Radio Free Enterprise

Two sisters, who started Native Angels Home Care and Hospice in 2000 with just two patients, are now serving 760 patients per day and generating over $9 million annually.

Bobbie Jacobs-Ghaffar and Lesa Jacobs can now add another accomplishment to their list: the two members of the Lumbee Indian Tribe have been named National Small Business Persons of the Year by the SBA at the Small Business Week 2007 conference held April 23-24 in Washington, DC.

Among the reasons cited by the SBA in selecting Native Angels were the North Carolina company’s record of stability, employment and sales growth.

During my mother’s illness in the period leading up to her death last July, my family was blessed to have found a local company which provides the same type of service. Very few businesses engage so intimately with people’s lives as these folks do, and they are truly angels bringing blessings at perhaps the most difficult point in any person’s life.

Congratulations to these two sisters and all the angels out there.

I’m always fascinated by innovative model. Even when the idea is simply to apply an existing marketing method to a different industry.

That’s what I found when I discovered 1-800-CAB-RIDE.com. Basically it’s an online (and/or telephone) taxi reservation system. Kind of like what Expedia offers to airline passengers combined with a memorable phone number/web address like 1-800-FLOWERS.com.

The concept is simple, but powerful. And the combination seems obvious. Don’t know if they’re making any money but do know that they can now get you a cab in in more than 25 cities 24/7.

Read more about them in this article in USA Today.

Several years ago I had an idea about posting educational videos on the Internet on arcane but interesting topics like, how to build a roaring fire in your fireplace, how to parallel park, the basic rules of football and baseball, how to bake bread, change a diaper, set a table, make a bed, plant a flower garden, etc.

Each video would be only five minutes or shorter, offering just the essential information you needed along with links to resources for more details. Kind of like a video instruction manual for life. My idea was that users would generate the content and vote on each video’s value. The best videos and producers would rise to the top, attracting the most eyeballs and creating the most advertising revenue. I registered the domain name FiveMinutesOn.com but did nothing further.

Over the past couple of years, multiple companies have come forward with various flavors of this same concept, with greater or lesser degrees of marketplace success. The most recent one I am aware of, is being created nearby to me in Great Falls, Virginia.

Knowlera Media’s approach is to locate subject matter experts of every stripe and then send professional videographers to do 2-camera shoots of them in HD (high definition video). Knowlera pays for the production and editing and posts the video online. The expert gets free video exposure and the ability to post the content on their web site. But Knowlera owns the rights to the content and receives all revenue derived from it.

Their site has not yet gone live but they are already shooting and editing content. My friend Wes Crawford, who is a master musician and music teacher, has contributed his knowledge to a couple of drum instructional videos for Knowlera.

If you are a coach, consultant or other type of subject matter expert who would like to share your knowledge with the world under the terms outlined above, drop by MonkeySee.com and fill-out the form on the Experts page. Then stop back here and let us know what you think.

This is a great way for any business person with specialized knowledge which brings unique value to an engaged audience to do some high-quality Education-Based Marketing - at no charge!

It’s how much you keep.

Just ask David Hayden. At one time this serial entrepreneur’s net worth (on paper) exceeded $200 million. Today his stock portfolio has evaporated, he is having a hard time finding V.C. funding for his latest start-up, he’s selling many of his most prized possessions and is being sued for $24 million by Bank of America.

Like many “idea guys” in the late 1990s, Hayden created multiple business concepts which were embraced passionately by the investment community, but less so by the marketplace at large. During those go-go days, he would have been well served to take some of his profits of the table. Liquify as it were. But he didn’t. Nor did he pay close enough attention to the fine print of many of the contracts he was signing.

He also made the common mistake of accumulating possessions which were way out of line with his true needs, or actual cash flow. Now, the 52 year-old Hayden is licking his wounds and banking on his next big deal.

I recommend every entrepreneur read this cautionary tale at CNET (originally published in the New York Times) and then come back and post a comment with your reactions. What should Hayden have done differently? What would you have done differently?

Give it a read and give it some thought. Then come back here and share with the crowd.

When Dr. Ivan Misner founded BNI in 1985, he may have never dreamed that it would one day grow into the world’s largest business networking organization. Today, with nearly 100,000 members in 37 countries around the world, it has become exactly that.

With that level of success come many challenges, not the least of which is communication between a single founder and tens of thousands of members and directors across the globe.

As a new member to BNI, it occurred to me that the production of a weekly podcast could go a long way to solve that problem. And when I approached Dr. Misner with the idea, he saw the potential and quickly gave the go-ahead.

The result is The Official BNI Podcast, a weekly 5-10 minute audio message from Dr. Misner to the world of BNI, which I produce and co-host from my home studio.

Just as important as his regular outbound communication is the opportunity for his audience to respond through comments, questions and suggestions they can post on the podcast’s web site. From my perspective, this is the essential power of what is being called Web 2.0: the creation of a community through 2-way communication.

