The top five mistakes entrepreneurs make when they market
August 17, 2006 in Killer AdviceSeth Godin is an entrepreneur's entrepreneur (spell that 3 times fast). A successful and seasoned entrepreneur himself, plus a fountain of excellent advice for other entrepeneurs. He's a renowned speaker, the best-selling author of the lionshare of my favorite business books, he has a very widely read blog, and is the founder of Squidoo.
As an exclusive here on WorkHappy.net, Seth generously shares with us the following truly killer advice:
The top five mistakes entrepreneurs make when they market
by Seth Godin
- Expecting gratitude in exchange for having done something that was hard. Yes, you built a company, you might even have bootstrapped it. Yes, you've got the machinery and the packaging and the retail space. Yes, you've navigated hiring people and yes, you finally shipped. I couldn't care less. I'm not going to buy your brownie/consulting/services just because you worked hard on it.
- Spending money as a substitute for doing something great. Spending on marketing an average product isn't working anymore. You're far better off spending money on making your product better. A lot better.
- Not realizing that it's your company, and your marketing better be as good as everything else. It doesn't matter if you don't like marketing or don't think you're good at it. Figure it out or go home. Sooner or later, you succeed because you were able to spread your ideas. So go to school and figure out how it works.
- Listening to other people. If they're so smart, why aren't they running your company? Don't take a poll. Don't ask your mother-in-law, that's for sure. Cover your downsides, double your desire to take a risk and then just do it.
- Failure to measure. All this is worthless if you don't test and measure relentlessly. Do what works. Kill what doesn't. Repeat.
For more nuggets of wisdom, make sure you check out Seth's latest book which was released today. Small Is the New Big: and 183 Other Riffs, Rants, and Remarkable Business Ideas
Happy Links
August 15, 2006 in Happy Links, SEO/SEMSEM/SEO edition:
- What you must know before hiring an SEO company
is an ebook written by Jonathan Cook who knows what's up (and what isn't). As an SEO/SEM guy myself, I was pumping my fist in the air reading this. Great advice and a must-read before you hire someone to help you with search engine marketing. - Hit Tail
This is really an interesting new service geared toward helping you tap into "the long tail" and gain natural search engine traffic to your site. The methods they use are solid, and the tool they offer appears to be a great help. It definitely has my attention. If anyone has experience with them, please let me know. - Top 50 SEO Resources
This modestly named list really is a treasure trove of good resources.
Happy Quote
August 11, 2006 in Happy Quotes"Don’t ask yourself what the world needs; ask yourself what makes you come alive. And then go and do that. Because what the world needs is people who are alive."
–Howard Thurman
Bug Juice
August 7, 2006 in 2 out of 5 stars, Hosted software, Issue trackers, Software DevelopmentBugJuice: A bug tracking application for web developers. SmallPositives This hosted software is simple and uncluttered. It's a glorified to-do list nicely tweaked for issue tracking. You can add "pages" (kinda like a wiki) for whatever purpose you like (e.g. one for each project), which is nice and flexible. You can add comments and screenshots to bugs. An interesting option for small teams, or single person development. It's missing most of the features of a mature issue tracker (although that's kind of their point). No support for Safari browser. Admin should be able to assign users to bugs (but can't, for now). Free, $5, $10, $20/mo. Reviewed by Carson McComasWhat is it?
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Happy Quote
August 4, 2006 in Happy Quotes“I’ve never been concerned with competitors, execution is everything in life.”
- Lynda Resnick, half of the husband and wife team who have grown POM Wonderful (pomegranate juice) from $12mil/yr in 2003 to $91mil/yr today and after buying Fuji Water for $150mil increased sales 67% last year. Jason Fried's summary. The Newsweek Article.
