New Jersey Business Guide

Time..the great stealer?

Rich Bradley — Sun, 08 Aug 2010 17:52:20 +0000

Had one of those interesting “do you remember” conversations the other day after my daughter saw a picture of an old-style phone. She thought it was cool that the phone had a rotary dial and a cord attached to it (fo course, just the fact that I called it “old style” and grew up with one of those phones in my house shows my age). Anyway, we started to talk about technology and items that have been introduced in my lifetime, and things that many of today’s “teens and tweens” have never known life without.

For instance, my daughter has never known life with a DVR. I still remember the introduction of Beta and VHS tapes.

She’s never known life without a microwave oven. I remember when my family got our first — and all the challenges that it presented. (It was so bad that my parents will not use one to this day!).

She’s never known a world without cell phones. Just the other day, I was talking to someone about the huge “car units” that introduced many of my generation to mobile telephones.

She’s never known life without space travel. I remember my parents waking me to watch Neil Armstrong take the first steps on the moon.

She thinks “Ringo” is a funny name.

She’s never known life without MTV, or Disney Channel or anything else on cable TV. I remember when they actually had music videos on MTV.

She’s never known life without ATMs or debit cards.

To her, music has always been available on CDs or downloads. She’s never used a record player (much less an 8-track!), but she thinks “scratching” is cool.

She can’t understand why anyone needs a typewriter.

It’s amazing to think of all the fantastic changes that have occurred in our lifetimes, much less that of our parents.

So, what does this have to do with what we do for a living? Imagine if you wanted to be the person who thought they could make a lot of money selling 8-tracks, or typewriter ribbons, or huge mobile telephones. Chances are, you would have gone out of business a long time ago.

As times and technology changes, distributors have to change with them. Some of the items that vendors showed us at the Proforma convention were staggering — and probably weren’t even being thought of 7 years ago when I first entered this industry — much less being offered to the public!

So, for those people who want a product that’s “new and different”, be ready for some for incredibly far-reaching items and ideas. Just hope that you’re not spending your marketing dollars on the next 8-track player.

Lessons learned in Vegas

Rich Bradley — Mon, 02 Aug 2010 02:49:54 +0000

I just got back from a whirlwind three-plus days in Vegas at the annual Proforma convention. In addition to the normal networking activities that go on at the convention, the days are jam-packed with classes and other educational opportunities.

One of the highlights of the convention is the Tuesday evening Awards Dinner. The night starts with the parade of the 134 members of Proforma’s Million Club and Multi-Million Dollar Club. When you think of it, those numbers are staggering. With about 750 Proforma offices across the country and Canada, almost 20 percent of them bill $1 million or more.

The night was a real eye-opener for me. I watched those men and women walk into the room and remembered my previous billings — and I’m nowhere near $1 million. As they walked in, it struck me — they weren’t necessarily better-looking than me, I don’t think may has as good a personality as me,, and some of them may not even have more customers than me.

So, what did they have? Good business sense, excellent sales technique and great customers. All Proforma owners have the opportunity to offer the same goods and services to their customers, so the difference between me and those folks in the Blue Blazers was basically that they “get it.” They do business smartly. They value their time and their customers’ time.

I want one of those jackets (and not cause they’re so good-looking — they’re not). I want what that jacket represents. Great sales, great customers, and great opportunities.

Look out, world.

A “fun in the sun” quiz

Rich Bradley — Wed, 30 Jun 2010 21:17:19 +0000

OK, things are a bit slow this week — maybe it’s the heat, maybe it’s the humidity, maybe it’s because it’s so close to the July 4th holiday — so we figured we’d take a break from our usual “stuff”, and have a little bit of fun with a trivia contest.

Since I’ll be giving the answers at the end of the column, there won’t be any prizes if you get everything right, but some smug satisfaction of knowing that you know a lot of little-known facts. Test yourself out..some of these are a bit tricky, and like most trivia tests some are just, well, trivial.

Here goes…

1. Name the one sport in which neither the spectators nor the participants know the score or the leader until the contest ends.

2. What famous North American landmark is constantly moving backward?

3. Of all vegetables (yuck!), only two can live to produce on their own for several growing seasons. All other vegetables must be replanted every year. What are the only two perennial vegetables?

4. What fruit has its seeds on the outside?

5. In many liquors stores, you can buy pear brandy, with a real pear inside the bottle. How did the pear get in the bottle?

