school: Lean and agile.

Old school: Mimic successful traditional business models. New school: Disrupt.

Old school: Move slowly when making business decisions. New school: Adjust and implement on the fly.

Old school: Managers and Execs have all the power. New school: employee empowerment.

Old school: Traditional Advertisements (TV, Print, Billboards, etc.). New school: Social Media, Blogs, Online videos, Mobile, Podcasts, etc.

Old school: Power/Control economy (control every aspect of business). New school: Sharing economy.

Old school: Heavy investment in human capital. New school: Automate.

Old school: Cubicles. New school: Open.

Old school: Work harder. New school: Work smarter.

There are definitely more differences between businesses of today vs those of 10, 20, 40 years ago; however, these are the main ones I could think of off the top.  Obviously, each should be defined further but that can be done by researching the internet, going to a top business school, or hiring a consultant.  I do understand that few things in business still remain: bring in more than you spend, bottom line, good/great leaders, innovation, customer service -- to name a few.

If you have any others that I have missed, feel free to list in the comments section.  I'm curious to hear what others think.

Until next time.

ModernManTellsAll

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One of my favorite bloggers out there: Ramit Sethi

I chose to share this post, which was recently done by Ramit Sethi.  The post is about a man, Chris Guillebeau, that Ramit met during his travels years ago and have remained great friends (for obvious reasons).  Chris is an inspiration to any modern man, and women for that matter.  In 2002 he made it a mission of his to travel to every country in the world, which has now reached 193 -- ALL of them!

Check out the full article in the link below, and let me know if you're as inspired as I am to attempt to do the same!

http://www.iwillteachyoutoberich.com/blog/why-you-should-start-a-quest-with-chris-guillebeau/

Success: It's your choice

Everything you do in life is a combination of past experiences, choices you make, hard work and preparation.  I am tired of all the people that believe things happen by luck or chance; or only to those that know the right people, have money, etc.  Success is something that is earned not given or guaranteed, and most certainly not forever.  Further, success is not a predetermined factor of something, nor is it defined the same from one person to another.  Success could mean making a lot of money, moving up at your job, providing a valuable service or product to society -- bettering human kind; helping out friends and family, meeting the right person "soul mate", living in the city and neighborhood you choose and want to live in, graduating college/grad school/phd; hell, it could be getting 10,000 Twitter followers, who knows!  Success could be anything, as a matter of fact one person's view of success may be anothers view of complete failure.  It all depends on how you view life and what you want out of it while you're here. 

The harsh reality of success is that you will, and should, fail; it's all about how you react to it, and how much tolerance you have for it.  Do you get depressed and beat yourself up? Or do you say, I failed this time, and I learned this and that, now I'm going to do this.  You can look at all of the ultra-successful people: Steve Jobs, Richard Branson, Henry Ford, Thomas Edison, etc., and what you will find is that the amount of success they've had is directly related to the amount of their failures.  Elon Musk almost went broke when Tesla hit a rough spot a few years ago -- investing his last $100 million.  You can even look at the recent law upheld in Michigan that disallowed Tesla from selling its cars directly to consumers; do you think he will give up?  Or will he use it as a motivator to drive his and Tesla's success?  I believe it will be the latter.  If people stopped doing what they were passionate about and at every misstep or roadblock, we'd still be riding horses, living in a segregated society; there'd be no smartphone, social networks, or personal computers for that matter.  Look at the recent mishap with Virgin Galactic where a rocket plane exploded and killed the pilot.  Do you think this will halt Virgin's progress on this venture? Should it?  Absolutely not!  Richard Branson actually said,  "Space is hard but worth it.  We will preserver and move forward."  Virgin Galactic's CEO, George Whitesides, took it one step further by stating, "We owe it to the folks who were flying these vehicles, as well as those who have been working so hard on them, to understand this and move forward.  And that is what we'll do."  Could they have decided to stop everything and reevaluate their decision to bring space travel to the everyday (rich) consumer?  Yes, absolutely, however, they CHOSE not to; they CHOSE to move forward and learn from their mistakes and persevere.

