Archives for January 2015

Solo Entrepreneurship | Two Insights Beaver Trilogy Part IV Sparked at the Sundance Movie Festival

January 31, 2015 by Katie

This week I had the lovely opportunity to get out of my home office and explore the magnificent, world-famous, Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah. The Sundance Film Festival festival spans over two weeks and brings people from all over the world to review films across many genres. I used this opportunity to reflect on creativity, ingenuity, and motivation from a solo entrepreneurship standpoint. The Beaver Trilogy Part IV was a delightful roller coaster of emotions associated with creativity, persistence, resistance, failure, and yet, again poetic persistence that culminated into a successful piece of cinematic art.

This post is a reflection of two insights the Beaver Trilogy Part IV sparked about solo entrepreneurship. You can own a laptop and say you own a business, but if you don't do anything to fund, operate, or reach whatever objectives you have for your business, it is not going to happen. ACTION!

The synopsis of Beaver Trilogy Directed and Produced by Trent Harris. Trent Harris has had a roller coaster of films. He bootstrapped many of his films through his journalism. One of the films that he did was about a young man, Groovin' Gary, from Beaver, UT. Groovin' Gary had a great ability to do impersonations, including Olivia Newton and John Travolta. His impersonation of Olivia Newton was not received by rural Utahans because of their beliefs toward a man acting like a woman was considered sin. As such, Grooving Gary was ridiculed to the point that he tried to commit suicide. He quit his dream and took different career route, he repaired TVs. Beaver Trilogy has been on the big screen and Sean Penn acted as Groovin' Gary and had success. The original footage of the real Groovin' Gary was shown years later at the 1995 Sundance Film Festival. Trent Harris and Groovin' Gary were reunited after years of being apart and his creative abilities and impersonations were well received at Sundance. This shifted Groovin' Gary's attitude toward himself – his pride and joy about impersonating returned. Gary and Trent celebrated the success of the film. Years later after traveling the world and self-funding films, Trent taught film courses in Utah. Here he told his his students the simple recipe for making a film: get a camera and go do it. Which is how The Beaver Trilogy Part IV was created and shown at Sundance this week.

Listen to our visitors. Inspiration can come from anyone at anytime. You just need to listen. Really listen. Digest what it is that is going on and how that information or advice can be used to aid you in your journey. However, as also illustrated within this film was negative critics. For example, Groovin' Gary was a dynamic impersonator quit his love and passion because of what others said. In that example, the choice of what we hear, feel, and do can be impacted. It can be making a dream of being on TV a reality, or kill that dream and settle for a life of repairing TVs. In that situation, and as many solo-entrepreneurs can relate, it may seem easier to quit than to move forward. As such, it could also seem like death to quit and do something ordinary. Not that ordinary is a bad thing, but giving up on being extraordinary creates a behavior of accepting defeat. This is not a trait of a solo-entrepreneur. Which can be illustrated by Trent Harris and his objective of making films even with all of the critics and pennies to his name. He preserved and moved forward after each defeat. Also, with the current director, he listened to the advice of just get a camera and make a film. He did. So, within each of these people, we can see how listening can influence the direction of dream, career, or job.

A dream is one thing, action is another. You can have the passion,excitement, and vision towards a dream, but if you don't have action, the dream will only be a dream. It will not happen in “reality”. This is experienced by many solo-entrepreneurs that have the dream of financial freedom, flexibility, and making money on their own. However, this doesn't happen without action. You can own a laptop and say you own a business, but if you don't do anything to fund, operate, or reach whatever objectives you have for your business, it is not going to happen. Likewise, even if you do all the things that you think you should do for your business, it can still fail. Dealing with failure is a part of being a solo-entrepreneur. You can either quit or you can buck up and move forward trying something different that aligns with you getting to your “dream”. Lets also face that fact that “dreams” change, and we can orchestrate that change whenever we want through our own action.

