Barber shops in African American neighborhoods play several roles. They are a town hall and political debate forum as well as offering the expected hair care services. In addition to a hair trim this past weekend, I was reminded of the microcosm of the entrepreneurial spirit that exists in these shops as well.
My barber, Rodney, is a grandfather of Social Security collection age, and he considers himself to be semi-retired. Here is what I noticed during 45 minutes in the Crenshaw Boulevard shop where he cuts hair several days per week: When I arrived, there was one customer in the chair getting a cut, and there was another person lined up ahead of me. By the time my haircut was done and he handed me a mirror to admire his craftsmanship, before pocketing my $20 bill, I did a quick calculation. Three customers in forty five minutes at $20 each adds up to $60 an hour, including a 15 minute break! A junior attorney or aerospace engineer would be tickled to accept the equivalent of $60 an hour in today’s environment.
While Rodney doesn’t work forty hours per week nor does he capture $60 for every hour that he’s in the shop, he probably takes home enough working for himself to nicely supplement any other income, and while I suspect that the word honesty must be in the shop’s code of conduct, I would not bet that all the cash is reported to those who care about such things, like the IRS.
While I waited for my turn in the barber’s chair, a man of undetermined age walked through the shop with a belt slung over his shoulder and that belt held about ten various cell phone pouches. Though sunglasses shielded his eyes it was easy to see that he was sizing up the room in search of customers. Since I do love to support other small businesses and my Blackberry didn’t have the benefit of a pouch that could go on my hip, he probably spotted me as a likely buyer. Five dollars for the fake leather holder seemed like a fair deal, and the transaction only took thirty seconds to capture me as another happy customer. He may not see himself as an entrepreneur, but he was demonstrating the spirit.
Just after I settled into Rodney’s chair for my trim, a woman came up to him with a Styrofoam container and said that she is launching her catering business and wanted some of the barbers to sample her food at no charge. Though I didn’t want to suddenly move my head for fear of leaving there with more than a simple trim, I gave her an “atta girl” smile for that smart marketing move. I loved the simple resourcefulness of what she was doing.
This barber shop is a beehive of activity with about twelve chairs and customers ranging in age from four years up to people in the cocktail hour of life. I hope the youngsters were taking in these lessons on what my father used to call “the hustle,” which meant having a variety of legal ways to make a living. When I hear people say there aren’t enough opportunities and that they can’t make money, I’ll tell them about the simple but valuable barber shop lessons.
Be sure to check out www.MakingItTV.com for a comprehensive collection of resources for entrepreneurial thinkers and small business including streaming video, articles, events & workshops, entrepreneur confessions, Q&A, and more!
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
Thursday, May 21, 2009
We Need Vintage People
I’m a big fan of vintage wines, vintage cars, and even old motorcycles. All these things have their own fan base, are eagerly sought out, and are often treasured by collectors. Why don’t we treat vintage people as well as fermented grape juice or an assembly of mechanical parts?
One morning this week an article in the Los Angeles Times was trumpeting the fact that “vintage motorcycles find traction in a soft economy” caught my attention. It went on to prompt an ooh from me when it mentioned a Vincent Black Shadow that sold for over $383,000 a few months ago. Knowledgeable collectors of fine wines will always snap to attention if you even mention that your cellar holds a few bottles of 1982 red Bordeaux. Right down the street from my office I can pick up a bottle of 1982 Chateau Latour for only $1,999.00! Even guitars such as the Stratocaster and Telecaster that were cranked out by Leo Fender in the 1960s are adored by collectors and change hands at many times their original cost. I probably don’t need to remind you of the cachet and value that old Duesenberg automobiles have attained. I’d say it’s a fact that people demonstrate their love of old things and with the ultimate compliment, they empty their wallets for them.
So why don’t we put more value on real, live vintage people as we do on objects of a certain age? I believe that businesses from small to very large can benefit from the knowledge and experience of people who’ve learned many of the lessons first hand. Even in the hallowed halls of youth obsessed businesses such as FaceBook, the realities of the marketplace bring comparatively vintage people to the top of the organization chart. A frequent refrain around Google, MySpace, FaceBook and other explosively growing start ups has been, “We need some adults around here.” In Detroit, which is the current battleground of business survival, the last company standing may be Ford Motor and there, Alan Mulally, the CEO, is 63 years of age.
There is money and intelligence in every age category from 18 to dead, but where you find the greatest combination of both is toward the gray haired end of the spectrum. When hundreds of ambitious aspirants line up to become “The Apprentice,” they are looking to learn from Donald Trump in America or Sir Alan Sugar in Great Britain. Yes, we know that if Trump didn’t treat his hair to a weekly chemical bath he too would probably be gray haired!
This past week I visited the Small Business Administration office in Glendale, California and was reminded about the great counseling and mentoring organization called SCORE, which was originally formed by retired executives. Their wise and experienced counsel has probably helped spawn many a business plan and helped save more than a few businesses.
I sense a rather profound shift that is lurking around the business corner based on the economic downturn that is crippling individual’s retirement plans and remaking the pension plans of big industry and even government. The trend I see is that more people are remaining active in their businesses or in the workforce for a greater number of years. I’ve talked with several skilled executives recently who took early retirement packages in their 50s and who are now looking to start or buy a business. Some of these “vintage” folks have begun selling their experience as consultants. Keeping their brains active, staying healthy, and having some money coming in are all very worthy goals.
If you have to face the unknown or a jungle full of business problems, do you want the recent MBA graduate or would you prefer someone who has learned guerilla warfare and hand to hand combat on the business battlefield? In the19th and 20th centuries, the relationship between the young trainee and the experienced hand was an honored one, but of course that was during a heavily manufacturing era when most people used their hands to craft things or guide the machines that made them. The service economy was a small part of overall business activity and the creation of purely intellectual property was even smaller.
When I was a child and wasn’t sure what many people actually did for a living, we called them, “the old folks.” After being in business for myself for over 20 years, and seeking their advice on many subjects, I’ve seen the value of “vintage people.”
Be sure to check out www.MakingItTV.com for a comprehensive collection of resources for entrepreneurial thinkers and small business including streaming video, articles, events & workshops, entrepreneur confessions, Q&A, and more!
