Should Entertainment Be Your Business Model?

Every business owner wants to attract the big spending consumers to their business to drop some serious cash, but most lack to think of how big spenders come. There are a range of opportunities, even in this economy, to make tons of money, you just have to cater to the right audience. A lot of businesses might not have the capital to roll around in luxury, but it is up to a business owner to justify spending a dollar, five dollars, or ten and it is up to them how they want to claim the ROI on that.

I'm going to give a scenario here about how my business partners and I use "entertainment" as our business model for one of our businesses. I have a stake in a high end hotel, where we attract a wide range of clientele. But sometimes "high end" clientele is hard to satisfy- or meet their needs. So we do something that very few hotels do, which is over-delivering to EVERY consumer. When a guest stays at our hotel, we make sure that everything they want; they get. By doing so- we have to have a lot of connections to a broad range of restaurants, connections to get last minute show tickets, among other things. One may ask the question: "How do you maintain profitability, if you are meeting every guests needs, and beyond?" The answer to that question is quite simple, we charge. Nobody said anything should be free. Think about it- all the free things companies offer its consumers, is just a start. The money is in what the consumer is attracted into buying after the free offering.

Back to the main point, offering more than what the consumer wants. We have guests that have stayed with us many times and they have proved to be LOYAL to our business. So we don't just thank them. We show them how thankful we are. What I mean by this is, we have a handful of guests that we shower with gifts. Gifts range from dinner on us to their favorite restaurant and we even rent exotic cars for them to drive while they are staying with us.

It is true that when we shower loyal guests with gifts, their stay is usually not profitable, but in the long run- it is more than profitable. Renting an exotic car costs anywhere from just under a grand to $2,000/night- sometimes more. So the beauty of the situation is, that we also don't pay for the rental; or at least the whole cost. Instead, we have worked out discounts and partnerships with area exotic car rental businesses. For example, if we are offering a complementary car to a guest for a night, lets say a Ferrari F430, we cover the cost of a couple hundred dollars for the guest to take to the restaurant and such. Since we don't use it for the whole day, the renter is not losing money on it. On the other hand, the incentive for the renter to give us the F430 at such a deep discount is that they get a referral the next time a hotel guest wants to rent an exotic car, and trust me, they make a pretty penny. If we are offering a "cheaper" car to the hotel guest, like a Bentley Continental Flying Spur, we usually don't pay a dime for the rental.

The bottom line is that the guest will remember the luxury we offer them and will continue to stay loyal to our hotel. In the end it is a win-win-win situation for all those involved. The company who rents the car, our hotel, and the guest.

The main lesson of this article is that you can offer luxury or entertainment to customers; and you don't always have to pay out of your company's pocket to offer those luxuries. Keeping loyal customers happy is one thing, but really pleasing their mind is going to ensure a life-long relationship. In our case, the "high-maintenance" guest, will also tell their high-maintenance friends, which will result in more business to our hotel.

Build From The Ground Up

Many times, entrepreneurs often wish that they could start their venture out on the top, with all the publicity they can get and start competing with the giants in their industries. However, you might be able to hype up your business in order to get publicity, but it doesn't always end on a positive note. Even if you are an established entrepreneur, now a serial entrepreneur, there are limits that you should put on new business ventures because it might cause blindness when looking at overall growth.

Let me start off by saying, if you have contacts or other connections that you can use to uplift your start-up, you should probably use them and kick-start the venture. If you do use your connections, you have to be wise and measure growth from a detailed prospective afterwords though. Say I am getting tons of publicity for my new venture, then I see that profits are sky rocketing and the numbers are multiple folds of what I expected. Then I decide that I don't need to put as much effort into the new start-up as I thought I did, so I divert my attention to other projects. Unfortunately, all the hype that I was creating, was the cause of the sky rocketing revenues and now revenues are taking a major dip because I am not paying much attention to the venture. Entrepreneurs should always give 150% effort to all of their involvements, but sometimes situations where false growth is seen, can lead to a failure.

Another example of how it can be hurtful for entrepreneurs to start off big is when you have investors. Say you are getting all the attention you possibly can for your business and then you decide to expand, invest in more inventory, hire more staff and so on. This isn't bad, but since you didn't "build a business from ground up" you soon see a dip in sales. Now you are facing negative growth and you have to lay people off because you were staffing on "assumed" growth and it didn't happen. But now you have to answer to the investors who funded you. Most investors are picky about growth and HATE when there is a decline in growth. Don't get me wrong here- they hate it when a company isn't growing, but showing them growth and taking it away the next month, is like showing a kid ice cream and saying you cannot have it.

Now this doesn't go to say that you shouldn't draw attention to a new project, but what I am saying is that you shouldn't create false positives. Getting media attention and driving sales up is a good thing, but you should remain focused on the true numbers of the business. Letting a new project take a natural course in growth can be majorly beneficial in the long run. So don't be so desperate to take it to the top, as fast as you can. And also be aware of "false positives" and basing future growth and expansion of the company off of them.

Business Flipping

Many people email me asking how I get involved with lucrative deals or how to find “good opportunities to invest,” etc. The reality of the thought is, anyone can truly find lucrative “deals” or great opportunities. I actually “create” my opportunities. For example, usually when I am in the market to invest, I go through different offers that I have on the table and put low offers on each deal that appeals to me. I don’t expect to have 100% or even 40% of the offers accepted by the seller, but instead I look forward to maybe 5% of the offers actually being accepted.

