Tag: GREAT

Why You Must Climb Higher when Business is Great!

As entrepreneurs we BEG for a break at times. When all the bills are paid and we have a bit of expendable cash in the bank that’s when we tend to relax but that’s the time to actually GO TO WORK! You’ve been waiting for this moment for a long time, why would you rest? Best believe in a short matter of time you will be RIGHT BACK where you started, struggling to make ends meet if you don’t take advantage of those upswings. Many times, and the experienced entrepreneurs can validate this, when things are going great and sales are great THAT’s the time to hit up those clients who you have not been able to reach. Usually they have an idea of how well you are doing and when it comes to many industries there is a “me too” philosophy. Not to mention your energy is going to be different, you won’t be begging but able to make a better presentation. Nobody wants to be left out when it appears everyone else is following a trend and winning this is the time when your business esteem HAS to be be good and you HAVE to take advantage of it. Don’t wait until all the air is out of your balloon before you get back to work, get to work when things are going great and climb even higher to stretch your 15 minutes of success and build your brand.

My best in business

Kevin

October 6, 2014
4 Reasons Entrepreneurs Must Steer Clear of Negative People

Feeling drained and down lately?

Who have you been keeping company with ?

Ultimately, we all want two things in life… to feel good and to have control. We can’t always have either, both or one of the other at all times when it concerns others but we CAN CONTROL how WE FEEL. I could literally end the whole story with that last sentence because it’s JUST THAT SIMPLE.. As entrepreneurs we must consider that there will be naysayers, people who are jealous and people who will not believe in what we do because they can’t see what we see for themselves. There are others who are just stuck but truth be told when you are in a race for the finish line, if you take time to stop, look back or even look to the side you will lose time. This is absolutely not to say that all negative people are the way they are because they simply choose to be that way. Some people have had horrific experiences in their lives and they have lost all faith in mankind. Nevertheless they are not alone. MANY people have had horrific experiences but they CHOOSE to take the high road. As a matter of fact, many entrepreneurs that I have come across have horror stories to tell about they way they grew up, abusive relationships or even extreme poverty growing up but they have made a decision to ensure that their lives and their children’s lives will be very different. This past weekend, I hung out with an old friend who is by far the most negative person I know. She constantly complains about everything and her presence is an extreme weight on one’s soul. I finally had to tell her how negative she is and how much she complains about EVERYTHING. I also told her that most people will not say a word, they will have a bad experience with you once and you will never hear from them again. I get why people do that. When you tell someone how negative they are, they don’t listen because they are not into taking responsibility for their actions, they are into blaming everyone else. Even telling them how negative they are is draining. Here are a few tips to steer clear of the negative people ESPECIALLY in your business. If you let them infect you they will also infect your bottom line. (click NEXT above or below for next segment)

Negative People are Self Destructive

When people hate themselves they have no reason to love you. A very good friend of mines who is a therapist states “Misery Loves Miserable Company.” I am a firm believer that this is true. You MUST and I mean MUST avoid negative people at all cost as an entrepreneur. If you let them into your life they will not only infect you they will infect your business because they will drain YOU. We have to get up each day and we are our own motivators. We don’t need ANYTHING to get in the way of our positive energy. (click NEXT above or below for next segment)

Negative People rob your positive Energy

When I hung out with this woman this past weekend. I was so exhausted, I literally came home and slept for 5 hours. While I was with her, I had a blazing headache (and I rarely ever get headaches) and I was out of my usual spiritual element. She was a burden on my SOUL that day and she robbed every bit of energy I had and I just wanted to get away from her as soon as I could. We were supposed to do some research together in a certain part of LA but after being with her for an hour, I had no desire to start, do or complete the job. (click NEXT above or below for next segment)

Negative People Thrive off Misery

Taking the time to tell a negative person about their habits and ways is indeed a waste of time. As stated above, they are not here to hear what you have to say to help them, they are only interested in how they can rob your positive energy to feed from. It’s like a vampire out for blood. Once he gets what he wants he leaves you for dead and searches out the next victim. You are trying to save them but they are trying to rob you. You have what they want, and they have what you DON’T want so why risk it. If a person can’t figure out why their phone never rings or they are not invited to events it’s up to them to put two and two together because ultimately it’s only them who can change their situation by shifting the way they think. When these things happen it it not the world but it is US. At times we have been given horrible advice like “It’s not always about you, it’s about them and what they are going through.” Nevertheless if you continue to get the same reactions from several people it IS about YOU. If you are trying to grow you must make sure you aim for the most positive experiences in your life and business. All will not always be rosy but there are a lot of things we can eliminate before they get out of control. (click NEXT above or below for next segment)