The Beaver Trilogy Part IV was a refreshing reminder about life, creativity, failure, and success. It illustrated the interconnectedness of people, action, inaction, and outcomes in our personal and professional lives. Much of which related to aspects that solo entrepreneurs experience daily. The insights sparked: listening to our visitors and a dream is one thing, action is another. Both show how perception, influence, action or the lack of action to catapult or sink one's dream. Likewise, it also reminds us that like all things, dreams can change, and if we have the power within and the action we can make the unthinkable happen. Perhaps, this reflection may help to remind us that we've all experienced moments like Groovin' Gary and how our decisions shaped where we are today, and continue to shape where we're going. If you haven't watched the original Beaver Trilogy I would encourage checking it out, and Beaver Trilogy Part IV. It really does bring a great deal of perspective to humanity, life, and how the decisions we make impact everything.

by Katie Doseck, Ph.D.

Chief Visionary and Strategic Ace Up Your Sleeve | Viral Solutions LLC

Dr Katie Doseck, MBA, PhD Viral Solutions

Katie Doseck, PhD MBA | Chief Visionary & Strategic Ace Up Your Sleeve. I catapulted my experience with extensive education, trainings, and personal coaching; earning a PhD in Organizational Management with a specialization in Human Resource Management, MBA in Organizational Leadership, and BA in Law & Liberal Arts. Subject Matter Expert (SME) areas: Human Resource Management, Employment Law, Organizational Change, Change Management, Resource Planning, Strategic Planning, Talent Management, Selling & Sales Management, Training & Development, Decision Making Models, Project Management, Customer Relationship Management, and Motivation. Dr. Doseck is based out of Logan, Utah.

Filed Under: Analytics

Align Activities to Vision and Strategy | The link between a great idea and business success

January 30, 2015 by Christine

The Balanced Scorecard is well –known as a strategic planning and metric management system that is used in business, industry, government and non-profit organizations worldwide. The primary purpose of this system is to align an organization’s business activities to the vision and strategy of the organization, optimize both the internal and external communications, and monitor financial, operational and organizational performance against the stated strategic goals. While originated, by Dr. Robert Kaplan and Dr. David Norton, as a performance management framework that stressed more of the non-financial performance measures as opposed to traditional financial metrics in aims of helping managers to better view and understand organizational performance, one must ask, in a much more technology-based interaction between companies and potential customers, where should the focus for performance measurement lie and how does that focus shift based on a company’s desired mode of integration with its customers and constituents?

In the traditional business economy, metrics management helps to propel an organization from simply recording agreed upon performance metrics to using said information to drive action plans for the organization by key department and manage to goals on a daily basis.

Properly applied metrics management is meant to provide feedback around the internal business practices and the external results and outcomes in aims at continuously improving business performance and operational results.

“ Where performance is measured, performance
improves. Where performance is reported,
performance improves dramatically. Where
performance is reported publicly, performance
improves exponentially.”
~ Clate Mask , CEO of Infusionsoft

A brief review of the key categories of performance metrics lead to an understanding for not only which types of metrics are critical for measuring, but the relative importance of each metric to the organization given their strategic objectives. The most traditional metrics that companies understand, are measured by, and resonate with are financial or “money”-related metrics. The financial landscape of metrics management that keeps a constant pulse on profit and loss performance, cash management and risk profiling has always and will be critical for organizations to understand where they stack up vs-à-vis their competitors. However, as technology continues to change the dynamics of social interaction, other metric landscapes will become increasingly important.

The business operations landscape allows managers to have an understanding as to how efficiently and productively different processes are performing, and gives them the ability to identify problems in process flows and address said problems as quickly as possible.
The customer landscape has become increasingly important over time. Businesses continually increase focus on understanding customer requirements and developing initiatives aimed at driving customer satisfaction in aims at driving and improving customer affinity and loyalty. If a company is unable to meet its customer’s needs then the customers will certainly seek out other solutions. A leading indicator of failing overall business performance is an inability to satisfy customer needs and an inability to succeed along the customer landscape of metric performance.
As we move forward into the technology-based business economy, what has become apparent is that the learning and growth landscape for metrics management has become critical for companies looking to create and sustain a long-term competitive advantage. This dimension is not only critical for companies looking to build on their core asset, employee knowledge of their respective business, and more importantly, knowledge of the needs of their customers and clients. This will be the separating dimension for business leaders going forward.
But in this new technology-based viral economy, what are the right metrics and what are the dimensions that companies should be looking to compete in? What are the correct social media metrics? What are the best social media platforms to employ and how does that change based on product, service, channel of distribution, manufacturing process, etc.? Twitter? Facebook? LinkedIn? SMS?

