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SOPA, the “Stop Online Piracy Act” goes up for a vote in the House next week. The Protect IP Act (PIPA) goes in front of the Senate next week. The intention is to “protect intellectual property rights” and “go after online piracy”. We are all for protecting intellectual property. After all, we are in the business of building brands and identities. But these proposals are not the way to do it.

Both proposals go well beyond that intention and venture into the territory of censorship and government selection of which businesses stay in business. One analogy being used that we think is fitting is shutting down the auto industry because a bank robber drove away from a robbery in a car.

About the bills

Both bills attempt to address the issue of copyright/trademark infringement and the problem of online piracy. Cnet posted a good FAQ on “How SOPA would affect you: FAQ”, which outlines specifics of the bill and the potential impact. Reddit, which has led the awareness charge for SOPA, also has a good FAQ.

3 reasons why these are bad proposals:

1) Extreme penalties. The bills propose shutting down entire sites if someone deems content on a page to violate copyright laws. Which makes us ask: isn’t that what copyright laws already cover? Perhaps enforcing those laws might be a better course of action.

2) Our economy, like many world wide, is still in the tank. The internet offers one of very few growth sectors. According to the report “Internet matters: The Net’s sweeping impact on growth, jobs, and prosperity” published by the  McKinsey Global Institute, “The Internet accounted for 21 percent of GDP growth over the last five years among the developed countries MGI studied, a sharp acceleration from the 10 percent contribution over 15 years. Most of the economic value created by the Internet falls outside of the technology sector, with 75 percent of the benefits captured by companies in more traditional industries. The Internet is also a catalyst for job creation. Among 4,800 small and medium-size enterprises surveyed, the Internet created 2.6 jobs for each lost to technology-related efficiencies.” Now Congress and the Senate propose to kill that with this law. We have to wonder why there is time and energy for this type of legislation when picking up where the Super Committee failed might be a better focus.

3) There are privacy concerns on traffic monitoring and it also opens the door to potential blacklisting.

See how your Representative and Senators stand

ProPublica is posting summaries of where Representatives and Senators stand. Click on the link for your state to see the details. Also of note: how many dollars their 2010 campaigns received from the movie/music/tv industry, and from the computer/internet industry.

What you can do

What can you do? Simple: contact your Congressional Representative and Senators and let them know you do not support this legislation. We did. Here’s where our Representative and Senators stand in responding:

Rep. John Yarmuth: no response to my email. Posts on the Web indicate he is not decided yet.

Sen. Rand Paul: responded to my e-mail that he will vote against

Sen. Mitch McConnell: no response yet. Posts on the Web give no indication of where he stands. Who knows?

 Update to post: January 19, 2012:

John Yarmuth just sent me an e-mail indicating he will vote NO on SOPA and PIPA should either bill come up for a vote. His mail noted receiving more than 300 calls and e-mails in the last 24 hours. Thanks for your response, Rep. Yarmuth!

Common marketing mistakes business owners make can cost valuable business opportunities and serious money.

Over the years, I’ve heard countless business owners voice regrets about spending marketing dollars for no return. As they say “hindsight is 20/20”. Most stories reflected common mistakes. This list highlights the top 7:

1) Jumping in before you do the research. This is the “ready, fire, aim” syndrome. Let’s face it: research is not the sexiest part of marketing. It often feels like math class. With the exception of people who love data diving, most of us want to get to the fun part: story boards, pictures, sound and video. “Let’s not waste time on research. It costs money (time) we should be using to getting product sold!”

Except: much like avoiding homework leads to poor grades in school, poor research can mean poor business results. Taking the time to understand market trends, competition, customer behavior and economic trends can pay off big, and give you a major competitive advantage.

2) Failing to plan. Plans mean having a calendar and deadlines, with every piece working together. It also means tracking results and correcting if necessary. Too many business owners simply go with what a good advertising sales person recommends, without considering how the ads work with everything else they are doing to promote their business. An integrated marketing plan focuses your dollars to return the maximum, and defines how all of the pieces work together.

3) Asking everyone except your customer what they want. We call this “mother-in-law marketing”. Now, unless your mother-in-law represents your target market, or qualifies as an expert in the industry, we recommend you double check with your customers before rushing head long into a new product launch.