Also Avoid Negative Situations

Sometimes negative situations can be disguised as positive. For example. There are very few industry events held in Los Angeles anymore and the ones that are here are for the new breed of industry people. Unfortunately, there are some older industry people that can’t let go of the past. There are those who don’t want to move on and let younger people get their shot. They want to hang on to what was and they often talk about how much they miss the old industry. These are people who can’t embrace change because they have not prepared themselves. I don’t feel that way. I gladly embrace the kids who are coming up in the industry as I am honored that I got my chance too and I try to provide opportunities to younger industry people through my industry vehicles. In addition, I have constantly stressed over the last 20 years of producing Radio Facts that those who diversify their talents will have the longest careers.

A couple of months ago, I was invited to a huge lot party at Capitol and Motown records in Hollywood, There was great music and food and great displays and just about major vet and new artist on the Capitol and Motown labels were there. The crowd was exciting, upbeat and positive and they embraced the new industry. The key I want to stress about this event was it was a celebration of the FUTURE of the industry not the past. I don’t believe in going to industry events where people thrive of what was or used to be. That’s because I don’t consider myself to be done with the music and radio industry yet. I still have ideas and I embrace change at the same time and as long as the industry will have me, I will be here in some capacity.

I don’t find great joy in talking about whose sick, who is dying and who is homeless when I get dressed up to go to an event unless it’s an actual funeral. I’m not in denial but there is a time and a place for everything and it should not be the THEME of an event because it is depressing and it signifies the end. The end of one’s journey and career. There MUST be balance and that means we must have control of our options in our business. In the music industry, I personally don’t consider a lot of people to be my true friends. I would consider, out of thousands of people I’ve met over the years, maybe 20 as true friends. This is a business and it’s about relationships and what you can do for people, initially, I didn’t get that and in the beginning of my career I was devastated when I was between jobs and the people who I thought were my friends really were not. As I got older I understood how business works. People deal with you based on what you can do for them and that’s (mostly) how they form their relationships with you. I consider my clients my closest allies in the industry because they believe in what I do and they support me and I’ve known most of them over 20 years. The fact that I am an entrepreneur speaks volumes about their faith in me and I truly honor that. It’s really not personal, it’s just business. Who is it in your business that you consider your true allies? Know that THOSE are the people you must focus on and support.

September 22, 2014
Maintain Customer Trust: The Power of Listening

One of my greatest pet peeves is telling someone who I am paying what I want and them telling me that’s not what I want. A couple of years ago, an industry contact got me a great audition with a huge Voiceover agency in NYC. I submitted my first audition and they loved it but they stated the quality was not there and for me to record it again. They even went out of their way to send me scripts. Truth be told, I did not have a professional recording studio in my home and I called one of my old stations to ask if I could use their studios and they were hard up for money and wanted to charge me to use the studio. I was insulted since I had worked there for several years but down the line I realized, I SHOULD have done it. I went to a voiceover “Professional” who had her own cheap studio and when I started to do the reads, she would not give me headphones and she told me I didn’t need them but I KNEW I did. My professional training as a radio announcer and voice actor requires that I hear my delivery. It’s the same as a singer in the studio who has to hear themselves sing so they can make sure they are on pitch and their tones and modulation are on point. At any rate, I needed to get this second tape to the agency ASAP. So I did it in a few reads. I was absolutely not confident that the reads were good and the woman told me I was wrong and that my reads were so good that she wanted to use me for some other projects. This is another one of those situations where I should have used my gut and went to the station instead where I would have had to pay but I would have been in control of my audition and could have stayed there all night if necessary. This woman was in a rush to get me out of there and to just get my money.

I submitted the audition to the agency and they had a meeting and listened to is and declined me. They stated the reads were not good and to try out again in 2 years, that’s friendly language for “don’t call us, we’ll NEVER call you.” I was furious. More upset with myself for not following my gut and leaving that woman’s studio. Needless to say, she never called me for the extra work either, she just wanted my money. I’m about to audition again for another major agency and I’m going to make sure i’m on point this time and I do it myself.

