January 20, 2010

Passion and Reality: A Marriage of Success... How to Make
Cross-Country Success Contacts... Are You Ready to Sell?...
Valuable Info Marketing Content Follows No Rules... and More.

I don't watch a lot of television. But a couple of weeks ago, one of my favorite shows started airing again.

"Shark Tank" is a Mark-Burnett-produced, ABC program where fledgling entrepreneurs pitch their businesses in front of a panel of real investors (the Sharks) in hopes of getting some money in exchange for a portion of their business.

The Sharks (one or a combination of them) either invest in the company or they simply say "I'm out!"

So, this past Friday, the entrepreneurs pitching their companies were:

-- An NYU student trying to get investment for his environmentally friendly/aware t-shirt company. He was looking for $30,000 for a 20% stake in his company;

-- A San Diego SWAT team member looking for$250,000 for a third of his "face down" tanning pillow business;

-- A brother and sister team looking for capital for their idea to open a chain of stores geared to basically show children how to shop. They were looking for $200,000 for 30% of their business; and

-- A couple of avid cyclists who wanted money to help their business, which is selling super-powered wipes for cleaning grease off your hands that work better than average portable cleaning wipes. They were looking for $40,000 for 40% of their company.

Now, only one of these companies got the money they were looking for: the last company with the grease-cleaning wipes.

But the one element that all of these entrepreneurs shared was a passion for what they were doing. You could see the amount of blood, sweat and tears they each put into their respective businesses. You could tell that they whole-heartedly believed that their ideas were bound to be successful.

But the fact was, most of them, while backed by that passion, were doomed from the start.

The t-shirt guy was basically silk-screening the shirts and not branding his company on each shirt to try to drum up business. He was also entering a very competitive market. The tanning pillow, while a great idea, was way over-valued for the amount of revenue it was currently generating. And the "kids' store" idea was a unique little hobby, but the miniscule revenues they were generating just weren't going to get any investment interest.

Even the winning bid of the grease-cleaning wipes had major flaws that included not having a proprietary formula for the cleaning solution. In fact, the two "Sharks" that did invest seemed to be more impressed by the company's branding and the passion of one of the entrepreneurs than the product. (Besides, 20K for 20% is pretty low-risk/high-reward).

While it's imperative that you have a passion for your idea or your business, it's just "fluff" if you don't have a realistic concept of your business and your industry.

It's great to throw projections around with inflated numbers and lofty goals. But if you don't have an anchor in reality, then your business plan is nothing but a work of fiction.

(Ed. Note: Mike Newman built his fortune based on a passion. His book, "Getting Rich Doing What You Love," details how he went from struggling immigrant with $20 to his name to multi-millionaire using the right formula of passion and reality. To find out his whole story, click here:
http://www.lombardipublishing.com/ads/newman_book/index.asp)

Pitching your moneymaking ideas to investors face-to-face has many strengths of. This way you get to judge the reaction to your idea right away and you can deal with their criticism or concerns instantly.

However, there are going to be times when you can't get the face time you need to truly wow the money from their hands and into your pockets.

In fact, there will be times when meeting for a sit-down is virtually impossible, such as when you're dealing out of state or even across the country.

Regular mail and e-mail are great for getting your message across; however, they both lack the personal touch face-to-face meetings can bring.

For those times when you want an answer as fast as possible, a phone call is the quickest way to make contact.

However, before you pick up that phone and dial, take the time to consider these points:

1) Be firm, but not demanding. Most likely you'll be connecting through a secretary or assistant to the person you want to talk to. Clear your throat before you dial and use your confidence to help you get connected. But never make demands or act rude to these "gatekeepers," as they can make things even more difficult for you.

2) Have a direct plan. Small talk and chitchat are not going to win potential investors over . Instead, state your intentions as clearly as you can. Stay on topic and you'll avoid wasting your time.

3) Establish a second contact. It's possible that your first call will be at an inconvenient time for the person you are calling. Before you hang up, attempt to establish when a better time to reach them will be, and then stick to that agreed-upon time. By doing this, you'll show that you respect the other person's time and will earn a level of trust that could work in your favor.

If you have a business, one of the most important things you can do -- even though it may seem like the furthest thing from your thoughts -- is to know what's required should you need to sell it. After all, it's likely that, at some point during your life, you're going to want -- or have -- to sell. You only get the opportunity to sell once, so you're going to want to do it right.

There are a couple of things you should be thinking about in order to make your business more appealing to buyers. The first is to look at your business from the perspective of potential buyers.

