Average age of successful founders - 39 to 41!

Fun article...  makes me feel excited for the next 5 years.  Now, just to figure out what to "found."  :)

Being niche specific in business is best

I read this short article today and thought it worth posting here.  I think there is some great value to what is being said here.  In my own experience, part of what has been hampering the start-up business I am working in presently is the difficulty the founder has had in letting our niche be a narrow one.  

JDC

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Why Too Many Choices Will Hurt Your Small Business

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StarBucks Coffee (Photo credit: Esparta)

There are a lot of choices for consumers. In fact, the 16,000 Starbucks’ locations in this country serve over 20,000 choices of what to drink. This is why the line moves so slowly!

The American consumer tends to think that more is always better. But, is it really for small business? While this wide variety may be a good thing for Starbucks, it is not a benefit for a growing small business.

It poses these problems for a company:

1. Focus. It does not allow the small business owner to focus on what the company does best. Trying to be all things to all customers just dilutes the company’s effort at excellence, especially in the early growth stages. In order to be the best, companies typically have to do less, not more.
2. Brand. It does not allow the small business to brand itself in the mind of the customer. Early on, it is best to get known by the consumer for doing one thing really well. This allows the company to become distinct from other competitors.
3. Delays. It is actually more difficult for a consumer to choose a product they want to buy if there are more choices rather than less. They easily get overwhelmed and it leads to buying delays.
4. Capital. The more products a company has, the more capital that is usually needed to maintain stock. This also consumes precious cash flow that the company may need in other areas.
5. Competition. In this world without geographic supplier boundaries, the wider the product offering, the more competitors a company will have that are only a click away.

Successful small business owners should develop a niche expertise rather than a “one stop shop” brand. It will give them the reputation for doing one thing extremely well. In this social media connected world, this also activates more sharing with their friends that will drive additional business.

Wednesday Wisdom from an unlikely source

I got this email today and couldn't help see some wisdom in it worth sharing.  Daniel Lawrence Whitney a.k.a. "Larry, the Cable Guy" may have a goofy and, at times, annoying presentation style.  But he makes some simple points that are, in my opinion, hard to refute, and I have always appreciated the "Get 'er done" attitude he is always "selling."  I wouldn't go so far as to call him a "genius" like the forwarded email did; instead, I would call his observations "simply practical."  (Okay, the alligators might not survive well in the parts of the moat that run through the Sonoran Desert... but otherwise, practical!)

JDC

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Direct Quote from "Larry, the Cable Guy":

Everyone concentrates on the problems we're having in Our Country lately:  illegal immigration, hurricane recovery, alligators attacking people in Florida.   Not me -- I concentrate on solutions for the problems -- it's a win-win situation.
• Dig a moat the length of the Mexican border.
• Send the dirt to New Orleans to raise the level of the levees.
• Put the Florida alligators in the moat along the Mexican border.

Any other problems you would like for me to solve today? 

Think about this:
1. Cows
2. The Constitution
3. The Ten Commandments

COWS
Is it just me, or does anyone else find it amazing that during the mad cow epidemic our government could track a single cow born in Canada almost three years ago right to the stall where she slept in the state of Washington? And, they tracked her calves to their stalls. But they are unable to locate 11 million illegal aliens wandering around our country. Maybe we should give each of them a cow!

THE CONSTITUTION
They keep talking about drafting a Constitution for Iraq.  Why don't we just give them ours?
• It was written by a lot of really smart guys
• It has worked for over 200 years
• and we're not using it anymore

THE 10 COMMANDMENTS
The real reason that we can't have the Ten Commandments posted in a courthouse is this --  you cannot post 'Thou Shalt Not Steal,' 'Thou Shalt Not Commit Adultery,' and 'Thou Shall Not Lie' in a building full of lawyers, judges and politicians.  It creates a hostile work environment!

GET 'ER DONE!

Yeah... that's kinda scary.

I don't intend to make this blog much of a political rag.  But this one I couldn't help sharing as it kinda summarizes how I have felt the past 4+ years and recently with the re-election:

Link dump - business

Mainly for my own benefit.  Several links I have collected over time related to business:

Sir Richard Branson on five top tips to starting a successful business

What the SBA could learn from alternative lenders

Values-Based Business at Barclays

Google's new UK headquarters in London

How a revolution in business lending could transform the British economy

Intuit to enter small business lending?

Going forward, I plan to use my blog here to share links like this and to opine on them.  Again, my purposes are to explore and better my own understanding on the subjects presented.  But I certainly welcome the following and commentary of others interested in chiming in.

JDC

Self-education -- what made my old '00 Sony VAIO tick...

Trying to get organized with this bonus day off today.  I finally transferred the last of my contacts from my old cell phone into my BlackBerry, which I have had for OVER A YEAR now.  ('bout time...)

When I went to toss the old phone up on our "defunct technology" shelf, I decided to pull down the old laptop computer that's been sitting up there and has been out of commission for several years.  It was my tool of choice during my undergrad days at SVU, which helped me write many a paper and graduate w/ my Bachelor of Arts degree.  Then, it died.  :)

I've been holding onto it to "recycle it," but I decided to crack it open instead and satisfy my curiosity to see what makes a laptop "tick."  Crazy to see how much technology is contstantly changing!  This old machine rocked in 2000.  Today, it's something to laugh about!

First, the technical specs -- then a couple of pics!!

Processor:  Pentium III (yeah baby!)
Memory:  Not one but two 128MB RAM buses (I think my cell phone has more RAM now, probably?)
Hard Drive:  15.1 Gigs!  TOTAL!  Wow...

...and the KING of all specs

Extras:  3.5" floppy drive!  (Oh, and if that's not funny enough, Amanda found several ZIP DISKS on Saturday that have our papers, etc., saved on them!  Now, to find a ZIP DRIVE we can use to access those priceless projects!!)

Update on Lightning... "total loss" :(

Two weeks after the accident, finally got the word from the body shop that it would cost too much to fix to be worth anyone's time.  The estimator said it would cost just $300 less than the car is worth on the high end to fix it, half of that just to get the front section of the frame straight again.  This week we will be going through the "settlement" process, and I'm hoping Nationwide will continue to be good to work with when it comes to their offer. 

I went down on Saturday to clean out my belongings and take off the license plates (which I had just renewed for 2 years...  sheesh).  Got a couple of pics before driving away:

Thanks for 4 1/2 great years, Lightning McQueen!  I hope some autobody pro buys you and fixes you up, 'cuz you're still a great car!