Wealth Nation » Cali

Episode #18 | Legal Advisor Justin Kendall

Cali — Mon, 19 Apr 2010 21:13:51 +0000

Wealth Nation’s legal adviser Justin Kendall is back! Justin is not only an Attorney, but also a Certified Public Accountant. This makes him especially well suited to answer the types of legal questions we get relating to business issues, and makes him an invaluable asset to the Wealth Nation team of experts.

On Episode 17, Justin walked us through some of the common legal questions about starting a business (various types of business entities, how to be “protected” in business, which state to incorporate in). On this episode, we delve a little deeper into

By the way, don’t forget to join the Wealth Nation Facebook group, and if you have more legal questions for Justin – by all means, ask them!

One other little thing… would you guys please do us a favor and give Wealth Nation a review over on iTunes. We love you!

Of course we also love Dave Moyer, our producer, editor and all around best friend.

Episode #16 | Increase Blog Visibility and Revenue

Cali — Sat, 13 Feb 2010 05:25:57 +0000

Giovanni Gallucci, the social media ninja, joins us for a conversation about using social media, WordPress and analytics to increase marketing efforts and revenue. Giovanni calls John out on a couple issues. The basis for the conversation is John P.’s speech from the DFW WordPress meetup group. You can see that video at onemansblog.com/winordie.

Show Notes

Make More Money with WordPress, Social Media and Analytics

On January 30th, John P. gave a lecture at the DFW WordPress meetup group about using social media, analytics and WordPress to make more revenue and increase marketing efforts and brand awareness. Giovanni takes issue with some of John’s points, and the two boys go at it! John gives some great, actionable tips and suggestions for how to increase revenue and visibility. You can watch the entire speech with many, many more tips below.

As we tend to do, we took a couple of rabbit trails and talked about our favorite iPhone apps. If you want to join in on the fun of Words with Friends, you can download it on the iTunes Store. You can also find Time Lapse, Tilt Shift and Photoshop.com.

The Dallas WordPress Group is the largest WordPress group in the nation. If you’re in the Dallas area, definitely come join the fun!

Episode #15 | Holiday Marathon

Cali — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 16:37:35 +0000

Episode 15 of Wealth Nation is a special holiday episode, recorded live on Bitwire’s Holiday Marathon with our editor, Dave Moyer. We talk about the pressure of holiday gifts, and how that factors into people loosing their jobs, making money versus loosing money for your employer, what you should think about when considering leaving your job to start your own business, buying a house in the current housing market, and take a random question about investing in backup heat for your home.

Show Notes

The Pressure of Holiday Gifts

Do you feel like the people around you expect you to spend money on them? A lot of people feel pressure during the holidays, but remember not to let that pressure get to you. It should be a fun and happy time, not one filled with stress and building credit card debt!

Working For Someone Else vs. Working For Yourself

Somewhere I heard ‘You always make money for whomever you work.’ So my question then would be your opinion of the truth of that statement, and in general are you better leaving to work for yourself or stay with a day job? Assuming that most things are equal, I personally think the independent option sounds better.
-Daniel Voyles

This question is so tough, and we deal with it all the time. In fact, everyone votes on this matter every day of their lives when they choose to either go to work, or stay home! And there is no one right answer for any person, and even the same person’s attitude will fluctuate over time.

First let’s dispel a myth: ‘You always make money for whomever you work.’

Good lord! That is NOT true. I’ve had plenty of employees who have done nothing but lose the company money and waste time and resources. Some of them even thought they were adding value.

Now, it is true that some employees make a lot more money for the company than average. And those employees should be rewarded, and normally are with continued employment and sometimes promotions. But make no mistake about it, when you are working for someone else, they are gambling that you will actually earn them more than you cost them.

So the real question is all about risk tolerance vs. risk aversion.

If you are the kind of person who is in a position to finance a risky undertaking, AND you are the kind of person who is not scared of taking risks, then it might be good for you to be in business for yourself. But there is so much more involved in working for yourself than for others too:

Performing a specialized job vs. being a jack of all trades
Being the idea person, and the person who executed on the plan at the same time
Self motivation vs. external motivation
Loneliness vs. sense of community
Peer recognition vs. no attention

So, other than the possibility of making more money, what is the value of camaraderie you get from working for others? And what’s it worth not to stress about every detail as opposed to just your job?

Buying a house in a down market

This is a great time to buy a house if it’s an investment you can afford to make! You can get a bigger house for less money and a lower interest rate. If you’re thinking about it, be sure to evaluate just how much house you can afford, considering all the expenses that come along with it, and if your employment status were to change.

Follow us on Facebook or Twitter, leave a comment with your thoughts, and if you have a question for a future show, be sure to let us know!

Quick Update

Cali — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 18:22:06 +0000

We’re very sorry to say there won’t be a new episode of Wealth Nation until the end of October. All of us are just traveling so much right now we haven’t been able to get together. Don’t give up on us, we WILL be back! In the meantime…

Join our Facebook Group
Follow WealthNation on Twitter
Follow John P. on Twitter
Follow Cali on Twitter

Episode #12 | Job Searching, Social Network Marketing, and Vanity Names & Domains

Cali — Sun, 27 Sep 2009 08:19:08 +0000

Giovanni Gallucci, the social media ninja, joins us for this weeks episode covering a range of Social Media topics as well as a few questions about starting your own business vs. working for others.

