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Article by, Staff Writer There’s no doubt that the creation of Netflix was one of the best business decisions of the last 15 years. The concept has earned the subscription-based movie and television show rental service more than 23 million subscribers, making it one of the most successful dot-com ventures since the emergence of the Internet. Of course, that doesn’t mean it’s above the occasional blunder. Netflix’s decision to separate its DVD shipping business from its streaming business, forming the new delivery service Qwikster, has upset many of its customers. The move has resulted in tens of thousands of complaints, a major decline in subscriptions and a stock plunge — obvious causes for concern for CEO Reed Hastings. As he attempts to clean up the public relations mess, he can take solace in the fact that it won’t register as the worst business decision ever made. The following rank as the most costly and regrettable of all time, and will continue to be mocked for years to...
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Article by, Brent Virkus of Find the Capital and TRiTON Capital Advisory The art of negotiation. Some people are good at it and some people could be better… One of the most influential people in helping me grow several successful businesses was Harvey Mackay a nationally syndicated columnist and author of the New York Times #1 bestseller “Swim With The Sharks Without Being Eaten Alive.” He’s a master of common sense business tactics. In this article, I’m going to highlight Harvey’s 15 Keys to Negotiation Success. I hope it helps take your business to the next level! Here we go… Never cut a deal with someone who has to “go back and get the boss’ approval.” That gives the other side two bites of the apple to your one. They can take any deal you are willing to make and renegotiate it. If you can’t say yes, it’s no. Just because a deal can be done, doesn’t mean it should be done. No one ever went broke saying “no” too often. Just because it may look nonnegotiable, doesn’t mean it is. Take that beautifully printed “standard contract” you’ve just been handed. Many a smart negotiator has been able to name a term and gets away with it by making it appear to be chiseled in granite, when they will deal if their bluff is called. Do your homework before you deal. Learn as much as you can about the other side. Instincts are no match for information. Rehearse. Practice. Get someone to play the other side. Then switch roles. Instincts are no match for preparation. Beware the late dealer. Feigning indifference or casually disregarding timetables is often just a negotiator’s way of trying to make you believe he/she doesn’t care if you make the deal or not. Be nice, but if you can’t be nice, go away and let someone else do the deal. You’ll blow it. A deal can always be made when both parties see their own benefit in making it. A dream is a bargain no matter what you pay for it. Set the scene. Tell the tale. Generate excitement. Help the other side visualize the benefits, and they’ll sell themselves. Don’t discuss your business where...
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Article by, Brent Virkus – Senior Managing Director of Find the Capital You’re at an industry event mulling over which cheese will go best with which crackers at the buffet. The person next to you introduces himself. You introduce yourself. Then he says: “So tell me, what do you do?” The challenge is to communicate the key elements of your value. When we work with our clients to teach them how to sell, we tend to focus on helping them learn the right things to do. However, even those on the right track can get derailed by common mistakes. It’s often just as helpful to know what not to do as it is to know what to do. Here, then, are the most common mistakes we see people making when trying to answer the question, “What do you do?” and ideas for how to avoid them. Mistake #1: Talking, but not saying anything “Our solutions help Fortune 500 and mid-size companies succeed. Our unique blend of people, process, and technology allows us to build and deliver value over-and-above our competitors. One unique thing about us is…” Even if it’s well-practiced and smoothly delivered, a cliché that doesn’t communicate anything is still a cliché that doesn’t communicate anything. Make sure you avoid sounding like a buzzword bingo robot and focus on adding value to the conversation. Building rapport is a major component of a successful sales conversation. Starting off with a cliché, however, won’t help build rapport – it’s more off-putting than endearing. Mistake #2: Going on too long at first “I read my first book on tax shelters in junior high school and was hooked. Immediately, I got a job at a tax accounting firm and started doing research in international tax. After junior high, I got another job at an accounting firm and got my first introduction to nonprofit auditing. Let me tell you about some of the projects I worked on in high school and their results…” In any sales process you have to do three things if you want to communicate your full value: resonate, differentiate, and substantiate. Indeed, you have to resonate on two levels, differentiate on two levels, and substantiate on four. If you’ve...
