June 23rd, 2008
Your small restaurant is building a classy reputation - the name of the restaurant is Wilkin’s (after your pretend last name… trust me). Recently, there was another restaurant on the news that wouldn’t let handicapped people in or make their establishment handicapped-accessible because they weren’t “part of their target market.” This put the media in a frenzy and everyone within 200 miles knows of that problem. No concern, right? HA! Wrong - their restaurant is called Wilkin’s Family Restaurant. Though most people know the difference, there has been an obvious decrease in traffic to your restaurant (minus the occassional idiot who went to protest at the wrong place). What do you do to save face?
My take: Oof - I guess the best thing you can do is put up a sign saying “It’s not us!” and hope it all blows over. This actually happened to a restaurant in Georgia, which is where this situation comes from… except it was over some clearly-racist shirts. Maybe some of you would take the other extreme and rename your restaurant?
Tags: name, oh crap situation, restaurantShare This
By Jim Gordon -- 0 comments
June 20th, 2008
I just got done reading Good to Great the 2nd time around and I must say, this is a MUST READ book for any young entrepreneur.
Good to Great is basically filled with case studies that shows how top companies have went from Good to Great. The basic principle that young entrepreneurs can take from this book is that if you’re running a business or a part of a team environment, you gotta get the right people on the buss, the wrong people off bus, & put the right people in the right seats.
I don’t have employees but one thing I will tell you is that I always make sure to surround myself with the right people and the people that are negative and aren’t adding any value to my life, I kick them off my bus.
Pick up this book as it has tons of strategies for you to start implementing in your life.
If you’ve already read it, would like to hear what you liked best about it!
Alejandro Reyes
Tags: alejandro reyes, good to greatShare This
By Alejandro Reyes -- 0 comments
June 20th, 2008
So I was sitting in my room, quietly working on some Statics problems when I heard gush gush gush gush gush… boom boom boom boom… click click click… someone was doing his laundry. It is kind of frustrating because one of my roommates in particular lacks much-needed clothing. So I was talking to my other roommate and he said “Well, he just doesn’t ave many clothes.” Fair enough - a reasonable assumption. Well that got me thinking - what justifiable proof should I use to convince him to get new clothes (because I get tired of hearing the wash every few days)?
I did what any other dork would do - I created a program to calculate the exact savings per year.
Note: If you use this program, edit the YELLOW fields - don’t touch the red or green fields unless you want to edit the equation.
The Laundry Excel Calculator File
It’s a pretty cut and dry program. Basically, I found that the cost of water (and approximate cost of electricity) doesn’t come close to the cost of buying a single shirt… unless you can find out how to get a presentable $1.00 shirt.
So why did I post this up? Well, I love Excel and VBA (though I didn’t use it here)… but I also wanted to get people into the mood to make optimization programs. In a case like this, buying the cheapest clothes may be better for the overall cost, but the qualitative reward cannot be accurately measured by any dollar amount - that would take years of surveying… and laundry doesn’t mean that much to me.
Like the idea of calculating useless stuff to show unnecessary facts? Email me some of your programs! I’ll post them up later on in the month (assuming I get any).
Tags: Excel, laundry, optimization, useless calculationsShare This
By Jim Gordon -- 0 comments
June 17th, 2008
As I write you from I’m hanging out here in Washington State at my in-laws house. The last couple days I’ve decided to just “take it easy” and relax. Some might think it’s being lazy that I’m doing nothing but it has been the most amazing few days in a LONG time.
It has helped me reflect on my life, my business, my friendships and a lot of other things. I think I’m going to do this a lot more in the future and just get away.
My advice is to obviously make sure you have systems in place so that your business continues to run and that you’re not neglecting clients, but do your best to get away from the noise and site back and be still.
Share This
By Alejandro Reyes -- 0 comments
June 16th, 2008
No puedo hablar mucho espanol, español… pero yo trato. Okay, I’ll stop. I probably butchered that. Anyways, for the Spanish-speaking business community, b5 has a site just for you - Vivaelnegocio.com. If you haven’t been there yet, be sure to check it out. Why, you ask? Well, a long time ago I made a post about the importance of learning new languages and its significance. So go to Vivaelnegocio.com if you don’t know Spanish, find a translator, and learn Spanish while reading up on some business articles (though I do recommend having some basic knowledge of the language before doing so).
