JumpStart Blog

I think that deep down inside we all know we should be spending most of our time marketing and selling our products and services (I’ve suggested 80% of your time). And the longer you’re in business, the more you’ll understand why this is so critical. So the question then becomes, how do we free up our time so we can focus on what really matters?

Well, in my view, you need 2 things: (1) Systems and (2) Assistants

I’ll leave the topic of “systems” for another day. Today I want to talk about a unique way that you can get more done by outsourcing many of the tasks you currently handle yourself.

I’m not talking about hiring a secretary or an assistant that comes to your office to work full or part-time. I’m talking about hiring a “virtual assistant” — someone in a remote location to whom you delegate tasks of all kinds. This person is computer and internet saavy and can help you with things like conducting research, putting together reports, sending proposals, making and receiving calls and handling much of the leg work you’re too busy doing because you’re out there selling.

What’s more this person can be anywhere in the world, many are in places like India (which is very cool because you can be productive even while you sleep)! And the cost of hiring these virtual assistants can be as little as $7-$20 per hour, without all the tax hassles and responsibilities that come will full-fledged employees.

I first came across this concept last summer while reading Timothy Ferriss‘ provocative book “The 4-Hour Workweek” in which he writes:

Getting a remote personal assistant is a huge departure point and marks the moment where you learn to give orders and be commander instead of the commanded. It is time to learn how to be the boss. It isn’t time consuming. It’s low-cost and it’s low-risk.

I have to admit, at first the idea struck me as a bit repulsive. Is this what this globalization hullabaloo has come down to? I should hire someone in Bangalore instead of hiring someone in my own hometown? And isn’t this the exclusive domain of big, greedy corporations, who ship our jobs overseas in pursuit of thinner overhead and fatter profits?

Maybe.

But you know what, the more I’ve fought this idea, the more inevitable and valid it seems to me.

Think about it, why in the world would you and I waste our time on a $15/hour to-do item at the expense of a $100/hour task like prospecting and making sales calls?

The more time you spend on proven money-making tasks like planning, marketing, prospecting and selling, the more cash flow you’ll generate, yet you can spend 70 hours each week on administrative tasks and not generate a single penny in additional income.

That’s the power of outsourcing. It will free you up to focus your time on the business activities that have the most powerful impact on your business.

I remember when I started E-Synthesis back in 2001. My partners and I were focused on getting our services ready, but we also devoted a disproportionate amount of time to things that, with the gift of hindsight, I now know where far from mission-critical. I mean, we shopped around for an office, for furniture (including inspirational artwork to hang on the walls), for computer equipment, phones, faxes, office supplies, a rug cleaner, a lawyer, an accountant, a printer and much more. We spent plenty of money and invested lots of our time — time that could’ve been spent on what really mattered most: selling. We may have been busy, but we were busy doing things that ultimately didn’t matter.Selling, as I’ve said before, is what really matters. That’s because without selling, there aren’t any customers, without customers there’s no cashflow, and without cashflow, how are you going to pay for your office and all the pretty stuff that went in it?

I laugh about it now, but back then it was no laughing matter. We thought people were going to be banging on the door clamoring for our services, instead we sat there in our freshly painted, and well-appointed office thank you very much, listening to the crickets chirping. I remember the horrible silence and a feeling of dread come over me.

That taught me a HUGE and valuable lesson, albeit a costly one. Marketing and selling is job #1.

Ask yourself, what do I need to do, and what does this organization need to look like in order to reach that first million dollars in sales per year? That should be your goal and that should be your focus each and every day.

You should awake each morning with the question: what will I sell today? And each evening, as you retire for sleep you should ask yourself: what did I sell today?

Hopefully, you’ll have the right answer.

So last Sunday, January 27th, I completed the harrowing 26.2 miles of the ING Miami Marathon. And what an experience it was! At around mile 17 I pretty much ran out of gas, and a sort of horror set as I realized I still had 9 more miles to go!

