How to Improve Your Online Business through Testing (“Signups Increased by 60%”)
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Entrepreneurs in a Box – 4 Creative Businesses Doing More with Less
If you ever want to see a microcosm of humanity, try working in self storage.
Our units are rented by people in all walks of life, many of whom are creatively making their way in the world using the resources that they have — no matter how minimal those resources might be.
I am especially amazed by people who are nearly out of money, who have nothing but a few scant possessions and a set of skills, who nevertheless see no reason why they should not go ahead and start their own businesses.
I was skeptical at first, but I’ve learned that I need to be more openminded. Statistics from the Small Business Administration say that about half of all new small businesses fail within the first five years.
That might be true for small businesses, but I am not convinced that it is true for tiny businesses, businesses that fit inside a self storage unit — businesses in a box, I always call them. The entrepreneurs who start tiny businesses with just what they have are simply too good at keeping their overhead down and riding out the dry spells. You can do that when you don’t need much to begin with.
What are these tiny businesses? Some of them are Craig’s List- or eBay-based retailers, or other online businesses. But I have to admit that the businesses that really go to my heart are not the online businesses but the truly creative ones.
Here are a few examples:
- Green cleaning: One of my tenants had started a working part-time cleaning houses. But the chemicals that she used were exacerbating her asthma. She decided to get her green cleaning certification. But that meant changing out the equipment and supplies that she kept in her unit. She uses a lot of steam cleaning equipment now, and she replaced her old chemicals with cleaners that are approved by the EPA as green. To finance the change, she decided to sell her cleaning van, which had been brand new. I was surprised — I think most small business owners would decide that this was a calculated risk, and would take out a loan and go into debt. Not this tenant. She told me, “No way — I would be a slave to that debt for the rest of my life!” She decided to rent a truck twice a week from the storage facility instead. That way, she saved money on the insurance, and she simply made a point to schedule all her cleaning appointments on the same two days. I know she schedules her appointments in the same part of town on the same day to save money for gas and the truck rental, but I think it’s awesome that in the process of doing that, she also reduces her business’ carbon footprint by reducing her emissions from transportation.
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- An old-fashioned trading post: This example may really be one of a kind. I traveled to a small town near Fairbanks, Alaska, to help open a new storage facility. I was fascinated to find that one young entrepreneur, a 19-year-old fur trapper, chose to share a storage unit with his grandmother, an elderly Athabascan woman who made a living skin sewing (making mukluk boots, hats, mittens, and in some cases ruffs for parka hoods, out of moose skin and bits of fur from rabbits, wolves, wolverines, foxes, and the like). People heard about the couple through word of mouth and would come to buy furs or mukluks, or to trade with them, much in the style of trading posts in the Old West, which still seem to exist in Alaska in some places. I was fascinated to see barter still being used in a business context (one fellow brought them a freezer full of frozen salmon and traded it for mukluks for his three children for the winter). This wasn’t the world’s most lucrative business, and it will never be a Fortune 500 company, but it doesn’t have to be — it’s supporting the people who depend on it.
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- Leatherworkers: At the same facility, a leatherworker opened a workshop. He didn’t opt for a very big space. “I don’t need it,” he told me. While in the Southwest and Southeast I often saw leatherworkers (sometimes in self storage units) making custom handmade chaps to use for horseback riding, here in Alaska this leatherworker was concentrating on sheaths for large buck knives (used for gutting and cleaning an animal during a hunting trip, I’m told), scabbards for rifles, and even pouches to hold things like shot shells or cartridges. In that small space, this highly skilled worker looked as though he would be in business for a long time to come — he was booking custom leatherworking assignments six months in advance. A waiting list like that is almost like having money in the bank.
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- Jewelrymaking: At the other end of the country, the Southwest, I met an Arizona jewelry maker one day. He did not do much work on the jewelry itself in his unit — he had a lot of equipment in his garage at home, he told me, and he usually needed a torch, which would be a fire hazard in a self storage unit. “For the longest time,” he told me, “I only made a few pieces of jewelry at a time — just what I could fit inside my little safe in my house.” He didn’t feel that his garage was a secure place to keep valuable jewelry or the gems that he was planning to work with. When a self storage facility opened up near his home, he came over and checked the security very carefully. Once he was satisfied, he rented our smallest unit — it is just five feet square — and he uses it to store finished pieces of jewelry, along with gems and materials that he was planning to use to make other items. He also kept a traveling jewelry case there. Every so often, he would go to visit jewelry stores and sell a few of his pieces, which were very original. Sometimes he took his jewelry to arts and craft fairs, or drove to visit people who had called him to ask about having a piece custom made. When he was done for the day, he would come back and stow everything securely. “It’s a weight off my shoulders not to have to worry, especially about the more expensive pieces,” he told me. “I certainly didn’t have the money to open a store and install an alarm system!”
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What fascinates me is that many of these entrepreneurs are making a living out of skills that I did not know were salable: skin sewing, hunting and trapping, decorating artistic leather cases. I would have called those things hobbies. These entrepreneurs didn’t need capital (aka debt) to start their businesses. All they needed was one passion — one hobby or art that they were good at, a little creativity, and a space the size of a closet. That’s ingenuity for you!
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About the Author: Art Gould is a division manager with Self Storage Company, which operates a group of websites, including a California self-storage locator. Though busy, Art enjoys meeting new people and clients when traveling to sites, like San Francisco or the Los Angeles self-storage center.
Photo Credit: getinet
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Using the Internet for Start-Up Success
Entrepreneur Christian Arno started his translation and localization company Lingo24 in 2001, with a degree in French and Italian from Oxford and a handful of start-up money.
Initially working from the spare room in his parent’s house in Aberdeen, Scotland, today Arno has built Lingo24 up to become Scotland’s largest translation company and one of the fastest growing in the world, with projected earnings for 2010 of over $9m USD – and along the way he has learnt some important lessons on how to succeed as a small start-up in a hostile economic climate.
Lessons Learned
One of the most important lessons is that, as a start-up with limited capital, you can’t afford to throw money around on expensive projects like advertising and office space without knowing what your guaranteed Return on Investment (ROI) will be. Luckily for Arno, he quickly discovered the power of the internet for both marketing and communication purposes.
By starting his business with a network of employees and freelance translators based around the world, working from home and communicating online, Arno was able to not only reduce his business costs and carbon footprint by avoiding renting office space, but also to start operating 24 hours a day, with employees in different time zones who would pass the baton from one zone to another as business hours finished.