The reason why my deals are so great is because I invest in lost causes. I buy businesses that are “out-of-business,” in a loss, or real estate that has been foreclosed upon. If you ask people that know me, most people will say I am a big risk taker, but I believe in Risk=Reward. I am a big retail business investor, so what I do is buy franchised locations that have recently shut down and re-open them. Most people think that buying a closed-door business is like digging a grave hole for yourself, but so far, I have a 100% success rate with these ventures. Usually the reason why most of these locations are shut down in the first place is because the owners were not able to properly manage the business or they get carried away with profits and such. I find that by picking these businesses up for a small percentage of the actual value, it is almost impossible to not turn a profit.

After I re-open the doors, I usually own the business for 6 months – 1 year after it is profitable, and then I sell it. While I make money from running it, I also make a good profit from selling it because the price I picked up the business was a fraction of the market value and I sell it for a multiple of its value since it is profitable. You would be surprised how many people line up for a business when it is profitable, but nobody will buy a business when it is in the red.

Flipping businesses is a great way to create an opportunity for success, but it takes a lot of work than I could ever write about. You have to be prepared for the worst, which is a dead investment, but if you can make it work, you might be able to look forward to a LARGE profit. You can truly flip businesses with any industry, as long as you know ALL of the ins and outs of it. The greatest advantage of buying into a lost cause is the fraction of the investment and picking up all the assets of the business, so you don’t have to spend tons of money on starting something from scratch and then ending up in a loss for a long time, leading many to failure- or shutting down the business.

Driving A Business Into A Hole

The title sounds ironic. Not one business owner would wish or intentionally act to drive their business into a hole, but sometimes they do it unknowingly anyways. There are many instances I've personally seen, that influence a business to dip and plummet into a hole. Much of the reasoning behind the failure of a profitable business is lack of owner acknowledgment. When people are too caught up in the blue, they don't focus like they did when the business was just new or when it was growing.

What can you watch out for and do to keep a business profitable and not drive it to the ground?

- Don't be fooled by cash flow. - Often times business owners are fooled by the amount of cash that flows into the business that their expenses go out of control and they find themselves in tremendous debt when it comes time to pay the bills at the end of the month.

- Don't take it easy. When a business is at it's peak, some business owners start taking it easy, thinking "nothing will change." This approach gives an owner a sense of ease because they think they should take some time to enjoy their hard work, but in reality, they tend to lose control little by little and the business loses its strengths.

- Be aware of changing policy's and laws. Laws are always changing and in regards to business, it is extremely important to keep up with the current tax laws and such. Missing out on paying taxes can result in penalties, but there are worse things that can happen. I have my attorneys closely watch all my finances, in order to make sure everything is being properly managed. A little mistake can COST a lot.

- Watch out for employees who are "taking it easy." Many business owners hire friends or family and when they take it easy, they don't speak up and tell them to pick up their slack. If an employee is not performing to their fullest, maybe you should reconsider having them on your staff. After all, it is just business.

- Seek new opportunities to grow. Sometimes business owners get lazy and they don't want to take more risks or even stay innovative. This might be okay for a small amount of time, but if you never come up with anything new or different, customers might start dropping off because they like to see new products that they can choose from.

- Keep up with trends and wants. If there are some hypes in your industry, keep up with them. Even if you haven't started a hype, it is necessary to know what people want and where the trends are going.

- Know when and how to act. This is probably the most important factor as a business owner to watch out for. Knowing when and how to act upon certain situations can mean the difference between extreme profit and extreme loss. Certain times might be a great time to sell, others might be a great time to buy. Your judgment is the bottom line.

As a business owner or entrepreneur, you have to have a grasp of reality. As soon as you drift out of that reality, you are vulnerable to huge losses or downturns of any kind. Don't drive your profits into the ground!

Domino's vs Subway

I'm not sure if you have heard about the new Domino's oven baked subs, but recently they did a national taste test and beat Subway 2-1. Check out the video below.



As you can see Subway reacted to the commercial in a negative way. Instead of taking a positive insight on the "feedback" from the 2-1 ratio from the taste test, they tried to cover up the results of what the consumers think.

Lets discuss what happened:

Subway dominates the sub industry and it's the top franchise for 2009. When Domino's stepped in to "steal the thunder" with proven results, Subway acted negatively. It isn't a bad thing that they got upset, but they took an approach that tried to cover up that they didn't have the "best tasting sub" around. On the other hand, Domino's took the negative reaction and gave Subway some extra publicity. In the end, there was a massive hype over the "controversy" and it gained a lot of national attention. If you ask me, it kind of worked out for both brands.

Lesson to be learned:

You may face the situation, as a business owner or an entrepreneur, that you don't have the best product. Not everyone can be #1, but it is how you react to your competitors that gives you a "1 up" in the consumer market. If you have the better product, no doubt, you should capitalize on it by showing your consumers the facts. If you don't have the #1 product around, you should always work to get to that #1 spot, but if your competitor displays that you don't have the best product, be aware of how you react. Some may view Subway as a "weak" brand, trying to cover up the facts by sending a legal letter, others may view it where Subway just scored some free national attention. I view it where Subway's reaction helped Domino's get more attention. In the end, I don't think that people will stop eating Subway, but people will probably try out Domino's toasted subs.

"Your brand reaction counts, as you may be just HELPING your competition!"

