Business

The Importance of Trying New Things and Failing Along the Way

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Starting a business is one of the most exciting, intimidating, and humbling experiences you can have. As an entrepreneur, I’m constantly torn between two roles: being a business owner and being a worker. Both are demanding in their own ways, but entrepreneurship has taught me lessons that go beyond day-to-day tasks.

The biggest lesson? Effort doesn’t equal success.

That can feel discouraging at first, but it’s also freeing once you accept it. You can put in countless hours, grind day and night, and still fall short. On the flip side, sometimes the right opportunity arrives at the right time, and things fall into place more easily than expected. That’s why luck is such a big factor in business—though, of course, luck favors those who are prepared.

Networking plays just as big of a role. You never know where opportunities will come from, so you need to be willing to put yourself out there. Advocate for yourself and your business. Talk about what you do, share your vision, and don’t be afraid to connect. That being said, selling to friends and family should only happen if you genuinely believe your product or service will benefit them. Otherwise, you risk making things awkward, and no business gain is worth losing trust or straining relationships.

Another reality is that not everyone will want to see you succeed. Some people may even act like they don’t. And that’s okay. Not every relationship is meant to become a business relationship. If blending the two puts a personal connection at risk, it’s often better to walk away and preserve the friendship.

At the heart of entrepreneurship is trying new things, failing, and learning. You learn from your own failures and from the failures of others. Every misstep teaches you something valuable—what not to do, where to pivot, how to improve.

So if you’re considering entrepreneurship, here’s what I’d say:

  • Don’t expect effort alone to guarantee results.
  • Welcome luck and networking as powerful tools.
  • Advocate for yourself and your business.
  • Protect your personal relationships.
  • And above all, take risks and  keep learning—especially when things don’t go as planned.

The journey isn’t easy, but it’s worth it. Entrepreneurship isn’t just about building a business; it’s about building yourself through experiences, challenges, and growth.

#business #enterpreneurship

Pockets of Productivity and body language.

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If you have taken the time to read the “about” section of this blog you will see that there are five topics that I think about the most.  Of course, these are not the only topics that I am interested in, they are just the ones that I feel the most comfortable discussing. Now that statement is made please read on for some words of wisdom, that has made me more productive and had a positive impact on how I interact with the world around me

Words of wisdom from business to everyday life.

I want to share some life experiences, as well as some topics I am passionate about but don’t  feel compelled to dedicate an entire blog post to at this time.  The first is a quote: “Never stand around with your hands in your pockets.”  While this may or may not seem like obviously good advice. It is extremely important in life for several reasons.  Standing around with your hands in your pockets makes you a target.  When you are standing with your hands in your pockets it is highly likely that either you are doing nothing, or very little.  In my own business as well as most companies I have worked with, the person in that stagnant state was given the worst, boring, least rewarding tasks first, such as filing backdated documents, faxing dozens of forms to vendors, scan docs, wrapping cable, digging trenches, and soaping wires. Those tasks cover advertising, manufacturing, stage hand, and construction work to illustrate the breadth of industries where standing around with your hands in your pockets is a negative activity in business. A few other instances where negative activity produced negative results.

Be aware of your surroundings.

Throughout the 90’s I spent nearly all of my time between the Beaches of New Jersey, The Lower East Side (LES) in Manhattan, Bay Ridge Brooklyn, and Jackson Heights Queens. The reason I point out the geographical areas is that they are very diverse in comparison to each other.  Although it is easy to identify the differences from each place, they all had the same outlook:  if you look like a victim you will become a victim.  While the interactions for which a person may be confronted with will most likely differ, such as getting mugged, sucker punched, scammed by various street hustlers, harassed by drunks, junkies, and wackadoos, random search by New York’s finest; nonetheless, they are all situations that generally that should be avoided, but standing around with your hands in your pockets is like wearing a sign that says “victim here”.

Respect and trust.

As a Father, standing around with your hands in your pockets makes it hard to command respect and be taken seriously as an authority figure.   Any time my father would have his hand in his pockets while parenting he was red faced and screaming, which is probably the only way to get someone to realize how serious you are.

Fashion and practicality

Pocket advocate: I am a total pocket advocate.   I dislike pants and jackets that don’t have pockets, as a parent and without a care for social acceptance, I love cargo shorts due to the ample pocket space, and in cold weather, I am totally comfortable with walking with my hands in the cozy pockets of a hoodie or jacket.  Now that I think it is clear there is a time and a place to make yourself vulnerable.   Hopefully, this insight helps you seem more productive and be a little safer navigating the world.