The Turning Point
A major turning point for Lingo24 was discovering SEO, keywords and Google AdWords as inexpensive and highly effective online marketing strategies. By investing nominal sums for click-through results with Google AdWords, Arno was able to boost Lingo24 straight to the top of the search rankings, and also test out the popularity of various keywords by seeing which ones brought in the most click-through traffic from month to month.
Targeting Keywords For Success
Researching keywords online through search engine results, checking out what the competition was using, and using keyword search applications such as Google Keywords were other effective ways Arno used to figure out the best terms to use for Search Engine Optimisation (SEO). By figuring out the tricks for success in the Google rankings – including using keywords prominently, keeping websites updated regularly with relevant, useful information and building links with affiliates through guest posts and media coverage – Lingo24 rose up to the top of the Google rankings and stayed there.
Arno discovered that there was much less competition for translation services in the European market – particularly in Scandinavia and Germany – than there was in the UK and not only that, but competition for search engine rankings was also less, purely by virtue of there being less sites overall in non-English languages.
Research Leads to Expansion
He decided to expand Lingo24’s business into the European market to expand its customer base, and also to cushion against currency fluctuations. Lingo24 built five translated ‘toe in the water’ pages for European countries, and the resulting spike in business was encouraging enough to expand with web sites for France, Germany, Austria, Switzerland (in French, German and Italian), Belgium (in French and Flemish), the Netherlands, Luxembourg (in French and German), Norway, Sweden and Denmark.
These sites were all fully localized and search engine optimized, with local domain names, intensively researched local keywords, and with copy translated by in-country speakers, using culturally specific references and phrases. This intensive localization of the websites was seen as essential since internet demographics research shows that, while English may be the ‘mother tongue’ of the internet, the majority of internet users don’t speak English as a first-language, and 85% of consumers will not buy a product from a website if they can’t read about it in their own first language.
Lingo24 was able to exploit this gap in the online European translation market with its localised sites, and the business grew rapidly, facilitating the opening of offices in Romania and, most recently, Panama, to offer a complete international 24-hour service.
Moving Ahead
Lingo24’s current strategy is to distinguish itself from other translation companies by using innovative technologies, such as the revolutionary web-based Computer Assisted Translation (CAT) XTM system that allows translators and editors to log-in and work on a project simultaneously from anywhere in the world, and also allows clients to update and monitor their projects in real-time.
The XTM system also makes use of statistical machine translation, building up a glossary of often-repeated terms that it can replace automatically when it finds them in context in a new piece of text, meaning the longer translators work on a project, the faster they get. The technology is compatible with any file type and is open architecture, meaning Lingo24 can scale-up operations infinitely, as well as open source, which means clients keep and control their terminology glossary.
What Can You Learn From Christian?
Essentially, the lessons that can be learned from Christian Arno’s business strategy are to keep costs low by working from home wherever possible, use the internet for marketing and communication purposes, and work with the latest technological advances. With a similar strategy and commitment to a bright idea, you too can grow from a home-based start-up into an internationally successful business.
About Lingo24: Global translation and localizationcompany Lingo24 was launched in 2001 and now employs some 4,000 professional freelance translators covering a hundred different language combinations. Follow Lingo24 founder Christian on Twitter:@Lingo24chr
Photo Credit: dierken
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From Zero To Hero: 10 Ways to Grow Your Email List
We’ve been talking the last couple weeks about email marketing for your business, and so far we’ve covered a lot of ground and hopefully got you thinking seriously about integrating email into your marketing mix.
So far we’ve gone over:
The 5 Reasons your email marketing is not working
10 Reasons Your Business Should Be Using Email Marketing
How to Use Email to Effectively Grow Your Business
Today we’ll be covering how to take your email list from zero to hero so you actually have someone to use these marketing tactics on.
It’s In The List
The money is in the list. You’ll hear that saying a lot in the world of online affiliate marketing, the more people on the list the more people they have to buy their stuff.
The same is true with any email list, whether it be for an online biz or offline “bricks and mortar”. The more people on your list – more opportunity, especially if you’re taking the time to establish a trusted relationship with those on it.
So the goal should be to grow a list, and grow a big one.
5 Ways to Grow Your Email List Online
These strategies will work well on your small business website, or if your entire business is online.
1) Make it Visible
I have to see your sign up box in order to opt-in.
2) Demonstrate Relevance
What am I signing up for, and why do I care? Explain this if you can, right on your sign up form. Better yet have a section on your website that says “10 Reason You Should Get Our Newsletter” and then go into details on what they will receive by being on your list.
3) Give an Incentive
Give something away for free to entice sign-ups. A free report, discount on a product, access to a trial of your service, etc. The most bang for your buck here it to giveaway something that demonstrates you expertise, and proves your product/service rocks. Not only will they sign up to get the freebie, but if it rocks they’ll going to tell people about it. Word of mouth at it’s best – building your list and your immediate business.
4) Get Creative
If you can, use a creative medium to draw people to your sign up area. Right now video is hot, and a great way to get subscribers. Make the video yourself, of yourself, introducing what you do and what people will get for signing up to your list.
Video works well for two reasons 1) High perceived value 2)Builds trust as they can see you as a real live person
5) Include Your Privacy Policy
This can be as easy as stating “I hate spam and you won’t get any from me”…people are leery of giving their email address away to just anybody. Set their mind at ease for more sign-ups.
5 Ways to Grow Your Email List Offline
Have a brick and mortar storefront, or do most of your business offline – you should still be building your list. These strategies should help, and you’ll notice they don’t differ too much from the “online” world.
1) Make it Visible
Have a register or checkout area in your store – have a sign-up sheet by your register. Wrapping up with a client, ask them if they want to be a part of your mailing list. Since you will be getting subscribers face to face, be sure to focus on #2 below.
2) Explain Relevance
Tell them why they want to be on your list. How often they’ll hear from you, and what kinds of information you share.
3) Give an Incentive / Exclusivity
Freebies work well offline too. Sample products, coupon, or offer for free service is usually enough to get them onboard. Also, make sure you stress that you’ll be giving exclusive deals to your newsletter/subscribers only.
4) Get Creative
Every interaction with a customer or potential customer is an opportunity to get them on your list. Think about all the different opportunities you have to interact, and get creative with the how’s and why’s to get them signed up.
5) Include Your Privacy Policy
A must. Let them know you don’t spam, and that they’ll only hear from you on relevant matters. Also, be sure to stress you do not sell or rent your email list – for some reason this is more of a concern when someone signs up to a list offline as opposed to online.
Time to Get Married
There you have 5 strategies to get your email list growing both online and offline – now marry the two. Anyone who’s been with me long knows how strongly I believe all small businesses should have an online presence, so grow your list using both online and offline tactics even if you’re a brick and mortar.
