CSUF Entrepreneurial Matters

Facebook is a much bigger deal than you think.  A big wave you say? I call it a “tsunami”.

Facebook  is reported to currently have over 250 million active users and  each user has an average 120 friends. I have heard reports that they will top 300 million users by year end.

Currently, more than 1 billion photos are uploaded every month by its users; this is a key differentiator for them over other social networking sites.  Yes, that is more than 12 billion photos per year—how can that be?

Unfortunately, most users don’t know the risk of entering too much personal information. Once it gets out on Facebook, it is out there for full view unless you maintain privacy protocols. Must people don’t bother.

Rumors are that Facebook is preparing to launch premium services for a fee….just think if they charged a penny a photo? Or, if they had a membership fee?

Talk about a financial tsunami!

John Bradley Jackson

Director

Center for Entrepreneurship

California State University, Fullerton

From time to time I will be interviewing Entrepreneurs making it happen in our community. In economic times like these there us much opportunity to be had but who are these brave people actually daring to take the risk and fulfill their entrepreneurial spirit.

This is Roger Richard’s story.

On a Wednesday afternoon I went down to my local wine bar, Wine Lab Newport, to interview Richard for a few hours as he did his weekly tasting of roughly 30 wines and five beers from various distributors. Yes, I participated but only in the name of the Entrepreneurial Spirit…and maybe a slight obsession for wine.

Roger Richards.The Entrepreneur.The Small Business Owner.The Wine Geek.
Roger is a middle-aged self-proclaimed wine geek who seems to be doing everything right in these tough economic times. Who better to learn from than someone who says that, “everyday is a lesson,” and that, “selling something that people don’t need in this tough economy is the best training he could have.” He is optimistic even as a wine representative told us that in 22 years of selling wine he has never seen it this bad for the wine industry down 25% in overall sales.

What inspired me to tell Roger’s story is a combination of things that he has in common with both myself and other young entrepreneurs. He is a small business owner using social media to engage customers and still works his day job to support his dream.

Wine Lab Newport
A small intimate wine bar with a laid back lounge type feel located on PCH in Newport Beach that has wine flights daily for $15-30. The daily specials are posted on their blog, Facebook and Twitter pages. They involve many local charities and school booster clubs to help raise money for a good cause. You can pair your wine flight with artisan cheeses starting at $10. Just a cool place to come hang out and expand your palette. Not to mention they feature over 200 bottles under $20, perfect for a college budget.

by Daniela Bolzmann of SocialSkoop.com

CSUF Entrepreneurship Student and Social Marketing  Consultant

Video Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DAOOvXmwi3A

Communications is about emotion.  Successful people communicate well and have the ability to influence opinion or dissuade belief.  After you’ve met someone and time passes, that person will not remember the specifics of your conversation nor will they remember what you looked like at the time….but they will remember HOW YOU MADE THEM FEEL.  Always leave a positive impression.

When meeting a client for the first time, the primary goals are: a) build trust; b) set the level of expectation between you and the client; c) develop, negotiate guidelines, milestones and deliverables and d) take ownership.

Questions to think about for the first client meeting:

1. Who is the company and what do they provide?
2. Who are the principals and what can you glean from their website, search engine or collateral about their profile?
3. What is their mission and focus? Does their messaging reflect their mission or direction/products/services focus?
4. Can you decipher their singular message and does it have brand appeal?
5. Who are their target audiences? (market segment, company size, responsibility title, revenue, application, etc.)
6. How do they sell to their audience base – what is their distribution channel model?
7. What and how do they support their sales and marketing model?
8. How is marketing done and what do they think is needed to improve it?
9. What are the strategic issues that have impacted their business?
10. What business opportunities do they see in the horizon?
11. How do they describe their business and infrastructure model?
12. Who are their competition and what are their strength and weaknesses? What has the competition done right/wrong?
13. What are their strengths and weaknesses?
14. What competitive threats do they (or you) foresee in the current timeframe and future?
15. What do they wish to accomplish with an X period of time with respect to: 1) revenue; 2) profit; 3) infrastructure; 4) personnel; 5) business and market position; 6) continuation strategy, etc.
16. How would you test their branding strength? What can be done to improve it?
17. What marketing actions have they done and what were their successes and failures?
18. Think about their product or service roadmap, pricing strategy, audience and channel strategy, sales and marcom and support strategy?

These questions can assist you both understanding your client and in creating a powerful brand for yourself.

Coach Curtis Chan
President & CEO
CHAN & ASSOCIATES, INC.