Changing Consumer Habits

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While I was digesting the news this week I heard how well Walmart was doing in Q4.  Full disclosure, I have limited shopping experience at Walmart.  My online shopping is for products that I can’t source locally or when I need a specific quality item and I have positive experiences with a specific online brand.  As for Walmart and their domination of the low-cost retail market, here are my insights as to the change in customer behavior and how Walmart had been the beneficiary of changes in the market and buying habits.

Earning and Work life balance

“ Walmart’s doing really well while people are more likely to stay in, shop online, binge watch movies and order pizza.”  paraphrasing news broadcaster.  With more freelance and gig-jobs, part-time work is not only common, but for many, part-time work has become a necessity, especially in highly populated areas where the competition for jobs is much more intense.  The full-time work that is available is more demanding of people’s time, thus reducing work/life balance.  It has been hypothesized that people are avoiding the expense of going out to shop not only because of the great ease of online shopping, but also because the product quality is not as important as it once was to many consumers, who are now placing greater value on low cost and reduced time over the quality of the goods.  This has made Walmart an ideal player in the market according to the hypothesis.

Freelance and Gig work

I also think that there is a bigger and sadder picture that leads to this type of customer behavior in the current market.  While I have not conducted any academic research to support either assumption at this time, it has been reported that the poverty and wealth gap is growing and changing the world, and these effects are more apparent than one may think.  The population is in part taking in more non-traditional forms of employment such as gig and freelance work, where using their own assets to make a profit such as delivery, and hospitality services, (Lyft, Air BnB) making the population more exhausted.  Now people are coming home from a much longer than what was once considered a normal working day (8 hours).  The flexible and remote workforce injects work deep in the home life and adds stress when there is no option for  “leaving work stress at the office”… because the office is home.

Quantity over Poverty

While many Walmart employees cannot even afford to raise a family on a single income, the need for families and independent adults to have more than one income makes it harder to have free time and expendable income to do things like go out and enjoy anything let alone one of America’s favorite pastime such as retail therapy.  The sales associates at discount retailers often do not have the same drive to sell as their commission seller counterparts can drive up engagement and make the shopping experience more of an event than a necessity.  Because discount retailer sales associates who work on an hourly wage are very aware that customer service is no guarantee of additional compensation, the customer experience is often sub-par to that provided by sellers who are rewarded with more lucrative sales incentives.

Free Time Well spent

It seems that the comparisons that can be made from the increase in discount and low-cost retailers with low-paying jobs has had a spillover onto a larger segment of the population of working adults.  For the people taking on additional work (be it freelance, gig-work, or having multiple part time employment), the free time available for going out to enjoy one’s self has fallen to the wayside, resulting in a gap that has been filled in by binge watching tv, social media, and RPG’s with food and goods purchased online that include purchases that are undoubtedly delivered by a person working their way through the day until the start of  their next gig just a few hours later.

Profit at all cost

Walmart’s 10k states: “strategy is to lead on price, differentiate on access, be competitive on assortment, and deliver a great experience.  Leading on price is designed to earn the trust of our customers every day by providing a broad assortment of quality merchandise and services at everyday low prices”.  While there are many large companies that compete on cost in many different industries, in the long term, the customer loses out more than the firms because of the increase in waste from products that are of poor quality, or made with the intent to be replaced quickly.  As time goes on, low-cost products give way to low-wage jobs, and the decrease in resources perpetuates the problem.

Haves and Have more

The greatest resource that is depleted, in my opinion, is the population that does not receive an education, training, apprenticeship, or mentorship that produces understanding and value of self, time, and community.  That is where Walmart now profits, and will continue to profit from the masses working and working and working to buy stuff and enjoy the little free time they have.  Simply because they do not have the time between their multiple-job work days from logging on or signing in to generate a few extra bucks to dedicate to finding what is really needed: better products, better people, and better relationships.  This is what’s overarchingly driving the gap between the wealthy and everyone else from a consumer’s perspective…maybe.

 

MBA and BJJ make for business

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Questions Lead Knowledge

Asking the right questions is a theme in my life right now.  The questions never stop until the right one comes, followed by the answers, then followed by any other problem, which is how to apply the solution. I cannot tell you how to solve every problem in business or in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, I have read some other blogs that reference MBA’s and BJJ just make sure I am not regurgitating old ideas, and I haven’t seen anything at this time that comes to the same conclusions.  The concepts that are discussed go beyond comparing business, to chess, to strategy, to BJJ.  These topics have already been discussed and conclusions are available for analysis regarding blogs and books for more in-depth looks on specific subjects.  While conducting extensive research to become subject matter experts can be a highly valuable tool, the truly best way to fully learn or understand something is by engaging in experiential learning; in other words, you have to do it yourself.