Work exclusively online with your business? I bet you go to networking functions, or interact with somebody in the offline world who you can sell the benefits of you list too.
Work your list building from both sides of the fence and watch it grow faster than you thought possible.
Up Next
Well, email marketing summer school is about over. Up next we’ll put all this information together and have you using everything you’ve learned to start growing your small business using email. I think you’ll be pleased with the results.
See you soon…class dismissed.
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Random Acts of Recessionary Kindness
Plaza Cleaners in Portland, OR had this sign up in their window recently.
I’m calling this a “Random Act of Recessionary Kindness”, and it’s nice to see people working together to get through the tough times. Not only that, but what cleaner do you think the people who take them up on this offer will use once they get jobs?
Have you seen any Random Acts? Let me know about them in the comments below, or better yet send us a picture.
Photo Credits: Rebecca Gabriel (via WWeek.com)
arimoore’s photostream (front page)
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Four W’s of Branding
Of all the things in business you can make difficult, branding has to be close to the top of the list.
We all know the importance of branding, and brand management, and as such tend to over think it.
Branding really comes down to answering these four questions and then remaining consistent to your answers as implement your marketing messages.
This is the foundation of a great brand, focus on it while building yours.
Who Are You?
Seems simple on the surface, but often overlooked. Your brand will reflect who you are as a person, and as a company. What do you stand for, what is your mission, do you have core values and principals that drive your business decisions? All of those go into what makes you, you. And it’s the first step in fleshing out your brand.
What Do You Do?
What does your business do? This one is pretty straight forward, it’s essentially your elevator speech, or how you would sum up your business if given 30 seconds to talk about it. Focus on your core competencies when answering “what do you do”; because while we may think we’re all things to everybody, in reality there are specialties within our businesses that should be highlighted.
Why Does it Matter?
This is a tough one for many. Exactly why does what you do matter? How does your business touch people, interact with the customer, in such a way that it is relevant? Until you know why you matter, and to whom you matter, you can’t begin to develop the proper messages that will act as the foundation of your brand.
What Makes You Different?
If you’re exactly the same as the next guy it’s going to be hard to develop a meaningful brand. The good news is hardly anyone is exactly the same as the next guy. You have strengths, beliefs, ideas, and business models that make you different. Your answers to the other three questions should help you realize your differences, and what makes you unique. Focus on your competitive advantage, and when it comes to building a brand remember to celebrate your differences.
In a Nutshell
That’s really all there is to developing the messages that will build your brand. Forget logos, fonts, colors, or any other brand building tool until you answer the questions above. Those are brand strentheners, not brand builders, knowing the four W’s is the foundation from which to build on.
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Featured Entrepreneur: Anyluckyday.com
In today’s economy who wouldn’t want something for free? Our latest “Featured Entrepreneur” is taking advantage of that fact, and giving it all away at anyluckyday.com
Proving that free can be a perfectly suitable business model, owner Giancarlo Massaro jokes that there is such a thing as a free lunch:
“At AnyLuckDay.com, your free lunch is not too good to be true. The prizes are absolutely free (or else they wouldn’t be prizes). We even cover the shipping.”
To get an idea of what’s going on at Anyluckyday.com take a look at the interview below, but first don’t overlook the fact that you can win free stuff too!
SPECIAL OFFER:To see what this site is all about, head on over to Anyluckyday.com and enter for your chance to win a brand new Flip Mino. The contest starts today, and it’s absolutely free!!
What is Anyluckyday.com?
Have you ever heard the phrase, “There’s no such thing as a free lunch. If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.”
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At AnyLuckDay.com, your free lunch is not too good to be true. The prizes are absolutely free (or else they wouldn’t be prizes). We even cover the shipping.
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How can we do this? In this economy, companies are trying to save advertising dollars but still need to successfully promote their businesses. By donating their products to us, companies get the exposure they need and YOU have the chance to win great prizes, absolutely free. All you have to do is go to the specific contest that is running, read the blog post, and make a comment. So, ANY DAY can be your LUCKY DAY. A free lunch never tasted so good.
When did you start the business?
I started the business in January 09. We are about 1 ½ months post launch and the site is growing quickly. We’ve received an amazing amount of donations from sponsors, and with some upcoming interviews we have, we expect the donations to continue to grow.
How did you get the idea?
I used to think of website ideas and then have them built, but ever since I started college two years ago, I was unable to properly manage my time and therefore sold off all my sites. This year I finally managed to setup a good schedule, and I wanted to get back into making websites. I pondered for weeks on what type of website I could make that would not be targeted towards a specific niche, and would allow me to include almost anyone. I was actually lying on the couch at my girlfriend’s house one night and thought up the idea for AnyLuckyDay at around 3:30 in the morning after watching an infomercial on TV. They were selling the Snuggie and I thought, wouldn’t it be cool if they gave those out for free. A light bulb then went off in my head and I instantly grabbed my laptop, open notepad, and starting building off my idea.
What sources did you use to fund your biz?
My long time friend, Jason Tessitore and I have funded the site completely. We have not searched for outside funding.
What was the biggest start-up challenges?
The biggest challenge was getting people to come to the site. You know you have something great to offer, but no one knows about it. It was hard to accept the fact that the site would not explode overnight, even though I feel like it should have because of the idea behind it. I have learned that patience and persistency is key.
How did you overcome those challenges?
Social media. I talked to people via twitter, facebook, myspace, and linkedin and let them know about my idea. I then began talking to many bloggers and was able to get some links back and reviews of my site. I was then able to get some interviews done. I also talked to members of a few forums that I frequent. Once you begin to get your name out there, people will recognize you and tell others and it grows from there.
What has been the response/reaction to your business from your clients?
To be completely honest, not a single person that we have talked to has responded with negativity towards our business model. People seem to love what we do and have only given us constructive criticism to help improve the site for everyone who visits. No negative feedback? Hm..I might be onto something here.
Best advice you can give to a new start-up?
You must love, care, and be passionate about what you are doing. If the love and passion for your startup isn’t there, then you should not be doing it. If your users see that you care and are passionate about them and what you are doing, they will begin to care as well.
Biggest lesson you’ve learned from starting your own business?
Analyze every single feature that you want on your website, and ask yourself if you REALLY need it. This was a major mistake on my part and I ended up having so many features put into the site at the beginning that it actually drove people away from the site rather than bring them in.
What’s the future look like for Anyluckyday.com?
