How to Recognize Business Failure

Failure: the dreaded word, especially in entrepreneurship. It is hated, denied, concealed… but almost unavoidable. Still, entrepreneurs can use it to their advantage! To do so, two steps are necessary: OWN failure it when it happens, and USE it as a lesson to go forward. Today’s post will mainly be about that first step.

When is it time to admit that a business is not going to make it, and dedicate precious resources to other projects? According to Chris Snook (entrepreneur and Washington Post contributor), a few things should be considered:

• Yourself: in all honesty, how do you feel about the success of your business? Estimate your other opportunities, and be realistic about where you are headed.
• Your reasons to keep going: Are you still involved with a business because of the money you invested in it? If sunk cost is your sole reason to soldier on, you may stop right now. Ask yourself if any money you will spend will get you closer to your goal; if not, switch gears! Also, do not forget to get advice from other entrepreneurs (who, for sure, have been in your shoes before).
• Your actual interests: If you are staying in a business just because of the potential income, ask yourself if this is really the way you would like to spend your dollars. It is okay to go for something that interests you more; you will be able to use your failures to your advantages, and will invest your heart and soul into your activities (cheesy but true!).

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These few points are not universal, and we would love to hear from you! How do you know a business is spiraling downwards? Any cues? Please post your comments below!

Thank you for reading, and until next week , stay WISE!

Million Dollar Businesses!

Not so cool fact: according to research, while the overall count of women-owned businesses is increasing, the number of those making above 1 million per year is not. What holds women from soaring in the entrepreneurship world? Well, according to Liz Elting (CEO of TransPerfect), quite a few things:

Being Risk adverse: When starting a venture, women tend to see themselves very far in the future, juggling a family, a business and all the responsibilities that come with. Elting advises a different approach: go all out and have no regrets! The more successful you get, the more options you will have.

Playing too nice: women tend to want to make everyone happy. Well, too bad: tough decisions are necessary for a business to grow, and need to be taken by someone…

Overlooking opportunities: Deals sometimes happen on the golf course, over cocktails or at other male-oriented networking events. Women entrepreneurs need to step out of their comfort zones and hone their networking skills as much as possible. They also need to mentor other women, so more successful ventures are created in the process.

Sticking to traditional business structures: Employees appreciate flexibility, and are likely to enjoy working for accommodating businesses. Catering to employees therefore makes it easier to retain talent, and in return grow the business!

For more information, please read the whole article at: http://bit.ly/yYoRia

We want to hear from you! What is YOUR opinion? Is there a specific thing female entrepreneurs must change to cross the $1 million mark? Post your comment below!

Thank you for reading, and until next week, stay WISE!

How can you turn $1,000 into millions?

How can you rise all the way to the top? Well, we have no idea. However, Barbara Corcoran surely does!  As the keynote speaker of the 10^th WISE Symposium, she will be sharing her story, “From Rags to Riches”.  She also graced the cover of Entrepreneur Magazine this month; needless to say, it is absolutely exciting to have her!

Ms. Corcoran is one of the few entrepreneurs who were able to transform their business into a veritable empire, and to take it to a level seemingly unattainable for mere mortals. While there is obviously no recipe for success, there are probably a few things to learn from her story.

• Be Driven: As she stated herself, Ms. Corcoran’s credentials include twenty different jobs by the time she was 23. Hence, after what many would have categorized as failures, she still went on to become a millionaire.
• Have Faith: In life, it is not all about the grades you get in school. Barbara Corcoran earned straight Ds in high school and college. Other notorious entrepreneurs like Bill Gates and Steve Jobs simply dropped out of school. While this certainly does not mean that education is not important, it still shows that these entrepreneurs trusted themselves, had confidence in their abilities, and in what they wanted their businesses to become.
• Trust your gut: As an entrepreneur, you will sometimes (…always) be faced with vital decisions… and have nowhere to turn for advice. You will just have to go with it! In a “Shark Tank” episode, Ms. Corcoran decided, against all the other sharks’ advice, to invest in Daisy Cakes, just because she liked the owner, and felt like she was very able. The business went on to sell over 10,000 cakes a WEEK, making it Barbara’s best investment ever.

This list is in no way exhaustive, and just represents a fraction of the lessons we can draw from Ms. Corcoran’s career. But tell us about YOU: what unique trait kept you going in your business? Please join the conversation, and share your comment below!

Thanks for reading, and until next week, stay WISE!

wisesyracuse

Free Management Advice from the Big Shots (and you don’t even have to buy their books).

There are actually great things about failure: you learn a lot in the process… so much that you may actually be able to help other people. Hence, every year, a multitude of “How To” manuals keep surfacing, in the aim to share (and, um, monetize) tips and tricks on how to achieve almost anything: awesome career, stellar weight loss, killer relationships… you name it. Entrepreneur.com contributor Carol Tice explores a few of those books, and unveils some interesting management tips from the most famous names in business.

P&G: When Core Values are Strategic, from Rick Tocquigny:

• Hire people for their fit with you company, not their resumes. (Interestingly, this past post advises the exact opposite in certain cases: “You want business innovation? You may have to hire innovators.”)
• Build a strong and consistent brand
• Focus on the consumer, and base your product on their suggestions.

Apple: Inside Apple, by Adam Lashinsky

• Have someone accountable for every single task.
• Do not be scared of letting people confront each other and defend their own ideas
• Have a secrecy culture that builds up excitement

Gilt: By Invitation Only, by Alexis Maybank and Alexandra Wilkis Wilson

• Build a real relationship with the members of your management team.
• The execution of your idea may be more important than the idea itself.

These tips may seem trivial, but overlooking even the simplest things can break a venture.

