Third occurrence. Provide the final warning. Review the work plan that they helped draft and document the areas that are still falling short. Prepare what you need for the potential departure, secure legal review and consider the impact on the security and continuity of systems.
Fourth occurrence. It should be no surprise to the individual when you walk them out the door.
I am a proponent of working with vendors and employees when something is off and a correction needs to be made. If you can work it out for the better through clear and direct conversations and documentation, you should do so (of course with proper legal guidance as appropriate). But then there are times when tough decisions must be made. That same attorney who offered me advice on how to best keep my job as an executive director also has another phrase I will never forget. Once you have mentally decided to release an employee do it quickly or they will ‘smell it’ and respond. It is human nature that once you have made the determination to release an employee everything about your demeanor will change. It just does. So quickly shore up your legal next steps (which include documenting and timestamping the point the decision was made via email to another manager, trust me on this one) and move forward with the termination or separation with as much neutrality and kindness as you can.
Remember, the adage of slow to hire and fast to fire is true for many reasons. Be bold, get advice, and part ways before too much damage is done on relationships and in your business.
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BUILDING YOUR BRAND
Business Lesson
JACK BARMBY
Founder and CEO of Gnatta (UK)
“Nobody speaks culture better than the person who founded the business.”
Jack Barmby founded his first company in 2012, and now runs two successful, profitable businesses with a combined turnover of £7m. His
mission is to re-imagine and reshape the way businesses and customers talk to each other using the technology of Gnatta which stands alongside FM Outsource, the outsourcing customer service comprised of a team of 400. Jack gives businesses all around the UK and the world the ability to connect with their customers more effectively than ever before.
Both organizations have been built entirely self-financed, taking on no debt or external investment. Jack is a thought leader, regularly sharing his views on the customer service industry.
Brand promise: Seamless management of customer service across digital channels
automation * natural language understanding * ecommerce artificial intelligence (AI) * CRM * scale * role of founder remote teams * scaling up * mentors * culture ALLISON
Can you tell me about yourself and your business?
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JACK
I am the founder of a system called Gnatta. We work with businesses, large and small all over the world to help them more effectively and efficiently talk to their customers. It is a web-based browser interface that acts as a layer of glue for businesses, linking together all internal systems from CRMs, ERMs, and ORMs and linking together all of the channels that people might contact the business on. It links calls, texts, emails, tweets, and reviews. Then it hooks up with all of the interesting tech that people are using now, like AI automation and aspects of machine learning, to help a business understand how to contact or how to respond to their customers effectively and efficiently. We use a lot of automation to do that so when we do assign something to a human to answer, we give them the right information at the right time so they can respond as quickly as possible.
Gnatta was actually born from another business I started when I was 19, an outsourcing business that dealt with digital customer service called FM Outsource. The first line of code was written in 2012. The software was not born from an idea, it was born from a problem I had at the time that we wanted to solve.
When I started automated customer service support, there was a technical problem that sat alongside the labor problem. We wanted to train the right people to speak in the correct way, but we observed there was a technology problem with connecting the different digital channels. We needed to figure out if we were responding to the team in an efficient way, instead of calling people and pushing buttons to get connected.
At the time, nothing existed except call review platforms. We wanted to figure out what to do if we were contacted on all channels at the same time. We started to ask all these different 123
questions and found there were not very many answers. So, I started to develop Gnatta as its own separate company. It was a happy accident. I found a hole that needed to be filled, and I filled it.
ALLISON
Where did you go to get information to build your business in those early days?
JACK
There were a couple of places I drew inspiration from. I had mentors around me who had more experience. I benefitted from a very fortuitous shift to get solid, great ideas from the younger generation so they were happy to help me.
People do not know what they do not know. I had no idea how to run a financial structure or an HR structural process. I did not know the little bits and pieces it takes to run a business. I had a mentor who would help me through that process, someone who had been there and done it before and was willing to invest time into the ideas that I was developing at that point in time. My mentor trained me to run a business effectively.
ALLISON
If I were a customer, can you tell me in simple terms what you would do for me?
JACK
We found there were lots of other solutions that did something like what we were providing. They had lots of channels, lots of internal systems, and lots of tech that businesses use to respond to their customers. However, they needed one central platform to put all the pieces together so they could make intelligent 124
decisions about each customer. That is what the Gnatta system does.
The problem with customer care is that it is a very quick-changing industry. With the advent of artificial intelligence coming back around and increased automation, there are more channels with increasing complexity. People need to understand what they need to do because the gap is widening from what the customer wants and the business provides. We found a way, using the software, to give advice on how people can close that gap. The problem we solve is having a very flexible solution, which can scale as the business scales. It can work for a team of 10, or it can work for a team of 2,000. The value is to get to a point where people are market leading. People need to understand or have a better understanding from other people on what they need to do to get to that point will be different, because the rate of change in an industry, and the rate of change of the people within the industry, aren’t the same.
ALLISON
Give me an insider view on those on those chat bots.
JACK
Automation and AI are different. In customer care, businesses are not using AI, or very few are actually using proper AI because AI learns all the time based on the data input into it.
Basic AI engines will do things like learn to play chess and they improve the way they play chess over time.
Businesses are using an advanced form of automation, not AI. If people with heavy customer facing businesses, like retail, are not ready for AI to come in and take care of their customers, using machine learning would be terrifying. Many businesses 125
are definitely not ready for the learning aspect of AI or implementation of it.
An advanced form of automation is something that uses natural language and understanding and then people put faces on them.
I am not so sure we should be putting faces on them because it is a little alienating, in my opinion. A UK bank, called NatWest, released a version called Cora. Not only is it a chat bot, it is personified as a lady with a name budge. I think it is a bit creepy. We are already going through a period where talking to an automated system is little alien and to add the human element makes it a little scary.
Most of the time when people are using those systems, they are often natural language understanding engines, which is essentially the advanced form of automation. They are teaching them to understand sayings like “where is my order?” and be able to differentiate that from “you’re out of order.” They are using natural language to understand what the customer is asking, and therefore make a better decision about how to deal with them. They do not use intelligence to change the way they answer over time. Things like natural language are manually dealt with, manually input, and manually changed without learning over time. So, most of the time, it is not actually using AI at all.
ALLISON
Are bots for all businesses?
JACK
Every business, in some way or another, can take advantage of our automated bots or AI depending on how much they want to implement. It depends on where the market or the customer is comfortable globally. We need to be sure we're taking people on 126
a journey where AI becomes more of the way we talk to each other. For now, every single business has a process or questions that customers ask again and again. If people are in fashion retail, the most common questions they will be asked are
“where is my order?”, or “where is my dress?” or something to that effect.
Retail customers have a very predictable journey and those are the parts of that journey people can automate. They are not dangerous; they might just be gathering phone numbers and email addresses. It is key to understand which pieces can be automated at low risk and relatively low cost to the business and the customer. As the systems get more advanced and the consumers get more confident in the responses that automation gives, we have the groundwork to start to build from there.
ALLISON
Does it ever scare you to have your company built on technology?
JACK
We had a two-minute power cut the other day and everything ground to a halt. It was terrifying. The bigger we get, the more we learn about the different levels of automation in terms of automating business processes through continuous release in our delivery process. We used to physically press buttons to deploy actions, now our system does that automatically on a scheduled system. It becomes very scary. The automation isn’t the scary part for me. The scary part for me will happen when the person is completely removed from a task that was completely manual and is now completely automated. It is quite a trusting step to completely remove humans from the process.
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ALLISON
Let us talk about the humans in your organization and your employment model.
JACK
The FM Outsourcing business is super interesting. Prior to enforced homeworking due to the pandemic, 65% of our workforce already worked remotely. We employ university students to get a flexible workforce. Of the 350 staff in that business, 65% of them have never met anybody who is full-time. They have never met the manager. It is a new model and a trusting model.
Our Gnatta technology business is a little more classic. We are lucky enough to have a diverse workforce. Two of our six board members are female, which gives us a diverse workplace development perspective, and a broad board member perspective. Now Gnatta has started to roll out in France and we have one salesperson in Dubai in the UAE. We are really widespread. We have been from the start. I started this business in university and ran it for two years completely remotely. I have always been a big believer in doing things a little bit differently. The workforce in this setting allows for us to have a much more diverse workforce because the people do not have to work Monday through Friday, nine to five.
So, our outsourcing company is heavily employed by university students who are in their early twenties. Our technology business is developer heavy, and so people are in their 30s and 40s there. The two business structures are almost polar opposites.
It should be noted now though, following the UK restrictions in the face of COVID-19, both businesses have been operating 128
100% remotely. As we look ahead, the flexibility we already had ingrained in working practices across the group will be key as we join everyone else in trying to establish a “new normal”.
ALLISON
On your website it says, "We believe in universal engagement, a world where every customer is heard, acknowledged and respected." Tell me about your company’s culture and how you make sure everybody carries that mission forward.
JACK
Nobody speaks to culture better than the person who founded the business. Every time, no matter what, the person who founded a business is going to explain the culture the best. It is a mistake to mimic a business’ culture after the personality of its founder because not everyone should be behaving or working in the exact same way.
We put in a lot of time speaking to the employees and we have feedback sessions that we call 'retrospectives.' We use these sessions to talk about things we should start, stop, and continue.
We do that on a monthly basis. The session may be about things at work, like the kind of coffee we are ordering or whether the blinds should be open or closed during the day. We discuss many different topics, so everyone has a say. We've made sure everybody has a voice and everybody can have an input. We can do that because we are small enough to be able to listen to everyone individually.
From the beginning we have made sure to ask the employees what kind of culture they wanted to work for. Then, we started to morph into that, so it fit a particular niche and group of people. We try to make sure the culture of the business fits the people within it, instead of reflecting the personality of the 129
person who founded it. People want a culture that supports autonomy in the workplace, flexibility in the workplace, and the ability to wear what they want. We don’t have a dress code. We try to make sure our culture supports our employees.
ALLISON
Can you share some key learnings as a founder?
JACK
People must have the ability to understand themselves as a founder. They must figure out the things they are good at and things they are not good at. It is very common to want to be a part of every hire, every decision, every process, and every single part of the business, because it is like their baby. They are emotional about it and want to make it work. It is important founders understand which parts they need to let go of. For example, as businesses start to grow, it is important to bring on the right people for each process. I was pushed aggressively away from product development, testing, and client facing interactions, because those are not what I am good at. It is important for people to be aware of their own weaknesses. I am looking to hire or train people that can fill those gaps within my organization. Otherwise I would get to a point where I work all the hours and then the quality will start to dip and fall apart.
People need to admit their weaknesses and then hire someone who can execute those tasks.
ALLISON
Can you share what is next for you?
JACK
Across two businesses we are a team of 30 at Gnatta and 500 at FM Outsource, both self-funded and both profitable. So, the next piece for us is around further scalable growth. The kind of 130
the lessons that I am going to be learning are how do you properly scale a support structure? How do you properly scale a larger financial strategy? And how do you do that on a multilingual multinational basis, which is going to be a big focus.
To learn more about Jack Barmby:
Website: www.gnatta.com
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BUILDING YOUR BRAND
Business Lesson
JOHN THOMPSON
Founder and Managing Director of Designer Water (South Africa)
“If people put in the work and commit, they can achieve anything.”
John Thompson is a leader in the bottled water space in Africa and an
authority on the health benefits of high pH alkaline water. As Founder
and Managing Director of Designer
Water, he promotes the micro-
clustering technology his company
uses to achieve the full spectrum of
life-enhancing qualities that high pH alkaline water delivers. In addition to bottled water, Designer Water further offers alkaline water products, alkaline water machines and water ionizers through its e-Shop. John is also a respected money coach and mentor to entrepreneurs and is on a mission to help as many people as possible reach their dreams and goals.
Brand promise: The highest quality and purity in alkaline water production to support health
beverage * retail * health * lifestyle * B2C * manufacturing systems * standards * bootstrapping * finance * profit sharing differentiation * culture * energy management ALLISON
What inspired you to start your own company?
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JOHN
When I finished high school, I didn’t have a lot of options because my parents couldn't afford to send me to university or college. I started working as a waiter before working for a huge IT company called Workgroup. We were the largest distributor of software products like Microsoft, IBM, and Oracle. I worked my way up to become the national software sales manager for that organization.
During that process I came to a point where I realized I wanted to make a difference and change people’s lives. I wanted to do something for myself. I felt like the company I was working for wasn’t doing enough to contribute to society as a whole. During this process, I found someone named Tony Robbins who has a whole alkalinity program. He started talking about these alkaline water machines almost 15 years ago. At the time, people didn't really know what the benefits were, but he knew if people started drinking this water to help regulate the pH in their body, it would make them feel great. People went from spending $10,000 to $15,000 a year on medical bills to not getting sick anymore.
ALLISON
When you told people you wanted to go into the water business, what did they think?