I see a very, very bright future for the site. I’ve had my ups and downs and have been unmotivated at times, but recently there has been an increase in interest in the site and we have received an overwhelming amount of sponsors. The more attention and press the site gets, the bigger it will get, and the more sponsors it will get. I see endless opportunities for Any Lucky Day because literally anyone who knows how to use a computer can simply come to our site and win something.
What inspires you to do what you do?
As a little kid I always loved buying presents for my family and friends and would enjoy seeing their reaction when they opened it. Now that I am older I’ve tried to apply this same notion to Any Lucky Day and help companies get more exposure while at the same time giving gifts to people.
In one word, what’s the key to success?
Passion.
Short personal bio:
Giancarlo Massaro is a 19 years old college student at Sacred Heart University in Fairfield, CT. He is a Division I soccer player, and founder/owner of AnyLuckyDay.com. Previously he founded WootAgent.com which was featured on TechCrunch, LifeHacker and many other large blogs, and the site has since been sold. Also he founded friendfleet.com, a popular myspace friend adding tool, also sold.
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Featured Entrepreneur – iwearyourshirt.com
Today’s featured entrepreneur is Jason, of iwearyourshirt.com. Iwearyourshirt.com is an innovative and fun approach to marketing and advertising. How’s it work? Every day in 2009 Jason will be wearing a different shirt, your shirt, for promotion. As Jason says,
“In this up and down economy I’m outsourcing my wardrobe (namely shirts) to corporate America and you! I’m going to wear a different shirt for 365 days straight in 2009, take multiple pictures throughout my day and blog about it. Days are sold at “face value” so January 1 is $1 and December 31 is $365.”
The possibilities around this kind of marketing are limitless, and the buzz factor is sure to be high with such an original take on marketing a product or service. Jason has already sold 115 of 365 days in 2009, so it appears word is spreading fast!
We were lucky enough to make contact with Jason through Twitter, and he was not only kind enough to grant an interview, he also went above and beyond by offering a day of his services to one lucky Small Biz Bee reader!
That’s right, one lucky Small Biz Bee reader will get a day of Jason wearing your shirt to promote just about anything you can think of.
What do you have to do to win a day at iwearyourshirt.com?
All you have to do to win is sign up for Small Biz Bee’s newsletter. That’s it! Just sign up for our newsletter between December 8th and December 22nd and you are eligible. The winner will be drawn at random on December 23, 2008.
Use your free day to advertise:
Jason explains below exactly what you get by having him wear your shirt for a day, and you’re really only limited by your own imagination. Use your day to promote:
A special thanks to Jason for making this happen! Below Jason shares what it took to get his project started, some challenges he faced, and what he thinks the future holds for iwearyourshirt.com.
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When did you start the business?
iwearyourshirt.com (IWYS) was conceived on September 24. That was the night/early morning I was laying in bed and had a light-bulb moment. After a month of tweaking the idea, talking it over with friends/family and having the Thought & Theory team build the site, I was finally able to launch on October 21.
How did you get the idea?
I am always amazed at interesting little marketing ideas that work, the “Million Dollar Homepage” was a big inspiration for me. I wanted to think of something I was in complete control of, but was still easy and inexpensive enough for people to get value from.
What sources did you use to fund your biz?
Everything is self funded with some design/development time donated from the company I co-own, Thought & Theory.
What was the biggest startup challenges?
The biggest challenge was trying to get things up and running fast enough. There are a lot of moving parts behind the scenes and I really wanted people to have a simple and flawless experience. No matter how hard you try, there will always be bugs and errors that pop-up. Another challenge is adoption. Trying to reach an audience of people who understand the value and like to have a little fun with marketing/advertising.
How did you overcome those challenges?
You really have to be patient. I can’t sit here and try to tell you that you will find every problem before it happens, that just isn’t realistic. When I was doing bug testing I wanted everything fixed immediately, but it can’t be done that way and you have to take care of what is most important first. Knock out the things you think are critical to a person’s experience on your website and worry about the nit-picky items later. As far as overcoming the issue of adoption, I still haven’t found the perfect answer. Sites like Twitter and Facebook are a big help, but it also helps to have a solid network of contacts. I wouldn’t be where I am today without some great people I knew prior to this project lending a helping hand.
What has been the response/reaction to iwearyourshirt.com?
The response has been overwhelmingly positive, within a week of launching the IWYS Calender, January, February and March sold out! I’ve had a bunch of people come to me and tell me they love the idea, they wish they had thought of it and can’t wait to watch me in 2009. It’s definitely not easy putting yourself out there, whether you are wearing 365 shirts or launching your own startup.
Best advice you can give to a new startup?
Be confident in the product you are selling, don’t give up at the first sign of trouble and nothing is an overnight success.
Biggest lesson you’ve learned from all of this?
Launch your project. Sometimes you might think you need every bell and whistle, but starting with a solid foundation is more important then launching a feature-intensive project.
Why do you think Small Biz Bee readers would benefit from buying a day on iwearyourshirt.com?
Getting your name out there is tough these days. Banner advertising isn’t worth the money, especially not compared to the cost of IWYS. I really feel like this is a great opportunity for people to learn about different brands, companies or products. Not only are you engaging an Internet audience, I am going to out there everyday, trying my hardest to get the shirts seen.
If someone buys a day, what can they expect you to do on that day?
This has a question that has been asked a lot and I want to make it very clear, I am not just wearing the shirts for a photo and video on that day. I am wearing the shirts from the time I get up in the morning until I go to sleep at night. What if I have an important meeting or an occasion that requires nice clothing? That’s what sports coats are for.. nothing on my schedule or in my life is too serious for a t-shirt and sports coat. But as far as exposure is concerned, IWYS will be featured on the homepage of Ustream.tv for a daily 20 minute show. The same show and other video clips will be spread across YouTube, AOL Video, MySpace Video and multiple other video sharing sites. IWYS is a member of the FuelMyBlog network which is connected to 20,000+ other blogs and bloggers and will also be spread to an audience of 10,000+ Facebook and Twitter users. Daily photos and blog posts will be featured on Flickr and the IWYS Official Blog to round out every day.
What’s the future look like for iwearyourshirt.com?
Hopefully a bunch of great Small Biz Bee readers will join IWYS and buy a day or two, because I already have big plans for 2010. I really want to create a sustainable medium for advertising that reaches an audience that cares.
Bio:
I’m a 26 year old business-creative currently living in Jacksonvile, FL. I’ve used the Internet and design for business pursuits for the last 10 years, both professionally and personally. After working a few design focused jobs, it became clear that the marketing and business end of things were much more interesting and rewarding. In 2006 I co-founded Thought & Theory, a company that specializes in creating, designing, talking about and developing simple and beautiful web applications. I’ve worked with large advertising companies, social networks, professional sports leagues, along with other various new media and Internet related work. Outside of the web and computers, I’m a sports fanatic, both watching and participating in, a movie buff and an automotive enthusiast.