4) Thinking “anyone can market stuff. Heck, my 3 year old can do better than that!” This includes “saving money” by having students do your work for you. Good idea as a start-up, but this can be very costly later in the game. A seasoned pro has already learned the pitfalls students do not yet know.

5) Falling for the sales pitch. This one is especially painful. Local TV/radio/newspaper advertising sales people do a great job, and often have some good ideas about presentation. However: they are not on your team, do not understand your day to day business, and work for the outlet they represent. Their job is to sell you ad space.

Think about how the ad fits into your overall marketing plan. Is it a place your customers come to? Here’s a story we heard. A retail store in the outdoor market invested in a 30 second trailer to show in a local cineplex. The excitement of creating a “mini movie” to show in the movie theatre overshadowed consideration of where hikers would go to get information about gear. The lightbulb moment occurred while sitting in a near empty theatre with popcorn, watching their beautiful trailer.

6) Letting someone design your ad for free (this is close to the high school kid designing your website). To this I ask: “Would you let a high school student call on your #1 customer?” Probably not, because as smart and creative as that kid is, they are not a professional, yet. Your website is your top salesperson, and will likely be in front of more potential customers than any of your staff. Don’t you think it deserves some thought and a professional’s touch?

7) Running after the latest BSO (bright, shiny object). Facebook! Twitter! Foursquare! So many wonderful technologies! Except: everything must work together, or you lose focus and momentum. BSO’s can do wonders for your visibility. Use them as part of an integrated plan.

By taking time to do your homework on the marketplace, working with seasoned professionals to craft an integrated plan, and spending money wisely, you can avoid these pitfalls.

Thirsty for new tools that helped them, everyone embraced the new knowledge and picked it up quickly. And, of course, results began to happen.

Tip: our approach included happiness in every area of life – not just work. This made a big difference to the team. Most comments sounded like this: “This is a view of success I like! Most of the time it’s just about money & more stuff.”

The steps.
Here are the steps I take:

Reflect on what really matters most to me
Determine where I am now
Where would I like to be?
Identify the gaps
Make plans. Plans with deadlines.
Tactical support: the details needed to get there
Track: progress

Set aside time to plan

Set aside quiet time to think, without distractions. I take December downtime every year to reflect on the past year, and decide what I’d like next year to bring.

What matters most: the magic element of achieving

Most goal setting starts with identifying what matters most to you. What are the top five values dear to you? For example: freedom? loyalty? family? Write them all down. Then identify the top five. Rank them.

This reveals what drives your behavior. And that will drive your achievement.

NOTE: as an employer, I feel very strongly that this step is private. It only works with self honesty, which cannot be accomplished if you have to share it with your boss. The accountability I required was honesty that the step was completed. I did not look at their journals.

Where are you today?

After defining your values, look at your current state of life. Using a holistic view, look at: personal accomplishment, physical health, mental & emotional well being, relationships, contribution, financial health and joy.

Personal accomplishment: includes work, learning, personal traits and hobbies
Physical health: health, fitness, sleeping patterns, eliminating bad habits
Mental/emotional well being: spiritual peace, happiness, passion for life
Relationships: romance, family, friendships and colleagues
Contribution: whatever it means to you – helping others, community, giving back.
Financial: being financially stable, able to fund the life you want
Joy: what makes your heart sing? hobbies, pampering, the beach, whatever.

Where would you like to be?

Here is the FUN part! IMAGINE. Imagine if anything were possible, what would your life look like in each of these areas? Take a piece of paper for each area and title the page. Then write down everything you can think of to describe the perfect life in each area. Dare to dream. Forget the present – this is about the future. Your future. Write a list, draw pictures, paste photos from magazines – it doesn’t matter how. Just do it.

Identify the gaps.

For each area, identify the difference between today and tomorrow. This difference is your goal.

Define a plan. With a deadline.

Take the #1 goal in each area, and list it on the top of each piece of paper. Each one should be specific and measurable. For example: “I will have $4,500 of credit card debt paid off.” or “I will take a two week vacation in New York City.” Now add a date.

The details of getting there.

Now think about all the small tasks between today and completion. Take one goal at a time. List each one below the goal, and the order you think they should be done in. Working back from your deadline, add completion dates for each task. Add them to your calendar. This is your plan.

