Business North - Business Mentor
		with Daryl Erdman

Reading is central to staying current in a profession, in a business field, or what is happening in the world. Along with your own day-to-day experiences, reading can help you make better decisions and choices.

Failing to do this makes it much more likely you will be blind-sided by a new competitor, a new technology, or a critical socio-economic/environmental change that could devastate you or your business.

Today you can peruse the Internet for much of this information and with minimal self-discipline, you can find Web sites that synthesize data and give you great summary overviews.

At the end of this article I will offer some suggestions, but I still urge you to pick up a book once in a while to supplement all of this current “stuff.” A book lends a certain comfort. If you choose your authors carefully, they can give you a better time perspective and add one more evaluative tool to your decision processes.

One such book is The Art of the Start by Guy Kawasaki (Portfolio of the Penguin Group, NY, 2004). He’s managing director and founder of Garage Technology Ventures, an early stage technology focused venture fund. In his book Kawasaki offers sage advice about starting a business.

I have read more books on starting and growing a business than I care to think about. My last personal library inventory came in at about 475 books. Like many of you, my library is not as current as I would like. But I have found that after a while there is a certain redundancy that creeps into business writing. That is why I found Kawasaki’s eighth book intriguing. First, the title drew me. There is more art than science in business startups.

As I got deeper into this book, he reinforced many of my own experiences and thoughts. Many of us find books more enjoyable that do not challenge our beliefs and experiences, even though it is good to read “against the grain” periodically to challenge and confirm your positions.

Getting started

His first chapter is titled: “Causation: The Art of Starting.” He offers these great suggestions.

• Get going. The most dangerous thing is to get stuck in the product/service

creation mode, developing the fear to “pull the trigger” and begin selling because the model is not perfect. It is more important to get started. Remember cash is king and more companies fail for a lack of cash than because the initial offering wasn’t perfect. Nothing can happen without sales. With them the smart entrepreneur can begin

the continuous improvement that molds his/her company into something really great.

• Define your business model. Keep it simple and in no more than 10 words, describe how you will make money. If you can, copy someone who has been successful to make it more understandable. Then identify your target customer specifically and precisely!

• Weave a “MAT” (milestones, assumptions and tasks): milestones that you commit to meet; lay out assumptions that you have made; and the tasks necessary to create this company.

Kawasaki explains the “art of positioning” and the “art of pitching,” in short, being very clear and articulate about why you are starting this business, why people should buy from you and why people should work for you. He also advises developing a succinct “elevator pitch.” In as few words as possible, describe what it is you do and how you add value.

When you write a business plan, seek broad input from your team to assure “buy-in” and to ensure that everyone understands what you are undertaking. That said, it is your company and you alone need to write it, in no more than 20-25 pages. Be clear about your assumptions and your profile customer.

Do not under price! Justify enough added value to command above average margins to survive your first years. Be honest about the competition, and show that you understand what they do and why you are better or different. Never disparage them.

The book goes on with much good advice from a person who has been there and done it. He explores partnering and branding, vital considerations today. A chapter on expanding sales titled “Proliferation: The Art of Rainmaking,” explains how to turn customer perceptions of your product/service into additional sales.

Lastly the book explores what Kawasaki calls achieving “Menschhood,” the Yiddish term for a person who is ethical, decent and admirable - endangered traits in today’s business world.

Internet-based research

At the start of this column I promised to identify Web sites that can help organize your source of information. Try these:

• www.acinet.org, which has great information on salary ranges for about

500 occupations. For a fee, additional searches are available. Related sites include www.salary.com, which can help you define your job descriptions and

make accurate salary decisions; and www.careeronestop.org.

• Cayenne Consulting, www.caycon.com, has a directory of more than 600 hand-selected resources for the entrepreneur, including legal structure, directors, business planning, market research, funding, public relations and industry specific news.

• www.linkedin.com has sources for people and services that can help you further develop your business.

• For general business information I

like www.c/netnews.com, which focuses upon tech news, and www.brintxom/

newswire.htm for more general business news.

• Other good overall business news and information site are www.allbusiness.com, www.ceoexpress.com, www.hoovers.com/

free/l, www.bizjournals.com/twincities/

dailyedition/l, and www.fiercefinance.com.

Many of you already use these and other sites. The power of the Internet is wonderful when it comes to doing research or gathering information. You will need discipline to read only those that apply directly to your personal needs. I gravitate to sites that provide a short summary with a link to the full text if I wish to dig deeper. This format is efficient and in most cases sufficient. Develop your own screening mechanisms, but work at keeping current.

Finally, what about all those books I have read and how do I keep up? I don’t.

What I do is purchase books on tape (most are on CDs) and I subscribe to Soundview’s Executive Book Summaries at www.summary.com/books.

Erdman is chief executive of Strategic Growth Resources, a business acquisition firm. He’s moving effective June 1 from Shell Lake to the new residence he and his wife have built. You can reach him at 19846 N. Sherry’s Arm Road, Grand Rapids, MN 55744 or by telephone at 218-326-6939.

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