The production format allows Dr. Misner and his guests to call-in from anywhere in the world, which is an important consideration for a man with a packed calendar and a global travel itinerary. Nonetheless, I congratulate Dr. Misner for making the commitment of adding this project to his weekly agenda. I don’t believe he would do it if he didn’t see the overwhelming value in it.

Rather than spend too much time explaining what The Official BNI Podcast is all about, I invite you to listen to the first episode where Dr. Misner explains it himself.

I am very pleased and proud to be a part of this new production and I encourage anyone with a far-flung base of offices, employees, salespeople, franchisees, customers, members, readers - you name it - to consider adding a weekly podcast to your communication menu. It’s easier and less expensive than you might think. Give me a call if you’d like to discuss the possibilites.

Radio Free Enterprise is intended to be supportive and instructive to business owners and those who wish to become self-employed. So why would I share an article with you that lists the 5 most annoying habits of successful entrepreneurs? To be supportive and instructive.

The article in Fortune Small Business magazine is excerpted from the book “What Got You Here Won’t Get You There,” written by Marshall Goldsmith and Mark Reiter. It outlines 5 behavior patterns the authors have seen displayed repeatedly by successful entrepreneurs, behavior which ultimately impedes their companies’ growth and annoys the heck out of those working with them.

The behaviors include an inability to stop being competitive in every phase of life, having to say “yes, but…” every time someone approaches them with a new idea, and a tendency to play favorites among employees. None of these indicate malice or evil, they’re just human nature for a high-strung Type A personality. But they can be real obstacles to taking a business to the next level.

My suggestion is to read the article and consider buying the book. You might just meet someone you recognize!

How can a small Brooklyn jewelry design firm with no marketing budget capture worldwide attention for their innovative products? By posting a fascinating video on YouTube.

Clearly a big success factor here is the uniqueness and camera appeal of their product. This video contains no words, music or special effects and yet has been viewed over 2 million times. The product literally speaks for itself.

Nonetheless, this marketing channel was not available prior to the explosion and adoption of video sharing sites. Anyone can tap into this. And an increasing number of small business owners are. Call me for ideas on how your company can connect with this incredible marketing opportunity.

Is there an aptitude test for entrepreneurs?

Many people have created tests which purport to tell you whether you have what it take to found and operate a successful small business. But I’m not sure how accurate they are.

My belief is that any human is capable of achieving practically anything, provided that they are sufficiently commited. As for necessary aptitudes, wow… I’m not sure a list that long is appropriate for a blog posting.

The Wall Street Journal’s StartUp Journal has a test that I took myself before sharing it with you. It measures your motivation relative to Achievement, Affiliation and Power. Fortunately, my primary motivation being Achievement aligns me with what the survey describes as “most entrepreneurial people.” Unfortunately, based upon my answers to their questions, I wasn’t terribly motivated by any of these factors.

My guess is that the way they phrased the questions didn’t really connect with me. I only “Strongly Agreed” with two statements and did not “Strongly Disagree” with any of them.

Take the test for yourself and see what you think. Then post a comment on your results.

Several weeks ago I posted a podcast on Radio Free Enterprise on the topic of Touch Marketing. The audio came from a teleseminar I had presented entitled: Touch Marketing for Real Estate.

Below is a 40-minute video of a presentation I made to a small group of successful entrepreneurs who belong to CEO Focus, led locally by DC-area business guru and consultant, Henri Schauffler. These people run businesses which generate between $2 million and $25 million in annual revenue. They get together monthly to share ideas and challenges, brainstorm and hear speakers like myself present on topics of interest.

It appeared as though those in attendance felt they got a great deal of valuable information from this presentation. I hope you will as well.

I reference a number of marketing resources in the video. Below are links to each:

Constant Contact email marketing service

SendOutCards online printing and mailing system for personalized postcards and greeting cards

AudioGenerator system for creating online “Audio Postcards”

I’ve never heard of Todd Brown before. Now that I have, I’m not sure that I’ll buy what he’s selling when he gets around to trying to sell it to me.

But there’s one thing that I know Todd Brown and I agree on: giving away free information is a great way to build your book of business. He and I both believe in and are practitioners of Education-Based Marketing.

Todd has put together a page full of nine free informational videos entitled Habits Of The Top Internet Marketers. I watched the first and second - and half of the third - before I decided I had had enough.

But that’s okay because a great maxim of Education-Based Marketing is that you want your audience to either turn up the volume or change the channel. I chose to do the latter for a number of reasons including the green-screen background effect he’s using, the tone, volume and tempo of his speaking voice, and because I didn’t find myself learning anything new or interesting.

Others will find great value in his message and turn up the volume to 11 by opting into his email list.

The primary point I want to drive home is that Todd is reaching a huge new audience of potential customers by casting his bread upon the waters in the form of potentially valuable information available for the asking. If you’ve watched or listened to any of my information on Education-Based Marketing, you’ll know that I believe he’s onto something.