Share This
By Jim Gordon -- 0 comments
June 16th, 2008
Business was booming. You had the market cornered with your website on custom pet food, but now people have really stolen your thunder. Your visits have seen a sharp decline over the past few months and your sales have decreased by over 30%. Your website looks OKAY… but not as clean as your competitors’ sites. How should you regain your market?
My take: Hire a web builder to help your site along! Sure, they may be expensive, but you may not be thinking of the potential benefit that comes out of having a better site. You will rank higher on search engines, be easier to use, and just plain look better. The next step is to market new products. To stay a step ahead of your competitors, sometimes it means doing something differently… even if you were the ones who first set the standard.
Tags: flooded market, oh crap situation, web building, website marketingShare This
By Jim Gordon -- 0 comments
June 15th, 2008
The folks here at Boss Hatch would like to take the time out to wish Young Entrepreneur Father’s a Happy Father’s Day.
Have a great time with the family & enjoy YOUR day!
Boss Hatch Family
Share This
By Alejandro Reyes -- 0 comments
June 13th, 2008
Spent your last dollar from your tax rebate on gas? We all did…
The job market is crap and that’s why we chime in - because you are a TOTAL non-conformist. You are SUCH a non-conformist, you want to open up your own business… you know, because you are a young entrepreneur and all. That’s what we’re supposed to do, right?
Fishing in the job market is a losing battle and we are in the worst position. In fact, it is so bad we aren’t even a statistic! Yeah, you heard me! Sure, make us a statistic for crime, STD’s, and other related issues… but unemployment? Not according to this article (which was sent to my by Kelly from Tax Girl!).
“When you get into a recession, kids always get hit the hardest. Kids always go to the back of the hiring queue. Now, they find themselves with a lot of other people in line ahead of them.”
This is why being an entrepreneur is great - you set yourself apart from the group by being independent (a term people even my age are not familiar with). To be independent does not mean you HAVE to start your own business. However, it does mean you take initiative. Growing up in the 90’s was easy street and we have not adapted well to change.
This is the flip side of the American dream. The United States economy, which has trouble producing enough jobs to keep the middle class intact, has left these youngsters all-but-completely behind.
“These kids are being challenged in ways that my generation was not,” said David Jones, the president of the Community Service Society of New York, which tries to develop ways to connect these young men and women with employment opportunities, or get them back into school.
It is extremely difficult because, for the most part, the jobs are not there and the educational establishment is having a hard enough time teaching the kids who are still in school.
Where there are avenues of doubt, there are always alleys of opportunity. Success takes time - start small and dream big.
Tags: Unemployment rateShare This
By Jim Gordon -- 0 comments
June 13th, 2008
Today I’m speaking at a conference and as I was preparing, I was wondering to myself, “How important is public speaking to an entrepreneurs.”
Is it a critical craft that you gotta learn? Is speaking irrelevant? What can it do for your business?
For me, I LOVE SPEAKING. It’s something I’m extremely passionate about it’s completely transformed my business & my connections. When you can get in front of a room and inspire, motivate, engage the audience & provide tons of value, people will see you as an authority. It just simply raises your influence.
Wish me luck today Rockstars!
Alejandro Reyes
Tags: alejandro reyes, influence, public speakingShare This
By Alejandro Reyes -- 0 comments
June 12th, 2008
I’ve been preparing for a keynote that I’m giving on Friday to an audience of Internet Marketers and I’ve been thinking a lot about presentations in the last month. After my friend turned me onto Death By Powerpoint, my world has been rocked.
Death By Powerpoint is probably the MOST important piece of information that you need to view RIGHT NOW before you ever give another power point presentation again!!! Most Powerpoint presentations are boring, not engaging, and just simply suck. Death By Powerpoint’s approach is great.
If you’ve ever seen a great Keynote by Steve Jobs and said, “Wow, I gotta get my presentations to look like that…” you’ve first gotta understand the reason behind the way he does them.
Watch those slides you’re on your way to being a Powerpoint presentation Rockstar!
Alejandro Reyes
Ps. My bonus piece of advice is to get a Mac & use Keynote…it’s 1000 times better than powerpoint by Microsoft
Tags: death by powerpoint, steve jobs keynoteShare This
By Alejandro Reyes -- 2 comments
Recent Comments