Blipp Business Start Up

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REINVENTING YOUR BRAND STORY

FINDING A KILLER BUSINESS IDEA

PSST! TOP STARTUP

SECRETS REVEALED AT MESH CONFERENCE 2012

TOP 10 RULES FOR STARTUP SUCCESS

MORE THAN A BLIPP

HOW TO SELL INFORMATION ONLINE THE FASTEST & EASIEST ONLINE BUSINESS SETUP

PLUS ENTREPRENEUR SUCCESS STORIES

WHAT IS THE SECRET FOR YOUNG ENTREPRENEURS?

Issue 001

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Top Startup secrets revealed at Mesh Conference 2012 By Christine Wong

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to find out what it’s really like to launch a tech startup – and get advice for your own startup venture – is to get the goods straight from someone who’s been there themselves. So here are the top startup secrets I took away from a great panel sessionat the recentMeshmarketingconferenceheld in Toronto.Here’sthecastofcharactersfromthepanel“TalesFrom the Trenches: Stories From Startups,” which was moderated by Mesh organizers Mark Evans and Stuart MacDonald. The best way Andy Yang heads up Toronto-based accelerator Extreme Startups. Heather Payne founder of Toronto non-profit/social enterprise startup Ladies Learning Code. Evgeny Tchebotarev co-founder and COO of Toronto-based photo sharing startup 500px, which is growing insanely fast and trying to give Flickr a run for its money. Oleg Gustol co-founder and CEO of the aforementioned 500 px. Duleepa “Dups” Wijayawardhana co-founder of Empire Avenue Inc., an Edmonton startup whose social networking game is modeled after the stock market. Aliza Pulver co-founder and chief buying officer of HomeSav. com, an online shopping club that’s been likened to Groupon for home decorating fanatics.

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find to test ideas, products and services from a user point of view, Pulver says. Plus, who else is gonna make you dinner when you get sick of living on pizza, chips and pop? Tech expertise trumps biz smarts Yang: “ We have a strong bias towards technical (ie, tech) founders.” Why? No matter how business savvy you are, a tech startup needs technology to succeed. If you don’t have the tech chops, hire someone permanently who does. You’ll save time and money over the long haul because you won’t have to keep outsourcing development. School isn’t real life Payne: “ Very little of what you learn in business school actually prepares you for running a business.” This coming from a woman who’s a grad of both Ivey business school and the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology.

‘ Overnight success’ is a myth Gustol: He and Tcheboratev toiled for eight years before finally getting 500px to the sustainable, competitive level it’s at today. As Evans pointed out, “There are no overnight successes.” To which Gustol quickly replied: “No — but there should be!” a bit of wishful thinking that generated big laughs. There’s no life like startup life, literally Gustol: “ We couldn’t pay our bills for months. I had no life.” It’s really freaking hard to run a startup. And time consuming, as Yang adds: “Get your affairs in order because you won’t see your family.” … but you still need family Pulver: Ok, so you won’t see them very often because you’ll be so busy. But don’t abandon friends and family completely. They’re the best sounding boards you’ll ever

survive and thrive by being the best in your niche. A big part of 500px’s success is that its customer service has been winning raves while Flickr has been racking up complaints lately. “The (user) community appreciates that,” Gustol says. When to let your startup die Yang: “ When the founders just don’t feel that passion anymore.” “Doing this sucks so badly sometimes that it better be something you really (bleep)-ing care about,” warns Payne. When in serious self-doubt, get out. In the immortal words of the pre-surgically reconstructed Kenny Rogers, you gotta know when to hold ‘em, know when to fold ‘em.