One morning this week an article in the Los Angeles Times was trumpeting the fact that “vintage motorcycles find traction in a soft economy” caught my attention. It went on to prompt an ooh from me when it mentioned a Vincent Black Shadow that sold for over $383,000 a few months ago. Knowledgeable collectors of fine wines will always snap to attention if you even mention that your cellar holds a few bottles of 1982 red Bordeaux. Right down the street from my office I can pick up a bottle of 1982 Chateau Latour for only $1,999.00! Even guitars such as the Stratocaster and Telecaster that were cranked out by Leo Fender in the 1960s are adored by collectors and change hands at many times their original cost. I probably don’t need to remind you of the cachet and value that old Duesenberg automobiles have attained. I’d say it’s a fact that people demonstrate their love of old things and with the ultimate compliment, they empty their wallets for them.
So why don’t we put more value on real, live vintage people as we do on objects of a certain age? I believe that businesses from small to very large can benefit from the knowledge and experience of people who’ve learned many of the lessons first hand. Even in the hallowed halls of youth obsessed businesses such as FaceBook, the realities of the marketplace bring comparatively vintage people to the top of the organization chart. A frequent refrain around Google, MySpace, FaceBook and other explosively growing start ups has been, “We need some adults around here.” In Detroit, which is the current battleground of business survival, the last company standing may be Ford Motor and there, Alan Mulally, the CEO, is 63 years of age.
There is money and intelligence in every age category from 18 to dead, but where you find the greatest combination of both is toward the gray haired end of the spectrum. When hundreds of ambitious aspirants line up to become “The Apprentice,” they are looking to learn from Donald Trump in America or Sir Alan Sugar in Great Britain. Yes, we know that if Trump didn’t treat his hair to a weekly chemical bath he too would probably be gray haired!
This past week I visited the Small Business Administration office in Glendale, California and was reminded about the great counseling and mentoring organization called SCORE, which was originally formed by retired executives. Their wise and experienced counsel has probably helped spawn many a business plan and helped save more than a few businesses.
I sense a rather profound shift that is lurking around the business corner based on the economic downturn that is crippling individual’s retirement plans and remaking the pension plans of big industry and even government. The trend I see is that more people are remaining active in their businesses or in the workforce for a greater number of years. I’ve talked with several skilled executives recently who took early retirement packages in their 50s and who are now looking to start or buy a business. Some of these “vintage” folks have begun selling their experience as consultants. Keeping their brains active, staying healthy, and having some money coming in are all very worthy goals.
If you have to face the unknown or a jungle full of business problems, do you want the recent MBA graduate or would you prefer someone who has learned guerilla warfare and hand to hand combat on the business battlefield? In the19th and 20th centuries, the relationship between the young trainee and the experienced hand was an honored one, but of course that was during a heavily manufacturing era when most people used their hands to craft things or guide the machines that made them. The service economy was a small part of overall business activity and the creation of purely intellectual property was even smaller.
When I was a child and wasn’t sure what many people actually did for a living, we called them, “the old folks.” After being in business for myself for over 20 years, and seeking their advice on many subjects, I’ve seen the value of “vintage people.”
Be sure to check out www.MakingItTV.com for a comprehensive collection of resources for entrepreneurial thinkers and small business including streaming video, articles, events & workshops, entrepreneur confessions, Q&A, and more!
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
A Capitalist Fundamentalist
Since early in this century (using 9/11 as the time mark) fundamentalism of various types has been rising and our media seem to be having fun fueling the fires. I’m tired of hearing reports only about fundamentalist Muslims, Christians or Jews and the bad raps they are getting. Fundamentalism as a belief system doesn’t necessarily have anything to do with religion and can be applied across the spectrum of human endeavor.
I’ve often declared myself as a major believer in capitalism and today I proudly slip on the tee-shirt labeling me as a fundamentalist capitalist! One important difference between me and the religious folks is that I have no interest in killing or harming those who don’t believe in the same way. However I do carry the missionary zeal necessary to be a good fundamentalist and feel that if more people understood and embraced my capitalist beliefs, the world would be a better place. Certainly at least, the faceless and sometimes mindless beaurocracies that affect so much of our lives would be better places.
I keep a “capitalist” house and pray several times per day for the people, resources and determination to help realize my business dreams. Several personal development “bibles” are frequently read and quoted from at my house including “Think and Grow Rich” and “The Greatest Salesman in the World.” I gather with like minded entrepreneurial thinkers on a regular basis and we sometimes speak the short-hand of quotations from revered and mostly dead capitalists. Now this is not my religion, but if I want to be a good fundamentalist, I must learn from the ways they apply core principles to all aspects of life.
Here is the simple foundation of my belief. Capitalism generally refers to an economic system built on private ownership of the means of production which are operated for profit. The market aspects such as investment, pricing, distribution and production are determined through the operation of a market economy. Since I live in California, let’s use this state as an example of a multi-billion dollar enterprise that could use some capitalist thinking. Since we have the most heavily populated state with over 36 million people, fundamental capitalist principles would mean that we’d also have the largest budget surplus among the states, and not be teetering on the edge of bankruptcy. Because we’d create the most products and services of value and receive the most in my fantasy scenario, our education, transportation and communications systems would all be as world class today as they were 45 years ago. Ideas, capital, goals, creation, revenue and results are all tightly linked in my fundamentalist view.
My form of “fundamentalist capitalism” begins with teaching basic economics in every school grade from 2 through 12. Even your favorite post office clerk should know as much about commerce as they do about postal work rules and coffee breaks. Everybody has customers to serve and yes that includes your spouse family. The principle that nothing gets made until something is sold means that your ability to articulate concepts, plans and expected results will determine much about how whether your dreams are realized in this life. Because true capitalism must give as much as it gets, it has nothing to do with the selfish greed that seems to have Wall Street in its grip these days. The creation of opportunity and wealth always feeds more than one person and can elevate entire communities. Fundamental capitalism is a mutual benefit game. Remember that when you write a check you get privileges and accepting a check means that you take on obligations!
Unlike a religious form of fundamentalism, my branch says that great and wonderful rewards come in this life. You’ll have to talk with your clergy about what happens in the life you have after the body wear out. I believe there is such a thing as heaven on earth---and it is well capitalized.
Be sure to check out www.MakingItTV.com for a comprehensive collection of resources for entrepreneurial thinkers and small business including streaming video, articles, events & workshops, entrepreneur confessions, Q&A, and more!