Tracking your progress.

Every morning and evening, take a look at what tasks lie ahead for the day and week. Record completion for each one. Every week, take a look at how much was done, and which tasks need to be added to the following week. We’ve got a handy one page download to help.

Reap the rewards & enjoy!
Staying on task, you will soon see your ideal life realized. Enjoy the accomplishment!

What does a feasibility plan look like?

There is no “set in stone” format for a feasibility plan. Good plans are on paper or digital – and some great plans have sketched out on the back of napkins (literally). Here are two suggested outlines of information you will need:

Outline #1:
1) State your idea in one to two sentences.
2) How is it different from others out there?
3) Where will you do business?
4) Who will be your direct customers? How many exist?
5) How will you market to your customers?
6) Who will sell your product/service? Will they work for you or someone else?
7) What is your pricing? How does it compare to competition?
8 ) How will you deliver to your customers?
9) What resources will you need to launch the business?

People: management team, contractors/freelancers, employees
Offices/storage
Knowledge and expertise needed (and how you will get it)
Technology needed
Cash needed for the first two years
Equipment
Etc.

10) Financial projections:

1) What is your start up cost?
2)Year 1, 2, 3 projections (top line) of revenue, costs, profits and cash flows (do year 1 by month). Make these “worst case” scenarios.

Outline #2:
One sentence description of business idea
Describe the industry: how big is it today? Is it growing or declining? How competitive is  it?
Describe business opportunity for the idea: why your idea is compelling
Describe target market, size of target market & growth rate over the past five and next five years
Describe management team
Describe required resources
Describe start-up timeline/milestones, year one and year two
Financial recap: summary income statement projections for start-up; year one and year two
What are upside opportunities?

A special note about resources

Every entrepreneur is known to ask this: how can I get this free? Who do I know to ask? Check with people you know and trust to get good information.

When drafting up financial estimates, remember that you may not need the fancy office to get your idea off the ground – often the first step in the start-up phase is to test the idea in the market before committing to a large outlay in cash.

Final note:

The goal of this study is to find the “market proof” the idea will fly – and a rough idea of the valuation if you do decide to court investors.

One way is to do a quick feasibility study to test the idea. Feasibility studies serve three key purposes:

1)  Evaluate good business ideas from bad by writing the idea on paper. This forces you to really begin thinking the idea through.

2)  Create the initial research on market sizing, industry stability/growth and answer the question: will it make money over time? How long until we get our investment back?

3)  Saves time and money by determining if an idea is good enough to spend the effort and expense of developing full blown plan and due diligence.

Time: how long will it take?

A feasibility study is meant as a “quick & dirty” vetting of a business idea. A good general rule of thumb is to spend no more than 16 hours on it.

Money: how much should I spend on a feasibility study?

For the entrepreneur – spending next to nothing is the ideal. Remember, the purpose is to test an idea. Most information for this top-line review is readily available through sources like the Internet, free white papers, industry trade journal articles, surveys (on line or real time). There may be an occasional report that makes sense to buy ($49+) if the information will provide you with the insights needed to make a decision to move forward or not. Generally speaking, a few dollars spent for good information is cheaper than moving forward with ignorance.

What does a feasibility plan look like?

There is no “set in stone” format for a feasibility plan. Good plans are on paper or digital – and some great plans have sketched out on the back of napkins (literally).

If the idea looks good, what is the next step?

A “yes” on the feasibility study leads to developing a more comprehensive business plan – with detailed financials, milestones, etc. Business plans usually take 80-100 hours in time, may require investment in information studies and include staffing, production, sales, distribution, marketing and finance plans.

Have you ever endured a product presentation that features screen after screen of whiz-bang stuff the product can do – and only an engineer could love? Although I admire the passion behind the “tell us everything about it”, the effect doesn’t move careers ahead.

Instead: think of who you are addressing and how they might use the product. Will it reduce time to prepare something? Could they do their job better? Will it assist in meeting bonus objectives?

As a very wise friend told me: “My teaching career took off when I realized my job was not to teach them everything I know, but to teach some things they don’t yet know.”

Think of all of the commercials you’ve seen recently, and which ones you remember. Chances are, the memorable ones involve a story of some type. Humorous, dramatic, or a simple vignette with a happy ending – it doesn’t matter. A story is easier to relate to and remember than a sheet of facts any day.

