What The Mint Taught Me About Marketing

The Buck Stops Here: $1 Coins to Be Curtailed - WSJ.com:



'via Blog this'

Early this morning, I awoke to an e-mail from a friend, Ed. Ed wanted to know what I thought about the Mint stopping production of coin dollars. Of course, my friend was aware that as Superintendent of the United States Mint (Philadelphia), I was involved in the first production of the Susan B. Anthony coin dollar in 1979.

As I watched the coverage, I was transported back to the early discussion of smaller coin dollars in the late 70s.

I recalled going into my office many mornings and finding mail bags with drawings from elementary school children from across the country. Many teachers inspired their students to participate in government by sending their suggestions for who should appear on the front of the new coin. As always, the students were quite creative. Their suggestions ranged from historic individuals to pop culture icons, perhaps even their mother, father, teacher, themselves, or their new puppy. I recall that Elvis Presley was particularly popular. As there is essentially only one law limiting who can be on a coin...the person cannot be currently living...many of their suggestions were possible.

Of course the real decision required hearings in Washington where people appeared to present their opinions. There was a big battle about whether it should be the Statue of Liberty or Susan B Anthony. Then the battle shifted to what image of Susan B Anthony. Should it be her in her early life as in the case of most coins? Or should it be in her later life after the victories for which she is noted?

When the decision was made, we sighed as we came to the end of the debate. Then, the next morning, we awakened to remember that a coin has two sides...the debate was just half done.

Of course there were many decisions to be made before the official First Strike Ceremony in 1979. The next day after the first striking , the process of getting them to the Federal Reserve Banks began. Then  there was another "next day" involving getting the coins into local banks.That was followed by getting them into stores, followed by getting them into the hands of people. This was followed by the first person spending one thinking it was a quarter...followed by the first reporter warning people not to spend the coin dollar thinking it is a quarter.

That battle has raged for 32 years and the discussion is still the same. This leads to what the Mint taught me about marketing:

1. People make decisions on how they feel. The decision are about emotions. Then we select the facts that support our emotions.
2. Everyone has an opinion. For the most part, individual opinions don't matter. It is the collection of opinions that determines if there is a problem that needs to be solved.
3. The fact that there is a problem to be solved does not mean that everyone wants the same solution. Many people awaken in the morning wanting corn flakes. Some of them want Post Toasties and some of them want Kelloggs Corn Flakes.That is not duplication of effort or wasting resources. We call that free market.
4. Marketing is about finding a solution to a problem that enough people want and are willing to pay for, to make it profitable for the person providing the solution. We call that a niche.
5. Business is about serving the niche over and over. Success is in finding your niche.
6. Government has niches too. We call them special interest groups. Government has no way of making every niche or interest group happy by giving them what they want. Government tends to hold it's nose and select one solution that "fits all".
7. Aren't you glad that as an entrepreneur, all you have to do is find the right niche and serve the people in it well?
8. There is always a "next day" unless you fail.

Baby Boomer - You Don't Have to Learn Entrepreneurship Blindly Or Alone

A personal and educational introduction to Michael E. Gerber : ""

As an aspiring baby boomer entrepreneur, you want to convert your business idea into a reality. There is approximately an 80% failure rate of people trying to accomplish your same goal. Yet, renowned business adviser Michael E. Gerber says that no small business owner has to fail.

In this video, Gerber talks with small business coaches. He shares what coaches must understand to help small business owners bring the dream back to America...in fact to small business owners around the world. Here, you can get that advice straight from his mouth.

Gerber explains that small business owners fail for reasons other than what they think is the cause of that failure. As a baby boomer making a transition to an encore career, this is valuable information for you.

He begins with what it means to have a dream. He explains the process for converting your dream to reality and how to get clarity from the onset. If you want to understand what needs to be done...and then what needs to be done next, you want to watch this 29 minute video.

You will learn there is a road map to your journey. You will learn that there are people prepared to help you with the task of designing your baby boomer retirement business. You can increase your chances of success by looking for the people who can help you. You do not have to do it blindly or alone.

Shallie

Networking is about people not numbers

Recently I wrote a guest blog for Warren Cass, 'Networking is not a numbers game'. In a reply on Twitter, Roberta Ward summed it up quite neatly, "No, its a people game!".

In the article I wrote about how some people approach networking as a numbers game. Meeting as many different people as possible at different events. Or collecting the maximum number of connections or friends on social networking websites.

The people who really make networking work for them and their business build strong relationships with a smaller number of people. They don't need to go out and meet new people all the time. Their introductions to new people and opportunities come via this group.

