Inside Small Business | Small Business & Home Business Marketing
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Studying Feasibility
While it was easy enough to sample the products of mineral makeup companies simply by placing orders, it was a bit trickier to get information about how well these small businesses were doing. With notable exceptions, business owners aren’t typically anxious to share their secrets with potential competitors.
By calling or writing to a dozen or so for advice, though, I did manage to conclude that mineral makeup in general was indeed a hot commodity. One company owner claimed the product was “flying off the shelves” of those who were marketing it. And everywhere, it seemed, I kept hearing the phrase “women who try it never go back to regular makeup.”
Another indication of the appeal of selling mineral makeup as a small business, as opposed to a big-name player, was the sheer number of companies doing so. On eBay alone, nearly 200 store fronts at any given time offer mineral makeup, either by selling the dominant companies’ products at reduced prices or by marketing their own brands, and many of these storefronts have off-eBay companion websites. There are thousands of searches for mineral makeup on eBay every day.
While I was still gathering information and samples for my mineral makeup enterprise, I sold on eBay to get some experience selling on-line. There is a wealth of information and knowledge to be gained from selling on eBay, from how to purchase various products at wholesale to shipping charges and methods, and I would strongly recommend eBay selling to anyone considering online retail sales as a business.
The owner of one of the small companies I approached was particularly forthcoming about the field of mineral makeup. In a brief conversation, she filled me in on some of the challenges and controversies I would be facing, from how to handle the minerals to which ingredients to avoid and why. Her advice was priceless, and shortly thereafter I began to test colors and formulas.
Meanwhile, more than a thousand folks have visited my website! I am all aflutter.
What’s your plan?
Probably the most critical skill that a business owner (and especially a consultant) needs is the ability to plan. Surprisingly, this isn’t a skill that many people can do well. Everyone says they can plan- but in reality, the plan is a collection of random items without structure and is effectively a “to do” list.
Why plan? Because you can set dates, milestones and budgets (all these things should be available from your plan). Most importantly - you can set expectations.
So what makes up a good plan?
The plan needs structure, and it needs to tell a story. I typically break a plan into 3 sections - Plan, Prepare, Execute.
Plan is just that - list out the tasks that you need to complete the plan. This includes research, structure, and other activities necessary to develop your plan.
Prepare is the section devoted to gathering the materials you need to actually perform the plan. This includes gathering materials, preparing documentation templates, and identifying remaining details about execution of your plan.
Finally Execute - these are the steps that actually make something happen.
What are the guidelines to creating a plan?
First - EVERY step in the plan has a deliverable. There should be a document, or some other tangible result of each step on your plan. “Think about marketing” isn’t a plan step - there’s no deliverable. “Develop Marketing Questionnaire” is a plan step - the deliverable is “Draft Questionnaire”.
Second - In order to define the plan - you have to be able to count everything. “Perform Market Research” is open ended - and you can’t count the deliverables. “Perform 3 target market studies”, with deliverables as “under 18, 18-35, 35 and up” are quantifiable and definative.
Third - assign effort, duration, due date and dollars. Each deliverable should have a number of hours associated with it, and an expected delivery date (example - performing market research may take only 8 hours of time, but the surveys will be conducted over a 2 week period. Both facts should be included in your plan. That way you can budget the time, and also have an expecation of when things should be complete. You should also assign cost to each line item (even if it’s your own time - put your expected hourly rate). That way you can really see that “time is moneY”.
Fourth - Manage. You’ve created the plan. However, no good plan is ever executed the way you drew it up. Some things will take longer than expected (an estimating problem). Some things won’t be available when you expect them…causing delay (a resource allocation problem). Some things you won’t know how to do - and you’ll need help (a skills problem). That’s where your skills as a manager come to play - you need to react to these things, juggle time, resources, and external factors to make sure that your end goal is achieved.
Fifth - Mitigate. Think about all the things that can go wrong in your plan. Make contingency plans for these items, or at least acknowledge the risks associated with them. You’ll be surprised how much thinking about “bad stuff” will cause you to re-think your plan and tackle something differently - in order to reduce the risk profile of your plan.
Good luck!
Relationship Marketing
In my business, getting new clients is all about relationships. The quality of the photography has to be a given and customer service totally has to stand out if I want to get noticed and be remembered. I can understand why good managers are always preaching, “delegate, delegate, delegate…” because getting out into the community and making good relationships and connections can be a full time job!
This week I have spent the bulk of my time cultivating a relationship in a market that I have just begun to “tap into” for its potential. I have a great connection with a director for a kids and teen theater company. They teach acting, singing, and music for kids who want to try and get cast and find agents for the whole “hollywood scene.”
So this week I was invited to take photos of their dress rehearsal and do cast and headshots. We made a trade (which is great by the way when you can find something where 2 business can mutually benefit one another!). I gave them the cast shot that they could sell as a fundraiser for the theater in exchange for a booth at the show and the opportunity to hand out my promo material and sell the rest of the photos to friends and families.
