American Creed

by Dean Alfange (1952)

I do not choose to be a common man. It is my right to be uncommon—if I can.

I seek opportunity—not security. I do not wish to be a kept citizen, humbled and dulled by having the state look after me.

I want to take the calculated risk; to dream and to build, to fail and to succeed.

I refuse to barter incentive for a dole. I prefer the challenges of life to the guaranteed existence; the thrill of fulfillment to the stale calm of utopia.

I will not trade freedom for beneficence nor my dignity for a handout. I will never cower before any master nor bend to any threat.

It is my heritage to stand erect, proud and unafraid; to think and act for myself, enjoy the benefit of my creations, and to face the world boldly and say, this I have done. All this is what it means to be an American.

Big Business in “Green” Franchises

If you are thinking about starting your own business, consider a “green” franchise. A franchise using green or environmentally sound technology has the same high rate of success that other franchises do, and have a market niche that is growing.

Green Franchise Concepts

Green franchise concepts vary considerably so it is a good idea to look at several to get a feel for what they do. One franchise concepts you might consider is Clean Air Lawn Care. It is an environmental friendly lawn care company that creates a cleaner environment by using electric lawn equipment.  Electric equipment is reportedly fifty to seventy percent cleaner than gas equipment and also reduces noise pollution. To continue with the green theme, Clean Air Law Care has mowers that charge with solar panels mounted on their trucks. Other equipment like large mowers and trucks are fueled by biofuels, and any carbon emissions are offset by purchases from the Carbonfund organization. The company recycles all organic materials and controls grass height allows water conservation.

Global NES, Inc. is one of the fastest growing franchises in America. The company considers itself as the leader in the new energy marketplace. Their clean technologies include solar energy, wind power, hydro-electric and geothermal energy.  Appeals to clients who want to help decrease dependence on foreign oil.

Filta provides environmental solutions for cooking oil filtration and cold storage moisture control. The company’s filtration system promise reduction of fryer odors, lower frying costs, and improved food quality. The fact that Filta also sells moisture control system to the same customers is a plus. Customers include hotels, restaurants, bars, hospitals, and schools.

Advantages and Potential Issues

Some of the advantages that green franchises bring are high public profile and attention from media, appealing to customers who are environmentally conscious, and tax breaks and incentives for certain types of businesses. Although green franchising is becoming more and more common, entrepreneurs who are considering a green franchise should do their homework and make sure the franchisee uses green practices throughout the company. It is also a good idea to talk to a current franchisee to see if it is profitable, if it is simple to manage, and if it is a concept in which you can find employees who want to follow the franchise system.

Whether or not a green franchise is a good fit for you, green is here to stay. If you agree as many people do that environmentally safe businesses are the way of the future, then you might want to consider a franchise so that you don’t have to reinvent the wheel.

Where to Look for Business Ideas

So you have always wanted to start a business, but you don’t have a good business idea. It seems like all the good ideas are already taken. You are beginning to agree with the saying that “There is nothing new under the sun.” However, if you look in the right place, you might be surprised what turns up.

The most common source of business ideas is work experience. Knowledge you gain from working for others help you see how you can improve on the business concept or perhaps integrate some of the business concept with other business concepts. Often the personal relationships you build in an industry make it easier to develop a new concept and to get a business started. Once they hear your idea, people in the industry often offer suggestions which could be just enough to make your idea a winner.

Hobbies are another good source of business ideas. If you find yourself so wrapped up in a hobby that others begin asking you for advice, you are likely an expert. Customers like to buy goods and services from others who participate in the same activities for which the product or service will be used. Personal service often comes from experts who can help direct customers to the most appropriate product for them.

You also can adapt the know-how from your hobby to create a new idea. Wayne Richie enjoyed developing sound systems for his car. He was so good at it he went to competitions and typically won with his creative designs. While working for a jet manufacturer, he suggested the company install sound systems in private jets. His boss did not think it was a good idea, but Richie was so confident that it would work that he began offering sound systems directly to private jet owners. It was a big hit and eventually led to the creation of Audio International, Inc.

Although you can’t rely on it, it’s also possible to find a good business idea through serendipity (accidental discovery). The key factor in finding an idea through serendipity is recognizing that an opportunity exists; you have to be aware of how a problem can be turned into a positive. Often entrepreneurs will start a business and begin down a certain path only to find a better opportunity around the corner. Watchful entrepreneurs will assess all potential business ideas and make choices that lead to success.