Too Many Cooks Spoil The Food

I'm not sure if you have heard the saying, "Too many cooks spoil the food," but it is very true in terms of business- and cooking. While it can be very possible that five chefs have a different way of making the same dish, if they all try to work together, it may turn out to be the next Hell's Kitchen. Each person has a different style of delivering success and there are many ways to get to the same result. This is why in management there could be multiple "correct" approaches that a company can take, in order to increase exposure, the bottom line, sales, whatever it may be.

Why should you limit the number of "cooks" making decisions in your business?

While it is very good to take in advice from numerous people, there should only be a few or maybe even one person making all the major decisions- at least that is how I view it. If you have 10 advisers for your company, there should be one appointed person or two, that make the final decision. If you try to implement everyone's thoughts and styles of management, eventually you will see that either nothing works or nothing gets done. Even though you are having only a couple people have the final say on something, you should welcome ideas from all because every idea can potentially be a winner, but no idea is a loser.

In a partnership business...

A lot of people start up businesses with two or more partners, which is great, but when it comes to decision making, many people have different say from their business partners. For this very reason, it is good to have a managing partner- or one who has majority say. Usually the person who has invested more into a company has the greater say, but it can be different if the person who invested less is managing the business. By having one person making all the decisions, you will run into less feud between the partners and potentially make more "right" decisions for the company's well being.

Notice I said less feud because there is always difference of opinion in a partnership. Nobody thinks alike, 100% of the time. When people have different opinions, they are bound to back up their thoughts and push towards those to be implemented into a business. And nobody can make all of the "right" decisions even if they are having the final say because there is a chance- whether slim or large- for everyone to fail.

Better to let experience decide...

Being part of many businesses, I cannot know every detail of every business as it is happening. Therefore, I don't have as much experience with each particular venture as say the manager or team director would have. That said, even thought I may be the owner or majority stake holder in a company, I don't always appoint the final say to myself. While it may be that I can overrule anything said, I choose not to operate that way. I feel that it is best if the person in charge of a particular business take the decision THEY feel is right and most beneficial to the success of a business. Even having multiple locations of the same brand can have less weight compared to the person who runs a specific location being discussed. While I oversee every major decision made, since it is my investment, I oftentimes let individual management go with what they think.

Voting can be pointless...

Many times you will hear a board say that they will vote on a decision to be made and you can choose from X or Y, with having the majority votes win. In my eyes, I can see both ups and downs to this scenario. There is always a chance that 9 people can vote X and 1 can vote Y when clearly Y could be better for a company. This is why I choose to discuss ALL decisions being made and not just go by how many votes one can rack up. When discussion arises to the table, chances are details can be pointed out, where otherwise it would not be.

Overall, decision making and the whole management process seems to work out better when there are fewer decision makers- or "cooks"- in the kitchen making the decisions. If you run a fortune 500 company or just a mom and pop shop down the street, always welcome various voices to the table. It can be to your benefit to listen to different people because you don't know what they are thinking until they say it, but if you never listen, you will never have the options to chose from.

Small Business For The Win

There's no question that most businesses-small or large- are hurting in this economy, but it seems like many small businesses are able to hold on to that last string while hope stirs for things to turn around. As you may have already heard, Circuit City among other large companies have recently gone bankrupt, and in my opinion, this is only the beginning of large enterprises failing.

I recently spoke to a friend who owns a Toyota dealership, who said that even they are facing trouble despite being the #1 car manufacture in the country. Toyota as a whole reported it was losing money after a long time, but car dealerships seem to be having a real tough time to make profit on each vehicle. My friend said, "We're lucky to see the cars being sold, even for minimum to no profit, just to see inventory flowing through." This goes to show, if odds are against you, despite having an excellent product which is to the highest quality, you are still a business and can be dragged through sand anytime.

Many of my friends have multiple small businesses and say that some locations are not doing as bad as they had expected. I always say, "In good times, big businesses can make a lot, but in bad times they can lose more." From personal experience, having ownership of a large private company, I think that there are pro's and con's to both owning a small business vs. a large business, but chances to salvage a business seems to be higher when the business is small. The reasoning behind small business strength is the fact that most small businesses are able to control costs tightly. In a bigger company there are far too many lose ends to keep track of when there is damage being done from all sides.

Why do large businesses have "lose ends?"

In my opinion, many large businesses don't think small when profits are flowing in. Company expenses go out of the roof because revenues and profitability can sustain the lavish company dinners, corporate vehicles, etc. When the time to control those expenses comes, it brings the company to a barricade, they are unable to control anything, leading to a huge loss.

What is the true winner?

A large business that thinks and acts like a small business. It is quite simple. I run multiple franchise businesses, but what helps me keep everything profitable, even in the current economy, is my ability to think small. I'm saying that as a company grows, expenses should be kept at the same ratio they were when a business was small. I have had ownership in a large private company as well, where profitability was maintained due to the fact that all staff was able to think small yet look at the macro picture when the time was right. Everything should be kept in prospective. In the end, I always try to prepare for the worst, so when it happens, I'm not being drained.


What is your take on small business?

Slumdog Millionaire Business Model

First of all, I would like to say that Slumdog Millionaire was an extraordinary film, so if you have not seen it, I think you should check it out. But, have you ever questioned what made it a hit in the box office? ...Besides the fact that the movie was based upon a kid winning a million dollars? It was great because it captured the hearts of all the people who saw the movie and enough for them to promote it within their communities.