Happy Links
August 3, 2006 in Happy Links- How to measure the success of your web app
This is a superb "duh" article on monitoring your conversions and why you'd want to. (From one of the genius minds behind FreshBooks). - How to save if you don’t have a nine-to-five
No 401(K)? No problem. This helpful guide provides some tips for saving anyway. Start by nuking credit card debt, end with an IRA. - Marketers and money
Seth Godin with some thought provoking comments on (sane) funding and why being strapped is a good thing. "Having less money keeps you from trying to buy your way out of trouble." - Advice for authors
Seth is on a roll in the leadup to his next book - this post is full of seasoned wisdom for would-be authors. - The Next Small Thing
Jason Fried makes the cover of My Business magazine, and this well-written article actually felt fresh. - First Mover Advantage
The Particle Tree/Wufoo guys do a roundup of industry thinking on the phenomena. - The Best and Worst Logos of Toddler TV
A high quality dissection of children's programming logos. My fav? Barney, hands down. It's just perfect. (Even if the show makes me hurl).
CellTell voiceNote for Backpack
August 2, 2006 in 3 out of 5 stars, A service, FreeCellTell voiceNote for Backpack: If you have a BackPack account, you now can send voiceNotes from any of your phones (e.g. cell, office or home) straight to your Backpack page. Additionally, if the page has been shared, then others can see your messages also. CellTell.tv Since Nov 2005, 37Signal has said they would have this type of feature. Now its available as a free add-on. Here are ways you can use this... 1. Register all your numbers, and let your family call you on the voiceNote number instead. This helps with constant interruptions and you can check for the message from anywhere. 2. While in the car and you have that great idea, call your voiceNote number and capture it. 3. Create a cell phone driven audio blog by sharing a Backpack page w/ a bunch of voiceNotes. voiceNotes should indicate the user's local timezone rather than PDT.
The volume on playback within Linux is low. Free Reviewed by Ali DanialiWhat is it?
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SlimTimer
August 1, 2006 in 3 out of 5 stars, Free, Hosted software, ProductivitySlimTimer: A timer to keep track of time spent on work tasks. Richard White Because its much simpler to use than ordinary timesheets, web or otherwise, and you get more accurate data to boot. It has spiffy reports allowing you to easily digest your time data. You also don't have to fuss with setting up clients and projects... you just setup tasks, tag them for reporting purposes (like billable) and off you go. It's still evolving so the main improvements would be around making it scale better for larger teams. Also the reporting while sufficient still needs some extra features to allow customizing them to the rules of an individuals businesses. Fortunately, the creator is accepting and acting quickly on suggestions. FreeWhat is it?
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Interview with Megan Ducket of Sew What? Inc.
July 27, 2006 in An interview
Megan
Ducket is owner and founder of Sew What? a custom theatrical drape maker (no,
seriously, read on). Megan started out tiny, working and sewing at her kitchen
table. Today she has 33 employees making backdrops for the likes of Maroon 5,
Slip Knot, Green Day, Avril Lavigne, Prince, Sting, Elton John, and Madonna.
Plus red velvet curtains for the cover of Rolling Stone and even stage
curtains for elementary schools. Last month, Dell and the National Federation of
Independent Business (NFIB) awarded her their annual Small-Business Excellence
Award. Megan has graciously agreed to share some of her entrepreneurial journey with us.
Read on for insights on how to build a successful business dominating a tiny niche.
Continue reading "Interview with Megan Ducket of Sew What? Inc."
Happy Links
July 26, 2006 in Happy Links- Top 10 Rocketboom Business Notions
Andrew, the lone survivor of the Rocketboom duo shares the "10 things I have learned about entrepreneurial business in 2.0 land while trying not to do business." #3 was my fav. - Top 10 Dumbest Online Business Ideas That Made It Big Time.
I loved this list - totally inspiring. - 103bees - online web analytics SEM tool.
This deserves a full review here on WH (if you've tried it, please submit) looks very promising. - Most businesses self destruct
This tidbit of second-hand advise from Jason Fried really set me to thinking. "We just do what we do best. We focus on our business, our customers, and our vision. Most businesses self destruct anyway so we just make sure ours doesn’t." Brilliant. - Ignore the competition
Kathy Sierra with similar ideas to the one above - more fleshed out. "What would happen if we completely, utterly, totally ignored the competition? What if we stopped thinking about competition at all?" And a bloody brilliant job she's done herself with the Head First books which have redefined a book genre. - 26 Most Fascinating Entrepreneurs, Inc. Magazine
Not new (it's from last year), but new to me and I enjoyed looking through it.