Giving Back

In business, if a production machine costs more to run than the outputs are worth, what happens? People lose money and if this occurs for a long enough period of time, the system fails. For example, I have a marshmallow machine that makes 10,000 marshmallows a day. It costs me $20,000 a day to run the machine and I sell the daily marshmallow batch for $5,000. How long can I run the machine before I go out of business? Depends on how long I can stand to lose $15k a day. I could borrow money to continue to run the machine, but that's not a solution either because eventually a loan payment will be due.

Much like the marshmallow machine, if you take in more services than you produce, you are a failure to the system. However, there are so many opportunities to serve. I know of eight non-profits in my community alone that desperately need board members and volunteers. When deciding where to serve, it's very important to look at what you have passion for. Maybe it's cancer, or the homeless, or children. Whatever your passion, there is surely a cause you can join to support. Also, check out the validity of the cause. Are the dollars raised going to support local impact? Is that impact measurable or is it unknown? If you help raise dollars for medical research, do the dollars go toward a high-paid celebrity to represent the campaign or do the dollars go toward the actual research?

The same is true with our society in general, but ultimately the communities we serve. You may say to yourself, 'communities we serve, I don't serve any communities'. That's my point exactly. Some people consider themselves 'residents' or 'employees' in a community, while I submit that we should all consider ourselves servants in the community! If you have an opinion about your child's school system, step up and take action - join the school board, go to PTO meetings, stay in touch with the needs of the teachers and students. Unless you're willing to step up and help, don't complain.

A machine has value only as it produces more than it consumes — so check your value to the community.

Quote by: Martin H. Fischer

Making a Plan

With the new year comes new resolutions or commitments such as losing weight, staying more organized, worrying less, or spending more time with the family. These are all great resolutions but are void without a plan. They are more of a hope than a resolution unless there is a specific plan for implementation.

Have you ever thought about how many things in our day-to-day life require a plan? These are things that you do all the time. Here are a few examples:

• Brushing your teeth: Dentists recommend brushing for at least two minutes after every meal. Two minutes can be a very long time without a plan of action. An example is to brush your teeth in a pattern. Do this by segmenting your mouth into four segments and brushing for 30 seconds each segment. If you do, it makes your brushing far more effective than just randomness which leaves certain teeth out.
• Laundry: If you took all your dirty laundry and just started throwing it into the washer, what would happen? Your colors would be bleached, your pants would have towel lint all over them and your underwear would turn pink most likely. I know because my kids do the laundry most of the time. However, if you sort your laundry in advance (plan it out), then you will have all the whites together, all the towels together and all the colors together, which makes for a much more successful turnout.

Another important part of a plan is measuring it. My daughter recently informed me she was dieting with her friends to see who could lose the most weight. I asked, “Did everyone weight themselves in front of each other”. She replied, “No, we don’t need to weigh ourselves to see who loses the most weight, we’ll just be able to tell by looking at each other”. Little does she know, that’s not quite how it works. If she doesn’t know where she started, she won’t know where she’s going to end up.

The same concept applies in business. We must set reasonable, achievable goals with due dates and people in charge. You’ve probably heard of keeping goals SMART – which is an acronym for:

S – specific

M – measurable

A – attainable

R – realistic

T – timely

So many times, small businesses want to make more money or grow their customer base, but don’t plan to do so. Instead of proactively marketing based on a plan, they react to industry slow-downs and economic downturns. Business drops down or the economy takes a hit and the business is ready to market. It’s tough to market when times are good because your time is limited. A well thought out plan will take care of your business whether times are good or bad.

Tulsa Spirit Awards

RSU Innovation Center Client Wins Tulsa Entrepreneur Award

The first place winner of the third annual Tulsa Mayor's Entrepreneurial Spirit Award is a Claremore resident and a Rogers State University Innovation Center incubator client.

Jeremy Green, founder of Real Time Rehab, a DVD-based physical therapy program, received the $30,000 grand prize at the award program held Tuesday night.

