Mission #3-9 Reaching Your Goals

Objectives:

• Keep the business to a manageable size.
• Listen to your customers.
• Small businesses can be converted to big moneymakers.
• Know the limitations of your market.
• Knowing one business doesn't make you an expert in business.
• Don't be flattered to stray.

Story:

Wendell Sells Wieners

Wendell did everything right in starting his small business. He got into a business he liked, food. He spoke to many people who are currently in the business. He found several old timers who had been in the business. He found two guys who had been in the business but failed. He researched suppliers and vendors. He joined associations. He surfed the Internet. He read and read and asked and asked.

In starting his business, he kept to a small, manageable size. He was proud of his product and not afraid to sing its praises. He liked people and he liked people to like his product. Wendell's frankfurters were the best. And, Wendell's Wiener Wagon was a big success from the first day he rolled onto the street.

Wendell was smart and hard working. In fact, he found an excellent corner from which to sell. He sold a ton of wieners. Wendell was friendly to everyone. Customers liked Wendell and Wendell's wieners. To show his appreciation, Wendell would throw a little extra chili or cheese or sauerkraut on his wieners. After a few months, Wendell had a regular clientele of wiener aficionados.

Wendell was a success. Actually, Wendell did make a comfortable living. He worked very hard and he made more than enough to get by. However, he wasn't going to get rich young or rich middle age or rich old age. Wendell was smart enough to realize that no matter how hard he worked his tail off, he wasn't going to get rich doing what he was doing. He was making $600 a week in salary and another $300 in profit. He saw himself possibly boosting the business to $1,200 salary and profit a week.

As a warrior, Wendell wasn't satisfied that he had fulfilled his business potential. He had done everything according to plan and yet financial independence was still a distant dream. Poor Wendell. After all, if you considered the money he was making each week, he could be lounging around working for somebody else without a care in the world. And, he wouldn't be out of business when it rained or snowed. Poor Wendell. He was assuming all the risks of entrepreneurship and yet not enjoying what he felt were the full benefits.

Wendell just had to face reality. You aren't going to become a millionaire pushing one wiener wagon, successful or not.

Then, one day, things changed. Wendell started listening to his customers.

One customer said, "Gee, these wieners are excellent. I wish we had a Wendell's Weenie Wagon over on Oceanside."

Another said, "You sell so many wieners, this place is a goldmine. I should buy it from you, Wendell."

Another said, "Gee, if you sold hamburgers as well as wieners, I could be your customer every day, Wendell."

A fourth said, "These wieners are better than anything in the supermarket. Wendell, you should package them."

Now, Wendell started to think about the options he had for turning a small wiener wagon into a serious moneymaker.

Taking each option separately, Wendell thought about his future.

Wendell started to think about what the first person had said about other locations.

Wendell reasoned, "If I could hire someone to run my wagon and clear $300 a week, I still wouldn't have much. But, if I had six or eight wagons operating around town and made $300 clear from each, then, I'd really have something. What if I had 16 or 18 wagons? With this volume, I could get real volume discounts on my supplies and cut my overhead even further. Maybe, rather than operating the wagons myself, I could lease them out to young entrepreneurs for a set rent. Then? Maybe, I can franchise the concept."

The next person had mentioned buying the "wiener goldmine" from Wendell. Actually, Wendell figured that with all the work he'd done and with all the equipment and supplies that he'd bought, that he was into the wiener wagon for just over $7,000. Of course, Wendell was now a genius at buying and setting up these wiener wagons. He'd done the research. Here was another opportunity for Wendell to cash in on a previous investment he had made in time and money.

Maybe someone would be willing to pay him for all the time and energy and thought that he had put into starting his business. Maybe, to someone else, the idea of having a "turnkey" ready-to-go business was very appealing. How much would someone pay for a going business? Would they pay $15,000 or $20,000? Could Wendell make a lot more money selling Wendell's Wiener Wagons than he could selling wieners?

Why not consider the concept of selling? Why not list the business with business brokers? Why not put a classified ad in the Sunday paper offering a successful "Ready-To-Go" business for less than $20,000? Even better, why doesn't Wendell offer to finance the business to a new buyer with only $5,000 down?

Wendell reasons correctly that a lot more people have $5,000 to invest than $20,000. Wendell will lend the buyer $15,000 at 12% for six years. During the term of the loan to the buyer, Wendell's money will double again. Wendell starts with a $7,000 investment and ends up with a total return of $23,000.

