Inventro’s Business Development Program Presents Marketing With Twitter Part 1

So you have decided to market your start-up with Twitter but you don’t know exactly how? Well you’re in luck as this step-by-step guide will teach you all the tips and tricks of twitter from setting up your Twitter profile, finding relevant content to post, and building followers who will spread your message across the web. This guide is separated into individual steps consisting of verbal and visual instruction on the best practices of the various applications. If at any anytime you have a question regarding a step or know of a better way, please feel free to tweet us @BrianatInventro or visiting our website at inventroconsulting.com

Step One: Setting up an email to receive Twitter notifications

Twitter uses email as their primary way to communicate to its users when an important event occurs. To organize these notifications in a central location, I strongly recommend setting up an email account specifically for receiving Twitter notifications. Services such as Yahoo, Hotmail, Gmail, etc. offer free email accounts but for this step I will be demonstrating how to set-up an email account through Gmail. I chose Gmail for two reasons: its compatibility with Microsoft Outlook and no setup fee.

1. Start off by visiting Google.com. In the upper left hand corner there should be various words/clickable links. Click on the word “Gmail” which should send you to a new page.

2. On this new page, click on “Create an Account” found in the upper right-hand corner which should send you to a page with a form on it.

3. Fill out the form. When it comes to your username/password, feel free to put anything you want as long as you can remember it and it abides with Google Gmail Criteria. I recommend typing the password/username in a Microsoft document and saving it for future reference, just in case.

4. Once you have filled out the form and accept the terms of the service agreement, it should send you to a new page with the words “Congratulations.” Click on the blue box titled, “Show me my account,” found on the right-hand side which should take you to your inbox.

5. Congratulations, you have successfully set-up your Gmail email account.

This is step one of our marketing with twitter series. Join us next week as we discuss how to set-up a Twitter account. To learn more or to participate in Inventro’s Business Development Program Click Here.

Ethical Tip for Starting a Business

Business is driven by a single ethical law and it’s simply this:  Will the world be a better place as a result of this activity or not? If the business activity does not pass this test, we have an ethical problem. However, before you can answer the above question, you need to define the words “better” and “world.” In other words, whose world are we making better?  This is where the debates begin.

Let us look at an example of this law in action. A pharmaceutical company wants to stop people using generic penicillin in Africa. One night the company’s chairman is confronted by his son who recently came back from Africa. The son asks, “Dad, how does stopping people from using generic penicillin make the world a better place? How can you even sleep at night knowing that these people in Africa need the generic penicillin at thirty-four cents and you want to increase the price to five-dollars? How does it even help your shareholders? How much extra money could you possibly get from these African nations anyway?”

Now the only way the chairman can argue against this ethic questions is to say, “Ah yes! Let me tell you why the world would be a worst place. If we continue to allow generic penicillin drugs to be sold at thirty-four cents, I promise you that those cheap drugs will be all over America and Europe. If that happens, we will lose money causing our shareholders to run away. Do you know that seventy-five percent of all our shares are owned by pensioners? We are owned by pensioners and the reason why pension funds are in a mess is because companies do not respect their trust. We need to preserve their capital and grow their wealth. Furthermore, for us to grow their wealth, we need to earn one billion dollars on every drug to begin making a profit and we only have ten years to do it before our patent expires.  If generic penicillin is allowed to stay at thirty-four cents, it will close down the whole private pharmaceutical industry. As a result, I believe hundreds of millions of more people will die from perfectly preventable diseases because you would have destroyed research and innovation in this sector.”

That is the debate.  Which is better? Which decision will produce a better world for human kind? Taken into account shareholders, those in Africa, the chairman ability to sleep at night, what the staff actually thinks, what the media will say, etc. This is how ethical debates are thought through, and how you get global ethics which affects the marketplace every single day.

Leading us back to the most important theme of all which is: The ethical purpose of every business is to make the world a better place. Every product made, every service delivered, every contract signed is done on a promise. For examples, companies promise that:  when you eat their chocolate it will give you a nice feeling inside and you will not die; when you drink their milk it will not be poisonous and that it will be the substance of life itself; and when you come to work for us, we will give you a great career, we will stretch you, and we will also respect the fact that you have a family. Therefore, when it comes to your business, your purpose is to deliver on your promises every single time.  As you do this, you will be profitable. The profits will come from:  delivering on your promise every time, making promises you can keep at a reasonable price, and providing tremendous quality. The most successful companies and most sustainable understand this–that we are in business to make the world a better place.

