Dan W Bliss

Today, we sent a newsletter with my article entitled Being Broke is Not an Excuse.  The results were fascinating.

It seems that an article like this can strike entrepreneurs in two ways:

1. The article can inspire or motivate them to get moving on their businesses.  Put the excuses aside and get to work!

2. The article can frustrate them or cause them to become bitter.

I was very surprised to see how polarizing an article can be.  People from the frustrated camp argued that broke with $0.00 is paralyzing.  That, in fact, a business can’t be started with $0.00.

The optimists fired back with more encouraging views.

In the comments below the article, I felt that I had to address the intent of the article.  Of course, people need food, transportation and even phone or internet access to get a business started.  The point is that you don’t need millions (or even thousands) of dollars to start a business.

Frankly, it might be an interesting experiment to start out homeless with no money, and see if it is possible to start a profitable business.

Hmmm…  Let me think about that one!

Are you focused?

Many people have told me that I am very focused.  When people say this, they typically mean that I concentrate well on the immediate task at hand.  While this is generally true, there are two entirely different types of focus that are equally, if not more, important for business success.

I like to think of focus as having three distinct levels.  Skill in all three areas can allow you to become extremely effective.  Deficiency in just one can be quite detrimental.

The 3 levels of focus are:

Task
In today’s technology age, focusing on a task has become increasingly more difficult.  Cell phones, emails, text messages and tweets are major distractions that can destroy momentum.  Time management experts might classify these interruptions as things that are seemingly urgent, but unimportant.  For some reason, we all feel the urge to take calls and reply to messages as they come in.

Most people are very capable of focusing on a specific task once they get started on it.  The biggest problem is sticking to it without distraction.

To overcome this, turn off your phone and avoid your email.  Block off periods of time where you can work on your immediate project without interruption.  If it helps you to listen to music or a TV in the background, that’s fine.  You’ll be amazed at how much you can achieve.

Vision
To achieve most goals, you must have a singular vision.  Set a clear goal and create a defined plan for achieving it.

Many entrepreneurs have so many responsibilities, and are pulled in so many directions, that it’s difficult to stay on track.  Plus, there are many temptations that lure entrepreneurs into non-core projects.

It’s up to you to be disciplined.  Stick to the plan.  Yes, it’s OK to brainstorm on crazy ideas for achieving your goals, but you must always remain true to the overall vision.

Emotion
This is an area of focus that people don’t often consider.  Struggling with the other types of focus might slow you down by making you less efficient, but your emotional focus can break your business.

It is imperative that you maintain the enthusiasm and attitude necessary to achieve your goals.  Building a business is damn hard work, and it can be trying at times.  You will be tested monthly, weekly and even daily.  Your full commitment to your business is the key to its survival and prosperity.

I recently took a half-day for personal time to reflect and rejuvenate.  I find that doing this from time-to-time allows me to appreciate the big picture and maintain my emotional focus.

Amid the chaos of running a business, take a step back to assess your focus on all three levels.  If you can master your focus, your goals will become easier to see.

Entrepreneurs have to be tough!

As much as you don’t want to hear this, when it comes to starting a business, pain can very often be good.  Allow me to explain.

In the early stages of startup, many businesses succeed, and many businesses fail.  What separates the successful businesses from the failures?  Frequently, it’s the ability of the founder to adapt and figure out the best method for generating profits.

In many instances, businesses fail because they haven’t perfected their business models, or because they can’t raise enough cash to continue with operations.  These are frustrating times.  Entrepreneurs become worried, stressed and uncertain about solutions.

This is called “pain.”

Don’t run from it, and certainly don’t give up.  Quitting is what many people do.  However, it’s within your control to take a different mental approach.  This is when greatness is born.  As much as you might dread this moment, embrace it.  Absorb it.  Cherish it.  Learn from it.

The pain you feel will create a sense of urgency and clarity.  It’s kind of like shopping for a gift.  When you have all the time in the world, you’ll have trouble making up your mind between gifts, stores, prices and colors.  Suddenly, when you are late for the party, you will take decisive action.

When you are under the gun, it is the best time to brainstorm.  Your ideas will stretch further, and you will give careful consideration to even the craziest ideas.  Whether trying to figure out new business methods or find new business partners to approach, use this opportunity to get your creative juices flowing.

I’ll give you a personal example.  A business partner and I bought a famous concert club.  We were young, and we bit off more than we could chew.  We had raised enough money to buy the building and the business, plus some cash for operations.  We thought we were buying a healthy, profitable business.  Just three months after buying the business, we were broke.