That is the whole point.  It is the choice of the individual to succeed or give-up.  So you lost your job or went through a bad break-up, what you do next and how you react is up to you; it is your choice.  Which brings me to something else that is relative to choice, and that is experts are not born.  Michael Jordan did not come out of the womb crossing people over and dunking on them; he busted his ass day in and day out -- he earned being the best.  He chose to put in the work, accept failure, and was never satisfied with where he was at -- he remained hungry.  There are countless of individuals that reached the top by ignoring all the critics and just putting their heads down, focusing on mastering their desired skill.  

The real test is how many times can you accept failure before you say screw it, I'm going to give up or try something else.  How determined are you to get what you want out of life?  According to one of the greatest thought-leaders of our time on success, Napoleon Hill, most people will give up at or before the 3rd failure.  If you think about it, this truly holds ground when you think of the amount of people that have a job they can't stand, but are frozen in fear of what the other side looks like -- the unknown.  The numbers are actually staggering, as over 70% of Americans hate their jobs!  To me this is astounding, particularly since we spend over a third of our lives at work, and that third is of the most precious as that is when we are young and healthy enough to enjoy our lives and do things that actually mean something, make us happy, etc.

All this goes back to our mindsets: Do you believe in limitations?  Are you afraid to try something new?  Are you a leader or a follower? When approached with a challenge do you accept it graciously regardless of the potential of failure? Or do you runaway and accept that you will never be able to do it and would rather avert the potential of being seen as a failure?  The choice is yours!  I know what I would do!

Whew! I would say I apologize for the rant but I won't, as I feel very strongly about this; no matter what people may say or the outcome, the choice is yours whether or not to do something that you feel passionate about.

Hopefully this motivates someone, or at the very least gets others to think about their current situation, where they are at and what they want to do.  The purpose of every human beings life should be to reach their absolute potential -- not to mention it would be good for the world and the economy.

Remember, it's not how many times you get knocked down, all that matters is that you get up one more time.

Until next time.

Cheers,

ModernManTellsAll

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Marketing: Building a rock solid SEM strategy

SEM or Search Engine Marketing is revolutionizing how marketers and businesses think and market to their target demographics.  With more people than ever using online search engines (Google, Bing, and Yahoo!) to purchase products/services, research companies, locate businesses, and read informative content, a rock solid SEM strategy is essential.  SEM is a great way for a company to build brand awareness, increase website traffic, and drive sales and growth.  Without an effective SEM strategy and online presence, companies will lose out on potential qualified leads, increased market share, and revenues that drive growth.

So what does an effective SEM strategy look like?  For the most part it will vary from company to company as budgets and consumer behavior will differ.  Furthermore, business models will dictate what metrics and KPIs are most important.  For instance, if a business is a local brick and mortar style operation, then walk-ins, and phone calls would take precedence.  On the contrary, if a business is an e.commerce website and the majority of their sales are made online, then driving traffic to the website and increasing conversions are of high importance.  That said, there are some basic steps that must be designed, implemented, and executed in order for any SEM strategy to be successful: Define key campaign goals/metrics, track all key conversions, and monitor and optimize key metrics as needed.

Define key campaign metrics/goals:

Defining key campaign metrics and goals should be the first thing done prior to designing and implementing your SEM strategy.  Key metrics and goals will vary, however, some ideas would be: Increasing website traffic by 30%/month, increase call volume by 50%/month, increase sales by 60%/quarter, increase walk-in traffic by 25%/month, increase newsletter subscriptions by 15%/month, etc.  Once you have defined why you are implementing a SEM strategy, you should input said goals directly into your AdWords or Analytics platforms for ease of tracking.  A SEM campaign that has the goals of increasing foot traffic to a brick and mortar looks different than one that has the goal of increasing online conversions.  Having a predetermined set of goals will enable a company to focus only on what is necessary to their specific goals, thus saving money and maximizing efficiency.