JOHN
My fiancée at the time almost didn't speak to me for six months because she was so petrified. I’m not very averse to risk. I'll take more risks than she’s willing to take. For her, not knowing was most frightening thing because she wanted to know how we would afford our house. She was scared that we didn’t know what would happen if I failed because I invested a lot of my capital into starting the business. In fact, I withdrew my whole 133
pension fund to begin Designer Water. Starting a good business right requires capital, and I wanted to start a proper business. I wanted to get into products and rebranding, and I wanted to get the best agencies in the world. That required a lot of capital.
ALLISON
Would you do it that way again now?
JOHN
If I knew then what I know today I would use other people’s money, other people’s time, and other people’s skills. While being coached by JT Fox, I realized how to start my business.
Luckily, I had the capital. I took every kind of capital I had and cashed it in. In hindsight that was stupid. I should have taken out a loan because, at the time, I was earning quite a good salary. I probably could have taken out a loan and used that capital and had less exposure. I ended using all of my own cash, so if it failed, I would have had nothing.
If I did it again today I would use other people’s money. If I look at some of the growth we’ve had over the last six to 12
months, it’s been funded through other people’s money. We provide a service and I want to grow and extend our own brand so we can get them to invest.
ALLISON
Did you feel that using your own money created motivation to get it moving faster?
JOHN
Absolutely, I had everything to lose, failure wasn’t an option.
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ALLISON
You entered a competitive space, but you are passionate about differentiation.
JOHN
If people want to succeed, they have to be able to differentiate themselves from their competitors. I've realized the biggest players in whichever space don’t do everything. In South Africa, we have these shops where they refill bottles. I’ve tried to create my business so I can do all three things across one technology vector. We specialize in high pH alkaline water. We specialize in a water that has natural anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties because most things people consume on a daily basis cause inflammation and oxidation.
Alkaline water helps to balance that energy out. If people are perfectly healthy, their bodies should be balanced. If people are consuming acidic foods like meat, coffee, wine, and alcohol, and not eating enough vegetables that contain potassium, magnesium, calcium and sodium, they can become unbalanced in their health. They have less energy and more pain. By consuming alkaline water, people give their body a tool to help maintain its balance.
ALLISON
What should people be looking for in things that are alkaline based?
JOHN
For me, living till 100 illness and disease-free is the ultimate goal Being healthy is about being balanced. Most people consume more acidic foods than alkaline foods and eventually your body runs out of alkaline buffers so you need to supplement.
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ALLISON
Can you talk about how you have to be continuously scaling your business up and down?
JOHN
We decided to go through a voluntary ISO 22,000 food safety management system. That allows me to ensure that my product is good enough for anybody in the world. Through their process, I started to realize that when it comes to scaling up and down, people have to make sure that everything is systematized.
If they have a single document or single piece of paper, there is a step one, step two, step three, step four, and step five.
As their business scales, all they have to do is get somebody in, give him the system and say that he has to do these five steps.
That's his job for the day. That's how people can scale their business up in manufacturing. We’ve created systems and processes for almost everything. There are steps one through eight. Now when we get a new person, he just picks up the file and follows instructions. That way it doesn’t require a lot of training. And new team members can get up and running and producing fast.
ALLISON
I know you are an inspirational and motivational person who cares a lot about energy management and putting that vibration out in the world. How do you translate that to the people who work for and with you?
JOHN
I do a ton of personal development, like reading books and learning from other people’s mistakes and successes. I also meditate as often as I can, up to 40 minutes a day.
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ALLISON
Is your team willing to meditate and work on these energy mindset activities?
JOHN
Yes and no. Some of the people we have to motivate and pay.
So we do things like value-based system assessments. We ask them what motivates them, and every person on our team is slightly different. I think typically with a production line staff that motivation is money because some of these guys have it hard financially. South Africa has a 36% unemployment rate.
40% of people in South Africa earn less than $200 a month.
Everyone is motivated differently. So it’s important to find out what makes your people tick, find out what’s their way and what keeps them motivated.
ALLISON
That is a scary statistic for the unemployment rate in South Africa. Does the fact that you chose to build a business in such an economy scare you?
JOHN
At the end of the day I have to set my thoughts on what I want and put in the work. Grant Cardone has a system called the 10x rule. However hard I think it will be, it’s going to be 10 times harder. If people put in the work and commit, they can achieve anything. I didn't have a choice but to start a business in South Africa because both my parents are South African.
ALLISON
You had an opportunity to sit down with superstar Mark Wahlberg and talk water and represent your brand designer water. Can you tell me what the two of you talked about?
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JOHN
We spoke about his brand, AQUA-hydrate, and how he got the brand going. He told me that he was training for a movie called The Fighter. He went from running six miles a day to eight miles a day and was recovering quicker and quicker. He felt like he was going to a whole new level and he hadn’t changed his diet or exercise routine. He realized it had to be the water.
That’s when he approached Sean and the two of them started AQUA-hydrate. He asked us if we would consider bringing it to South Africa.
ALLISON
What do you hope to achieve with your business in the next few years?
JOHN
Try and take over the world. We want to build the most loved water brand in Africa and then take it to the rest of the world.
To learn more about John Thompson:
Website: www.designerwater.co.za
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6
Process
all me an operations geek, but I love to learn about internal C company processes. How an organization goes about structuring internal systems, managing the production line, interfacing between departments, and delivering the product into the field is amazing to me. This may be a result of a childhood where my parents would take us on factory tours as part of cheap vacation entertainment. I have witnessed the manufacturing of beer, cereal, soda, potato chips, snack cakes, cheese, wine, rum, furniture, motorcycles, baseball bats, jewelry, and all sorts of other things. That may be why I was always so comfortable during the stages of my career when I worked in manufacturing environments.
The process of how goods and services make it to market is an important part of the brand integrity.
Today’s consumer is also highly interested in the internal workings of a company. They want to know about the people, the ethics, the equity, the charitable aspect, the social standards, and the green initiatives. The conscientious consumer is here to stay and to be the gatekeeper. They vote for brands with their dollars and raise their collective voices when they do not like what they see.
No matter what industry you serve, in this arena, authenticity reigns supreme and innovation is required.
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Process rule #1:
Reimagine delivery systems
Through technology and expanded networks, businesses can approach problems in ways that were unthinkable just a few years ago. The companies of the future are bypassing old traditional standards and even dismantling delivery systems to create new platforms for commerce. I would like to introduce you to two amazing women whose companies have reimagined supply chains, as they may inspire you to do the same.
Sukhi Jutla is an award-winning entrepreneur and the world’s first best-selling author on the topic of blockchain; however, today she is a champion for the small independent retail jeweler.
Observing how the marketplace was unfair to small enterprises as they did not have the collective buying power that would allow them to compete motivated her to co-found MarketOrders (UK), an online B2B marketplace platform helping independent retail jewelers source the products they need faster, cheaper, and directly from suppliers. MarketOrders aggregates small orders from their retailers and sends bulk orders to the suppliers, providing these small business owners access to global resources and assured product quality without paying unnecessary markups and commissions imposed by middlemen.
The service was a breakthrough allowing the small and often family-owned retailer to remain competitive, sustain business, and keep doors open.
Amanda Curtis is co-founder and CEO of Nineteenth Amendment (USA). Frustrated with the waste in the retail industry and the barrier for new designers to enter the market, she and Gemma Sole sought a new way to assist independent designers to sell directly to customers without the significant investment in traditional inventory. Their first step was to 140
identify apparel manufacturing studios who would be willing to take on small-run projects. Today, through their platform, a designer uploads their product details, requests bids from manufacturers, and then pre-sells for a set period before writing the production order. Now leaders in ‘Smart Sustainable Fashion’, Nineteenth Amendment delivers less risk and waste while democratizing the fashion playing field and allowing buyers to support new designers.
The point here is not only can your brand reimagine the way business gets done, but you can also reinvent how you may go about doing it. Subscription models, VIP memberships, for
‘fans only’ services all are being adopted by businesses that just a few years ago would have never stepped into this arena. When it comes to processes today, entrepreneurs have many choices on how and where to get their work done. They can subcontract production through white label services until they are ready to rent space or obtain equipment on their own. They can run a million-dollar operation through a network of highly skilled contractors or service companies without ever taking on direct staff. And the taboo of not having a physical location is no longer viewed as a limitation, but can be seen as a practical lean measure.
Perhaps how you envision your business as you start will not be where it lands. Remain open to exploring new partnerships and technologies as you face the future.
Process rule #2:
Systemize for better profits
The processes by which you secure customers and deliver services may change repeatedly as you work through the start-141
up to scale-up phase, but through each evolution you should maintain a visual representation of this process. This visual does not need to be high tech, it can be on flip charts or white boards, but the team should be able to envision the process and the costs associated with each step.
Being acutely mindful of the correlation of efficiencies in production and final delivery cost of a product can mean the difference between a financial position in the black or the red.
When you deal with inventory this is referred to as cost of goods sold (COGS). And your cost structure is an analysis of each component it takes to keep your doors open, including fixed costs and the variable ones.
When I first entered business, the company I worked for manufactured large scale auto show displays and the accounting department would issue what we affectionately referred to as
‘green sheets’ because they were financial reports printed on green paper (honestly, so we could not lose them on our desks).
For each project in process, there was a bi-weekly ‘green sheet’
set to be reviewed and signed off on by each member of the management team to evaluate the state of the project. This was a great exercise because the snapshot clearly showed: 1. Both the collected and pending contracted income 2. Expenses posted directly to the project 3. An estimated overhead allocation, and 4. An anticipated net profit margin
This ongoing review allowed the team working on the project to easily identify problems and either tighten up the production, justify a change order to the client, or re-forecast the anticipated profit margin (for better or for worse). This exercise taught me to pay attention to our systems and identify cost overruns or 142
issues with the initial estimate, sales contracts, labor productivity, and more.
As you begin, your processes may be less complex, but your eye needs to be just as diligent. You cannot uncouple the production and delivery process from your financial evaluation and ultimate success. It is vital as you scale that you understand the connection between process and profit. This is critical as you are making decisions on how and where to spend your money. This observation will help you know when you are in a good position to stop subletting warehouse space and rent your own, or decide between continuing with a contractor or hiring an employee, or when to remove a middleman because you have the volume to buy raw materials direct.
As you scale you should become familiar with the term Business Process Engineering (BPE). Take a moment to run an online image search on this term and you will quickly find many variations, but they all essentially cover an initial study of how a business approaches productivity, efficiency, and operational costs, and then with an applied methodology the business leaders seek to identify and implement new processes and efficiencies to become a ‘world-class competitor’. Do you need to hear it in more simple terms? This is the ‘just because that is the way we have done it does not mean it is the right way going forward’ lesson. Change may be your absolute best friend in this area.
Process rule #3:
Master quality control because predictability makes for happy customers
Remember what we said about brand trust? It is the customer 143
knowing that you will deliver what you say they will get. It is striving to get that thumbs-up highly recommend rating. To know that when a customer says to a friend, ‘It is awesome, you should try it,’ the friend will be satisfied.
Quality is the integrity of your brand and the brand experience, so you have two concepts that should be at the top of your business process review list:
Quality assurance management - how you develop process
Quality control - how you deliver the work Every business operator knows it is the boring stuff that can sometimes matter the most as that is where systems failures can occur. Think about the cost of product recalls or the collapse of companies due to public relations nightmares. It is the small details that define a great business. Your team has to implement performance standards and measurement methods even in the earliest stages of business. Consider the following:
Do you have a quality promise for customers? How and where is it documented?
Are team members trained on the quality promise?
Are processes documented including expected outcomes?
Are the team members trained and then rewarded for desired performance?
Do you have control check points in the delivery process?
Do you have a feedback mechanism?
Do you have a process for issue resolution?
Do you monitor the customer communication channels for feedback?
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PROCESS
Today, getting a product out the door on time and as promised may still not be good enough. Quality design, feedback loops and adjustments are critical to customer satisfaction, and you certainly want happy customers being ambassadors for your brand.
Process rule #3:
Measure what you want to master
Visibility and insight mean everything to an intelligent business owner. Measurement and data analytics do not always take advance statistical skills, they just require defining what is important to success, shining a light on it, and activating adjustments to meet the stated goals.
Here are three simple methods that companies can use to measure and celebrate or re-calibrate:
Key performance indicators
SMART goals
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BUILDING YOUR BRAND
RYG success criteria (a red, yellow, green signal dashboard)
Even early in your business life, you will set up key performance indicators (KPIs). KPIs help you and the team know the most important areas of focus for your organization and ‘indicate’ if you are on course or need to implement change.
Here are some sample key indicators that organizations may track and use for decision making and change management:
Topline sales/pipeline activity
Client proposals/inquiries and rate of conversion
Customers (new, returning, demographics, location)
Cost of customer acquisition/lifetime value of customers
Production timelines/shipping timelines
Days sale outstanding (date of invoice compared to date of payment)
Customer satisfaction/Net Promoter Score
Website and social media visits/engagement/media reach
Process compliance/safety goals
Does a company need to measure everything as part of KPIs?
