HireYourVirtualAssistant.com » blog post

Interview: Chuck Blakeman on How to build a profitable business that will run without you in 3 to 5 years

Owen McGab Enaohwo — Thu, 09 Sep 2010 06:26:41 +0000

Success leaves clues behind and as a result of trying to build HYVA into a successful outsourcing company, I am on a mission to learn how other successful entrepreneurs got to where they are at and so I actively seek people who I think have a story that my audience and I can learn from. Today’s guest is Chuck Blakeman from the Crankset Group; a company that helps small businesses grow and mature. In an email I received from Chuck, he said that the need to make money is killing a lot of businesses and that struck me as a statement that I needed to get him to clarify, hence this interview.

Right Click Here To Download The Video MP4 Version Of This Interview

Right Click Here To Download The Audio MP3 Version Of This Interview

During the interview Chuck discussed:

The number one reason why most entrepreneurs fail to build successful businesses
How to avoid the entrepreneurial trap of trading hours for dollar
The difference between the “Tyranny of the urgent and the priority of the important“
Why your focus shouldn’t be on making money but instead on building a business that makes money doing what you love
How to build a business that works automatically without your daily involvement in 3 to 5 years
How to use your business to build your ideal lifestyle
The four building blocks that every entrepreneur needs to build a profitable business
Why you need a bigger reason for being in business than just the need to make money
why you need a strategic plan instead of a business plan
How to process map your entire business in such a way that it is systemized
How business mentors and advisors can help you avoid mistakes that can ruin your business

In his own words:

We started our business four years ago without business cards, marketing materials, website, etc., simply to prove to everyone who thinks you need all that to get started, that you can do just fine at startup without it. As we’ve grown and gone international, we’re adding these things in, but a healthy minority of businesses would never need a website or even a business card. We have examples.

“Off the grid” means that just about everything we do to help business owners grow their business (and our own) is counter-intuitive to the popular business doctrine out there which, in our opinion, just takes people in circles. Examples:

Making money is a really bad reason to be in business and people who focus on it rarely make much.

Every business can go from the printing of a business card to “Maturity” (making money while you’re on vacation – WITHOUT you), in 3to5Years – haven’t found a business yet where people aren’t doing it. Yet most businesses go 40 years and never “mature”.

Retirement is an absurd, bankrupt industrial age idea that wasn’t a good idea then, either. Stop trying to retire and instead build an Ideal lifestyle NOW (in 3to5Years), then enjoy your business and your life for decades.

Work and Play belong together; separating them is another Industrial Age artifact.

Employees are always a bad idea, no matter how big your company is. No one should be an employee, everyone should be a stakeholder.

Never do another business plan – almost no one does them, and even those that do all (100%) report that the plan did not accurately predict the future in any way. Do a 2-page Strategic Plan instead.

Planning in general is a disease, not cure. Stop planning and get moving – the #1 indicator of success is Speed of Execution.

Stop reading Shelf-Help books (those books that help your shelf look better). There are very few that actually help you do anything.

Education (filling your head with information) is a bad idea and just creates confusion. Learning (trying something and refining it as you go) is the path to success. Stop getting educated and start being transformed – change

Conation is the single most important word in business, yet you’ve never heard it because all those “educators” out there want you to “think” instead of “do”.

Chuck Blakeman has an off the grid approach to business that has been adopted by thousands of business owners. He has bootstrapped five wildly different businesses and two non-profits from the ground up, making every mistake possible along the way to some big wins. As an internationally acclaimed business speaker averaging more than 100 speaking engagements and workshops per year, he has been quoted and featured in Entrepreneur Magazine, CNNMoney.com, NYTimes.com, other online magazines and small business blogs throughout the U.S., Australia, and New Zealand.

Connect with Chuck Blakeman:

Via his company website www.CrankSetGroup.com

On Twitter @chuckblakeman

On his Facebook profile

Question for you:

Are you currently building a business that will run profitable and automatically without you in 3 to 5 years? If so what steps have you taken to make sure that your plan comes to pass?