So far it seems like it has been great. The Theater is happy because they have free photos showcasing what they do and all their hard work. And I’ve been given direct access to a pool of people who are going to need the services of someone like me on a regular basis. They’re definitely going to need to update their headshots for casting calls at least twice a year to stay current with growing and changing kids 
So put away your fear, stop sitting in front of your computer monitor, and get out there and meet somebody! It’s all about free Word of Mouth connections!!!
Business Cards, Signs, and HUD Requirements
One of the joys of being an FHA Approved Lender is making sure that I meet all of the legal requirements that are HUD (Housing and Urban Development) mandated. Things like Equal Opportunity Housing placards, Approved Lender signs, and a bunch of other things that you wouldn’t think you need to do in order to sell a loan. In these times of lender fraud, borrower fraud, the housing crisis, and the subprime mortgage meltdown, there are requirements aplenty before I can even open the doors. The Escondido Real Estate market anxiously awaits!
So, this week, the signs go up. Business cards and stationary are on order. Necessary inspections are scheduled. I actually have to have someone come by and inspect my office to make sure that I really do have an office. They have to see my filing cabinets and phone system to see that I exist!
I get to do a loan some day, right?
Keeping an Eye on Profit and Loss
Before we had learned to keep track of our finances properly we made all kinds of missteps. There were small, relatively harmless mistakes like buying too much of a small inventory item, or buying an unnecessary computer. And then there were the big mistakes. Every one of these mistakes could have been avoided if we had only been keeping track of our finances the right way.
After we had been shipping our power tool parts for a year or so something became really obvious: DHL Ground was losing a lot less packages than US Mail was. Plus DHL gave us a tracking number and a guaranteed delivery schedule. I decided to drop US Mail altogether and have all of our packages shipped using DHL. This would have been perfectly all right but here’s where I made my big mistake. DHL cost more than US Mail, and I was so afraid that higher shipping charges would turn away customers that I decided to send everything DHL but charge the much lower US Mail rates. This meant forfeiting some profit on certain orders and taking an outright loss on others. I just figured that the profit from the orders would overall outweigh the losses from the shipping carrier.
Turns out I was wrong. To make things worse, we had no way to view our company’s profit and loss statements. We were completely winging it. If we had been carefully watching our costs and looking regularly at margins and the bottom line, we would have been alerted to the problem within a couple of weeks. Instead, we kept losing money for months and months without any idea of what was going on. It was a total disaster.
As soon as we were watching our numbers properly we quickly made some changes to our shipping. US Mail was reactivated as a shipping option and the DHL prices were raised to where they should have been. Like flipping a light switch, we were suddenly profitable that day and everything was fine. After that period of time we’ve watched our profits and losses very carefully. Use QuickBooks or whatever program you prefer for your accounting and stick to it. I won’t ignore accounting as a business owner, and we handle our own books. For us, it’s the only way to keep our heads above water.
Want to Increase Sales this Month?
As any new business gets off the ground, exposing yourself to potential clients is key. The first step is deciding what are the demographics of your potential clients. We have been surprised by two developments this month. The first is that there is less disposable income in Salt Lake City than we anticipated. We charge $500 to participate in the Tour, which is 50-75% less than our competition nationwide. This is cheap! Lots of folks in Salt Lake just don’t have $500 to spend in one day. Second, more women are buying for their husbands or boyfriends than men buying for themselves.
We have altered our marketing strategy this week. More emphasis is being placed on Corporate Tours. We ask for a 3-month commitment. We show up to their business the first month with $600,000 worth of cars and take the top five producers on high-powered, 5 hour driving experience. These five come back to work and can’t stop talking about how cool it was to drive a Ferrari, Aston Martin, 911 Turbo, Viper and Lotus! Everyone works harder to be in the top five next month so they can drive these amazing cars. Our first small business to sign up has noted an excitement around the office and increased sales. We also offer a one time Tour to treat clients or staff to an experience they won’t ever forget. Clients are tired of golf and expensive dinners. They want something original. They want speed!
We attended the Business-to-Business Expo put on by the Salt Lake Chamber of Commerce last week. This was our angle and it was well received. Since an entire Tour is a $2500 purchase, 3 months in a row, it is a harder sell. But here in Utah, businesses have more available money than individuals. Plus it’s easier to spend pre-tax dollars and other people’s money.
Please share your comments or ideas. We all need each other.
Meet Alice Cosmetics
Alice Cosmetics was born when it came time to pick a product. I was halfway through an intensive internet marketing program. The program strongly recommended finding reliable dropshippers and raking in profits by developing multiple streams of income. Also, find something you are passionate about, they advised—don’t select some electronic gadget that doesn’t interest you. (Turns out the lion’s share of those reliable dropshippers offered electronic gadgets.)