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Article by, Morgan Housel Amazon.com (NASDAQ: AMZN ) was once the poster child of what happens when excitement about a company detaches from reality. The headlines “Amazon founder named TIME magazine’s Person of the Year,” and “Analysts Fear Amazon Is Going Bankrupt” appeared within 14 months of each other around the year 2000. Short of fraud, there little precedent for this in business history. But 13 years later, Amazon is thriving. It is dominating, in fact, including in lines of business having little to do with its original undertaking of selling books. Shares now trade for three times what they did at the peak of the dot-com bubble. Thank Amazon’s quirky CEO, Jeff Bezos, for this success. He created a culture that’s not only different from, but often totally at odds with, how most business leaders think. He’s also quite quotable. Here are 20 smart things Bezos has said over the years. 1. “All businesses need to be young forever. If your customer base ages with you, you’re Woolworth’s.” 2. “There are two kinds of companies: Those that work to try to charge more and those that work to charge less. We will be the second.” 3. “Your margin is my opportunity.” 4. “If you only do things where you know the answer in advance, your company goes away.” 5. “We’ve had three big ideas at Amazon that we’ve stuck with for 18 years, and they’re the reason we’re successful: Put the customer first. Invent. And be patient.” 6. “I very frequently get the question: ‘What’s going to change in the next 10 years?’ And that is a very interesting question; it’s a very common one. I almost never get the question: ‘What’s not going to change in the next 10 years?’ And I submit to you that that second question is actually the more important of the two — because you can build a business strategy around the things that are stable in time. … [I]n our retail business, we know that customers want low prices, and I know that’s going to be true 10 years from now. They want fast delivery; they want vast selection. It’s impossible to imagine a future 10 years from now where a customer comes up and says, ‘Jeff I love...
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Article by, The Entrust Group When starting a business, you likely want to explore as many avenues for start-up capital as possible. Banks have tightened their loan policies lately, making that avenue a challenge, and while there are some grants available for small businesses, chances are that the majority of your funds will come from interested investors. Investors can come in many packages, but we’re here to introduce you to the wealth of opportunity presented by self-directed IRA investors. Who are Self-Directed IRA Investors? Self-directed IRA investors are just like any other investors, except that they are using retirement funds to make their investments. Investing with a retirement account brings certain benefits to IRA investors that aren’t available to the standard investor, such as tax-deferred or tax-free earnings. The standard IRA or 401(k) investor will not be able to invest in a start up business because most banks and financial firms to do not offer a platform for these types of investments. Self-directed IRAs, by definition, allow for alternative investments, such as private equity or real estate, so it is investors that self-directed their retirement funds that will be looking for investment opportunities with entrepreneurs. Can Self-Directed IRA Investors Help Grow Your Business? The simple answer is; yes. Because self-directed IRA investors have the ability to invest in private companies, many are looking for the opportunity to grow their funds alongside a small business. Especially with the tech boom of recent years, it seems everyone wants to be part of the next big start-up. Similarly, you may already know someone who wants to invest in your business, but has been unable to because of a lack of funds. Chances are these people don’t realize there is a huge opportunity available to them by using a portion of their nest egg. With self-directed IRAs, your neighbor or your cousin could be your next big investor! (Note: certain family members and others close to the IRA owner may be considered disqualified for investment purposes. Please refer to section 4975 of the Internal Revenue Code for details about disqualified persons) About the author: The Entrust Group is a third party administrator of self-directed savings accounts, including IRAs, HSAs, and ESAs. The Entrust...
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By Dave Lerner, Entrepreneur Fabrice Grinda is the founder of OLX, one of the largest classified websites in the world, and he’s very excited about the emerging digital markets Russia and Brazil. His company, which Grinda describes as Craigslist 2.0 for the rest of the world, is rapidly expanding there, and as a tech investor he’s putting money into startups from those countries, as well. “These are two of the hottest Internet markets in the world right now,” said Grinda, who notes that GDP growth is fueling similar growth in the digital sector in these emerging markets. In additional to his views on Brazil and Russia, Grinda shares his thoughts on why he considers himself an entrepreneurial thief, what he considers when deciding to fund a company, and the “secret sauce” for running a successful consumer Internet company. This is the story of how he went from being broke in 2001, to being a successful startup founder and prolific investor just a decade...
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