Email: cj_chan@chanandassoc.com
Email: cjchan@cognitiveimpact.com

OC Register Blogger Jan Norman says that Two-thirds of California small business owners say more people would become entrepreneurs if they knew they could get health insurance despite pre-existing health conditions, reports Small Business Majority, a national advocacy group focused on healthcare reform.

http://jan.freedomblogging.com/2009/09/03/small-firms-without-health-insurance-say-they-cant-afford-it/21143/

John Bradley Jackson

© Copyright 2009 All rights reserved.

It’s that time of year again! Many of you are gearing up to prepare for battle with the coming semester. Petitioning over-crowded classes, offensive textbook prices, never-ending lines, and absolutely no parking. Talk about stress! Ugh…

Not to mention all the unanswered questions about the future: Am I picking the right major? Will there be jobs for me when I graduate? If I get laid off, how long will I be able to afford my rent?

Press Here… [ >> ] FAST FORWARD

In May of 2009, I graduated from The Mihaylo College of Business and Economics.  Let me tell you:  the job market is actually even worse than anticipated. In fact, it’s much, much worse.

Sorry, I can’t help myself, but I have to just yell this out… I AM SO THANKFUL THAT I CHOSE ENTREPRENEURSHIP AS MY MAJOR!

Now that I am out here in the real world, I am seeing the true significance of the time I spent at Fullerton. I realize now how your major can truly affect what you do in life, and the success you attain.  Especially when the job market looks like Circuit City after bankruptcy: nothing left.

And I feel bad for my friends, I really do! I am watching them struggle with interview after interview, without any calls back. It’s like there hasn’t been one person hired in Orange County since 2007. And sometimes, I feel how jealous they are that I don’t have to go through that. I almost feel guilty for doing my own thing, making my own money.

You see, after I graduated, I did what my professors in the Entrepreneurship department had been trying to convince me to do for 3 semesters. I hired myself. Seriously. I stood in front of the mirror in my bathroom, combed my hair to one side like Donald Trump, and pointed: “You’re Hired!”

It was just that easy.  I am happy to say that today, I own my own business. I pay myself. Choosing Entrepreneurship at Cal State Fullerton was the best decision I ever made. Let me explain why.

Think about it. In this program, you have the opportunity to get a fully accredited university degree in how to start you own business! There’s an entire class (MGMT 465A) on how to write a business plan. There’s another class (MGMT 465B) where you literally spend the entire semester launching a business of your choosing.

Not to mention, guaranteed internships! Through this program I have interned for:  the most premium chocolate manufacturer in Beverly Hills, an environmental engineering firm, and a $2 billion multi-national corporation! By the way, that was just one semester.

I really just can’t say enough about the direct benefits that have come to me through the Entrepreneurship program. But, if you’re having trouble deciding where to concentrate your studies, call me. We’ll talk. I can be reached at:

William Taormina Jr.
California State University Fullerton

Cell: 949-334-7199
facebook.com/WilliamTaormina
twitter.com/WilliamTaormina

In today’s economy one of the most challenging issues is collecting on outstanding debts. Many companies are just in survival mode, stacking one bill on top another, and yours is at the bottom of the pile. If your small business is anything like mine, you probably don’t have the resources to hire personnel for collections, short of a baseball bat. In all seriousness though, if hiring another employee is out of the question, consider deputizing an existing employee to call your customers for 3 purposes:

1) Follow ups

2) Try and get return orders

3) Collections

In a small business the efficient use of existing personnel for collections of accounts receivable can make a world of difference. A business owner I know, with a little coaching, started having his delivery runner make calls in his downtime and was amazed at some of the sales he made, and people he was able to collect from.

As a naive business owner, I was seeing my accounts receivable grow, proud of myself on the sales I had accomplished. Not realizing you haven’t made the money till you get paid and cash is king. There is a saying for this I have now come to understand “one in the hand is better than two in the bush”.

Andrew Baker

CSUF Entrepreneurship Graduate

Twitter is a waste of time.

Or, is it a an efficient tool for public relations?

Blogger and copywriter Bob Bly has created a crude metric for measuring whether Twitter is getting you results or just wasting your time—it is called Followed-to-Follow (FF) Ratio.

Check it out:

http://bly.com/blog/online-marketing/a-new-metric-for-measuring-twitter-roi/

John Bradley Jackson

Director

Center for Entrepreneurship

California State University, Fullerton

P. S.  By the way, I got the interview because of a former Entrepreneurship student’s  personal endorsement. Thanks to Andrew Baker for the nod.

Business plans are like a compass—they point the way for the company and explain the business to the investor. Yet, business plans can tell the wrong story and may even kill the deal with the investor.