While I found a number of cosmetics companies that would dropship, I knew that to succeed I’d need to have something that reflected my personality, that looked like it was very much not dropshipped, and that appealed to some specific niche market. An admitted makeup junkie, I had become fascinated by “mineral makeup” (pure, ground minerals applied to the face with a brush). The large and still dominant player in the field had been doing many late-night QVC advertising spots. I loved the way it looked and felt on my skin and the fact that it was water-repellant, all natural, and long-lasting.
I soon found dozens of small companies selling mineral makeup on the internet, offering alternatives by changing ingredients or underpricing. One thing connecting them all in my humble opinion: amateurish websites. Given my background in writing and editing, the misspelled words alone would be enough to send me packing. Surely I was not alone.
Fast-forward to today, and my better-than-amateurish website (you can be the judge of that) has just gone up. But it was in those early days that I stumbled upon the bare bones of what would become a product, a market, and a brand. Stay tuned for what came next, and wish me luck.
Meet Jason Meyer Photography
I Love my job! Being with people, being creative, and capturing authentic lifestyle photography are my passions! It is my hope that as we get to know one another that you will find my photos reflect the emotion, personality, and essence of the people in them. My goal is that you will walk away with photos and products that reflect genuine expression, bold colors, unique perspectives, and authentic relationships! My studio strives to tirelessly provide our clients with high quality, creative images with excellent customer service.
Ever since high school the camera has been seemingly an extension of my hand. In 2002 a series of events, including the birth of our first baby daughter, finally afforded the opportunity to launch Jason Meyer Photography. While attending classes at the prestigious Brooks Institute of Photography (Santa Barbara, CA) to refine my skills, I was fortunate to start my own wedding and portrait photography business. Jason Meyer Photography is located in Dana Point Harbor in Southern California and is also available for destination weddings and assignments.Jason is also the proud parent of three daughters and is happily married to his high school sweet heart for twelve years!
“They are my inspiration and daily reminder of the beauty in people and the blessing of relationships that I seek to see and capture with my camera!”
Meet Newport SEO
Almost 10 years ago nineteen year old entrepreneur Craig Neil began organizing what turned out to be a huge event. Using underground marketing techniques including a street team, viral promotion and help from some big name sponsors the event grossed over $300,000 in revenue. That was a six (6) month project for him. Following that, Craig started an online mortgage lead generation company and he spent the next seven (7) years developing software and websites for the nationwide mortgage banking industry.
At age 21 Jeremy Jennings worked as a consultant at a high end consumer electronics store, his clients included the owner of the L.A. Lakers, Jerry Buss and the owner of the S.D. Padres, John Moores. After several years there he next began to work at an online marketing agency and within one year was promoted to VP Sales & Marketing.
While at their jobs, they learned how important online marketing was to generate revenue for small businesses. Given their background, they both made a vow to learn everything possible about marketing online. Craig and Jeremy were good friends and spent time hanging out at the beach, surfing, partying, and fishing in sunny southern California. While hanging out they often discussed ways to hone and to use their online development skills. They had a friend that owned a local business and decided he needed some serious help with his website. Two months later their online work was complete and their friend ended up having to buy three (3) more work trucks and increase his work force by almost 500% - all to keep pace with the phenomenal business growth generated over the Internet.
Brought to you by www.NewportSEO.com
Meet Card Cafe
Hello, my name is Dave Miller. In the spring of 2004 myself and my partner Teague Bengtzen were busy running a busy commercial printing company. I had an idea and met a friend at his house to get his opinion on my idea. This meeting with my friend Dwayne sparked a completely new and different idea. As soon as I arrived back at to the office, I walked straight to Teague’s office. I explained this new and very raw idea. This big idea was to creating a web based application, from which consumers could select from a collection of greeting cards, or create their own cards by uploading their own photos, then personalize the card, enter the recipients address and their return address and then we would print and mail the card for them. For the next few days Teague and I were constantly in and out of each other’s offices expounding on the idea. We almost wore the carpet out. From this Card Café was born.
Almost immediately work got underway to develop a system in which we, and others, could leverage the advantages of current technology, while always maintaining the personal and intimate nature of real paper traditional greeting cards. Card Café partnered with industry leader, Kodak, to acquire the digital technology to make this happen, then developed an industry leading web site. We also, immediately began to raise money to fund this new venture. We contacted as many friends and family as we could to get our first round of funding. Raising capital was new to both of us and although we made several mistakes along the way, we obviously raised enough to move forward. We will talk more about our failures and successes of raising money in the coming weeks.
Today, Card Café is a leader in the online greeting card industry. Card Café gives customers the ease and convenience of shopping for real greeting cards and gifts from their computer without the hassle of spending unnecessary time at a store. In addition, our company gives customers the ability to add gifts to the cards and schedule all their greeting cards at one time for a year in advance. Card Café is still a very young company, we have experienced several bumps in the road, and we have had to improvise, adapt, and overcome. We are currently in growth mode and working hard on our business to business sector. Teague and I look forward to sharing more about our journey in business in the coming weeks.
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