Publicity is the great wild card for small businesses. Certainly, advertising can be effective. However, a story in the media about you, your product, or your company generally carries far more weight and legitimacy than any paid for ads. Such a story is likely to reach both consumers and any intermediate customers, such as retailers. [...] Read more »
TESTING Reduces Risk and Maximizes Success
Oftentimes entrepreneurs–blinded by their belief in their new product idea which is reinforced by their loved ones–lunge full force forward in the production and marketing of their can’t miss product. They will invest in some or all of an optimistic quantity, expensive brochures, displays, molds, public relations campaign, advertising, and more. All this, based on [...] Read more »
How Small Companies Can Sell Large Customers
Competition for customers in most industries is extremely intense. This is exacerbated if the customer is a large one and your product is not particularly unique or patent protected. Your customers are also in a high pitched battle with their competitors. This can be seen in your everyday life. Look at the competition in cars, [...] Read more »
Finding Ideas to Start a Business
One of the most asked and difficult to answer questions I get when I speak to MBA students is “How do I get the right idea to start a business?” In approaching a reply, I would say at the outset, that there are no simple magical answers or formulas. I would add that most successful [...] Read more »
Licensing Can Work for Small Businesses Too
Normally the subject of licensing would not appear in a Bootstrapping context because there usually is an up-front cash payment and a guarantee associated with securing a license. These two factors can be substantial with a high visibility license, such as Mickey Mouse, NFL football, Nike, Armani, etc. However, I bring it up here for [...] Read more »
Building Trust
The single most important thing you can do in starting and building a business is to get people to trust you. Trust needs to be earned and takes time, although you can lose it in a second. Telling people to trust you doesn’t cut it. In fact, when people I just meet tell me to trust them, my antennae is up to watch my back. The benefits of being trusted are enormous. People have confidence in those they trust. Read more »