Using stories in advertising – known as the “slice of life” approach – is a time-tested and proven way to move more product. Think about the car commercial where the dad sends his daughter off to drive for the first time. It is a story that mirrors our own lives and we can identity with it.

Tips for creating a good story:
Have a good beginning, middle and end
Seek to tell a story that your customer can relate to
“Show, don’t tell” – think action instead of narration

Bonus tip: Add an unexpected ending if you can – the surprise catches people off guard & increases their ability to recall it.

Happy selling!

Here’s how: require every participant to build on to the previous idea by beginning their next sentence with “Yes! And…..”

For example:

Bob: “I’d like to see the Texas sales area offer more new services to our customers.”

Susan: “Yes, and we can offer them as an additional sale.”

Buck: “Yes, and our inside sales team can use the offering as a reason to contact  existing customers, and keep us “top of mind”.”

Using “Yes, and” leads to some great ideas by establishing a positive (and safe) environment for you and your team to explore new ideas.

Steve Jobs, Bill Gates and I are all the same age. I always thought that was kind of cool, and wondered about the 1955 birth year as magic in the tech world. (It occurs so much that Malcolm Gladwell devoted a chunk of his book Outliers to it.) Although I am obviously not a tech titan, the fact we are the same age means my career journey directly tracks to their work – unfolding as each new product changes everything.

Early Apple California

Back in the late 70’s and early 80’s I worked for Shasta Beverages in California. The company headquarter offices in Hayward were close enough to the tech communities up there that we had a bunch of people moving in and out of our company from Atari, the big game maker at the time. The team in our office tracked Jobs pretty closely in those days for all the cool stuff being invented up there.

I remember we cobbled together an old TV and an Atari game to somehow generate spreadsheets. Our finance guy parked the TV on his credenza and endured all kinds of abuse from the visiting headquarters folks about slacking off in the region office. We kept quiet on the spreadsheet thing – it freed us from relying on my trusty Victor desktop calculator to project financials for our profit centers. With the Atari, we could actually create  “what if” scenarios of the ideal marketing mix of products and promotions. For eleven profit centers to manage, that was no small deal. (I loved that Victor, and wish I still had it. Best calculator ever.)

Later, we got ahold of an Apple IIe for the plant and thought we’d gone to heaven. But the company had strict policies about stand alone computing in field offices, so we’d have to ditch the Atari & the Apple in the stationary closet and lock it up when headquarter visitors came to our offices.

1984
In 1984, we got wind of the new Apple campus evolving and that Steve put a grand piano in the lobby. If that wasn’t cool enough (and way, way different from our soft drink culture), it was a Bosendorfer piano. I knew about Steinway, which was the coolest, most beautiful piano I’d ever seen, but this thing was off the charts, and enormously expensive. And oh so beautiful. Which, of course, was the point.

Soft drink leaders should not run tech companies

Somewhere along the line, soft drink people got into CEO tech jobs & failed. Steve recruited John Sculley from Pepsi & we all know how that turned out. Adam Osborne (Osborne Computing) recruited a Shasta alum, Bob Jaunich II to run his company. That ended badly as well – although it is often attributed to bad timing of publicizing a new release. (Which caused retailers to return their now “outdated” inventories.)

Wonder

I looked up to the Valley and wondered now and again if maybe I should go take a look and switch over from CPG to tech. Ultimately I stayed in packaged goods and carved out my own space of thinking different and upending some previous ways of doing business in my own right. I loved the challenge and data diving to get to new places by understanding the underpinnings – pushing the tech envelope along the way.

Put a dent in the universe

Steve Jobs was well known for wanting to “put a dent in the universe”, not compromising on his dreams and evaluating each day in the face and measure of death. And his death has caused me to re-evaluate where I am in my space of the universe. To re-consider and check my own journey.

And with Steve’s passing, I wonder again. His “rebel” and “counter culture” persona parallels my time in the 70s, like many. His love of design and beauty and better and different brought so much soul to Apple and what computers and software can do. He and his teams made the tools for the rest of us to fly.

I’m grateful he followed his dreams and intellect and spirit. And I think of his family, and mourn for them as well.

RIP Steve Jobs.

Thank you for following your dreams.