You're going to want to ask yourself, "Is this a viable business that I'd like to buy for the price being asked?" If the answer is, "No," you're going to find a way to become more attractive to buyers.

One of the ways to do this is to explore the business' profitability. You want to make sure the business still possesses some competitive advantage that ensures the maintenance of a loyal customer base. After all, the buyer wants to know that once the business is acquired, customers will continue to shop, because the brand has been established. New owners don't want to take over an existing business that doesn't have a customer base.

The new owner will also want to see that, even though your business has been successful in the past, it will continue to be in the future. They want to see room for growth and new areas to get into, while maintaining the integrity and ideas that the business was built on. After all, they don't want to isolate existing customers.

In order to come up with a suitable asking price for your business, you'll want to do some work to ensure the business is properly valued. Valuation is key when coming up with your asking price.

To come up with the best valuation possible, it may be wise to enlist the help of professionals. This way, they can carefully review your books, make projections and take all the essential steps to ensure the business is properly priced.

You're also going to want to get a team together that includes lawyers and accountants, so that there's no funny business going on. Lawyers make things official, and they're well-schooled in all the intricacies of buying and selling businesses that the average layperson is not.

Finally, you want to make sure it's the right time to sell. Have a plan for what you plan to do with your time, as well as how you're going to continue to support yourself. Visualize what your life will be like without running a business, and ensure you've got things set up to keep you busy (and sane!)

** Valuable Info Marketing Content Follows No Rules
By James Burt, Online Marketing Expert

When I first joined the e-Wealth Daily team, I was constantly learning from the seasoned pros who guided me along and showed me how to write articles loaded with useful information.

I knew what I wanted to present, but I wasn't always sure how. So, I asked a lot of questions and I remember one being about how to best connect with the audience of readers already familiar with the other experts here. I was told not to act like the new guy, just to jump in and cut to the chase. Not only did this help my writing, but it has also become a bit of a motto of mine.

Of course, like any business, info marketing has no real hard and fast rules. While it certainly doesn't hurt if you have business experience or years of collecting information on a particular subject, info marketing is still a good enough field for those just starting out in life. You might be fresh from college or looking to change careers or just plain old young and ambitious...whatever, information marketing can make anyone successful.

Beginning your own professional business career is tough at any age. A lot of young folks steer clear of information marketing, as they don't see it as a very profitable venture or that they feel there is nothing to provide information on, especially for their particular age group.

They are incorrect in both cases. There are lots of information areas you can write about and people your own age will gladly shell out for it!

Don't believe me? Consider these topics:

--- Condos, apartments, and everything about housing: When my mom and dad were young, the word "condominium" sounded like something out of a sci-fi flick. If you lived on your own, you got an apartment -- tall apartment buildings were the rage then -- and saved up to buy a house someplace. But things have changed, and condos -- state-of-the-art apartment complexes -- have become some of the most popular living spaces for younger folks. They are built differently, often have fancy facilities and terms of agreements, and are sometimes subject to investment markets depending on whether you buy, rent or lease. Know anything about this? Live in a metropolitan area and have some info on the state of housing for the young jet set? Great...get an info product together! There are loads of young folks out there who need to know this stuff.

--- Finance, investment, and retirement: My dad is fully retired and my mom is close to it. They were subject to different government pension plans than myself and didn't have to invest as much money for the future as I am going to have to...and already am, incidentally. The long of the short of it all is that my generation and people even younger have to be more concerned about where to direct their money than, say, someone of my parents' "baby-boomer" generation. This isn't a bad thing, but does require knowing what and how to invest. If you know something about this or are involved in any modern area of money, finance, and investment, believe me when I say there are loads of us out there would love to get a regular newsletter about this.

--- Trends of today: At my first apartment, I once got talking to my landlord's father. He was a lot like my dad, maybe a bit older, a great man, and shared a lot of the same comical mannerisms. "Did you see all that vegetarian and organic stuff they eat?" he asked me about my landlord's family. "What's with all of this fuzzy food?" I had to laugh. He, like my folks, grew up on meat, potatoes, baseball, and films with Steve McQueen. But these things have morphed into yoga, the Internet, and post-modern architecture. There aren't even really trends either; these things are here to stay. But they really are part of this generation and, if you are into any of it, there are others just like you. Why not start your information marketing business around the trends of the time? If you are involved in any of them and love what you are doing, others will want to hear from you.

In the end, I truly believe anybody can use information marketing as a vehicle for personal success and I try to get anyone who is interested involved. There really are no limits on who can become an info marketer. It's really a matter of using your own life, no matter what your experience, age, or education, as a springboard of information for others. So what are you waiting for? Get going!