By then, we had extinguished all of our friends, family and credit, just to buy the business.  We couldn’t afford our payroll and utilities.  We were moving into the dead of winter, and we were going to have the power shut off and miss payroll.  Everything was at risk, especially our reputations.

Under all of this pressure, we sat down and brainstormed for hours.  We needed to move decisively to save our business.  The ideas we came up with were groundbreaking!

We figured out a few ways to alleviate our immediate cash needs, then we turned the business on its ear!  We began doing weekend matinee concerts for high school bands and double-shows on Friday and Saturday nights.  This allowed us to book over 40 concerts a month, instead of 30.  We also changed our booking, marketing, ticketing and staffing procedures to operate more efficiently.

Within less than a month after these major changes, our business was profitable.  This was still in the middle of winter!  By the time spring rolled around, we were growing quickly.  Within 2 years, we had quadrupled revenues and profits.

The changes we implemented in our most difficult period allowed us to grow faster and operate more efficiently than we would have otherwise.

These same lessons apply to every startup and every business that struggles through a down economy.  Remember, pain is good.  Tighten your belt.  Find new sources of revenue.  Come up with new ideas to make your business thrive.

Who is this guy? He's great!

Starting a business can often bring out the very best in people.  Shockingly, I’ve discovered that the best is frequently gleaned from people I’ve never met!

Whenever I’ve started a new business, I’ve always needed help, in one form or another.  Sometimes, help is in the form of physical labor.  Other times, I’ve needed introductions, special pricing, favorable terms, borrowed equipment or vehicles, expert advice or other favors.  It never ceases to amaze me how virtual strangers will step up and save the day!

Sadly, I’ve also had close friends disappear when I’ve needed them most.  I’ll give you examples of both extremes.

When I opened my first restaurant, The Barn, I recruited a bunch of friends to help clean, repair and paint.  I paid everyone with pizza and beer (excellent forms of currency).  I vividly remember working on these renovations, sleeping on the floor and creating my first tangible business with my bare hands.  It was hard work and probably the most fulfilling time of my life!

Unfortunately, one of my best friends was unwilling to help.  I had done countless favors for him and treated him like a brother.  He gave me every excuse in the book.  It was a sad revelation for me.

On a more positive note, I gained a number of new friends who were extremely generous with their time and resources.  They went far beyond anything I would have expected from them.  I barely knew these people, and they willingly jumped in to help!

I’m not suggesting that a person who won’t help you isn’t a good friend.  Sometimes people just don’t have the time or energy to chip in.  I completely understand.

The point I’m trying to make is that there are many unexpected surprises when you pursue a big dream.  People will become inspired by your vision and hop on your train, even people you barely know!

Recently, Tom and Pete from Engage Marketing (who I still haven’t met) and Corey from PrintRunner really came through in a big way by printing all of our conference programs over the weekend TWICE!  The first print run was flawed, so they ran it a second time on Sunday night, just in time for our conference on Monday.  I can’t tell you how much I appreciated their clutch performance!

As you continue on your entrepreneurial journey and work needs to be done, remember that you aren’t alone.  Someone will usually be there for you, even if that someone turns out to be a complete stranger.

Meet a Fashion Icon

Ed Hardy and Christian Audigier fashion brands are among the hottest in the world.  Fashion icon Christian Audigier is the man behind these explosive brands.

He has signed on to give the closing remarks at The Perfect Pitch 2009 Conference.  The conference takes place in Los Angeles on Monday, October 26th, 2009.

Aspiring fashion designers and entrepreneurs will have the chance to see Christian in person, and learn the secrets behind his explosive fashion lines.  What sets his brands apart?   How does he build awareness and momentum for new brand launches?

You won’t find out, unless you are there!

Christian Audigier joins Virgin’s Richard Branson and more than 30 powerful speakers for a full-day entrepreneur conference.

CLICK HERE TO VIEW THE FULL LINEUP

See you there!

We came up with a fantastic idea that’s resonating with Twitterers.  (Damn, that’s hard to say!)

Our Twitter Icon

We are offering a $2,500 trip to Los Angeles for the best “microPITCH”.  We figured that Twitter invented micro-blogging.  We’re going to invent “microPITCHING.”