The message in this story is when you are paying for something you have the right to expect what YOU ask for. The same goes for your customers. Never ASSUME you know what they want or take anything for granted. The customer is indeed always right, even when they are wrong in your eyes. I make a concerted effort to reach out to my clients and double-check certain things with them all the time like do they want their personal cell numbers on ads for Radio Facts email blasts or do they want their email address written out. They ALWAYS thank me for double checking. It’s better to get this done BEFORE I send out the information than to have them be upset when it’s too late. Make sure you listen, write down and confirm when someone is paying you to do something.

My best in business

Kevin

September 21, 2014
Skimping on Services? Customers Know the Difference

I left Buffalo, New York some 30 years ago and once I moved to Atlanta then Los Angeles after that and worked in radio as a DJ for many years there was no turning back. The new environments opened my eyes to all that I had missed growing up on the East side of Buffalo. Nevertheless, there is one thing that is foremost in my mind on the few occasions when I return, think or talk about Buffalo… the food. Without question, my career in the music industry has afforded me the opportunity to go to some of the best restaurants in the country but none of them compare to Buffalo’s still famous food spots.

Tale of Two Legendary Restaurants, One that still is and what that WAS.

Scottie’s Steak House popped on the scene in the early 60s in Buffalo (see video). Owner James Scott explains everything that we know it takes as entrepreneurs to run a successful business and get it off the ground. As a radio and music industry entrepreneur, I can agree even today with MOST of Scott’s points in the video but not all of them. He makes two statements that probably explain why his restaurant is no longer around today. He states that “Owning your own business is not fun” Says who? The old adage is true, ‘Do what you LOVE and the money will COME” an entrepreneur going into a business he or she is not passionate about is almost sure to fail. Running your own business that you are passionate about is like falling in love. Time slips away and you can spend endless hours doing what you do and not even notice you have been doing it for 10 hours straight. That is the bliss of doing what you love. Scott mentions on the video that he has worked 18 hour days. I know music producers who LIVE in the studio and can do it for several days straight with little or no sleep. I never hear them complain about how many hours they have been in the studio, they are more focused on the result of it. The number one rule is you NEVER go into business to make money (unless you have a great business partner who handles that part and you are the creative ebb and flow). Most of the people who I know and am close to today are entrepreneurs and they are all successful in their own right because they LOVE what they do FIRST and FOREMOST. Our creativity is at its peak when we love what we do and THAT’s what sells our businesses first.

In the years to come, Scottie’s Steak House experienced great success and it’s amazing how the video coverage talks about the local government in Buffalo giving small business loans to blacks back then who were smart enough to capitalize on the culture and what they knew best but how much did they love it? This is not a dig on Scottie because I have no doubt he faced many other obstacles that got in the way of him running his business as a black man. Restaurants in the black community were something that white business owners often failed at because they were not connected to the culture of black food. Like most cultures black folks KNOW when the right cook is in the kitchen and you better be connected to the culture the food is from if you want our business. (Thanks to Doug Ruffin who told me he stopped Canisius College from dumping many years of great Buffalo News footage and video in the trash after it was donated by local TV networks who were updating their studios. These videos are priceless.)

I’m not sure how Scottie got to his idea for the perfect steak sandwich, but he did. This was the MOST Crucial time for his Business

Scottie’s Steak house had the most amazing steak sandwiches. By far the best I’ve ever had to date. A childhood friend, Cricket, asked me to walk there with her one day and I wanted to go to see what the big deal was about Scottie’s. Everybody in the neighborhood was talking about their steak sandwiches and how good they were. Sure enough as soon as we walked in the door it was crowded and the smell was unbelievable. Cricket ordered a regular steak sandwich/sub and she gave me a piece of it. It was love at first bite. I went back on my own a few days later than again the next week and many times thereafter, I was hooked. Then something happened. I noticed (read more, click here) that the more popular Scottie’s Steak House became the sandwiches were changing. There was more vegetables than meat. I watched the girl make my sandwich one day and I noticed she was putting half the meat with the peppers and onions than I was used to. I thought this might just be a new employee and after a not so enjoyable experience with a “vegetable sandwich” I went back a month later and there was even LESS meat and the PRICE went up!!!! It appeared they were using what they once used for one steak sandwich to now make 3 sandwiches. Where the meat was once the main ingredient, it was now pretty much used for seasoning the sandwich like Lawry’s. I never went back and I noticed there was no
(click NEXT above or below post) crowd the last few times I was there and people stopped talking about Scottie’s like they used to.