What did Slumdog Millionaire do to create a long-lived positive response and how can we learn from it for our businesses?

It was different- Too many movies these days involve action and just action. I have never seen a movie that can even relate to Slumdog Millionaire. It shows that if your business is different, no other business can steal your reputation.

It had a new cast- This was the first movie that Dev Patel and Freida Pinto had ever filmed! This shows that someone who has had no experience in a certain profession, can still make it! Starting up a new business or even if you are starting a business for the first time, is no reason to say, "I'm a newbie, I won't make it." You have to give yourself AND your business a chance to prove what is possible.

A great product, will find its way- A lot of the movie was filmed in another language, even so, people still enjoyed the film. If your product is something that people really can use, it will find its way.

It was not predictable- Often times, you can tell where a movie will end up. Slumdog Millionaire was not the least bit predictable. There was always a twist to things or the unexpected happened. In your business, you should have a different approach and make things ironic. If you are offering some sort of service, go a step beyond than what the users or customers will expect from you. It will set your business apart.

It was ready for the attention- The cast didn't know that the film would be such a success, but when it was they were ready for the attention. Even, if you think that your business won't explode with sales all over the place, you should be ready for it. You never know when the rush will flow in for YOUR product.

The stars look up to others in the industry- When Dev Patel and Freida Pinto were asked who they would like to work with in the future, they had answers. This shows that they are not glamored by their own success. Even if you are running a superstar business, there is probably someone better than you -in some aspect, even if not sales- in your industry. You should always learn from someone better and try to adapt their knowledge.

Danny Boyle had a sense of openness- Danny Boyle was working in a whole different country, with a brand new cast. He had an open mind and was willing to work with a new setting. In business, if you are narrow minded, it will only anchor your success, however, if you keep an open mind, chances are you will be able to adapt to new situations.


What are your thoughts on Slumdog Millionaire's Business Model?

Spread Your Brand

You have probably heard that YOU need to live your brand as an entrepreneur, but maybe you haven't heard that your CUSTOMERS need to live it also. In the video, I explain how having your customers live your brand can increase exposure, how you can do it, and other brands that have customers or users live their brand.



If you are really cleaver, people live your brand and don't even know it ;-)


How do you have your customers or users live your brand?

Get Known & Stay Ahead

One of the biggest problems running a web service, is being copied. It has happened in one way or another to many of the popular services. Other than in a web service, it can happen anywhere...in retail, running an online business, etc. Once you have an established service or product you are more vulnerable to be copied and even surpassed. Sometimes the cause of a similar product or service taking the lead over the original, is simply because the original business didn't have the ability to keep thinking outside of the box. How do you initiate your start-up business from being superseded, whether in your area, country, or even continent? I use a "thinking global" approach to make sure I appeal to the widest audience before a copy-cat business does.

-Be compatible and operable to a wide audience- While it may not be that you are running a "worldwide" business, it sure can't hurt to think like one. If you think about how you can adjust your business to appeal to the most diverse audience, you will more than likely find that it is harder for others to copy your business model once you have became larger.

-Ask for user feedback- Customers/Users ARE the ones who will tell you what they want. Chances are, if you can alter your business model to accommodate their needs, your business will become more popular in its niche and the word will spread automatically.

-Don't become blind with your growth- If you think that your business has everything any client can possibly want from it, you stop putting effort into it, leading to your business not growing or introducing new products. When this happens, there is a HUGE chance that another service will pop-up and slip ahead of the curve because you lacked to keep being innovative.

-Make it easy- Customers/Users ALWAYS look for the easiest option when it comes to buying something, using a service, etc. People chose Facebook over MySpace for a reason. People chose drive-thru locations over locations without a drive-thru. Making your business easy to use and purchase from will help people stick around.

-Find the people- If people know about it, it will be instilled in their minds. If a copy-cat business reaches them first, the copy-cat, will be noticed as the original.

-Put a twist on it- If you have a unique product or service, make sure people notice it. Putting a twist on something gets people talking. When people talk, people notice, the business grows. A unique style is VERY HARD to copy- next to impossible.

To conclude, having a global business approach will give you a better sense of reaching a broad audience and potentially dodge becoming overtaken with a copy of your business model. Staying ahead of the curve constantly is a must and it is always beneficial to take in customer feedback and consider the good stuff to be part of future business expansion. Everything basically boils down to "getting there first" and "maintaining the goodness." If you reach your audience first and keep innovation going, you become proactive and make it difficult for someone to steal your thunder.

Push Your Ego Away

There is no doubt in my mind that just about everyone develops an ego, the bigger they get. Most people think that they are the best and have a huge ego after they start cranking in the big bills. In fact, I have personally had experience with people who start showing their ego, once they start making a buck or two. Keep in mind that these same people, were extremely down to earth once upon a time, but after they grew, they started to act full of themselves. Their ego was the cause of anchoring further growth.

Have you ever noticed that your boss, a coworker, or just someone you know has an ego that stops them from growing even larger and making new connections? What do you think of this person? Many people who show their ego after certain accomplishments, don't understand that there are still people smarter and more successful than they are. A problem that people run into is thinking that they are the best, which causes others not to want to be associated with them or even worse, stop talking to them altogether.

When a business is growing, you also shouldn't show an ego. Many people involved with the growth of a business such as founders and highly ranked management get their judgment clouded by the fact that the business is doing super well, which causes them to make wrong decisions, which can end up hurting the business in the long run.

