Archive for Profile
How (and why) this Boomer Launched a Dental Tourism Business
Posted by: | Comments
Welcome to Episode 1 of The Baby Boomer Entrepreneur Podcast. In this new project of mine, I will be interviewing small business owners about how and why they run their businesses. My hope is that by hearing about what others are doing with their businesses, you’ll be inspired to try new things and motivated to reach new heights in your own business.
In this episode I am speaking with Jeffrey Apton. Like many of the interesting business people I know but have never met in person, Jeff and I met on
LinkedIn. He has launched a business in an industry I had never heard of: dental tourism. When he told me what he was doing, I knew he was the perfect choice for the launch of the new podcast.
During our conversation, Jeff shared how he stumbled upon the idea, why he got started and what he needed to do to get this business up and running. And of course, I asked him about how he markets the business.
I enjoyed talking with Jeff and I think you’ll enjoy listening to our conversation. And if you’re like me, you’ll probably think of at least three names of people who need his services. If you do, send them to Jeff’s website, PanAmDentalTours.com.
Andrea J. Stenberg
Focusing on Existing Customers Was This Entrepreneur’s Key to Success
Posted by: | CommentsIn 2000, Harry Wagter moved to Ontario from Alberta and like many out-of-work baby boomers, he had difficulty finding in job in spite of pundits telling us employers need to court older workers. “I was a dinosaur,” says Harry.
He began looking at purchasing a franchise. “I wanted to buy myself a job.”
Harry was interested in looking at the make-your-own wine industry; an industry not available in Alberta at the time. Doing his homework, Harry visited three head offices of three different chains, discussing his options. Rather than start a business from scratch, Harry asked if anyone had an existing franchise they wanted to sell. There was a franchise available in Owen Sound. It had been in existence for about five years and already on its second owner. Harry became the third owner and moved to Owen Sound.
A full-time employee was working in the store and Harry chose to keep him on. “He didn’t stay long,” says Harry. “But long enough for me to learn the ropes.”
The first thing Harry did was run some radio advertising. This proved really successful as his first two months as new owner his sales were the highest the store had ever seen. But Harry thought he could do even better.
He started looking at the store’s database which contained almost 1300 names. Many of these names were not really customers but names picked up at trade shows. After running the store for six months, Harry decided he needed to find out who were really customers. He hired a telemarketer to call everyone on the list. Her purpose was to introduce Harry as the new owner and to delete numbers not in service or people who weren’t really interested.
The telemarketer was really experienced and did an amazing job for Harry. She worked for two and a half months, calling every name on the list. If someone wasn’t home she didn’t leave a message; she called back until she spoke to a person. Eventually she culled the list to about 400 names. After a few months she called these 400 people back announcing a sale. These two rounds of telemarketing resulted in an increase in sales of almost 40 percent.
With the list culled to 400 names of people who are real customers, Harry could then switch to mailings. Because he new mailings were going to people who are actually interested in buying he could keep his costs down and get a good return on his investment.
After his round of telemarketing, Harry focused on the customer experience. He thought since customers are spending $100 or more each time they come in they should be comfortable and enjoy themselves. He updated the store and focused on creating an enjoyable, relaxing environment.
Next, Harry implemented a customer referral program. When an existing customer refers someone new, they both get a discount. The more someone refers, the more of a discount they get.
Not every marketing attempt has been successful however. Harry tried print advertising. “It doesn’t work for me at all,” Harry said. “I think of it as a colossal waste of money.”
Networking doesn’t work for Harry’s business either. Attending the Chamber of Commerce monthly breakfasts has resulted in one or two sales over four years. “You’d think in a small town it would work but it hasn’t.”
On several occasions Harry also tried creating a newsletter. The professional, glossy newsletters were distributed to 20,000 households. Very few new sales resulted.
One thing Harry has avoided was having sales or competing with other wine-making establishments on price. When you discount you have to work harder for the same money. Instead he focuses on his existing customers, and never offers something to new customers that he doesn’t also offer existing ones. “Why should I offer a discount to someone waling in for their first batch of wine when I have someone coming in for their 15th batch that year?”
