Inside Small Business | Small Business & Home Business Marketing

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.

Related Topics: Day Dreamin Exotics    1 Comment    

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.

Related Topics: Alice Cosmetics    No Comments    

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!”

Related Topics: Jason Meyer Photography    No Comments    

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

Related Topics: Newport SEO    2 Comments    

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.

Related Topics: Card Cafe    No Comments    

Meet ProCore Resources

Who are we? ProCore Resource Group is a professional services consulting and staffing resource provider founded by four former Big 4 consulting executives. We started our company in July of 2004, and two of the four founding members are continuing our operations today by providing excellent resources to our clients at a price point that cannot be matched by larger consulting houses. We provide both consulting services as well as staff augmentation; however, our goal is to provide value-added consulting services to ALL of our clients, regardless of why or how they originally wanted to do business with us.

I hope that through the story lines provided in this blog – I’ll be able to outline our initial startup days (also known as 4 guys and a laptop), talk about some of the challenges as two of our founding partners left the company, and also provide some insights and thoughts about being a small consulting shop in a Big 4 world. I’ll try to provide some views about the consulting industry as a whole, and also provide some tips & help for those that wish to be consultants (or start a consulting business). Finally, our company was founded to bring a unique value proposition to our clients – one that helps our clients navigate strategic change. We found that companies that are trying to execute on change, are not capable of doing so. This is largely because they have Operations people performing their roles. The job of Operations people is to keep things running – not to change the way things operate. To implement change – it requires a completely different set of skills & resources. Our passion lies in helping people navigate strategic change – and we believe we’ve got the necessary tools and resources to provide a better service to our clients in this area than any Big 4 consulting firm can provide. I hope to explain some of our “secret sauce” for navigating strategic change….and perhaps provide some helpful insights that will be useful for others.
If at any time, a blog entry causes some comment or thought that you’d like to share – please email me at bhattaway@procoreresources.com .

Related Topics: ProCore Resources    No Comments    

Meet Schroeder Financial

Hello, and welcome to my Blog. My name is Scott Schroeder, and I am a small business owner in San Diego County. That’s an interesting title, isn’t it? Does anyone ever start a business to be a “small business owner?” I don’t think so. I want to be a large and profitable business owner. It seems to me that a small business owner is a transitory thing. You are either on your way to becoming a large business owner, or on your way to becoming a “former” business owner!
The small business that I have chosen to own is a real estate and mortgage company. Now, I know what you’re thinking. Who in his right mind would want to be in the real estate and mortgage business right now? Especially as a start up company!! Trust me, I lay awake at night pondering just that question. I truly enjoy the experience of handing a homeowner the keys to their new home, and watching their faces as they walk from room to room imagining their furniture there, hearing their children’s voices coming from the back yard, seeing their car in the garage. There is great joy and satisfaction in seeing them realize the American dream. Now, if the market would just cooperate, we would all be happy!!
A wise man once told me that: “Where there is turmoil, there is profit.” Well, if he is correct, then this has got to be the best real estate market in the last 20 years. Over the next weeks and months I will detail some of the difficulties, challenges, and joys that are coming to me from this career choice. I hope you will stay tuned, and feel free to comment.

Related Topics: Scott Schroeder    2 Comments    

Meet Day Dreamin’ Exotics

Day Dreamin’ Exotics, LLC is an exciting new company offering Exotic Car Day Tours in Salt Lake City, Utah. I know what you’re thinking… What’s a Day Tour? We own 5 exotics sports cars; Ferrari, Aston martin, Porsche, Viper, Lotus. Tours are conducted “euro-caravan” style on open roads through some of Utah’s most breathtaking scenery. We travel 150 miles on the Tour, with pit stops every 30 minutes to switch vehicles and drivers. Each participant gets to drive every car in the fleet.

I am a long time car enthusiast and I’m lucky enough to not only have the money to own the car of my dreams (Porsche 911 Turbo), but a wife understanding enough to let me buy it. Most of my friends do not have the same luxury. I asked myself, “How can the average guy experience these amazing cars?” I came up with the idea last fall and quickly realized that there are a few companies around the nation with the same idea. One problem: they charge $1000-2000. Here in Salt Lake City, there is not very much disposable income and very few people are going to drop $2000 in one day. The challenge was to make it more affordable for our financial environment. I pitched the idea to Ian Harding, owner of Luxury Imports Online. He has bought and sold cars for me in the past. He loved the idea. We tested the waters at the Utah Auto Expo and there was lots of interest.

For the last 6 months we have been brainstorming and gathering data. This is the first start up business for me. I never dreamed it would require this much work. Many people want to help or fund the project, but we have decided to do it all ourselves. We hired a Tour Manager and part time marketing help. Our grand opening was last weekend and we have started booking tours. The word is slowly getting out.

I am excited to share ideas with business owners who deal with similar issues and frustrations. And if you find yourself in Salt Lake City, come visit us and take the tour.

Related Topics: Day Dreamin Exotics    No Comments    

Meet eReplacement Parts

Hello there! Allow me to introduce myself and to tell you a little about my company, eReplacementParts.com.
My name is Mike, and together with my business partner Dave, we started our online business with basically no money and with no real understanding of how to build a website. For a time, it was literally running out of a living room. Four years later, we’re a prominent online merchant selling power tool and machinery parts. I had worked in power tool sales and repair for several years before we started eReplacementParts.com, so I had a decent understanding of tool parts and tool operation. I had also worked as the (very unskilled) web developer for another online store which sold house wares. Through these two previous work experiences, I discovered that it was very feasible to make money selling products on the internet, and that I had a good product that could move.
Everything related to our company has been a huge learning experience. We’re constantly faced with problems and situations that require solutions, and if we didn’t have an answer or the know-how to solve those problems, we had to learn. It’s simple as that. Running a business is about being prepared and willing to meet challenges. That’s what this blog will focus on: challenges that we’ve faced and continue to face, and how we have responded.
Right now we’re currently employing about 15 people, with managers, programmers, bookkeepers, shippers and others. Our inventory is very complicated and very organized. We maintain a very secure and useable website that lives inside two powerful computers. We have many future goals that keep us moving forward and keep us focused. All of this and more comprises eReplacementParts.com, and as always, it’s still a work in progress.
Dave and I will be updating this blog weekly, so come back often, and hopefully we’ll provide information that will be helpful with your own small business.

Related Topics: eReplacement Parts    No Comments