Show Notes

Twitter vs. Facebook for Online Marketing

I heard somewhere that Twitter is superior to Facebook for the purposes of online marketing (not spamming — just getting your site out there) due to its being Google-searchable, whereas Facebook is hidden from the search engines. Do you guys agree with that?
- Sean Cavendish

The challenge with Twitter is that you need to develop an audience, create brand evangelists, entertain, and educate. But we don’t recommend using it for SEO purposes because Twitter content disappears after about a month.

Facebook fan pages are exposed to the search engines, even though personal pages are not; However, the benefits from SEO are not the reason to focus on it. Facebook actually drives more traffic to Websites than Twitter does, which means that spending time developing a following there can result in significant referrals to your own content.

Social Networking Vanity Names

I am starting to thing it is a good idea to reserve the company name on all Social Networking sites, to not lose an optimal naming opportunity (even if you don’t use it). What do you see as a trend?

Also, to my knowledge Facebook does not currently offer company or business (not individual accounts) vanity URL’s? Do you know when? I don’t want to lose the naming opportunity.
- Brian Flores

Short answer is YES! Lock up your company names in all the social sites you can. And while you’re at it, you might want to register names such as yourdomainSUCKS.com in order to prevent anyone from getting it later.

How Public Profiles Impact Job Searches

Is it worth having a blog, public Twitter feed, Facebook profile, etc. when you are searching for a job? I have a nasty feeling that my work to achieve good Google rank may negatively affect my 4 month (ongoing) job search.
- Daniel Voyles

Well, the first rule of the internet still applies – namely, don’t put anything out there that you wouldn’t want a prospectve employer to read. HR departments absolutely do background checks online and are just looking for a reason to disqualify candidates. So, don’t give it to them!

Having said that, we offer a whole host of ways to improve your job search. So if you get a job by following one of our hacks, please let us know!

Episode #11 | Search Engine Optimization, True Wealth, Working for the Man, and Copywriting (Oh My!)

Cali — Sun, 20 Sep 2009 14:00:07 +0000

On Episode 11 of Wealth Nation, we talk about whether you should hire an SEO expert or consider doing it yourself, discuss the way Google looks at different languages on your site, writing copy for websites, and answer the question “What makes you wealthy”.

Show Notes

Languages and Website Rankings in Search Engines

I’ve seen websites out there written in other languages while their main and sub-headlines were in English. How does this effect search engine indexing, etc.? –Lasha

Well, lets put it this way… Google has individual language searches for many different languages. If you write a site in Spanish, it’s going to index higher in the Spanish version of the search engine. Especially because the words are a perfect match for search phrases. The word Hola does not appear in English for example.

However, the vast majority of searches are performed in English. So not having English on the page represents a problem because you are ignoring a large part of the market. I suppose English titles are a good compromise, especially since it seems most people speak English even if they have another primary language.

Search Engine Optimization

A Web Designer in the company I work for recently described the SEO industry as “Snake Oil for the 21st Century” on account of the huge amount of huge sums charged and paid for elementary advice (relevant copy and well structured HTML). How much of the advice given by ‘SEO Experts’ is genuinely useful in the medium to long term and how much is bogus? How credible are promises to ‘Get to the Top on Google’? –Chris Reed

7 Simple SEO Tips

There are some things that you can do to generate more search traffic, and some things that you need others to do. But don’t listen to anyone who “promises” to get you to the top of the mountain, because nothing can be guaranteed.

Build your site on a standard, open-source, CMS platform like WordPress, Drupal or Joomla.
Routine content additions tell the search engines your site is fresh and tasty, so send visitors!
Use friendly URL structures and Descriptive, Accurate Titles.
Add Meta Descriptions to each page as a preview for search engine visitors.
Use Headings inside the page content.
Add images with English naming conventions, alternate text and titles.
Social Media and backlinks from quality sites tell search engines that your site is an authority.

What Exactly is Wealth

What non-monetary items, subjects, or things make you guys wealthy? – Alasdair Carter

The broader sense of wealth as we define it here at Wealth Nation is highly individual. But between the three of us, some of the things we feel make us wealthy are:

True friendship
Faith (for some)
Financial independence / security
Education
Loving families
Freedom
Security

I recently started my own little freelance business designing and developing websites and have had some clients ask me to take care of writing the copy on their ecommerce site i made. I am a geek who knows code and how to make things look good but not a writer. What are some good ways to help write copy? What books do you recommend reading on this subject? –Josh White

First of all, everyone can work on improving their writing skills. We touched on this in Episode 5, so you may want to go back and listen to that one as well. We previously recommended two different books which would still be beneficial:

But having said that, the real question is, shouldn’t you be outsourcing this work? I mean, if you are primarily a coder and your client wants copy written then why wouldn’t you just tell them Ok, go to ELance.com and get a bid, then mark it up by 50-100% and pass the cost along to the client?

If the role was reversed and a copywriter was asked to do code, that is what they would do…

Wealth Nation #21 | Dave Taylor

Episode #10 | Spotlight on Success: Las Vegas News Anchor Dave Courvoisier

Cali — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 18:34:41 +0000

This week’s episode features Las Vegas’ Emmy Award winning number 1 news anchor , Dave Courvoisier! Dave is one of the most respected professionals in the business, and he shares his experience and advice on how to break into showbiz and what it took to get to the top – and stay there.