Constantly meeting new people all the time leaves no time for relationship building. It's like starting from scratch every time or the Networking equivalent of Groundhog Day!

Good Networking!
Dave Clarke

 ps Visit the new home of the business networking blog for the latest posts

Aspiring Baby Boomer Entrepreneur - Are You Smarter Than An Old Walrus?

A number of my closest friends have received this video recently with the caption "My New Exercise Routine". And though my stomach could benefit from some sit ups, that is not what I am really talking about.

Much of what it takes to become a successful baby boomer entrepreneur involves behavior modification. You have to learn how to go from being an employee to being an owner. We often call that obtaining the entrepreneurial mindset. This is a new mental exercise routine.

Learning to make that change is a radical shift in your thinking and behavior. But if an old walrus can have his behavior shaped to accomplish new things, so can you.

Your task is to learn what behavior is required for success in the business of your choice. Then you must begin shaping that behavior a step at a time. That is the exact process the trainer used to teach an old Walrus to do sit ups. You can do it. You are smarter than an old walrus, aren't you?


Be sure to sign up for our mailing list in the upper right hand corner. I will share with you what you need to help you become a successful baby boomer entrepreneur.


Shallie

You Are Not Alone - Most U.S. workers want to be entrepreneurs - UPI.com

Most U.S. workers want to be entrepreneurs - UPI.com:

'via Blog this'

If you have a secret dream of quitting your job and becoming an entrepreneur, you are not alone. UPI reports that "Three-quarters of U.S. full-time and part-time employed adults say they want to leave their job and become an independent entrepreneur..."

Aspiring Baby Boomer Entrepreneurs seem to have an edge in the effort to have a balance in life. This balance is often described as having the ability to set one's hours, spend more time with friends and family, not have to deal with office politics and/or not have to endure a daily commute. You can take this advantage by retiring from your current job and starting a semi-retired life as a business owner. This is sometimes referred to as an "encore career".

For other aspiring baby boomer entrepreneurs, the solution may be in developing a part time business. In this case, you begin developing the business on the side until it can sustain your needs.

In either case, you must take action. You must take steps to make your version of the "American Dream" your American Reality. Smarter Small Business Blog is here to help you.

Are you networking with the right people?

I met someone recently at one of my regular networking groups. When he explained what he did I advised him that the group may not be great for him and his business. He sold cosmetics direct to consumers and was there to generate leads for his business. The group was made up of professionals and providers of business services.

He said, rightly, that everyone there either used or knew people that used the types of products he sold. I said that was true, but they were all there because they shared the same target market. They were not selling directly to consumers of domestic products so the best network for him would be with others selling directly to the same domestic consumers.

Successful networking for business development is all about building relationships with the right people. A good place to start when selecting a networking group for business is to find one where the other members sell to the same target market as you.

Good Networking!
Dave Clarke

 ps Visit the new home of the business networking blog for the latest posts

Twitter - My Magic Carpet Ride

My father was a born in 1899. He lived in that rare time where he was barely old enough to serve in World War I and barely young enough to serve in World War II. He did both.

Full of curiosity and adventure, he decided to visit every one of the fortyeight states that then made up the USA. He rode the rails to realize his dream, passenger cars when he had money and freight trains when he didn't. He realized his dream between the wars. In 1949 he had his first born son and began a new journey, teaching me to dream.

Having inherited his taste for adventure, I wanted to do life at a bigger scale. I wanted to visit every continent of the world. I visited some continents, but was behind the pace I had hoped.

But three years ago today (July 31, 2008) a magic moment happened in my life. I had already decided that I wanted to begin sharing my business coaching skills with aspiring baby boomer entrepreneurs. These are the people born between 1946 and 1964, about 78 million in the United States alone. Many of these people have a taste for adventure and do not want to retire in the traditional manner. Many have a passion for something that they want to share with the world in the form of a business. Many also need help in developing the skills to convert their dreams into reality. My dream is to help them them reach their dreams.

Three years ago today, that magic moment happened while listening to Ed Dale...I learned about Twitter.

Ed is the face of a free training that happens each year called The Challenge (formerly the 30 Day Challenge). He teaches aspiring entrepreneurs to use the Internet at a tool to research business opportunities, a tool to market those opportunities, and a networking process to find others with a similar passion. I couldn't travel to every continent by rail, but I had something better, Ed helped me discover a magic carpet ride.

Twitter has taken me to every continent, except Anarctica...that will happen in time. I 've learned about people's passions and shared mine. I've made genuine friends during this three year journey. Thanks Dad, Ed Dale, and Twitter. To everyone else I extend this invitation:

RIDE WITH ME

What is a Business Networking Group?