Running out of steam at around mile 18 is not uncommon, in fact, they even have a name for it. It’s called “hitting the wall.” This is the point in the race that separates the men from the boys (so to speak) and where having done my homework paid off. Thanks to my diligent and faithful training efforts during the previous 4 months, I may have felt exhausted but I was still strong enough to have the will power and energy reserves to gut out the remainder of the marathon, one mile at a time.

People think that running a marathon is very hard, and they’re right. But so is starting a business, and those who know me know I am fond of comparing the two.

Even though both these noble endeavors are tough to do, you can be successful if you follow some basic rules. But if you break these rules, you’re done. You will not finish the race.

In running, the key is to get out and simply run. You don’t have to be very fast, you don’t even have to “run” per se. You can walk quickly or jog. The point is that you need to train your cardiovascular system, plus your muscles, bones and connective tissues to slowly perform more and more strenuous work. Four months ago I was struggling big-time to run just 2 miles. I weighed 240 lbs and was out of shape and out of breath. But after four months of training, 4 days a week, I lost 25 pounds and could do a mile in 8 minutes. And while I may not be invited to participate in the Olympics, I am proud of my effort and the considerable improvement I achieved.

The situation is quite similar when starting a business. The goal may not be to finish a marathon, instead, the goal is to generate $1 million dollars in sales, while being in the black. Like training for a marathon, it requires discipline and focus, but instead of going out there and running, you need to get out there and start selling. That’s right, selling. You need to sell, sell, sell!

Selling is what will start infusing your business with cash, and cash is its life blood. If running helps strengthen oxygen carrying blood flow to working muscles, then positive cash flow is what keeps your business alive and working.

It’s that simple.

The problem is, most would-be entrepreneurs spin their wheels. They spend 80% or more of their energy and resources on things that make only a minimal impact on the bottom line. In other words, entrepreneurs need to be spending 80% of all their resources on promoting and selling their products or services. If you don’t do that, chances are good that your business will not survive. I know that only leaves 20% of your resources to manage everything else, and that can be tough. So get help if you have to, find volunteers, hire an administrative assistant, or even a virtual assistant, but make no mistake about it, you need to be focused on selling.

Don’t be misled into thinking that it’s any more complicated than this. If you want to complete a marathon, you have to practice your running, and if you want to start and grow a successful business you need to focus almost all your efforts on generating sales.

There may be different ways and techniques to go about this. But this is the clear and simple truth.

So get psyched, get ready, and get out there! Start running and start selling! I’ll see you at the finish line.

In learning about marketing, I find it real useful to look at what other companies are doing and how they’re dealing with the challenges facing them. One interesting case study is the battle brewing between Netflix and Apple.

Netflix is by far the largest online DVD rental service. Since inception, it has mailed out more than 1 billion DVDs from its collection of over 90,000 titles. That’s quite a market lead, but Steve Jobs and the people at Apple are undaunted. They’re looking to change the rules of the game and make DVDs go the way of the dinosaurs, or at least the 8-track.

Apple recently unveiled a new upgrade to iTunes that lets users rent movies from the iTunes store. Even though I’m an enthusiastic Netflix customer, I decided to upgrade my copy of iTunes so that I could play with the new rental feature.

After upgrading and perusing Apple’s decidedly skimpy selection, I decided to download the seminal western flick, “The Magnificent Seven” — an adaptation of Akira Kurasawa’s classic, “Seven Samurai.” The 1.4 Gigabyte download on our “speedy” DSL “Extreme” connection took almost 2 hours, which is awkwardly slow. You have to really schedule your evening carefully to get the timing right. In addition, the rental is viable for only 24 hours, after which iTunes promptly deletes the file. So beware, if your dinner and a movie plans are somehow interrupted, you have to make it a point to watch the rest of the movie by the deadline…now that’s what I call pressure.

The quality of the movie was acceptable. Of course, you can forget such extravagances as high definition, easter eggs and special features. And on our 17″ iMac, the widescreen format made the movie look somewhat diminuative. But all in all it was a decent experience; not great, but decent.

iTunes movie rentals is far from perfect, but Apple is smart in getting this to market now. After all, Netflix has expanded from its original mission of shipping consumers its DVDs and is now offering digital downloads on your laptop (although this feature is not supported on Macs).