Implement conversion tracking for all key goals/metrics:

If your SEM goals are to increase phone calls you will want to track which ads are converting and which are not, and the only way to know is to enable the appropriate conversion tracker.  This can be executed in AdWords or a third party services such as Response Tap, Call Rail, Call Tracking Metrics, etc.  Without the appropriate tracking method in place there will be no way to determine how or why phone calls have increased or have fallen off; which keywords and ads are working and which are not, etc.

Let's say you are a blogger and want to increase your subscribers by 25%/month so you decide to try SEM; therefore, every new subscriber would be a conversion.  With this in mind you would want to track all users that click on your ad and then proceed to subscribe to your blog.  This is easily done within your AdWords campaign interface.  Again, without conversion tracking there is no way to know how many new subscribers have come from your SEM campaign, which ads are working and which are not, and if your SEM campaign is providing an optimal ROI.

The same can be said for an e.commerce website that wants to increase its online purchase conversions.  You will need to identify which webpage(s) on your site, typically a "Thank you" page that appears after a purchase has been made, to implement your conversion tracking.  This will enable you to see which ads/keywords led to the conversion, and the who, what, where and when the conversion happened.

Monitor and optimize key metrics as needed:

Once you have all your metrics and goals identified and have implemented the appropriate conversion tracking methods, you will need to monitor, compare, and optimize the data in your SEM campaign.  Let's say you set out for a 100 new visitors/month to your website.  Google Analytics will enable able you to benchmark your monthly visitor stats against the goals you set at the beginning of your SEM campaign.  Maybe, your campaign has fallen short by 25 visitors, well you'll need to go into your AdWords campaign and find out which ads and keywords are converting and which are not, and take the necessary steps to rectify the situation.  Or let's say you wanted to increase your call volume by 25%/month and your conversion tracking is telling you you have increased your call volume by 35% this month.  That is great, this would mean your SEM campaign is working based on your initial goals, therefore, you may want to increase your budget, hire new sales staff, etc., of course this is based on if your sales goals are being met as well.  You may have an increase in call volume, but the percentage of sales converted have decreased significantly.  This is where you would want to optimize your SEM campaign accordingly to ensure your ads and keywords are reaching the right customers.

Optimization of an AdWords SEM campaign can be quite complex and is not recommended without professional consultation; however, if you do choose to handle this on your own be sure to start off with only the basics as far as KPIs and measurements.  Additionally, it is of great importance to review and compare your data on a regular basis and make calculated decisions based on your analysis.  Remember to allow enough time to collect enough data, I like to wait at least 30 days or so prior to making any decisions.  And when you do make changes, only make one or two at a time, then run reports again 30 days later to compare and contrast -- ensuring the decisions you've made are actually working.

As always, I'd love to hear your comments and thoughts on this topic.

If you are in need of any business and/or marketing consultation, feel free to shoot me a brief introduction note at: modernbizstraetgy@gmail.com.

Cheers,

ModernManTellsAll

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Entrepreneur: Be Disruptive

It has been well documented that it is easier now more than ever to start a business.  I hope you get as excited as I do when I read that sentence.  The ease of starting a business now is due to the evolution of technology, its efficiency and effectiveness, increased reach, and affordability.  Think about all the apps and websites out there that offer business management tools and creative interfaces that are user-friendly and very affordable, sometimes even FREE.  Moreover, the quality of these services and products are getting closer and closer to what a professional accountant or graphic designer would charge premium dollars to execute.  So what does that mean? Start a business NOW!? Well not exactly, as the barriers of entry fall, the more competitors enter the market, the lower the profit margins become, the more a company has to innovate and disrupt.