The power of no Yang: “ Learn how to say no. You have to set boundaries. (For me), every minute I spend with someone else is a minute away from my wife and daughter.” One founder vs co-founders Tchebotarev: “ It’s always great to have a partnership,” he says of being a duo with Gustol. But Payne prefers the flexibility to make the key decisions quickly herself: “I have a great team but no partner…There isn’t this whole managing by committee ( thing).” Yang professes he has “a strong bias towards single founders” but adds that an ideal startup structure can be comprised of three people: a clear leader with two very committed followers who have complementary core competencies. So the jury’s still out on this one. Failure 101 Know that your odds suck; statistically, most startups fail. If your startup is successful, expect glitches to keep cropping up along the way. Gustol: “ Even when things go right, there’s things going wrong.” Kind of like doing a $100-billion IPO one day, getting married the next, and then facing a class-action suit from investors a few days later. Be best, not just first Gustol: You don’t have to be the first to market in order to succeed; you can

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One of the startling statistic much higher when you lo both of these statistics -

The simple fact is that can be. The succ to follow someo What is

That i thi e

ENTREPRENEUR SUCCESS STORIES. WHAT IS THE SECRET FOR YOUNG ENTREPRENEURS? STUNNING TRUTH.

By Naveen Kish

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is that 33 percent of all new businesses fail within the first two years. That number is k at the first five years. The problem is that many young entrepreneurs are ignoring nd we know, statistics do not lie. many of them simply do not know what all is involved and just how complex it ss in business is all about just stay on. Do not give up till the end. They do not want e who achieved before. The big mistake! Believe it or not. he main secret behind all successful entrepreneurs? how to get Motivation (A driving force) for business. In order to accomplish any g, you need a driving force, otherwise nothing will happen. A wish is not strong ough to make you take action. A wish is a weak desire. Only a strong desire can drive forward, to act and accomplish aims and goals. That is why Entrepreneur success stories can do it for you. A report shows Motivation can change our mind for success. That is why some successful entrepreneurs are talking about success mindset theory. That means you can get success by changing your mind for success. Entrepreneur success stories can demonstrate for you that reaching your target and achieving your goals is not as far as it may seem and it can be as easy as setting the goals itself. All you need is to read those stories and see how those people achieved their goals although these goals are different from each other and as some may seem easy or hard but for those people these goals were important at some point in their lives.

Every successful entrepreneur has a vast experience and enough motivational tonic. So why do young and frustrated entrepreneurs not want to get these powerful advices? BACK TO TOC^

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How to Sell Inf The Fastest Easie

The fastest and easiest business to setup online involves selling information p every search that is done on the internet: to find the answer to a question or booming, especially with eReaders like Kindle and technology like iPads being your own internet-based business? You will have the satisfaction of helping ot

In this article I am going to share the basic steps and elements you will need overview as there is no way to cover all y

1 2

First you need to create your product. You have the choice of writing an ebook or recording an audio or video. An ebook can make a good starting point to give people a taster which you might giveaway in return for joining your list or sell for a low price. Audios and videos command a higher price and are good for more substantial products.

As I mentioned in passing just now you will want to build a list of people’s names and email addresses so that you can build up a relationship and then promote your more expensive products. To do this you will need an autoresponder and you will need to create a series of emails which will involve a combination of more great information and advice with inviting your readers to check out the details of your products.

rmation Online : t Online business SetUp

By Dawn Marchant

oducts and programmes. After all that’s the underlying reason for pretty much roblem of some sort. So it’s no wonder that sales of information products are o popular now. So why not use the knowledge and experience you have to setup ers and an additional income which could even replace your current income.

o create your own information product business. Obviously this will just be an u would need to know in just one article.

3 4

With these parts in place the next step is to start reaching out and attracting potential customers. The goal here is to initially get them onto your list via an opt-in form on your website. There are many ways to attract customers (drive traffic sounds so impersonal) and it really depends on a) where your potential customers already visit and gather and b) what you enjoy (because you are going to need to do a lot of it to see consistent results). An additional part that will increase your earning potential would be to setup a simple coaching programme to give your customers more support, than what you can offer in your products, in achieving their goals by having the opportunity to interact with you in some way. BACK TO TOC^