Remember:
All Small Biz Bee readers have a chance to win a day of Jason’s services. All you have to do to be eligible is sign up for our newsletter between December 8th and the 22nd. One winner will be drawn at random on December 23, 2008.
Use iwearyourshirt.com to promote:
- Yourself
- An event
- Your compnay
- Your product
- Personal message (Happy Birthday Mom?)
- Your website/blog
Another Entreprenuer Filling a Niche – Honeywear, Inc
As entrepreneurs we all understand how important, and profitable, filling a niche can be. Sometimes finding a niche can be as easy as thinking of products or services we wish existed, and instead of waiting for somebody else to bring them to market, doing it ourselves. That’s exactly what Christen Ward of Honeywear, Inc has done with her company.
As you can see Christen is getting a lot of attention due to her unique approach to a product she (and many others) needed, and all of her hard work is really paying off! Her company recently caught the eyes of Forbes.com and their “Boost Your Business” contest, where she found out she was one of the finalist.
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By: Christen Ward
Honeywear is a company committed to producing functional, locally made products in an environmentally and socially responsible manner. About 3 years ago, we (Christen Ward and Kristin Keliher) could not find a made in the USA baby carrier to suit our needs, so we created one! As soon as we began using our creation, we knew we would have to share it with everyone! We saw an amazing business opportunity to market something that was uniquely ours while filling a market niche. With that in mind, we incorporated as Honeywear, Inc. in January of 2007.
We started Honeywear with essentially no capital, which has been one of the biggest challenges, but also one of our best assets. The small amount of capital made production challenging, limited our funds for marketing and PR and prevented us from taking salaries. However, without major loans, we have been able to turn a profit in under 2 years! And through determination and grassroots marketing we have achieved brand recognition.
Around May of 2008, we were notified of a national competition, put on by Forbes.com—the annual Boost Your Business Contest, with a grand prize of $100,000. Honeywear, along with 1500 other national applicants, sent Forbes a 500 word synopsis of their business plans. From those, the contestants were narrowed to 20 by a panel of judges. We were absolutely thrilled when we received the notification that we were in the top 20. In order to make it to the final round, each company needed online votes. The 5 companies with the most online votes would move into the final round. Honeywear finished in 3rd place. In the beginning of October, our letter of notification informed us that we would be flying to New York for a 10 minute presentation of our product and company. The presentation was to be in front of a panel of judges, all of whom are high powered executives. We were also notified that we would have 1 week to rewrite our business plan to the specifications of Forbes.com and to prepare our presentation.
The presentation went better than we could have ever expected. It will be aired, along with the other 4 finalists, on Forbes.com on Monday, November 3rd. The winner is determined 50% on the judges’ opinions of our business and 50% on public voting. Get involved and help a small business get major capital! To help Honeywear win, you can vote from the Honeywear website, www.honeywear.net. Just click on the Boost Your Business button from the Honeywear home page!
Ribbit Films – Entrepreneur Fills Niche & Finds Success
The November 2008 issue of Money Magazine landed in my mailbox a couple days ago, and inside it I was pleased to find an interview with an entrepreneur who typifies the idea of filling a niche to find success. Below is a summary of the interview he gave to Josh Hyatt.
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Name: Navarre Joseph
Age: 37
Business: Ribbit Films, a NY based company providing stock video footage for use in ads and promotions
Started: 2004
Annual Revenue: $900,000
How He Got the Idea:
Navarre was working as a photographer at an ad agency when a retailer came to them in a hurry wanting a video clip of a couple being cuddly. Navarre suggested they find a place that could sell the footage without the background, and it turned out there was no such place! Immediately he saw a niche to build an online library of moving images that could be superimposed on any backdrop. He started shooting clips of “iconic” moments: Three seconds of a soccer kick, a home-run swing, a handshake, that could be used by the designers on any backdrop they wanted.
Greatest Challenge:
Navarre found it difficult to educate the desisgners about his services. Designers at first did not see a need, and using their clips which cost $299 each did not appeal to them. Nobody wanted to use the clips, until they saw someone else using them.
How He Overcame It:
He put the footage in peoples hands. He sent potential clients a disk of his work, and put free clips on their website that people could download and play with. Pretty soon people were asking “Where have you been!”
To win clients, I had to show them why they needed my pioneering video service
Navarre Joseph
Advice To Others:
When you’re talking about something people haven’t seen before, it’s hard for them to envision. So wherever you can, show them rather than tell them.
Navarre used many techniques we have talked about here at SmallBizbee.com. He essentially gave his product away for free so people could get used to working with it, and then found they couldn’t live without it. He put is product in their hands, which we know is a way to get word of mouth advertising started. And he has made sure he has a top notch product and service which is the foundation of building a successful business.
Are you a successful entrepreneur, or do you know one? Why not submit their story to us so they can be featured here?
Student, Athlete, Entrepreneur
Meet Daniela Maldonado, owner and founder of Hello Bath & Body Company. In case running a successful business wasn’t enough, Daniela is also majoring in Physics at Rutgers University and captains her collegiate fencing club! If you’ve ever thought you were too busy to accomplish everything, one look at Daniela’s schedule will have you thinking again. Below Daniela shares a day in the life of a student, athlete, and entrepreneur.
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Hi, I’m Daniela Maldonado, owner and founder of Hello Bath & Body Company based in Oakland, NJ. I am touted for being a full-time everything; in addition to my business, I …am a full-time student at Rutgers University working towards my physics degree, am President of the Rutgers Fencing Club, serve on the Tournament Committee for the New Jersey Division of the United States Fencing Association, and am expected to fence competitively for the New York Athletic Club this season. Whew! That was a mouthful. So, want to see what my typical day is like? Let’s go!
Today is a Tuesday and my morning starts at 6 AM. At this time, I’m feeding my pets, checking emails, and cutting soap made the previous day. By 7, I’ve walked to the bus and am on my way to the train station in nearby Ridgewood. Tuesdays are good, because I catch the express trains in the morning. My usual commute lasts anywhere from 1.5-2.5 hours depending on whether or not the trains are running on schedule.
A little bit after 9, I make it to campus. By this point, I’ve done plenty of work and phone calls while on the train. I look at my schedule nearly 50 times a day:
The definition of how I get through my days. I have a personal planner for school and fencing and a notebook just for business notes and to-do’s. I leave space in my personal planner “free” – this usually means I’m free to make product or purchase supplies depending on where I am.
