Archive for July, 2009
Video: Great Israeli invention for a cross between a bicycle and a stroller
Posted by: | CommentsCheck out this cool invention, perfect for Mothers. A cross between a bicyle and a stroller. Created by a company in Israel with offices in both Israel and the Netherlands. Watch the video below and check them out here.
Who Cares? That’s the first question you should ask before you launch an idea
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Time and time again it pains me to see people launch businesses, websites, events and the like and as soon as I see the announcement I shake my head and say this is not going to work. How do I know that they are going to fail and why are they going to fail? Because they forgot to answer the one question that needs to be answered.
Who cares? Just because you think it is a good idea and you think it is a service you would like does not mean that everyone or even anyone else would share your passion or even pay for it.
People today are loaded down with so much going on in their personal and professional lives that time has become the greatest commodity.
Why should they spend time getting to know your product, site or to attend your event? What makes it worth spending time with you instead of with their children?
Before launching you MUST speak with your target market. Ask them if they like your idea, product or service. Ask them if they would pay for it and if so for how much. Don’t be afraid that someone is going to “steal” your idea. They won’t. It is not so easy to just hear about an idea and then do it yourself since passion is what will make you a success and it’s hard to become passionate about someone elses idea.
So before you go out and so whatever it is your going to do, go out and ask others if they care. A lot of times you may get some great feedback on how to make your product more valuable. You can findout that people would not care about your product unless… Unless what? Well you won’t know unless you ask!
Has any of my readers succeeded because they did some research before launching or failed because they did not ask? Please place them in the comments below.
Twitter Weekly Updates for 2009-07-25
Posted by: | Comments- Israel One of World’s Safest Places for Investors http://bit.ly/3fsDbc #
- Netanyahu and ministers to take 5% pay cut – wonder if the US Administration will do the same http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/110151 … #
- Oy! – ethnic profiling on Facebook, not that theres anything wrong with that #
- Oy – Ethnic Profiling on Facebook, not that theres anything wrong with that http://bit.ly/dsjJd #
- Outrageous Bank Charge in Israel http://bit.ly/HSQUT #
- New tool uses Facebook to improve Israel's image http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1102592.html #
- Not in Jerusalem? Post your Western Wall notes via Twitter http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1102104.html #
Video – Amazon.com buys Zappos for a package worth $850,000,000
Posted by: | CommentsCongrads to everyone at Zappos! This is a smart move by Amazon and a great reward to everyone at Zappos that made the company so great!
Do a little research on the culture at Zappos and the agressive customer service tactics to be the very best and you will fully understand why they were so successful. Great inspiration to every entrepreneur.
Just read this great post written exclusively for WDD by Jim Lodico.
I have always been a fan of getting youth started young to be an entrepreneur. Just like giving you kid art, music or sports lessons, why not give them entrepreneur lessons? It is never too early to learn. I have written about young boy in Ramat Bet Shemesh, Israel here which you can read and I think it is absolutely fantastic.
One of my partners, Hillel Scheinfeld, just told me about a restaurant he went to called Lilith where they have a rather unique social agenda that I find admirable:
One of the most impressive things about the restaurant is its social agenda. Owned by Alam, a non profit organization for teenagers at risk, the kitchen at Lilith takes in youngsters from difficult backgrounds and gives them the opportunity to get a profession and learn about the world of cooking.
I think it is a fantastic way to give a productive outlet for youth on the street and I think every community should have a similar program for it’s youth. I have an idea for a very similar program that I will eventually do as I think it would give an incredible sense of accomplishment and self esteem to the youth in my city where I live, Ramat Bet Shemesh.
Anyway you look at it getting youth started in business at a young age can be an amazing outlet and self esteem builder. One of the risks you would need to look out for is that you don’t want your children thinking that “making money” is the most important thing in the world. Then again you can say the same thing about playing music or sports.
In this article the author writes about his daughter Sophia who decided to open up a lemonade stand, but ended up making more money then you would have thought by giving away the lemonade for FREE. Read the article to find out how she did it and how you can learn and apply the lessons to your own business.
CLICK HERE TO READ THE ARTICLE
Before you start your business, know what your business model is
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Now here is a crazy thought! How about knowing how your going to make money before starting a business? Crazy right? I mean what does making money have to do with business?
And that is why the majority of start-ups become finish-downs.
I know, I know. Just build it for the sake of building it and see what happens. That’s great if you don’t need the money and have a lot of time on your hands, but if you are going to start a business you best know how you are going to make money.