For more advice from business giants, please read the whole article at: http://www.entrepreneur.com/blog/222853

Also, please tell us about what YOU think: do the tips above hold true? What is YOUR main business struggle, or unique advice to get on the road to success? Leave a comment below!

Thank you for reading, and until next week, stay WISE!

wisesyracuse

Pinterest: Are you Pinning yet?

Pinterest for small businesses

You probably already heard about this new platform, revolutionizing the already dynamic social media landscape: Pinterest!  Just like its name indicates, this website is about pinning stuff. Pictures, namely. Snapshots of your dog, new shoes, attempt to make the perfect chocolate cake, fashionable scarf … Whatever you want to share with the world, pin it to your Pinterest page!

You may be thinking: “OK, all that is nice and dandy, but why do I need to join yet another social media thing? I have no business sharing pictures with people- I already have Facebook or Twitter for that.” Right? No.

The unique thing about Pinterest is that it is ALL about something that is a mere feature on other platforms: pictures! Not all people who visit your Facebook page or follow you on Twitter will browse through your pictures. This changes with Pinterest: people actually show up expecting to see your life in images. They are open to seeing more and reading less, and that is an opportunity for businesses to generate some awareness and/or some revenue.

Indeed, think about it: you would be able to take your consumers a little more into your world, by maybe starting a series about the materials going into your product, happy customers showing off their purchases, or anything else. You could, of course, also use the website to promote your items, but consumers may be turned off is your page turns into a giant billboard.

In summary, go ahead and share what you are passionate about! Allow people to feel connected to the person behind the business. Analyze the following you are getting, and use it to choose the kind of pictures you should be posting. And, in the end, just have fun!

So tell us, are you pinning? If you are, leave a link below! We will stop by and say hello. If not, tell us what you would like to pin… or not.

For more info, visit the entrepreneur.com article about Pinterest: http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/222740

Until next week, Stay WISE!

wisesyracuse

Watch and Learn.

For a business to survive, it has to be memorable. This is rather hard to achieve: consumers are so used to being under constant marketing attack that they tune everything out… but the most unique, intriguing or simply brilliant ideas. Business owners should hence not be afraid of stepping out of the beaten paths, and should learn how to use social trends to their advantage. Jennifer Wang, in an Entrepreneur.com article, tells us about some of the best marketing ideas of 2011, combining “ a perfect timing and flawless execution”:

1-    The CONTAGION billboard: the marketing team for the Warner Bros movie went to new promotion heights: they spelled the word “Contagion” on a billboard, by injecting a sign with mold and bacteria. As time went by, the fungi grew, and the result was a repulsive but quite unique ad, which generated a lot of interest about the movie.

Lesson #1: Guerrilla marketing works. Do not be scared of trying new things!

2-    7-11 Slurpee Unity Tour: President Obama’s comical depiction of Republicans “sipping on a Slurpee” while Democrats did all the work, and his later allusion to organizing a Slurpee Summit at the White House with a Republican Speaker did not go unnoticed by 7-11. The company actually jumped on the occasion, and created the “Slurpee Unity Tour”, with a logo featuring an elephant and a donkey sharing a Slurpee cup.

Lesson: You should pay attention to your surroundings, and use what is happening around you to your advantage.

3-    The Spotify launch: With such big players as Pandora, Google Music and the like, Spotify’s entry into the U.S music streaming market could have easily been a flop. Instead, the company appealed to people’s competitive side: they focused on  key influencers and early adopters (also known as cool people), and made sure they created a huge buzz around the product. Then, Spotify used methods successfully used by websites such as the much awaited Google+: they made their access by invitation only.  Finally, last September, the website started a collaboration with Facebook, allowing people to share what they were listening to with their friends. Brilliant.

Lesson: Be exclusive. Create demand for your product by selecting a few lucky consumers, and letting the others wait!

For more brilliant marketing ideas, please read the whole article at: http://www.entrepreneur.com/slideshow/222591#1. Also, we want to hear your opinion: what do you think could be a great marketing move in 2012? Please post your answer below!

Thank you for reading, and until next week, stay WISE!

wisesyracuse

You want business innovation? You may have to hire innovators.

As a business owner, when hiring a new team member, it often makes sense to go for the candidate who shows the best fit with the company and its employees. Indeed, skills may always be learned and polished, when personality can rarely be altered. However, according to Forbes contributor Bill Fischer, this approach may only get you average results. For a firm looking to be revolutionary, raw smarts and exceptional skills may simply take  precedence over “fit”.

In fact, hiring the best employees obtainable will lead to having a team of high-performers. Bill Fischer uses examples such as the notorious Broadway musical West Side Story; the producers were looking for a musical revolution, and hence hired the very best playwright, lyricist and set-designer in the business. They may not have  gotten along the whole time, but their collaboration resulted in a masterpiece.

Following that example, entrepreneurs ready to take their business to the next level should surround themselves with people extremely skilled at what they do, even though they may never be one big happy family. Fischer pushes it even further, and states that a position should remain vacant until the best person to fill it is found.

Moreover, after finding all those brilliant minds, a requirement is to actually let them be creative! After being given clear definitions of expectations, they should be allowed to demonstrate the innovative abilities for which they were hired in the first place. Hence, instead of micro-managing employees, the main role of the leader(s) here should be to calm and resolve the inevitable work conflicts that may arise, while letting the employees work in peace.

Want to read more about putting together the dream-team? Please read the whole article at : http://www.forbes.com/sites/billfischer/2012/01/25/want-innovation-hire-for-skills-not-attitude/

Also, please leave your opinion below: Fit or Skills? What is the most important?

Thank you for reading, stay WISE, and see you next week!

wisesyracuse