 

When Starting a Business, Think Wholesale!

In order for a start-up to be successful, it must accomplish two things: (1) it must attract people who are interested in buying their goods and services and (2) it must be able to grow with limited capital. Understanding the difference between wholesale value and retail value when starting a business will determine your revenue potential.

Retail value, which comprises less than five percent of all the money flow on the planet, is where money is spent for goods or services.  For example, when you go to a restaurant and purchase a meal, it is retail value. You are not expecting any return on the money; you are spending the money and eating the meal. You buy some shoes and the same thing applies, you hope to get value from the shoes but you are not expecting a return on your money. Retail value is less than five percent of all money flow simply because the people who are spending the money are careful about what they spend it on.

Wholesale value is an entirely different area and comprises ninety-five percent of all the money flow on the planet. Wholesale value is money flowing with a different quality. It is not money spent; it is money invested. For example, we might think twice about spending $1,000 on a meal. But, we certainly have spent $1,000 buying stocks on the stock market. Because we don’t think the money is spent, we think the money is invested and, as such, we expect a return from it. We might not spend $1,000 on a bottle of wine. However, if we hear that the bottle of wine is an investment and it’s going to appreciate to $2,000, we might just buy it.

Now let’s look at an example in Corporate America. When he was just starting out, Bill Gates did not say:  “I would like to just sell software.” He started out by saying: “How can I make this software a wholesale value to PC manufactures. So that when they buy it, for every dollar they spend on my software, they can see themselves making a dollar fifty or two dollars in return by marking up their hardware. As a result, I will sell thousands at a time because every time they put a dollar in, it’s a dollar invested. Once I have all the PC manufactures building Microsoft into this big empire, how can I make my money?  By bringing the company public, I will make my money not from the profits of the business, but as a result of people investing into the shares that I own.”  Bill Gates made his money by being a shareholder in Microsoft.

Is your business wholesale or retail value? Why?

Using Business Intelligence Dashboards to Mitigate Business Risk

“Business risk comes from not knowing what you’re doing,” says Warren Buffet. When starting a business every single entrepreneur makes mistakes due to lack of knowledge. However, by using business intelligence dashboards you can mitigate business risk simply by; eliminating guesswork, improving efficiency, and understanding what your current situation is.

Official Definition: A business intelligence dashboard is a data visualization tool that displays the current metrics and key performance indicators for a business. They may be tailored for a specific role and display metrics targeted for a single point of view.

Example of a Business Intelligence Dashboard

 

*Dashboard at: 68% Month 3*

Above is an example of a business intelligence dashboard.  To demonstrate the usefulness of a dashboard let’s look at an example. Say we are trying to optimize our website and our goal over the next four months is to go from a (website visitor to paying customer) conversion rate of 1% to a (website visitor to paying customer) conversion rate of 10%. To measure our efforts we create a dashboard as shown above, with the 0% representing a 1% conversion rate and the 100% representing a 10% conversion rate. Three months in we have accomplished 68% of our goal which is a conversion rate of 7.12%. By using this information on our dashboard we can prevent risk in the following ways:

Eliminate guesswork: In our example what if in the fourth month our dashboard scored a 60% of our goal? By using a dashboard, we can quickly see that there is a problem which needs to be addressed. As entrepreneurs our next course would be then to take action and come up with a solution. Having the ability to measure results in an easy to read and understand way eliminates the need to guesstimate.

Improve efficiency: As an entrepreneur our time is already crunched as is; therefore, having a tool that improves efficiency is highly valuable. Dashboards improve efficiency by providing us with a quick overview of how our processes are performing, what corrective actions need to be taken, and where our company’s strengths lie.

See where your business has been, where it is now and where it is going: Going back to the website conversion rate example. For each month that goes by we will take a snap shot of our dashboard. At the end of the four months we should have four dashboard pictures. This way when we analyze the results we have a clear overview of exactly what happened.

Now it’s your turn. What are some other benefits of using a business intelligence dashboard?