Not necessarily.
The business leader needs to
know the most critical pieces
to measure so they can place
their attention in the right
areas. For example, if a
company is a membership
organization and they simply
focus on the number of
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members, they may miss the levers they need to activate earlier in their attraction processes, such as how to increase reach in marketing spend or identify why there is a lack of conversion.
Sometimes the topline number is not the right number to shine the spotlight on. Sometimes the number to watch is a level or two down from the problem.
KPIs should not be confused with SMART goals. SMART
goals also have a place in your measurement strategy, but view these as a shorter, quick-hit investigation and evaluation for certain areas of the operation. I like SMART goals for project specific work. Under this principle, goals should be specific to a select area, measurable to indicate progress, assignable to a specific owner, realistic in the request and time specific.
A third tool you can use to measure is the RYG (red, yellow, green) success criteria. This is a great visual aide for a measurement dashboard and is a valid model when numbers alone do not tell the story. Based on a traffic light, you can color code the status of areas you deem important, such as production progress against a timeline, or provide an assessment of the status of report development. What I find is management appreciates this type of tracking, but it does make employees nervous. To effectively use this methodology all individuals involved need to understand the definition behind the colors and realize that red may not indicate a personal team member failure, but rather informs management that perhaps a vendor is not doing their part or resources need to be reallocated to get the project back on track.
Measurement holds people accountable, even if that person is you.
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Process rule #5:
Trust but verify - manage vendors and contractors wisely When you select a vendor, you must investigate and validate that they can really deliver on promises made. This may include asking to speak with other clients, digging deeper in online research, visiting the facilities, or asking to speak with more team members who will work on the business.
While everything you seem to know makes you want to trust the partnership contract, this will be a legal relationship. When it comes to the contract, demand clearly-defined expectations and considerations for the financial exchange. If something is not in writing, there is not a promise you can count on. Handshakes do not make a difference in court.
My experience has taught me the following about contracts:
There are usually two parts: the master service agreement and the business agreement.
The master service agreement is a boilerplate used with all clients. Vendors are not as inclined to make changes to this, but read it and understand things like handling of data privacy, payment terms, performance disputes, the cancellation clause and the location for mediation. Make sure there is a confidentiality clause or add this as an addendum to the contract.
The business agreement is typically specific to what the vendor will do for you. No detail is too small here. If it is not clear, recommend revisions. Ensure there is a progress check-in and process for sign-off on change orders and additional billing.
Make sure the financial terms are not overly in favor of one party.
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If you do not like terms, ask for adjustments and see if the vendor will work with you. Do not be shy about this.
Know a contract is essentially as good as the ‘out clause’. Avoid evergreen contracts if you can.
Measure the risk associated with the contract and seek out legal advice as necessary – do not skip the attorney if the contract is sizeable and could kill your business if services aren’t delivered or the other company goes bankrupt.
Ensure you understand the terms on data ownership, data privacy policies, data breach notifications and data management compliance per local laws.
Determine what contract points you will not waiver on.
For example, my number one complaint in working with new vendors is if they outsource or subcontract their services on my account without my consent. So I now address this in every contract I sign.
Know that contracts with companies in other countries are tricky. Also attitudes on signing contracts can vary country to country. I have had experiences where I have negotiated contracts only to have the person give me a verbal yes and refuse to sign the contract that we painstakingly worked through. Again, if you are drafting a contract for the first time in a foreign country, you may have little recourse if the deal goes bad. You absolutely have to do your research and vet these business transactions. Use your network to see who can assist you wisely and with prior experience.
Once you engage a vendor, record keeping will be critical. File all the fully executed agreements in a safe and secure place.
Maintain a master spreadsheet with all the information you need to know in one place including: company name, EIN/TIN or SS
contact details, contract dates, payment terms/dates, major 149
milestones, invoices, change orders, and more. You can delegate this to your accountant, but that does not diminish that you are the owner of this information. Keep track of and document any problems or service failures as they occur.
If your vendors are an extension of your team and brand, be sure to include them in meetings, your collaboration platform, and your celebrations.
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PROCESS
151
Process rule #6:
Identify risks that may threaten your business If you subscribe to the thought that "things will go wrong in any given situation if you give them a chance,” then you are already risk aware. If you place your purse on your lap rather than on the seat next to you on a crowded bus, then you are considering risk mitigation. And if you take out an insurance policy for your car, then you are familiar with the concept of risk transfer.
In the early stages of business, risk management can be as simple as raising your head and considering the following:
What could go wrong?
How likely is it that it will go wrong?
How could I prevent it from going wrong?
What would be the impact of a failure or breach?
What would the recovery steps be?
Can I transfer the risk to an insurance carrier to mitigate my losses?
Even when you are a small startup, insurance is something you need to protect your assets. Identify a reputable insurance broker who will work with you to draft the right commercial insurance policy based on your business needs. Be sure to discuss your incorporation status and if a Director and Officers (D&O) policy is needed. Recognize the risks associated with a data breach and whether you should add on cyber insurance.
Know what your policy covers and what it does not cover. For example, many commercial policies do not cover special events and alcohol-related liability. Understand what a Certificate of Insurance (COI) and an ACORD form are and how you may need to show them to your clients and vendors. Clarify to the broker if you operate across borders and travel internationally, 152
and if you require special medical insurance or even a kidnap and ransom rider to cover these needs.
Aside from reviewing business processes to mitigate risk and obtaining insurance, you would be wise to draft a business continuation plan. This is a simple document that serves as a guide in case of an emergency, natural disaster, or extreme technical system failure (loss of data and/or production line equipment). In simple form it is about response, relocation, recovery, and restoration. It may hold guidance for anyone who picks up the plan on who to contact, how to communicate (to staff, partners, clients, and media), where the relocation point is, how to recover systems, and how to begin the restoration approach.
Even if you manage your business from your home, you should think about what would happen if there was a fire and how you would recover. You should also ask about the business continuity plans for your most trusted vendors if they house your inventory or financial records.
Taking time to address internal weaknesses and external threats early will help protect your business reputation and assets.
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BUILDING YOUR BRAND
Business Lesson
MARTIN VARES
Co-founder and CEO at Fractory (Estonia)
“We just had to be nimble enough and add great value to even launch and sell this product.”
Martin Vares co-founded Fractory to provide solutions in a space still holding on to old systems. Leveraging
automation, customers connect to
quality manufacturing vendors and as a result improve delivery timelines and pricing. Martin holds a BS and MS from Tallinn University of
Technology and serves on the MMU Industry Advisory Board.
He has been recognized as a Forbes 30 Under 30 and serves a mentor to other entrepreneurs.
Brand promise: Connecting engineers to metal fabricators Fractory provides a one-stop shop to discover, compare, and fulfill production orders regardless of batch size innovation * automation * manufacturing * engineering digital * supply chain * outsourcing * marketplace platform start-up struggles * financials * accelerator ALLISON
Tell us a bit about your company.
MARTIN
Fractory is an online platform made for engineering companies 154
to interact with manufacturing companies. We streamline the outsourcing process in the manufacturing industry. In less than a year and a half, we went from a company that brokered small manufacturing orders to a company that gained orders from giants like Siemens and ABB.
ALLISON
Can you tell me your founder’s story and how you got where you are today?
MARTIN
This problem we are solving might not be familiar because it is hidden in the traditional industry, but it is usually in the back offices of everything that is manufactured. I started Fractory to solve my own problem. I am a mechanical engineer by trade. I was working in the industry for five years. I was working with different companies and in every single one of them, I saw how much time outsourcing took, especially if it was a custom-designed item.
When a company is producing something, they do not always have the machinery. We did not. When I decided I needed to outsource something, I had to send out emails to 10 different companies, which took quite a while. That is where I noticed the problem. It just struck me that companies on either side of the email chain both have their information, but there is nothing properly connecting them. I noticed that connecting them could be done automatically. We started to build the system that would streamline the outsourcing process.
ALLISON
Let us talk about what you did to get the company started.
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MARTIN
We were trying to solve two problems at once. We were not only trying to get the customers easier access to machinery, but we were also trying to build the capacity gaps in the manufacturing companies. We make their ROI a bit better.
When I started Fractory, my two co-founders and I were all working full-time. They were living in different cities. I knew both for 10 years, but it was still difficult being away from each other. So, we came up with the solution and tried to build something. We took part in some competitions as well, trying to get some mentoring to figure out how we should start this business.
Then, we were invited to an accelerator program which provided the opportunity for us to gain some great knowledge, which fast-tracked into a startup in the digital world. It also gave us a bit of funding that enabled us to quit our jobs. Then we moved again, not only to another city, but into another country – Latvia. For the next three months the three of us lived together and worked together basically nonstop.
We were lucky because we all came from different sectors and areas of expertise, so we were able to build the product and start selling it. We did not need to outsource anything to get going.
We did not need to extensively learn something new. We just had to be nimble enough and add great value to launch and sell this product.
ALLISON
Did you bootstrap this? How did you get your initial funding?
MARTIN
Accelerator programs usually provide a bit of funding. Ours gave us 20,000 euro. It was not much but somehow, we 156
managed to track this for nine months before our next investment. Once that money ran out, we started selling our cars and our hobby equipment. Even though we were still so small, it would not cover the expenses, but it was enough. We were growing fast enough that we gained quite a lot of interest from local investors.
ALLISON
Can you share a little bit about the actual business model?
MARTIN
A marketplace platform is only as good as its suppliers. We do not let just any manufacturing company be on our platform. We go through a lot of trouble finding them and validating them initially. We would do a lot of testing there. We put our processes in place to download, to show what kind of packaging must be used, what the best shipping labels are, and so on. We want to provide the best possible experience for our customers.
We are not only bringing it into the digital world, but also changing their whole experience. Suppliers are important to us, but we must talk about the product itself to customers. We tried to keep it as easy as possible. Companies will essentially do the same thing. They will upload the drawings of the parts they want produced into our platform. Then they get the chance to see the materials, the thicknesses and their parameters. Then what happens is totally different from the traditional way. The platform instantly calculates the prices while taking in the customer location, the supplier availability, the materials, the cap, and everything else. After they upload their project, in a few seconds we can provide a guaranteed price for the customer. After that, if the customer is happy with the lead time and the price, they click confirm. On their confirmation, the 157
system will take care of the supplier selection, transportation, and billing.
ALLISON
I am aware that people can cut production time in half if not more by sourcing a supplier who has the right window and the right equipment at the right time. Is that correct?
MARTIN
From my own experience and from our customers' feedback as well, a usual production time for an average order to get a quote takes about three weeks. So, if people can get a quote in just a few seconds, they have already saved time and we deliver the parts to their doorstep in the same amount of time that it would take them to get the quotes.
ALLISON
You and your partners have grown a big business in a short period of time. Where are you getting your mentoring and advice from?
MARTIN
We are investment backed now. Starting from the accelerator was a very good opportunity. It gave us a crash course to not only the business world, but also the digital business world and the start-up world, which are a little different from traditional business. From there we have gathered a lot of investors. We now have investors I turn to. One of them researched company culture and wrote a book about it. I turn to him about people stuff. There are others I turn to when it comes to finances, and those I turn to when I need an introduction in a market or institution.
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I get a lot from the mentors and investors I have met along the way but our team never forgets where we started. That is why I attend a lot of hackathon events. I am able to work face-to-face with the new entrepreneurs who have to come up with a new idea to build a product. I help them with the story from positioning to do wireframing to UX design to getting the first investors. It’s refreshing to bring that back to the teams who are building those systems today.
ALLISON
Where do you see yourself in five years personally and with your company?
MARTIN
The idea came to me a year before we started. I looked at my first pitch that I gave in the end of 2016 to see how people received it. When I read it, it was so funny to see that it has basically remained the same. The vision of what we are building has remained the same even though we have learned so much.
That tells me that we got it right. I think the vision will remain the same during the next five years. But we will be a lot bigger.
Our ambition is to be one of the biggest manufacturing platforms in the world.
To learn more about Martin Vares:
Website: www.fractory.com
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7
Money
few years ago, Inc. Magazine published a study from the Afo unders on the Inc. 5000 CEO’s that provided insight into sources of start-up capital. According to this study, 74% of businesses started with use of personal savings, 22% reported tapping credit cards, 20% sought loans from family and friends, 8% turned to bank loans, and a mere 4% got their business off the ground with venture capital money.
This means money management is very personal to most founders, and you are likely no different.
As I have worked through the Disruptive CEO Nation Podcast project, I have asked many company founders to share the financial aspect of their start-up story. You’re seeing some of them throughout this book. Here I want to share Tim Spiker’s story as he made the leap from a full-time paycheck to founding The Aperio (USA), a leadership development company helping organizations better compete for the ‘mindshare and heart share’ of customers and clients.