The winner of our competition wins airfare, hotel, PerfectBusiness Gold membership, consulting services and tickets to The Perfect Pitch 2009 Entrepreneur & Investor Conference.  Sir Richard Branson will be the keynote speaker, so this adds to the excitement.

We launched this competition just two days ago, and it’s spreading like wildfire.  I’m starting to gain a fonder appreciation for what Twitter is capable of.  We posted the rules and a feed on our conference site.  It’s fun to watch all of the activity.  You can see it here: http://www.perfectbusiness.com/theperfectpitch/twitter.cfm

If you are a Twitter user, please tweet the following:

@perfectbusiness Tweet a creative business idea under 140 characters & win a $2,500 trip to LA. http://bit.ly/micropitch #micropitch

I have always loved off-the-beaten-path marketing tactics.  It will be interesting to see where this goes.

Although, puppies are cuter than startups.

Source: http://www.PerfectBusiness.com

Starting a business is very much like adopting a puppy.  Every startup needs nurturing, and when it gets excited, it pees on the floor.

OK, maybe the second part of that isn’t true.

Before you even think about adopting a puppy (or starting a business), you really need to assess many things in your life.  Why do you want a puppy?  What kind of puppy do you want?  Are you ready for a puppy?  Will you have the time to take care of a puppy?  Do you have people around you that can help raise the puppy?  Who’s going to walk the puppy if you aren’t around?  Can you afford a puppy?

These are all big questions.  If you haven’t noticed already, the same questions apply to your startup.

Starting a business affects almost everything in your life.  It takes a great deal of time, effort and care to make it succeed.

Here are all the ways that a startup is like a puppy:

• Startups and puppies cause you to lose sleep.
• Startups and puppies must be nurtured.
• Startups and puppies demand constant attention.
• Startups and puppies require training.
• Startups and puppies are expensive and time-consuming.
• Startups and puppies should match your personality.
• Startups and puppies need help from your friends and family.
• Startups and puppies can bite you if you don’t treat them well.
• Startups and puppies are very fulfilling and rewarding.

The point of this matter is that you can’t jump into your business without putting some serious thought into how a business fits your own personality, your lifestyle and the people around you.

The same holds true for puppies!

I’ve owned both puppies and businesses, so I speak from experience when I say that both can be fun and exciting.  However, if you are tired and just want to relax, both can be a bitch!

Do you really need it now?

My business partner Mark told me an interesting story, and within the story hides a simple concept that reveals the secret to obtaining wealth.

Mark’s friend loved to play basketball.  In fact, his friend played basketball every day.  One day, this friend complained to Mark that he was struggling to pay bills and make ends meet.  Mark told him straight up, “Stop spending so much time playing basketball, and get to work.”

While this might seem very simple on the surface, there is an underlying concept that Mark’s friend did not understand or accept.  In fact, if our whole society had adopted this concept, we could have avoided the economic downturn and millions more people would have financial independence.  What is it?

Mark went on to explain that he also loved basketball, but when he realized that the NBA wasn’t in his future, he began to focus on his business.  Basketball became a hobby.  Most significantly, Mark determined that basketball was a luxury.  Maybe he would reward himself by playing basketball after working hard all week.  Just maybe.  Other priorities came first.

This is where the secret to wealth comes in…  In order to achieve your goals, you must be willing to DELAY GRATIFICATION.

Delayed gratification is a concept that might be new to Americans.  Here’s how it works:  You work hard, make sacrifices and save money, THEN you enjoy the fruits of your labor.

Instead, far too many people try to finance a fancy car, a big house, an expensive hobby and a vacation to Hawaii BEFORE becoming wealthy.  Everyone seems to want it all NOW.

You’ve seen the ads calling your name.  Order the flat screen TV with no payments until next year.  Buy that car today and get a big rebate.  Get new furniture with zero down payment.  Secure that low interest mortgage with just a tiny down payment.  All of your friends seem to be doing it.  Everyone needs to have these things, right?

Wrong.  All of these things are shortsighted and bad investments.

Of course, financing can be a good thing if you are paying for positive-cash-flow assets, such as a business or investment real estate.  (Your home does not count as investment real estate.)

Delayed gratification does a number of positive things for you:
1.  It allows you the time and clarity to concentrate on your goals.
2.  It frees up money, so you can pursue opportunities.
3.  It makes your luxuries more affordable, because you can afford bigger down payments.
4.  It reduces the stress of having too much debt.
5.  It keeps you from getting spoiled.