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By Irene Wong

more than a blipp When I was first given the opportunity to interview the co-founders of blipp global Inc, Colum Devine and Eugene Lee, my first reaction was: what the heck is blipp? I honestly had no idea, and if I was going to meet with them in person, I definitely needed to know. After extensive research, and by that I mean a quick Google search, I found my answer. blipp global Inc. is a marketing agency that helps small to medium sized businesses with a variety of - obviously - marketing services. They’ve only been around for a few months now but the company is quickly growing. They’ve recently expanded from their core marketing services and are in the process of creating a blogging site where popular articles will be published in their very own, monthly blipp magazine. My approach to this interview was to find out as much information as possible, and play it by ear.

colum devine co-founder, human algorithm

eugene lee co-founder, creative daydreamer

If you’ve been to one Starbucks, you’ve been to themall - squishy chairs, Starbucks swag on every available surface, and the laptops of students ‘studying’ on Facebook. Chosen for no real reason other than the quiet atmosphere, the persistent need for a caffeine buzz at four in the afternoon, and the fact that even in Canada there’s a Starbucks on every street corner, I sat in a squishy chair, awaiting the arrival of the Co-founders of blipp global Inc. Right on time, two tall men walked in dressed casually in t-shirts and jeans. I have to admit before I met with them, I was a bit intimidated, but with their easy smiles alongside their laid back attitudes, I was immediately put at ease. After exchanging pleasantries, we got right into the interview.

After researching the two co-founders individually, I found a plethora of information

on Eugene in the form of his Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, etc. Seriously, I could find him on almost any social media site I could think of. Eugene, the Canadian born Co- founder and Creative Daydreamer at blipp, is responsible for developing the brand. Also known as the ‘idea guy’, he executes creative strategies to help generate revenue for the company. Furthermore, he manages blipp’s creative team and works closely on the blipp magazine. On the other hand, Colum was more elusive. What I did find out before the interview was that this Co- founder was born and raised in Ireland - yes, he did have an Irish brogue, dropping Irishisms throughout the interviews like “ ma” and “aye” – and at blipp he works to ensure that ‘daydreams’ become a reality. Together, Colum and Eugene are always looking for different ways to expand their brand; for example, branching out to create different apps, but shh… the blipp app is currently classified as ‘need to know’ information. Armed with the basics and a list of questions, I was ready to meet the young businessmen. So, let me tell you about my first meeting with Colum and Eugene.

***

IW: We’ll start with the easy questions. Tell me a little about yourselves. EL: Well, I’ve always been a creative person. In fact, when I was younger, I wanted to be a comic book artist. Having traditional Korean parents though, that idea didn’t last very long. Instead, I went to the University of Western Ontario to study economics. I graduated, found a job, and paid my dues. From there, a coworker of mine recommended a book, “Hey Whipple, Squeeze This” [by Luke Sullivan]. After reading it I was inspired – I knew then I wanted to go back to school and study advertising. So that’s what I did. I went to Seneca College and studied creative advertising. After a year of studying harder than I ever had in university, I found myself freelancing and making a decent income helping people with their branding strategies. I discovered I had a knack for helping small companies get noticed and devoted my attention to it. The money was good, the work was gratifying, but I needed more. I don’t know if what I was looking for was more experience, or more education, but I think I found it while working at an events place, which is where I met Colum. He’ll tell you, within minutes of meeting each other, we were already brainstorming ideas for a better future! CD: [ Chuckles] Aye. I met Gino at work and yes, we started hatching plans to take over the world only minutes after being introduced. Within days we had developed

plans on how we could streamline some marketing processes and six months later we decided on a name for our new venture. Every day we come up with new marketing ideas and one of these days you might just see one of these ideas brought to life… Stay tuned.