Disruption and innovation have always been essential for new companies entering an established market place with many competitors and industry leaders.  The only difference now is that everyone and anyone can start a business and enter a market place; no matter the location, access to capital, or industry experience.  However, just because it is easy to start a business does not mean you should, or  for that matter, if you do it will be successful, make you rich, etc.  I believe it is the opposite.  Yes it's easier, and you can start and run a global business from the comfort of your own home, but that just means there are more people doing it and most likely failing at it.

When you enter an established market place it is more important, now more than ever, to come in and make a splash, shake things up, and make a name for yourself as quickly as possible.  Disruption is, in my opinion, the most important attribute any SMB or Start-up should posses.  By definition disruption is a disturbance or problems that interrupt an event, activity, or process.  Therefore, as an entrepreneur that has an idea or wants to launch a business, the first things you should ask yourself is, how can I disturb and/or interrupt the existing market place.  How can I get my product/service out into the market place with the least amount of resources (capital, people, infrastructure, etc.)?  Without a disruptive plan starting and launching a business can be difficult, far more difficult than with a plan to disrupt the market.  Think about it, you want to start a car/ride sharing business but plan on replicating the existing taxi and limo service business models.  What do you think your chances are in capturing even a fraction of a percent of market share?  I'd say slim to none.  These services have been in existence for 50 plus years, and are entrenched in every major city with strong unions and political leverage.

So what do you do?  You disrupt the market, interrupt the normal way of doing business.  You innovate.  You change the way things are done.  You let the competition know you are for real.  You capture as much market share as you can, and quickly!  Look at what Uber and Lyft are doing.  They are now approaching the market leaders in this space, with the taxi and limo unions doing everything they can to stop them, or at least slow them down.  They leveraged technology to disrupt an inefficient, archaic business model, which is happening across many long established industries: Music, Entertainment, Razors, Higher Education, Business Management Services, Financial, Automotive, etc.  Disruption is happening everywhere and it is only going to continue.  It is essentially the new economy where entrepreneurs, SMBs, and Multi-Nationals are in a race to see who can shake up the market place, drive revenues, and become/remain market leaders.

With that said, should you start a business?  I can't say for sure as that is up to you.  However, if you do, make sure you have a disruptive plan in place from the jump.  Do not start a business thinking you'll be able to compete using traditional methods, business models, and techniques.  Go in and disrupt the market place, shake things up, challenge the norm, innovate, and be unique!

As always, I'd love to hear your comments and thoughts on this topic.

If you are in need of any business and/or marketing consultation, feel free to shoot me a brief introduction note at: modernbizstraetgy@gmail.com.

Cheers,

ModernManTellsAll

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Business: You don't know my Industry

The misconception business owners have when dealing with consultants is the fact that they believe since said consultant does not work in their industry they cannot help them fix the problems that exist.  This may have been true ten, twenty, thirty, fifty years ago, however, in today's world, where everything/everyone is connected, information is easily accessible, the industry and competition can be researched and analyzed effectively and quickly; not having worked in an industry is irrelevant.  Furthermore, business is business and competition is competition, as long as thorough research has been conducted a consultant, or a competent consultant for that matter, should be able to identify the primary issues a company is having within two or three weeks, and design and implement a strategy a few weeks thereafter.  To be honest, in my experience the major issues that the majority of SMBs/Start-ups that I meet with and consult for are very similar with minor variances according to the industry.  For the most part the issues stem from fundamental business practices and processes: Lack of organization, lack of clearly defined goals (leadership), lack of data tracking, and lack of communication.

As you can see, these common issues have absolutely nothing to do with a particular industry or business.  The problem with a SMB or start-up that is experiencing growth, which is a great thing, is their resources get drained and everyone is consumed in the day-to-day and forget about or failed to implement the fundamental foundation of any successful business; and by the time a consultant is needed, problems have compounded to a point where a company can become essentially paralyzed.  That said, a professional, well-trained business consultant could easily rectify these issues rather quickly.  As long as the company leaders are in agreement, upfront and honest with the issues, and are willing to commit to a well-defined plan/strategy, things can turn around and the proper processes can be in place.  Just don't use the excuse of you do not know the industry, as that is of no use to anyone.