Fueled by an Awesome Idea?

Unfortunately, many go-getters don’t know what’s in store as they venture forward to implement their brilliant ideas. They just know they want to go into business for themselves.

Had an Entrepreneurial Seizure?

Did you leave a company or a job you weren’t excited about, only to end up feeling the same way you did before? Did you have an idea that you just knew, deep down in your gut, would have a positive impact on the world?

Hate being the manager?

If you’re like most entrepreneurs I’ve met, you’d rather come up with ideas than plan, organize and manage the financials. But speaking from firsthand experience, these hats might become your only wardrobe—unless you have a proper business strategy in place.

In small business, a strategic game plan can help you do more than just survive. You can thrive— and win.

Understand how strategy guides planning
Establish a meeting rhythm for success
Involve and motivate your employees
Analyze results for continuous improvement

Identify your purpose! Stake a claim on your mission! Find the keys to Strategic Planning. The link between a great idea and business success.

Your Small Business Game Plan: A Winning Strategy for Entrepreneurs and Small Business Owners.

Thomas von Ahn | Chief Elephant Slayer | Viral Solutions LLC

Watch out elephants! This slayer of business challenges comes with 30 years of record breaking sales, marketing, operations, training and leadership experience . He has worked face-to-face with 100’s of small business owners as well as large firms. His love of creating, communicating, developing and executing results for clients shines with each project, publication and training event. His entrepreneurial spirit, passion, industry experience, education, problem-solving prowess, charismatic personality and been-there-done that attitude leads his client focused approach.

Filed Under: Analytics Tagged With: entrepreneur, goals, marketing plan

Understanding Customer Touch Points – Theory to Practice for the Beginner

January 29, 2015 by Katie

Take a moment to reflect on the your own best customer experience? Yes. I am asking you to stop for a moment and think about a time that you, as the customer, thoroughly enjoyed your experience. What was it about the experience that was so different? What made you feel so awesome and converted you to become a customer? Really think about it because what you experienced was direct or indirect customer touch point interaction(s). The wooing and pursuing strategies used in that experience are going to be the talking points of this introductory post about understanding customer touch points by bringing theory to practice.

In this post we'll discuss what is a customer touch point, why customer touch points matter, how to identify customer touch points, and provide you with tips that you can use today.

So what is a customer touch point? McKinsey & Co. defined a customer touch point as an interaction that your customer comes in contact with your firm or brand – this can be before, during, or after purchase. A customer touch point is simply the direct and indirect interactions a firm has with an audience. The audience is the market. The objective is to convert the audience into a customer. The objective of a customer touch point is that the interactions create a positive experience that yields to customer conversion. Customer touch points vary significantly per firm, however, the objective is the same – interactions that lead to action. Action that leads to customers. Customers leads to sales.

Why do customer touch points matter? Understanding the key interactions helps you to chart your own customer journey map. A customer journey map helps you to identify your areas of opportunities for those interactions and to carefully shape those interactions using methods that fit your customers – not you. Yes, if you're a selfish marketing lover and only focus on what others have to gain from using your services or products, you need to take a deep breathe and recognize, that there are others, there will always be others, and the only way to be competitive is to balance your uniqueness with creating and maintaining a positive customer relationship. Oh, you have a fear of customer commitment? I bet your profits are pretty small too. Insert Humor HERE.

How do I identify customer touch points? Identifying your customer touch points helps you as a marketer or small business owner to customize, engage, energize, establish, and maintain positive experiences from start to finish with customers over the short and long-haul. Tips to identify customer touch points:

Before: Social Media, Online Reviews, Testimonials, Advertising, Public Relations, and Marketing.
During: Store, Website, Location, Staff, Catalogue, Promotions, and Point of Sale.
After: Communication, Marketing, Follow-Ups, Online Resources, Online Reviews, and Social Media.

