The Dirty Truth About “Bounce-Back Entrepreneurs”
“An entrepreneur tends to bite off a little more than he can chew hoping he’ll quickly learn how to chew it.” – Roy Ash Colin Morris, like so many entrepreneurs I have met, is in the middle of a whirlwind of his own creation. He has plenty of ideas about…
The Desperate Entrepreneur
“Desperation is the raw material of drastic change. Only those who can leave behind everything they have ever believed in can hope to escape.” – William S. Burroughs “I have to make this business work.” That’s what Ryan, a desperate entrepreneur with a serious problem, said to me the other…
What to Do When Tenders Rule the Day
“So long as new ideas are created, sales will continue to reach new highs.” – Charles Kettering A reader, MR from South Africa, wrote in to ask a question about marketing. He has a 13-person consulting company that provides engineering and agricultural advice to governmental and quasi-governmental agencies. They get…
A Business Lesson Every Entrepreneur Should Learn
“Competition is easier to accept if you realize it is not an act of oppression or abrasion – I’ve worked with my best friends in direct competition.” – Diane Sawyer A recent Wall Street Journal article about a joint venture in China highlights a couple of ideas that we have…
Should You Charge Vendors for Client Referrals?
“Never underestimate the effectiveness of a straight cash bribe.” – Claud Cockburn For decades, I have made it a practice to refer my clients to vendors who can provide services those clients need… and that I don’t or can’t offer myself. I have also made it a policy never to…
The Optimum Strategy for Acquiring New Customers
“This may seem simple, but you need to give customers what they want, not what you think they want. And, if you do this, people will keep coming back.” – John Ilhan I believe that for every business, at any given time, there is an optimum strategy for acquiring new…
Creating True “Win-Win” Joint Ventures
“First, make yourself a reputation for being a creative genius. Second, surround yourself with partners who are better than you are. Third, leave them to get on with it.” – David Ogilvy If you are using only one or two methods to market your product or service, you are not…
The Most Important Wealth-Building Element of Building Your Business
“If they don’t fail outright, most businesses fail to fully achieve their potential. That’s because the person who owns the business doesn’t truly know how to build a company that works without him or her… which is the key.” – Michael Gerber Reggie T. desperately wanted to start his own…
The KLT Principle
“Getting to know you, getting to know all about you./ Getting to like you, getting to hope you like me.” – Oscar Hammerstein The KLT principle is an incredibly powerful tool. When you understand it and use it in your marketing copy, buyers simply melt in your hands. When you…
Does It Make Any Sense to Turn Your Business Into a Club?
“Dear fellow artists, why so free / With every sort of company, / With every Jack and Jill? / Choose your companions from the best; / Who draws the bucket with the rest / Soon topples down the hill.” – William Butler Yeats I was hoping it would never happen,…
How NOT to Start a Retail Business
“Fools rush in where angels fear to tread.” – Alexander Pope I don’t normally recommend getting into retail. (To learn why, reread ETR #152.) But if your dream is to run a brick and mortar business, you can learn a lot about what not to do from one entrepreneur’s mistakes.…
ETR’s History Since Day One
“Hell, there are no rules here – we’re trying to accomplish something.” – Thomas Edison I had lunch with Katie Yeakle the other day, and she reminded me of how ETR started. It happened in early 2000. Katie had been running AWAI (American Writers & Artists Inc.) for three years,…