What Makes You So Special?

What causes people to want to hire you for your services, use your product, visit your website, or read your blog?  Whatever industry you’re in, there’s little doubt you have some form of competition.  So why is what you offer different enough to make people choose you over someone else?  A lot of people try to compete on price, which can be effective for some, but often it’s the lazy way to get customers, and it can end up robbing from your bottom line in the long run.  When you think about it, if all you have to offer is a low price, then as soon as someone else comes along with an even lower price, you lose.  If you find other ways to set yourself apart from the competition though, your customers have reasons to be loyal to you and your brand.  There are several ways to make your business stand out from the crowd, and here are a few:

Your Offering - Whether or not it’s easy (or even possible) to differentiate through the product or service you offer has a lot to do with which industry you’re in.  If you sell a software product, for example, your program might offer features that no one else does.  This is a pretty simple way to differentiate.  On the other hand, what if your business is something that’s not as easy to rework in a way that makes it truly unique?  This might take some out-of-the-box thinking, but it’s usually still possible.  A great example of this is Egg-Land’s Best eggs.  When most of us go to the grocery store to buy eggs, we just grab a dozen and go, right?  For the most part, who can even name a ‘brand’ of eggs?  Egg-Land’s Best had the idea they could change that, so they changed the feed they used to feed their hens, and now they market their eggs throughout the country as a better alternative to “generic” eggs.  This differentiation allows them to charge a premium on a product which most people thought of as “un-differentiate-able.”  With some creativity and a little fine-tuning, their differentiation has paid off in big ways.

Your Service - One of the best ways a company can set itself apart from the competition is through offering a unique customer service experience.  There are situations where your product is what it is (if you own a franchise, for instance), and you aren’t able to change your location, your marketing methods, or your company name.  But everyone has the ability to offer a special customer experience.  And study after study proves that people are willing to pay a little more for great service, so differentiating through service not only brings in more customers, but you can charge more to those you do attract.  MasterLube, a quick oil change company in Billings, Montana, is a perfect example of what can be accomplished through outstanding customer service.  It’s difficult to offer a “different” oil change than the two Wal-Marts, K-Mart, and various other oil change providers in Billings.  And dropping the price below those stores’ prices would result in a short-lived business model.  So MasterLube offers the kind of customer service you won’t find anywhere else.  From the person who greets you in the office, to the technician who services your vehicle, it’s obvious to every customer that all their employees truly care about their customers.  More than anything, they go out of their way to build relationships.  How does it pay off?  They charge more than just about anyone else in town, and they have waiting lines almost every day of the week.  What entrepreneur wouldn’t want those results for their business?

Your Culture or Atmosphere - This often goes hand-in-hand with service, but it’s an all-around feeling that your company communicates to your customers.  If you’ve ever eaten at a Johnny Rockets burger place, you have some idea of what this can look like.  From the 50’s décor, complete with nickel jukeboxes at every table, to the staff that spontaneously breaks out in song and dance when certain songs are played, this place is clearly not a typical burger joint.  So what are their results?  As just one example, Johnny Rockets serves over eight million fairly average milkshakes a year, at $4-$6 each.  So if you can provide a fun, outrageous, or moving experience for you customers, do it.  You’ll find this form of differentiation is the kind that gets buzz going about your business, which we all know is invaluable!

In this world of stiff competition coming from everywhere, you can’t afford not to differentiate.  And as soon as you get too comfortable with where you are, you’re bound to be overtaken by someone with a better product, better customer service, or a cooler new concept.  So ask yourself what sets you apart from the crowd - and then keep asking it.

A Must-Attend Event: 2010 Las Vegas Business Summit

Anyone reading the Blogtrepreneur site is most likely either an entrepreneur or wants to be an entrepreneur.  In either case, you’ll definitely want to attend the Perfect Business Summit 2010 in Las Vegas, NV, October 7^th and 8^th.  This incredible event is packed with influential keynote speakers and information-loaded breakout sessions to provide you with the information and contacts you need to build the business you’ve always wanted.  This is the nation’s largest entrepreneur summit, so whether you’re looking for financing in the form of VC, Angel, or bank capital, hoping to make connections critical to your success, or seeking advice for taking your business to the next level, this event will provide what you need.