On the other hand…Bocce’s Pizza

Bocce’s website states:

Bocce’s Pizza is one of the oldest and best-known pizzerias in Buffalo, NY. Since 1946, we’ve been proudly serving our customers some of the best tasting food in Western New York. Our fresh pizza is still made with the same sauce recipe used back in the 1940’s.

Our delicious food has touched so many lives throughout the years that we are sought out by many who had to leave the Buffalo area. We get phone calls and have customers come in all the time requesting a half-baked pizza or wings to take home to share with their new friends and family across the country.

Stop by or call today for an Original Bocce’s Pizza and let us create a delicious memory for you!

I am here to tell you this statement is the absolute truth. Bocce’s original owner was the son of Italian immigrants (cultural connection) and he saw many people come and go, some of whom even started their own pizzerias but they were loyal enough not to try to duplicate what the original owners did. Bocce’s did not have a great location as a matter of fact it was dilapidated and appeared abandoned (see image) but the pizza was all she wrote. That damn building could have collapsed while you were ordering your pizza and you would still wait for your order. There is nothing worse than going to a great restaurant with all the ambiance and an amazing dining room where the food tastes like crap. I have no idea what they put in that pizza but I grew up on it and I have had pizza at MANY retaurants all over the country. I have NEVER had pizza as good as Bocce’s. Nothing has ever come close. As a matter of fact, I’m going to order one this week, since you have me talking about it so much to make a point in this story. Bocce’s is still using the EXACT same ingredients and the same amount of ingredients that they have been using since they opened in 1946. They didn’t go from 50 pepperoni to 3 and the cheese and the bread and the sauce have never changed. No matter who works there, they are taught to make the pizza the same way and they do. Bocce’s Pizza is STILL around today and STILL successful in Buffalo and beyond because they KNEW what the customers loved about them and they never wavered in an effort to cut costs or make extra profit. People would have paid their rent for that pizza as long as it tasted the same. I KNOW MANY people, including myself who order that Pizza to be expressed or when they go to Buffalo to visit they bring it back with them. I even have one childhood friend who is a Vice President at a University who can only tolerate Buffalo for 1 day per visit, but she loves Bocce’s and she makes sure she gets two large Bocce’s pizza’s before she leaves and she brings a separate suitcase for her pizzas, takes them home and freezes them and enjoys them for the next month. We laugh about her process but she loves that pizza. If you want to know the whole story about how Bocce’s got started go here.

The overall point here is to be the MOST successful in business you must:

LOVE what you DO…FIRST.

Understand AND be a part of the culture that you are serving

Don’t sell your customers short or try to blind side their senses (in this case taste buds)

It’s better to charge MORE than to give less (and have the nerve to charge more)

Always be loyal to why you are successful and use that to GROW other products for your customers

The demand remains high as long as your brand remains loyal and you remain trustworthy

My best in business

Kev Ross

[email protected]

www.radiofacts.com

September 15, 2014
5 Things You Can Do to Jump Start Your Small Business Income

As always, here are some quick tips to build your business. These are things that we often overlook but could generate more revenue, of course this is on top of providing great service.

1. Hire a young Social Media Whiz

Kids are becoming marketing machines and they are better at it than expensive ad agencies because they don’t rely on flawed research…. .THEY LIVE THE LIFE. Advertisers are now going directly to kids with huge youtube followers to push their brands and this may signal a problem for marketing agencies who have controlled how we think for far too long. Social media marketing is less biased and more factual and you should jump on this trend NOW. Grab a high school or college kid that’s always online to help promote your business. Truth be told you may also not want to skimp on what you pay them either (after they have proven themselves) because they can be extremely valuable. (click NEXT above or below)

2. Stop Chasing Dead Clients

There are some clients who will never support you, no matter what you say or do. Move on and pursue clients who are not familiar with your brand (click NEXT above or below)

3. Create an App for your Business

I suggest Wiziapp if you have a website. This can be somewhat cumbersome but the push notifications are the benefit. So if you have a new product out and you want clients around the world to know about it and they opt to have a push notification, this could generate great revenue. (click NEXT above or below)

4. Ask Satisfied Clients to Promote you on Yelp

MANY people use Yelp as a way to determine if they will support your business. Make it easy for your clients by emailing them a direct link and asking them to recommend you. (click NEXT above or below)

5. Take Potential Clients out to Lunch

This is one of the oldest methods in the books that still works today. Clients like to see who they are dealing with. Make the effort and meet them for lunch. Don’t talk about competitors, even if they do and eat before you come so that you can hear everything they are saying to you.