But, back to your original question, as a kid I wanted to be a professional soccer player, but when it became brutally evident that that was never going to happen, I thought about becoming a bank robber [whisper] too dangerous, or possibly joining the Irish army [sigh] but my ma wouldn’t allow me, so I reluctantly went to college to drink and party! EL: [ To Colum] You should mention how university is free over there. It’s really not fair. CD: Okay, university was free [Laughs]. I actually got a government grant also. In essence, I was paid by the government to drink, have fun and get ‘educated’. I struggled through college with hangovers, eventually scraping a degree together and then did a post-graduate degree in Business with a focus in Marketing. My Interest in eMetrics and particularly with Google AdWords, SEO, and Analytics came when I was turned down for a job I really wanted. Apparently it came down to me and two

others, and they were Google Certified. Clearly I didn’t get the job so within a week I started studying for my Google Certifications. IW: So, why did you decide to start blipp? What’s your inspiration? CD: Easy. We’re always hungry. We wanted to start something that we could look back on and be proud of. There are tons of people out there with great ideas but I think what works well with [us] is that we push each other; ideas don’t stay as ideas for very long. We debate, come to a conclusion, and act. I think that when you break it down, it comes down to drive – we have the same amount of it, and we complement each other’s strengths very well. EL: Absolutely, we’re complete opposites. If I had to look at all those charts and analytics that he does, I’d probably kill myself. And honestly, I don’t know if Colum can even draw stick figures that well [laugh]. I’m a night owl and he’s an early bird. But it all

works out – great, actually! It’s funny, these

days people have been showing us infographics of the left and right sides of the brain. If you read their descriptions, it’s really obvious how divided we truly are. Clearly, I’m the right side of the brain, which is the right side to be on [Laughs]. Ah man, if my fiancée were here, she’d tell me I was full of ‘lameness’ today. Our inspiration? The idea of starting something new and shaking up the industry. IW: [ Laughs] I’m definitely the left brained then, because I can’t even draw stick figures. What is your mission at blipp? EL: Hm, our mission. This is something that Colum and I have told each other to write but we’ve been so busy we haven’t really sat down and put it on paper. So, asking us is kind of putting us on the spot [chuckles]. But let’s see. I’d say our mission is

CD: As I mentioned before, Gino and I worked

together. We were both on the marketing team and I guess we got close enough because we were in the same office space. EL: ‘ Space’ is a very generous way of saying we were stuck in the middle of a hallway! CD: [ Laughs] Aye, it was all fun and games until we realized that our skills could be utilized to start our own business. Once we understood our roles in this new venture, we tossed around names for the company. We ended up with Blipp [he spells out B-L- I-P-P], because ‘blip’ was already taken. EL: Personally, I like the look of blipp with the double ‘p’ better anyways. CD: [ Chuckling to Eugene] Of course you would say that. So, how did this lead to blipp magazine? Honestly, we thought it would be a great medium to use and an excellent strategy to get our name out. We also thought it’d be cool if we had our own

connecting businesses with their customers – but, not just

on a superficial level. We don’t want your brand to be like every other brand. We want to give each brand an identity. Something their target audience can recognize and relate to. We want them talking on all the right social media sites and asking their customers all the right questions. We want their target market to really “like” their business. So, in a line, our mission is to create a deeper connection between brands and their target audience. Pretty damn good if you ask me [laugh]. IW: I didn’t mean to put you on the spot, but that was great! So, I know a little bit about how you met and created blipp, but why did you think you could stand one another long enough to sustain a company? And how did blipp global Inc. eventually lead to blipp magazine?

so bam, here we are.

print medium, interesting. So where do you plan on getting article ideas?

EL: It doesn’t hurt that we have an amazing team of ‘creatives’. But seriously, we talked about it and debated whether or not it was a good idea – we didn’t want to stretch ourselves too thin, and there was so much going on for both of us. In the end, we thought it’d be a great investment of time and opted to go ahead. Like I said, we’re always brainstorming and acting – can’t stop, won’t stop. IW: Print is sort of a dying medium – magazines, newspapers, even books struggle to survive in the industry. What about blipp’s magazine will differentiate you from them? EL: Tough question. Well, we’re more focused on the online/mobile presence of our magazine. We’re completely paperless and so people can read it on their phones, tablets, and computers. This also means things are ‘clickable’. Whatever is linkable is linked; from the titles on the cover of the magazine to the table of contents, readers can flip easily to any story with the click of a button. So, what does that mean? We’re connecting our topics onto LinkedIn, getting people involved by asking questions, and so on. We believe in real-time answers and talking to people. Like our mission – yes, the one we just made up – we’re constantly trying to speak with our target audience. We’re all about bringing in the new – thinking ahead, and trying to innovate and revolutionize the industry.