Tuesday mornings this semester, I have my last lab course – Computer Based Experimentation and Physics Computing. It’s as fun as it sounds. What you see here is a Geiger tube and counter, counting the nuclear decay of 137Cs. It’s more or less a practice in Gaussian and Poisson distributions, and took way too long. I have one more class today at 1:40 and that runs until 3.
After class today, I am looking at an office space in downtown New Brunswick. I spend a lot of time in New Brunswick, and I’ve considered moving some of my workload down here – distribution and whatnot. The building was nice, but the space itself was a bit unkempt and depressing. Next up is a meeting with our program director for the fencing club at the University. If you’re not familiar with Rutgers New Brunswick, it is comprised of five different campuses, with an inter-campus bus system. The short ride from New Brunswick to Piscataway looks like this:
This actually isn’t too bad, but you can imagine how bad it gets right before and after classes on any given campus. Being in charge of the fencing club is not what I wanted to be at this point in my college career. I was looking for something more along the lines of Varsity Team Captain – but our athletic department controversially cut six Olympic sports right after my freshman year. I think about this plenty, but it just gives me more incentive to create a great experience for the club members.
After 8 hours on campus, I’m off to New York for fencing practice. Mondays and Thursdays I have practice at school, while Tuesdays and Fridays I practice at the New York Athletic Club near Central Park South. Dinner tonight? More like a late lunch – veggie delight sub! I get the foot-long for a mere $5 and save the other half for after practice. I try and use my commuting time wisely. Today, I’m reading a few journals on clinical trials of Arnica montana for a research project in my Herbals and Neutraceuticals class:
Joining me on my journey is my fencing bag, which I swear weighs 100 lbs. It doesn’t, it’s more like 30. Maybe 25. This bag holds more than $600 in equipment and you can imagine I hold onto it tightly everywhere I go:
The New York Athletic Club is responsible for bringing fencing to the U.S. and is a host to both Olympic fencers and coaches over the years. I would certainly say I am lucky to be able to fence amidst the amazing athletes there. They inspire me and keep me going – and some of them are just great friends. During the week, time at the club is essentially the only time I get with my boyfriend, but he is one of my biggest supporters and is always understanding. I get home around 11 later that evening, tired out and ready to go to sleep. Friday through Sunday is not as jam-packed, and that’s when I get my production time and I do my Farmers’ Market on Saturdays as well.
My advice to other ambitious individuals? Time management is key! I promise you, you can do it all, just prioritize. Prioritize, write everything down, and schedule accordingly. And when I say schedule, I mean schedule everything – not just appointments. Whether it’s answering emails, picking up lunch, or that bath you’ve been dying to take – write it in. I’ll admit, I don’t schedule in my lunches or dinners, but my stomach will tell you I should. Some might think I try to do too much, but I just remind myself that I am doing everything I want to do – and that keeps me happy and successful.
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About the business: Hello Bath & Body Co. was founded in 2008 and has locally been a success since its beginning. A perfect blend of science and art, soapmaking became a passion of mine and there was no turning back. I strive for Hello Bath & Body Co. to be a business with a conscience: part of profits are donated to reforestation projects in Indonesia (http://orangutans-sos.org/) and organic or sustainably-harvested oils and ingredients are used where possible. Follow Hello as it grows at www.hellobathandbody.com or keep up with Daniela at http://hellosoap.blogspot.com
Where Does a Mama Go For Bargains?
This weeks success story can be summed up in two words, persistence and patience. And as Jessica Singer of Mamabargains.com shows, if you have a bit of both you’re way ahead of the game. This mama started a home based business based on what she knew, and what she thought other mom’s would need.
I like the customer focus, and the “one deal at a time” approach, but as she states in the interview her niche is in a market dominated by big players. Remember that as a small business owner the way you compete with the big boys is not always on price, but by delivering quality customer service, that focuses on building relationships. That will go a long way in leveling the playing field with the “big boys”.
Persistence and Patience.
I can’t think of two more important qualities you will HAVE to learn to embody if you want to try to be a success at starting a business. You need not just one or the other, but you need both, and those go for both your personal life as well as your business life, you will have to learn to multitask like you’ve never done before too! http://www.womenhomebusiness.com/startup/mamabargains-jessica-singer.htm
With the economy in the doldrums, everyone needs a little bargain, especially for families raising little kids. While every child is a blessing, you need money to raise one. A 2006 US Department of Agriculture study estimates that the annual cost of raising a baby 0-2 years old is around $13,140.
MamaBargains.com http://www.mamabargains.com is a new online store that offers baby products at least 50% off its retail value (or even up to 80% off in some cases). What sets this online store apart is its use of one deal at a time concept, wherein MamaBargains.com offer only one heavily discounted product until their inventory runs out.
We interviewed Jessica Singer, founder of MamaBargains.com, about her new business, and the challenges they face with the newly launched online store.
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When did you officially launch MamaBargains.com?
How long was the preparation to launch the site? We launched Mamabargains.com on May 19th, 2008. The preparation was really over the last year, we had the idea, but were not sure which direction to go with it, so over the period of the year, we tossed ideas around and eventually nailed down our plan.
What is the concept behind MamaBargains.com?
The concept behind the site it really just simplicity…one product at a time, and at a deal that’s hard to pass up, and something that can be fun and interactive as well as a great avenue for our vendors to clear out their overstock, discontinued designs or out of season items easily…it’s a win win for everyone involved, the customer, the vendor, and us. It’s fantastic to read all the emails from moms who tell us that they are addicted!
You have set your site apart from other ecommerce sites with your one-deal-at-a-time model. What gave you the confidence that this would work?
We are addicted to another One Deal at a Time site called Steep and Cheap, located here in Salt Lake City as well. We actually met with the owner, John Bresee on April 24th, 2008, once our business plan was completed and we knew exactly how we wanted to move ahead. We wanted a professional point of view and to speak to someone who had been there and done that and knew how to be successful.
His insight was what helped us realize that Mamabargains could be something to be proud of, and his excitement for us was what helped take us to the next level, which was executing our plan. He talked to us for only an hour, and the fact that he took time out of his busy schedule to meet with us showed us that he was a down to earth, friendly guy, and that eased us into the next steps of creating Mamabargains.com.
How do you decide what products to offer in the site? What are your criteria for product selection?