September 14, 2014
Entrepreneur Burnout: Most Important Things to Avoid it

Yep, first and foremost we KNOW it takes a GREAT deal of effort to hire someone in the first place, you are concerned about paying them and you have to take the time to train them. You wonder if it##Q##s worth it. The answer my friends is YES it is. You will KILL yourself working 14 hour days, the years will fly by and you will not have a life. I know MANY entrepreneurs who endure this on a day to day and it##Q##s not smart. You CAN hire someone and you DON##Q##T have to do the work yourself, you just have to find ways to pay them like hiring them a month at a time or part time. When we make money that is NOT the time to go out and treat yourself to a new car or some extravagant gift (though you should treat yourself) but this is the time to ease the tension and to fork over some of the day to day to someone else to free you up to focus on the things you probably have been ignoring like sales or billing. You will certainly hire the wrong people from time to time as I have and here are some suggestions to avoid costly mistakes in hiring… (click “NEXT” after each segment above or below)

June 14, 2013
Stunted Growth: Biggest Mistakes Black Business Owners
Here is an excerpt from my book Mind Your Own Damn Business. These are some of the biggest mistakes I have seen many black business owners make and the lesson’s I’ve learned the hard way over the years. PLEASE NOTE, this is not applicable to all black entrepreneurs but these are the entrepreneurs that I personally steer clear of. The bottom line, don’t ask anyone for something you are not willing to give yourself. Enjoy… (click “Next” above or below to see more)

We’ve got some GREAT ideas…but

I’ve seen and heard some of the most remarkable ideas from black potential entrepreneurs. Everything from music production to publishing to specialty restaurants to wedding planner to hair and make-up break-thru formulas. There are many fields where African American’s dominate but have little or no control of the business. The most prevalent of those area are: Sports, Entertainment, Hair and Specialty Foods. Why are you giving your ideas away when the business could be YOURS? And where is the implementation? We have ideas but no way of implementing them and no plans as to how it can be done. Before you tell ANYONE what your plan is, figure out how you can do it FIRST.

Hook a Brotha Up!!! (how incredibly annoying)

These are the people that you usually only hear from only when they need something from you…they only call on people for favors in business but expect to be paid top dollar when they give help to someone else. We don’t want to be ripped off or taken advantage of but a lot of the time, it is exactly what WE do and worse yet to our black contacts. We dare not ask our white contacts to “hook us up?” We want special treatment again and again or we deliver half backed goods for a fully cooked price. Please know that while people will do you favors from time to time, it becomes annoying when you are CONSTANTLY calling them for favors. We don’t often know when to be classy about the exchange either. I’ve had “friends” call me for concert tickets not just for themselves but for 3 other people too. That’s tacky and nobody wants to be used. Moreover, if you keep calling in favors the person you are calling will eventually stop taking your calls. Then we often accuse them of “going Hollywood” and “forgetting about where THEY came from”

“The world REALLY does not owe you anything”

It would be nice if the world was our never-ending credit card, streaming endless currency to us whenever we wanted it. Just because you have struggled in the past, it does not mean the world owes you something in return. I myself thought this too which was why I started my first business. I thought people should buy from me FIRST because I’m Black… WRONG! People should buy from you first because you area great resource for them and provide the services they need. Complaining ALWAYS looks like sour grapes. Even if there is legitimacy to what you see in racism or favoritism, the people you are accusing of it don’t and will never see it the same way YOU look at it or they will shut down on you and not deal with you. Yuu will look like the bad guy. There are just some things that are KNOWN and don’t need to be said. Do you really think someone is going to give you an opportunity after you attack them? HELL NO, they are not…. and I guarantee you that you will get very old and very bitter, very quick waiting. I’ve seen it happen time and again.