CD: blipp magazine is going to be driven by the people who read it. Originally, we discussed a traditional magazine in which we hired writers who kept their ears to the ground so they could write about what was ‘ trending’ in the entrepreneurial world. But we bucked that idea, and decided that if we wanted a magazine which was truly driven by innovators, we should draw articles directly from the source. We plan on building a blogging site [ blipp nation] which is going to be more of a forum for people to blog daily about whatever they choose. From there, readers will decide whose articles will be featured in our monthly magazine. The magazine will then be available on Amazon.com, and will be distributed to our clients as a way to create opportunities for our writers. This ensures that we aren’t focused in Canada, but are getting writers from around the globe! IW: Why do you think blipp will be a success? CD: Blipp will be successful because of hard work, innovation and drive. We’re putting our blood, sweat and tears into this company. Go big, or go home. I could quote a couple more common phrases about how to approach success, but I’ll keep them to myself [laugh]. At the end of the day, I think our hard work will really pay off. We’re not just a magazine – we’re a marketing company. And soon we’ll be dipping our feet into other streams. Not many companies start out like that. We’ve

IW: A globalized approach to a traditional

already created a great team and are expanding. Furthermore, we’re not scared of tackling challenges and welcome the pressure. It’s not going to be easy, but nothing worth trying ever is. EL: [ Laughs] Between Colum and I, this interview is going to be filled with corny clichés. *** After exchanging e-mails so I could ask any follow up questions, and they could get a sneak peek at this article, we left, Starbucks cups in hand. I have to admit that Eugene and Colum were less like the expected intimidating, ambitious entrepreneurs, and more like superhero-loving, easy-going, yet still ambitious guys. So get excited about reading and being a part of blipp magazine, blipp nation and keep a lookout for blipp on your radar. BACK TO TOC^

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STARTUP SUCCESS TOP RULES 10

FOR In my experience, few people understand themany different ways that a start-upmust be managed as compared to more mature companies. Decisions must be faster, risks must be higher, and the solutions that are developed must be less complete (80% or less) and more narrowly targeted. During the bubble many “big company” executives were recruited to run startups with little more than an idea and a huge VC investment. This, of course, came back to haunt the investors when they realized too late that running a startup is a very different animal than a larger company. Most of these executives, though looking good on paper and in front of a board, were fish out of water in any startup company, no matter how much money they had in the bank.

ALWAYS iterate towards the best solution in increments - You cannot pretend to know all the answers up front. Odds are, many, many changes will be required along the way. There must be a trial and error phase to reduce risk and move from theory to real customer feedback and/or market data. In technology this is an alpha or beta test and it is NOT just for debugging. The sooner you can get here the few resources will be wasted. The best entrepreneurs are flexible and can change on a dime so long as it is not the fundamental principal, or the primary customer value proposition they are building their company on. A startup must be designed and launched quickly, and then, with high quality and bandwidth customer feedback (read quality face-to-face interviews), it must be constantly modified. It is like a heat seeking missile that is always readjusting

There are so many unknowns involved with a new product and market that you must

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its course based on the latest radar data. Generally, big companies cannot do this, while startups MUST DO IT so as to leverage their main advantage over companies with larger resources! THE RULES Once you start burning cash, and until you reach profitability, time is your enemy. Respect it and limit any product development to a fixed schedule. (You Are Leaking Fuel and at high risk!) If the SR-71 can be designed, developed and launched in 18 months so can your project. Replace anyone who does not believe that they can develop a product in 12-18 months. Most should be 6 months maximum after the team is in place.

monthly. Iterate towards the best customer focused solution until you hit gold and find a solution the customer cannot live without and is different than anything else out there. This means constantly showing potential customers what you have so far. Although many entrepreneurs are paranoid about this, it is clearly a NECESSARY evil. So get a confidentiality agreement signed and share your progress and ideas in exchange for feedback. A startup is like a heat seeking missile and requires constant course corrections. Be willing to take significant calculated risks and manage those risks aggressively by tracking them closely. Keep a list of major risks and assign each key risk to a specific senior individual to always be thinking about, tracking and managing.