Show Notes

We had a few technical issues with some of the recording this week, so as you’re listening you’ll catch little spots where the audio clips or fades a bit. Sorry about that, but these are the challenges of long distance interviews!

Dave covers a wide range of topics including addressing the challenges traditional media is facing, promoting your personal brand, working for others vs. branching out on your own, and even how to get started in the voice acting business. He talks about what it takes to be successful, and how he goes about prospecting for new clients for his personal voice acting business.

Dave is on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and LinkedIn. He’s also on FriendFeed in case you would rather follow all of his adventures in just one place. You can also keep up with him on his personal site at Courvo.com, or learn about the voice acting business at Courvo.biz.

Episode #9 | Investment Options, Pricing Your Services, and Entrepreneurship

Cali — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 05:24:53 +0000

This weeks show tackles a range of topics starting with deciding between working for yourself and working for others. No matter who you work for pricing is a tricky subject we all need to tackle. And after you’ve make enough money to have some to invest, where should you put it all?

Show Notes

Inventor vs. Entrepreneur

Two questions:

I have an idea for a product I am trying to get to market. I work in 3d design and have a concept. However from there I’m having trouble on where to proceed. Even ignoring the fact of trying to afford a patent.
Where does a person even begin in marketing an idea. Spend money to advertise for something you have no current way of manufacturing, or take out loans and spend money you don’t have on mass production for something that may not sell? The product can’t really be made on a one to one basis, as it’s going to have to be a plastic product.

If the first idea falls through we’ve been looking into starting a franchise of some kind. There are several ideas available that would work well in our area. However, a similar problem applies. Most franchises (and by most, I guess I mean most that will work for our area) are in the range of $200k-400k to startup.
Even if a bank would consider a loan, would it seem crazy to start something that far in debt. Is there any way to do this, or are we just out of luck? I’ve always heard it takes money to make money. Tell me there’s some loophole here. Thanks.

–Aaron Melton

Well, these are pretty difficult questions, because the nature of being either an inventor or an entrepreneur are both risky.

On one hand, you have an idea for a product that essentially needs to be designed, built, and marketed from scratch. My advice would depend on how deeply world-changing this product is. If you believe it is a $10 Million product, then it may be worth pursuing it with all of your heart and soul. If it’s a $500k product, then it might be something you should pursue on a part time basis.

Either way, you should never, ever mass produce something you don’t have proof you can sell. A just-in-time delivery model is a very important operational strategy for any sort of manufacturer, so first market it, then make it. The only exception is that you are going to at least need a prototype.

As far as creating a prototype is concerned, I understand that one off manufacturing is not the way to go, but I believe you can find someone with a 3D printer, like the Dimension models, and have them create your design fairly cost effectively.

If trust is a problem, you might have to buy a small one yourself, which will run you about $15k. Another alternative would be to find a machine shop with a 3D milling machine and have them mill your part for you. You only need a few prototypes to talk to investors or buyers about, so don’t go hog wild here.

If none of this is going right for you, then buying a franchise could indeed be another way to go. And there are certainly a lot of options in this arena. I’m less opposed to taking out a loan to support the operation of a proven franchise, because they tend to have support, historicals, and incentive to ensure that you achieve. Often franchises will be able to help with financing as well.

Besides, doctors, lawyers and other professions often go into debt to get started. It’s ok as long as you understand that you’re going to be paying it off for quite a while.

Choosing Companies to Invest In

@WealthNation I always buy gadgets. I always think to myself I should be investing in these companies. –@Macbrebonicks

I know what you mean! GeekBrief.TV has me buying so many gadgets that I don’t know where to put them! Some of which are absolutely fantastic! But investing in any company is a very risky maneuver and not something one should do simply because they love the product.

I’m personally invested in probably 2,000 companies. And I don’t even know which ones. That’s because a lot more goes into truly evaluating an organization to determine if it is a worthy investment than simply looking at the product lines.

Investment firms literally have teams of people they send into businesses to give them a full evaluation before they will put any of their client’s money in them. These folks are trained to read balance sheets, evaluate management, and make educated guesses about the long term prospects for a business.

My advice to you is, keep your investing and your gadget lust separate. Buy gadgets with your heart, but invest with your head!

Pricing Software As A Service

My company is going to be focused on selling software to colleges and universities. We are following the Software as a Service model so schools will just pay as a yearly fee for the products they buy. Without saying too much about the company the products are administrative in nature and would be used by staff and students. We’ll host everything ourselves and we are doing all the development work in house so we don’t have a lot of start up costs.

My question is how do we set a price for our products? One of our products has no competitors so there is nothing to compare it to. The other product has competitors, but its not like their pricing is publicly available; we’d need to be a school to get a quote!

I’ve been in contact with two prospective clients who are interested in the products we are developing. Do we just flat out ask them how much they would pay? Do we start high and see if they choke on the price? My fear is that we set the price too low and have a hard time turning a profit. – Anonymous (can’t be on air)

Even though there might not be a direct competitor, for your type of service, there are going to be other services for your industry which can help you gauge what people are accustomed to paying service providers in general. For example, a company called 37Signals offers several services for business including:

Basecamp – Project management
Highrise – Contact management
Campfire – Group collaboration
Backpack – File sharing

Getting Real

There are also service providers like Salesforce.com for CRM and Live Person for online chat.

So, while your service may be unique, businesses are accustomed to buying from service providers and what you need to do is try and figure out how closely your service matches in terms of the value it provides and then use some similar value pricing as a basis to start.