How to Prepare for the Worst Case Scenario

Statistics show that nine out of ten businesses fail within the first five years of opening their doors. With the odds stacked against you, one of the best ways to become successful is preparing for the worst case scenario.  By preparing for the worst case scenario, you are being proactive in preventing this scenario from ever happening. Here are three ways you can prepare for the worst case scenario:

Create Checks and Balances

Checks and balances is a coined term for a procedure that prevents people from stealing, cheating, or making mistakes by separating the power of authority to make a single decision. As an entrepreneur one of the best ways to create a check and balance system is by finding a business mentor. By talking your decision through with a business mentor they can help you; paint a clearer picture, avoid making careless mistakes, and visualize possible alternatives.

Create a Business Plan that Outlines Possible Delays and Setbacks

A well written business plan is a guide to success. One specific area a business plan should focus on is possible delays and setbacks that could affect your business from becoming successful. This could be anything from running out of cash, in-effective marketing, hiring the wrong person, etc. Once you have identified the setback write down a solution. This way if the setback happens, you are prepared.

Analyze your Proposed Solutions to the Problems

Even though a solution might solve a setback, is it the right solution? As an entrepreneur there will be times when you run into a problem and have to think on your feet to find a solution. Even though the solution will fix the problem, it might just be a quick fix as the underlying problem was not addressed. Therefore, to ensure business problems are solved effectively we must analyze our solutions. How we do this is by creating checks and balances.

Now it’s your turn. What are some other ways to prepare for the worst case scenario? Leave your comments down below.

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3 Ways to Start a Business with no Capital

One of the risks associated with starting a business is financial risk; in other words, how do I fund my business? The short answer is, “with money” but what happens if you don’t have any?  Here are three ways to start a business with no capital.

(1) You can use business equity to secure talent.

While your business equity may not have much value because you just started, you can use it as an asset to secure talent. For example, you could find a technical co-founder and offer him an ownership stake in the company or you could create an option pool for perspective hires. Either of these would help offset your cost while building your business.

(2) Secure an asset and investors will come running.

Let’s say you are producing a film. If you can attach a big name celebrity to your project, that is an asset. For example, if you could attach Tom Cruise to your script, there will be plenty of people who will want to finance your film simply because you did one of the hardest things–you secured an asset.

(3) Sell the product before you build it.

This might sound silly but it will often save you a lot of time.  If someone is not willing to buy your imaginary product, it’s probably not worth building.

While the best way to start a business is by securing capital, if that is not an option for you, these are three ways you can start a business without any capital.

Can you think of any other ways? Let us know by responding down below.

Creating Jobs by Reducing Entrepreneurial Risk

A couple of days ago, I came across an article published in the Harvard Review by Maxwell Wessell and Neil Khare titled: Job Growth Depends on Reducing Entrepreneurial Risk. In this article they hypothesized that, “the only way to sustainable job creation in the United States is to facilitate the formation of new high-potential startups by reducing the risk of entrepreneurship.” They then proposed that the government should be responsible for reducing the risk of entrepreneurship by; reducing the upfront costs of starting a business, providing various resources along the way, and lowering the cost of failure. However, what they didn’t know was that their hypothesis was closer to reality then they thought.

Today I am going to discuss how Inventro reduces the risk of entrepreneurship by; reducing the upfront costs of starting a business, providing various start-up resources, and lowering the cost of failure.

Reducing the Upfront Costs of Starting a Business.  Statistics from the SBA show that the average business is started with $10,000 worth of capital.  Starting any business with Inventro, regardless of overhead, costs $6,000 which is paid over a twelve month period.  The $6,000 dollars goes to covering the various start-up resources that are provided to the entrepreneur.

Providing Various Start-up Resources.  Throughout Inventro’s Business Development Program we provide several key resources to help entrepreneurs start their business including; a step-by-step business development guide that instructs entrepreneurs on how to start a business, one-on-one mentoring, venture capitalist feedback, start-up funding, etc. This makes starting any kind of business regardless of complexity accessible.

Lowering the Cost of Start-up Failure. Inventro takes the utmost pride in helping to reduce the cost of start-up failure by making entrepreneurship a profession. How we do this, is every business we decide to invest into we provide the following benefits to the entrepreneur; a three-year employment contract paying $60k/yr, full medical benefits for a family of four, three weeks of paid vacation, and a dedicated 401(k) plan. This way if the start-up is one of the many casualties that don’t make it, our entrepreneur can walk away with their head held high and valuable experience gained.

What do you think? Is Inventro on the right path of reducing entrepreneurial risk? Does reducing entrepreneurial risk create more jobs in America? Respond below with your opinions.