The speakers

Who knows better how to make it big as an entrepreneur than those who have made it happen?  So if you want the same, you need to listen to masters.  The Perfect Business Summit 2010 delivers with some of the biggest names in entrepreneurship.  Here are just a few of the speakers you can expect to see in Vegas:

John Paul DeJoria - Founder of Paul Mitchell and Patron Tequila

Gavin Maloof - Owner of Palms Casino and the Sacramento Kings

Tony Hsieh - CEO of Zappos

Isaac Tigrett - Founder of Hard Rock Cafe and House of Blues

Brad Huntstable - Founder & President of Ustream.tv

The list goes on and on. In fact, there are over 30 speakers lined up for this year’s event, including founders, authors, media personalities, and much more!

As if that wasn’t enough…

How would you like a chance to get your business funded?  If you’re seeking capital or business partners for a new business, you’ll be interested in “the event within the event,” called The Perfect Pitch 2010. Perfect Pitch gives you the chance to introduce your business to hundreds of accredited investors and entrepreneurs representing more than $10 BILLION in capital.  This is your ONCE-IN-A-LIFETIME opportunity to pitch your business idea to more than 100 angel and venture capital investors and a conference full of more than 2,000 entrepreneurs and business leaders.  The deadline for Perfect Pitch is August 26, 2010 though, so you have to get on it now!  Just click on the ‘Pitch’ link at the website for all the details.

Still want more?

How about a discount on attendance?  Because our YoungEntrepreneur.com site is an event sponsor, our readers get a $20 discount off entrance to the event!  Not only that, but if you aren’t able to make it to Las Vegas, you can still catch the live streaming event at a discounted rate of just $87.  Just click the ‘Live Streaming’ link on the website, and you’ll not just get to watch live, but you’ll have access to the recorded event for a full year!  That’s truly an unbelievable deal! So, just use any link in this post to access the website, and your discount will be automatic. (In the unlikely event the discount does not show up, simply type “YE” in the ‘Gift Code’ field.)

The bottom line: If you only attend one business event in 2010, this should be the one. Make the pilgrimage to Las Vegas, and meet the people who can transform your business.  My brother, Matthew, and I will be at the event, and we’d love to meet as many Entrepreneurs as possible.  So do what you need to do to make it happen, and we’ll see you there!

Success Myths You Can’t Afford to Believe

Why are some people wildly successful in business, while others just don’t seem to ever get anything going?  Sometimes the reasons are obvious.  Someone who’s lazy, unpleasant to be around, overly negative, or just plain dumb, for instance, doesn’t have much chance of being a business success.  They might win the lottery or something like that, but they won’t be able to successfully build a sustainable business.  It’s not always as clear why someone is successful though, and many people who haven’t yet seen success resort to believing and repeating common myths to explain it.

The danger in buying into these myths is that they rob power from those who believe them.  If you believe people are only successful if luck is on their side, for example, you’re saying success is out of your control.  So look over this list of myths and realities and endeavor to eliminate these beliefs from your mind.  Your business and your life will be better for it.

The Family History Myth: Some people are successful because they were born into a rich or entrepreneurial family.

Reality: As with most myths, there can be a piece of truth in this one.  If a person’s family has the resources to support their entrepreneurial dreams, or if they grew up learning about business, they can be said to have some degree of advantage.  Stories abound, however, of people who inherited the family business only to run it into the ground and end up broke.  There are also plenty of stories about people who were handed family fortunes and squandered them away.  The reality is that even though it can be helpful to have the advantage of a family history of success, a person with such a heritage still has to do what’s necessary to be successful with those advantages.  The reality is, even with an advantageous family history, you still have to work for your success.

The R.P.R.T. Myth: Successful people make it because they’re in the right place at the right time.