Egos can also destroy businesses that are up and running. For example, it can take down a family business or a partnership. Simple disagreements or views on certain things can escalate and be the start of taking down a profitable business. Keeping an ego in check must be done when negativity of an ego is taking over.

While it is good to be competitive in the business world, you shouldn't act like you are the boss or that you are the greatest. The day you start acting like that, is the day you stop welcoming new people into your network and the day your growth starts to slow down or even turn negative and start destroying everything that you have worked hard to bring up. Your reputation can be slaughtered extremely fast after you start being arrogant and full of yourself. New opportunities can stop proposing themselves to you and you might also find that you will start being criticized by people.

Failure, An Achievement

The last thing people would probably think of when someone says "failure," is probably achievement, but it is true that failing at something early on in business can be an achievement. Every entrepreneur I know has failed at something or another relating to one of their ventures and each and every one says that it is a good thing that it happened. There are many reasons why failing early on can be better than failing later on in your life, but at any time when it happens you can always learn from it and become wiser.

How can you possibly learn from something you failed at?

Learning from what exactly you did wrong which caused you to fail, can teach you what to watch out for next time. You can also identify what you will need to spend more time with or research more, in order to get things correct the next time you are involved with something similar. Failing and correction goes with learning by doing.

Why is failing early on in life- a good thing?

If you fail right off the bat, you will notice that there is a lot of room to improve at something. However, it is beneficial that you fail earlier in your entrepreneurial days, than later because it will hurt you less. What I mean by "hurt" is in terms of finance and reputation. If you fail at an early stage, chances are you have not invested a lot of money into a venture which means you won't be losing a lot of money. If you failed when you were a bit larger, you will end up losing a lot more money than you would have before.

Reputation also goes with failing. People notice when a business fails and they look at the person who used to own the business as "weak" or not so much of a business person, but that is not 100% true. When a business fails, it can be caused by many things, not just the person who was running it. If you fail early on, chances are it will be less of a big deal in public since you probably aren't that well known yet.

When you fail early on as an entrepreneur, you are probably failing at a small venture that really won't set you back in life. If you fail when you are launching something really revolutionary, chances are that your idea might be stolen after you fail. For example, if YouTube failed in its early days for lack of funding, it is probably true that a copy cat site would have been hyped to the top. Once an idea is launched and it fails, if there truly is potential in a concept, it will be reproduced and taken to the top, so failing early on as an entrepreneur will lower the chances of you failing after coming up with a great business.

Nonetheless, failure is a part of doing business. You should not be ashamed of failing as it is only one of the many risks involved with being in the business field. Even more so than just business- people can fail at a lot of different areas as an entrepreneur and that shouldn't drag one person down from getting back on their feet and starting over. After all, if you want to become super rich, you only need one amazing and profitable business that goes to the top and if you fail at all your other businesses, it might not matter.

Taking A Web Business To Retail

There is no doubt that many businesses have transited to the web space and established high sales through the internet over the years, but what is really different, is taking your web business to the “real world.” This might not work for every web business, but it can work for many. Especially businesses that are selling some kind of product that can be also sold in a retail showroom. You would also be surprised what kind of businesses that most would not think can be taken off the web, could very well be taken off the web- to a certain extent.

Do you think that an online service like YouTube can be taken off of the internet?

Probably not in a so called “retail” experience, but YouTube could profit in different ways by selling their most famous videos on a DVD or something along those lines. Imagine if they put together a DVD, broken down into different categories that showed the most viewed YouTube clips. YouTube might also be able to sell “cooking clips” or “craziest home videos” on DVDs. There are many things you can do with content-based services that can be monetized beyond the web. I’m sure that if YouTube ever decided to do something like this, they would give royalties to the people who created the videos being sold.

Why would people benefit from taking a web based business to the real world?

Simply because people would be able to touch and feel products or actually get the experience of purchasing a product, that you cannot achieve on the internet. It is like purchasing a television from a retail store versus online. In a retail store, you get to actually see the TV, watch the actually clarity, and actually touch and feel the product itself. People can be convinced to purchase products they are sometimes skeptical about, if they actually see how something works.

Is it risky taking your business into the real world?

You bet it is. It is probably more risky to do business in retail, than it is online. Of course when you start a web business, you have expenses that you incur if you sell 1 or 1,000 products. The same goes with retail businesses, but at a more intense level, in my opinion. When you lease out a space to use as a shop for your business, you start an expense with rent payments or payments to the bank if you have bought the property. There are also insurance costs, payroll costs, and other hidden costs that are involved with a retail business.

Overall, it truly depends on what kind of product or service you are trying to market, to make your business successful or a failure in the real world. Some products are better kept online and some are better kept offline, but some you can really benefit from selling offline, if you are not already. If you are selling fast food, it can only be done in the real world and if you have some type of internet service, it can only be done in the online world. Doing your homework and research on what would or what would not work, is a must.

Missed Opportunity Could Be Gold Mine

If you are like most business people, you are probably involved with more than just one venture, at least in some way, shape, or form. As we also know, as an entrepreneur it takes A LOT of effort to bring up any business to a level where it turns a decent profit. Most entrepreneurs spend hours upon hours daily to see a little turn in profits. Some entrepreneurs give up on ventures because they simply don't see a future for the concept or business itself. Other entrepreneurs miss to see that there is an opportunity to take a vision to the top.