Buying an existing business was really the right decision for Harry. “I didn’t have to reinvent the wheel. I just had to do it better than anyone else.” And clearly he has done it better. Since buying the store Harry has grown the business to 900 regular customers and does double the business he did in the first year.
Andrea J. Stenberg
Interview with a million dollar blogger
Posted by: | CommentsWhoever said bloggers can’t make BIG money had not heard this story.
Yaro Starak – my blogging coach – interviewed his previous student, Alborz Fallah, who is the owner of caradvice.com.au – a car blog for Australians, which was valued at $5 million dollars and generates close to $50,000 a month.
You can listen or read the interview here -
Alborz Fallah Interview – Million Dollar Blogger
Alborz started his blog like most people, sitting at home, writing content each day outside of the time he spent at his full time job. His blog grew, he started making money and he just kept working.
Eventually he was approached by people who wanted to buy his blog. He said no, until someone came along who only wanted to buy a share in the site and help it continue to grow. Alborz agreed and
his blog immediately went from part time hobby, to full time business.
Today Alborz’s blog has full time employees, he travels to Europe to test some of the most prestigious cars in the world and it’s fair to say he is living a dream – making big money writing about a topic he loves.
In this interview you can hear Alborz talk about how he grew his traffic, how he brought on investors to help grow his site and what’s it like being in charge of a multi-million dollar blog.
It’s worth listening to this interview because you can learn some key things to help with your own quest to make a profitable blog, for example:
- How Alborz chose the topic for his blog is a great lesson for anyone else out there struggling to come up with a blog topic
- The search engine advice Alborz offers is powerful yet simple and will immediately help your own blog get more traffic, if you follow it
- The story of how investors came on board to take Car Advice to the next level is unique, but definitely worth hearing because it shows how you can grow a blog from just making a few hundred dollars, to making six or seven figures a year.
The interview is available for instant download in MP3 or text transcript. Here’s the link again -
Alborz Fallah Interview – Million Dollar Blogger
Yaro released this video to inspire people to believe what is possible with a blog.
If you want to follow in Alborz’s footsteps, consider taking on Yaro as your blog coach and join his Blog Mastermind coaching program and you might just become the next Alborz.
Andrea J. Stenberg
One Entrepreneur’s Journey From Bean Counter to Publicity Pro
Posted by: | CommentsJulia-Isabel Davenport comes from a long line of educators and entrepreneurs. As a child, she was either
playing teacher or store owner. She even made and sold necklaces.
Although the seeds for entrepreneurship were already there, after Julia-Isabel got her degree, like many Boomer women, she didn’t feel entrepreneurship was an option. “I was expected to get a job.” Which is exactly what she did.
And while her job as a “bean counter” wasn’t exactly a passion, it did allow Julia-Isabel time to work on her MBA. Her course work exposed her to marketing and entrepreneurship – tools that would lead her to her first business.
After she married, having a second income made it easier for Julia-Isabel to take a risk and start her first business – as a computer trainer. She partnered with different training firms for six years. But this still wasn’t quite her passion. “What I really enjoyed about this business was publicizing myself,” says Julia-Isabel.
Then she had the opportunity to take a Public Relations job for Census 2000. She took a chance and quit her computer training to accept the position. And discovered she loved it. She enjoyed all aspects of marketing and PR. And she was good at it.
After the 2000 census, it was time for Julia-Isabel to find another career so she began a job hunt. While she was looking for a job someone asked for help promoting their medical practice. Julia-Isabel took them on as a side project – something to keep her busy until she found another job. She never got another job. Word of mouth began to spread and soon she found herself starting a public relations company.
She focused on women and small business as the target audience for her newly launched PR firm. However, although Julia-Isabel enjoyed working with small businesses and they have a great need for publicity, many didn’t feel they could afford to pay for publicity. And they didn’t always understand how publicity works.
“I had the same discussion so many times I got tired of it,” Julia-Isabel says. “I’d explain how publicity works and then clients would be disappointed that one particular press release didn’t get published in the particular paper they wanted.”