Tim shares making the bold move to go all in on his business:
“There are always practical realities, but at some point in time, there is going to be a leap somewhere. I am probably like many folks who are in the entrepreneurial space who are ready for that leap, but there will be folks 161
they are connected to in their lives who will never be ready.
Entrepreneurs oftentimes have a bigger risk tolerance than the people around them. That was certainly true in my marriage, and so that was a challenge. It was hard.
What we did is we saved every extra bit of money for three years to make sure we had at least a year of rent money and the opportunity to eat food every day.
Another thing we did that I think helped manage the risk in terms of the marriage standpoint is we just drew a line in the checking account and rather than having that money conversation all day, every day, it was, ‘hey, as long as we have more money than where that line is, the dream is still alive.’ That agreement between the two of us really took something that was very risky and exceedingly difficult for my wife and added structure to it.
I am thankful for her willingness to support my business because she spends a good chunk of her life outside of her comfort zone when it comes to this, even though things are going well. I so appreciate that she is willing to be in that uncomfortable space with me. It was a challenging thing to jump out there having a family.
When I started our company, we had three children under the age of six, and now we have four that are 10
and under.”
Tim’s story identifies a few points that I encourage every founder to consider as they explore their readiness:
Do you understand accounting basics?
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Have you built a rough financial model of what it will take to run the business in year one and year two?
What are you willing to sacrifice to seed the startup?
Where will you obtain future funding if required?
How long can you run the business without or with little positive cash flow?
What is your risk tolerance if you were to lose it all?
Where is the line when you would call the business dead?
And are you able to have healthy and intelligent conversations about money with your family, partners, and stakeholders?
The approach to the initial financing for your business can be a very personal story. Each business creator may pursue a different way to fund the company, whether it is to bootstrap, take on loans, max out credit cards, sell assets, borrow from family, pitch to investors, or leverage online equity crowdfunding sources or groups (for example, StartEngine, WeFunder, AngelList, CircleUp, etc.). You can only approach it in the way that makes the most sense for you. However, the goal should be to create as little debt as possible along the way – or to know the difference between reasonable debt and questionable debt. For example, reasonable debt could be the investment in inventory, while questionable debt could be buying costly machinery before you have proven your concept.
I do acknowledge that everyone reading this book will have a different starting point of accounting and finance knowledge, but the good news is this is an area that everyone can learn.
Which one represents you?
163
Beginner level – Find a basic accounting book or a simple fundamentals of accounting course targeted for business owners online or in-person. Book an appointment
to
interview
bookkeeping
firms.
Research do-it-yourself products like QuickBooks and take their tutorials.
Advanced level – Pick up the book , How Finance Works: The HBR Guide to Thinking Smart About the Numbers or a similar book to understand valuation, which will be key when you seek outside investors.
Seek advice from a business consultant or an accelerator group on how to prepare you r financial records for external viewing from potential investors.
Ask other founders for wisdom.
While you do not need to be a financial wizard to be a successful company founder, understanding the gaps in your knowledge will help you achieve the proper readiness level to get your business off to the right start.
Money rule #1:
Institute good governance to keep the money you have earned
Governance is not an overly exciting reality of business management, yet it is an area where I have seen many people stumble. A misstep in this area can create many fees, additional tax filings and even take away your right to operate and close your doors.
Good governance pertains to two things: 1. How you set up and manage legal requirements, and 164
MONEY
2. How you manage the overall organization with ethics and documentation
Never lose sight of your company format in the eyes of the government. Each business ownership option has an advantage and disadvantage related to liability, tax implication and taking dollars from outside investors. Understand what each type means to business loans and the ability to take on investors.
Here are some classifications in the U.S.:
General Partnership
Limited Partnership
Limited Liability Partnership
Limited Liability Company (LLC) - Single member/Multiple member
Corporation (Inc.) - B corp/C corp/S corp Recognize that your business may need to be registered with multiple government agencies such as at the city, county, state, and federal level. You may also need to know requirements with regulatory agencies and required inspections. All these registrations will demand organized paperwork and on-time fee payments.
165
When you founded your company you also filed documents that defined:
Articles of Incorporation
Bylaws
The articles essentially laid out your purpose while the bylaws indicated how you would get the most important aspects of your operations done. They defined the structure of your governing board and voting members and directed how often you need to meet as a board or hold annual meetings. Remember, you are running a business and not a hobby. You need to ensure you document minutes of meetings and keep proper records. This point will be critical if you wish to take on investors or sell your company. There needs to be transparency in the governance and decision-making process related to your business. You can keep it simple, but make sure it happens.
Other governance documents may include policies and manuals that define your ethics, values and how you will ensure continuity in carrying out your business. You may think you are too small for such documents, but as you grow, these items will become critical to onboarding employees. These positions and policies may also be relevant to your conscientious customers so consider what you may want to make available to the public.
For example, your privacy policy needs to be on your website, but you may wish to also post documents and statements like a customer service policy or a diversity and inclusion policy.
As soon as you started your business you should have developed an excel sheet with every required filing and form, due date, and rough cost along with other necessary business essentials. Here are some examples, and there may be more for multiple governmental bodies:
166
Annual report
Income tax
Sales tax
Excise tax
Property tax
Employment tax
Licenses, permits, etc.
Insurance (liability, directors and officers, workers compensation, etc.)
The goal should be to operate as cleanly as possible on these items to avoid time-consuming trouble.
Money rule #2:
Remember, it is not personal it is business As a business owner your objective is protecting your assets and the money you have worked hard to earn. This means protecting it from the government and at times, even protecting it from yourself.
There is an imperative to manage your financial records like a business from day one. Keep track of everything. Listen to your accountant - they will save you from missteps. Do not take advice on what you can or cannot write off from people that are not going to be liable if the government tax auditors disagree. Also, seek business money advice from business leaders who have more money than you and downplay opinions from kind family and friends who have never been down your path.
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BUILDING YOUR BRAND
Do not mix personal and business finances, credit cards, payments, etc. While your records may be personal and private today, if you aspire to get a business loan, seek external investors, or hope to be acquired, the books need to be in order over multiple years.
Know that while you manage personal income and expenses in real-time cash accounting, business bookkeeping employs accrual accounting, which recognizes revenue when contracted and expenses when incurred.
Accrual
accounting
also
addresses
amortization
and
depreciation differently than an individual would consider such things. Talk to your accountant to consider if your small business may operate on a cash basis until it is larger and established.
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Understand the importance of your relationship with your bank.
Know what a bank verification letter is and why this can be particularly important to you and your business relationships.
Protect your business credit score like your life depends on it.
Understand how a small business credit score, known as “FICO
SBSS”, is assigned and take time to monitor it with fervor.
Reinvest in your business before you pay yourself. If you pay yourself, that is money that cannot be used to grow your business, invest in marketing, purchase capital assets or secure new resources. Believe in the mission, believe in the future, and trust there will be a day when growth will deliver results and financial security.
Money rule #3:
Celebrate budgets and bookkeeping
The value of a budget cannot be underrated. A business needs to be able to sustain itself financially, and as the owner you are responsible for the balance sheet and knowing the financial position of your company.
While a basic profit and loss (P&L) statement tells us that revenue less costs equals the profit/loss position, much more typically goes into cost than people realize. For example, you can build up projected costs on an annual basis by reviewing:
Fixed (licenses, annual report filings, rent, technology, equipment leases, insurance)
Variable (staffing costs, manufacturing, inventory, marketing, utilities, bank fees, taxes, shipping) 169
Capital expenditures and depreciation (a fixed asset intended for long-term use such as fixtures, furniture, or technology)
Once you know your costs, you will know how much revenue you need to earn to break even and turn a profit.
This is why budgets are for heroes. A healthy detailed budget helps reduce financial surprises.
I am sure that you are managing an organization with a tight budget, but I want you to consider these points in your budget approach:
1. Time can be a more valuable resource than money.
Choose how you view the value of your time compared to the cost of letting someone else do it wisely. Do not trip over dollars to pick up pennies.
2. Do not be afraid of paying others more than you pay yourself in the early days of your business. This may be the one true way to obtain success.
3. Look at how you choose to spend not in terms of what it will cost you, but what you will gain in return. I have always run businesses very frugally so when it is time to spend money to test a new product, launch a marketing campaign or solve the right problem, I am prepared to do it without a second thought. This sometimes surprises people.
4. While in the start-up phase you are ‘working out of a brown paper bag’, but as you move to scale up you must look ahead and consider where and when you will implement upgrades. Anticipate the future and have the 170
money available to meet it because you cannot reach success while you are operating from within a paper bag.
5. Consider paid coaching and membership groups as a viable part of your budget if you are receiving advice from those with more knowledge and wisdom than you.
It will help you cover your blind spots and keep you on track which will protect the value of your company.
While you may be tempted to manage your own bookkeeping, I urge you to outsource this need. Accurate, real-time bookkeeping is simply too critical to have an error or time delay. Why would you want to deal with receipts and data entry when you are focused on growing your business?
Find a great accountant and then celebrate that they can easily take this task off you and ensure that your books will be up for scrutiny from potential investors and government auditors.
Your budget is your friend as it will keep you on track and motivated to cover your bills.
Money rule #4:
Always know your numbers
As a business owner, you simply cannot delegate an understanding of money to someone else. An amazing founder knows where future money is coming from and how they will pay their bills because tracking cash flow is just as important as tracking profit.
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BUILDING YOUR BRAND
While you are hustling and focused on so many key business points do not miss the imperative to close out your books every month on an established schedule. Then hold an official statement review each month and consider the following:
Where is my income compared to my budget?
What potential future business is in my pipeline?
What can I do today to ensure positive revenue results in the next 30 days?
Have my clients paid bills on time?
Are expenses what I anticipated?
Were there any surprise expenses?
Do I have special expenses due in the next month?
(taxes, insurance premiums, etc.)
Can I cover payments on contracts I have signed but have not yet been invoiced for?
Should I be willing to sacrifice some profit margin on future sales to generate extra revenue?
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This monthly financial assessment and taking the time to
‘drill’ down is critical to keep your business in good standing. Place a standing meeting on your calendar to review items such as:
Statement of financial position (assets/liabilities)
Income statement (financial performance of the month)
Bank accounts
Loan statements
Accounts receivable (money owned to you)
Accounts payable (money you owe)
Upcoming significant expenses
Sales forecast
Cash flow forecast
Work closely with your accountant to determine the most critical items you should keep your eye on related to your business operations.
Money rule #5:
Place everyone on the sales team
After many years in business, I can tell you that companies are filled with many people going about their jobs, wanting pats on the back and raises, yet never once do they contribute to the revenue generation of the organization. A startup cannot afford that. You need everyone to be on the sales team and have a chance to contribute to and be rewarded for goals achieved.
If the 10X Rule says that 1) set targets should be 10X greater than what you believe you can achieve and 2) actions taken 173
should be 10X greater than what you believe is necessary to achieve the desired outcomes, then you need to be engaging multiple customer acquisition channels and brand champions.
For example:
Consider how all your employees and contractors can be harnessed and rewarded for raising awareness for the organization, opening doors, and ushering in leads.
Develop a referral network from other companies offering complementary services.
Ask your existing clients for two referrals.
Essentially think, ‘who can serve as an extension of my sales team and what do I need to provide them to make it happen?’
Sometimes it only needs to be the simplest of things. Refer to the business lesson provided by David Broomhead and Tradehounds. He sends stickers to each new community member so they can display their affiliation and promote the platform. Dave Munson sends out all his products with business cards for his clients to share whenever they receive a compliment on their bag. If you do not have a referral program with your existing customers, then you need to consider how you can leverage this important group that already knows and loves you.
Stealth sales is a concept that you are on a mission to creating buzz and introductions to people who may not know you. This forces you to consider how you may reach through each touchpoint that you have to make a new touchpoint, and so on and so on. I can’t address or really solve your sales challenges here, but I encourage you to simply extend your thinking about how you view your sales team. If you made a circle with your company name and then surrounded it with 10 more circles, would you be able to document 10 sources for customer leads?
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MONEY
Focus on filling your opportunity pipeline and then apply solid and consistent methods of follow-up and follow-through.
Money rule #6:
Prepare for cash injections
Throughout this book, amazing founders have shared their financial startup details. Some have taken seed money from family, friends, and sources like crowdfunding or angel funding.
Many have launched their businesses with their own savings and then once their business was off on a solid direction, they determined it was time to seek an infusion of cash from outside sources to support capital needs.
If this arena is all new to
you, or if you just want to
learn more, head online to
Investopedia.com and search
Series A, B, C Funding: How
it Works or search for a
glossary of funding types.
Demystify
the
process
through research and gained
knowledge.
Taking money from outside
interests in exchange for a stake in the company is serious business and it requires your company to undergo a valuation analysis by an independent professional firm to determine the fair value of business before an Initial Public Offering (IPO).
