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5 Inspiring Lessons Entrepreneurs Can Learn from Steve Jobs

Filed Under Marketing, Strategy, Successful Blog | 1 Comment

A Guest Post by
Rahil Muzafar

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What Lessons Will You Keep?

By the time this post goes live, millions of words would have already been said, written and discussed about Steve Jobs – the man behind 21st century’s technological revolution. I don’t think any words coming from me would justify the greats of this man. Therefore, I prefer to talk about his inspiring words rather than of the man himself. No words can fill the void he left behind, and because he is a legacy that lives on in his work, I find it a necessity to discuss about his professional feats and their impact on us.

Until earlier, I admit, I was naive enough to think of him as just the CEO of Apple Inc. Never did it cross me that this man was a genius; that he did not only give the world some pretty usable devices, he also made sure his customers became die hard loyalists to Apple. How did he do it? What did he believe in? These are answers that can be found right in his words. Being an entrepreneur there were some amazing words that I found to be not only inspirational but also very practical for people who are looking to make it big. Here’s what I am talking about.

“But Apple really beats to a different drummer. I used to say that Apple should be the Sony of this business, but in reality, I think Apple should be the Apple of this business”

Lesson: Create Your Own Identity

Inspiration should not be mixed with derivation. You should be inspired by the greats – yes; but you should never want to “imitate them”. This is exactly how Apple created its unique identity through the looks, the functionality, and even the internal features of its products. You will not find an Apple product that tries to impersonate another product. There’s always something very distinctive in all of their products. Note that the focus here is not just on unique design or looks, rather on a unique imagination and approach to your business. You don’t become a “great” by mimicking some “great”.

“For you to sleep well at night, the aesthetic, the quality, has to be carried all the way through.”

Lesson: Never Compromise on Product Quality

If quality isn’t your priority, forget about getting customer loyalty. This quote is applicable to all professions coming from all walks of life. Be it engineering or designing, every product must satisfy the eyes of the customer. When a customer’s aesthetic sense gets lured, there will be a natural curiosity to know more about the product. If your service/product satisfies both the customer’s eyes and the purposes, you can put your feet up and relax because you are on solid grounds.

“I didn’t see it then, but it turned out that getting fired from Apple was the best thing that could have ever happened to me. The heaviness of being successful was replaced by the lightness of being a beginner again, less sure about everything. It freed me to enter one of the most creative periods of my life.”

Lesson: Do Not Let Failures get in the way

Let’s face it. Being an entrepreneur and a visionary is not easy. And who knows this better than Steve Jobs! Being fired from your own company is a devastating experience, even more than experiencing some financial loss. But this is what makes the “man” so special, he didn’t give up (Started another company, and just kept going) He was back within a year and ever since he became the epitome of company’s success. Lesson for us, never lose confidence in your abilities even when others are writing you off. There are times when you’ll fail in a grand manner, but that’s what entrepreneurship.

“And it comes from saying no to 1,000 things to make sure we don’t get on the wrong track or try to do too much. We’re always thinking about new markets we could enter, but it’s only by saying no that you can concentrate on the things that are really important.”

Lesson: Focus on Your Niche

The problem with following a success story is that it leaves no room for originality. The moment a business gets successful, euphoric optimism settles in. You start thinking of endless possibilities and try to put your foot in everywhere. This is where focus decentralizes and the business goes awry. Apple was a global leader in manufacturing systems; smart computing systems. The company did not try to be what it was not; it did not try to jump from market to market. All it did was to focus on improvising its core products and making sure people get systems that have never been manufactured by companies before. When you learn to devote time, energy and efforts into developing, enhancing and updating every part of your niche business, you are bound to be successful. Being haphazard in your approach can never get your business the strength, the success or even the attention it deserves.

“Being the richest man in the cemetery doesn’t matter to me. Going to bed at night saying we’ve done something wonderful, that’s what matters to me.”

Lesson: Money should not always be the Sole Purpose

Many wouldn’t agree with me, but money should not be the “only” motivation for you to do anything. It’s true that money is naturally every man’s goal, but you should also realize that the world’s best feelings don’t have anything to do with the richest man; rather it comes from being able to do something which is close to your heart. Entrepreneurs need to look beyond the objective of being profitable. And don’t get disappointed when the cash flow is not as good as expected, because the disappointment might result in bad decisions in a desperate attempt to be financially successful. If you keep money as the sole objective, you will miss many occasions to celebrate.