Now before we go into some of the different ways to make money I think it is first important to see that you have multiple ways of making money. If you are going to be putting blood, sweat & tears into something make sure you have many avenues of success while still maintaining focus on your core business. Note: When you launch your company you don’t need to launch every revenue stream, just make sure you have a few as you grow.
The easiest example of this is a Restaurant. A retaurant can have the following revenue streams:
- The basic: People coming in and eating in
- Take Out
- In house catering/parties
- Catering in other locations
- Selling Packaged food through other locations
- Selling a specific product commercially (ie: Our Special Bar-B-Q Sauce)
- Party Planning Service
- Gift Baskets
- Frozen Pizzas
See what I mean? Now mostly I would like to focus on internet businesses since I think it is pretty obvious what your business model is when you are running a retail outlet of any kind, but online we have been brought up with the idea that it is a numbers game and as long as you have a lot of “eye balls” you can figure out the rest later. Now that is a great thought and if you became an internet sensation like Twitter, then that’s great, but for the 99.9999% of the rest of internet start-ups you really need to have a clear business model in order to raise funds and of course to succeed.
Now the problem I have with the “eye balls” theory is that the main business model that people are shooting for is an advertising model and that is a very dangerous place to be for many reasons; the fist being that if advertising revenue dollars were to suddenly drop, so will your revenue. I know of many companies that have gone under in the current recession specifically because the ad revenue dropped by more than 50%. If your going to build a business, build it on a need, something that people want and not something that you are going to annoy them with. That’s just my opinion.
A recent article on Mashable titled “5 Business Models for Social Media Startups” points out some of the main ways to earn money online and can even be used for non social media startups. Let me know what you think!
http://mashable.com/2009/07/14/social-media-business-models/
Twitter Weekly Updates for 2009-07-18
Posted by: | Comments- Fortune Names Israel Corp. One of World's Largest Companies http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/132374 #
- First Date 2.0: ShidduchVision aims to ease shidduch crisis http://bit.ly/hy5l2 #
- Are the Maccabiah Games too expensive? http://bit.ly/1mgU8y #
- Technion gets $12 million to start business school http://bit.ly/sIb3n #
- Before you rent an apartment in Israel http://bit.ly/sTF2P #
- Hi-tech venture-capital investment drops 40% in Q2 http://bit.ly/jo47a #
- Is American Baseball coming back to Israel? http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1100747.html #
Groups & Networks on NING that Israeli Entrepreneurs should join
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Here is a list of Israeli business hitech and marketing groups on Ning. Ning is a site where anyone can create their own social network. On Ning you will find many niche social networks that can be very effective for marketing and creating a audience.
Israel Technology & Clean Tech
Michael Dell’s Advice to Entrepreneurs
Posted by: | CommentsMaking Better Business Decisions: A Simple Tool
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“How should I grow my business?” “How should I compensate my new employee who is taking over a significant and important part of the business?” “How should I…?”
Here is a simple process that always helps: Develop options.
When planning a building, architects will develop several schematics. Each is a complete option for using the space and each will help the owner meet his critical needs and all or most of his wants.
In other words when the architect asks “How should we build this building?” they answer with several distinct possibilities. One option may be five large floors with a small garden area. Another may be ten smaller floors with a large garden area and a parking lot. A third may use the lot for two buildings with underground parking and roof-top gardens. They won’t try to draw one picture that incorporates aspects of each. That would be a mess, not a plan.
Yet in business we often do just that. We ask, for example, “How should I market my business?” What we should do is work out three, four or five options, each a full picture in its own right. Instead we seek out the “perfect” solution and desperately try to force together pieces that just don’t fit. The result is a mess.
Next time you are unsure as to how to move ahead:
- Write out your objectives. What are the results you aim to achieve?
- Develop some options – each a full possible way forward. None will be perfect; there’s no such thing as a perfect option. Generating options helps you spot hidden assumptions.
- Eliminate the relatively weak ones and improve the remaining ones until you have one option left.
© Dov Gordon, 2009. All rights reserved.
DOV GORDON coaches small company owners who are at a crossroads and need to make difficult choices. His Small Company Coaching Clubs meet in Jerusalem and Beit Shemesh. Subscribe to Dov’s The CEO Thought-Provoker™ at www.IsraeliCEO.com. Contact by email: dovgordon@gmail.com or phone: +972-(0)2-992-0396.