I’ve often declared myself as a major believer in capitalism and today I proudly slip on the tee-shirt labeling me as a fundamentalist capitalist! One important difference between me and the religious folks is that I have no interest in killing or harming those who don’t believe in the same way. However I do carry the missionary zeal necessary to be a good fundamentalist and feel that if more people understood and embraced my capitalist beliefs, the world would be a better place. Certainly at least, the faceless and sometimes mindless beaurocracies that affect so much of our lives would be better places.
I keep a “capitalist” house and pray several times per day for the people, resources and determination to help realize my business dreams. Several personal development “bibles” are frequently read and quoted from at my house including “Think and Grow Rich” and “The Greatest Salesman in the World.” I gather with like minded entrepreneurial thinkers on a regular basis and we sometimes speak the short-hand of quotations from revered and mostly dead capitalists. Now this is not my religion, but if I want to be a good fundamentalist, I must learn from the ways they apply core principles to all aspects of life.
Here is the simple foundation of my belief. Capitalism generally refers to an economic system built on private ownership of the means of production which are operated for profit. The market aspects such as investment, pricing, distribution and production are determined through the operation of a market economy. Since I live in California, let’s use this state as an example of a multi-billion dollar enterprise that could use some capitalist thinking. Since we have the most heavily populated state with over 36 million people, fundamental capitalist principles would mean that we’d also have the largest budget surplus among the states, and not be teetering on the edge of bankruptcy. Because we’d create the most products and services of value and receive the most in my fantasy scenario, our education, transportation and communications systems would all be as world class today as they were 45 years ago. Ideas, capital, goals, creation, revenue and results are all tightly linked in my fundamentalist view.
My form of “fundamentalist capitalism” begins with teaching basic economics in every school grade from 2 through 12. Even your favorite post office clerk should know as much about commerce as they do about postal work rules and coffee breaks. Everybody has customers to serve and yes that includes your spouse family. The principle that nothing gets made until something is sold means that your ability to articulate concepts, plans and expected results will determine much about how whether your dreams are realized in this life. Because true capitalism must give as much as it gets, it has nothing to do with the selfish greed that seems to have Wall Street in its grip these days. The creation of opportunity and wealth always feeds more than one person and can elevate entire communities. Fundamental capitalism is a mutual benefit game. Remember that when you write a check you get privileges and accepting a check means that you take on obligations!
Unlike a religious form of fundamentalism, my branch says that great and wonderful rewards come in this life. You’ll have to talk with your clergy about what happens in the life you have after the body wear out. I believe there is such a thing as heaven on earth---and it is well capitalized.
Be sure to check out www.MakingItTV.com for a comprehensive collection of resources for entrepreneurial thinkers and small business including streaming video, articles, events & workshops, entrepreneur confessions, Q&A, and more!
A New Lost Generation
The traffic on Los Angeles freeways is a bit lighter these days, for at least a couple of reasons. One is that the price of gasoline is approaching that of bottled water and the other is that most schools have released their inmates. Among those folks, the college grads in particular are the most eager, enthusiastic and fearful.
Sadly, I find that too many bright young men and women are emerging from distinguished and expensive educations without a clear idea of what they want to accomplish in their lives. I’m living with this old fashioned notion that knowing what you want to do and then learning how is one of the primary purposes of a formal education. The rocketing price of oil and the roller-coaster drop in the stock market don’t bother me as much as seeing a new lost generation. American poet Gertrude Stein actually coined the expression "lost generation." Speaking to Ernest Hemingway, she said, "You are all a lost generation." The term lives on and created a mystique around the writers and artists living in Paris in the 1920s and ‘30s. They seemed to be a generation going to great lengths and distances in search of themselves. Today as a business owner I interview people for jobs from internships on up and it saddens me to often encounter men and women who seem to be in a lost generation for the 21st Century.
Several decades ago I was flattered to be asked to speak a graduating senior high school class for the first time. Of course I was nervous about choosing a topic, writing the speech and practicing until it seemed almost spontaneous. Within the first few minutes I dropped a grenade into the proceedings by telling them that despite their bright eyes, eager smiles, loving parents and fresh diplomas, the hard statistics told an awful story about their prospects. The numbers predicted that about fifty years from their graduation date, out of one hundred students, one of them would be very rich, four would be financially independent, five would still be working and fifty four would be practically broke. You may have noticed that there are thirty-six unaccounted for. The prognosticators said that institutions and death would claim that group. Today, the numbers may be a bit more favorable thanks to 401-K programs and other forced savings vehicles.
If I was delivering a speech today to a graduating class, I’d say that I was privileged to begin my professional life during the century that clearly belonged to America and that they are starting their journey in a century that will belong to other world powers. America’s greatness was based on: a very good education system, a competitive economy and vibrant, diverse population. They worked, sacrificed and endured many hardships for the sake of a greater good. Today’s youngsters often feel entitled to the rewards they’ve seen others enjoy without taking into account what went into those benefits. There are rules to meaningful accomplishment and if you don’t know the rules or want to ignore them, you are truly lost.
Education is one of my passions and I view it as a lifelong process. For example, when I received my private pilot license decades ago, the instructor reminded me that it really was just a license to learn. I spend most of my time in a world populated by experienced functional adults, people with goals and pretty clear values, folks who accept the responsibilities of family and community. In an effort to give their children “something better,” too many unearned gifts have robbed them of the knowledge that striving is a big part of the joy of living and the key to great accomplishment. Many of the fresh faced flock of graduates are surprised to learn that business is as exacting as athletics when it comes to determining who gets to stand on the top step of the podium. Of course, those bright and eager graduates don’t have to remain lost because the knowledge and sparkling example are all around us. They have access to written history, mentor bosses and world-wide connectivity. The realities may not match their graduation day expectations, but in that reality there is a beacon of hope.
Be sure to check out www.MakingItTV.com for a comprehensive collection of resources for entrepreneurial thinkers and small business including streaming video, articles, events & workshops, entrepreneur confessions, Q&A, and more!