I’d also be more worried about guessing too low than too high. It’s easier to give discounts and promotions to attract business than it is to increase prices after you’ve started.

Thanks to Sam Fox for the beautiful coin image above.

Episode #8 | Spotlight on Success | Scott Jordan, ScotteVest

Cali — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 19:11:33 +0000

Show Overview

On episode 8 of Wealth Nation, we’re introducing a new segment called Spotlight on Success, where we focus on one entrepreneur or successful businessman and find out why they’re successful. What choices did they make that got them to where they are? What are the challenges they’ve faced when beginning their company or during the growing process? Having been there and done that, what do they suggest other entrepreneurs do?

Show Notes

We’re starting with a well known entrepreneur, Scott Jordan from ScotteVest. ScotteVest makes Technology Enabled Clothing (TEC) meant to hold electronics without looking bulky. They also incorporate the ability to route your wires through the jacket so you don’t have earphone wires hanging out and getting caught on door handles. Scott started ScotteVest when he was unhappy with his job and has built it into a successful, profitable company with a great reputation.

John, Cali and Neal talk to Scott about the beginning of ScotteVest, how he funded it and how he’s hiring less people in favor of using technology and contractors outside of the company to get work done. We take a look at his distribution model, discuss how much effort entrepreneurs tend to put into their own companies, and talk in detail about the biggest challenge he’s faced when having to defend his trademark.

Check out the ScotteVest website at ScotteVest.com. You can follow Scott Jordan on Twitter and Facebook, or watch him live on Stickam while he’s hard at work building and maintaining his business.

Episode #7 | Buying a Car in a Down Economy

Cali — Sun, 26 Jul 2009 19:00:46 +0000

Buying a car is hard enough in a good economy, but when people are clinging to every dollar making good decisions becomes all the more important.

This week we’ll cover how to get the best deal, negotiation tips and tricks, financing issues, and more.

Show Notes

This is such an important topic, because for most people buying a car is the second most important purchase decision they will ever make behind only a house. And the financial commitment that accompanies a car purchase normally lasts for years.

Before we get started, there are two huge mistakes that people normally make when buying a new car. And they probably aren’t what you’d thing:

People tend to get carried away and over-spend on a lot more car than they need, and end up regretting the payments, gas and repair costs down the road.
People also under-spend by not anticipating their future needs and wants, and then end up having to trade in and re-purchase too soon.

Both of these are costly mistakes, but both can also be avoided with careful planning and a little research.

Research

Three great sites when preparing for a car purchase are:

Edmunds.com – lots of research info, but their crown jewel is their True Market Value pricing guide. It makes fools out of NADA and Kelly Blue Book, whom I believe to be puppets for the auto industry.
Texan’s Credit Union Car Shop – their online research center will show you reviews, safety, warranty, recall data and JDPower & Co reports.
Consumer Reports – one of the most trusted independent review organizations, who famously doesn’t accept advertising and is funded solely on subscriptions.

Pricing and Markup

What’s the typical dealership markup?
-@tomgost

Lately, the rules of the car buying game have changed so much that a discussion about pricing is really complex. In the old days dealerships would make money off all of the following:

The difference between “sticker price” and “dealer cost”.
Bonuses from the manufacturers on certain vehicle models.
Bonuses based on volume of vehicles sold at a dealership.
50-75% of the cost of extended warranties.
Kickbacks from lenders on financing that goes through the dealership.

But today, the volume of vehicle sales are so low that you should probably be more concerned about whether the brand you are buying is actually going to make it or not! Which is not to say that you should over-pay… But with the competition out there, it’s harder to overpay today than it was a few years ago.

So, when it comes to pricing, there are two surefire ways to get a great deal:

Always be prepared to walk away! Never, ever get emotionally attached to a vehicle! That’s just silly. You could literally wreck it within 3 months like I did. So don’t let them hook you emotionally. In fact, always walk away to “think about it” after the dealership makes their “best and final offer”, and don’t call them till the next day.
Always be prepared with comparables! Use Edmunds.com to get the TMV of the vehicles you are interested in, and also check eBay for the price of closed auctions on the cars you are interested in to see what people just paid. Print those things out, and don’t pay more than you know you could get a similar car for on eBay – unless you are getting the ORIGINAL manufacturers extended warranty, and then only pay a maybe $1-2,000 more.

Total Cost of Ownership

Is there a way to compare the yearly cost of multiple cars (maintenance, gas, monthly payments, etc.)?
-prometheus1981

This is a great question and what you’re really looking for is Total Cost of Ownership. Not just how much the car costs today, but how does it compare to others in the long run. There are a few major factors to consider:

Purchase price
Operating cost (fuel, oil, tires, etc)
Repairs
Residual value at resale

Luckily, there are more TCO calculators online than you can shake a stick at!

Used Car Comparison

When buying a used car, do key auto parts fail as a function of miles/use, or time? Which is better, newer car or fewer miles?
-@sjuhawk

Fantastic question! Age does play a role in the decline of a vehicle’s lifespan, however it usually doesn’t kick in for many years. So, if we’re comparing only slightly used vehicles (2-3 years) then mileage makes all the difference!

Once you throw some real age into the mix, things become a little trickier. Depending on the vehicle and it’s care, after 5-10 years certain parts begin to wear out such as gaskets, rubber bushings, etc. and the degradation of these parts can cause costly repairs and breakdowns.