Concept of Business

The concept of Business Jiu Jitsu is abstract in application, but after seeing the overlap between the world of BJJ and Business, I was compelled to write about the overlap and share my insights.  Brazilian jiu-jitsu is a martial art, combat sport system that focuses on grappling with a  special emphasis on ground fighting.  The core concepts for BJJ are centered around the fact that size does not matter.  The winner in BJJ truly is determined by the commitment to developing the perfect balance of drive and skill, with a dedication to mastering both technique and resiliency.  Unlike many other mainstream sports like football and basketball, BJJ gives the smaller or weaker person a real fighting chance at coming out on top by teaching students of this disciplined martial art how to defend against a larger, stronger assailant by applying leverage and through joint-lock and chokeholds from a safe position to successfully overcome or defeat the opponent.  As a result, self-defense is a primary aspect of the education in BJJ.

Fundamentals

BJJ is considered a gentle art because it does not utilize striking to overcome an opponent.  Fundamentally, BJJ focuses on being able to survive an attack executed by a larger or stronger opponent by applying the right combination of strategy, training, and coaching.  An MBA requires a similar approach as it offers an advanced understanding of accounting, finance, marketing, human resources, and operations in a manner most relevant to management analysis and strategy.

Martial Arts

My experience as it relates to martial arts spans across nearly a decade of dedicated training with experts of varying degrees of style and technique on both the east and west coasts.  Personally, I have committed to training a diverse, demanding regimen in Martial arts for over 8 Years in various styles such as Muay Thai kick boxing, Judo, Dutch kickboxing, Boxing, Catch Wrestling, and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu.  The exposure to different combat disciplines gave me a knowledge of how much I dont know, instead of a mastery or higher understanding of any specific style.  

Effective Fighting Concepts

Out of all of the Martial Arts I have experienced, there are a few overarching concepts that are likely to be effective applications in all forms of combat.  The Effective fighting concepts are not the techniques that are used but the methods of how and when to apply them.  The most prominent effective fighting concepts that became apparent to me have been: Controlling distance, working angles, misdirection, strategy, contingency planning, pressure, training, coaching, and resiliency.

Business Experience

In regards to my experience as it relates to Business, I have unintentionally established myself as a serial entrepreneur owning 3 separate business entities over the course of an eight year period while simultaneously assuming a progressively global profit-driving management role extending well over the past decade of my career.  My core responsibilities have ranged from overseeing manufacturing and production for 5 years before moving forward into a sales and marketing role for the following 5 years.  During my professional career, I further diversified my value proposition by following up my creative arts undergraduate educational background by successfully earning my Executive MBA at one of the most highly regarded Executive MBA universities in the world.  As a result, I increased my understanding and knowledge of business and strategy, which has enabled me to develop a quickly growing career working as a high-level, influential consultant with a focus on working with other start-ups to successfully drive them to the next sustainable stage of the growth life cycle.

Effective Business Concepts

Throughout my short time in business, several key concepts have stood out and become apparent to me as more influential than others.  The core effective business concepts that became apparent to me as generating the most meaningful impact are: Niche markets, strategy, contingency planning, timing and magnitude, agility, resiliency, training, and coaching.  The Strategy concept is where I found the strongest overlap between martial arts and business, specifically BJJ and an MBA.

 

The most obvious concepts that are taught in both disciplines are first and foremost Strategy, resiliency, training, and coaching.  The next are less obvious, although when applied they are fundamentally the same.  For instance, working angles and controlling distance is related to Niche marketing, while misdirection and pressure are connected to timing and magnitude in application.

Strategy Concept

The strongest cross-functional, critical concept taught in both disciplines are first and foremost the Strategy concept.  The Strategy concept is a plan or action designed to deliver a specific aim or objective.  Resiliency is the capacity to recover quickly from challenges and overcome obstacles.  Training is the action of teaching a person a particular skill or technique through repetition.  Coaching is a form of development in which a person supports a learner, student, or client in achieving a specific personal or professional goal by providing advice and guidance.  Developmental coaching centers around the process of an expert or mentor teaching others how skills and technique should be applied through strategy to enhance the user’s ability to compete and ultimately achieve the win.

The next concepts are a lot less obvious, although when applied they are fundamentally the same.  Working angles: Working an Angle is trying to overcome an opponent by attacking an angle that prevents the adversary from attacking or counter striking with full power.  As a result, this provides more opportunities to win.  Ultimately, working an angle means exploiting a weakness or utilizing a more dynamic strategy to improve one’s position.  Controlling distance, on the other hand, involves utilizing assets to engage with the opponent when there is an opportunity to disengage when the opponent has an advantage.  Niche marketing has, in turn, become related to these concepts from the subset of the market on which a specific product is focused.  Exploiting neglected market segments (or weaknesses), the market niche is defined as the product features aimed at satisfying specific market needs, as well as the price range, production quality, and the demographics that is intended to impact.  In turn, a market niche is also a small market segment.