Use Your Current Job as College or Temporarily Work in the Field You’d like to Start Your Business In

No matter how much we hate our current jobs the best way to look at the situation, I’ve learned, is to start using my jobs as “college.” I used Urban Network that way when I worked there many years ago. There was a lot of strife, in-fighting and power struggles amongst the management. I let them beat the hell out of each other while I learned how the system worked. When they fired me, which I knew they would eventually, I took what I learned and started my own industry trade magazine and there was nothing they could do about it. My employer became my competitor and my brand is still around. I’m not bragging, I’m making a point. Look at your job as I’m taking a course and I’m getting a stipend for learning. I give the job a certain amount of time to complete the required courses and when I’m done, I’m ready to graduate to earn my next degree in business. If I wanted to open a coffee shop, I’d go and work at Starbucks for a year. What an invaluable experience and education that would be FIRST HAND…. AND I would be getting paid for it? Instead of going broke going to some overpriced college that wants me to take out student loans to learn how to do it for 2 years. Then I owe for my education when I could have gotten it, not just for FREE but PAID for it? I’m sure you get the point.

“Never tell anyone your plans, goals and dreams UNLESS they can help you”

As black people, we have such a dire need for approval. Mostly because it drives not just us but the human race. But we must realize that people will never see for you what they can never see for themselves. If a young awkward looking, tall thin black girl tells her family or friends that she wants to be a model, they may laugh at her and she may accept that they are right and forget about her dream. Even though she grows up to be outrageously beautiful and her dream could have very well been a reality. The people she depended on didn’t believe in her which caused her not to believe in herself. This is why black entrepreneurs would never tell someone else they can’t do something. Because we learn through doing business that anything is possible and our confidence to have our own businesses skyrockets to a level we never thought possible. If the potential model pursues that goal without telling her family, they will usually be the same people who will say “I always saw something special in her, I knew she would be a star” My cousin used to tell me “Everybody Loves a Winner!” and they want to be associated with them, even if they have nothing to do with their success. That’s our need for approval on the reverse. We want to take responsibility for all that’s great and shy away from what is negative. That’s not just black people, that’s the human race. So in essence, it is best to pursue your dream and keep your mouth shut, especially if the people you want to tell have no understanding of what you are pursuing. I have to tell the truth about my people, we can be some of the most negative people when it comes to encouraging each other.

It’s all in the Presentation…

This is probably one of the MOST important things you will see in this guide. P-R-E-S-E-N-T-A-T-I-O-N! The picture is another kind of presentation which is also important but I’m talking about how you present your idea before you get to this point as well.
I don’t care what kind of business you have if you don’t present it, yourself or your documents right, you are almost DESTINED to fail. The first line of presentation is your idea. Just the other day a gentleman called me with an idea he had for a magazine. He was all over the place. I kept asking him if he had a business plan, you really don’t nee a FULL plan but just some idea of what you want to do. I also asked him about start up capitol. He kept skirting around the questions. I asked him about investors and he didn’t trust anyone. As he went on and on about how he was going to get his business off the ground and the team he had in place, I lost interest. His lack of direction just sounded like someone mumbling after a while. It sounded like he was confused…. and if he sounds that way to me, how will he handle the business and how will he sound to anyone else that he presents this idea to? He made several common mistakes potential black business owners make they are as follows:
- Disclosed his idea to me without the pieces in place.
- Refused to listen to or even act like he was interested in hearing my advice based on my experience in already DOING what he is trying to do.
- Shot down every idea I had for him to get his venture off the ground because he already has it all mapped out. (Then why is he talking to me?)
- Expressed his lack of trust for everyone which makes me wonder if he trusts me or MORE important…. if HE can be trusted.
- He already knows it all so I already know this is going to be a difficult situation to work in and usually the way you start out is the best indicator of how you will end up. If he won’t listen to me now, he never will.
- This is his idea, he doesn’t trust anyone, he wants it done a certain way, he needs my help and/or advice and he has no money? This, mind you, is something that it has taken me almost 15 years to learn.. If you put yourself in my shoes, even for two minutes, you can see how this is not going to work for me. What is the chance that you think I will do business with someone like this? If you guessed never, you are right.
June 10, 2013
How to Stop Wasting Time and Grow Your Business Td Jakes

I have included a link to an EXCELLENT video by TD Jakes about leveraging your time. What are you going to do with the time that you have left? In this video about repositioning yourself, I literally almost fell out of my chair when Jakes speaks about “the 10s” the fact that 10 is the multiple of all greater numbers and that small business owners often get stuck on the first level of 10s because we are afraid to go to the next level.