In my experience companies that are able to implement basic business processes prior to launch or within the initial launch phase are the most successful and are able to accelerate growth rather quickly.  I know the fun/glamorous part of running a SMB or start-up is working on something you are passionate about and with a team of people who share that passion; however, that high will only last so long before the company hits a road block (e.g. runs out of money).  As much as we all love to be in the trenches and creating something new and of value, without capital investments the product/service will not make it to market, or if it does the lifespan will be limited.

My advice to anyone in this position is to take the time to design and implement fundamental business processes prior to launch -- even before hiring.  At least have an outline of what processes are ideal for your company, and then hire someone to design and implement them.  Don't make the mistake of having the mindset of we'll fix it later, as it may be too late or you won't have the capital to allocate towards professional consultation.  There are many ways a consultant can benefit your SMB or start-up no matter what phase your company is in, all you have to do is find the right one and trust that they have the background and skill-set to get the job done!

As always, I'd love to hear your comments and thoughts on this topic.

If you are in need of any business and/or marketing consultation, feel free to shoot me a brief introduction note at: modernbizstraetgy@gmail.com.

Cheers,

ModernManTellsAll

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Business/Entrepreneur: Do NOT cut corners

One of the most valuable lessons I've learned in my life is: Do not cut corners in anything you do that is of value to you, whether it is in business, relationships, or personal.  I can remember going through college (undergrad) and just coasting along -- essentially "cutting corners" -- not giving it 100% and thinking once I graduate things will just fall into place.  Yeah, well that is not how life works nor should it.  The same goes for business.  Let's say you want to start your own business or work for a company that is: A) just starting out or B) has been around for a while but is struggling to maintain a profit.  What do they all have in common (typically),  limited access to money, resources, and human capital, right?  So what is the typical answer to this issue?  Free work!  Free software! Free whatever!

In the modern, digital world we have these expectations that things should be free -- everything from information to education, tech-platforms, and applications.  In some instances this is true and many free pieces of information, technology and applications can be beneficial and useful when operating a business, and should be leveraged.  Some products/services that come to mind are: Wix.com, Google Docs/Drive, Skype, Zenefits, Social Media Channels (Hootsuite, Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Pinterest, etc.),  Blogs, Dropbox -- there are many more either free or affordable platforms and software one can use to enhance their business operation and market penetration.  Someone can even take FREE classes online at MIT, Stanford, and Yale if they were feeling ambitious -- doesn't mean you'll get a degree from said school or even finish the class.  These are all good, positive and productive ways to cut costs and improve efficiency at the same time; however, there are areas where "cutting corners" in business can be a detriment, completely destroy what you sought out to build, and make all the hard work and time you've invested up to that point a waste.  Many of these examples of cutting corners have been commonplace over the last 30 or 40 years, but are no longer viable for various reasons.

The first of which is free employment or un-paid internships.  Don't get me wrong, I am all for the internship position and believe there can be value created for both the intern and the company as long as it is the right fit.  The right fit would be an intern that is passionate about the industry, wants to learn, grow, and contribute; work hard with the intention to further their career, build a valuable skill-set that cannot be learned in a classroom; and understands the outcome prior to starting (e.g. college credits, 3 month trial period, possible employment when internship is fulfilled, pay or no pay, etc.).  The company must be honest from the jump of their intentions, the duties expected to be performed, challenge critical thinking skills of the intern -- not just have them get coffee or take out the trash; communicate clearly its intentions, the duration, and the possible outcomes.  Nothing is worse than a company that offers an internship to a high-performing individual that is expecting to work for 3 months and then either be brought on full/part time (paid) or after the 3 months move on with a great learning experience and professional references.  I have a theory I like to promote to businesses that act unethically and manipulate free work to benefit themselves, and that is: If you cannot afford to pay someone what they are worth, or close to it, to perform their duties at a high-level (after discussed duration of internship is up) then you'll have to find someone else whom may or may not be as efficient and productive as the last, thus potentially wasting more time and money.  Or you'll have to perform the duties yourself, chances are you won't have the time nor the technological knowledge.  Or you can try to automate some of the tasks (costs more upfront).  If none of the above are feasible, it may be time to reevaluate your business model and ask yourself, why your company is failing to move forward and increase revenues and market share.  As the old saying goes, "It takes money to make money."