Reality: It does help to be in the right place at the right time.  Many successful entrepreneurs attribute their success to this.  But that’s not the whole story.  First, any successful entrepreneur who was in the right place at the right time, had to be the right person in the right place, at the right time.  In other words, just being clued in on a trend, discovering an innovation, or getting a hot tip isn’t enough.  In fact there are opportunities coming at us - all of us - all the time.  We’ve all been in the right place at the right time at some point, and we will be again and again.  It’s those who recognize those opportunities and act upon them who reap the rewards.  Have you ever had a brilliant idea that you didn’t act on and then saw the same idea come to fruition for someone else years later?  You were in the right place at the right time for the idea to come to you, and so was the person who made it happen.  The reality is that “R.P.R.T.” can’t make it happen.  Taking the opportunity given to you in the right place at the right time and making it successful takes work, dedication and focus, not luck.

The Who You Know Myth: People are only successful if they’re lucky enough to know the right people.

Reality: Many stories of success can be attributed to the saying, “It’s not what you know but who you know.”  In fact no true success story happens with someone doing it all on their own with no support from anyone else.  Knowing the “right” people can indeed contribute to your success in many ways.  What this myth fails to take into consideration is how successful people go about getting to know the right people.  Successful entrepreneurs are networkers.  They attend conferences, workshops, business fairs, and anything else they can find where they’ll have the chance to mix and mingle with like-minded business people.  It isn’t luck that they know the right people, it’s their dedication to learn and grow through those relationships that has led them to the right people.  Is it lucky that they happened to be at a conference with the one person who could help them take their business to new heights?  Maybe you could say that, but they had to meet that person, talk to them, and do whatever it took to get them involved.  No luck involved there.

The Timing Myth: Many successful people just so happen to launch their businesses at just the right time.

Reality: “The right time” is when there’s a need, and the most successful companies become successful because there is a need for their product or service.  That’s kind of a no-brainer, isn’t it?  But this rarely has to do with chance.  Entrepreneurs watch trends.  They stay tuned into the market and the needs of their customers and consumers in general.  Most importantly, they take that information and act on it.  Successful people don’t let fear stand in the way of their dreams.  They take risks, and often those risks pay off.  This myth doesn’t take into account that most entrepreneurs have started several businesses during their entrepreneurial life.  Some might have been successful, and many might have failed.  The key is that they keep going.  They keep trying until they make it happen.

The Background Myth: People who build successful businesses have the right education, training, work experience, friends, family, and mentors.

Reality: This myth combines several of the other myths and says that the only way to be successful is to be “lucky” enough to have outside factors working in your favor.  The reality is that, almost without exception, successful entrepreneurs have realized their accomplishments because of what’s inside themselves, not because of their circumstances.  Indeed, many have realized success in spite of their circumstances.  We hear often about high achieving people with no formal training, little to no formal education, and very few if any advantages over “average” people.  The truth is, success comes not so much from where you’ve been as from where you know in your heart you’re headed.

Successful people define luck as when preparedness meets opportunity.  Have you ever heard the saying, “It’s not what happens to you but what you do with what happens to you that matters”?  Maybe we can consider the “what happens to you” part as luck.  Often we have little control over what happens, so maybe that’s called luck - good or bad.  But when it comes to success, the luck piece of the equation won’t take you far.  It’s what you do with your luck that determines your success.  So if you’re counting on luck to make you a successful entrepreneur, good luck with that!

30 Days to Pumped Up Blog Traffic

It’s pretty much universally accepted these days that having a blog is a smart move for any business.  And because just about everyone understands that, just about everyone (and their uncle) has a blog.  What that means is that the competition for traffic to your blog is strong and growing on a daily basis.  After all, people can only read so much every day, so they’ll naturally gravitate to the blog content that is most relevant and meaningful to them.  But even the best-written, most content-packed blogs are useless if no one sees them in the first place.  So building traffic flow to your blog is at least as important as making it stick (getting people to follow you).