I have talked in this blog about being drained from people picking my brain and making me the go to guy for everything. For the longest time I felt I was getting nothing in return for my business knowledge and experience, people were using me and getting everything for free. Truth be told, certain people should not have access to you once you have reached a certain level in your business and if they do have access OF COURSE they want free information, it is not only an indication of your success, the fact that others want to align themselves with you, it’s also an indication that you HAVE NOT GROWN! That might be a hard pill to swallow but it’s not their fault they want information from us, it’s OURS for not growing. We need to keep challenging ourselves and to keep growing. Just because we can now do the business with our hands tied behind our backs doesn’t’ meant it’s time to rest. It’s time to grow. Clients can flip the script on us and competitors are always on our heels. Check out this video it’s a great way to judge where your business is. Video Link Here

April 25, 2013
Reasons Small Business Owners Fear Hiring Help

Running a legitimate business is no piece of cake. We go in it to satisfy a passion but we don’t count on the many elements that go with that passion. Deadlines, orders, payroll, hiring, vendors, bills, personal life etc. These can all be managed initially by us but as time goes on we have to come to the decision to start hiring people who have the ability to either duplicate us to have strengths where we are weak. Here are some tips to help you along the way. These are the reasons we often DON‘T hire someone and the reasons that we SHOULD.(click “Next” above or below)

No Budget

Let’s face it, it’s oftentimes hard enough to keep our own heads above water and to pay our own bills after all is taken care of with the business but hiring someone else puts us in even more debt. Or does it? Believe it or not NOT hiring someone will often hurt us more in the long run. Entrepreneurs must learn… WE CANNOT DO IT ALL not matter how hard we try and we may be able to pull it off for a long time but the downside is WE NEVER GROW. So if you want to be in the same place that you were 4 years ago in your business and you want to age 8 years… keep doing it all yourself. If you don’t have the budget, hire someone part time or on a temp basis. This is a great way to check out a future prospect for full time. (click “Next” above or below)

Afraid of hiring the wrong person

This is entirely legitimate and I have made this mistake several times. People will always be on their best behavior when you are about to hire them then they can flip the script once you do. My suggestion is to put everyone on 90 days of probation like large corporations do. This is an excellent tactic because few people can wear a mask that long and this is a long enough period for you to not only gauge their effectiveness but also their reliability and dedication. I would also suggest giving them very little slack. There are times when employees will be late but if it happens twice within that period or they have excuses for not completing their work, they are out. (click “Next” above or below)

Wasting time training

This is another legitimate concern. You take the time from your already busy schedule to train someone who ends up leaving or not working out. That’s time you could have been working. Well all is well that ends well or not so well. At least you tried. However, this is NOT the time to give up and hold off for a few months because of this bad experience, you simply have to do it again or if you are lucky you have an employee who thinks like you who can show them. (click “Next” above or below)

Not able to keep an eye on the person and run the business

If you make one of the qualifications that the person has to be a self starter you can give them some autonomy and if you can’t keep an eye on them get one of your employees to for you by asking them to help them out if they need it and then have a talk with them to get an assessment.

Ultimately, as your business grows, you want to have the time to focus on expanding. Who wants to remain in the same position forever? The best advice I can give once again is to find one main employee who can do what you do to help you hire and train. They know what you are looking for and can often be a great asset when it comes to hiring employees. Best in business…

Kevin Ross

April 14, 2013
30 Days to Two New Businesses

For the past 10 years, I have been unchallenged in my current main business which is a blog for the music industry. It does well and I make a great living from it but I don’t have that leap-out-of-bed-to-face-the-day feeling anymore. True entrepreneurs know what I’m talking about. Those of us who have had success have experienced that feeling of achievement and gratitude with our business, it’s like being head over heals in love but when that feeling is gone it’s up to you to move on or to get others to run your business for you. In my case, since it’s a specialty business it’s not only difficult, it’s almost impossible to find people who work in the entertainment industry who can write. You can find people who are WRITERS in the entertainment industry but it’s rare that you can find someone who has a major skill besides that.

I’m getting older and the industry will not be the way it is right now for me forever so when you have a few pennies stored, contrary to popular belief that’s not the time to REST… it’s the time to GET TO WORK. Think about how LONG it took you to get to the point where you have extra income!!! Many of us have worked so hard to get here we think we deserve a break and we do, but that’s called a vacation NOT a new car or home yet (unless you have REALLY hit the jackpot)

The two businesses I am getting off the ground are my art business The Art Dive and my Voiceover business. I have assigned someone to handle my main business while I work on getting these two off the ground. Since I am a full time student, I’m actually juggling 3 balls at once. Stay tuned.

October 26, 2012