So, your grandmother’s 15 year old car with only 10,000 miles on it might not be so great after all because it could be disintegrating in the driveway.

But again, generally speaking go for fewer miles over younger car every time.

Financing and Warranties

When someone buys a car and takes out a loan (instead of paying cash), does the dealership get any sort of kickback, etc? Same question about roping a new car buyer into a extended service contract/policy.
-@meb5

The answer to both questions is, YES! Dealerships make a good deal of profit through arrangements with finance companies and extended warranty companies. And in fact, many people make the mistake of thinking that when they’ve finished making their price deal on the vehicle, they are done negotiating. NOT SO!!!

When you’re at a dealership the first two questions they will ask you are:

Do you have a trade in?
Do you need financing?

That’s because they want to know right off the bat where all they are going to get profit from you. In fact, I normally tell them that I may finance with them, but I’m undecided – even though I know I’m paying cash! That’s because they might give me a little better deal on the price if they think they have a chance at finance profit in the next room.

Anyway, the dealership is getting a healthy kickback on the finance costs, perhaps even 1-2% (or more) of the loan. (Will one of our car dealer listeners clue us in here???) So, make sure that before you even go to the dealership you get pre-approved from your bank – or even better a credit union. CU’s are non-profit and virtually always have better terms and lower rates. And don’t finance through the dealership if they can’t match or beat your pre-approval.

As far as extended warranties are concerned, the dealership is making 50% – 75% profit on them. Yes, it’s obscene. Never pay more than half price if you want the protection of an extended warranty. And in my opinion, never buy one that isn’t directly from the manufacturer. NO THIRD PARTY WARRANTIES!!!

Used Car Warranties

I will be turning in my current lease and most likely replacing it later in the year with a used car. Previously when I have purchased used cars I have not bothered with a warranty program; however, in this case I am looking at higher end vehicles like BMW, Porsche and Audi.

Those vehicles tend to be much more expensive to repair and we all know the more miles you put on a car the more likely for something to fail. So, is it worth pursuing a 3rd party warranty program and if so what are the gotchas to look out for? Any suggestions for reliable companies?
-@mrush_dfw

I’m a huge fan of the used luxury car, and have owned at least 7 or 8 this way. In my opinion there are only two ways to go here:

Find a company like Straightline Automotive that specializes in only premium luxury used cars at good prices, then take the risk that you’re getting a good one. But don’t pay for a third party warranty.
Buy a certified pre-owned vehicle from the same brand dealership and get the official company warranty. You’ll pay a huge premium for this, but it’s worth the insurance on ultra-expensive or exotics like my old AMG Mercedes where an engine replacement could run you $20,000+.

Out of State Purchases

What kind of fees come with a car that is given to you from another state?
- Anonymous

Whether your car is given to you or purchased from another state there are really only two things to remember:

Don’t pay sales tax or registration fees in that state!
Do pay them in your own.

When buying out of state you need to tell the seller you are taking it home and don’t pay them. This is going to shift the burden on you of taking your bill of sale to your local DMV office and paying sales tax and getting your license plates and registration.

If the car is a gift, no matter if it is from another state or your own, you are going to have to pay taxes on the reasonable value of the vehicle. So, do your online research and be prepared to pay the tax when you go in to register it.

Episode #6 | Fundraising, Choosing an Attorney, Ad Rates, Competitive Positioning

Cali — Sun, 19 Jul 2009 07:00:12 +0000

This week we talk with guests about competitive positioning and differentiation for businesses, fundraising opportunities, advertising rates and even how to choose an attorney or other professional service provider.

Show Notes

Standing Out Among the Competition

What is the best way to differentiate yourself as a service provider in a highly competitive market, other than on price?
- Scott Ellis

Well, first of all, we all need to remember to put the “service” back in service provider. American Airlines is a great example of what NOT to do. I’ve been either a Gold or Platinum member for years, but at least 50% of the time when I get on a plane there are rude flight attendants on board. But go try an Asian airline and you’ll get a whole different level of service. In fact, it’s “real” service.

So the first way to differentiate yourself is to pay attention to your client, serve their needs thoroughly, and just be likable.

Specialization is also often important to prospective buyers. You don’t go to a Podiatrist when you have an ear ache, so find ways of letting your customers look at you as if you completely understand exactly what they need while pointing out that your competition lacks the focus to really understand and meet their needs. Double this up with the service issue and gain unfair competitive advantage.

Other ways to differentiate

Quality
Features
Customization
“Being Green”
Guarantees

Starting Capital

What is the best way to get small capital needed to start a company that needs less then $50,000 to start?
- Dustin Mathisen

First of all, there is no such thing as “small capital”. Every single dollar invested in starting a company is one that could have been saved or invested elsewhere. Before starting any kind of company you had better be certain that you’re willing to invest your own money in it.

Indeed, the best place to get small capital, is from your own account. Nothing focuses the entrepreneur more than having their own capital at risk.