This review considers multiple points in your overall business health assessment such as management structure, financial performance and profitability, market size, future sales 175
potential, and other key indicators. Curious? Search online for a free business valuation calculator tool, just to conduct your own test and understand more about what an expert will dive into.
If seeking a Series A round of funding is something you have in mind for the future, then plan for this well in advance in the way you approach your initial growth and record keeping. Make decisions early on that place you on this path. Speak with others who have gone through the process and enlist financial advisors and expert professionals to mentor you down this path.
If this is not you, do not worry, most people do not see external funding unless they need it to scale through use of capital to expand facilities, stock inventory, improve technology, amp up marketing and sales, or make other big investments to accelerate growth.
If it is you, then you may enjoy having the mentorship of an investor and the elevated focus on delivery against objectives.
Just be sure you are aware of the pressures that come with taking other people’s money and ensure there is clarity by all parties related to the arrangement.
My final thought on money is this: Seek advice from those who have more money than you and who have built businesses.
Quite often this does not include family and friends, but a network of business owners and leaders with the experience you need.
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Business Lesson
JONATHAN OGURCHAK
Co-founder and CEO at STACK (USA)
“As a startup, you only have a finite number of resources for how you are going to drive your growth.”
Jonathan Ogurchak is CEO & Co-Founder of STACK and Managing
Partner of Rhythm Group, a consulting and technology solutions organization.
He is a Certified Consultant with the Accreditation Commission for Health
Care (ACHC) and has designed
programs and services for both Accredo
and PANTHERx Specialty Pharmacy
focusing on implementing innovative uses for technology. He is on faculty for the Master of Pharmacy Business Administration (MPBA) program through the University of Pittsburgh, leading the Specialty Pharmacy Management curriculum, has served on the editorial board for Specialty Pharmacy Times, holds CSP
Certification through the Specialty Pharmacy Certification Board, and serves as an Educational Consultant for the National Association of Specialty Pharmacy (NASP).
Brand promise: Simplify complexities associated with running the pharmacy (outside of the dispense) through a curated asset management system.
tech * pharmacy * healthcare * retail * SaaS * software bootstrapping * start-up life * tradeshows * speaking *
parenting
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ALLISON
When I think of the pharmacy industry, I think that it must be a difficult place to disrupt. Tell us about the how and why behind what you are doing.
JONATHAN
I am a pharmacist by training, having graduated from pharmacy school over a decade ago. I have worked in pharmacies for big corporations and smaller, independently-owned pharmacies and have translated that experience into what we have developed with our product called STACK. We have built a software platform for businesses to help them put guiderails around what they need to run their day-to-day operations.
So many things, particularly in the pharmacy industry, are focused on what goes on with the patient themselves, and rightfully so. However, there is a lot that goes on behind the scenes that is mission-critical for you to be able to take care of that patient. We wanted to find a way to standardize and operationalize to really help businesses, not just pharmacies, to become much more effective and efficient through automation and technology.
ALLISON
You gave us a little information about your history as a pharmacist and a problem that needed to be solved, but tell us how you made the leap to step away from that to be like, “Here we go, I'm going to found this business.”
JONATHAN
It is funny that you bring that up. I always kind of had that that entrepreneurial itch, but I guess I never really noticed it until it hit me like, ‘all right, I have got to go after this. I have to do something.’ In my career and in my work experience at these 178
big corporate entities, I was the one that was finding ways to use technology, to build new processes, and do some operational improvement. I would build processes using tools available, like spreadsheets, find ways to make them “smart”, and that became the workflow. And so, for this multibillion-dollar corporation that did not want to invest in technology to make improvements, we found ways with what we had to make ourselves much more effective and efficient.
From there I went to an independent specialty pharmacy that was just getting off the ground. They said to me, “come and help us build the operations,” and they gave me a little bit more of the gravity to make some of those tech decisions. Over time we realized there was a lot of stuff out there we just did not like.
Available technology got us to a good point, but it did not really solve all the problems.
So, we were able to start to develop some of our own solutions and really find ways to integrate the solution into the day-to-day workflow. If you think of how a lot of businesses run when it comes to compliance and requirements and things that happen, it can become a one-off. For example, it's a Post-It note that is sitting on your desk that says, ‘Hey, Allison, make sure that you remember to do this.’ The more that you can integrate all the nuts and bolts of what goes on within a process to what the worker bees are actually doing, then there are a lot of benefits for the company.
ALLISON
At what point did you say to your family, “I am going to be an entrepreneur and start a new business. Let us take every penny we own and do this”?
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JONATHAN
This was the jumping-off point for me: When I joined the independent specialty pharmacy, my family was growing. I had one son and my second on the way. I had talks with my wife when at some point I made the leap to go and join this start-up pharmacy team in a garage. Within two weeks of me starting, I had to take paternity leave.
I feel because there was so much going on at that point, I missed out on a lot here at home because I was working to grow this business and to get it off the ground. And when we found out that our third child was coming, I knew something had to give. I am still working these crazy hours. I am not giving as much to my family and THEY are the ones who are supporting me. So, what can I do to find striking a little bit of a different balance? I was not seeing a balance being struck.
I went back to the rest of the ownership group and I said, “guys, I am out. I’d like to sell my equity in the organization so I could spend more time at home.” I knew it was a risk, especially with the trajectory that we built, but for my own sanity and the needs of the family, stepping away was the right thing.
Well, it was not too long after I was home, I was like, “Okay, well now what can I do?” I had a non-competition agreement for a period of time, and I was going to be respectful of that, but also scratch that itch that I have to look to drive a business.
Really, that’s what led to STACK. I was home. I was getting all the family time that I needed. But I knew there was this definite need out there, there was a way to build a solution that was not violating any of the terms of my prior commitments and meet one of those things in the industry. I was like, “how can we make this happen? “
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ALLISON
It is interesting that you walked away from one startup that was not suiting your life needs to start another one that did. I applaud that. Let us talk about the product. Tell us about the pillars of STACK.
JONATHAN
The way that we geared STACK is we built it based on the pharmacy and their exact needs, based on having worked in pharmacies for the last decade or so. There is a lot of that same sort of governance in the healthcare industry. You have concerns about patient privacy, sure, but when you look at things like growing businesses, particularly more specialized areas of pharmacy (not just the community ‘retail’ counter), but areas like specialty pharmacy where my background is, such as home infusion or hospital pharmacy, or even now into things like telemedicine, there is a lot of external push and pull that you need to comply with in order to be viable.
It is great that you can take care of the patient, but if you misstep along the way, it is going to jeopardize your ability to be reimbursed. It is going to jeopardize your ability to gain new relationships and new contracts with insurance companies or drug manufacturers. Once you miss one of those critical steps, you cannot go back and recreate time.
What we have done with STACK is taken all that industry knowledge of how to run a pharmacy and built processes around it. Our thought was: if there is a standard way for how most pharmacies need to comply, such as getting licenses renewed or meeting contractual obligations, we can curate that information. We have built this curated cloud with some patents pending for it.
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We only touch about 80% of what a pharmacy needs, then there are things that are unique to every individual business. So we give them the tools to develop the rest, whether they are standard operating procedures or even personnel files, you can tag each one of those things with that curated information and it digitally will STACK it. It allows organizations to be much more efficient, much more effective.
ALLISON
You are a pharmacist building a tech company. Where did you go when you needed to find the tech builders to deliver it?
JONATHAN
The initial thing that we did was go offshore. I vetted several organizations to build, drive, and deliver the product for us, but what it ended up turning into was more of an instance where I was having to educate good technical people about a specific healthcare industry segment to create understanding of what’s needed from a deliverable. We ended up bringing it back onshore and identified a technical resource that just ‘got it.’
ALLISON
You built your tech team, you found the right people, and now you need to get it to market. How did you go about that?
JONATHAN
When I got the green light to start development of STACK, I knew that there were several industry conferences that were coming up (and the pharmacy industry is a very tight knit sort of community). Being in specialty pharmacy is much more narrow set. There’s a huge specialty conference every spring in Las Vegas and we had a goal to have a minimum viable product so I could show my colleagues what we’ve built. While we were bootstrapping, we couldn't afford to have a booth in an exhibit 182
hall, so I rented a cabana out by the pool at the resort. It had a flat screen TV in a private area where I could plug in a laptop and I could provide demos. We scheduled meetings every 30
minutes for three days straight. I brought in friends, I brought in colleagues and said, “Hey, let's catch up, but I want to show you what I'm working on.”
It helped provide some validity to this crazy idea that was in my head, and now more of a reality. Out of that meeting, we pulled in a few early adopters. We gave them the software for free in exchange for feedback. We received a lot of good suggestions and validation in that period leading up to another specialty pharmacy conference later that fall. We cobbled together the money to have a physical presence at a booth, and began to market the product commercially. We also started to make additional pushes on social media.
In addition, I really try to get involved in teaching educational sessions at seminars and industry conferences. If I can show subject matter expertise in a non-salesy type of way, people seem more inclined to come talk to me as it relates to the products I’ve built.
ALLISON
Are there any lessons or tips that you would share with your fellow company founders?
JONATHAN
As a startup, you only have a finite number of resources for how you are going drive things. When you are a small team of one (with a part-time developer), you had a need to try to make all things work, all the time. That was the case when I was sitting in that cabana in Las Vegas. I’m a Mac guy at heart, but we were building a product for PCs. Normally I’d remotely connect 183
my MacBook to my PC at home to showcase the product, but with a storm back in Pittsburgh, I was out of luck. So, I ran across the street to the mall in Vegas, bought a Windows laptop, and installed the software JUST to finish up some really big demos, then returned it a day later.
You know, little things like that, where you need to have a continuity plan for yourself, to be able to think on your toes –
company founders don’t normally think about that until it’s too late. There have been a lot of good learnings for me over the last year since we have commercialized this.
ALLISON
What is the vision for the future?
JONATHAN
STACK is so much more than just a pharmacy management tool. When we started in specialty pharmacy, we began receiving inquiries from people in other areas (like community, long-term care, and home infusion pharmacy), and we started to build and support the directions asked of us. What we have come to find is that STACK is an overall professional management-type of platform. We signed a deal with a large professional association to serve as their back-end software platform for overall member and education management. We’ve converted to make STACK available online, in the cloud (taking out that whole Mac versus PC issue).
From there, we are looking at STACK in a number of different industries. We’ve also seen STACK as more of a connector: bringing together good resources across the industry (that we trust) to build and integrate areas that aren’t necessarily in our wheelhouse but enhance the value of being a STACK customer.
I see STACK as the catalyst for other types of technologies that 184
become complementary to running the day-to-day operations for business, and we’re likely going to start building out additional technologies over the coming years.
To learn more about Jonathan Ogurchak: Website: www.managewithstack.com
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8
Magic
e have already established that I love a good business W story, and who does not love a story that sparkles in a unique way?
When an organization adds a hint of magic to their brand story, wonderful things happen.
Whether your magic is part of your marketing strategy or what your company is at its heart, you need to present this to the world as part of differentiation and delight.
Magic furthers your brand’s level of awareness and attraction and ultimately generates customer action. So embrace your marketing and public relations teams and demonstrate that you are a human brand that cares about the lives of the people you touch or strives to make the world a better place, all while delivering on your brand vision and mission.
Magic rule #1:
Know your vibration mojo
When you study branding 101, you will learn a lot about brand essence, which in simple terms is: the emotion or feeling elicited when your audience thinks of you. I propose that the textbook definition is flat by today’s standard because we live in a world of constant streams. Your brand essence is now 187
BUILDING YOUR BRAND
your vibration mojo, and this vibration must run through everything.
Your vibration mojo is the
truth that you occupy in the
mind of your customer when
they see you, think of you, or
experience you. It is a fact that
humans like predictability and
reliability. It is why we speak
so much about images and
messaging being on-brand or
off-brand.
We
grasp
for
familiarity and consistency. It
is why we will watch the same
programs repeatedly or crave to repeat a positive experience.
Your vibration mojo contributes to building a stickiness factor and brand loyalty.
Think about how your vibration mojo spreads out across the digital space, product packaging, customer experience, and so on. Will your mojo drive your customers to be utterly obsessed about you? Will they love you enough to defend you? Will they love you enough to get a tattoo of your logo?
Okay, maybe you are not building a brand that would reach cult status where people get a tattoo, but even the most basic of professional services can find a niche they serve and capitalize on their vibration mojo in all they do. Look up 1-800-GOT-JUNK (Canada) and see how clean and slick their vibration mojo is. Under the banner of ‘We make Junk disappear’ and ‘all you have to do is point’, their website oozes friendly, clean, crisp, happy, efficient, and so on. Founder and CEO Brian Scudamore is an ever-present face for the brand, adding that 188
personal promise and human-to-human care. When you hear Brian say his journey is not about the money, but that he is ‘Just a guy having fun’ it is authentic. This also shines through for his other business lines including WOW 1 Day Painting and Shack Shine, all under the umbrella of O2E Brands (Taking Ordinary
“2” Extraordinary).