Especially if you’re just getting started with blogging, building traffic can be a bewildering, and often frustrating proposition.  With all the advice out there on what to do and how to do it, how can you know what works best for you?  The truth is, you can’t know.  Mostly, you have to research and see what makes the most sense to you, then try it and adjust as you go.  And once you have the formula down… well, actually, there is no formula.  If you think you’ve found the perfect formula, don’t get too comfortable.  It will change soon enough.  All that said, below are just four simple steps you can take immediately that will begin to increase your blog traffic.  It will take time to see significant results, and you’ll have to pick and choose where to spend most of your time, but these methods (as of today) will put you on the path to more traffic within 30 days.

1. Participate in forums. Forums, like the one at YoungEntrepreneur.com, are a great way to connect with fellow business people in your field as well as blog readers.  If you target your efforts at forums within your target audience, you’ll often find hundreds or even thousands of people interested in exactly what you’re talking about in your blog.  Get involved in the forums, offer real, useful advice, and when appropriate (and not too obviously), direct people to relevant blog articles on your site.  Also include your blog URL in your signature when allowed.

2. Use social media. We’ve written extensively on this site about the benefits of using social media sites like Twitter & Facebook and others.  So without going into great detail, let’s just say once more that social media is like no other medium in its ability to reach a targeted audience in a meaningful way, at little or no expense.  If you’re not using these tools, you’re missing out on traffic that you could be gaining right now.

3. Comment on other blogs. You probably read other blogs right?  So make it a point, whenever you’re on another person’s blog page, to comment on their posts.  This will often help to build a relationship with the blog writer, which can be beneficial in many ways, and it will allow you to post a link back to your blog.  As these are pretty much always no-follow links, you won’t benefit in that way, but you will benefit from the traffic generated by people clicking on your name.  Of course that won’t happen if your comments aren’t thoughtful or interesting, so, “Nice post” won’t help much.  For more on the topic of comment marketing, read this.

4. Make sharing easy. It’s amazing how many smaller blogs don’t offer an easy way for readers to share posts with others.  Even if you don’t like Twitter, for example, or if you don’t think having a Twitter account will help your business, you have to recognize that millions of people, including most of your readers, do use Twitter.  So at the very least, install TweetMeme or Topsy buttons on your posts.  If you want to really optimize the possibilities and you’re using WordPress, SexyBookmarks is a great plugin that makes it easy for readers to share on over 80 bookmarking sites.  Whatever you use, make sure people who love your stuff can easily tell others about it.  Word of mouth is still king when it comes to getting people to look at what you have to offer.

Is there more to driving traffic to your blog? Of course there is.  We didn’t even touch on SEO, SEM, backlinks, or a thousand other tools and methods you can use.  But these four steps are some that anyone can take without having to do much research or decipher complex methodology.  And if you start using them today, you just might see pumped up traffic in 30 days or less.

Avoid Becoming a Statistic - 5 Startup Hazards to Avoid

Statistics about startup failures are widely known by entrepreneurs as well as those thinking about starting their own businesses.  The SBA says that only 44% of new business startups can expect to still be doing business just four years after inception.  Even if businesses that were closed by choice, or due to retirement, the owner moving on to something else, or another planned exit strategy are ignored, and if we ignore non-traditional “business opportunity” type businesses, where commitment levels are infamously low, the statistic is still discouraging.  To those not sturdy of heart, numbers like these could be more than enough reason to want to throw in the towel before even beginning down the entrepreneurial path.  But don’t give up just yet.  While there are certainly no guarantees of success, planning for likely difficulties can considerably lessen your chances of becoming part of the bleak stats.

5 Common Startup Hazards

Be aware of these ten common pitfalls and keys to overcome them:

1. Family Ties. Starting a business is going to affect your family.  Whether you’re shifting around the family finances to cover startup costs, taking time away from home to tend the store, or converting an extra bedroom into your office, your family will likely need to make some adjustments to accommodate your new venture.  Success key: Get them involved.  Even if your new business isn’t the type where the kids can help in daily operations, just keeping everyone in the loop will go a long way toward mutual support.  From the beginning, let your family know what you’re doing and what sacrifices you’ll be asking of them.  Listen to their concerns, and even their advice.  Remember, they aren’t likely to be as excited about your new venture as you are, so they might just add some needed impartiality.  Talk about the changes you’re making, and avoid family matters deflating your ambitions.