This is the toughest part of Mamabargains.com. I spend hours upon hours scouring the Internet for great ideas. It’s exhausting and time consuming, but well worth it in the end. We also implemented a tool on the site that makes our jobs just a tad bit easier that gives our customers a chance to tell us about specific products they are looking for. We try to respond to every request individually, but now with the high volume, its nearly impossible to respond to each one, eventually we will have someone whose job will be to respond to them each individually and keep a spreadsheet of all the requests, it helps us find great new products…we might be parents, but we certainly don’t know about all the great stuff out there!
Criteria…it’s a nasty little word, but there is definitely criteria…we are very selective of the vendors we decide to work with. We have to make sure that the product fits within the trendy, modern mold, and that the vendors products can be considered high end. We have a few vendors who will always stay close to our hearts, as they were our very first vendors who took a chance on us before our site was launched. We spent months before our launch calling vendors to try to line product up for our launch, which was a huge risk, but a necessary one to have tons of product sitting here in our garage just begging to be sold.
Timi and Leslie was our first vendor, Dogwood USA was our second, Me-in-Mind Footwear was our third. Next came New Native Slings, My Baby Nest and Slinglings…from there we had our beginning and our chance to show moms how much fun our site would be.
What was the most difficult part of starting MamaBargains.com?
The most difficult part was juggling my husband, two children, the oldest is two and a half, and the youngest at the time right before the launch was only a few months old and struggling with an allergy to my breast milk, and vendor calls and working with our programmer. So our lives were incredibly hectic and fast paced and hasn’t slowed down since.
We originally had a friend doing the programming, but a few weeks after he had been working on the site, he let us know that he was in over his head, which was a major setback, but regardless, we were thankful that he didn’t continue with our project knowing he was in over his head on it. We put out a desperate plea after that setback on elance.com letting programmers know that we needed someone to work on our site, we had product in our garage, and had lost a few weeks of work already, so we needed someone to start work as soon as humanly possible…that was one of the most difficult parts of the entire launch. I called around one morning and found this awesome programmer located in Florida, and he was able start work immediately, it was a right time right place kind of timing, and couldn’t have worked out better, he’s been phenomenal for MamaBargains.com.
How did you finance this business? What were the challenges you faced during the financing stage?
Financing…ugh. This part was the scariest part of starting this business. Not the most difficult, mostly because I LOVE SHOPPING, so I didn’t have a hard time spending the money at all, it was just a scary prospect.
We are just a small little family, my husband works full time for an engineering contractor here in Salt Lake City, and I was a stay at home mom. Taking a chance like this is still pretty scary at times, we look at a lot of different elements, though, the future and where MamaBargains.com will be down the road, what we are doing for moms, we feel is a great thing, and its hard to say that without sounding all snobby, its not like that at all, we just really knew that this was a site that parents need, our economy pretty much stinks right now, and having a bargain site that is fun and addicting and a brand new concept for the mommy market is something to be excited about.
So as far as financing goes, we have some dough that was hanging around waiting to be used, and of course, like anyone else, a few little loans here and there were helpful as well. You will most likely never ever see any advertisements on MamaBargains.com either, the income from them would be nice, but we think it would make our site lose its personality. it makes us less of people and more of a corporation, which we feel is not healthy for our business model.
How are your marketing MamaBargains.com?
Word of Mom is a powerful, necessary tool for any business focusing on the mommy market. Moms make up 1.7 trillion dollars of consumer spending each year in the U.S. and we just wanted to focus on a small portion of that spending total by giving moms a cool, new website that gives them an exciting new way of making a bargain purchase…simplicity.
MamaBargains.com will flourish, and flourishing means adding new products to our list, and it also means that the bargains will continue to be unbeatable.
Very soon we will have a forum added to the site which will also be a fun way for moms to talk about their likes and dislikes of certain products they have purchased from MamaBargains.com, and meet each other in a fun forum atmosphere that is intended to be a laid back place to just chill with other moms.
How are you balancing a new business, family and other interests?
Balancing is a tough act for sure. We had to hire a nanny to help out, since I was home all day answering emails, calling vendors to line up new product, and printing receipts for each customer, shipping labels, inventory, and adding items to our inventory, playing around in Photoshop to edit items, it’s a LOT to take on. Our nanny comes a few days a week, and those are the days I focus on trying to line up new product, and those are also the days that I spend answering a lot of emails, questions, inquiries, and such. h.
I also had to purchase a Blackberry. I always said I would NEVER own one of these, since my husband has one for his job and spends a lot of time on his, it used to always annoy me…now the tables are turned! There are times a customer will email a question at midnight and I answer them, whether we are at home, or recently, at the airport waiting to board a flight! I had a customer email me a few weeks ago with a question, I happened to be awake, at 2 AM still working, and I emailed her back. I quickly received a response that said, “Thanks a million for the quick response, do you ever sleep?”
It was actually a light bulb moment when I though, geez Jess, sleep is nice. So now I try my hardest to stop emailing responses if its after 7 or 8 pm. It’s hard, though. I strive to give excellent customer service, and a prompt response is part of that. But I can only be stretched so thin.
Our customers are fabulous, though, and understand that its just a family run business, so sometimes a response may take a few hours or even a day or so. Fridays are our days off also, we know we don’t have to ship anything out on Saturday or Sunday, so we take Friday and most of Saturday and hang out with our friends and our boys. We always like to go somewhere fun just to get away from the house and every day chaos that is an essential part of MamaBargains.com.
What are the pressing challenges you see ahead?
The pressing challenges ahead are for sure lining up new fun products. We just have to think that for every 10 ‘no’s’ from a vendor, there has to be at least one ‘yes’, so we keep pushing forward and actually have some vendors that contact us, which makes us feel like we are doing a good job with the site, and that makes our job easier, and really gives us more time to spend as a family, which we cannot risk losing as MamaBargains.com grows. The bigger we get, the better products we get, and the more products we sell, the bigger we get as well, so having a business that grows is wonderful, but also challenging to respond to that growth appropriately, buying a warehouse, hiring employees, watching our two boys grow and making sure that we are making time for our family while keeping MamaBargains.com growing in a healthy direction.
What are your expectations of MamaBargains.com? What are you hoping to achieve?
We have a lot of expectations of MamaBargains.com, some of them we won’t say, because we have to keep some element of surprise, but some of them are the obvious ones, like healthy growth, having return customers that talk about us to their friends and family, and calling vendors that say, ‘oh yeah, I’ve heard of you before’, those are things that we hope to continue to achieve.
As far as future achievements are concerned, our biggest achievement will be to get to the point that MamaBargains.com is more of a household name, and to be a company that customers talk about as far as customer service goes. I worked in the customer service industry for such a long time that giving good customer service has been a huge focus of ours, and we seem to be doing very well with it. we have lots of parents that emails us (dads too) that tell us they are so happy with our customer service, so this is something that we are incredibly proud of.