It has been proven that people are inclined to make decisions based on emotions more than facts (apologies to all you left-brain people, but the right brain wins here), so you must figure out how to tap into the human spirit, because that is how you will earn business. Whether your brand is tough and gritty or healthy and helpful, lean in all the way and create a unique voice.
Magic rule #2:
Be the ‘go to’ thought leader
No matter what you sell, you are in a relationship business. In this relationship, you must be the one who gives more. And content creation must be your marketing weapon of choice.
Nikolaus Kimla is a business innovator and influencer you should know because he has mastered the art of both curating and creating content for his company. Starting in Austria and migrating to the U.S., Nikolaus has created six businesses in the tech space, and when he founded Pipeliner CRM (USA), he went all in on leveraging content creation as a community building device through Salespop.com. Here was the logic behind this approach:
“The first thing that I did when I entered the U.S. was not build a sales team, it was to build a content team. I 189
knew that the future lied in content and this is why we became the biggest content platform in our industry.
When you go to LinkedIn and visit the Pipeliner CRM
page, you will see we have about three new individual content pieces every day. We have so much content and by comparison no one has a group of sales experts like us. What we do is help others.”
Nikolaus and his team have placed a priority on being the ‘go to’
thought leader and skill builder hub for sales professionals.
Through both creation and co-creation with customers and stakeholders, the Sales POP! platform has expanded and currently features videos, blogs, podcasts, eBooks, events, and a sales education. It is an entire knowledge library of intelligent and reliable content that is mainly open-sourced with the nice suggestion to check out Pipeliner CRM sprinkled throughout.
Like Nikolaus, you must have a content strategy that extends beyond a simple newsletter and blog post. Your focus should be on elevating a two-way conversation. If you do not have the bandwidth to do it alone, then invite trusted community members or business partners to help you move it along.
Embrace Napoleon Hill’s How to Win Friends and Influence People motto of ask for a favor. People will respond when you seek to include them and provide a platform of exposure.
Is writing content new to you? Do not worry, online content is typically broken into very simple steps or pieces of advice.
Most creators keep idea lists on their office walls or on apps on their phones (personally, I like Evernote for this purpose).
Having this running idea list helps with crafting a great video or blog post. But just as important to the content is drafting a title that will grab attention. For this I suggest you look up a tool called Headline Analyzer offered by CoSchedule. They also 190
offer a Chrome extension that you can add on your desktop, Headline Studio.
As you are on your way to be a creator think about your content calendar and how you will capture the ideas and concepts you want to speak about. Once you get started, you will find inspiration in many places. If you are in the professional space then consider content that will ‘upskill’ your audience. If you are in a consumer space then align your content to the heart, ambitions, and needs of the audience.
Content will help you remain top of mind and improve your SEO. Opportunity cannot find you if it does not know where you live, so use content to help everyone find your address.
Magic rule #3:
Be a digital FAST company
Before I speak about the need for speed, I would like to take a step back and reflect on the technology shifts that constructed the reality we now operate in.
As businesses transitioned into the 21st Century, there was an imperative to become a digital first company. If we look back on what we experienced as humans in the first decade of the millennium we can see that many of these events shaped the behaviors and expectations of the market today.
2000 – SaaS is on the rise, Salesforce begins its path of market domination
2001 – Wikipedia taught us to trust user-generated content
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2002 – LinkedIn introduced itself as our professional home and people began their obsession with camera phones
2003 – Skype let us touch the future with video calling and Amazon reported its first profitable year on its way to disrupting retail and delivering speedy gratification
2004 – Thefacebook was attracting university students to join in at a record pace and Gmail became available to everyone
2005 – YouTube allowed normal people to create and become stars and Google maps helped us find our way
2006 – We began to ‘tweet’ in 140 cryptic characters and search using a strategy called hashtags 2007 – The Kindle sought to replace the printed book 2008 – The Apple App Store opened, and we learned we could hold a universe of possibilities in the palm of our hand
2009 – Bitcoin arrives and starts to change the perception of currency
2010 – The introduction of the first iPad gave way to the rise of the digital babysitter and Instagram ushered the way for the world of the influencer Fast forward through another decade and the average person has gained access to voice assistants, website building tools, greater SaaS options, on-demand streaming content, wearable technology, and more. The Internet of Things (IoT) is not a novel concept, rather it is simply a part of the average person’s lifestyle. But still, I think history will look back and see the first decade as the most important one in terms of societal shifts because while we experienced shock and awe with the first video calls and camera phones, today we just assume the future 192
is coming and everyone wants it to hurry up and arrive.
Cyberspace is no longer a mystery; it is our playground. All businesses will utilize some aspect of robotic process automation (RPA), natural language understanding (NLU) or some other form of artificial intelligence (AI) as they carry out their mission.
This all means that a business cannot think only about being a digital first company. We have passed that phase, you must now be a digital fast company. You need to understand how injecting new technology at a rapid rate can propel you to be the market leader. Think about voice assistants. If someone were to say,
“Hey Google, find me a landscaper”, would Google present your company? And if someone were to say, “Hey Alexa, let me speak with an auto insurance agent,” would your firm be the one the customer is connected to? Do you have a plan to incorporate automated machine responses in business systems?
Do you have a virtual reality sales experience for your customers? Who will help you design interactive social posts that will lead to virtual experiences? Will you understand native advertising enough to place products within streaming content based on viewer preferences? Do you have an advisor that will help you plan for when the data storage crisis arrives? I know, take a deep breath, but these are things the business owner must consider.
Holding a digital ‘fast’ mindset will help you as you approach the long view of your customer attraction and acquisition strategies. One easy thing you can do today is follow futurists and see the world through a point of view that you do not yet have, so you can lead your company to intersect with the future.
I personally appreciate Rohit Bhargava, who for the last decade has published Non-obvious Megatrends series offering easy-to-understand insights looking toward the future. But there are 193
many other great people out there helping connect where we stand today to where we need to be positioned tomorrow.
Follow organizations like Singularity University or discover TED Talks that focus on business technology and business futures.
Speed is a competitive advantage and those who can step up and employ tactics to intersect with the future will be the magician audiences want to see.
Magic rule #4:
Seek social amplification to cut through the infinite media options
The magic rules all feed into generating awareness and attraction for your line of business so it ultimately generates customer action, but the dilemma posed in this modern era is how will your company be discovered through all the digital noise? How will a company effectively span its brand voice across all the available social platforms? How will it rise to the top of the list on the numerous search platforms? How much marketing spend does a business need just to attract audiences into its sales funnel?
For most businesses, unless you offer an extremely unique and niche product, the digital sea that you sail in is vast and the navigation equipment difficult to master. This is why you need to think smart and embrace methods of social amplification to leverage broader exposure and use others to help generate the results you want.
There are two types of amplification strategies: paid and unpaid.
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A paid amplification strategy targets a specific audience based on defined parameters and characteristics. Having a paid, or a push strategy provides choice and frequency for when your content is seen. An influencer amplification strategy is also often a paid proposition, but one that could provide a greater return on investment if that influencer has a fan base that you wish to speak to.
An unpaid strategy is the do-it-yourself plan (by you or your marcom team). You manage and schedule your content across the platforms and hope to extend reach by tagging, engaging in conversations or providing relevant content that captures attention. And this strategy should provide a video component to drive greater attention.
There are many automation options available to you, and most social platforms stand ready to take your advertising dollars, but as soon as I write about these services, my advice would become outdated. If you need to know more, make a consultation appointment with a firm that specializes in this area or seek advice from other business leaders in your networking circle. What I can do is offer a few low-cost ideas to assist with your thinking.
As you are creating content, there is a magic principle to follow
– ask yourself who would be likely to share this post and why would they do it? Yes, at times you may create posts that are simply brand recognition, but if you are in the amplification game, it is an important question because the outcome of your efforts should be engagement.
Consider how to slip into relevant conversations and name drop as you do it. I call this the ‘Run with people who are bigger than you’ strategy. Using this strategy forces you to ask, “who can I 195
connect with to move my message and name forward?” For example, review a new book and tag the author, share an article and tag the author, promote an event and tag the speaker, talk about a business and tag the CEO, offer a trial of your product to a tagged ‘big fish’, and so on. Just be sure the conversations align with your business messaging.
Many people also employ the practice of mimicking the market leaders. Say you observe that Gary Vaynerchuk posted a piece of content that has performed well. Then repurpose it for yourself and start a fresh new post with the quote on your branded image or content redrafted from your point of view.
You can also employ this strategy with offers and promotions.
Observe what gets tractions and redeploy a similar approach for yourself.
Another amplification strategy that often works well is storytelling. In this book you met Skyler Ditchfield. As CEO of GEOLinks, Skyler does an exceptional job of telling stories of his team’s work in the field. This includes magnificent photos of scenery from the top of towers or in remote country landscapes. When Skyler shows up on my LinkedIn feed, I always read the posts because there is something very human coming through his storytelling.
Of course, the magic unicorn of this space is to get something to go viral, but do not make that your goal. Your goal should be to harness strategies that reflect your vibration mojo and remain authentic to who you are.
Be conscious of channel management and place your predominant energy into the main channel where your customers are having conversations. Be wise with your media spend and measure all results. Celebrate what works and adjust 196
what does not. Always be sure there is a call to action if you want to see outcomes, whether it is to share, like, try, or buy.
Magic rule #5:
Set up a velvet rope for guest experiences My hope for all of you is that your business develops super fans who will be your brand ambassadors and extend your brand voice. By recognizing and rewarding this group, you will have a digital sales force offering testimonials and elevating your brand conversations.
A fan group holds a unique position in your brand strategy and deserves to be treated to ‘velvet rope’ experiences. I am not talking about trips to the ballpark or a gift basket, rather I am asking you to consider points in your programming year where this group is provided with an opportunity that is not available to your general audience.
Experience design is not new to the marketplace, but there are certainly organizations who do it better than others. I mentioned earlier my friend, Jim Adams, who founded the incentive marketing company Performance Strategies, Inc. They specialize in the art of developing incentive program rewards and once-in-a-lifetime experiences. His team has delivered unique activities such as a BBQ lunch on the Great Wall in China and tenors singing on the shore of Lake Como, Italy.
While this may not be the right scale for your startup, you can follow his advice. He has often expressed that it’s a simple structure: design an experience that people were driven to desire and then when you deliver, exceed the expectations, ensuring that they have the best story to tell at a cocktail party. Now one person’s cocktail party may be another person’s Instagram post 197
or TikTok, but you get the point. You need to consider how you can best provide an authentic on-brand experience that provides bragging rights for your customers whether it is through a high-end in-person event, a digital platform, an experience in a box, or a personal outreach.
Surprise, delight, recognize, and reward.
There are multiple ways to design a velvet rope experience, but first consider what you wish to achieve and what business outcome you desire as a result. Meaning, what do you want the client to feel, think, and do because of the experience, and how will you help them do it?
You may consider some of the following areas to focus on as part of your business strategy:
Reward loyalty for:
o High engagement
o High dollars
o Longevity
o Referrals
Provide early buzz for new products
Receive feedback or reviews on existing products
Engage through a private, exclusive experience Here are some sample options, and note these are branded, curated experiences we are talking about here:
Design first-look exclusive opportunities
Design first-touch experiences to see and feel products
Coordinate a private event
Allow for early access or VIP packages attached to an existing event
Fly in focus groups
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Offer a behind-the-scenes tour
Provide an unexpected bonus item
Send a personal video or mailing from the CEO
Facilitate an online experience with your brand spokesperson
Convene a special customer group who may want to meet one another based on similar interests Leverage the build-up for this experience. Announce it in stages to gain interest and attention. Make it sound exclusive or limited and mean it. Keep in mind that people by nature like to believe they are getting something others are not. Encourage social sharing of the experience. Provide follow-up after the experience expressing additional appreciation.
Here are three examples to help your thinking:
Company A decided it needed to demonstrate appreciation to its top customers. However, the customers were located all over the U.S. and the budget was limited. The solution they employed was to visit Cameo and select a personalized recorded message from a celebrity specific to the individual.
Company B decided to host an online private event to hear from the founder and experience the rollout of a new product. Not wanting to release the product, they sent this first-look group company-branded apparel and asked them to wear it for the preview party when they would all be on camera. Then in the follow-up, they sent special discount offers for the new product.
Company C was in the fashion industry. They identified their top two fans with the largest social media following and flew them in for a personal behind-the-scenes tour and leveraged blog posts, videos, and social media opportunities. Then the next year, they ran a 199
similar tour program but as an online competition campaign that involved social sharing to expand the reach of the brand and introductions to new customers.
A well-designed customer experience can directly advance your business objectives while delighting your fan base.
Magic rule #6:
Show your ethical heart
While this is the last rule of the CPM2 Business Ecosystem, it is certainly one of the most important and multi-faceted points.
