Archive for July, 2008
Posted on July 23, 2008 - by Jeffrey
The Anatomy of a Good Business Meeting
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At this point in my life I have acquired a lot of meetings and been in front of some pretty serious people. I
have learned that there is an art to having a good and productive meeting with a potential client/partner and it is a skill similar to being a good actor. I touched on the importance of meetings briefly in a previous article, but I felt that the anatomy of a good meeting deserved a greater explanation.
An initial meeting usually goes one of three ways in my experience.
- Synergies with potential benefits to all parties, definite second meeting
- Possible synergies but wrong department, maybe get a follow up with the right people
- Waste of Time
As I went to more and more meetings I realized that a lot of them tended to be a waste of time. People going through the motions to fill their day, stroking each others ego so to speak. This is where the screening process comes into play.
Posted on July 20, 2008 - by Jeffrey
Should you ever try Network Marketing?
If you are really in business then you must of herd of something called network marketing. Probably one of the first and most popular companies in this space was AMWAY, you may have herd of them on TV or even in some movies. For instance the Movie “GO” had a scene where the policeman and his wife were trying to convince the gay actors to join the company under them, among other things.
What is Network Marketing?
It is commonly referred to a pyramid scheme and most of them are, even if disguised as something else. The concept is simple. There is usually some sort of product or system that the company pushes as this new niche which is only available to them. I call this part the story, “our founder worked under some of the top ____ for years and now he has started this opportunity to allow you as an individual to get in on the action”, Right…
Then they tell you the breakdown on how you will make money. This is the real pitch of the opportunity and it always looks like a sweet payoff. There are many different ways to join, sometimes there is a fee other times you just need to become a customer. Whatever way you look at it, they are asking you to give them something to join and this is where they make the money. You will be told that the real money is in you becoming a successful distributor, in most cases this is false. This type of business organization relies on more and more people being a part of it to build it up. Getting people to join is the main focus of activities (with their weekly feel good meetings) and putting these people under them is where they get the residual.
Posted on July 16, 2008 - by Jeffrey
Are you in the boys club?
We all know that contacts help in business, the right ones anyway. Too many times I have been to meetings where everyone thinks we are in the right place talking to the right person when we are really not. The problem is that big companies have so many employees and VP’s and blabla that it is easy to get confused with it all.
I have two schools of thought when it comes to this:
- Pitch until you find the right person and hope for the right meeting
- Be in the “boys club” or know someone in the club
(the slow way and the fast track) (more…)
Posted on July 15, 2008 - by Jeffrey
Don’t call yourself an Entrepreneur!
The term “Entrepreneur” is thrown around way to easily these days. Everyone and their mother is an “Entrepreneur” and everyone knows someone that tried what you’re doing and it didn’t work. It all starts with you opening your mouth.
Stop Talking About It
If you plan on doing something business wise, then I advise you to keep it to yourself until you have made some preliminary plans; at least! People have an unfortunate habit of trying to kill your dreams, sometimes these people can consist of family members. In these situations you need to seek out advice from people who already doing what you are doing. Someone you would like to emulate, in a business sense.
Ask them if it’s possible? If they are an honest person, you’ll get an entirely different answer.
Posted on July 10, 2008 - by Jeffrey
Regaining your Momentum
Commonly referred to as “Reclaiming the fire”, it is a point we all reach as entrepreneurs where we feel a little stalled. Maybe something you have been working on for a while seems to be dragging on with pointless meetings, or maybe you just read how a potential client of yours just closed a deal with your pseudo competitor on techcrunch..
Whatever that reason may be, it can feel like your going nowhere and loosing ground. This is probably where most people get pressured to go back to (or start) work at a 9 to 5 job living in one of those awesome cubicles. My opinion is that this is the best time to relax and do a lot of thinking, when you don’t know what to do, sometimes the best thing is to just stay still and observe your surroundings.
Even if you have always been that go-getter and never take a minute to rest, maybe this is a good time. I
recently had a point where I was feeling stalled. I had just sold my business and took a big cut in my income in exchange for time to do bigger and better things. I figure that if I can make one successful company and then another thereafter, I am a true entrepreneur. If I can’t make another company work, then maybe the first one was just a fluke. Is this being a little hard on myself? Maybe..
Soon after selling my business I started to feel a little stalled. I don’t know if it was the lack of income or not gaining enough momentum on other projects, but it happened. It is very evident that I am in this phase because I always start resorting to the same situations in my head. (more…)
Posted on July 6, 2008 - by Jeffrey
Messing around with POP17.com Sarah Myers Austin..
We were at a local crunchgear/techcrunch meet up and we ran into life caster Sarah Myers Austin, or is it Sarah Austin Myers, no Sarah Myers; wait I think it’s just Sarah Austin now.. Whew?!?!? Hey, it was all in good fun 
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