Sadly, I find that too many bright young men and women are emerging from distinguished and expensive educations without a clear idea of what they want to accomplish in their lives. I’m living with this old fashioned notion that knowing what you want to do and then learning how is one of the primary purposes of a formal education. The rocketing price of oil and the roller-coaster drop in the stock market don’t bother me as much as seeing a new lost generation. American poet Gertrude Stein actually coined the expression "lost generation." Speaking to Ernest Hemingway, she said, "You are all a lost generation." The term lives on and created a mystique around the writers and artists living in Paris in the 1920s and ‘30s. They seemed to be a generation going to great lengths and distances in search of themselves. Today as a business owner I interview people for jobs from internships on up and it saddens me to often encounter men and women who seem to be in a lost generation for the 21st Century.
Several decades ago I was flattered to be asked to speak a graduating senior high school class for the first time. Of course I was nervous about choosing a topic, writing the speech and practicing until it seemed almost spontaneous. Within the first few minutes I dropped a grenade into the proceedings by telling them that despite their bright eyes, eager smiles, loving parents and fresh diplomas, the hard statistics told an awful story about their prospects. The numbers predicted that about fifty years from their graduation date, out of one hundred students, one of them would be very rich, four would be financially independent, five would still be working and fifty four would be practically broke. You may have noticed that there are thirty-six unaccounted for. The prognosticators said that institutions and death would claim that group. Today, the numbers may be a bit more favorable thanks to 401-K programs and other forced savings vehicles.
If I was delivering a speech today to a graduating class, I’d say that I was privileged to begin my professional life during the century that clearly belonged to America and that they are starting their journey in a century that will belong to other world powers. America’s greatness was based on: a very good education system, a competitive economy and vibrant, diverse population. They worked, sacrificed and endured many hardships for the sake of a greater good. Today’s youngsters often feel entitled to the rewards they’ve seen others enjoy without taking into account what went into those benefits. There are rules to meaningful accomplishment and if you don’t know the rules or want to ignore them, you are truly lost.
Education is one of my passions and I view it as a lifelong process. For example, when I received my private pilot license decades ago, the instructor reminded me that it really was just a license to learn. I spend most of my time in a world populated by experienced functional adults, people with goals and pretty clear values, folks who accept the responsibilities of family and community. In an effort to give their children “something better,” too many unearned gifts have robbed them of the knowledge that striving is a big part of the joy of living and the key to great accomplishment. Many of the fresh faced flock of graduates are surprised to learn that business is as exacting as athletics when it comes to determining who gets to stand on the top step of the podium. Of course, those bright and eager graduates don’t have to remain lost because the knowledge and sparkling example are all around us. They have access to written history, mentor bosses and world-wide connectivity. The realities may not match their graduation day expectations, but in that reality there is a beacon of hope.
Be sure to check out www.MakingItTV.com for a comprehensive collection of resources for entrepreneurial thinkers and small business including streaming video, articles, events & workshops, entrepreneur confessions, Q&A, and more!
Everybody's Cheese is Moving
Events of the past several days in Los Angeles solidified some thoughts I’ve been nursing for several years now. So many things on the business and economic landscape are changing, and most of us aren’t sure where they are headed. All we know is that insecurity and the unhappiness that breeds are top-of-mind feelings for a lot of people right now.
In the past I’ve written that the decades long super consumer era that America has known is coming to an end and we saw an example of that during the holiday shopping season. Also, I had fun a couple of years ago analyzing the importance of the best selling business tome, “Who Moved My Cheese?” The story of Who Moved My Cheese? was created by Dr. Spencer Johnson to help him deal with a difficult change in his life. It showed him how to take his changing situation seriously, but not take himself so seriously. Through waves of downsizing, rightsizing and workforce reductions, the book became a best seller and a favorite in corporate America.
Let’s get back to the weekend event. On Saturday, my lady and I went to a favorite restaurant (Orso) in west Los Angeles that is usually buzzing and crowded. By the fashionable weekend dining hour of 8pm, the place was only about 40% occupied. The owner let us know that they were being adversely affected by the Writers Guild of America strike that is beginning to get a little gray at the temples after two months. There have been thousands of layoffs, and ancillary small businesses have been suffering as the film/TV production money spigot is only dribbling these days. Normally on this past weekend, there would have been parties and smiles everywhere because of the Golden Globe Awards. Instead, the caterers, limo companies and party planners were probably eating pizza while dreaming of last year’s caviar bashes.
You see, each group and business category has to learn that its cheese is not exempt from the forces that will cause it to move. Very old cheese or newly formed curd gets the same treatment. Just look at the 100-year-old automotive businesses in our country. Every U.S. automaker is weighted down with legacy expenditures to employees that were promised during their sunny business climate of the 1950s and ‘60s.
The writers who supply most theatrical film and scripted network TV with words haven’t yet absorbed the fact that their turn at torture may be coming soon. They are locked in a tussle over future residual payments for their work in new media and that may be the battlefield. Many of these men and women are somewhere between bright and brilliant with ideas and words but they often miss a fundamental tenet of the capitalist system. That obvious rule is that the person taking the greatest risk usually gains the greatest rewards when a venture is successful. Not only that, but they get to write most of the rules on how the largesse is doled out. The money and the cheese move in lock step.
The decades old fundamental system of residual payments to writers may be in jeopardy. We all have a natural inclination to want things to remain as they were if it was fun, easy and rewarding. I’m fond of saying that yes, the truth will set you free, but first it may kick your butt. In every business, there are structural changes emerging and some are much less than pleasant. Some of those people manning the writer’s picket lines are smarter and more visionary than others and they should see this with an entrepreneurial eye. That may mean creating content directly for online distribution and bypassing networks, studios and other gatekeepers. Isn’t that supposed to be one of the opportunities presented by the new digital world?
The writers aren’t the only creative artists whose cheese is strapping on roller skates. I noticed today that EMI, the legendary music company that brought The Beatles to the world is laying off up to one third of its 6,000 employees because consumers aren’t buying recorded music in the same way as they were just three years ago. Of course, newspaper circulation in the United States has been skiing down Mount Everest for years. There won’t likely be any pickets in either of these cases and no cries by newspaper writers that they are entitled to continuing payments for an article they wrote years ago. In Hollywood the sacred cow of residual payments is an endangered species that will prompt many more fights between the artists and money interests.