Having said all of that, lets talk a little about financing. There are really three primary sources for taking investment for small businesses:

Friends and Family. For small businesses with “small capital” needs, the best place to find cash is the people you know. It’s also the best way to remain focused on the goal. If you take money from your loved ones, you better be very, very certain that you are going to pay it back or you will ruin a relationship. If you need less than $250k, home is where the money is.
Angel Investors. If you need cash, but you don’t know anyone who has enough to pitch in, or you need more than you can raise from Friends and Family, Angel investors might be the way to go. Usually this is a wealthy individual who is willing to take on risk for a healthy reward. If you need to find an Angel, try the Angel Capital Association..
Venture Capital or Investment Banking firms. VCs differ from Angels in that they are usually a fund of various investors resources that are managed by a third party. VCs are usually only looking for deals at the $1-2 million and up range. They’re easy to find with a simple Google search.

Keep in mind that any time you are going to take in money, you better be prepared to give up a sizeable amount of the company in terms of ownership, and also control. Yet another reason that investing your own money is best.

Choosing the RIGHT Attorney, CPA

How do you find a CPA/Attorney that’s right for your business?
- Sheryl Schuff

For me, these questions both boil down to mainly two things: rates, and resources.

When you start a relationship with a new accountant or attorney, you are putting a tremendous amount of faith in them. Not only in their expertise, but also their ability to deliver. For this reason, I advise people not to rush into anything.

Every CPA or Attorney I’ve ever hired has involved a series of interviews prior to engagement. In fact, I treat it just as if I were hiring an employee:

I learn about their educational background to determine if they are actually qualified. In today’s world of fraud and shiesters there is no need to take risks. Ask to see degrees and certifications is completely fine and if the service provider doesn’t readily volunteer their resume, there is something very wrong.
I ask about their areas of specialization. If you are going to do some patents, you better get a pattent attorney! If you have an international company, you better get a CPA who knows the international tax laws.
Always ask for references. If they are even marginally good, they should be able to drum up a number of references for you quite fast.

The National Federation of Independant Businesses has a pretty good article on choosing an attorney here.

Remember, if you end up with a bad CPA or Attorney, it’s only because you choose them! There is a lot of culpability to go around for bad decisions.

Determining Advertising Rates

How does one determine the worth of an advertising spot on a podcast/ webcast / blog?
- Ben Eadie

We talked a little about Web site valuations on the last show, but to answer this question directly, the value of an ad is becoming pretty standard based on market demand.

Advertisers are constantly searching for the right place to put their ads, at the cheapest possible price, so they can get a high return on their investment. So the best way to determine what your ad is worth is by visiting some of the large advertising sites and searching for current publisher rates on sites that are similar to yours.

Google AdSense – you can get started with this one easily, and after a couple of months Google will pretty much tell you what your CPM, or cost per thousand impressions, is worth.
AdBright – one of Google’s biggest competitors. Might as well sign up here and see how the results fare compared to Google’s.
Text Link Ads – offer a text only ad format, and it’s pretty easy to do comparative analysis to find out what your site is worth.
BlogAds – this is a specialty network designed soley for Blogs, but that is one of the things that makes it so easy to search for similar programs.

Besides those, John Chow has a very extensive list of online ad networks.

Keep in mind that specialty sites will often have much higher valuations because the advertisers can really narrow in on a particular demographic. This can make them 3-5 times more costly than generalized sites.

Photograph credit: Soller Photo

Episode #5 | Advertising Budgets, FaceBook Ads, Google Ads, and Promoting Your Business

Cali — Sun, 12 Jul 2009 08:00:40 +0000

This weeks episode focuses solely on a topic that has come up in many previous shows, namely advertising. We talk about where, why, and how to advertise and promote your business as well as when its even the right time for rethinking your strategy.

We also recommended two books to help with the topic today.

Show Notes

Rethinking An Ad Budget… and More

I own a small mom and pop computer repair shop, going on our 5th year. we have one employee and although my wife and I are working all waking hours 6.5 days a week, we are just not making enough to hire a second tech. Our advertising budget has grown by 20% for the last 4 years, and is currently at $30k. should I cut that back down to 15k and hire a part timer, or do I leave it as is and hope for more business to generate more revenue to afford another tech?
- Jim Saul

Without knowing exactly where the advertising budget is going or how you are measuring the results to know if there is any fat waiting to be trimmed, we need to explore these areas first. Having said that, the basic computer repair business is a tough one to be in with low margins and relatively high overhead associated with storefront and inventory costs. The highest margin part of the business is the labor associated with the repairs. I wonder if you’ve considered a few things:

Have you considered selling maintenance contracts on computers? How about pre-selling a bundle of hours per month to business clients at a discounted rate? If you get them on a contract and have a minimum of say 5 hours at $50 per hour, the client is basically going to pre-pay you for $250 of service whether or not you ever render it. I don’t know what the numbers should be in your case, but this sort of offering could be a big differentiator and give you something new to market to existing and new clients.
Speaking of selling, when was the last time you raised your prices? If you hike up your labor rates by 10%, and you lose less than 10% of your business (highly likely), your margins increase and you are better off!
Are you focusing on providing services to small business clients in your area rather than simply focusing on walk-in retail business? You’ll be able to offer far greater value to them, and therefore get higher earnings. I highly recommend going to MeetUp.com and joining a couple of local business meetup groups. Then go mingle and pass out cards.

Actively and personally selling your services would likely be the best return on investment you could make from an advertising perspective.

Now, in this case, a re-examination of Jim’s business may also be in order given that there is a very low percentage of income derived from clients who claim the lion’s share of his time and attention. Listen in to hear why…

Facebook Vs. Other Advertising Alternatives

Is facebook advertising worth the expense? how does their targeting marketing work, since they have plenty of profile into to use for targeting? What other online methods are worth pursuing?
–David Dear

Facebook does a couple of interesting things:

They allow targeting by age, gender and location.
You can choose pay-per-click (CPC) or impression (CPM).