Expect, and constantly make, small course changes daily, then weekly, and then

You must remain flexible; do not

seek out the advice of failed ventures that are similar to their desired market positions in order to learn their multi- million dollar lessons without repeating their mistakes. Egos get in the way! It is possible a lunch with the right person could save you from making a $1 million mistake and almost any good entrepreneur will be glad to share their experiences.

Employees must have greater scope and responsibility than

invest time and money in things that can change rapidly, invest only in those fundamental things that will have sustainable value. Many companies blow resources on things they know will not last because a single customer wants a special feature. Early stage companies cannot build value long- term by investing in things that will last and apply to many customers, not one. If a customer wants a special feature tell them it is not part of the standard product and we can not resell this work so it will cost you $XXX,XXX, where X is cost plus a very significant margin. Most will back off and if they don’t then you learned a valuable lesson about a market need and gotten the new feature paid, for worst case. Youmust be willing to use or leverage things that have already been learned, built or done that apply directly to your business. ( Reuse existing parts and lessons - don’t’ reinvent the wheel because no one is willing to pay for that!) So few entrepreneurs afford much of this. Don’t fall into this trap! You must

at a larger company, and every employee must directly contribute “work product” or real results on a daily basis. Only the CEO will truly be a “manager” in a startup, and the CEO will also have 3 to 5 other jobs that contribute “real work” too. The organization must be flat with “ boundarylessness”. There is a lot here but they are all deeply interrelated. Hire the best people you can find at every level, from top to bottom, as early as possible; never settle for “average” people. Average people can, and probably will, kill a startup before it leaves the ground. Bootstrapping is necessary no matter how much cash you might have. It not only conserves cash, it forces you to optimize your business model for minimum effort and maximum results. It forces you to accept the only real proof there is for a business - That is that people are willing to pay a price that makes your company everyone talking to everyone. As Jack Welch says

“ You MUST remain flexible”

money. If you can’t charge someone more than the fully loaded costs of delivering the product or service you really don’t have a business. This is a mistake that was made thousands of time in the bubble period when “eyeballs”, “traffic” or registered users were considered proof of a concepts viability even though they were money losing transactions. There is only one proof - cash paid by a customer

of names, or a very narrow filter criteria, that can be used to identify a target niche of customers where you can provide something competitors cannot. Spell out specifically how you will sell to them. Position your product/service to be different in as many ways as possible from larger players (a UNIQUE Selling Proposition or USP). It must be much better, faster and/or cheaper for that target customer segment to change vendors or even risk a new vendor. VCs want at least twice as good at half the cost, which is really a 4X improvement. If this is done well then no one can win that customer in a competitive bidding situation, because you have some unique features or benefit they need. Understand your market and competitors as completely as possible. Study them and institutionalize competitive intelligence and market research to be ongoing and up to date. One person should be assigned to each major, competitor to update the team on developments at their assigned competitor can work well. Understand the financial sensitivities of your business and how much you need to invest in each department/area to achieve success Define how you will maintain a competitive advantage over time, which allows premium pricing in order to protect your margins and fuel growth. This means a narrower market entry strategy with an evolving product(line), which can be broadened to a wider market once you have established your initial market entry position and some revenue. Often times a technology or product lead is not sustainable long

that exceeds your costs by a reasonable margin! Often called “traction” by venture capitalists today. Develop a business plan and vision. These will save you many times their cost, even if you don’t need them to raise money, even if you throw them in the trash when you are done. A good business plan will be a living document that is updated regularly and will force you to:

Identify your target market VERY specifically. This means an actual list

term and your USP needs to transition to another advantage after a couple of years to keep customers. Get all your management team on the same page in terms of resource allocation, interdependencies, financial constraints etc. Never give up! There are always options, if you are seeing your vision far enough in advance (3-6 months in a startup phase), to make course changes in advance of disaster. If you are not meeting most of these criteria your chances of success are greatly diminished and you should be looking for

help with ways to adjust your company’s management into “startup mode”. I would recommend no less than 50% of the senior executives have previous startup experience and virtually never have a CEO that does not have that experience under his or her belt. BACK TO TOC^

By Robert Norton

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By Michael Margolis

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Storytelling is a hot business trend for a reason. In the face of growing cynicism and distrust, stories are how people decide if they belong in your tribe. Going all the way back to ancient Sumeria, branding is how merchant houses distinguished their wares and allowed them to start trading goods beyond the local marketplace. The brand story is what allows your message to travel. Today, your brand story is how you distinguish yourself from the storm of information overload and attention deficit. Notice how some brands give you the warm fuzzies? Apple, Zappos, Levi’s. You’ve got an almost irrational relationship with certain brands. Why? In part, it’s how the brand makes you feel and the story you buy into for yourself. The key to a powerful brand is an epic backstory that explains how the brand came into the world.

If you’re in the midst of a brand reinvention, revisit your

origins and calibrate the story to support your path forward. Storytelling is how people locate themselves in your message, especially during times of reinvention. Every brand has a founding myth, an epic narrative that explains how it came to be in this world. It’s important because it explains why you do what you do. If you’re clear about the end product you’re trying to create, you can use the past to help tell the story of your future. What is the source of your materials or ingredients? Is it exotic (cacao from a private plantation in the Amazon or Scandinavia)? Plebeian ( made from ordinary tap water)? Totally unexpected? Ferret out the unusual or interesting bits and make them key items in your reinvention. Aveda is a great example! who has been part of the story? Did you accidentally run into Elvis (again!) and suddenly, a new Elvis Sightings site was born? Did that Sharon Stone movie clue you in to your big idea? Or was it you and your little brother, mucking around in the swamp? Gary Erickson, an avid cyclist, was 40 years old and still living in the garage of his parent’s house. He was out on 175-mile ride with his friend Jay when he realized how much he hated the taste of nutritional sports bars. In his mother’s kitchen, he perfected the ideal nutritional Who’s in your brand’s cast of characters? Whether they are actual employees, co- conspirators or incidentals,

bar and named the Clif Bar after his father. After all, he was still living at home.

What is your brand’s heritage or pedigree? From art galleries to Etsy, people want to know how a particular item or brand

is grounded in history. Where was it created? Who has owned it before you? Moleskine establishes a lineage by being “ the legendary notebook used by artists and thinkers over the past two centuries: among them Vincent van Gogh, Pablo Picasso, Ernest Hemingway, and Bruce Chatwin.” What events and people anchor you in history?

What quest have you been on? This one is about the mission, or the underlying purpose or reason for being for your brand. What

“ call to arms” did you hear and respond to? Apple may have started as two guys building a computer in a garage in the 1970 s, but eventually their quest was to create and sell the most elegant, intuitive electronic devices ever. Which is why you just bought your grandparents an iPad, and every school wants a Mac lab.

Can you give people a glimpse the shadow? Everything hasn’t always been peaches and cream for you or your brand. Letting people in

on your struggle – even admitting your failures – lets people know you’re more human than cyborg. Scott Harrison was a burned-out nightclub promoter in New York who traveled to Africa and found a cause to champion. In just 5 years, his brand charity:water has raised more than $40 million and funded 6,185 water projects.