If you get too spoiled in your leveraged luxury, you will lose the motivation to change your life for the better.  Rather than buying that new car or giant TV, pursue your goal and reward yourself AFTER achieving it.  Few things are more inspiring than a rusty car or a broken TV!

This secret may not sound fun initially, but if you are willing to be disciplined with your time and money, wealth and freedom can be yours… just not today.

Hurry up and get it done!

Deadlines are empowering… even if you create the deadlines for yourself.

Ever notice how much energy you have when you are racing to beat a deadline?  Think about all the deadline scenarios you face on a regular basis:
- Preparing last-minute for a big business meeting
- Setting up for an important event
- Designing an ad for a publication deadline
- Getting dressed for dinner reservations or a movie
- Racing to a store before it closes
- Running to grab a ringing phone

Can you imagine your heart pounding as you try to beat the clock in all of these situations?  How can you apply this energy in a productive way to accomplish your goals?  There are several ways:

1. Don’t just set goals, set deadlines for those goals. For big goals, break them down into smaller pieces. (This is basic goal-setting 101 stuff, but you should really do it.)
2. Set a meeting with a friend or partner with an obligation to complete your goal in time for the meeting.
3. If you really want to get something done, schedule a meeting with a potential business partner or investor. Nothing is more motivating than this! Even if you are nowhere near ready, this might be the stimulus you need to get the job done.

In order to meet your deadlines, enlist friends and associates for help. Get them involved as early as possible is you want it done right.

One more tip, and I’m speaking from experience, GET SOME SLEEP. If you spend so much time cramming to get a project or presentation ready, then arrive at a meeting groggy, you won’t be in the condition to deliver effectively.

I am excellent at meeting deadlines, and I bet you are too. For some reason people are programmed to focus much more intently as deadlines approach. I’m a big fan of deadlines for exactly that reason.

As usual, I completed this article just in time to make it into our weekly newsletter. Whew!

Does your partner look like this?

Sometimes, it’s really difficult to see the true colors of your business partners until it’s too late.

I once had an experience with two business partners who were complete opposites. One was smart, honest, loyal and selfless. The other lacked all of these characteristics. Let’s call them “Partner A” and “Partner B”, respectively. Sadly, I didn’t learn about Partner B’s deficiencies until the deal was nearly done.

The three of us were negotiating to buy a business and the building it occupied. Partner A had been my business partner in several prior projects. Partner B approached us to help him buy and manage the business. As we drafted our business plan, negotiated with sellers and raised capital, we came to realize that Partner B was a complete idiot!   Even worse, he was greedy and egotistical.

Partner B had never owned a business before. We could sense that his intentions were self-serving and not in line with ours. At that point, we decided to have a heart-to-heart meeting with him.

At the meeting, Partner A and I explained that we were walking away. We felt it was the right thing to do. This was simply based on a few mild signs and our instincts. Partner B literally BEGGED us to push the deal through. He explained that it would change his life and allow him to own his own business, just like us. Unfortunately, we caved! We made some changes in the terms, but we essentially did the deal. This was one of my biggest business mistakes!

Partner B confirmed our instincts when he operated the business recklessly, avoided our calls, failed to pay taxes and ran the business into the ground. The crazy part about this deal was that he ACTUALLY BLAMED US for his failings!

In the end, we walked away from the business and the building. We virtually gave the business to Partner B and a few minor shareholders.  Six months after we parted ways, the business was closed. Had Partner B allowed us to participate in the management of the business, there is no doubt that it would have succeeded. Instead, the business was closed, jobs were lost and everyone went through a tremendous amount of stress!

Never again will I go against my instincts when choosing a business partner!

Here are 6 tell tale signs that your partner is a jerk:
1.  He or she argues with you on every minor deal point - You don’t need constant confrontations
2.  The partner is a pushover and concedes EVERYTHING - Either you partner is a pushover, or desperate to do the deal.
3.  The partner is mean to waiters, receptionists and interns - A superiority complex will prevent this person from being a good leader.
4.  The partner seems to care more about personal compensation than the viability of the business - Shortsightedness can kill a business.
5.  The partner lacks common sense - Business owners must be able to solve problems and deal with a variety of situations.
6.  The partner doesn’t listen to your suggestions - Without respect and openmindedness, partners will never get along.

Some of these things can be tough to spot, but keep your eyes peeled. There are many business deals to be done. No deal is too big to walk away from. You don’t want to be in any deal, big or small, with a rotten partner. Life is short, and it’s just not worth the aggravation.