The third-annual contest began in April and included more than 85 entries before being narrowed down to seven finalists and then to three winners and a single grand prize recipient.

“Winning the Spirit Award gives us immediate funding for some new opportunities and a little bit of breathing room,” Green said.

His RSU Innovation Center office is full of DVDs, notebooks, computers and lots of energy. A graduate of Sequoyah High School and Oklahoma State University, Green lives in Claremore and enjoys working close to home.

Green said he came up with the idea for the company when he was in school for physical therapy and decided to defer his education to create Real Time Rehab.

Instead of giving patients a piece of paper with descriptions of prescribed exercises to be completed at home, Real Time Rehab allows physical therapists to design a DVD for each patient. The patient can then watch someone demonstrate the required exercises in the comfort of their own home.

“If I am a therapist I might be able to help 30 or 40 people a week, this way I could help millions,” Green said.

With the help of his brother-in-law Jason Reed, who owns Martini Shot Productions, Green was able to record demonstrations of many of the exercises commonly prescribed by physical therapists.

He consults with several physical therapists as well as an occupational therapist to create a product to fit the industry and the patient’s needs.

Green, age 30, has been an RSU Innovation Center client for more than three years and a part of the incubator program since the spring. Jeri Koehler, RSU Innovation Center business development specialist, helped Green with a business plan several years ago and continues to work with him as an incubator client.

“Jeremy Green has worked tenaciously to get Real Time Rehab where it is today. He is an ideal client because he is passionate about his business and does whatever it takes in order to succeed,” Koehler said. “With his success in the Tulsa Spirit Awards, his business is geared to grow exponentially as he provides solutions to physical therapists and physicians throughout the United States.”

Green said the staff and resources at the RSU Innovation Center helped him succeed with his business.

“They are smart and good to work with,” he said.

RSU established the Innovation Center in 2002 to foster economic development and address the educational needs of business and industry in northeastern Oklahoma. The Innovation Center does this by focusing on business and technology incubator services, entrepreneurial training and business counseling.

The Innovation Center features a business and technology incubator program geared toward growing early stage technology, light manufacturing, and professional service-based companies.

Real Time Rehab was a perfect fit for the Innovation Center incubator program because of the nature of Green’s technology-focused business, Koehler said.

Clients play a fee each month to lease the space and have access to services and support. The monthly fee is often less than it would be for other commercial office space.

“Jeremy is an outstanding entrepreneur with a very promising business model. The Innovation Center is very proud to have an incubator client recognized for its achievements and potential,” said Dr. Ray Brown, RSU vice president for economic and community development.

For more information contact the Innovation Center at (918) 343-7533 or e-mail innovation@rsu.edu.

More information about Real Time Rehab is available by visiting the company’s web site http://www.realtimerehab.com/.

Giving a Gift vs. Marketing

The basics of marketing are comparable to giving a gift. Here's a breakdown.

When you are sending a gift, you must decide who to send a gift to. In marketing, this is called your Market. It's answering the questions of who’s your ideal customer, who are you trying to reach, who is the most profitable?

When sending a gift, you must then decide what you're going to send a gift for: birthday, anniversary, graduation, holiday. In marketing, this is called your Message. It's communicating how your product or service is newer, better, faster and/or cheaper than the competition.

The next step in gift giving is deciding how to send the gift? Will it be a card, flowers, cookie bouquet or balloons? In marketing, this is called Media. It's deciding how to deliver the message such as direct mail, advertising or direct sales.

Of course, when you send a gift, you want to make sure you get the most bang for your buck, so you may add a hand-written sentiment telling the recipient why they deserve the gift or throw in an extra box of chocolates. In marketing this is called Maximization. It's finding ways to entice each customer to spend more money, more often. This can be done by using referrals and add-on sales to get the most from each customer.

So when you look at your marketing strategy and tactics, don't think you're bothering people with your message, product or service. Think of it more like you're giving them a gift. So make sure it's good! I prefer chocolates myself!