However, neither Netflix, nor Blockbuster, offers a living room appliance like Apple TV, which Steve Jobs launched along with the new iTunes. It’s interesting to note (in light of an earlier post) that this is the second incarnation of this device and it shows. You no longer need computers from which to download the movies. Now it can connect to iTunes all on its own via a speedier 802.11n wireless network hook-up. That means you can rent your movie digitally through Apple TV and watch it on your TV seamlessly.

No more DVDs, and no more waiting around for 48 hours to get your next movie. And no more watching Netflix downloads from your laptop, yuck!

Apple TV and iTunes represent a clear and present danger to the likes of Netflix and Blockbuster. This market threat is only going to get bigger as everything goes digital. It will be fun to see how Netflix responds, or fails to respond.

What could Netflix do to counter Apple’s move?

And what if your business faced a similar dilemma, what would you do?

Curiosity is the quintessence of what it means to be an entrepreneur. I think above all else, entrepreneurs have the audacity to be curious. They ask questions. They wonder how and why things work. They sit in cubicles and ask, “Is this all there is?”

Consider that curiosity is what drove Steve Jobs to visit Xerox Parc and wonder how a windowing computer interface and a curious device called a “mouse” could be made ready for the masses.

Curiosity is what drove salesman Howard Schultz to wonder why a small startup coffee house in Seattle was purchasing so many specialized coffee machines. Curiousity made him fly out to Seattle to find answers — what happened next is the stuff of legend.

Curiosity is what drives the entrepreneur.

Nic Askew and Seth Godin just put out a video on monday9am.tv. Here’s Seth’s take on the subject:

One of the greatest tools on the Net are browser toolbars. They are extremely useful for most, and for web site owners, quite indispensable. They’re great for doing marketing research and keeping track of traffic, rankings and much more.

SEOmoz has a magnificent post that you need to read. It’s a run down of the most popular toolbars, what they do, and which is great for helping you tend to your SEO duties.

A must read: 14 Popular Browser Toolbars Reviewed - The Worthwhile and the Worthless.

Yesterday a bunch of friends and I gathered at a new restaurant/bar that just opened in the neighborhood. Ostensibly, the occasion was the Jones-Trinidad fight which aired on HBO pay-per-view, and which the restaurant was offering free to its patrons. The fight wasn’t the only draw for me, though, I also wanted to check out the new place and discover what it was all about.

Spacious and well-appointed, the restaurant was alluring and comfortable. A beautiful, young hostess greeted us with a smile as we walked in. We headed towards the main dining area beyond the bar and sat down. Big screen plasmas and TVs adorned every corner of the place, all seeming to demand your attention at once. As I looked around, the waitresses handed us our menus and I sensed something wasn’t right.

I scanned the menu and became even more suspicious. The appetizers seemed extravagant for a sports bar, and the menu was filled with dishes that seemed unusually pricey and out of place.

The waitress asked us what we wanted to drink and I asked for a pitcher of beer, only to be told later that they didn’t sell beer by the pitcher, only by the bottle. “Huh”, I thought to myself. That’s odd. And why didn’t the waitress know that?

Then it hit me. These guys weren’t trying to be a sports bar, they were trying to exude worldly culinary sophistication, as evidenced by their menu, which featured dishes like free range chicken with mango salsa, lobster bisque and frutti di mare. After my confusion subsided I could feel the onset of disappointment.

I mean, we wanted frivolity, beer, and some good-natured, frat house rambunctiousness as we rooted for our favorite pugilist. But I ask you, can you indulge in that sort of merriment while drinking your glass of cabernet?

It was a bizarre experience in more than one way. I felt like an American tourist in Britain being subjected to the weirdness of driving on the wrong side of the road.

After a while, people did get rowdy and the place ended up with a sports bar feel, but I noticed that people ate their dinner and then just loitered waiting for the main event to come on, close to midnight. No one was ordering much, and at $4.50 per bottle of beer, would you?