What brilliant thing you do in the world may be big and bold or small and concise and meaningful to your audience. What I want to be sure of here, is that you are a company with a heart and you let it shine.
We live in an era that has taken the mindset of the conscious consumer and 10X’d it. The buying power today belongs to individuals who will not compromise on their objective to be aligned with brands, and products that are ethical and provide a positive social, environmental, economic, and political impact.
And not only will they ‘vote with the dollars they spend’, but they will also not hesitate to wield the power of the
#cancelculture which could bring a company to a swift end.
Once upon a time, a company could get away with simply promoting ‘we give back’ or ‘we do good’ or doing the least amount to claim they are a ‘green’ business, but this is no longer true. Today, technology makes it easier than ever for the customer to be in control. And because with technology comes transparency and judgment, it is imperative for a company to 200
demonstrate a moral compass, sell trust fast, and guard that trust at any cost.
The good news is that this positive ‘ethical attraction’ can propel your business forward if it is genuinely connected to the heart. Let me introduce you to Anna-Mieke Anderson, founder of a U.S. certified B Corporation and a foundation to back up her brand promise to free children from a lifetime of unethical diamond mining. Here is her story in her words:
“I am the CEO and founder of Mia Donna and The Green Diamond Foundation. We are a social enterprise and the world leader in lab-grown conflict-free fine jewelry. We are B Corp certified, which is fantastic.
I came into this industry as an activist, more than anything else, when I had found out conflict diamonds was still a major problem today. That is how I got into lab-grown diamonds and pioneered the industry. I love B Corps and as a business owner went through the process myself and it is grueling. They certify companies that have met and exceeded the pious social and environmental standards. They uncover so many areas in your company that you have never even looked at with that perspective and they make you rework things. It took us a year to get our certification, but we got it. Now as a consumer, whenever I see that B Corp certification, I trust it.
As I said, I came into this industry as an activist. Back in 2005, I discovered I had most likely purchased a conflict diamond myself, and it really hurt me because I was raised to be a conscious consumer. By buying this product, I had unknowingly hurt a whole generation of 201
children, so I decided to make things right in my own mind. I was going to sponsor a little boy, a diamond well child in a mining community. But the most remarkable thing happened. I started developing a relationship through letters and I got a first-hand look of what it was like for this little boy to grow up in a diamond mine community. I will never forget the day he wrote to me and said, “I had a great summer because only one of my classmates was killed.” I had to read it a couple times and process it. As a mother myself, I thought, this is absolutely ridiculous, there needs to be a better way to produce fine jewelry, diamonds, and gold.
That led me on a huge discovery. I did not feel comfortable with anything that came out of the earth so that is when I started to turn to science. In 2005, technology was very much in its infancy, but I knew the only way to guarantee a diamond to be conflict free was to grow it in a lab.”
Today, MiaDonna is a foundation-first company with a minimum of 10% of net profits funding educational, mentorship, agricultural and relief programs in diamond mining communities. MiaDonna is the leading retailer of ethical, conflict-free lab-grown diamonds and gemstones set in recycled precious metals. When you visit the company website the mission is completely clear, and yet, the objective is to sell product and build a healthy business. One other way this company creates added magic to the brand experience is that you can sample via their ‘Home Try-On’ program. Now who ever thought we would live in a world where you could sample hundreds of dollars of eco-diamond products in the comfort of your home and ship back what you do not fall in love with.
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MAGIC
Even if you are not leading a B Corp, any business must consider themselves to be a social-minded enterprise and their business story should show the world their heart. This heart must tie into the DNA of the organization and have some alignment to your business purpose. For example, a hotel company fighting human trafficking, a tech company supporting
girls
learning
coding, or a manufacturing
company adhering to ESG
criteria or ISO standards that
demonstrate
responsibility.
The cause you embrace or
certifications
you
seek
should be adjacent to your
mission and make logical
sense if you want it to be
enduring and memorable to
your customers and your
employees.
Do you have a clear and compelling brand story that includes some aspect of heart and consciousness? There are many ways you can bring this story forward once you have it identified and craft a message around it. Consider some of the following (in no order of priority):
Do you have a company social impact statement?
Do you make the world a better place through good deeds and joy?
Do you have a designated charitable cause?
Do you care for those less fortunate or in need?
Do you conduct a social audit of your business?
Have you established ESG criteria? Do you hold vendors and partners to it?
203
Do you focus on any of the UN Sustainable Development Goals?
Have you joined the UN Global Impact?
Are you a cleantech or green tech business?
Is your company addressing climate change?
Can you articulate how you meet ‘green’ standards?
Do you operate in fair trade purchases?
Are you involved in community development and beautification projects?
How do you lend a hand to younger, up-and-coming generations?
Do you embrace diversity, equity, and inclusion?
Do you reward employees for their social good efforts?
Companies who can demonstrate a people and planet before profits mentality will be appreciated and find their loyal following.
204
MAGIC
Business Lesson
PEDRO PICO (a.k.a. Teresa al Dente)
Co-founder and CEO of Drag Taste (Portugal)
“When you help people create amazing memories, they come back.”
Pedro Pico is both an inspiring businessman and gem of a woman.
Pedro is a creative adventurer who has built businesses out of his love affair with food. He produced a
cooking show on YouTube and
founded Tasty Studio, a company
specializing in branded food and
beverage media content. His latest business venture, Drag Taste, was featured by Airbnb as one of the top experiences in the world. With Drag Taste, they have an amazing team of the best drag queens from around the world where under a chandelier of red high heels, they host events such as "Drag-up Cooking Class". Next up? Opening Drag Taste locations worldwide.
Brand promise: Asking customers if they are ‘hungry for something fabulous’, they seek to provide unique interactive culinary experiences hosted by drag queens hospitality * customer experience * business disruption changing with the environment * live stream * employees first building on prior business knowledge * human company Note: This interview took place during the COVID-19 global pandemic, which created unique opportunities and pivots in this case study.
205
ALLISON
This interview is about human experiences and how you build a brand in a very personal way. As the world is changing and more people are focused on technology, there is still nothing more delightful than an incredibly rich human experience and it is something that you need to integrate into all your brands. And no one does this better than Pedro Pico. Pedro, share who you are and what you do.
PEDRO
I am the founder and CEO of Drag Taste, which is a company that combines amazing food and drinks with fabulous drag queens. We make experiences that combine those two things.
Some of our drag queens are wine experts, so we do wine tastings and live shows. We have a famous Drag Brunch every Sunday in Portugal that is sold out six months in advance every year. The performances are fantastic, and the food is really good.
The first experience I created with my ex-husband was the Drag Queen Cooking Party, which is a six-hour long experience where we transform everyone into a gorgeous queen. We have thousands of wigs, dresses, accessories and we transform kids, grandmothers, gays, straights, lesbians, and all different kinds of people into unrecognizable queens. Then we do a cooking class with our Drag Chefs and we all make a Portuguese dinner together from scratch.
When we put the table together, 60 newly born drag queens have dinner together. We drink wine and sangria while we watch the live shows. We have already had over 6,000 guests and over 2,000 reviews online. Drag Taste started with two people and now we have 30 full-time people working for us. We are expanding. We had plans to open in Barcelona in March 206
2020, but because of the pandemic it was not possible to open.
We are still planning to expand into more cities and make a worldwide brand. Right now, we are doing online experiences.
ALLISON
That is how we met, I decided to try the online experience. And quite honestly, I thought this was going to be total escapism, but it was also serious cooking. Tell us more about what brought you to this point.
PEDRO
I was a professional wrestler when I was 18. I was a 500-pound wrestler in the United States and in Europe. I was very big and addicted to food. After two years of professional wrestling, I decided to lose weight. I lost 60% of my weight and became a skinny chef. I started to work in restaurants and then I started giving cooking classes. After hitchhiking through 40 countries in Africa, I came back and started a YouTube cooking show. It became quite famous in Portugal.
Tasty Studio was my first big company. It was a food media production studio. We were a video and photo gastronomy production company. It started with just me but then we had a couple hundred food photographers, food stylists, and food videographers creating viral recipe videos for the entire world every single day. After I sold that company, I took a break for a year.
Then I met my ex-husband Nikolay who has always had a passion for drag queens and makeup. At the time I was only holding one cooking class a week on Saturdays. When we realized Nikolay was working too many hours in a week, we tried to combine our passions and do something together. We 207
combined my cooking wealth with a drag queen special and created Drag Taste.
ALLISON
Did you know that you had an incredible idea?
PEDRO
When we started, we didn’t know if it was going to work. Every new innovative business doesn’t know if it’s going to work. We knew people liked to eat and drink and thought it would be fun to add drag queens to that equation. That’s how we started to think about this. We also wanted to create something that we believed gave people pleasure, so the business could last a long time. In wrestling, I was an actor. When I was wrestling, it was like I was performing a play. So, creating my drag queen character was fun. My drag name is Teresa Al Dente, who is an old lady based on my mother and grandmother.
ALLISON
How did you fund your start?
PEDRO
In the beginning, we didn't invest that much. We used our living room because it was big and or dining table could seat 20
people. We had a pool table I built myself, and we used that or a wooden countertop my ex-husband built when we did our cocktail classes. Then we bought a lot of wigs on Amazon and big sized dresses and high heels for the big guys that were doing the experience. We bought some more makeup and some props and then we invited my family and old friends to do the experience first, so we could take photos and videos.
That was the idea. My mother came, my grandmother came, some of my ex-husband’s friends came and we did the first 208
Drag Queen Cooking Party of our lives. It was very funny.
People had lots of fun. My ex was transforming everyone into a drag queen while I cooked everything. Then we had to decide if this was something that could work or not. Doing one person’s makeup takes 45 minutes, so we realized we needed a bigger group than four to do the makeup. We had to make playlists for the experience because a nice playlist makes the people cooking and dancing have more fun. Now we do groups of 70 guests with 12 drag queens who do the makeup and help with the cooking. It’s a large operation and a huge party every day. Then we put the experience online. We put it on Airbnb Experiences.
ALLISON
Did it achieve the initial growth that you had hoped for?
PEDRO
Our first booking was just one single lady, from Australia. Her name was Megan. She booked the experience and was a bit afraid because we didn’t have any reviews and the experience was starting at night in the house of two drag queens. She was alone in the country and when she came, I answered the door in full drag. I’m 6’5” before the high heels and the wig. When I’m in drag I’m 7’. When I opened the door, she told me that because she couldn’t find any information about us, she sent our address to her parents, but still wanted to have fun.
Then we cooked with her as she was dressed as a punk rock drag queen. We drank too much and ate amazing food. After our first guest, it started to sell out. We eventually started to get fully booked every single day. It was crazy, but then we were kicked out of the building because we were hosting seven groups a week from six to midnight with live shows and cooking on the balcony. It was a residential building, so we needed to find somewhere else to go, but one hundred percent 209
of the neighbors of the building came to the experience with their friends and families. They just wanted us to go somewhere else because of the noise we created.
We found this amazing place in the LX Factory, which is a giant warehouse in the most beautiful area of Lisbon. It's a trendy place. There are amazing shops and restaurants inside this old industrial factory. We had a giant chandelier, and mannequins on the floors, ceilings, and walls. We built everything from scratch. Unfortunately it was closed down and we are working on a new location.
ALLISON
Let's talk about this. You said you were up to 30 employees. As a business owner, you made this growth transition but when outside influences closed you, you must have thought “how do I keep this going?”
PEDRO
We were one of the first companies to close our doors by our own initiative. We closed our doors on the 10th of March and Portugal started its state of emergency on the 17th of March.
We closed seven days before we were legally mandated to. We had 200 people booked for brunch on March 11th and I refunded everyone because we were skeptical about the virus. Five days later, one of the guests from California, who had signed up for the experience, tested positive for COVID-19. That made me feel very good about closing the business.
When we closed the business on the 10th of March, I was worried about making rent, and paying 30 people’s salaries.
When I realized we had to refund all of April’s reservations and had no money coming in, we had a big online meeting and I told my employees that I would keep paying their salaries until I 210
found a solution, or the bank account hit zero. So, that’s what I did. In April we refunded over 3,000 tickets through December 2020. We offered people vouchers for double the amount or a refund, but most of them wanted refunds, which made things complicated for us.
I told the entire team that their job was to think about a solution to keep the business going while we couldn’t keep our doors open. Everyone started to brainstorm. We had an hour meeting each day where people would come up with ideas. We tried to figure out what we could do to get some revenue coming in.
Everyone in the company was very active in that. Then we came up with the idea to create a Sangria Secrets with Drag Queens Class. It was a good idea, because it’s number one in the world.
We have already sold 5,000 tickets in 25 days. We have six sold-out sessions a day, seven days a week in different time zones because people are joining us from Australia to Europe to the United States.
ALLISON
That is a great story of a pivot. How did you approach it?