What I mean by "miss," is that when entrepreneurs are involved with a venture, they tend to pay more attention to one project over the others. It is a natural thing, while some may disagree with me an say that 100% of their time and efforts are equally divided among all of their ventures, I would call them out on that statement. Even I have gotten sidetracked with missing an opportunity or two to really bring up a couple of ventures to the top, at least the first time around.

So what am I trying to say here? Simple. As an entrepreneur, you may be involved in one, two or more ventures and the fact remains that you could very well be missing out on an opportunity to take one of your ventures to the top because you are distracted by another one. There could be a gold mine waiting for your attention and it could be what you become very well known for someday. You have to keep your eyes peeled for any and all opportunities for any of your ventures to be taken to the next level or even to the top. While this may mean spending a little less time on another venture for the time being, I have found, from personal experience, missing out on taking a "pushed-away" venture, can cost me more money in the long run, if I remain to ignore it.

While you may be making $10,000 or $100,000 or even $1,000,000 from a venture, never forget to see if there is room for improvement. Who doesn't want to make more money from something they are already involved in? I mean, it is extremely difficult for a new venture to start turning a profit, so why not increase profits on existing ventures?

The main point is to watch out for the next move you can make and never ignore an venture-B because venture-A is making more for you. It could turn out one day that venture-B makes more than venture-A, venture-C, and venture-D combined!

Learn From Competitors

In most businesses, it’s common to have competition. In fact, I think there is some sort of competition in every business. Even a lemonade stand has competition because there is probably another kid down the block who has a slushy stand. If you are running a professional service, like a law firm or medical practice, you also have competition. Running a web 2.0 service or business can be really competitive because users get to chose from numerous possibilities across the web. You probably get the point that there is competition anywhere and everywhere. I’m going to talk about how you can analyze your competition and acquire their good parts an implement them into your business model. I often speak of providing a great service or sell quality products, which can help attract new customers by viral marketing, but often times that simply is not enough to draw in a big crowd around your businesses product or service.

When I was a young boy, my parents always told me to be nice to everyone and try to adapt other kids’ good qualities and not their bad habits. I think this really explains how I do business now. I am always analyzing my competitors and seeing what they are doing better than I am and I often times implement what they are doing better in my business. This usually gives me leverage over them because I still provide the great customer experience I have been, in addition to what I have adapted from the competition.

How do I “Analyze” My Competition?

- Figure out how they are attracting the customers I am not.
- In retail business, I try to see if they have a better location or better property than I do.
- On the web, I try to see if my competitions interface is more user friendly than mine.
- Find out how they promote their product/service.
- Analyze how they handle daily operations.
--See how I can implement everything my competition does well, into my business.

By figuring out how competitors are attracting customers I am not, it gives me an idea of how their promotions are working to reach audiences my promotions are not. For future marketing, I get a prospective of how to appeal to those customers.

If my competitors business is located at a major intersection, it shows that they are probably getting more customers by visibility. Some of my businesses don’t have the best visibility so I tend to have to advertise more in some markets. I try to put most businesses up where there is high visibility so I rarely run into this situation.

In a web-based business, it is probably –by far- the most important thing to have an easy to use interface. People really hate when the product search process is web 1.0 and now a day’s people really want “1 Click Shopping.” With a web service, you have to make sure that the user-friendliness is better than your competitors; otherwise you can count on losing potential users.

I see how many competitors are promoting products and some of my biggest competitors in retail business really blow advertising dollars like it’s a walk in the park. I don’t take an approach where I blow a lot of advertising dollars in most businesses, but price my products lower than my competitors, so while they might attract more customers by reaching an audience that doesn’t know about them, my customers market my products by word of mouth. However, I do find that there are some marketing tactics that work really well, which I learn through my competitors.

I would say if you really want to learn how your competitors handle and do business. Try out their service or product. It is really the #1 way you will learn how they work. I own many fast food businesses and I am always visiting my competitors. I judge the experience I have, what I like and dislike about it, and see how I can capitalize on the good and bad things they are doing. By “capitalize” I mean implement the good things I feel they are doing and stay away from the bad things I experience.

Overall, there are plenty of ways to run an analysis on your competitors, regardless of any industry that you are doing business in. I think it really is necessary to learn everything you can about your competitors to really provide better products and service than them. If you implement all the good things they do, in addition to the good things you do, your product/service might end up at the winner with the customer base. Learning from your competition doesn't even have to do with direct business. You can learn from anybody in your industry that is your competitor.

How do you learn from your competition?

New Investments And Expansion

Expanding and new ventures always can be a good thing, right? Not always. There are a lot of pro’s to joining into new ventures, but there can be setbacks in the future, if the right steps are not taken when expanding. Numerous businesses fail within the first year of starting; while it may be the cause of lack of experience or along those lines, I believe it has more to do with a lack of understanding and planning.

Whether it is your first business or your tenth, you have to analyze if your situation permits you to start a new business or get involved with an existing venture. While many people have the availability of capital, they lack to plan for setting aside some time and more resources than just money when getting involved with a new business. If a new business owner doesn’t spend enough time with a business, more than likely a business can fail. With only 24 hours in one day, there is only so much time that can be allotted to certain tasks. The time in one day cannot exceed 24 hours, whether you are involved with 20, 200, or 2000 businesses. Making the proper judgment to see if you will have the time it needs to look after your new investments is crucial in the long run for setting up a successful business that will give you a good return.