Rahil Muzafar

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Author’s Bio:

Rahil is an SEO expert, and writes on topics related to Internet Marketing. He’s working for smartpress.com that offers quality sell sheet printing service

Thanks! Rahil!

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Work with Liz on your business!!

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Always Give People More Than They Bargained For

Filed Under Customer Think, Marketing, Strategy, Successful Blog | 1 Comment

A Guest Post by
Lou Imbriano

I grew up in East Boston in a three-decker dumbbell tenement building. My grandparents lived on the first floor and we lived on the third floor. We spent a lot of time on the first floor with my grandparents and ate dinner there practically every night. My grandmother was a seamstress and worked piecework in Boston, and my grandfather worked construction, tended bar, and worked at Suffolk Downs race track as a pari-mutuel teller. He juggled all of these jobs to make ends meet, and needed all three because of the seasonality of the work. What he really wanted was to own his own breakfast place and sandwich shoppe.

When I was about 9 or 10, he scraped together enough money to rent a store near the square and purchase all of the items needed to get things going. I used to walk to the store every chance I got to watch him in action. He loved making food for people and seeing them enjoy every bite. The shop wasn’t a cash cow, but he took great pride in it, and enjoyed owning his own place. One day, I noticed that a couple of firemen were there getting sandwiches and my grandfather told them it on was on the house. Another day, I saw him do the same for a couple of policemen, and then one day I saw him not charge a very popular business man in the city.

So one day, when we were alone, I asked my grandfather why he gave away sandwiches to certain people. Why didn’t he charge them? He sat down with me and said, “Louis, it’s a very small price to pay for their loyalty.” He proceeded to tell me that those folks were out in the community and people trusted them, so when they talked to folks about lunch, they will think of his store and mention it fondly. He also said that, especially with the police and firemen, if there was an emergency, they will be quick to respond, because of how nicely we treated them. Being a naïve child, I asked, “Isn’t it their job to respond quickly?” He agreed that it was, and that they probably would anyway, but by treating them nicely and with respect, the likelihood was that they would pay a little extra attention to us, and the store.

My grandfather further explained, “You see Louis, everyone thinks that if you give people what they bargained for, you have been fair and done your job. But, there is more to it than that. If you give people more than they bargained for, and the better of the deal, they will always think of you first, and they will always speak positively about your business.” My grandfather never went to college, never studied business, never got a masters, but he had a PhD in people. My grandfather’s words and actions stuck with me and his demeanor when interacting with customers strikes a chord even to this day.

When we opened TrinityOne, we threw a huge launch party for 800 people in the Castle at the Park Plaza Boston. It was quite a gala event with all of the bells and whistles. When we were planning the event, the head of security for the venue was laying out all the rules, regulations and protocols for the night, and stated that we had to hire a police detail with two officers. I immediately said to him, “Hire six.” He pushed back and said, “But you only need two.” I repeated, “Hire six; it’s a small price to pay for everything to run smoothly.” And it did. I have my grandfather’s wisdom to thank for that and many other similar instances. His words are always present: “Always give people more than they bargained for.”

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Lou Imbriano, the Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer of the New England Patriots football team from 1997-2006, is President and CEO of TrinityOne, a marketing company specializing in creating strategy for corporations to maximize revenue generation through building customer relationships and custodians of the brand. Formerly a radio and TV producer, he has appeared on numerous radio and television programs. Lou has been profiled on Forbes.com as one of their “Names You Need to Know” and has written multiple columns for the Sports Business Journal. Lou, who teaches sports marketing at Boston College, is based in Boston, MA and is the author of the newly released Winning the Customer. Lou can be found at LouImbriano.com

–ME “Liz” Strauss
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Do You Rely on Analytics to Tell the Whole Story?

Filed Under Strategy, Successful Blog, Tech/Stats | 4 Comments

A Guest Post by
Rosemary O’Neill

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The Tools Only Get You Halfway There

Many tools offer to help you analyze your customer community, so that you can capture the elusive “ROI.” These tools evaluate a multitude of data points, including number of followers, likes, blog comments, retweets, etc., to come up with the success equation. Small businesses can be overwhelmed by the sheer magnitude of starting from zero in all of these social categories.