*Sorry for making this blog post sound like an advertisement, as my primary intention was to address the article written by Maxwell Wessell and Neil Khare.

The Five Biggest Mistakes to Avoid When Starting a Business

Unclear goals and mission statement.
When starting a company, it is extremely important to literally sit down with your executive team and write out your company’s goals and mission statement. One topic you should particularly focus on is:  What is your measure of success? When you will be able to say: “Yes, this is a successful company.”  Defining your goals and mission is so important because you will find that even though you think that everyone is focused on the same goals, sometimes they are not.

Starting a business purely for ego gratification.
Build a business to: do something great, solve a particular problem, bring technology to a needy world, etc. One of the problems that occur by starting a business for ego gratification is typically you don’t want to share the credit with other people.  You will discover that other people will very definitely be due credit under all circumstances.  By not sharing that credit you will not get their help or their support.

Starting a business purely for money.
This leads to a couple of key mistakes. One of the most common mistakes is not raising enough money. People have the attitude, “We can do it on the cheap; we don’t need that much capital.” The reason for this attitude is people believe they have worked hard and deserve to keep one hundred percent of the equity. But the truth is the question you should ask every time when trying to raise money: “Is my company worth more before or after I raise the capital?”

All companies are built on a process of taking in resources and converting them to value. Therefore, if you can take in a million dollars and convert it into two million dollars in value, everyone wins regardless of how much of the company you had to give up, to receive a million dollars.

Another mistake that happens when starting a business for money is not distributing the equity as widely as possible. The truth is, if you are successful in your company, you will do just fine. There is an old joke that goes like this, “equity is like shit:  if you pile it up, it just smells bad but if you spread it around, lots of wonderful things grow.” So, hoarding the equity and being stingy about giving it out is a big mistake.  If you focus on success in your organization, then the money will come.

Hiring people that you like rather than people you need.
I have news for you:   a company is not a social club. By only hiring people that you like, you will be leaving out people who bring to the table different skills and points of view that are critical to your company’s success. Overall, learn to respect people you might not necessarily like.

As an owner, not knowing when to let go.
Building a company is very much like raising children. As a parent, when your child grows up your relationship with them changes; the way you relate to them changes; and the value you can give to them changes. The same thing is true about companies. The fact is that just because you may be the perfect startup CEO does not mean you are even a good CEO of a one hundred million dollar revenue company. The things that you have to do and the skills that you need are very different.

One of the most important characteristics you need is the ability to determine realistically what you are and are not good at. Through this self-assessment, you will determine what weaknesses you need to hire for.  One of the finest comments I have ever heard was when someone seriously say, “My ambition in life is to be a vice president in my own company.” I think that says it all. He wanted the company to grow large enough so that his skills could be best applied in one particular role and the other roles could be filled by other people.

These are the five biggest mistakes to avoid when starting a business.

Why the Lifestyle of an Entrepreneur is No Longer a Lonely Road

In a recent article written by Marty Zwilling (Entrepreneur: Challenge Yourself Before You Invest), he discussed several risks of starting a business. One of the risks he stated was:  “Being a startup founder is not a job, but a lifestyle, getting married versus staying single. In fact, it’s more like being single, since founders usually have no one to lean on, no one to make decisions for them, no one to blame, and no vision to follow but their own.”

I completely agree with this statement and propose this question to the audience: When starting a business do you need a business mentor?

The simple answer is “Yes” and here are several reasons why:

Someone to be answerable to. It is often too easy for an entrepreneur to procrastinate when it comes to performing tasks that consume a lot of time, are boring, difficult, etc. A business mentor will help keep you on track by continuing to ask what your goals are and pushing you to succeed.

Someone to help you refine your business ideas into reality. You have great ideas… some of them; however, are raw and need refinement to be put into reality. A business mentor has the experience necessary to help you hash out the details of your idea and bring it into fruition.

Someone who can bring a wealth of new ideas to your business. A business mentor has been there before and understands what works and doesn’t work. As an entrepreneur your goal is learn as much as you can and then use the lessons he/she teaches you to grow your business and become successful.

Someone outside looking in. As an entrepreneur, one of the hardest things to do is take a step back and see your business from an outsider’s point of view. A business mentor is an excellent resource to get this pivotal feedback.

What do you think?   Does someone starting a business need a business mentor? Furthermore, what are some reasons why a person should not find a business mentor? Click here or reply down below in the comments.