PEDRO
We are dividing up the people and the work to make each online event. We just got 500 reviews on Airbnb, which usually takes between two and four years. People have been booking birthday parties, bachelorette parties, family reunions, and team building activities online. We have people who buy the 30 tickets for one session because they want a private date with their significant other.
As a tourism company, we are making more money during the pandemic than we were before. I can’t even request government assistance because I needed to have a decrease of 60% of my 211
revenue. We had an increase of 25%, so I could not apply for the governmental support, which was a good thing.
I'm hiring people at the moment to work online with us from customer support to bookings. We are expanding the online experiences now with a group of drag queens in Spain that want to do it. We are going to send them all the equipment and teach them how to make quality video for the experience. They will create a Spanish recipe that is easy to follow in Spanish, for Spanish speaking audiences.
ALLISON
That is a great story about involving the entire team to find your business solution. What is the dream and vision for the future now?
PEDRO
Our goal is to have Drag Taste in the biggest capitals around the world where people can do a cooking class with the traditional food of that city or country with drag queen chefs. They can be transformed into a new persona they have inside, while having fun. We want to create an experience for them that they will never forget. Our expansion plan for the next three years is to be in 52 cities including Toyko, Sao Paulo, San Francisco, Berlin, Amsterdam, and Rio.
In five years, we see ourselves in many capitals all over the world with the same vision and goals. People always have a blast with us and they create amazing memories. We have many repeat customers, sometimes during the same week. We will not stop doing online services either because I think it’s a good way to experience something from another country from the comfort of home. When people can’t go places, they can still 212
learn how to cook pasta with Italian grandmas while talking and making a connection.
ALLISON
Ultimately human beings want to connect, and I am glad you brought the human experience to the digital platform.
PEDRO
We will not stop doing our online classes, as it is a new business that came from inside the one we have. I think the online experiences we are doing are good for when people cannot travel. I also think it is a good way for people to experience something from another country. I am already searching for a new place where we can do the live streams every day, and we can keep doing our offline, in-person experiences in our warehouse.
To learn more about Pedro Pico:
Website: www.dragtaste.com
213
9
The World Awaits
he first foreign country I traveled to for business was T Spain. At the time I was operations manager for an association hosting an international convention for attendees from over 60 countries. To be brutally honest, I was unprepared for the long-haul plane ride, the anxiety of passing border control, the excitement of my first passport stamp, the uncertainty as I awkwardly bumped up against different cultures, and the embarrassment as I was brutally yelled at on a street corner as I improperly hailed a taxi. Fortunately, the trip was also filled with interesting people and engaging experiences. One night after the event I found myself at dinner as the only American at a table with individuals from nine other countries. The table was full of little plates of tapas, the cava was flowing fast, and the conversation was easy as we discussed travel, wine, families, and business. In that moment, the world became a smaller place and I fell in love with international business.
As you look at the business you operate today (or want to operate in the future), you may have that global desire in your heart. What I urge you to do is be open to the world of possibilities, be curious, gather knowledge, build relationships, and lay the groundwork for expansion. When you have a curious mind you may just find that your best business market is thousands of miles away.
While the world of international business is highly diverse, here are points I would urge you to consider as you look ahead: 215
Build up your network vast and wide.
The more contacts you have in other countries and the more you engage with them, the more you will expand your understanding and feel comfortable. If being a global citizen is not natural to you today, do not worry as you can become one with some focused efforts.
Identify like-minded businesses and individuals in
other countries.
If you can connect with people who deliver similar services but in other countries, you can benchmark, discuss market challenges, and potentially hear of a new way to approach your strategies. I also have seen great examples of how these like-minded entities can create a loose affiliated umbrella organization where they cross-promote each other as a ‘collaborative’ and thus elevate their own brands and referral network.
Join an international business group.
This could be a professional trade organization, a coaching circle, an online forum. Find a safe space to ask questions of people who will not be offended and will give you honest answers.
Attend professional events in other countries.
It is often easy to grow your professional knowledge at conferences and congresses in your own back yard, but to optimize your world views, seek out opportunities that will take you to other locations and will expand your business acumen. Better yet, submit to be a speaker at an international event as this will place your business on center stage.
Become an observer of cultural cues and ask your
network what you can expect.
216
A business meeting in Sri Lanka is different than a business meeting in Switzerland. Do not be shy about asking questions related to dress, greetings, customs, gifts, presentations, etc. My best advice here is mirror the cultural cues of the buyers. All humans want to do business with the ‘familiar and comfortable’. Not all cultures want to become friends because of doing business, but some want to know your full family history. In my experience, the best path across a cultural divide is through respect and a smile.
Understand the technology that can help you.
Technology can break barriers in ways that were inconceivable in the past. There are a multitude of apps that can translate spoken word, written documents, and signage when you travel. A company like Transperfect can support all your business translation needs from real-time meetings to contracts, marketing, and technology. Ask your network for the tech resources they find indispensable in this area.
Consider what you think is a culturally safe move for
your first business expansion.
If you live in the U.S., you may find international business is done best with common dialects of English. I say dialects of English, because ‘English’ is not
‘English’ everywhere. There are differences in word meaning and the culture behind the words even if there is a base common language. This is also true for Spanish, French, and so on. And wherever you go, do not believe that you are culturally superior.
Understand differences in contracts and the risks.
If your business is transactional, then the risks are smaller. If your business requires contracts and payment terms, then you must be wise about how much you will 217
trust that the customer will fulfill payment. This is where your network can help you with potential blind spots. Also, do not be surprised if you negotiate a contract only to have the foreign client say, ‘great, send an invoice’, and not actually want to sign a contract. I have experienced this more than one would think. This is where you just need to be solid that your payment terms have you covered. Once you make the decision to expand your operations, you may need to move to a legal counsel that also has the experience to match your business objectives.
Investigate multiple payment options.
The way people move money varies as you cross borders. ACH transfers, SEPA transfers, Apple Pay, PayPal Express, bitcoin, etc. When you review these options understand fees and timing of payment release.
Some platforms hold money longer than others. Also, do not be intimidated by the world of currency translations, because once you gain some experience it gets easier to predict and understand. But like with legal counsel, you may need to work with an accountant and bank that have the experience for your new business endeavors.
Keep an open mind on opportunities.
In our case studies, there have been examples where our founders expanded their businesses because the business opportunity came to them. Be open to investigating different options for business models as you move forward. While you may have total ownership in your base operations, you may find that you franchise or outsource the next country of operation to reduce your risk and legal liabilities while you grow your brand and profits.
218
Dip your toe in the water.
Use technology to conduct marketing tests to a small target market in a different country. Promote an informational course or webinar in new locations. Find an individual who can be a brand ambassador or an affiliate for referrals. Above all, do not limit your thinking.
In today’s environment, all business owners need to consider themselves as connectors of people and ideas beyond borders.
Business needs to reach beyond governments and small minds and drive the economy, providing jobs and delivering solutions to the market. There is no such thing as a small entrepreneur, as every business builder contributes to moving commerce forward.
219
10
Make Business Happen
ndeniably successful business leaders consistently seek to U obtain better business knowledge to drive better business results.
The goal of this book was to deliver practical, easy-to-understand advice and case studies from company founders and experts whose experience offers unique insights into how to build up your brand value through multiple channels within your company and teams. More than anything, this book was designed to make you think about your total business.
Contrary to what mass media would like us to believe, great businesses are not only built by the most superhuman, dynamic entrepreneurs on the planet.
Great businesses are built by determined everyday individuals who have dreams, focus, and the gift of follow-through.
Individuals who look to implement efficient systems and structures. Individuals who draft budgets and know their numbers. Individuals who take their concept and want to provide joy to their customers. Individuals who want to build recognizable brands that stand for something.
Evaluate your strategies using the CPM2 Business Ecosystem
221
The power of the brand that you build is dependent on many factors and balancing innovation, creativity, and practical core skills all at the same time. You must give yourself permission to acknowledge that it is nearly impossible for any one individual to excel at all aspects of brand building and operational excellence. This is why I believe using the principles of CPM2
Business Ecosystem can help you think about your brand essence and overall business activities differently. It can help you identify areas where you need help.
On a high level, your business goals and strategic plan should consider these elements:
Brand promise – Know what your brand is at its core.
Develop an engaging and identifiable brand across visual, print, and digital media. Ensure there is an alignment of strategic goals, execution, and outcomes to generate market interest and boost market confidence.
Concept – Have a product people will part with their money for.
Customers – Mind the customer journey and guard client trust like it is sacred.
People – Build the right team as you scale and recognize them when the work is good.
Process – Set standards, assign accountability, measure, and deliver with efficiency.
Money – Set up a solid governance structure, know your numbers, focus on sales goals, and never fall short with investors, lenders, and government entities.
222
MAKE BUSINESS HAPPEN
Magic – Create memorability and show the market your heart.
These six key areas centered around your brand promise can provide a proven framework for validating the direction and health of your company. The CPM2 Business Ecosystem will help assess where you stand in the marketplace and what to focus on to elevate the customer experience. These pillars can support your approaches and trigger actions that can be implemented to achieve the desired outcomes and end results.
The contents of this book offered just a blush of what I refer to as the brand promise rules. When I work with founders and CEOs we workshop each pillar through a series of questions designed to elevate team thinking. I am a big proponent of the strategy that the more questions you ask, the more solid the 223
solutions you will be able to identify. This exercise can be very productive for a company moving from the start-up to scale-up phase as they enter more complex operations.
I hope you will use this book as it was intended: a resource to help you create processes and procedures, strategies and solutions, and above all, develop that global mindset that will open doors for you and your company worldwide.
I also hope you will take the opportunity to learn more about me. There are many more resources on my websites: www.allisonksummers.com, www.disruptiveceonation.com There is also one other step you can take. I work with select teams at businesses around the world, and fulfill speaking engagements. If you’d like to learn more about that process, or would just like to have a conversation with me, please email me at:
connect@allisonksummers.com
As I said at the beginning of this book, I love a good business story.
These are my final thoughts for you:
Embrace the journey, be human and be original.
Think beyond borders and build up your network vast and wide.
Tap into others who have expanded their businesses to new audiences and new countries.
Benchmark with innovators and those disrupting supply chains.
Observe and replicate the best of what you see.
Build a brand that you can be proud of.
224
I wish you much success on your path to your amazing business life.
CONCEPT
CUSTOMERS
PEOPLE
PROCESS
MONEY
MAGIC
#1
Embrace the
Know your ideal
Achieve
Reimagine
Institute
Know your
problem you
customer and
success as a
delivery
good
vibration
are trying to
what motivates
team of one
systems
governance
mojo
solve
them to buy
before a
to keep the
team of some
money you
have earned
#2
Predict
Leverage the
Embrace
Systemize
Remember it
Be the ‘go
success
intersection of
creative
for better
is not
to’ thought
through
the customer
work
profits
personal, it is
leader
research and
journey and the
solutions -
business
customer
point of sale
scale
insights
structures
with care
#3
Calculate
Demand focus on
Live and die
Master
Celebrate
Be a digital
commercial
the experience
by project
quality
budgets and
FAST
value
design
work plans
control
bookkeeping
company
#4
Develop beta
Recognize
Craft a
Measure
Always
Seek social
tests and
technology can
collaborative
what you
know your
amplification
pilot
make or break
culture
want to
numbers
to cut
programs
the relationship
master
through the
infinite
media
options
#5
Protect
Track shifts,
Recognize
Trust but
Place
Set up a
interests -
update goals, and
the behaviors
verify -
everyone on
velvet rope
secure
realign
you want to
manage
the sales
for guest
trademarks
approaches
encourage
vendors and
team
experiences
and patents
contractors
wisely
#6
Innovative
Be the ‘I belong
Be decisive -
Identify risks
Prepare for
Show your
for future
here’ community
correct or
that may
cash
ethical heart
revenue
remove
threaten your
injections
streams
business
Key Rules of The CPM2 Business Ecosystem Methodology 225
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
his book was inspired by the great guests of the Disruptive
T CEO Nation podcast project, a project that would not have gotten off the ground if my friend, the dynamic Michele Malo, had not enticed me to go to Las Vegas to speak at a conference hosted by the inspiring Loren Michaels Harris. While there I had a flicker of an idea and with an introduction to Seth Greene that idea became a reality - proving that amazing things can happen when you say ‘yes’ to possibilities.
This journey to getting this book completed requires a huge note of appreciation to the people that inspire and support me:
Christie Pryun, Gordon Tredgold, Marybeth Conley, and Sue Baumgaertner-Bartsch who make me feel like I can always achieve more.
Sherry Fischer and Jen Mauldin who treat my kids like their own when I work too much.
Bonnie Massa and my fellow board members at the American Marketing Association Chicago.
Desirae Vaz, Bruce Corris, Kristin Watt and the team at Market Domination LLC.
And lastly, to the girl who once recognized me in a tango bar bathroom late one night in Argentina, because that was the moment in time I realized that I had grown my network vastly enough that the world had truly become a small place – and if I could do that, anyone surely could.
227
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