I worked for one of the big three TV networks in the 1980s when they didn’t fully recognize or respect the fact that cable TV was about to change their business lives. Now, the Internet is guaranteeing there will be further radical change in how content is made, marketed and distributed. While writers and other “creatives” are lamenting their state of affairs, the TV networks and studios themselves are trying to figure out how to chase the cheese. There is nothing more difficult to take in hand, more perilous to conduct, or more uncertain in its success, than to take the lead in the introduction of a new order of things. Those are the words of Niccolo Machiavelli.
Be sure to check out www.MakingItTV.com for a comprehensive collection of resources for entrepreneurial thinkers and small business including streaming video, articles, events & workshops, entrepreneur confessions, Q&A, and more!
In the past I’ve written that the decades long super consumer era that America has known is coming to an end and we saw an example of that during the holiday shopping season. Also, I had fun a couple of years ago analyzing the importance of the best selling business tome, “Who Moved My Cheese?” The story of Who Moved My Cheese? was created by Dr. Spencer Johnson to help him deal with a difficult change in his life. It showed him how to take his changing situation seriously, but not take himself so seriously. Through waves of downsizing, rightsizing and workforce reductions, the book became a best seller and a favorite in corporate America.
Let’s get back to the weekend event. On Saturday, my lady and I went to a favorite restaurant (Orso) in west Los Angeles that is usually buzzing and crowded. By the fashionable weekend dining hour of 8pm, the place was only about 40% occupied. The owner let us know that they were being adversely affected by the Writers Guild of America strike that is beginning to get a little gray at the temples after two months. There have been thousands of layoffs, and ancillary small businesses have been suffering as the film/TV production money spigot is only dribbling these days. Normally on this past weekend, there would have been parties and smiles everywhere because of the Golden Globe Awards. Instead, the caterers, limo companies and party planners were probably eating pizza while dreaming of last year’s caviar bashes.
You see, each group and business category has to learn that its cheese is not exempt from the forces that will cause it to move. Very old cheese or newly formed curd gets the same treatment. Just look at the 100-year-old automotive businesses in our country. Every U.S. automaker is weighted down with legacy expenditures to employees that were promised during their sunny business climate of the 1950s and ‘60s.
The writers who supply most theatrical film and scripted network TV with words haven’t yet absorbed the fact that their turn at torture may be coming soon. They are locked in a tussle over future residual payments for their work in new media and that may be the battlefield. Many of these men and women are somewhere between bright and brilliant with ideas and words but they often miss a fundamental tenet of the capitalist system. That obvious rule is that the person taking the greatest risk usually gains the greatest rewards when a venture is successful. Not only that, but they get to write most of the rules on how the largesse is doled out. The money and the cheese move in lock step.
The decades old fundamental system of residual payments to writers may be in jeopardy. We all have a natural inclination to want things to remain as they were if it was fun, easy and rewarding. I’m fond of saying that yes, the truth will set you free, but first it may kick your butt. In every business, there are structural changes emerging and some are much less than pleasant. Some of those people manning the writer’s picket lines are smarter and more visionary than others and they should see this with an entrepreneurial eye. That may mean creating content directly for online distribution and bypassing networks, studios and other gatekeepers. Isn’t that supposed to be one of the opportunities presented by the new digital world?
The writers aren’t the only creative artists whose cheese is strapping on roller skates. I noticed today that EMI, the legendary music company that brought The Beatles to the world is laying off up to one third of its 6,000 employees because consumers aren’t buying recorded music in the same way as they were just three years ago. Of course, newspaper circulation in the United States has been skiing down Mount Everest for years. There won’t likely be any pickets in either of these cases and no cries by newspaper writers that they are entitled to continuing payments for an article they wrote years ago. In Hollywood the sacred cow of residual payments is an endangered species that will prompt many more fights between the artists and money interests.
I worked for one of the big three TV networks in the 1980s when they didn’t fully recognize or respect the fact that cable TV was about to change their business lives. Now, the Internet is guaranteeing there will be further radical change in how content is made, marketed and distributed. While writers and other “creatives” are lamenting their state of affairs, the TV networks and studios themselves are trying to figure out how to chase the cheese. There is nothing more difficult to take in hand, more perilous to conduct, or more uncertain in its success, than to take the lead in the introduction of a new order of things. Those are the words of Niccolo Machiavelli.
Be sure to check out www.MakingItTV.com for a comprehensive collection of resources for entrepreneurial thinkers and small business including streaming video, articles, events & workshops, entrepreneur confessions, Q&A, and more!
Thursday, May 7, 2009
Business Media Democracy
This week I’ve been writing a speech to be delivered to a group of small business owners who supply products and services to The Port of Long Beach in California. While mulling over ideas for my brief message, I heard a portion of president Obama’s speech regarding plans to crack down on offshore tax havens used by American businesses. Immediately, what I saw was a classic collision between business and the crusading leader of a democracy that is at least partly fueled by 24 hour media coverage of everything.
The president referred to “ordinary Americans” as if ordinary business owners must be some other strain of Homo sapiens. Just as each young child must learn about touching a hot stove, politicians continue to poke at the entrepreneurial class until something hot blisters their fingers. Even the slowest of them knows enough to stay away from putting their hands on subjects such as unafordability of various entitlement programs for medical and pension costs. But they can’t resist periodic business bashing despite the fact that most of them couldn’t mount a successful campaign for dog catcher without support from the business community.
This wasn’t the first time that I’ve seen business, democracy, and media in a mash up. It was over thirty years ago that the great playwright, Paddy Chayefsky, wrote the script for the Academy Award winning film, “Network,” which contains one of my favorite cinematic speeches. It was delivered in a menacing tone by Ned Beatty as the character Mr. Jensen. When a president or other high level politico wants to roll out the rhetoric and talk about impacting international tax havens they should first have to listen to this thirty three year old speech:
Jensen: “You have meddled with the primal forces of nature, Mr. Beale, and I won't have it!! Is that clear?! You think you've merely stopped a business deal. That is not the case. The Arabs have taken billions of dollars out of this country, and now they must put it back! It is ebb and flow, tidal gravity! It is ecological balance!
You are an old man who thinks in terms of nations and peoples. There are no nations. There are no peoples. There are no Russians. There are no Arabs. There are no third worlds. There is no West. There is only one holistic system of systems, one vast and immense, interwoven, interacting, multivariate, multinational dominion of dollars. Petro-dollars, electro-dollars, multi-dollars, reichmarks, rins, rubles, pounds, and shekels.