These are just a few examples of customer touch point opportunities that may already be impacting your firm. Data is only as good as it reviewed, used, and implemented. Get to know you customer touch points by understanding your own customer map. This can help you to see the consumer demographics, psychographics, and help you review strategies that appear more effective. Likewise, it also serves as an opportunity to customize those touch points to strategically fit the dynamics that you're working toward achieving with the customer. Keep in mind the experience that you want the customer to feel, not how you feel per se. Whether that be a one-time interaction, or lifetime of interactions with the customer. Companies that carefully craft customer touch points that are designed around the customer, have a greater opportunity of acquisition and retention.

Teach, Train, Mentor, Lead, Develop, Implement and bring Results. Our small business experts can consult or coach on a wide variety of important business topics, including sales optimization and management, sales training, automated relationship marketing, eMarketing, strategic planning and much more. Our thought process is very simple. First we seek to understand, before we seek to be understood. When the team at Viral Solutions brings their minds to your business, you are getting all of our collective experiences. We will not sugar coat the reasons behind our input. We will not withhold our best solutions. We will not limit our implementation strategies. We will tell you exactly how we see it. The results you experience will be the sum of your strategy, your defined target audience, your commitment to serve your customer and our process of delivery. That means we are an integral part of your team!

How to start your customer touch point journey today? You can start by connecting theory with practice. Practice as it relates to your firm and customers. I would encourage setting aside a 60 minutes to get your creative juices flowing and to connect the dots of your customer touch points. Sit back by yourself or with a team, and discuss your target customers, how they come in contact with your firm, what touch point methods you may already be using, the effectiveness of those current touch points, and whether or not those touch points align with your brand objectives. If you're truly a beginner and have no touch points, then think about how your customer learns about your firm, product, or service. Identify what methods could bring awareness and at the different stages (before, during, and after purchase). Think about the messages associated within different touch points. Is that message consistent or does it vary? Why? This brief 60 minute session will help you to connect theory with practice and/or prospective practice that fits your firm. Taken that information from the review session session and conducting a GAP analysis on where you are and where you would like to be in terms of customer touch points would be the next suggestion.

Cheers to you for taking on one of the funnest areas within business and making magic for your firm! For more information about establishing customer touch points, feel free to reach out to discussion strategic sessions in which we provide a helping hand with analysis and crafting strategy.

by Katie Doseck, Ph.D.

Chief Visionary and Strategic Ace Up Your Sleeve | Viral Solutions LLC

Filed Under: Analytics

The Entrepreneur | Here I Go Again, Along the Lonely Street of Dreams

January 28, 2015 by Christine

As entrepreneur's we are driven into solving problems. Our passions are self-evident. Our love of our craft, our trade, our will to fulfill a need and our drive to chase success is intoxicating. We all know where we've been, some of us aren't sure where we are going and a lot of us only think we know how to get there. We hang on to promises of the trials we experienced yesterday. We have experienced success and failure – sometimes in the same hour of the day. But, here we go again, we aren't wasting no-more time, we are off on that lonely street of dreams!

The local small business owner. The solopreneur working out of their basement. The entrepreneur building a business through a virtual existence. Many, if not most, left the corporate cubicle because they just do not fit in.

Hitting performance targets for the behemoth company does not fuel their engine against the daily grind. They would rather be a lonely leader searching for an answer, trying to find what their looking for – praying for the strength to carry on. They know what it means to walk along the lonely street of dream. Here they go again!

Like a drifter, they go down the only road they've ever really known. They were born to walk alone. They've made of their mind, they're wasting no more time. Family members see their dreams and ask them when they are going to get a real job. They take the jab very personal. This is not a dream in their mind, it is an execution of a long term plan. The lonely street of dreams is their path to self-generated success. The only person who gets them, is them. The only person they can often work with, side-by-side day after day, is them. Most great leaders, inventors, creators and visionaries we have saluted through time were too.