However, I propose that numbers only get you halfway there. The other half is composed of humanity. Information like, “dog’s name,” “has 3 kids,” “is insanely into photography.” The reason that is often left out in the cold is because it’s hard to automate that kind of connection. That type of information is only really gleaned from a steady stream of interactions over a long period of time. And many of us don’t invest the time to build up that data.

There’s an old-school sales trick that says when you walk into someone’s office, you look around and take note of the family pictures, fishing trophies, or other personal items on the desk. Those can be used to start conversations and begin building a connection…”hey, I went to UVa too!” If you want to build up your humanity data, you need to do the digital version of that; i.e., take note of the human information that is available online.

I’m not suggesting cyberstalking in a creepy way, but if your customer is sharing his/her interests publicly, it’s fairly easy to build on that. Here are some concrete ideas:

The bonus is that, by including human data, you also build in “delight,” as people recognize that they’re being noticed. And that’s priceless.

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Author’s Bio: Rosemary O’Neill is an insightful spirit who works for social strata — a top ten company to work on the Internet. Check out their blog. You can find her on Twitter as @rhogroupee

Thank you, Rosemary! People like you are easy to remember and fun to do business with! :)

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Work with Liz on your business!!

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How to Strategically Pull High-Opportunity from High-Risk Danger

Filed Under Strategy, Successful Blog | 1 Comment

What Separates Opportunity from Risk?

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For me, growing up the youngest child came with a huge set of challenges. Courtesy of my two big brothers, I faced daily occasions to show or say that “I might be smaller, but I can hold my own on this proverbial dance floor.”

No matter where we are in the birth order learning to talk, walk, eat, read, ride a bike, swim, and cross the street are challenges that most of conquer as we find our identities. Conquering the challenges of social interactions and the personal particularities of our families, friends, teachers, teammates, bosses, clients, and customers add to the list. We learn those too watching, listening, attempting, adjusting, and eventually mastering.

Most challenges take the appropriate mix and measure of experience, personality, and motivation.

Challenges also motivate by the way they make something happen. They offer a way to gain ground or to conquer new skills and learning. The most exciting challenges are the ones in which risk may be there, but failure simply isn’t considered. On the other hand, taking on an unseen risk can be a ready-made failure.

What separates high opportunity from high risk danger?

High Opportunity, Low Risk Challenges

Long before we get to school, we’ve conquered plenty of learning. All learning is a series of incrementally increasingly difficult challenges that we conquer. We move forward and upward one step, one concept, one skill at time, repeating and relearning at slightly more challenging and more complex levels.

A well chosen challenge — like learning to walk when we’re ready — inspires the determination to scale mountains, ford rivers, navigate detours, roadblocks and fences to reach the ultimate successes. That challenge is a matter of finding success with total disregard to the possibility of failure. Falling down is simply a time to start again. Opportunities that offer sort of scaffolding builds skills, knowledge, and confidence with a possibility of failure but essentially no risk beyond loss of the time involved.

When they’re constructed naturally, learning challenges are high opportunity and low risk.

How to Strategically Pull High-Opportunity from High-Risk Danger

Risk and challenge are not opposite conditions. They often coexist in the same business proposition. We can define high-opportunity challenge as a difficult task matched to our skill set and experience that brings a reward such learning, advantage or new ground with it. If undertaken strategically, risk in that is limited. To limit that risk, we need to understand how gets dangerous.

What is risk anyway?

Risk is underlined and defined by cost. Risk means I might lose something dear that I value. I might give up something I can’t recover. I might find I am without something that I love, need, or desire.

The risk is not defined by solely by failure – (unless success is the something dear I value). Defining risk is defining what could be in jeopardy if we move forward.

With the right skills and conditions, the risk of a challenge is lower, but whether we see that depends on our mindset, skill set, personality, and experience. A realistic pessimist who has recently hit hard times might see risk everywhere. An idealistic optimist who has yet to fall down might be blind to the risks of the path he or she is proposing.

A strategic understanding of risk is sounder than seeing risk everywhere or being blind to it.

How to pull high opportunity from high-risk danger

We can mitigate the risk and test the challenge presented by any business proposition by evaluating the key strategic variables. Here’s how to do that.