It is the international system of currency which determines the totality of life on this planet. That is the natural order of things today. That is the atomic and subatomic and galactic structure of things today! And YOU have meddled with the primal forces of nature, and YOU WILL ATONE!
Am I getting through to you, Mr. Beale? You get up on your little twenty-one inch screen and howl about America and democracy. There is no America. There is no democracy. There is only IBM and ITT and AT&T and DuPont, Dow, Union Carbide, and Exxon. Those are the nations of the world today.
What do you think the Russians talk about in their councils of state -- Karl Marx? They get out their linear programming charts, statistical decision theories, minimax solutions, and compute the price-cost probabilities of their transactions and investments, just like we do.
We no longer live in a world of nations and ideologies, Mr. Beale. The world is a college of corporations, inexorably determined by the immutable bylaws of business. The world is a business, Mr. Beale. It has been since man crawled out of the slime. And our children will live, Mr. Beale, to see that perfect world in which there's no war or famine, oppression or brutality -- one vast and ecumenical holding company, for whom all men will work to serve a common profit, in which all men will hold a share of stock, all necessities provided, all anxieties tranquilized, all boredom amused.
And I have chosen you, Mr. Beale, to preach this evangel.
Beale: But why me?
Jensen: Because you're on television, dummy. Sixty million people watch you every night of the week, Monday through Friday.”
So the speech I’m about to deliver this week seems very tame in comparison. My audience owns medium and small businesses and probably their closest tax haven is Nevada. Their concern is more about attracting new customers and not Wall Street. I don’t say that all business owners are patriotic saints or that unfettered capitalism is perfect. But I do grow tired of politicians or anyone else who tries to create a schism between Americans based on their tax bill.
Amidst all the confusion maybe what we really should be doing is following the explicit instructions of the fictional news anchor Howard Beale from “Network.” He said to get from your chair, open the window and shout, “I’m as mad as hell and I’m not going to take this anymore.”
Be sure to check out www.MakingItTV.com for a comprehensive collection of resources for entrepreneurial thinkers and small business including streaming video, articles, events & workshops, entrepreneur confessions, Q&A, and more!
The president referred to “ordinary Americans” as if ordinary business owners must be some other strain of Homo sapiens. Just as each young child must learn about touching a hot stove, politicians continue to poke at the entrepreneurial class until something hot blisters their fingers. Even the slowest of them knows enough to stay away from putting their hands on subjects such as unafordability of various entitlement programs for medical and pension costs. But they can’t resist periodic business bashing despite the fact that most of them couldn’t mount a successful campaign for dog catcher without support from the business community.
This wasn’t the first time that I’ve seen business, democracy, and media in a mash up. It was over thirty years ago that the great playwright, Paddy Chayefsky, wrote the script for the Academy Award winning film, “Network,” which contains one of my favorite cinematic speeches. It was delivered in a menacing tone by Ned Beatty as the character Mr. Jensen. When a president or other high level politico wants to roll out the rhetoric and talk about impacting international tax havens they should first have to listen to this thirty three year old speech:
Jensen: “You have meddled with the primal forces of nature, Mr. Beale, and I won't have it!! Is that clear?! You think you've merely stopped a business deal. That is not the case. The Arabs have taken billions of dollars out of this country, and now they must put it back! It is ebb and flow, tidal gravity! It is ecological balance!
You are an old man who thinks in terms of nations and peoples. There are no nations. There are no peoples. There are no Russians. There are no Arabs. There are no third worlds. There is no West. There is only one holistic system of systems, one vast and immense, interwoven, interacting, multivariate, multinational dominion of dollars. Petro-dollars, electro-dollars, multi-dollars, reichmarks, rins, rubles, pounds, and shekels.
It is the international system of currency which determines the totality of life on this planet. That is the natural order of things today. That is the atomic and subatomic and galactic structure of things today! And YOU have meddled with the primal forces of nature, and YOU WILL ATONE!
Am I getting through to you, Mr. Beale? You get up on your little twenty-one inch screen and howl about America and democracy. There is no America. There is no democracy. There is only IBM and ITT and AT&T and DuPont, Dow, Union Carbide, and Exxon. Those are the nations of the world today.
What do you think the Russians talk about in their councils of state -- Karl Marx? They get out their linear programming charts, statistical decision theories, minimax solutions, and compute the price-cost probabilities of their transactions and investments, just like we do.
We no longer live in a world of nations and ideologies, Mr. Beale. The world is a college of corporations, inexorably determined by the immutable bylaws of business. The world is a business, Mr. Beale. It has been since man crawled out of the slime. And our children will live, Mr. Beale, to see that perfect world in which there's no war or famine, oppression or brutality -- one vast and ecumenical holding company, for whom all men will work to serve a common profit, in which all men will hold a share of stock, all necessities provided, all anxieties tranquilized, all boredom amused.
And I have chosen you, Mr. Beale, to preach this evangel.
Beale: But why me?
Jensen: Because you're on television, dummy. Sixty million people watch you every night of the week, Monday through Friday.”
So the speech I’m about to deliver this week seems very tame in comparison. My audience owns medium and small businesses and probably their closest tax haven is Nevada. Their concern is more about attracting new customers and not Wall Street. I don’t say that all business owners are patriotic saints or that unfettered capitalism is perfect. But I do grow tired of politicians or anyone else who tries to create a schism between Americans based on their tax bill.
Amidst all the confusion maybe what we really should be doing is following the explicit instructions of the fictional news anchor Howard Beale from “Network.” He said to get from your chair, open the window and shout, “I’m as mad as hell and I’m not going to take this anymore.”
Be sure to check out www.MakingItTV.com for a comprehensive collection of resources for entrepreneurial thinkers and small business including streaming video, articles, events & workshops, entrepreneur confessions, Q&A, and more!
I'm a Customer, Damn It!
The older I get, the more I enjoy a helpful interchange with people who work diligently for businesses of any size. But, with each passing day, businesses who covet my dollars seem to want me, the supposed customer to do more of their work and to give them money for that privilege! If I’m paying, being treated like a customer would be a fine idea.