The final way to get you business idea is by deliberate search. I remember when Fred Bureau spoke to a group of business students, and he decided to start a business because it was the only way he could see to afford the large family that he wanted. He deliberately looked for an idea. The winning idea came when a friend was showing him how real estate offices showed cross-listings. At that time they used Polaroid photos in a scrap book. As you might image, the photos and listing information were frequently out of date. Seeing the opportunity, Bureau created a company to keep the information current. He named the company Multi-List which became the largest listing service in the industry.

Regardless of the source of your business idea, remember that having a good business idea is only part of the answer. A good idea must be commercialized before you and your customers can realize the benefits. Never shy away from asking for compensation, especially if you have a truly good idea.

Why You Should Consider Buying a Business

Small business ownership is the primary means of wealth creation in America. As a result, many people dream of owning a business to reap the rewards that come with it. If you decide to become a small business owner, then remember that starting a business is only one option. Buying an existing business might actually be a better idea.

Cost

One of the reasons you might want to buy an existing business rather than creating a new business is that often it costs less to buy one than to build a new one. The fact that the assets are used means their market value has decreased although the equipment may be fully functional. Lower cost of an existing business means you have less money to raise and less money to lose if things don’t go as planned.

I know an entrepreneur, Daniel, who bought a coffee shop at a very good price. The selling price was low because the company was unprofitable. For many potential buyers this would be a reason to pass on the opportunity, but Daniel could see how costs could be reduced and sales could be increased. After purchasing the business and implementing the changes, he had a profitable business with a reasonable investment.

Customer, Supplier, and Employee Relationships

Another potential advantage of buying a business is the existence of customer and supplier relationships. Because there is a ready customer base, the start-up curve is shorter. Having suppliers lined up means that trade credit and expectations are already in place which frees your time to develop the business rather than starting it. Perhaps the most important relationship is with employees. Trained, reliable employees are extremely valuable to any business.

Risk and Uncertainty

The risk of business failure for startups is legendary. For any new business there is a “Build it and they will come.” mentality. You never really know if you will attract a sufficient number of customers to make a profit until you try. An existing firm has a track record making it considerably easier to predict future sales and future expenses. Eventually this will translate into more access to credit because most lenders use credit history as a major factor in lending to businesses. A startup, without any history, is at a major disadvantage when it comes to debt financing.

Training and Support

Often you can negotiate an agreement with the seller of a business for him or her to provide training for you or your new management. This type of support can last a few weeks or several months. Customers may feel more confident in buying from your business when an established business expert is still available for consultation.

The decision to create a new business or buy an existing business should be based on careful consideration of the advantages and disadvantage of each. The excitement and novelty generated by a new business is enticing. But rather than give in to the allure of a new business, you should weigh which business will meet your long-term goals.

You Must Know When the Price is Right

As an entrepreneur, one of the most important decisions you will make is your pricing strategy. If you set prices too high, you lose customers. If you set prices too low, you lose profits. So, setting the price point for products and services is very strategic for entrepreneurial businesses.

An Example

Here’s an example of how pricing can affect profits. My friend who is a franchisee of a casual restaurant concept told the franchiser that he wanted to increase the price of beer. The franchiser had set the price of the beer at $2.98 each. My friend’s location sells roughly 2,000 of those beers per day, and he suggested raising the price two cents arguing that the customer really doesn’t care about the 2 cents difference.

Here’s the math:

2,000 beers/day x 360 days/year x $.02/beer = $14,400/year.

From my friend’s point of view, a change of only 2 pennies would provide more than $14,000 of pure profit. From the franchiser’s point of view, $3.00 beer was in the wrong position as compared to the competition. In this case, the difference of opinion was really a difference in pricing strategy.

Pricing Strategies

When deciding on a pricing strategy, there are several common pricing strategies you should consider. Popular strategies include Markup Pricing, Follow-the-Leader Pricing, and What the Market will Bear.

Probably the most common pricing strategy is Markup Pricing. One reason is because it is fairly easy to calculate. You simply take whatever the item costs and increase that by the percent of profit you want. Not only is this easy to determine, it also insures that as long as the product actually sells, that you make a profit.

If your businesses is located in an area where a larger company dominates the market, and if you are selling products that is similar to the ones of the larger company, then the price is basically determined by the price set by the larger company. It can vary a bit, but really the small business just follows the price of the market leader. This is pretty easy too, but it does not guarantee a profit. In fact, often small businesses have higher unit costs, and this strategy could result in a profit squeeze.

In some situations, you should thing about setting prices by What the Market will Bear. At first this sounds like you are just allowing supply and demand to determine the price, but it’s really more than that. This only works effectively when there is little competition and when you don’t expect anyone to enter your market space. Increasing prices to an abnormally high level entices competition.

I knew an entrepreneur who used this method. He was in the parts re-manufacturing business in the oil and gas industry. Fortunately for him, the parts he re-manufactured where really expensive to purchase new. His markup on re-manufacturing the parts was almost 1,000 %; however, his company was the only one that had the technology and the know-how to do the work. Although he was making a hansom profit, his customers were very satisfied because they saved so much money.

Pricing Consistency

Regardless of which strategy you select, you must be consistent. In the beer example above, my friend was using a Markup strategy while the franchiser was using a Follow-the-Leader strategy. You must be aware when your thinking shifts from one strategy to another.

Nothing drives a customer crazy more than price fluctuations that make it difficult to know when to buy. Customers who see prices trending down will wait for the price to hit bottom; customers who see prices trending up will wait for the prices to go back down. Using a consistent pricing strategy enables customer to buy today with confidence that the decision will still look smart tomorrow.

Google Buzz: A new social medium

While Google has long held top search engine and is huge in advertising and marketing, it has never been able to break into social networking in a meaningful way. That is all going to change with the advent of Google Buzz.

What is Google Buzz?

Google is adding social feature to their products to create common tools for building social applications. The company believes it can help users sort through the massive amounts of information they face each day to find meaningful conversations. Recent additions to the Google lineup include real-time searching and Social Search.

Google envisions Google Buzz as a completely open software platform. The company is sharing information with developers and asking them to join Google and creating code for the project. With the help of developers, there is a good chance Google can eke out a niche in the social networking landscape.

Innovations of Google Buzz

One of the differences in Google Buzz is that it is built into Gmail (Google’s email application). Similar to other social networking applications, Google Buzz allows users to follow their friends online, and it allows users to integrate photos, videos, and Internet links. By the time Google Buzz was announced, Picasa, Flickr, Youtube, Blogger, and Twitter were already fully integrated into it.

One of the innovations of Google Buzz on smart phones is that it takes GPS information from the cell phone and uses it to tag information with where you were when you shared the information. The information is carried through a “Buzz Layer” in Google Maps. Your followers will know who you are, what you know, and where you are.

A Potential Issue

This leads us to perhaps the one potential problem for Google in rolling out the new system. Some people worry about privacy. Google faced this criticism when they enabled Google Reader to automatically send friends information that users wanted to keep private.

The factor that might determine whether Google Buzz is the next big idea or the next big flop is if users can control their information at a granular level. Although we are going through a social information revolution, there are still individuals who choose privacy over connectivity.

My WordPress Problem

Recently I have done a good bit of work with WordPress. It has brought with it a lot of joy and some pain. One of the sources of pain has been trying to find a good contact plugin. There has been some discussion about incorporating the plugin function into the core of WordPress. This sounds like a good idea to me, but until then, we are still faced with deciding among the plugins available to do the job.

For most people, Contact Form 7 is probably the answer to the question. It has been in use for a long time, and it is very reliable. I have seem lots of sites that use the plugin successfully. However, I am one of those people who always provide the exception to the rule. When I installed Contact Form 7, everything worked fine except that the Captcha image never showed. Yes, I did all the checks and fixes suggested by the Contact Form 7 community. All to no avail.

My next effort led me to MM Forms. It came highly recommended, and I can see why. It is easy to use, and it is a slight improvement over Contact Form 7. In addition, the Captcha was appeared! Great! So I thought. It turns out that MM Forms does not have the upload feature found on Contact Form 7. Considering that the upload was the critical feature I needed, then MM Forms didn’t work for me either.

I then went to Filled In, Form Builder, TDO Mini Forms, and WP-Contact Form, all very good contact forms, none of which had an upload feature. After a lot of trouble and effort, I found two commercial contact forms recommended by blog sites: GravityForms and Formidable.

Both cost about the same. GravityForms had been around longer, but I thought Formidable might have better features simply because it was newer. After all, Formidable offered a money back guarantee and GravityForms didn’t. So, I took a chance on Formidable. Before I committed, I decided to try the Formidable Free Edition. The price was right, and I thought giving the software a test drive before laying out my hard earned cash was a good idea. The  software performed well, for what it did. Of course, it didn’t have the ability to upload. So I finally forked over the dough for a copy of Formidable Pro.