All good things may come to an end, but in that end, there is a beginning (of a new story). The key is to align a great backstory for whatever you’re doing next. People don’t buy your product, your solution or your idea – what they buy is the story that’s attached to it. Narrative is the basic unit of meaning-making.No matter what twists and turns you experience along the way, it can all help you tell a story that people resonate with. And regardless of how you do it, here’s the end goal: tell a story that people can identify with as their own. If you can do that, then the need to persuade, convince or sell them on anything disappears. BACK TO TOC^

Michael Margolis is the President of Get Storied, an education and publishing company devoted to transformational storytelling. Michael teaches a community of 11,000 change-makers and innovators how to tell a bigger story. To learn more, download a free copy of his Storytelling Manifesto.

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By Andy Davies

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You know you want to start your own business and be your own boss - great news. However, you don’t yet have the perfect business idea - panic not. Here is a method that I use with a variety of clients that helps them create a number of basic business ideas that can be polished and worked into a fantastic business proposition that is their very own.

• What are you hopeless at / really dislike doing?

Once you’ve done that you need to start looking for common threads and how existing skills and knowledge can compliment your potential business. Youmay find that you are good at organising, love travel and are passionate about wine. Maybe in the back of your mind you’ve always wanted to be a travel agent. Your job so far has been in administration, but your really hate numbers and finance. So looking at this list a possible business idea might be around organising wine tasting tours for high-net-worth individuals. To address the issue with numbers and finance you might have to think about getting someone else involved either as a business partner or advisor. Step 2: Confirm & Learn - Here we take the raw business idea and start to research its potential. As you start to learn more about the market of the business idea you can start to shape and develop the idea further as well as confirming if it is something that will appeal to you as a long term business. • Look to see if there is a good market for this type of business - Google Trends and Google Traffic Estimator are excellent free tools for this research. • Examine the competition and see how you could be better, different or cheaper. Also look to see how they differentiate themselves.

The method has three basic steps: 1. Idea Generation 2. Confirm & Learn 3. Start Small, Grow Fast

Step 1: Idea Generation - This is about coming up with lots of ideas, writing them down and finding a common thread around which you can start to build an idea. Just remember your business idea doesn’t need to be unique, only the way you deliver it. I’m a big believer is doing things you enjoy - that way you will put in the long hours and effort required to build your dream business and minimise the agony. Starting your own business really gives you the opportunity to do something you are passionate about. So here some questions to ask yourself and scribble the answers down: • What are you good at? • What do you enjoy doing? • What are you experienced at? • What’s your passion in life? • What have you always wanted to do?

• Do some training or maybe get a basic qualification. This will expose you to the environment of the new market and you can quickly see if you enjoy it before investing further. • Talk the idea over with some people you trust. However, you must bear in mind that, certainly in my experience, most people will be negative about taking the ‘risk’ of working for yourself. • Get some experience doing some part- time or volunteer work in that sector • Go on a highly informative and fun seminar / workshop to kick the idea around! Step 3: Start Small, Grow Fast - This is about not being bankrupt within a year! You have found an appealing and desirable business idea. You now understand the market better and have gained knowledge and possibly some experience. So how do you put that into action? I firmly believe you need to test the market for real in a small and part-time way. If this proves successful you can start to build the business and invest more time, effort and money as the business progresses. If your first attempt is not as successful as you wished a) you have learnt some useful lessons, b) adjust the formula and try again. I would also suggest putting together a very brief ‘twitter’ business plan that lets you shape you business further.

This consists of 6 simple headings - each no more than 140 words: 1. Describe your business 2. Describe the market potential and competitive landscape 3. Describe your ideal customer and why they would buy from you 4. Describe how you are going to market and attract your ideal customer 5. Projected earnings and costs for the next 12, 24 & 36 months 6. Goals for the next 12 months with associated actions If you can sit down and write the above plan in an hour or so, you probably have a fairly well thought out business idea. If you struggle to do this I would suggest you need more time researching and shaping the idea. Developing a business idea that is suited to you could be the best investment of time you will ever make. It is unlikely that your original idea will be the one that you are operating in two or three years time, but the original idea that gets you started will be worth more than your weight in gold.

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