The house may have been packed that night, but what about consequent nights?

Personally, I’m not motivated to go back. If I want refined international fare, I’ll go to Lincoln Road and patronize an establishment that doesn’t have plasmas on every corner and doesn’t have Jim Lampley and Emmanuel Stewart blaring through the loudspeakers. And, if I’m in the mood for some pigskin action, I’ll be sure to go to a place where the beer flows free and unrationed, and where there’s no shortage of jalapeño poppers, nachos, fries, and juicy burgers.

I tell you this story to make a point. You shouldn’t go to market with a half-baked marketing strategy. You will not succeed if you don’t know who your customers are, what your customers really want (and how you can give it to them).

Maybe my friends at this neighborhood restaurant will change their approach and get right eventually. They have to. If not, it’ll be another case of small business heartache. They will fail and it won’t be because they didn’t try very hard. They just didn’t know.

I was perusing Michael Masterson’s new book, “Ready, Fire, Aim: Zero to $100 Million in No Time Flat” and one idea he presented hit me hard.

In describing the different stages of a new business, Michael argues that at first it’s all about selling. He says the vast majority of resources must be aimed at getting out there and getting customers, and that you don’t need a perfect product to get started. Get the product ready, he seems to argue, but don’t worry about making it perfect. Get it in the hands of customers and improve it as you go along.

Experience has taught me that this is exactly right, especially in this age of technological innovation and immense competitive pressure.
This doesn’t mean you put out useless junk, it just means that you don’t have to create something that is perfect from the get-go. As long as it delivers value to customers, you’re better off getting it out in the market before competitors line up to steal you thunder. Get it out. Start selling it hardcore. Perfect it later.

A case in point is the Apple iPhone. Do you think Apple couldn’t have used an extra 3 or 6 months to fine tune some of the phone’s problems? The price was too high, developer support too skimpy and lots of features were left out initially.

Thanks to Fred Vogelstein, in his great piece, “The Untold Story: How the iPhone Blew Up the Wireless Industry“, we now know how hard Apple worked to get their phone to market. They knew the iPhone was a revolutionary device, it needed to be great, but not perfect. Even months later, it’s still far from perfect. iPhone suffers from some lack of features that are just plain conspicuous by omission (like multimedia attachments in mail). But you can bet that as the product matures, it will get better and better.

So dear reader, if you have services and products under development, take heed. Don’t let them die on the vine. Hurry up and get them ready as best you can and start selling!

Hiring a web designer is a tricky deal. Basically, anybody can claim to be a “web designer” and they usually do. That doesn’t mean they’re good. And even if they are good, you have to ask yourself whether or not they’re right for you.

Since there are no real standards or certifications to guide you, you have to be very careful when hiring a web designer. Before you part with your hard-earned money, you must know what to look for.

In my view, a good web designer is 33% artist, 33% tech-geek and 33% business guru. These people are not easy to find.

Some designers have tremendous artistic flair. They design web sites that look stunning, and often use Flash animation and other artistic tools to enhance the look and aesthetics of the site. But all things being equal, drop-dead gorgeous web sites cost more money, they take more time to download, and don’t help you sell.

On the other hand, tech-geeks don’t put a premium on looks, they are more concerned with the inner workings of the Web. They may know just about every platform, web language and new technology known to man. HTML, XHTML, CSS, Javascript, PHP, Python, .NET, AJAX, Ruby, ASP, MySQL and much more. These people are very skilled but since their focus is on technology, their sites look aesthetically uninspiring and often cluttered with needless bells and whistles that obscure your marketing message.

By far, most web designers are either artists or tech-geeks. The key is to find someone who has artistic flair, a good knowledge of web technologies, and who also understands marketing and small business needs (business guru). The business guru knows that web design is all about understanding customer needs and giving them exactly what they want. They understand that it is important to create professional, elegant and easy-to-use designs and that technology is the servant, not the master. They keep things in balance and focus on generating business results.

So there, now you have a formula to help you choose a web designer (e.g. JumpStart) ; - )