I wrote this after a dinner party when one of the other guests asked me what I do. I used the phrase 'Business Networking Group' in my reply and she said, "What's a Business Networking Group?"

I was a little thrown at first, but realised I shouldn't be. I think we often assume that everyone knows more about whatever it is we do than they actually do. I once met someone on a Referral Institute training course who had written technical manuals. He said that the instructions included the advice to write so that an 8 year old can understand.

Wikipedia describes Business Networking as 'a socioeconomic activity by which groups of like-minded businesspeople recognize, create, or act upon business opportunities. A business network is a type of social network whose reason for existing is business activity'.

A little complicated so I realised that I needed to explain a little bit more. I explained that there are now many more people running their own business than ever before. Many of them are specialists in what they do and do not have any marketing or sales people. They rely on personal recommendation or word of mouth for their business. Their main problem is that they need more of these opportunities than they currently have. Many of the older business support services in the public and private sector do not really help these business people with generating positive word of mouth. As a result specialist business networking organisations have emerged.

Any club or group group exists because the members share and are committed to a common cause. The common cause for the members of a business networking group will usually be helping each other in business. This may be around sharing business, support and information (or all 3). It is mainly the need to generate more business by recommendation that has lead to the growth in the market of specialist business networking groups.

A business networking group is a club where the common cause is helping each other become more successful in business.

The most important thing in an effective business networking group is that the members don't just share the same needs. They must be in a position to really help each other. That will often mean that the members share similar target markets and provide similar value services. Success is then down to the commitment and contribution they make.

Would an 8 year old understand how you describe what you do?

Good Networking!
Dave Clarke

ps Visit the new home of the business networking blog for the latest posts

The small business advantage in the Digital Age

I wrote this on a train heading into London earlier this year and it was first published at the new home of the business networking blog. I was on my way to a 'Digital Mindset' workshop from Ecademy founders Penny & Thomas Power. The idea that Ecademy website was about 'Learning, networking and business development for the digital age' got me thinking about whether things have really changed.

If we are in a 'digital age' what does this mean for the Owners, Directors and Partners of small specialist businesses and professional firms? It is mainly these people who go networking as their primary route to market.

Most of the people I meet in this category are passionate about what they do and are open and transparent about what they do and why. It is this passion, openness & transparency that gives them an advantage in this digital age. It is exactly the right approach online.

Contrast this with the news furore at the time about wikileaks. Whatever the rights or wrongs of leaking the information the revelations showed some of our politicians, diplomats and representatives of big business taking the opposite approach. Saying one thing in private and another thing in public. The internet has made it easier to judge openness, honesty and transparency. The very things that small business is mainly better at that big business.

You may have heard the expression 'people buy people'. The approach for the digital age is the same as what came before.

Be yourself!

Good Networking!

Dave Clarke

ps Visit the new home of the business networking blog for the latest posts

What 3 Issues Must You Master To Be A Successful Baby Boomer Business Owner‬?

YouTube - ‪Behaviors of Successful Business Owners‬‏: ""

All businesses have certain things in common. Business coach Ron Finklestein suggests that you greatly increase your odds of success as an aspiring baby boomer entrepreneur if you master the three issues every business leader faces:

• Making more money
• Having more time
• Having productive employees

He also suggests that YOU must have certain things to achieve mastery of these issues:

• Attitude
• Strategy
• Discipline

Check out his video for more insights.

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You Are Probably Not A Natural Born Baby Boomer Entrepreneur

Should being a baby boomer entrepreneur be your encore career goal? Are you a natural born entrepreneur? Should owning your own business be the next step for you?

Many people feel that they have what it takes to be a baby boomer entrepreneur. YOU might be convinced that it is the logical next step because YOUR goals might be:

• To have more freedom in general in semi-retirement,
• To have better financial control over your life,
• To have greater control over how you use your time,
• To have more control over your intellectual or creative life.

All of these are great goals. But they don't require becoming a baby boomer entrepreneur. Plus becoming an entrepreneur has around a 90% failure rate. You are probably not a natural born baby boomer entrepreneur. You might want to explore your alternatives to accomplishing such goals.

My first suggestion to you is visiting the creators of the above video, encore.org They will show you how to think about "combining purpose, passion, and a paycheck". However, they will show you alternatives, including the possibility of becoming a baby boomer entrepreneur.

1. If you determine becoming an entrepreneur is still your goal,
2. If you decide that you are committed to developing a business that aligns with your needs, values, and beliefs,
3. If you decide owning a business is what you want, not what someone else wants for you,
4. COME BACK AND SEE ME!

You can accomplish what you want. But be sure what you are trying to accomplish IS what you want.