The second example of cutting corners in business that will most certainly end up costing you more in the long-run would be to not invest in your product/service offered.  In today's global market place, consumers are extremely informed, transparency is on the up-swing, competition is fierce, and everyone has a voice (social media).  What does this mean for businesses? Well, it means an inadequate products/services will not last nor will it be profitable, particularly when starting/launching a new product/service.  We all know about the endless recalls from major car manufactures from Toyota to GM, which can be viewed as cutting corners in the manufacturing costs; however, while it is still damaging to their brands, they have the longevity, capital, and loyalty to overcome something as catastrophic as recalling millions of cars.  This is not something a new start-up or SMB can sustain, as a matter of fact, the product/service should be your primary focus when building your business model, as it is the major factor that will separate you from your competitors and enable sustainable growth.   We've all seen, owned, or worked at a company where their mentality is to invest as little as possible into their product in order to maximize the salaries at the top.  Well, that may work in the short-term, however, in the long-term they are setting their businesses up to fail, and they most likely do within a few years, without an attempt to correct the quality of their product/service.  Bottom line, invest in quality, you will not be disappointed.

Another tried and true example of cutting corners in business that will most certainly end in demise at some point is to under pay your employees and/or not offer perks to supplement lack of salary.  As I have written in the past, the most valuable asset to a company, particularly a start-up or SMB is its team.   In a highly competitive work environment, competition for top-level talent is fierce and the ability of a company to attract and retain such talent is mandatory in order to remain competitive and innovative across all industries.  The age of technology has changed the way business gets done: increasing productivity and efficiency.  Let's face it; a highly efficient and competent individual can essentially perform the duties of 5 or more people from 10 or 20 years ago.  So how does a business owner retain and attract a high-level individual -- through either a high salary, perks, flexibility, equity, or a combination of.   When business owners fail to address/offer any of the aforementioned, they will experience a high turnover rate, inefficiencies in the the day-to-day operations, lack of motivated employees, the inability to attract and retain top performers, and the list goes on and on; all of which end up costing the company heavily in the long-term.  A truly sustainable and viable business should have no problem attracting and retaining the best talent possible, which is relevant to each company's specific needs.  Just to give a quick example: Let's say you have a new tech start-up and you are looking for a top programmer for your new app, the question you should be asking yourself is what can I offer to lure him/her away from Apple or Google?  I know I can't offer a salary anywhere close to Google or Apple, but maybe I can offer equity and flexibility?  Money is not the be all end all when it comes to job satisfaction, at least not to the extreme as in the '80s -- thinking "Wall Street".

Cutting corners may sound like a good idea in the short-term; however, the long-term outcomes are typically not positive and prove to be quite costly.  As a start-up entrepreneur or small to mid-sized business owner, it is important to understand your business, your competition, the macro/micro environment, and your long-term growth strategy.  The goal of your business should not be to make money, but to create value in the market place, provide superb customer service, and build the best team possible -- making money will come as a result.  It can even be wise to ask yourself, instead of where can I cut costs; what areas can I improve to make the business run more efficiently?  The old school way is to find areas to cut, the new school way is how to maximize efficiency and productivity.  Thanks technology!

As always, I'd love to hear your comments and thoughts on this topic.

If you are in need of any business and/or marketing consultation, feel free to shoot me a brief introduction note at: modernbizstraetgy@gmail.com.

Cheers,

ModernManTellsAll

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