The work-at-home consultant, coach, trainer and speaker are just a few examples of solopreneur's looking for a heart in search of rescue. Their critics see their fee structure as someone waiting on love's sweet charity. Not! They're going to hold on, for the rest of their days, because they know what it means to walk the lonely street of dreams. Here they go again on their own! Going down the only road they've ever known. Like a drifter they were born to walk alone. They've made up their mind. They aren't wasting no more time.

Thomas von Ahn | Chief Elephant Slayer | Viral Solutions LLC

Filed Under: Analytics Tagged With: entrepreneur, small business

Get Financially Principled!

January 23, 2015 by Christine

What is the reason you work? Is it for the money? If you really ponder that question, the answer is “no.” None of us are working for money — we’re really working to buy ourselves time, which is what money allows us. Time is what we really want! The more money we make the more time we create. As a small business owner, time is our asset and money morphs into leaves flying by our eyes. Small business owners then increase marketing, increase staff and increase revenue to rake those leaves into a pile. Only to have them blow away again. What are we doing wrong?

As the CEO of Viral Solutions and a fellow small business owner, I find it challenging to balance cash flow, aggressive growth (thus aggressive expense growth), a personal life and the desire to fuel this engine I called Viral Solutions; the organization behind my passion to help overwhelmed small business owners duplicate themselves so business can be fun again. A major part of creating that fun in a small business is the accumulation of money, the tokens that enable us to do what we want and need to do for others.

With the help of Alan Williams and Peter Jepson, I found a set of financial principles that they have trademarked, taught for decades to help all of us as small business owners achieve our goals. I would like to share those principles with you!

Because there is an infinite opportunity to spend, but a finite amount of money to do so, the creation of more time and money are only possible when we are empowered to prioritize the spending of that finite amount so we can get the most benefit. To be empowered we must be principle-centered, otherwise we will live day-to-day making money and spending it on a whim of so called “wants and needs” only to find later that we have spent our entire future (or all of our time)!

The creation of more money and time only comes by looking at each financial decision we make through the lens of principles. The Money Mastery Principles are the perfect lens by which to see the world as it really is.

Without a foundation of solid, time-proven principles that can help alter the way you think about money and the methods by which you control it, you may find temporary relief using some of these financial services, but inevitably long-term problems will return. Only through the power of principle-based thinking can you make lasting and meaningful change. As Stephen Covey has said in his book, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, “There are basic principles of effective living, and … people can only experience true success and enduring happiness as they learn and integrate these principles into their basic character.” That’s why the Money Mastery Principles are so powerful.