Shallie

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Why Do Veterans Choose To Become Entrepreneurs?

Veterans Often Choose Entrepreneurship | Business Wire

Can aspiring baby boomer entrepreneurs learn from veterans? In a study released yesterday, May 6, 2011, the Office of Advocacy of the U.S. Small Business Administration published new information about veterans who become entrepreneurs following completion of military service. The study reveals that veterans are 45 % more likely than those with no active duty military experience to be self employed.

I am wondering if there is a correlation between veterans moving into civilian life and former employees moving into semi-retired life. SBA Chief Counsel for Advocacy Winslow Sargeant said, "Knowing more about the factors behind veteran's self -employment offers the opportunity to lay the groundwork for future success."

At this point, we know from the study that it does not appear that military training is the factor that drives entrepreneurship. Those with four years or less of service are more likely to choose entrepreneurship. However, there seems to be a high correlation of military retirees becoming entrepreneurs. It is believed that this may be the result of higher degrees of wealth and life stability. The research shows that with each additional year of age, the probability of becoming an entrepreneur increases by 7.5%.

Retiring baby boomers share many of the same characteristics of retiring veterans. Can we learn more about promoting successful transition to entrepreneurship by studying these veterans who transition from the military to civilian entrepreneurship? Take a look at the study and the research summary for yourself: Factors Affecting Entrepreneurship Among Veterans.

Shallie

Lemonade Stand Day - Inspiring Future Entrepreneurs

Prepared 4 Life: Inspiring Entrepreneurs, One Lemonade Stand at a Time - AOL Small Business

For years, the lemonade stand has been the symbol of entrepreneurship. With that thought in mind, Houston-based entrepreneur and philanthropist Michael Holthouse inspired the creation of National Lemonade Day. It happens on May 1 for the purpose of teaching youth about business.

As aspiring baby boomer entrepreneurs, we can think back to our experiences with lemonade stands from our youth. We can reconnect to what we believed before we became workers. We might have been trying to buy streamers for our bikes or a new pet. We knew we could solve our problem by solving the thirst problem of those around us.

If you need to reconnect with that time in your life, click the link and re-experience the moment through the eyes of today's youth.

Shallie

How Coachable Are You?

How Coachable Are You? « Ingrid Elfver

Just how coachable are you? Are you prepared to learn and expand to make the transition to being a baby boomer entrepreneur? Or, are you stuck on the situations that developed in your former career from which you are seeking semi-retirement?

Recently I became familiar with the work of Ingrid Elfver. She is a coach who works with other coaches to help them expand their abilities to serve their clients. She asked this same question, "How Coachable Are You?", in one of her recent blog posts. It stimulated me to think about how coachable I am personally and how coachable I expect my clients to be. You fan find my assessment of myself by reading my comments on her web page. Just click the title to this post and it will take you there.

Now, it is your turn. As you make the transition from being an employee to a baby boomer entrepreneurs, how coachable are you? Here is a video, Baby Boomer Entrepreneur- You Need A Guide, that may help you evaluate yourself.

Make Money With Local Business Premium Mailers

Make Money With Local Business Premium Mailers

Most businesses want to promote themselves in the best possible way. A half hearted attempt at a promotion can do more harm than good, so there is clearly a market for professionally printed designs, leaflets and brochures that tell the customer exactly what they can expect from that business.

Could you provide a service that helps businesses enhance their reputation and profits in your local area? There are three main ways you can do this, and you could even extend your service way beyond local businesses to include plenty of others over the entire country…

An outstanding website is the key to running a business like this successfully. If you are offering a premium product to promote someone’s business, your own site needs to be of just as good quality.

If you are looking to set up a completely new business then you can invest in the equipment needed to print these mailers yourself. Leasing it is a possibility if you don’t want to buy it outright, but you will still need to have the space to set it up.

A better option if you sell the product direct without the hassle of printing it yourself is to forge close ties with a local printer that produces excellent quality mailers and other similar products. If you say that you are intending to bring them a lot of new business they may be willing to give you a discount on every order you bring them. You will then essentially be taking a commission on every sale you make.

You may also be able to get a selection of samples of premium business mailers for each potential client to take a look at, so they can see exactly what they are getting for their money. It’s worth getting a proper price list printed up professionally as well as listing everything on your website, since this will bring in more orders if your prices are reasonable enough.

Of course, you may simply want to set up a website that allows you to promote existing services without the hassle of providing them yourself. In this case you should look for an existing high quality printer that does premium mailers and has an affiliate scheme you can promote on your website.

The trick here is to create a site that provides information and advice for businesses who want to promote themselves in a better way than they do now. By revealing different types of products they can make use of – including the mailers – you can then draw their attention towards your affiliate links and simply reap the rewards if an order is placed through one of them.