I think it all began with self service gasoline stations. Not only do I remember .55 cent gasoline, but I recall the days when there were service station attendants who would check the oil and scrutinize the tires while filling your tank. Sadly, those memories are now shrouded in the mists of history. At first it was a charming novelty and a time saver to pump your own gas. They even discounted the price! Now we are the hose handlers, there are no discounts and the only people you see are behind a bullet barrier.
In the early 1980s I was an early adopter of an ATM card from my bank. It was both cool and great to be able to replenish my cash supply at times when the bankers were asleep. But as time went on it became obvious that the bankers really wanted us to use the ATM all of the time so they could get by with fewer tellers. In a counter move a couple of years ago, at least one bank began offering concierge service to get a competitive advantage.
Supermarkets are now joining in that game with some featuring self-check-out. Do you really want to be behind the person with 40 items in their cart the first time they use that service? I’d rather have to take close up pictures of a rattlesnake! I like what comedian George Carlin had to say on the subject of getting out of a supermarket. “I'm not the cashier! By the time I look up from sliding my card, entering my PIN number, pressing 'Enter,' verifying the amount, deciding, no, I don't want Cash back, and pressing 'Enter' again, the kid who is supposed to be ringing me up is standing there eating my Almond Joy.”
One of the things we most easily connect with and sometimes yearn for is the sound of a human voice, especially one that is able to respond to your questions. It is OK for me to tell my Blackberry to “call office” and have it do just that, but when I get the office, I want to speak with a real live person. Customers should be warmly greeted and treated with respect. Too many managers and employees loose site of who is really paying their salaries.
Everywhere we look, businesses are beating the bushes in search of customers, but the same enterprises are pinching and squeezing on customer service. Yes, it is challenging to find good people and even more so to train them well. Sadly, service from a live and knowledgeable human being is becoming the new luxury, soon to be afforded only by those who demand it and are willing to pay more. You can now book a plane trip, print out a ticket, endure the security screening and be on your way to the destination without anyone paying attention to your needs until they offer to sell you a sandwich onboard! And airlines wonder why they are sliding toward post office territory on the scale of experiences we dislike.
No, I’m not against progress but I am also a true contrarian. In my own business the phone is answered by live people between 9am and 6pm. We don’t ask you to choose languages or have a trap door behind the pound key leading directly to voice mail hell.
If I’m dealing with your business as a customer, then I really want to be treated like a customer, not one of your associates who works there and gets paid for it. My money should buy service and the attention of a human being even if fleetingly. Give me a human experience and in return I’ll give you loyalty and more business. Anybody can install an automated phone system and other electronic “service” devices. They are now just another commodity. If you want a competitive advantage in this marketplace, bring a human face and voice to what you do. It will be appreciated and we know that can lead to sales and growth. Give me a reason to be a good customer by treating me like a desired customer. That is the true definition of a brand.
Be sure to check out www.MakingItTV.com for a comprehensive collection of resources for entrepreneurial thinkers and small business including streaming video, articles, events & workshops, entrepreneur confessions, Q&A, and more!
I think it all began with self service gasoline stations. Not only do I remember .55 cent gasoline, but I recall the days when there were service station attendants who would check the oil and scrutinize the tires while filling your tank. Sadly, those memories are now shrouded in the mists of history. At first it was a charming novelty and a time saver to pump your own gas. They even discounted the price! Now we are the hose handlers, there are no discounts and the only people you see are behind a bullet barrier.
In the early 1980s I was an early adopter of an ATM card from my bank. It was both cool and great to be able to replenish my cash supply at times when the bankers were asleep. But as time went on it became obvious that the bankers really wanted us to use the ATM all of the time so they could get by with fewer tellers. In a counter move a couple of years ago, at least one bank began offering concierge service to get a competitive advantage.
Supermarkets are now joining in that game with some featuring self-check-out. Do you really want to be behind the person with 40 items in their cart the first time they use that service? I’d rather have to take close up pictures of a rattlesnake! I like what comedian George Carlin had to say on the subject of getting out of a supermarket. “I'm not the cashier! By the time I look up from sliding my card, entering my PIN number, pressing 'Enter,' verifying the amount, deciding, no, I don't want Cash back, and pressing 'Enter' again, the kid who is supposed to be ringing me up is standing there eating my Almond Joy.”
One of the things we most easily connect with and sometimes yearn for is the sound of a human voice, especially one that is able to respond to your questions. It is OK for me to tell my Blackberry to “call office” and have it do just that, but when I get the office, I want to speak with a real live person. Customers should be warmly greeted and treated with respect. Too many managers and employees loose site of who is really paying their salaries.
Everywhere we look, businesses are beating the bushes in search of customers, but the same enterprises are pinching and squeezing on customer service. Yes, it is challenging to find good people and even more so to train them well. Sadly, service from a live and knowledgeable human being is becoming the new luxury, soon to be afforded only by those who demand it and are willing to pay more. You can now book a plane trip, print out a ticket, endure the security screening and be on your way to the destination without anyone paying attention to your needs until they offer to sell you a sandwich onboard! And airlines wonder why they are sliding toward post office territory on the scale of experiences we dislike.
No, I’m not against progress but I am also a true contrarian. In my own business the phone is answered by live people between 9am and 6pm. We don’t ask you to choose languages or have a trap door behind the pound key leading directly to voice mail hell.
If I’m dealing with your business as a customer, then I really want to be treated like a customer, not one of your associates who works there and gets paid for it. My money should buy service and the attention of a human being even if fleetingly. Give me a human experience and in return I’ll give you loyalty and more business. Anybody can install an automated phone system and other electronic “service” devices. They are now just another commodity. If you want a competitive advantage in this marketplace, bring a human face and voice to what you do. It will be appreciated and we know that can lead to sales and growth. Give me a reason to be a good customer by treating me like a desired customer. That is the true definition of a brand.
Be sure to check out www.MakingItTV.com for a comprehensive collection of resources for entrepreneurial thinkers and small business including streaming video, articles, events & workshops, entrepreneur confessions, Q&A, and more!
The Government Hates Small Business
Some days I think that governments of all levels pay only lip service to the dynamic and vital small business community of America. Despite the nice words and flowery press releases extolling the virtues and value of small business owners, I don’t see the abiding love and understanding that the small business community deserves.