2. Isolation. By nature, entrepreneurs tend to be independent people.  We love the idea of being “self-made.”  Be careful not to isolate yourself though.  Particularly in the beginning stages of business, we can easily get caught up in all that needs to be done and forget the importance of staying connected.  Success Key: Network, network, network.  The old saying is true: what you know isn’t as important as who you know.  Don’t try to go it alone.  In between your other activities, make time to network within your community of business people.  You’ll find valuable contacts to help you with everything from advice on your marketing and website, to the best ways to find suppliers and clients.  And once your business is going strong, don’t give up networking.  You’ll benefit from learning new marketing strategies, staying current on business trends, and building lasting relationships that can be priceless as you grow.  To find local groups that meet regularly, check out Meetup.com.

3. Overload. Any entrepreneur has a lot on his/her plate no matter what.  But one thing that will take the wind out of your sails and kill your startup before it ever really gets off the ground is becoming overwhelmed with all you have to do and not having a plan to deal with it.  Even if you’ve gone through all the proper planning and you’ve thought your business through backwards and forwards, it’s unlikely you thought of everything.  So although it looks like you can handle everything on paper as a one-person show, it doesn’t take many unexpected fires before you can start to feel like you’re in over your head.  Success Key: Delegate the stuff you hate. For all of us there are tasks we’d rather give to someone else.  They’re the ones that are boring, tedious, or take you longer than anything else, because they just aren’t what motivates you.  Another way to look at it is to identify those tasks that are not directly contributing to building your business.  For example, accounting is absolutely necessary, but if accounting isn’t your business, someone else should be doing it.  If employees aren’t in the cards, consider a virtual assistant for those tasks that are distracting you from your core responsibilities.  Whatever you do, don’t let overload kill your business.

4. Productivity Drainers. It’s 2 o’clock on a warm, sunny day, and your friend calls you up to invite you to have a couple of beers on the patio at your favorite restaurant.  You remember point number 2 above, and think, “Well, I don’t want to isolate myself, and hey, I’m my own boss, so why not!”  Hold on a minute.  There will be a time, if you do what it takes to make your business successful, when you can take it easy and goof off for the afternoon.  While you’re in startup mode is not that time.  Success Key: Create and stick to a schedule.  Especially when you’re first starting out in a new venture, making the best use of your time is critical.  Don’t let diversions pull you away from what’s important to you.  Also, you’ll want to be sure to organize your work area, use prioritized to-do lists, and implement a scheduling system to keep track of appointments and contacts.  Even if it’s just Outlook or the calendar in your Blackberry, putting your to-dos and appointments in something other than your head frees your mind to focus on your business and keeping headed in the right direction.

5. Money Issues. Just as starting a business is going to affect your family; it’s also going to affect your finances.  Hopefully, it’s a positive effect, but not usually for a while.  If you’re expecting to make a killing right off the bat, you have to know that’s not typical.  That’s not to say it can’t happen, but it would be foolish to count on it.  And nothing will kill your business and your enthusiasm for it faster than the worry and strife that comes with running out of money.  Success Key: Expect the best, and prepare for the worst.  Speaking of statistics… The number one reason startups fail is lack of capitalization.  The key is to balance your optimism about the success of your business with the reality that there are likely to be ups and downs.  Even in best case scenarios, business is cyclical, so simply plan for those cycles.  Make sure that you have enough reserve to get you through the lean times, and don’t spend like a drunken sailor during the good times.  Plan ahead, save, and spend wisely, and you’ll get to party like it’s 1999 soon enough!

Share your startup story, in the comments below.  What are or were your biggest obstacles?   What have you done to get past them and avoid the statisticians?

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