The Women Entrepreneurs Blog @ Simon

Web tip of the week - Pick-up the Phone, Get Out of Your Chair and Talk!

"The reason that we have two ears and one mouth is that we may listen more and talk less."
-Zeno Greek philosopher

This is an important concept pertaining to business communication. It is at the core of what is wrong with our growing over reliance on one-dimensional digital communication tools such as email, texts, IMs, Tweets, blogs, etc.  Yes, I believe these are valuable tools to enhance communication. My concern is that they only flow one way; they are open to misinterpretation and they make it easy to avoid creative or difficult face-to-face discussions.  In short, they are not replacements for good old fashioned conversation or dialogue.

The best managers are all great communicators. A strong interpersonal relationship with your employees, suppliers and customers will make you better at your job. Today, the best ideas, the best products and the best companies are the direct outgrowth of collaboration and teamwork that comes from communication.

The next time you start to email the person sitting next to you, get out of your chair and start a conversation instead. There is nothing like it!

Always Operate in the Black

As Wall Street goes through its most chaotic period since the Great Depression many small businesses are concerned about cash flow and credit. The next few years will certainly be no walk in the park for small business owners but instead of worrying, now is the time for small businesses to become more strategic in how they manage their operations.

At My Brands, our CFO and I have one rule that we follow religiously - always operate in the black. Your company can stay in business for a very long time – through economic crisis and more – if you focus on this as an objective.

As a brand new company, especially before you have any sales, this can be tough or even impossible to do.  Strive for this objective, sacrifice to achieve it.  Our company operated for 18 months without making a profit.  Since that time, we have done everything we can to keep our focus on not over extending ourselves. 

Ask the Entrepreneurs: What Would Warren Buffet Say?

[Note: Students in the Entrepreneurship program at Simon have submitted a number of questions and we encourage you to ask yours via the form on our Home/About page. We'll have one or more of our bloggers offer their takes — which should provide starting points for your thinking and more discussion.]

Question: What do you think are the 3 most critical skills a new business owner must have and why?

1. We are back to another Warren Buffet quote (as in my earlier Q&A post) on this one:

   "It's better to hang out with people better than you. Pick out associates whose behavior is better than yours and you'll drift in that direction."

   I think that one of my best business skills is recognizing the areas in which I am weak and hiring people to compensate for my weaknesses. I do what I do well and find other people to do what I am poor at doing.

 

2. And more from Mr. Buffet:

   "The business schools reward difficult complex behavior more than simple behavior, but simple behavior is more effective."

   It comes down to patience, problem-solving and common sense. If these are not qualities that you have developed, you should.

 

3. Although this one may appear to conflict with Mr. Buffet’s comment about business schools above, I believe you should get an MBA and/or have many years of business experience.

Shakespeare didn't have to deal with software suppliers!

[Note: Students in the Entrepreneurship program at Simon have submitted a number of questions and we encourage you to ask yours via the form on our Home/About page. We'll have one or more of our bloggers offer their takes — which should provide starting points for your thinking and more discussion.]

Question: What's a mistake you made while starting your business and what have you learned from it?

Maybe I can get Cindy Hirschberg and her lawyer friends off the hook! (See her post on the value of finding a good business lawyer.)

I seem to be terrible at selecting software infrastructure suppliers. With only one exception, every supplier that we have used has been months to years late delivering their product. Their inadequate performance has threatened the very existence of our company and cost us tens of thousands more than I could have ever anticipated.

I am not sure if I have learned my lesson — other than to beware. I haven’t figured out how to prevent this from happening again. It seems to a universally horrible experience for everyone. Does anyone know the secret to picking software vendors? Or is just a fact of business life that all "go-lives" are painful, late and expensive?

Ask the Entrepreneurs: Beating the Business "Divorce Rate"

[Note: Students in the Entrepreneurship program at Simon have submitted a number of questions and we encourage you to ask yours via the form on our Home/About page. We'll have one or more of our bloggers offer their takes — which should provide starting points for your thinking and more discussion.]

Question: Name two or three important characteristics that you seek in a partner that provides a substantial amount of capital for your business.

There are so many things to consider in partners that invest capital in your business. Partnerships in business are critical for any company’s success, but can be just as difficult as any marriage. I could argue, in fact, that business partnerships are more difficult than marriage because most marriages begin with a strong emotional and idealistic commitment. Business partnerships are usually based on simple economics so the fundamental basis of the commitment isn’t as strong. I wonder what the five-year failure rate of business partnerships is? I bet business partnerships fail at a higher than do marriages!

Ask the Entrepreneurs: Overlooking the "Mousetrap Fallacy"

[Note: Students in the Entrepreneurship program at Simon have submitted a number of questions and we encourage you to ask yours via the form on our Home/About page. We'll have one or more of our bloggers offer their takes — which should provide starting points for your thinking and more discussion.]

Question: Having successfully run a business for several years, what are one or two difficulties in starting a business that many budding entrepreneurs overlook or fail to consider?

"If a man can write a better book, preach a better sermon, or make a better mousetrap, than his neighbor, though he build his house in the woods, the world will make a beaten path to his door."

—Ralph Waldo Emerson

To me, it is this famous “mousetrap fallacy” that leads to the doom of thousands of start-ups every year. It seems to be particularly common among the aspiring “high tech” entrepreneurs. Some engineer or scientist develops some new widget that does this really cool thing but they have no idea whether or not there is any potential need or demand for the product.

My Favorite Book on Getting Started

I am the daughter and also the granddaughter of entrepreneurs. My brother is also an entrepreneur. It would seem that entrepreneurship runs in our family's blood. Or maybe, as my father says, none of us could work for anyone else so we had to start our own businesses!

Whatever ... I knew many years before I founded My Brands that I wanted to build my own business. Apparently this is common among entrepeneurs.

A dear friend of mine,William J. Stolze, who passed away a few years ago, wrote my favorite book on the topic of entrepreneurship: Start Up: An Entrepreneur's Guide to Launching and Managing a New Business (1999). Bill was one of the founders of RF Communications here in Rochester. In Bill's book he observes that many entrepreneurs know that they want to start a business, but they don't necessarily know exactly what business they want to be in. That was definately true with me!

I highly recommend this book. It is an easy read full of common sense and great advice. I followed Bill's advice that an entrepreneur should develop good business skills and keep their eyes and ears open to potential opportunites for new businesses. That is exactly the path that I took that led me to the idea for My Brands. I suggest that if you are thinking of becoming an entrepreneur this is the easiest first step that you can take.

You can view a couple of good excerpts from his book here.