In addition to analyzing if you have enough time to look after a new involvement, you have to think about your current situation. Are there any investments you have made that are heading south? Are there any that might need more attention in the near future? If you try to expand when other ventures are not doing so hot, you might end up losing all of your investments because the new one is not getting enough attention and the old one is dragging you down. Proper planning in terms of running positive return investments is also necessary before expanding into bigger and better ventures.

I often get new proposals, asking if I want to join a venture, but I unfortunately have to turn down many offers because I don’t want to over expand myself and cause myself to fail at everything, trying to grow larger overnight. A slow, steady, growth can usually last longer when compared to a fast, overnight, growth. When something grows over night it can usually fail just as fast.

To read a post on Overnight Growth Click Here

Marketing Nothing

You can't market nothing. As odd as it sounds, it is very true. Getting venture capital on an idea is possible, but it is even stronger where there is something, whether product or service, to market and display. Also when there is nothing to sell or provide, there is no revenue flowing in, because you are marketing nothing, which will lead to no money.

You need to present a product or service because people no longer back ideas from just ideas. The want something tangible- or visible, if a web product. Entrepreneurs often find themselves in a position where they want to market a concept because they simply do not have enough funding to get the product or service started. However, having enough capital or not, I personally don't believe is an excuse for not having anything to show.

If you take a look at all the greatest startups around the web or products in the world, you will notice that they change overtime. Nothing is set in stone from day one. If this were the case the greatest startups would never be recognized to be "a great startup" because they would just be at the stage they started at. For example, when Facebook started, it was only a simple way to add friends, upload pictures, poke people and a few other features. There was no Facebook chat or ability to add applications to your profile in the beginning stages. Despite the lack of usability, if compared to what Facebook can do now, people were still happy to use it and the word spread about Facebook.

When Facebook was founded, if they tried to think about what they could implement more into the service, I don't think it would be as great to use as it is today. The reason behind why services that grow gradually, are the better ones, is because user feedback is considered, along with peoples "wants." This goes for all products. Peoples needs and wants are identified as the product attracts a larger audience. If the prototype is never launched, and its all just talk, that is probably all it will ever be- "talk."

That said, it is also not impossible, to market a product or service from an idea. Like I said before, venture capital funding can be found from ideas, but there is a greater chance that funding would be approved if there was something that LOOKED or FELT worth funding. In many cases, after a product is launched at a small level, it is easier to move along without funding because as a product or service grows, revenues flow in and the ability to grow is natural. The benefit of being self-funded is great because you are not giving away a huge share in the end. If Facebook kicked off its service with funding from third parties, it would be giving away a lot of cash to the funding companies or people, instead of its founder.

The "marketing nothing" idea also goes with slow and natural growth. If services grow overnight, they face issues of hiring immediate staff and such, which they might not have funding for, which could potentially be the cause of an awesome concept being led to head south.

I previously wrote a post on business partnerships, in which I believe a different situation applies. Since no product or service is being marketed, instead a business is being bought or built, partnerships might be necessary because of the scale of the venture.

Age Is Just A Number

You hear it a lot, "There's no way I can be successful, I'm too young." Well, you may not hear it often, but I sure do. A lot of people think that their age anchors them from being successful, but this is untrue. I could give an example of myself, young and fortunately successful, but there are younger people than myself that are successful, so that would not really mean anything, right?

Instead, for those who want solid proof, that age is only a number, look at Alex Greven's success story. Let me just state that he is currently a fourth grader who is only 9. By story, I really meant "story" as in a book. He has written a book, which teaches people of all ages, how to talk to girls. Most people would be amazed that a nine year old was able to put together a book that can help people of all ages, but that isn't even the amazing part. The really interesting thing is that Fox has bought the rights to Alex's book for SIX FIGURES.

By no means is six figures an amount for someone to retire on, but I would have to say that is a pretty great achievement for someone to land a movie rights deal at the age of 9. If a 9 year old can prove to be successful, what more motivation can you possibly need?

This just shows, age is only a number, and while you may not be selling rights to some movie with your next venture, if you are dedicated, you just may be looking at an opportunity to shine. Anyone at any age, has no reason to say "I'm too young" or "I'm a nobody" because everyone is a somebody. Nobody can be rich and famous from day one, unless you are a celebrity's child, but even then, who's to say that person will be set for life. Most entrepreneurs start from scratch and while they may not be running a fortune 500 company, the determination can only show where they might go. Some may argue that young people have a tough time getting promotions at work over seniors, who have been with the company for years, but that is an excuse from what I see. If you show that you are capable and demonstrate that you are an asset to a company, there is no reason why you wouldn't have a fair chance for that promotion. Setting your mind to being an entrepreneur, can be done at any age and means setting your mind to hard work and dedication.

Business 101 With 50 Cent

Besides the phenomenal success 50 Cent has had with his rapping career, he is also a very powerful and smart businessman. Most people don't know of many of his successful business ventures, but he has sold companies for millions of dollars to large corporations. 50 Cent uses his name or even better, his "brand," to establish connections. The sale of Vitamin Water to Coca-Cola landed him with a cool $400 Million in the bank with his 10% share in the company (before taxes).

How exactly does "50" do business?