6. Only three words in standard English begin with the letters ‘dw’ and they are all common words. Name two of them.

7. There are 14 punctuation marks in English grammar. Can you name at least half of them?

8. Name the only vegetable (more vegetables???) or fruit that is never sold frozen, canned, processed, cooked, or in any other form except fresh.

9. Name 6 or more things that you can wear on your feet, that begin with the letter ‘s’.

Answers:
1. Boxing
2. Niagara Falls
3. Asparagus and rhubarb
4. Strawberry
5. It grew inside the bottle. The bottles are placed over pear buds when they are small.
6. Dwarf, dwell and dwindle
7. Period, comma, colon, semicolon, dash, hyphen, apostrophe, question mark, exclamation point, quotation marks, brackets, parenthesis, braces and ellipses.
8. Lettuce
9. Shoes, socks, sandals, sneakers, slippers, skis, skates, snowshoes, stockings, stilts.

How’d you do? E-mail me the number of correct answers at Rich.Bradley@proforma.com or post your score in the comments section. For the record, I got four right…but at least I know the names of the two actors who played Darren on “Bewitched.” So there!!

You never know who they may know..

Rich Bradley — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 18:52:30 +0000

I had an interesting discussion the other day regarding turning down business. Yeah, you read that right.

You’re probably thinking, “Rich, in this crazy economic climate, why would anyone turn down business?” And, in a lot of ways, you’re right — you probably shouldn’t. But, now more than ever, it makes sense to turn down business.

Before you’re thinking that Proforma really should introduce some stricter drug-testing procedures, let me explain.

First, most companies (including ours) are set up to do business with a certain type of customer. Another way to phrase that is, we’re set up to sell a certain way. For instance, you don’t go to a supermarket to buy one Cheerio. You have to buy it by the box. There are lots of different size boxes, but chances are pretty good that you can’t buy just one Cheerio.

Same with most businesses. Items are packaged to make the sale more convenient — sometimes it’s more convenient for the customer, sometimes it’s more convenient for the retailer.

Sliding to our businesses, sometimes in an effort to please everyone we’ll quickly accept any order — whether it fits our business model or not. And that’s just wrong. Wrong, wrong, wrong.

Why? Because while we’re doing something that honestly doesn’t work for us, we’re taking time away from doing something that might work for us — calling customers, meeting with vendors, prospecting, marketing, etc.

The one common refrain I hear when I tell people about not accepting jobs is “well, you never know who they might now.” Of course, everyone knows LOTS of people (if you don’t think that’s true, remember the guest list at your wedding). However, just because they know someone doesn’t mean they’re going to refer you to anyone. And even if they do refer you to someone, there are two additional challenges — first, getting that person to buy from you and second, you hope the second person doesn’t also have a small order.

The point about “you never know who they know” was brought to light recently by someone using the game “six degrees of separation.” This person said that if we bought into that rule, he’s only 6 people away from knowing Kevin Bacon.

Of course.

We all are.

The point is, when doing business we need to do smart business. Most people will appreciate it if you honestly say “no, we’re really not equipped to do that job properly.” They’ll probably appreciate it even more if you can refer them to someone who can.

And for the record, I know someone whose friend works at a restaurant where Kevin Bacon’s sister is the manager. So I’m only 3 people away from meeting him now…

Coin Collecting

charleshopson — Sun, 20 Jun 2010 14:28:02 +0000

There is more to coin collecting than just keeping coins. There is something at stake for those who make an effort to know what they are collecting: the Coin Collector’s Merit Badge.

A person who wants to acquire a merit badge must prove himself to be someone who knows a lot about coins.

Here are some of the things that a coin collector must know in order to earn the Merit Badge.

1. The Grading Scale

Merit badge aspirers must be very knowledgeable about the different grades of coins. They must master how to assess coins and categorize each coin as:

- Poor – Fair – Good – Very good – Fine – Very fine – Extremely fine – Uncirculated.

They must also present five examples for each of the categories given above.

2. Coin Terminologies

Coin collectors must familiarize themselves to coin terms such as “encapsulated” coins, “proof” coins or legal tender to get the merit badge. They must be able to determine if coins are “buzzed” or “whizzed”.

They must also show competency in explaining the following:

- Clad – Date set – Observe – Reading – Reverse – Type set

3. Coin Storage

For a coin collector to achieve a merit badge, it is important that he knows how to take care, store and preserve coins. Coin collectors must be able to demonstrate thorough knowledge in coin collecting by showing the councilors different methods of coin storage. It is expected that the advantages and disadvantages of the methods will be provided as well.