Another core concept of importance is Misdirection: the action or process of directing someone to the wrong place or in the wrong direction.  The concept of Pressure consists of the continuous physical force exerted on or against an object by something in contact with it, while the concepts of timing and magnitude center around providing the use of force exerted and the direction of the actions that the business will take.  Using marketing in conjunction with an understanding of supply and demand provides businesses with the ability to receive a high return on investment and generate more significant profits.  This includes thinking about expelling less energy and taking less damage while gaining a dominant position with the prime purpose of overcoming an assailant.

Critically Important Skills

In conclusion, the lingering questions that still remain unanswered are: does everyone need an MBA?  The answer is “no”.   Does everyone need to train BJJ?  Again, the answer to this question is also emphatically “no”.  Looking at all of the positive attributes that can be gained as a result of studying martial arts shines a spotlight on the fact that martial arts is in actuality a gentle art that adds meaningful value both on and off the mats when integrated as a key component to the student’s life.  Strategy is more important to every conflict ranging from business and sport to invaluable self defense.  Developing the ability to learn and understand how to leverage all of the concepts to implement the strategy is the key to achieving long-term, sustainable success.  Overall, the most critically important players are the inspiring mentors and coaches who selflessly dedicate their crucial skills and efforts to operationalizing the success not only of the individual but also driving the success of the team, as well.   Over time, mentors and coaches have come to generate a stronger influence on the success of the talent than often the efforts of the talent themselves.  Regardless of the desired path, possessing this powerful knowledge should make you want to do your part to mentor and assist your fellow person in their quest at achieving the ultimate, most desirable goals everyone strives to accomplish: success.

Entrepreneurship in 2017

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Marketing Strategy

Entrepreneurship has tremendous opportunity to be a driving force in 2017,  while more multi-million and billion dollar retailers and manufacturers are filing bankruptcy and going out of business.  There are unclaimed customers in the market looking to engage with new businesses. Having a better marketing strategy for creating brand awareness communicates value to the potential customers.  The U.S. economy is unsure of the immediate future.  The internal uncertainty has raised concerns about what has become common business practices such as outsourcing and technology investments, which are expensive investments for startups, making competition more difficult.  Because the internet has given rise to brand building strategies and engagement with more access to small-business, niche-markets customers, the digital age is filling the needs quickly.  Digital marketing and social media offers small businesses the ability to compete in a broader market by increasing the amount of ideal customers while also giving businesses the opportunity to reduce marketing costs for communicating value to unqualified customers.  The loss of larger firms provides an increase in expertise in the market and it is up to the entrepreneurs to develop the relationships and strategies through team-thinking for problem-solving in the changing economy.

Brand Awareness

Marketing Strategy utilizes the information about the industry, the firm, and the competition to form a plan that operationalizes the value proposition of the firm.   Marketing is an essential business function that is often undervalued by small to medium size businesses.  This is easily identified by the lack of distinguishable brand awareness for products offered by entrepreneurs. While only a handful of brands can effectively communicate their value to qualified customers, every downtown street and industrial complex in America is saturated with small businesses that are not maximizing their content to their greatest ability.  As a result, brand equity is left in limbo for the digital-savvy business owner to profit while the other businesses are forced to wade through the trenches of increasingly obsolete marketing practices.

Digital marketing and Social media

To increase Brand Awareness, businesses need to develop relationships with influencers in the industry.  Each social media platform is different and shares various content on social media profiles.  To ensure the consistent usage of linking images or content, the businesses will distribute consistent content in accordance to the specific platform’s purpose.  Social media requires constant monitoring and fine-tuning.  To drive brand awareness, it is key to set up regular meetings to analyze metrics and go over the performance of the brand development strategy.  Through an initial investment in time and utilizing apps the long term strategy will save the company time and money consistently as the business grows and increases the ideal customer base.

Ideal customers are educated about the firm’s offerings while being early adopters, brand promoters, and ambassadors who actively seek to improve the experience through partnerships with the firm.  The ideal customer is both willing and pleased to pay full price because they believe in or have a strong connection with the value proposition of the products and services offered.  Even at full price, the ideal customer feels like they are getting a good deal.

Greatest startups in 2017

The 2017 entrepreneur does not have to be the cheapest or fastest to market if they can utilize the expertise available in the marketplace and implement a sound marketing strategy.  The greatest startups in 2017 that are operating with a “good enough” marketing strategy will win out over the “we are working on it” marketing strategy.  At the end of the day, perfection prevents production just as often as “a bad process will beat a good person…” W.E. Deming