Is it worth the expense? That depends. If you have a highly refined profile of your ideal customer and Facebook as enough people like that t present your message to, then I would say yes. But if you aren’t exactly trying to target a very specific demographic, you may be able to find lower cost impressions.

I’ve never been a big fan of Google AdWords, because they are costly and unpredictable. But how about finding some sites where your target clients hang out and offering to “sponsor them”. Sites like non-profits or community groups will often put your banner on their site if you simply cover their Web hosting expense. But where ever you advertise, you need to give the ads the opportunity to take hold. 3 months is a minimum to get the number of repeat impressions you are going to need to start gaining mind share.

Starting and Promoting a new Business

I’d like to get your thoughts on starting an e-commerce business. I’ve researched my product line and it seems like I can fill a niche that is currently under served and still make a decent profit. The risks are fairly minimal since I’ll be selling products that are custom made for each order and I won’t have to carry inventory on hand. My research shows the initial costs to get the website setup for one year will cost me less than $1000 which is an acceptable amount. I’d have to spend time getting the images loaded and the website “pretty” but other than that, I could be up and running within a few days or so.

To recoup the initial development investment, I’d have to sell three products; however, advertising and SEO could end up costing quite a bit more. I’m not sure how much advertising and SEO is going to cost me but I think I can do most of the SEO on my own from reading books and using the techniques employed in my wife’s e-commerce website which is doing ok and getting better every year. Should I go for it? What advertising costs can I expect to incur. How can I best reach my unique market? I’m actively learning how to best utilize Twitter and know what I need to do on Facebook. I’ll primarily use Google for advertising.

What else do I need to consider?
–Joel Barrett

Based on the amount of consideration you’ve given this, and the fact that you have experience with your Wife’s site, I feel comfortable saying Yes! Go for it!

I like the fact that you don’t have to incur the cost of inventorying merchandise. Just in time delivery is a great model.
Your Web costs sound reasonable. Hosting should be cheap. Depending on how skilled you are with coding, the cost could be right. However, if you were to go to E-lance and get a developer to build the e-commerce site I’d guess closer to $2,500.

Advertising is always going to be a major challenge with launching a new project. I need to know more about your product to talk about reaching your market directly, but I’m a big fan of niche advertising as opposed to the shotgun approach.

So developing relationship with Webmasters of related sites so you can cross promote products and services is a good idea.
Joining Meet Up groups with people who might want your offerings is excellent.
Finding popular bloggers who specialize in your type of product and sending them an evaluation piece (or a free one if applicable) is a good way to drive traffic and build invaluable backlinks – necessary for SEO anyway.
You may sample a few Google text ads, but don’t waste too much money that way. Better to spend $100 on more permanent ad mechanisms like ReviewMe.com, or PayForPost.

Finally, look into the Word of Mouth Marketing Association.

4) Hi Cali, I have a growing e-tail store selling t-shirts. On a day-to-day basis we always come out in the black, making back the advertising costs we put in for the day. We advertise exclusively online. However, now we are at a point where need to start expanding the business into more advertising venues, or even getting our merchandise into retail stores.

But the BIG ad venues like MSN.com or even Adwords are still expensive for a small business when the cost of your goods or services are not selling for several hundred dollars. How do we bridge that gap and get larger exposure without breaking the bank? Or how can we compete in a marketplace like Adwords when the average cpc for our keywords is around a dollar, and our daily ad budget is only a few hundred dollars? One cannot make their money back using that system.
–Alan Sealas

T-shirts are a commodity business, with the exception of the design. So standing out really requires creativity in marketing. I tend to think of Google and other ad networks as being able to capture prospects when they are actively buying. But it’s not at all appropriate for demand generation. So, the single best thing I can think of is to generate demand by getting your best designs on people who are seen a lot. Like Cali for example.

Find popular video bloggers, develop a relationship, and put your T-shirts on them! It’s cheap! Your cost is nothing compared to the cost of Google clicks. The trick is to find out what they like, and let them have it! So follow them on Twitter, subscribe to their podcast, or whatever it takes, but get them to take a look at your Tee’s and maybe even let them tell you which ones they want! Or, tell them you could even make them a custom design if they like!

The reason people choose Google is because it’s the easiest route to advertise. “I’ll just throw some money at this issue, and we’ll see what happens.” But that is not what advertising is about. Advertising is about building a sustainable brand. That lasts beyond just one impression or one click.

Episode #4 | Starting a Business; Planning, Financing and Managing Your Business; Legal Resources

Cali — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 17:25:45 +0000

This episode of Wealth Nation is all about planning, starting and running a business. Topics covered include business plans, legal structures, financing options, and online resources to help manage a business.

Show Notes

Steps to Starting a Business

The US government has a great site at Business.gov which covers the steps to starting a business.