4. Coin Anatomy

Knowledge of the parts of the coins will give important information. That is why coin collectors who want a merit badge must know where the mint marks are located in various coins and they must also know where to look for the initials of the coin designer.

5. Miscellaneous things about coins

The councilors will be very pleased to hear stories about what you have learned about coins. These recollections may come from reading coin journals, attending workshops or seminars, joining a coin collectors’ club, or visiting mint facilities.

It is also expected that coin collectors know a lot about coins from other countries as well.

6. Counterfeit coins

A coin collector must have a perception of whether a coin is authentic or counterfeit.

Reading coin guides or interviewing personnel from mint facilities will be a help in this situation.

After knowing these things, you are now equipped with the knowledge needed to be worthy of the coin collectors’ merit badge.

Coin Collecting.

Are 4 t-shirts really worth $4,000?

Rich Bradley — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 15:36:49 +0000

We had a small problem with an order the other day (not happy about that, but it happens from time to time, unfortunately). When I was telling some peers about how we fixed the problem, I got reactions ranging from “you’re crazy” to ” too much trouble” to “you did what??”

A bit of background. We printed shirts and programs for a local dance school for their recital. There were 96 shirts in the order. On four of the shirts — the four child’s small shirts — the printing on the back was accidentally omitted. Of course, the back listed the names of all of the students in the recital.

The school owner notified me of this problem just before 8 p.m. on a Wednesday night. She was in a bit of a panic, since the recital was the next evening. I was having a tough time hearing her, since she called me on my cell phone when I was at the Flyers playoff game. Yes, she called me about 10 minutes before the opening faceoff.

I told her where I was, asked if she had the shirts and asked her to text me her address. I told her I would pick up the shirts after the game, get them reprinted and have them back to her the next day.

Due to some problems with my GPS unit, I ended up having to text and call the owner up to help me find her house — at 12:20 in the morning (the Flyers game went overtime, and traffic was horrendous, as you might imagine).

We picked up the shirts, and left them at our printing facility. I left our production manager a voice mail shortly after the school owner had called, so I was hoping it was the first message our manager heard, and the shirts could be done quickly. I finally returned to my house at about 1:30 in the morning.

I called my production manager at about 8:30, and was told the shirts would be ready by 11. When I called the studio owner, she was thrilled. She thanked me and surprised me by telling me that I “get it. That service is important.”

I stopped to think — what were my options?

I guess I could have said, “sorry, I’m at the Flyers game and there’s no way we can do the shirts.” I could have said “how about if I just give you a credit, or don’t charge you for the shirts?”

In my opinion, they weren’t options. I did some quick math on my drive home and estimated that those four shirts could be worth about $4000 to the school owner. Sort of changes everything, doesn’t it?

How did I get that number? I figured each student takes lessons for 10 months to be in the recital. I estimated lessons at $100 per month — or $1000 for the year. Since there are four students, that’s $4,000.

Sure, the owner could have offered the parents of those students the money back for the t-shirts that weren’t printed correctly. But don’t you think that might affect their decision to re-enroll their children next year?

And don’t you think that would have played into the owner’s mind when it came time to find a vendor for next year’s t-shirts and programs?

So…what would you have done? Go the extra miles (literally)? Offer a discount? And would you feel guilty about it afterward?

I’d welcome your comments…

Wearing t-shirts for fun and profit

Rich Bradley — Tue, 01 Jun 2010 17:10:49 +0000

When most people think about getting paid to wear to wear clothes, the immediate thought is a professional model. Even then, we’re talking about wearing some really, really expensive clothing and jewelry.

Most people wouldn’t be thinking about getting paid to wear the good, old-fashioned t-shirt. But Jason Sandler isn’t like most people.

A few years ago, Sandler had his “a-ha” moment. The idea was simple. He would charge people to wear a t-shirt promoting their brand. He refined and defined his idea to the point that now it’s his job — to the tune of over $60,000 a year.

Sandler sells himself to sponsors based on the day of the year — Jan. 1 will cost a company $1, December 31st goes for $365. During the course of the day, Sandler will wear a sponsor’s shirt, take pictures of him in the shirt, do a one-hour webcast of himself talking about the sponsor, and tweet, youtube, Facebook and use any other social media tools at hsi disposal to alert his followers about his sponsor for the day.