Now, Wendell is cooking a lot more than wieners. As his profits come in, he reinvests in other wiener wagons that he establishes and sells and finances.

What does Wendell have to lose by offering to sell his business at a premium price? If Wendell doesn't like the offers which prospective buyers make to him, he doesn't have to sell. If he does put the business on the market, the business might sell. But, if Wendell's business is not on the market, he will never know if there were someone willing to pay him a premium.

If the business is on the market, it may sell. If the business is not on the market, it will never sell.

How about a completely different approach?

The next person had said to Wendell that it was too bad that he only sold wieners. Wendell realized that his menu was very limited. After all, how varied a menu can you have selling from a small aluminum push-wagon? Folks loved his wieners but not many people were willing to eat them every day for lunch. Wendell realized that with all the office buildings in the area that he had a solid customer base. People like Wendell's food. He just had to provide them with an opportunity to buy more of it.

Wendell's answer was to move from his wagon to a permanent site. Wendell approached an old timer, Gus, who ran a dark and dismal bar and grill near Wendell's corner. Gus had few customers and if Gus weren't the owner of the building, he would probably have been forced to close years ago.

The warrior is always thinking, what am I doing, what could I be doing, what's next? Who can help me? How can I advance one step closer to my goal?

Wendell knew that his real challenge was to get meat cooler space in the highly competitive wiener market. To ensure success, Wendell gave 10% in his fledgling company to Carne Products, the largest regional meat distributor. Having an equity position would push Carne products to distribute the wieners in as wide a market as possible and to give Wendell Wieners good shelf space and shelf position. These were all critical success elements that Wendell learned about from his research. In taking Carne Products as a minority interest partner, Wendell gave a little to gain a lot. He was the little guy who was smart enough not to try and fight the big guy but to take the big guy in for protection.

Wendell's smiling face on his wiener package can now be seen in supermarkets, on billboards and buses everywhere.

With the Wendell Wiener brand established, Wendell shopped the brand around and found a buyer in Second Choice Meats. Second Choice Meats was a company large enough to take the Wendell Wiener brand national. Wendell received a sizable block of Second Choice stock in exchange for his businesses. Wendell now travels the country and does supermarket demonstrations and works the local talk show circuit as a celebrity spokesperson for Second Choice.

Wendell sold much of his Second Choice stock so that he could diversify his portfolio. But, Wendell was smart. He stuck to what he knew best, wieners. Why should Wendell invest in airline companies, or mining companies or electronics companies? He knew nothing about these companies. Wendell knew wieners. He followed the wiener industry and he knew wiener companies that were making good decisions and those that were making bad decisions. For the bad companies, he shorted the stock and made money. Wendell knew that, by shorting, it was also possible to make money when you know that a company stock was going to fall. For the good companies, he bought the stock on margin. Wendell knew wieners. Wendell made a lot of money from that little tube of meat by-product.

Story:

Jennifer Loves To Sing

For six years, Technical Sergeant Jennifer Johnson lived in Washington, D.C. and traveled the world as a member of the United States Air Force Band. Jen played the clarinet and sang. She loves jazz.

Jennifer is a warrior. She has forethought. She knew that upon leaving the service that she wanted to pursue a career in entertainment. Anticipating her future, during her enlistment, she has made many contacts in the music industry. She knows venue operators. She knows promoters. She knows managers. She knows producers.

She has been thinking, am I best as a solo act or as a group? She started a trio, her own trio, "The Jennifer Johnson Experience." While still in the service, she has auditioned a number of different back-up performers. She already has a website, a video podcast and a You Tube presence. She has a great concert poster and portrait portfolio. She is planning to release her first full length CD. She has a sampler CD of three songs that she hands out as her unique business card.

Through her Air Force networks, she knows several Air Force vets who work in the hospitality industry in Las Vegas. She also has a vet contact at Carnival Cruise Lines. She will get her chance as a live performer.

Jen googles "jazz radio" and finds over thirty-eight million responses! She is introducing herself at all the jazz stations around the country.

Of course, the fact that Jen is very talented is important. Jen has a growing collection of print, audio and video testimonials from fans, critics and fellow musicians.

Will Jen have a solo career in Vegas? Will she bring her trio on an around the world cruise? Will she sell lots of CDs? Will she work at a jazz radio station? Will she teach music? Will she go to Hollywood as a studio musician?

Jennifer wants a career in music. Jennifer will have a career in music. She is a warrior.