This is certainly a business that can provide you with as much or as little work as you like. It all depends on how much time you have available and to what degree you want to get involved with your customers. Be sure to design your website according to your needs, as this can affect the success it will have.

Make Money With A Retail Website

Make Money With A Retail Website

Selling goods online has been the route to success for many a small business that started on the kitchen table. The beauty of this money making idea is that you can start off as small as you like and build up as and when you have the funds to do so.

But don’t you have to have pots of cash to get started and you don’t need to clear out the spare room to make way for all the stock either. Read on to find out how it’s done from scratch.

So what would you like to sell? Whatever your interests are you can bet there are other people out there who want to buy items related to those interests, and those are the people you need to reach with your website.

To get your website in the first place you’ll need to either have one designed for you (the expensive option) or get a do it yourself kit (the cheap option). The do it yourself version is good enough to start with; once you’ve built up some sales and can afford a makeover then you can get a professional to design one for you. Just make sure your DIY version can handle a shopping cart and secure ordering.

Once you’ve got your website you need stock to sell from it. You can go for the easy option here and enrol with one or two dropshipping sites; all you need to do then is post details of each item on your site and pass the orders along to the dropshipper when you make a sale.

But in truth you will make the biggest profits selling your own stock, so start looking for wholesalers that sell the kind of items you are looking for. For the biggest success try and concentrate on a particular niche – for example you could sell pet accessories, toys, bedding, fishing equipment and so on. By picking one niche and choosing a domain name which fits with that niche the keywords in the item descriptions on your site will get you ranked higher in Google and entice more people to come and take a look at your site.

Promote your website wherever you can, and make sure you get orders dispatched quickly to keep your customers happy. Provide a packing note, a re-order form and details of some of your other products in with every order you send out to encourage further sales.

It’s best to stick with a small line of products to begin with, and then reinvest your profits into more stock as and when you start to grow. Don’t forget you will have web hosting to pay for each month, although this tends to be a fairly small amount.

By starting slowly and learning as you go along you will be far more likely to succeed in the long term, since you won’t grow too fast and run out of money as a result. And don’t give up – even the most successful websites had to start somewhere! It can take a while to build up your stock and your customer base, but once you have you’ll be well on the road towards regular profits.

Make Money Using Expired Domains To Set Up Pay Per Post Blogs

Make Money Using Expired Domains To Set Up Pay Per Post Blogs

Expired domains can mean big money for you if you know which ones to look for. But there is more than one way to make money from them, and starting a blog is one of the best ones when it comes to attracting traffic and making money from it.

But how do you get started? You’ll be pleased to know it’s fairly easy to get going, and once you’re used to the process you can set up more than one blog to really rake in the cash.

So you want to make money blogging? This is one of the best ways to do it. Firstly you need to look for an expired domain (we’ll assume you’re going to set up a single blog here, although once you’ve gone through the process once you’ll be setting up more in no time). These are easy to find – all you need to do is type ‘how to find expired domains’ into a search engine and you’ll get plenty of results for websites that allow you to search for a specific keyword for free.

Once you found one for a keyword that is likely to gain a lot of traffic, you need to buy it. Go to the cheapest source you can find for domain names and make sure you can register plenty with them, since you’ll be buying a few more once you realize how easy this is to do!

Your next task is to set up a good quality blog which relates to the keyword(s) in the domain name. This is very important since it will be necessary to be accepted into the Pay Per Post program once your blog is thirty days old, and if you break any of their rules (which include not writing original posts and only sticking to posts that are there for the primary purpose of making money) your blog won’t be accepted. So long as you write some good and original content that is there simply to help and inform others about your subject, you should be fine.

The thirty day period also gives you the chance to make sure you have put at least ten posts on your blog (the minimum requirement) and started to attract some traffic as well.

Once you’ve reached that stage – and been accepted into the Pay Per Post program – you can start blogging for money. This works by accepting an opportunity to blog about a product or service which is relevant to the subject of your blog. Every blog post you accept and are paid for can be worth a minimum of $5 to you – and sometimes a lot more.

So you can see what the next step will be, can’t you? You’ll need to have completed ten successful posts to your blog before you can think about getting another one approved with them, but that gives you plenty of time to find another expired domain name on a popular subject that you can set up another blog with.

After a while you’ll get used to which subjects pay the most on Pay Per Post, so you can maximize your earnings while expanding your knowledge of fertile subjects. And don’t forget that you can still add your own affiliate links to your blogs as well, just so long as every post you make isn’t designed to bring in money for you.