Ice Cream Truck

Do you remember the feelings you got when you heard the ice cream truck coming? The sound of an ice cream truck can trigger several emotions such as excitement and anticipation. As a kid, I would immediately try to remember where I stashed my money so I could quickly grab it and run out the door, chasing the truck. But what if I couldn't find my money in time, or didn't have enough? Or what if I was too late and the ice cream truck left my street before I could catch it? What if by the time I caught it, all the other neighborhood kids bought the good stuff, leaving behind the slimy push pops from the bottom of the freezer? All those questions would well up in my mind within seconds, but I would chase after the truck regardless.

When entrepreneurs are overcome by the 'Entrepreneurial Seizure' as some so eloquently put it, they react in much the same way. Emotions overtake logic and soon they are overcome with anxiousness. The biggest problem associated with this is the hastiness involved. An entrepreneur has an idea, decides they are the only one with this idea ever, and they proceed to take steps to implement before everyone else does. This emotion of hastiness can have damaging effects on the strategy behind business.

It's important for entrepreneurs to step back and take an unemotional look at the big picture. Then attack the idea with a well thought out strategy. Too many times I sit down to coach entrepreneurs about their idea or their business and they are too busy scrambling to catch the truck, sometimes forgetting about common sense. Other ice cream trucks will come around, so don't let the emotion of haste determine your future, otherwise you will be stuck with a slimy push pop.

Work Smarter, Not Harder

We've been helping a local small business for several years. When he has a questions about marketing, taxes, employees, payroll, training, manufacturing, suppliers, vendors, the internet or just about anything else relating to his business, he calls us. It's always a pleasure working with him because his business is always moving so fast. If he calls on Thursday and I don't get back to him with an answer by Monday, then he's most likely already solved the problem. That's exactly what I like to see in a business - evolution.

He was recently a speaker at the Claremore Chamber of Commerce and talked about how he is going against everything in him to work smarter, not just harder. This is such an excellent point. Instead of me blogging about everything he said, you can check out his testimony at:

http://www.claremoreprogress.com/homepage/local_story_149113801.html?

At the carwash

We've had one main car wash on Hwy. 66 in town for as long as I've lived here (referred to as #1). For an automatic wash, it was around $3. Several years ago, another car wash came into town, just down the highway from the first (referred to as #2). Their prices were higher, around $8 for an automatic wash. At first I was stunned, but they were newer, better, and faster. If you factor in inflation and overhead it makes sense. So I started going there. It was more convenient for me anyway.

Most recently, a new car wash has made a debut in town (referred to as #3). They are called the $3 Car Wash. Their format is completely different, but very cool. You drive up, it latches onto your car, and it pulls your car through. It also uses sloppy sponges instead of brushless, which I'm not crazy about, but my kids love it.

From a business point of view, I have several observations.

• Naming a business based on the main price point is not a good idea. Will the $3 car wash always be $3? Surely not? Inflation happens, right? Then what, change the signage and rename the business?
  
• When #2 came into town, #1 raised their prices to $5 per wash. Their thinking was 'if the guy down the road charges $8 and stays busy, I can get away with charging $5.' When car wash #3 came into town charging $3 for an automatic wash, the other two businesses lowered their prices to stay competitive. Here's a table to recap:
  

• The key difference between #2 and #3's entrance into the market is their focus. #2 came on the scene with a better offering, as opposed to lower prices. #3 came on the scene with the Wal-mart focus, out price the competition. This threw #1 and #2 into a panic, so they both dropped their prices. (note: #1 raised prices after #2 opened, but dropped them again after #3 opened).
  
• So what's to keep #3 from dominating and putting the other two out of business? #3 has horrible hours. It says it's automatic, but their setup requires someone to be there and man the station when they are open. I've tried to go there three times and they've been closed. Another reason #3 won't shut down the others anytime soon is because of location. While all three are located on Hwy 66, they are far enough apart and on different sides of the road. It's all about convenience. I go to whichever car wash is most convenient, which happens to be #2 right now, so I'm super happy they lowered their prices. Thanks car wash #3 for making that happen -- you're the best ever!