He has a website called www.iwearyourshirt.com where you can get more details.

Sandler was a guest on our radio show last week (www.blogtalkradio.com/get-more-businessin case you’re interested), and he talked about his business, its growth, and what he and his business partner, Evan White, can offer small businesses for their 24 hours of fame. Yes, I said partner. After working solo for 2009, Sandler added his partner (and doubled his fees!) for 2010. He’s looking to add two or three more people next year as well.

Seems like his idea has caught the attention of small companies — but he’s also working with some bigger companies later this year (as of this writing, he only has 19 days still available for 2010).

Sandler’s idea — and his execution of the idea — is one of those silly little “why not me?” ideas that has turned into a business. Despite his estimation that he puts in 10-12 hours a day on behalf of his sponsor, most people would do almost anything to have a similar job description.

Sandler’s story was very inspirational, and is one of those stories you hear occasionally that makes you think just about anything is possible.

So, if you’re got an idea you’ve been toying with for a while, go for it!! And if you have a few extra dollars floating around, I know a guy that will help you promote it on a t-shirt!

SQIP and Greenwin Network –Releasing the Power

charleshopson — Tue, 18 May 2010 14:48:03 +0000

There seems to be a lot of confusion out there about SQIP/Greenwin Network and I am hoping that this blog can shed some light.

SQIP History

SQIP was started some time back with the idea of having an alternative to Skype but better, with free webinar services and multi conferencing called SQIP Messenger. It would be marketed through a network of people (the most effective marketing strategy ever). Everyone that joined would be an affiliate and would be paid from advertising revenue generated by the activity of the members in their group, to 10 levels, without ever having to pay a penny.
But then things got big! Really big! The telecoms provider that was going to be providing the services for the SQIP messenger saw the potential in the marketing strategy and decided to throw in VOIP from mobile phones. Think about this for a second… if you joined back then, your potential market was a mere 500 million people. Not too bad when you consider that is 5 times more than the entire network marketing industry.

Greenwin Network

The thing is when you put a Skype like product on a mobile phone, the market opens up to over 4 billion people. Now we are talking massive potential. Don’t worry; the SQIP Messenger will still be here. It’s just taken a back seat for the time being and will be called the Greenwin Messenger. There is a nice tie-up because you will be able to use the same service that you have on your mobile phone, on your computer (the messenger) and…. landline. Super duper cheap, almost free calls to anywhere in the world. Oh and there is a Super Mall. In total about 50 income streams.
I say almost free because there will be a small cost to use the service to call out. You don’t pay a thing to receive calls. Now this was kept quiet for some time. As you can imagine, mobile phone operators all over the world would be somewhat concerned about this new technology. Well it’s not really new; it’s just never been used like this. Regardless of that Greenwin Network Ltd was registered at the beginning of April 2010 in London and following a 6-8 month trial will be registering on the FTSE (London Stock Exchange). This is not a small thing that we are dealing with.

So where is Greenwin Network Now

Ok so, down to the nuts and bolts. The new Greenwin Network Site is up and available for anyone to look at, if you are willing to use a little program called Google. Speaking of which… did you invest in Google when it started. Pity you missed that one. Oh but wait… here is another chance or are you not going to learn from past lessons?
Anyway, I digress, there is a new website and it looks pretty nice but… the new back office is not ready yet. I have been watching progress with a lot of interest and you can take it from me, there is progress albeit a little slower than I would want. But then I’m totally impatient.
Go forth and prosper
This is not one of those two-bit cycling matrix programs with the same useless outdated e-books or advertising points that everyone is flogging. You are not going to land up on dead boards or find that your program has fizzled out in six months. This one is going to last. If there ever was an opportunity that is for everyone, this is it!
Don’t try and work out what you will earn, it’s not possible but the more active your group is, the better you will do. Don’t try and tell anyone what they could earn you might frighten them off. The launch has been delayed quite a bit, but with over 140,000 members before they have even launched things could get really bad if they launched and there were problems. Just concentrate on building your network and the rest will take care of itself.
We are expecting the launch in the next 3 weeks so get out there and tell the world. Who knows where this might take you in the next couple of years. THINK BIG!

To Your Success,

Charles Hopson
609-706-5503
skype: cphopson
chopson48@gmail.com
http://www.powerlistmarketing.com/links/10824