How do you expect to compete with the big boys of the business – e.g. Amazon, Toys R’Us?
Wow, those are the big boys, and I guess we never really thought of them as competition, more because we want to always stay that type of site that offers one deal at a time, not several items on one page, and deals that can’t be beat. Even if those stores had a similar concept, there are a ton of parents out there that have expressed to us that they enjoy shopping from a small, mom owned business, that lets them feel almost like family through the emails we send, the newsletters we write, and just the style of wording we use on the site. I don’t like to sound sterile or generic in my writing, I like to write more like I’m talking to a friend, so when I write our newsletters, I write them like I’m talking to my friends, just laid back and casual. Its seems that parents appreciate that, and hopefully they will enjoy those little things that make us more ‘human’ than just simply ordering from a huge conglomerate corporation that has become fairly generic in their online presence.
Not saying that its not intimidating to be in the same ball field as those companies, just saying that we aren’t looking to take over the world, we just want to hit a few homeruns every now and then, not hold the homerun record! d!
Do you have any lessons you wish to share to other entrepreneurs?
Persistence and Patience.
I can’t think of two more important qualities you will HAVE to learn to embody if you want to try to be a success at starting a business. You need not just one or the other, but you need both, and those go for both your personal life as well as your business life, you will have to learn to multitask like you’ve never done before too!
I have two boys, I have had a vendor on the phone lining up new product, while changing two dirty diapers at the same time as trying to quiet the dog who is at the front door barking at our UPS man who is waiting in the driveway for our garage to open so he can take all the boxes away to be shipped to their new owners! That is a normal day for me, some days, I crawl into bed at night, and wonder why it seemed the day only lasted 15 whole minutes. I have so many things I juggle everyday, none of this would be possible if I hadn’t figured out how to have persistence and patience, and it didn’t come easy!
This interview was originally published at: http://www.womenhomebusiness.com/startup/mamabargains-jessica-singer.htm
Best Lemonade Stand In America 2008
I know a lot of businesses that would be happy to make $125 their first weekend…What can we learn here? These kids had a good location, unique marketing idea, and a quality product. A recipe for success we can all follow.
Did you name your lemonade stand? If yes, please let us know what you called it. If not, please go on to the next question.
Yes, we named our lemonade stand “LemonSharks Lemonade.”
How did you build your lemonade stand? (Don’t forget to let us know what materials you used and how you came up with the idea!)
We drew a picture of what we wanted and asked our dad to help us build it – we measured and helped cut all the wood and the tin roof. We were able to use the saws and drills to put it together with our dad’s help. We also have pictures of us building it and painting it.
What does your lemonade stand look like? (Describe what it looks like and why you designed it the way you did, talking about the size of your stand and any extra special signs you created to promote it!)
It looks like a roadside beach hut because we live at the beach and wanted it to look like a beach shack. We drew out our shark fin signs and cut them out and painted them too.
How did you choose the lemonade recipe and how did you make your lemonade?
We have 3 flavors regular, pink, and strawberry and we put our own lemon juice in with Country Time mix and then add a special amount of sugar that we keep a secret. We have sugar free for people who can’t have sugar. We put fresh lemons and limes in with our shaved ice to make it taste extra good!
How much money did you make this weekend?
We made $125 our first weekend and we give 20% to a local museum in Ocean Isle Beach for their Shark Program. We had to do a business plan and get investors to help us start our stand. This was our end of school project. We had to use things we learned during the year and then use them in our lemonade business. We got an A!
http://www.inc.com/lemonade/2008/
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Spelling Out Success
This family turned a childhood game into a multi-million dollar business.
By Lindsay Holloway | August 21, 2008
Jera, 34, and Brad Deal, 39
Sticks And Stones, Peoria, Illinois
Projected 2008 sales: $10.5 million
Description: Custom keepsakes made using framed photos
Picture perfect: When Jera Deal took her oldest daughter “letter hunting,” it was merely a way for the 15-month-old to learn the alphabet by finding letters in nature and architecture. Four years and two kids later, however, that game had evolved into a full-time business. When they needed a unique and memorable gift for a wedding, Jera and husband Brad framed photos of the letters that spelled the newlyweds’ last name. The keepsake was a hit, and the Deals quickly realized they were on to something.
Show biz: Following the 2005 launch of their website, the Deals got into their first catalog and set out to get their product into as many hands as possible. There was one person, however, who they especially wanted to reach: Oprah Winfrey. After a couple of trips to her show and “a little bit of luck and persistence,” says Brad, they finally managed to reach the icon. “I stood up in front of 300 audience members and [gave] her a keepsake,” he explains. “She opened it and loved it”–so much so that she commissioned one on the spot for Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes. Says Brad, “We were already self-sustaining at that point, but having [Oprah's approval] helped a lot.”
Word bank: Today, Jera and Brad continue to build their letter inventory, brand, reach and sales. They’re inking deals with a third catalog and are working on relationships with Disney and Hallmark. But staying true to their original vision remains a priority. “We don’t ever want to come across as commercialized,” says Jera. “This is a family business [that started] as a hobby with our daughters. We want to maintain that integrity.”
Follow their lead: Even a successful business can benefit from a high-profile endorsement.
What is your secret to success?
Brad and Jera: The gut answer is faith. We can’t tell you how many things got answered in our business because we prayed and prayed. But from a business standpoint: building the brand. When you think MP3 player, you think iPod. In our small industry, we are like that. We are the iPod of our specific market.
What advice would you give other entrepreneurs?
Brad and Jera: Seek out people who have done it before or who can help. Don’t be afraid to humble yourself and ask. And don’t be afraid to go straight to the top. Ask for the producer’s name; ask for the editor’s name.
When did you know you’d “made it”?
Brad and Jera: Getting on Oprah’s show as an audience member and giving her a keepsake. When she said, “I have to have [one] for Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes,” the audience collectively gasped because they all knew what that was going to do for business. She’s the most recognizable face in the world. We would have been a nameless catalog company without her.
What was the first toy or reward you bought for yourself when you became successful?
Brad and Jera: Honestly, we have not bought a thing for ourselves. We just donate it. We’re house hunting and we’ll get a new car at some point, but we already have nice cars and live in a beautiful home. We already have a blessed life, so it’s a privilege to give back to the community. In January, we bought new desks for our daughters’ classrooms at their private school. The desks have been around since 1972; they were falling apart.
URL: http://www.entrepreneur.com/worklife/successstories/youngmillionaires/article196568.html
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