Works Around An Established Brand- As a rapper, 50 Cent gets a lot of hype from his fans, undoubtedly his albums rake in big dough for him, but he has gone a step further and expanded "50 Cent" as more than just a rapping phenomenon. "Bulletproof," a video game of 50 Cents lifestyle, also added to his fame in the gaming industry. Aside from the entertainment industry, he is also involved in the production of the G-Unit clothing line and has an agreement with Reebok to produce G-Unit sneakers.

Uses His Resources- As a celebrity, it's easy to make connections, but it's not all about making connections in life, it's about getting to really know people. 50 Cent does business with many people and across all industries, he gets to know people and isn't afraid to utilize his resources to learn and get involved in different types of businesses. If he had not started doing business with different people away from his entertainment career, he would not be in the shoes he is in today. Last year, 50 Cent also listed his house for sale, but got the exposure across to millions of people, by doing an MTV Cribs episode of his house. Even if the whole intent of the show wasn't to market the house, I think it was probably something which was high on the list, which probably influenced him to go throw with the episode. This is a perfect example of how, if you want to sell something, getting the maximum exposure is key, using the right connections can really assist you with that.

Isn't Afraid To Take Risks- As I mentioned previously, 50 Cent's involvement in foreign industries is something which he wasn't skilled at to start off with. Despite the fact that he was new to doing business in markets other than entertainment, he wasn't afraid to learn a little and lose a little. Getting involved in the stock market has also caused him to lose, in some of his investments, but if he didn't take risks, he wouldn't be able to diversify.

Has A Well Established Group- G-Unit, a group made of 50 Cent and his closest friends who are also rappers, is a well established group in the music industry. The power of the group is probably more than the power of 50 Cent alone. Having the G-Unit group, enables growth of all members in it. In the business world, most people try to get ahead alone, sometimes it involves claiming every man for themselves. For example, in the case of a promotion, if there was only one position and there were 5 candidates for it, every man would work their hardest to get that seat. It's not always advantageous to travel alone though, groups have more minds and more minds equate to more knowledge. Knowledge=Power.

There are many more factors that make Curtis Jackson "50 Cent" the successful businessman he is. I chose to write about 50 Cent because he is not viewed as the "most successful" businessman in the rap industry, instead he seems to be #2. Most people view Jay-Z to be the #1 businessman in the rap industry. I wanted to reflect that even though 50 Cent is a hard worker and has been tremendously successful this far, he is still not #1. Don't expect yourself to be #1 quickly, but trying to get that #1 spot, will keep you going.

The Business Supremacy

The true concept of being better than the competition is really to focus on a similar product or service, but with a more “customer-friendly” experience. I am going to focus on the difference between MySpace and Facebook and talk about how Facebook won over many of MySpace users. There are many examples of customers who switch from one company to another for reasons such as what Facebook provided for MySpace users, with a similar experience. There are many facts that also show Facebook has surpassed MySpace overall such as having a higher Alexa rank.

There were some pre-MySpace era social networks such as Friendster, who had an opportunity to take off, but never quite made it. Then there’s Facebook, which is a huge threat to MySpace…in a way. MySpace really won people over because it was a social network where users could customize the look and feel of their individual profiles. The ability to add applications such as music widgets, top friends, and other features were really popular with MySpace. All was going well for MySpace, but there were some drawbacks. The first biggest drawback of MySpace was that it was disorganized and lagged quite a bit. It was never up to speed of which most users expected and it seemed to be extremely cluttered. For this reason MySpace lost a LOT of users, some of which I personally know. Security was also an issue in the early MySpace days, because there were many users who did not wish to publicly expose their profiles and the option of making your profile private was not that enhanced.

Facebook came to be popular after News Corp. had bought MySpace. The winning feature of Facebook was really the organization and easy-to-use structure of the network. Facebook was always fast to surf through and always gave the “clean and neat” feeling. In other words, Facebook was strong on the points which MySpace was not. As a competitor, Facebook really delivered on what features were weak or even non-existent with MySpace. This is really the key to winning over competitor clientele in many industries. Facebook had many of the good features of MySpace, but even added more to that. Facebook is known for its ability to add apps to individual profiles, which MySpace never had at the level of which Facebook had. The security of having a Facebook profile is really enhanced because users are able to edit the security of each aspect of their profiles.

After Facebook really catered to MySpace users, many of the users stopped using MySpace all together. This really shows that Facebook was “better” than MySpace. Most of the people that used MySpace and stopped, used it for a short period of time, but the Facebook users are still using Facebook especially because Facebook kept the innovation going. It is important to realize that even when a business captures its competitor’s customers, the business should come out with new ways to enhance the user experience or come up with new products that will really attract customers to stick around. Facebook came up with Facebook chat, which increased the time users spent logged into Facebook. They even tried experimenting to give more of a MySpace type feeling it seems, but users really didn’t care for it. – Most users still stuck around. This shows if a business has a service that is truly phenomenal, it is hard to lose customers, even if changes are made that people dislike. However, if changes are made, customer feedback should be taken into consideration and be used to tweak the changes.

Personally, I started to use Facebook as soon as I knew about it, even before it was big, while having a MySpace account. I stopped using MySpace for about after 6 months or so, but have been using Facebook for a few years now.

Facebook’s business concept is really great, but for the company revenues are not as strong as MySpace revenues. Advertisers view Facebook’s ad system as weak and ineffective, which leads them to advertise on MySpace over Facebook, which can really anchor the growth of the company. This shows that even while providing a great experience to customers, companies still need to focus on the bottom line because after all, it is a business and there should be a profit made.