Background:

In most small businesses, there is a finite amount of business that you can do. If you're a hairdresser, there are only so many haircuts that you can do in a day. Therefore, there are only so many opportunities to get rich. You could raise your prices but how much can you raise your prices in a small town? People in a suburban location may pay $40 for a haircut, but probably aren't going to pay $400.

While you are thinking about what you want to do, someone else is doing it. All businesses are passing from old hands to young. Put your hands out!

Jargon:

Baptism of fire: Being put in the middle of the action without the benefit of a lot of training.

Canvass - Cold-calling in person at the prospect's office or more commonly by telephone, in an attempt to arrange an appointment or present a product, or to gather information.

Close – Put the deal together.

Decision maker – the person with the authority to make a purchase.

Lead time – Time between order and delivery.

Milking a mouse: A project or venture that requires maximum effort for minimum returns.

One trick pony – A company or an individual with a single product or ability.

Proposal – A written offer with specifications.

Prospect – A potential customer.

Taking the bull by the horns – Volunteering to get a tough job done.

Territory - the geographical area of responsibility of a sales person or a team or a sales organization.

Thinking outside the box – Being creative.

Unique value perspective – What is special and different about your product or service.

Value added – Providing something extra at no additional cost.

Questions and Answers:

After twenty-five years of working on electronics in the Coast Guard, I'm ready to retire from military service. After taking your course, I'm excited about using my expertise to become a defense consultant. Is my enthusiasm realistic?

It would seem that many defense contractors would be interested in your expertise. Stay enthusiastic. Do your research and copy success. Can you find people who are already successful consultants in the defense electronics field? If you can, do what they are doing. If you can't, be careful. You'll want to start by networking with your contacts in the industry and asking for their advice on consulting opportunities. You will also want to stay actively involved in the many defense industry associations.

As a consultant you can work directly with companies in an advisory capacity, but there may also be other income opportunities from writing articles, teaching, promoting seminars, or offering other types of training.

Is multi-level marketing a legitimate form of business, or is it something that I should stay away from?

Organized properly, multi-level marketing is a legitimate way to keep a business growing. If not, watch out! As with many things in life, if a promoter makes promises that sound too good to be true, it probably is too good to be true. Have you ever heard of a get-rich quick scheme where all newcomers have actually gotten rich quick? Of course not, because in short order, everyone would have jumped on the bandwagon and gotten rich.

To evaluate a multi-level marketing business, go back to your three principles. Is the product a quality product or service being offered at a fair price? Is the profit to be found in selling that final product or is the profit just in signing up new salespeople? Common sense will tell you that the math doesn't work if you have to sign up ten people who have to sign up ten people who have to sign up ten people.

Always keep in the back of your mind, the fact that you can make our system work working extraordinarily in many ordinary occupations. You can be an extraordinary cab driver or extraordinary waitress and make enough money to invest and retire rich.

In giving advice, you seem to minimize the importance of capital gains taxes and interest rates, global economics and the influence of the Federal Reserve. Isn't it naive and unfair to ignore these significant factors?

All of the economic factors which you mentioned are important. All will influence your business, but they will also equally influence the businesses of all of your competitors. Both you, and they, will be dealing with the same issues.

Think about all of the people who were in your industry forty years ago. How many are still active? Probably not many. Now, think about all of the people who will be in your industry forty years from now. How many of today's participants will be active then? Again, probably, not many. Businesses constantly pass from old hands to young and this process continues regardless of economic conditions or political considerations.

You have to decide. You can decide to look for excuses. Or, you can decide to take action. As an individual business owner, what you have to decide is what style and attitudes you are going to adopt that ensure you will keep working toward becoming a future leader in your industry. Be the warrior.

Support:

• From Advertising Age Magazine: adage.com/
• From the American Marketing Association:    www.marketingpower.com/
• From Businesses Know-How: www.businessknowhow.com/
• For online marketing: www.emarketer.com/
• For learning about consumer preferences: acnielsen.com/
• For marketing and advertising assistance: www.marcomexchange.com/
• From the Marketing Resource Center: www.marketingsource.com/
• From the Internet News Bureau: www.internetnewsbureau.com/
• From the Mail Order Marketing Association: nmoa.org/Library/webtips.htm
• To tell your story to the world: www.prnewswire.com/
• From U. of Texas, advertising directory Advertising.utexas.edu/

Inspirational Insights: