Super Job for YouJob Information for CEOs and Employees SEO SEM

Reading an article some time back I came across a philosophy of life. I don’t remember who wrote the article (it might have been Harvey Mackay) and I am sure I can’t remember all the parts of it, but one portion surfaced last Saturday. It was “Whenever there is a lemonade stand, stop and buy some from the proprietor. That child is going to be running his or her own business some day and they need to be encouraged.”

As I turned into my neighborhood I spotted a young man about 10 years old waving a sign. I pulled up to the curb and bought some lemonade (two cups) and gave a very nice tip to keep the young man’s spirits up in the heat of the midday sun. This young man is not going to be fighting the industry leaders in the lemonade business.

Later I reflected on what this young entrepreneur was doing and why it was working. There are lessons we can all learn from him and his lemonade stand.

First, his location selection was excellent. He placed his stand on the corner of his parent’s lawn, where there was plenty of room for his facility but more importantly, for his customers. The stand stood where there was room for his customers to pull up to the curb, out of the traffic flow, where he could safely serve them. His understanding of the importance of his site (location, location, location) would make every real estate agent nod in appreciation.

Second, his signage was effective. He did not leave to chance that people would see the stand on the lawn; he had created a sign that was easy to see, easy to read and easy to grasp what he was selling: Lemonade $.25. The sign was lightweight and was easy for him to hold and wave at potential customers. The whole thing was so simple it would make an advertising professional proud!

Third, he was precise in defining his target market. This young man was focused on a specific demographic in a specific geographic area, in this case, his own neighborhood. He waved his sign and did business with those driving automobiles and trucks on that specific street during the time he was open for business. He wasn’t trying to reach everyone because everyone wasn’t his customer. His focus would make a marketing expert smile!

Fourth, he priced the product for profit. His retail price was $.25 per cup and his cost of goods sold was less than a nickel, meaning his gross profit margin was more than 80 percent, unheard of in most businesses selling a product. He ran a low overhead operation; rent was covered, advertising was a one time expense (the sign) and he did not have to maintain a presence if he needed to take a break or shut down early. His financial savvy would bring joy to any CPA.

Fifth, his commitment to service and his enthusiasm for what he was doing was contagious. He knew his product was filling a need (selling a cold drink on a hot afternoon to thirsty consumers) and he was delighted to be there. It could be argued that he was smiling all the way to the bank but my take is that he was delighted to serve others. And, they were happy that he was there to serve them. His attitude towards making people smile would be the envy of any company; in fact, Ritz Carlton might want to consider hiring him to train their staff.

Sixth, he provided a quality product. It was so good that after purchasing one cup of lemonade I bought a second one. I am sure that this young entrepreneur went through some sort of quality control testing to make sure that the product was attractive to look at and great tasting. Maybe he asked for some input from a focus group (his parents or siblings) or maybe he just used his own taste buds as his sampling tool, but in either event it worked. His product would make the quality control manager at Godiva Chocolates proud.

Seventh, he had developed a good revenue model for his business. If you wanted to buy his lemonade you paid him in cash, in advance. This kind of cash flow system is something that he might have learned the hard way but more than likely the young business owner decided that he didn’t want to wait around for someone to pay his bill for cold lemonade in 30, 60, 90 or more days, long after it had quenched the customer’s thirst. This kind of thinking would make a banker proud; this young man was running his business like a bank, one without subprime mortgages on the balance sheet.

Eighth, he has a board of advisors to provide him with advice and counsel. Whether you are 10 or five times that age, there is plenty to learn in business and life. The young entrepreneur has issues and concerns, and needs to be able to turn to people that he trusts for candid advice. His advisors will probably teach him some things so he does not have to learn lessons the hard way. And, while his advisors want the lemonade stand to be a success, they realize that at the end of the day, it is the young entrepreneur’s business and he will ultimately succeed or fail based not on what they say but on the choices he makes. http://www.kineticdiecasting.com/renaissance.html

Down the road, when he is older, if he decides to pursue the honorable profession of business ownership, I am sure he will be notified about all the things that business owners have to deal with, including collecting sales taxes, getting the right permits, having insurance to protect the business, leasing space, hiring employees, payroll taxes, competition and all the rest. All of these things, he will learn, are not obstacles to ignore or fight but a part of doing business.

Between now and then, I am confident that he will work on upgrading the signage, maybe consider offering a larger size, changing the packaging, lowering his cost without impacting the quality, perhaps raising the price, seeking out advice from others in order to make better decisions and choices.

Above all, it is my hope that he never loses his passion and enthusiasm for taking care of his customers. Because the most important lesson this young business owner has learned is that while he has a lemonade stand he is in the business of providing excellent service to his customers. It’s a lesson we all could benefit from being reminded about from time to time.

The airline business is a brutal one. If you added up all the profits earned since the industry started, and subtracted the losses incurred during the same time period, the net profits would be a loss. Yet, consistently for the past 30 or so years, without fail, one player has made money, and had fun doing it: Southwest. www.Southwest.com

There is something to be learned from this well run organization. Many books have been written about this company, and many stories have been banded about on how the company got started and how it has grown.

Here are some of the key competitive advantages that Southwest has utilized to become a leader in an industry known for failures.

First, the right people are hired. One key to this is that the organization is not in a hurry to hire people. While the company has the same urgent need to fill positions as any employer, they want the individuals they hire to be the right ones. Southwest hires for the long term. The right people don’t get hung up on titles and job descriptions. People that work for Southwest do what it takes to get the job done. There is a culture of respect within the organization.

Employment

There is a culture of teamwork. There is a culture of fun. There is a culture of openness.

Jon Fine writes a column for Business Week on the media.

The June 16 and June 23 2008 issues of his column have focused on the print media, newspapers in particular.

Here are some interesting comments, statistics and predictions related to newspapers in the United States as gleaned from those columns and elsewhere:

1. The most ad starved days are the Monday and Tuesday editions.

2. Deutsche Bank predicts that total newspaper revenue in 2008 will drop 11.2% on top of a 9.4% decline reported in 2007. In two years newspaper revenue will have declined 20.6%. This is a serious trend that shows no sign of slowing or stopping.

3. Newspapers are losing their pricing power on classified ads as those people placing ads migrate to other venues including Craigs List.

4. Newsprint, a major cost component of newspapers, could reach $200 per ton higher than a year ago. This is in line with increasing pressure on almost all commodities.

5. Rising gasoline prices impact the price of delivery from printing location to distribution center and from distribution center to point of consumption (home/office/rack/retail outlet).

6. It has been estimated that 19 of the top 50 newspapers in the United States are losing money.

7. It has been predicted that at least one major American city will lose their daily newspaper within the next 18 or so months. The newspaper most often suggested for this to happen is the San Jose Mercury News.

8. The sustainable competitive advantage that the print issue of a newspaper has is “portability” which means the ability of the reader to take the newspaper with them during the course of the day. This is being lost because people can now read the news on their mobile devices.

In addition, those individuals with access to the internet during the course of a workday can check on stories and glance at headlines. If they desire to read more, either at that time or later, they have the option to do so without purchasing a newspaper.

9. Wire service business is up 5% to 10% over the course of the last few years as newspapers have cut back on staff and use wire reports to provide content.

10. Profit margins are being compressed; in the past 30% was a solid number and it won’t be long before they are reduced to 10%. Anticipate hearing about further reductions in content, physical size of the pages, lighter and cheaper ink being used, number of pages printed and staff cuts.

11. Expect rising advertising rates as newspapers attempt to make up the difference in the loss of margin. Car dealerships are one of the largest sources of retail or display ads in daily newspapers.

12. Expect the price of print subscriptions to be reduced as newspapers strive in increase the number of audited subscribers in order to sell more advertisers. Print and online subscriptions may be combined to provide a better value to the reader.

13. Most daily newspapers provide more content that most people can easily consume. Some years ago Andy Rooney of the CBS show “60 Minutes” did a piece on the vast size of his Sunday New York Times essentially saying that the paper was so large he did not finish reading it until well into the next week.

One newspaper that continues to do well in the face of a declining industy is USA Today. Here are some thoughts behind the success of this newspaper, now celebrating more than a quarter of century of being in business:

1. The have successfully positioned themselves as “The Nation’s Newspaper.” You can get the paper delivered to your home or office, or pick it up just about anywhere while out of town. Most people first read it while away from home on a trip. It is often at major hotels:

2. The paper uses color. The pictures they print are in color; ads are in color and they use the color blue throughout the paper. Despite the additional cost, the publisher has determined that the “packaging” is more appealing with the use of color.

3. The stories are short and to the point.

4. The newspaper is middle of the road. (In far too many papers the reader can discern the balance or flavor of the article by simply reading the headline. As an example, on the front page of the New York Times on Sunday, June 15, 2008, a headline read: “In ’74 Thesis, the Seeds Of McCain’s War Views.” Apparently, the New York Times has decided that Mr. McCain is in favor of war for the sake of war).

