July 2004

Last week I watched a client flush nearly $40,000 in top-notch marketing work down the drain because a $9 an hour employee took the great leads being driven to the business and sabotaged them. In this case, she took motivated and excited incoming calls and shifted their state to negativity faster than a teenage boy ...

My favorite academic/entrepreneur, Jeff Cornwall, has posted about a wonderful, 44-page document on the American Entrepreneurial Economy. I’ve posted his highlights below — ordinarily I’d pick a few but they were all just so damned great… I recommend you visit his blog ASAP (here’s the link: Data on the American Entrepreneurial Economy) for more info ...

Awful Book Title and Entrepreneurial Success

July 28 On Entrepreneurship

Saw this book in Barnes and Noble today: “It’s Not How Good You Are, It’s How Good You Want To Be.” The book might be great, I didn’t buy it, nor did I have time to flip through it. I can say the title sucks, though. In sum, it contains a lot of what I ...

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Two Things I Haven’t Been Able To Replicate On My Mac

July 23

Some of you will remember I bought an iBook a month and a half ago. I love it, and I’ll never go back to Windows for my primary work machine. In hindsight, I can’t imagine how I lasted as long as I did! Anyway, there are two things I haven’t been able to replace and ...

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Marketing A Small, One (Wo) Man Business

July 23 On Marketing To Small Businesses

This is an answer to a question I was asked privately about marketing a small, one person, b2b service business. It’s a sort of follow-up to my earlier “Being Good At Cold Calling Is Like Being A Functional Drunk” post. In a nutshell, when there is only one person to bring clients in the door ...

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What Not To Say In A Business Plan

July 21

A great Q&A session on what not to say in a business plan from angel investor Barry Moltz can be read here. My favorite chunk: If the plan says: “We have no competition”. I read: Actually… I stop reading the plan. Always beware of entrepreneurs that claim they have no competitors. If they are right, ...

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How Can Lawyers Help Entreprenuers?

July 21

Matt Homann asked for my thoughts on this along with 4 other contributors in this week’s Five By Five. Follow the link for all the answers…

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Marketing & Selling To Small Business Entrepreneurs

July 20

Any interest? I’m getting asked about this quite a bit, and have had to turn down a number of consulting opportunities. If you, the reader, wants to learn more about what it takes to marketing and sell effectively to small and midsize business entrepreneurs, leave a comment. Questions are ok, too.

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Being Good At B2B Cold Calling Is Like Being A Functional Drunk

July 20 On Marketing To Small Businesses

At a gathering recently I spoke with a b2b service professional who made the bulk of his living by cold calling. By all accounts, he is successful. (Then again, I’ve found the people who talk most about the money they have usually have the least; and a car they can’t afford. So who knows…) Anyway, ...

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If you appreciate the power of a good story…

July 19

Check out Jon Strande’s StoryBlog.

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