In 2007 Julia-Isabel had a brain wave. Instead of doing PR for individual clients she would focus on teaching small business clients how to do their own PR. She started monthly networking meetings that are more like group coaching. Her Business Strategy LunchesTM usually has six to eight people in attendance. People come with their questions about publicity. It’s not a mastermind group because membership is fluid. Occasionally one or two people attend several months in a row, but usually people come only occasionally.
As part of her plan to teach people about publicity, Julia-Isabel has written How to Maximize Your Publicity and the Publicity Planner TM. She has joined the National speakers association as a professional speaker and holds seminars to help people tell their stories to the media.
For clients with more money than time she continues to offer publicity services, but at a higher rate than when she first started out. In fact, she doubled the price. “The same day I doubled the price and mailed my existing clients I got a call for PR,” said Julia-Isabel. “I told them about the increase and they said okay.”
How does Julia-Isabel handle her own publicity?
“I have a marketing plan,” she says. “The biggest part of my marketing is the PR. I look at my marketing plan twice a year. But I update my publicity plan monthly. I send out at least one press release per month and sometimes as many as three.”
Clearly Julia-Isabel practices what she preaches.
Andrea J. Stenberg
If you want to learn more about how to use publicity for promoting your small business, join me and Julia-Isabel on July 29th for another edition of Andrea’s More Effective Marketing Podcast recorded before a live teleseminar audience.
Everything I Know About Business I Learned From the Sports Pages
Posted by: | Comments“What’s going on in general society first happens in sports,” Bruce Rumpf, CEO and President of Job1USA, told me. I must have sounded skeptical so he explained.
Jesse Owens and Jackie Robinson
In 1936 the Olympics were held in Nazi Germany. Jesse Owens, an American track star who also happened to be African American, was the target much of Hitler’s racist propaganda. And yet, despite the racial epithets and the constant presence of the s
wastika, Owens won four gold medals in front of Hitler.
In 1947 Jackie Robinson broke the colour barrier by becoming the first African American player in Major League Baseball. As a result, today we find people of colour in all areas of business, including running for president of the United States. But it happened in sports first.
Don’t Forget Women
Bruce then mentioned the Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972. This legislation did not specifically mention sports, but it is best know for the impact it had on sports as it relates to women. Title IX resulted in high schools and colleges making the same opportunities for sports available for women as well as men. Since the enactment of Title
IX, women have not only had an expanded role in the sports arena, but have expanded their role in business. Women can be found in management, on boards of directors, as CEOs and yes, running for president of the United States.
Bruce was starting to convince me.
Take a Swing
But there’s more. At one time baseball teams would draft a kid out of college or high school and he’d stay with that team for his entire career. He’d retire wearing the same jersey he started his professional career in. No more. Last season, 60 percent of all Major League Baseball contracts were for one year.
Our parents’ generation, and many Baby Boomers, started their careers expecting to get a gold watch when they retired 40 years later, from the same company. But no one today expects to stay with one company their entire career. Few people expect to stay with the same career. And entrepreneurs are starting to think like sports teams. “What players do I need today to get a team on the field?” More and more, short term contracts are becoming the norm.
I was convinced, but Bruce wasn’t done with sports. He pointed out that in baseball, if you get one hit out of every four at bats, you’ve got a respectable batting average. If you hit one in three, you’re a star. No one freaks out because they made a bad swing three times out of four. It’s just part of the game. Bruce asserts business is the same. “Every day is practice until you make a decision,” Bruce said. “You can make one good decision out of four and still make good money.”
Too many people worry that every decision they make must be the right one, must be perfect. If a baseball player did that, and worried every swing had to be perfect, he’d never get a hit. I think that’s true of business. If you never make a decision, never try, you’ll never get a hit either. It’s better to miss a few, but take more swings.
Okay Bruce, you’ve convinced me. The next time I’m trying to predict what will happen in business, I won’t go to the business section. I’ll grab the sports pages and see what’s happening there.
Andrea J. Stenberg