Decide on your business format (Sole Proprietorship, LLC, S-Corp, etc.)
Register a Business Name (“Doing Business As”)
Get a Federal Tax Identification Number (EIN)
Register for State and Local Taxes
Obtain Business Licenses and Permits
Employer Responsibilities

Writing a Business Plan

Quick overview of How to write a business plan would be great. Also, how to apply for small business loans and/or gov grants. I’ve been to the SBA site and it hurts my head!
- Paul

First of all, don’t stress about it. Creating a business plan is part of thinking through and envisioning your success, and you should take your time. A good plan could take weeks to fully bake. According to Entrepreneur magazine, there are 7 components to a good business plan:

The Executive Summary
Business Description
Market Strategies
Competitve Analysis
Design and Development Plan
Operations and Management Plan
Financial Components

Your business plan is more important for proving to yourself that you can absolutely do this than it is to anyone else. However, expect to have investors scrutinize the plan closely if you intend to raise money.

Free Business Apps

What free software suite helps manage people and business best? Google apps?
- Matthew Willis

Google’s apps are great for collaborative sharing. For example, being able to open a shared Word document and having multiple people editing it at one time can be useful for meeting notes and the like. But for true workforce management it seems that Zoho offers the most complete suite of services.

Many are free, though there are some limitations like the number of users. Still after you reach a certain size, you should expect to begin paying for the services that keep you in business. Zoho’s offerings include:

Zoho CRM – On-Demand CRM Solution
Zoho Invoices – Online Invoicing. Quick and Easy
Zoho Meeting – Web Conferencing, Remote Support
Zoho Projects – Project Management Software
Zoho People – HRIS & Applicant Tracking System

Cash Reserves vs. Debt Payoff

With the current economic climate, do you recommend increasing ‘emergency’ cash reserves or paying off debt (i.e. Dave Ramsey’s debt snowball)?
- Shannon P

My recommendation in this area doesn’t change relative to the economic environment. You should always have 3-6 months of cash reserves in an untouchable savings account, that is only there in case of a catastrophe. If you have two earners in the family you can probably be closer to 3-4 months, with a single earner a larger cushion is necessary.

Once you’ve got your cushion, you need to aggressively pay off debt, starting with credit cards. Pay them one at a time to get them completed. Consolidate as possible.

Testing a Business Idea

What’s the best way to test out a business idea to see if there’s a market for your service before you spend a ton of money getting ready to provide it? –Sheryl Schuff

This is a tough question to answer, because some business ideas must be built before they can be tested. However, if you have the ability to produce a few small batches of product and test market them before going full bore I highly recommend doing so.

It’s also important that as you are investing in the early stages of a business to set some goals and benchmarks and be willing to walk away if those are not being met. This is the most difficult thing to do with a new business because people get so emotionally attached to their idea.

Business Name Conventions

I recently started an LLC, and it is my understanding that I must always refer to the company as “CompanyName LLC”. Should I ever want to refer to the company’s product, I may occasionally want to say CompanyName’s ApplicationName. To do this, is it necessary to register a DBA (doing business as)?
- Daniel

Technically yes, you registered the name with the LLC attached so in official documents you need to add that in. However, in casual conversation, marketing literature and product documentation I’m not aware of any reason that you really need to ensure the LLC is on the end. I would however eventually register a DBA just to lock it up.

Sole Proprietor Business Issues

What kind of legal stuff has to be filed for a single-person (sole proprietor) freelancing business? At what point must a sole proprietor start filing business taxes instead of just logging the income as “extra income” on their personal tax forms?
- Daniel

There is no point at which you are forced to convert from a sole proprietorship from a legal standpoint. But from a practical standpoint LLCs, S-Corps and other legal structures will provide some protection and some potential tax advantages.

Online Legal Resources

Also, can you provide me in the direction of some web resources on how to trademark a name on your own? As a startup in these tough economic times it would seem prudent to do these types of simple filings on your own rather than enlisting an attorney.
- Rick Huizinga

LegalZoom.com

Got advice to add? Please do so!

Episode edited by Dave Moyer

Episode #1 | The 10 Rules of Wealth Nation

Cali — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 15:09:59 +0000

Show Overview

Welcome to Wealth Nation! This isn’t a show just about money, it’s a show about getting the most out of life in every single way. It’s about passion, common sense solutions, and realizing your goals and dreams. Everyone can be a citizen of Wealth Nation, so come on in!

Your hosts for Wealth Nation are John Pozadzides, Neal Cambell, and Cali Lewis, and we’re going to take you on a weekly journey of discovery where we’ll address topics including personal finance, business advice and all the other areas that contribute to personal “wealth”.

This show is all about audience participation, and we’ll be taking caller questions and feedback in all future episodes, so if you’d like to join in please contact us and let us know.

Show Notes

The 10 Rules of Wealth Nation

Before we begin our regular episodes, we wanted to focus on some important rules for achieving goals in both our personal and professional lives. So this first episode is all about the rationale behind why we do what we do. If you practice these rules, we’re certain they will lead you down the path to personal Wealth!

Live debt free.
Invest in things that appreciate.
Constantly innovate.
Learn to recognize opportunities.
Invest in people.
Consider opportunity cost.
Commit yourself fully.
Become an expert.
Mitigate risks, but take them.
Be prepared to walk away.

The Making of Episode 1

Cali — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 18:00:46 +0000

For those of you who are interested in a behind the scenes look at the taping of Wealth Nation Radio, you can actually participate with us LIVE during recording via UStream. Just follow Cali, John, or WealthNation on Twitter and we’ll keep you informed when we’re about to stream a show.

If you’d like to see the show after the fact instead of downloading the audio version, we’ll be posting those periodically on the blog. Here is the recording from the first ever Wealth Nation. Enjoy!

Wealth Nation » Cali

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