***Apply the Money Mastery Principles Systematically* *and See for Yourself!***

Principle 1: Spending is Emotional. This means that money is more about emotions than it is about math. If spending were simply a mathematical problem more individuals and families would not be consuming more than they make and would be far wealthier than they are. If you do not decide to systematically control your money, you will emotionally consume your future and the opportunities it can offer. Spending money almost always has a powerful emotional impact on our lives, whether we realize it or not.
Principle 2: When You Track Your Money, You Control It. Corporations are required to track spending and assets, yet individuals are reluctant to take the time to track and control their personal spending. People who do track find they are wasting at least $312 every month that they could be applying to savings or using to pay down debt. Planning how to spend, and spending according to a plan is the key to becoming wealthy. To any responsible person, this should be the only option.
Principle 3: Savings Is Actually Delayed Spending. Wealth and security depend on how you spend, not on how you save or on how much money you make. There is actually no such thing as “savings” because every dollar is to be spent — what matters most is how you spend it. This principle points out that you have to “spend” money each month for your future by paying yourself first. People who pay themselves first add at least an additional $302, 000 to their retirement savings, while many find much, much more.
Principle 4: Power Down Your Debt and Power Up Your Fortune. Most people don’t know the difference between “good” and “bad” debt. This principle, which is powerful and dramatic, teaches the difference between good and bad debt and how to get out of bad debt as quickly as possible. By applying this principle, it is mathematically feasible for anyone, no matter how bad their debt-load is, to get completely out of debt in nine years or less, including a 30-year mortgage. Why not become debt-free and pay yourself compound interest instead of giving it to creditors? Then without taking on any additional risk or needing any more money you can not only be out of debt in 30 years, but out of debt with a million dollars in your pocket!
Principle 5: Know the Rules. This principle teaches that you do not need to know everything financial but you do need to know where to go for information that is important for you — that means reading and understanding all contracts you enter into and relying on financial mentors and professionals as needed. In today’s world of easy credit many people feel they are entitled to play very complex financial games, like owning a credit card, without paying the price to learn the rules of that game. Ask questions! The answers could be worth thousands of dollars to you.
Principle 6: The Rules Are Always Changing. Recently the IRS implemented 1,200 changes in one year to the U.S. tax law. This illustrates that things are always changing financially and that you must be able to cope with those changes. You must be capable of moving with change, always open to learning new information that can be vital to your future success. Otherwise, you will face consequences that could force you to work many years beyond the point that you want to. To know this principle is to shave years from your working life!
Principle 7: Always Look at the Big Picture. In the absence of long-term goals you will make financial decisions you cannot afford. With specific goals clearly in mind, you will make spending decisions today that will not only bring happiness to you now, but that will build a happy life for the future. We cannot become wealthy without first “Master Planning” our lives by looking at where we are now, where we want to go in the future, and figuring out a plan to get there.
Principle 8: Organizing Your Finances Enables the Creation of Additional Wealth. Disorganization breeds procrastination which leads to lost opportunities. Organizing your finances means knowing where important documents are, having an estate plan for your loved ones, and knowing how to protect your assets from over-taxation, litigation, and theft.
Principle 9: Understanding Taxation Enables You to Retain More Money. The easiest way to earn more money is to keep more of the money you already make! That means giving the IRS what it expects only when it is due and no more. Tax refunds are mythical benefits that come at a great cost to American families. Don’t be fooled by this myth and countless others. Knowing the real rules about taxation will free and empower you.
Principle 10: Money in Motion Creates More Money. This principle is a combination of applying each of the other nine. This principle is where wealth is truly built and accelerated (but only when the other nine principles are clearly understood and applied). If there is one single strategy that builds wealth and financial security the fastest, it is understanding the “leverage” factor of Principle 10 and how to get your money to do more than one thing at a time. The banks do it and so can you!

For each of us there is an infinite opportunity to spend money, but a finite amount of money to spend. Wealth and financial security are only possible when you are empowered to prioritize the spending of that finite amount of money so you get the most benefit.

To be empowered you must be principled-centered and you cannot be fully empowered if you are not financially principled! Otherwise, you will live day-to-day making and spending on a whim of so called “wants and needs” only to find later that you have spent your future. Remember… “you can have anything you want, you just can’t have everything you want.”

Wealth comes by looking at each financial decision you make through the lens of principles.

This important link between time and money is what Money Mastery^® is all about — so much so that the company that created this powerful system of personal financial management calls itself Time & Money, LLC. Money Mastery teaches people how to keep more of the money they already make (eliminating the misdirected urge to put in more time in order to make more money) and helps them learn how to make their money go to work for them to earn them more money, consequently giving them more time.
CEO and Queen Bee | Viral Solutions LLC

Prior to joining Viral Solutions, Christine held executive leadership roles at some of the largest small business consulting firms in the USA. Her experience includes leading direct reports of over 130 remote sales agents who generated $38mm in annual revenue. She obtained her Marketing degree from British Columbia Institute of Technology. Bring her C-Suite experience to your small business. Although our company is virtual, and we can work with you wherever you are located, she is located in Denver, Colorado and owns a second home in Vancouver, BC Canada.

Money Mastery is a federally registered trademark and the Money Mastery logo and all other trademarks, servicemarks, and trade names appearing on the site are the property of Time & Money, LLC or its respective owners that have granted Time & Money, LLC the right to use such marks.

Filed Under: Analytics Tagged With: opportunities, small business