5. The newspaper pushes people to the web. On the May 30, 2008 issue, the following web links appeared on the front page alone:

1. Down the left column: on the cost of gas in the country on the stock market results from the previous day for those readers with an issue related to subscriptions and delivery. A toll free number (1-800-USA-0001) was also listed.

2. The main article was entitled “Search the Web for the Nest Big Thing” and it referenced this site on the front page:

3. The column down the right side of the paper made reference to a map readers could see regarding vulnerable areas for hurricanes and changes in population in those areas .

4. The bottom of the page was an ad for Choice Hotels (Comfort Inn, Comfort Suites, Qulaity Inn, Sleep Inn, Clarion Hotels and Cambria Suityes) with the web site

It is little wonder that this newspaper continues to grow in circulation while other papers are losing theirs. They “get it.”

kineticdiecasting

Each of us, I am sure, has come into contact with people who have made an impression on our lives in a substantial way. Sometimes these individuals are with us for a prolonged period of time and sometimes their tenure is short. The impact can be immediate or it might take time for the lessons to be learned and to become part of who we are.

More than 25 years ago I had the pleasure of working for and with such a person. At the time he had some impact on my life but it was only years later that what I learned from him made a significant and lasting impression that still is with me today.

It was not an auspicious start. He was suspicious of my intent, he had a temper and his patience was short. His impatience was legendary. We both had the same goals but his natural distrust and history of the department I worked in made it all that more difficult to do my job in such a way that he could see that we were on the same side.

After more than a few chewing out sessions, I started to understand what he was trying to accomplish, and I did my best to explain it, in advance, what tactics I was trying to employ to achieve certain things. He liked the fact that I ran ideas by him and that I sought his input. Apparently, that had not been done often enough in the past and when it had been done, he feedback was ignored and that fueled his distrust, which skyrocketed over time, resulting in those explosions aimed directly at me.

What he taught me, over a period of six years, was nothing less than remarkable. As it turned out, I surfaced as one of the few individuals he could see that had potential as a student. His subject was business.

Mitch Lison is his name, and he now is a partner in Bay Area Coffee, a large coffee roasting company that sells to well known retailers including Sam’s Club.

Thomas Huxley wrote, “Perhaps the most valuable result of all education is the ability to make yourself do the thing you have to do, when it ought to be done, whether you like it or not; it is the first lesson that ought to be learned; and however early a man’s training begins, it is probably the last lesson that he learns thoroughly.” That was my boss.

The first thing I noticed about Mitch was that he set boundaries in his life. When he was at work, he worked, and he worked very hard. At the end of the day, he went home to his family and spent time with his wife and two sons. He wasn’t a workaholic; he understood how important the living part of life is.

But he did what needed to be done at work as well, catching early morning flights, arriving home late at night from a trip and working weekends when he needed to.

One late afternoon I walked into his office and he wasn’t working; he was reading a magazine. I thought at the time it was rather odd behavior, just sitting there wasting time. Little did I understand that Mitch was “sharpening his saw” trying to get better at his job by staying abreast of what was happening in the industry and the marketplace.

The third thing about Mitch that was unique was that he went by the book. I don’t mean that he followed policies and procedures, because I witnessed him talking a few short cuts along the way. What Mitch did was a direct reflection on his Jesuit educational upbringing: he followed the process of writing a business plan each year, and he stuck to it, despite numerous opportunities to stray off course.

It might have just been my perception, but I watched most of the leaders and managers at our employer jump from strategy to strategy, searching for the silver bullet, the one trick that would solve every revenue, client, production and profit problem that existed. Not Mitch…he wrote a plan and long after everyone had abandoned theirs, he was busy executing.

The fifth thing that I learned from Mitch was focus. I don’t just mean staying on plan; I mean he stayed focused on his plan each and every day. That meant not getting caught up in the crisis of the day (and there were plenty to chose from) and not getting distracted trying to handle every piece of paper once or returning telephone calls at the same time each day.

While Mitch could have taught time management, his system and style were so unorthodox for a leader in Corporate America that his students would have laughed at him once they learned how he operated.

His mail went into a three drawer file cabinet that he did not open until it was completely full. (He then emptied it and addressed only the key pieces in a single afternoon). He did not answer his phone unless it was a call from someone higher up in the organization; his rationale being that if it was important, the person would come and see him (and given his reputation related to his temper that was rare).

Most of his time was spent in meetings with his direct supervisor, on trips to see potential clients, and dictating memos to others to execute his plan (he assumed that people would read his memos).

What did I learn from Mitch? Everything that was important for being in business. I wish everyone could have a mentor like I did.

Ken Keller