Is it possible to risk at 30,000 feet and still fly with a safety net? I don’t think so. If you never risk, you never change. If we only take on low-risk challenges, will we ever learn the art of pushing the envelope, finding the edge of the universe, defining a industry leading purpose?

Find the risk that fits your calling, releases your spirit, and shows you know where you are going.

Would a risk of that nature be a risk at all?

Maybe there is no such thing as high-risk danger when you follow your instincts, evaluate the strategic variables, understand your unique position, leverage the conditions, worry out the secret chances, set up the systems, stage your decisions and incorporate key strategic relationships. The rest is mindset.

High opportunity is about moving forward. A high-risk danger is about not moving backward.

How do you pull high opportunity from high-risk danger?

Be irresistible.
–ME “Liz” Strauss
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Finding a Job After College: What They Don’t Tell You In School

Filed Under Guest Writer, Strategy, Successful Blog | 2 Comments

A Guest Post by
Amy

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Tons of Jobs Out There for Me?

Last year, I graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration with distinction and a 3.8 GPA. As a marketing major, I was always told that there were “tons of jobs out there for me” and that employers were “looking for my set of skills” so I wasn’t very concerned about the job hunt ahead of me.

I started looking for a job during my final semester, and when no offers for interviews came I figured it was because I wasn’t available yet and I would have to graduate first.

After graduation, I moved to a larger city and started to focus solely on my job hunt. I would apply for 10 to 15 jobs each day, but many came back with a rejection email because I didn’t quite fit the skill set needed. Most of my applications went without a response at all. I started to feel discouraged after a few weeks thinking that I wouldn’t be able to find employment. After all, the unemployment rate is rising, and I had much less experience than others in my field.

After a while, I finally got my first interview request. I was completely myself and felt comfortable during the first round, which resulted in a request for a second interview. However, I got nervous during that second interview and got a rejection email the next day.

In my second job interview, I decided not to let anything keep me from being myself. I got through both rounds of interviews with flying colors and was offered the job. However, the hours were long, the pay was low, and I would be knocking on doors selling a product. While those qualities may have been alright for someone else, I wanted something a little different. After careful consideration, I turned down that job.

On my way to my third interview, I was already planning on where I would drop off more resumes on my way home. I knew very little about the company and it was impossible to find their website online. But I knew as soon as I walked in the door that this was the place for me. This place had flexible hours, good pay, great atmosphere, and wonderful people to work with.The interview lasted five minutes and I knew I would accept any job they offered me. Turns out, third time is the charm.

After my three month long job search, I feel that I have grown a little wiser. The job hunt is frustrating for anyone, whether they are just coming out of college or in the middle of their career. Along the way, these are the points I have found that may help you find your perfect job.

  1. Don’t be discouraged – Anything you are feeling during your interview will read all over your face. Smile and be yourself. This way, your employer won’t be expecting “interview you” when you walk in the door on Monday.
  2. Keep throwing darts – Keep applying for anything that seems remotely interesting. If you throw enough darts, eventually one will stick.
  3. Look for something different – Don’t just look for a specific position. For example, most marketing majors start looking for marketing jobs, but most of those job listings online are for door to door or over the phone sales people. Again, this may be what you are looking for, but sometimes your skills may call for something else. While looking online, search for keywords like “entry level” if you’re looking to advance, “writing” if that’s what you enjoy, or simply browse the different job listings in your area. There may be something there that you would have never looked for in the search box.

    Don’t forget to visit the actual websites of companies where you think you would like to work. Some of them may not be using a website like Career Builder or Monster.com, and some smaller companies may be using Craigslist because it is less expensive. Also, look in places you may not have thought of at first. Hand in resumes to businesses around your home. Actually giving them the resume in person will probably make you more memorable to the person hiring for the company.

  4. Interview them too – While you are in your interview, make sure you are asking questions too. You need to make sure this job is right for what you want in your life as much as they need to make sure you are fit for the job.
  5. Relax – It may take some time, but something will happen if you work hard enough.

What tricks do you have for finding a job after college?

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Author’s Bio:
Amy Gardner writes financial topics including small business credit cards. Amy welcomes your comments.

Thanks, Rachel. Even the seasoned pros at home need reminders like these!

–ME “Liz” Strauss
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