MBA Geek

I came across a great post today by Danny Demichele, an Internet Marketing Consultant, who puts together a good argument how troubled times could actually have a positive impact on an online business. Here are 10 factors that you need to look out for:

• Gas - The cost of travel mean more people shop online
• Price Comparisons - The Internet makes comparison easier leading to more online purchases
• Advertising Efficiency - As marketing budgets get squeezed more money is pumped online into trackable advertising
• Less Big Brand Advertisers - As big brand advertisers shrink they budgets, smaller organisations get more space
• Previous Brand Reluctance - Manufacturers will allow more retailers to sell their products
• TV Shows - More TV shows will move online opening up advertising possibilities
• Investment Dollars - As more people move online, more money is pumped into the Internet
• Lower Overhead - Online businesses are typically cheaper to run that traditional models
• Less Taxes - Avoiding local taxes by shopping online
• Virtual Services - Helping customers reduce their costs

Danny is an SEO Consultant who focuses on internet marketing consulting and has a pretty rich background in Internet-based organisations. His website also has weekly tips to help businesses success, so look out for them after you read the post.

Interesting post on Link4Business talking about “How to succeed in business”. Here are some points that the author makes:

It appears that great entrepreneurs have 5 key qualities that help them succeed in situations that others may fail…

1. A desire to succeed – not having an employee 9 to 5 mentality. They want to go that extra mile to succeed and will do whatever it takes.
2. A positive Mental Attitude – both towards themselves and their business. They see opportunities where others see obstacles, their cup is always half full and disappointments don’t get them down. They look forwards, not backwards.
3. A commitment to hard work – they’re not afraid of hard work and the commitment needed to succeed.
4. Patience – Rome wasn’t built in a day and as well as being committed they have the patience to see the job through, taking it step by step.
5. Persistence – challenges and problems will reveal themselves along the pay but the successful entrepreneur will persist with their ideas and not give up or change direction.

I thought that made interesting reading, especially as a know a number of entrepreneurs that fit the points above like a glove. It doesn’t matter if you’re selling live event video streaming or swimsuits, the desire to success coupled with the other points above are critical to make sure you arrive at your final destination.

Guy Kawasaki, a popular entrepreneur, venture capitalist, and blogger used to contribute, till recently, to a blog for Sun Microsystems. In his final post he outlines five important lessons he learnt along the way. Here are his recommendations:

• Focus on cashflow: Profit is important, but if you cannot keep your business afloat, then it really doesn’t matter.
• Make a little progress every day: It’s extremely rare that something comes along and blows everything away. Practically all successful businesses were built one step at a time.
• Try stuff: The more things you try the more you learn and the better your chances of discovering/creating something outstanding.
• Ignore schmexperts: Schmexperts are the totally bad combination of schmucks who are experts–or experts who are schmucks.
• Never ask anyone to do something that you wouldn’t do: Whether it’s a customer or an employee if you’re not happy to do it, why would anyone else be?

Those are just the highlights, you can read the entire post here.

It was with interest that I read a post by Seth Godin about his Policies, Biases and Conflicts. To tell you the truth, I wasn’t really concerned about whether he had any commercial bais in his posts. I consider myself intelligent enough to distinguish between an empty recommendation and real praise for a product or service. However it was interesting to watch someone who in my opinion really manages to keep his blog purely about ideas and concept trying to explain this to his readers. I’m not sure what prompted the action but he obviously felt the need to spell it out for his readers. I hope it doesn’t catch on really. Bloggers *are* open to public scrutiny, but at the same time, their blog is their domain and I think it’s cheeky to expect someone to explain their reasons behind their every action.

Readers of this blog will know I’m a great fan of Seth Godin, a marketing guru who has published numerous books and is also a world renowned speaker. I managed to find a video of a talk he gave at Google last year. It’s full of great ideas and excellent advice, so here it is for your viewing enjoyment:

Great huh?

Was leafing through this month’s issue of Reader’s Digest and came across an interesting article by Peter Jones, a millionaire “serial entrepreneur” who takes part in the TV show Dragon’s Den. Anyway, the article lists some advice that Jones has to anyone interested in following their dreams and making their millions. Here’s his advice:

• Use your influence: Focus on things you’re good at and the contacts you have amassed
• Use your confidence: Remove the word failure from your vocabulary; replace is with feedback
• Make a commitment: Commit to deliver what you promised and never blame others for any misfortune.
• Get your timing right: There’s a good time to start a business, and a bad time. Learn to recognise the difference
• Take action: Figure out how to get from where you are to where you want to be. Plot the tasks ahead then put the plan into action
• Aim for results: Set yourself goals, commit them to paper the find a way to achieve them
• Persevere, persevere: Making your dream come true is never as easy as you think it is.
• Be caring: It is vital to care about the people who with with you, from staff to partners. These are your most important assets.
• Use your intuition: Trust your gut instinct, it’s usually looking out for you.

It’s all a bit basic really, but you’d be surprised how many people get it wrong.