Why does government dismiss the small business community? They do it simply because these businesses are small and usually of modest financial muscle. Governments from municipal to Federal admire and seek out that which is large. Large things are easier to keep track of, brag about, measure, and tap for funds. With a single jab on the enter key of a computer in Redmond Washington, the mountain of money that represents withholding taxes for Microsoft employees is instantly transported to the federal coffers in Washington DC. That number is probably many millions of dollars each month, and it obviously garners a degree of love and respect among those who receive it. Corporations of that size represent very large, juicy and ripe low hanging fruit.
For politicians the world of small business entrepreneurs and independent contractors is hard to get their arms around. For them it’s like trying to create a seafood banquet from a net full of sardines or making wallpaper from postage stamps! Of all US businesses, 99% have 10 or fewer employees and they probably can’t be considered major donors to anyone’s campaign coffers. Despite that one criterion, our federal government still defines small business as one with less than 500 employees. Using the government's standard, small business accounts for 99.9% of all businesses in the US, all of the job growth over the past decade, roughly half of all employment, and just over 50% of the gross domestic product.
High level government operatives can smell money as surely as a shark always turns it teeth toward the faintest scent of blood. I just breezed through the April-09 edition of Inc Magazine, one of the leading monthly publications for the country’s small business community. There weren’t any pictures of politicians showing their love with “atta-boy” or “atta-girl” handshakes and backslaps to the owners of small businesses. However leafing through Fortune Magazines you can often find officials and dignitaries and others on the public payroll “gripping and grinning” with a corporate titan as though they’ve just uncovered the cure for some awful disease. Money does indeed make for interesting couplings.
At a certain level, I do understand the real life aspect of small versus large business. If I create 10 jobs, only those employees and their families care. But if my company can say we hired 800 people, it hits the radar for the public sector. They start to count the tax dollars that spurt from a single source. There was a time when Bill Gates and Walt Disney were small business owners seeking opportunities and customers just like the rest of us. Their fame grew a bit faster than their bank accounts, but it was eventually the companies’ large storehouses of dollars that caught the attention of politicians. Yes, election campaign donations sometimes determine the level of vision that we get from those seeking public office and guiding our government institutions.
I must say that in my opinion, the federal Small Business Administration does a fine job despite having 50 pound portions of bureaucracy tied to their hands. There are some officials in all parts of the country who recognize that rules of nature also have parallels in business. There must be fertile patches of ground, seeds, and nourishing care for new growth. Choking the seedlings with too many regulations, prickly taxes, and uncaring treatment will surely create bare patches in the business garden.
Perhaps our present major economic downdraft will help business owners and government gurus get it right. Some of the country’s giant legacy enterprises are being refocused so sharply that we may not recognize them after the major makeovers that are in progress. At the same time, I suspect that two years from now we’ll be hearing and reading about some presently unheralded entrepreneurs who’ve made that Star Wars like hyperspace jump from having less than 500 hundred employees to enterprises harvesting billions. Then the politicians and government functionaries will suddenly have a new group of best friends.
Be sure to check out www.MakingItTV.com for a comprehensive collection of resources for entrepreneurial thinkers and small business including streaming video, articles, events & workshops, entrepreneur confessions, Q&A, and more!
Why does government dismiss the small business community? They do it simply because these businesses are small and usually of modest financial muscle. Governments from municipal to Federal admire and seek out that which is large. Large things are easier to keep track of, brag about, measure, and tap for funds. With a single jab on the enter key of a computer in Redmond Washington, the mountain of money that represents withholding taxes for Microsoft employees is instantly transported to the federal coffers in Washington DC. That number is probably many millions of dollars each month, and it obviously garners a degree of love and respect among those who receive it. Corporations of that size represent very large, juicy and ripe low hanging fruit.
For politicians the world of small business entrepreneurs and independent contractors is hard to get their arms around. For them it’s like trying to create a seafood banquet from a net full of sardines or making wallpaper from postage stamps! Of all US businesses, 99% have 10 or fewer employees and they probably can’t be considered major donors to anyone’s campaign coffers. Despite that one criterion, our federal government still defines small business as one with less than 500 employees. Using the government's standard, small business accounts for 99.9% of all businesses in the US, all of the job growth over the past decade, roughly half of all employment, and just over 50% of the gross domestic product.
High level government operatives can smell money as surely as a shark always turns it teeth toward the faintest scent of blood. I just breezed through the April-09 edition of Inc Magazine, one of the leading monthly publications for the country’s small business community. There weren’t any pictures of politicians showing their love with “atta-boy” or “atta-girl” handshakes and backslaps to the owners of small businesses. However leafing through Fortune Magazines you can often find officials and dignitaries and others on the public payroll “gripping and grinning” with a corporate titan as though they’ve just uncovered the cure for some awful disease. Money does indeed make for interesting couplings.
At a certain level, I do understand the real life aspect of small versus large business. If I create 10 jobs, only those employees and their families care. But if my company can say we hired 800 people, it hits the radar for the public sector. They start to count the tax dollars that spurt from a single source. There was a time when Bill Gates and Walt Disney were small business owners seeking opportunities and customers just like the rest of us. Their fame grew a bit faster than their bank accounts, but it was eventually the companies’ large storehouses of dollars that caught the attention of politicians. Yes, election campaign donations sometimes determine the level of vision that we get from those seeking public office and guiding our government institutions.
I must say that in my opinion, the federal Small Business Administration does a fine job despite having 50 pound portions of bureaucracy tied to their hands. There are some officials in all parts of the country who recognize that rules of nature also have parallels in business. There must be fertile patches of ground, seeds, and nourishing care for new growth. Choking the seedlings with too many regulations, prickly taxes, and uncaring treatment will surely create bare patches in the business garden.
Perhaps our present major economic downdraft will help business owners and government gurus get it right. Some of the country’s giant legacy enterprises are being refocused so sharply that we may not recognize them after the major makeovers that are in progress. At the same time, I suspect that two years from now we’ll be hearing and reading about some presently unheralded entrepreneurs who’ve made that Star Wars like hyperspace jump from having less than 500 hundred employees to enterprises harvesting billions. Then the politicians and government functionaries will suddenly have a new group of best friends.
Be sure to check out www.MakingItTV.com for a comprehensive collection of resources for entrepreneurial thinkers and small business including streaming video, articles, events & workshops, entrepreneur confessions, Q&A, and more!
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