Visitors who read this post also read:

Interview: Stephen Silver on How to successfully raise funds from Venture Capitalists (VCs) for your small business

Owen McGab Enaohwo — Mon, 23 Aug 2010 08:04:50 +0000

At a certain stage in your business, you are going to have to raise capital. It might be the case that you need to get funded now or you are working on an idea that you know you will not be able to get off the ground except you are able to secure the necessary investors to buy into your plans. To cut a long story short, sooner or later as an entrepreneur, you will need money to get stuff done hence you will have to roll up your sleeves and get to work raising capital.

This is the reason I invited Stephen Silver to come on my show to share his insights on the topic. He is an expert in raising venture capital for small business owners and also the founder of MAVN Funding Advisors; a company that brings clarity to entrepreneurs by guiding startups through the treacherous waters of the venture space.

Right Click Here To Download The Video MP4 Version Of This Interview

Right Click Here To Download The Audio MP3 Version Of This Interview

During the interview Stephen discussed:

What steps you need to take when trying to raise venture capital funds
How the venture capital space has changed over the last couple of years and how to use this knowledge to your advantage
What types of companies Venture Capitalists (VCs) are looking to invest in and why
What types of return of investment VCs look for in companies that they invest in
Why VCs are now investing in the smaller companies
Why getting in revenue (profits) before going out to seek venture capital funds is a smarter choice
What the Common traits are for those companies who successfully get funded
Why simplicity is key missing ingredient to raising funds
Why you need to be thinking like an investor when looking for VC funds
How to make your presentation clear and concise with the type of investor package that VCs like to see
How mistakes you make during the formation of your company can delay your venture capital funds
The difference between debt investment and equity investment
Why building relationships with investors is essential to raising venture capital
Why funding raising events is a great means to be in contact with potential investors

In his own words:

What have I done to raise capital?

Having started off working for a major nationwide angel investor group, I was able to quickly learn exactly what investors liked to see. I spent my 3 years at the angel group screening and preparing entrepreneurs to pitch to our 250 local investors. After leaving the angel group, I started a funding advisory to work with both entrepreneur and investors in raising capital and running due diligence for investors. Funding rarely happens overnight, so I tend to work with clients throughout a major part of their early stages.

7 keys to successfully raising venture capital funds:

Have a clear business plan: Realize business plans are NOT meant for investors, but more of a check that investors will look for. That said it’s convenient to have an investor set of collateral including a 1-2 page executive summary and Powerpoint presentation

Understand the investors you are going after: Understanding the investor’s perspective is a critical part of raising capital. Markets change and so do investors taste in investments. Understand investors are not investing in ideas, but looking for a relatively safe, short term, high reward investment. They’re not looking to dump $1M into an investment that may or may not pan out in 10 years. Also keep your valuation reasonable; investors will pound you into the ground if you have an unjustifiably high valuation.

Get in revenue: What I really mean here is reach your proof of concept, in most cases this is selling to your customer. Investors want to see traction, not talk. This may require a friends and family round to reach proof of concept.

Keep it simple: Investors like simple business models. If you can convey what you do and how you make money without taking the investor through convoluted and complicated revenue models, you will have a much better chance of being funded then most.

If you’re going to pitch to angel groups you better be the best deal on the market: With only 2 deals funded by southern California’s largest and most active angel group this year, you need to understand your chances are slim to none. If you’re going to invest time into pitching to groups of angels, you must be the number one deal they see that month… Make sure your presentation not only has the core information investors want, but give the PowerPoint some sizzle! Here is a basic outline of what they want to know – Company overview, industry size, market size, market pain, value proposition (or solution), marketing plan, basic revenue projections, management team, and offering (how much you’re asking for).

Solid management team: Investors are betting on the Jockey NOT the horse… have a team including advisory board that has a deep understanding of your industry, and have proven success.

Do not rely on funding: If your idea cannot succeed without funding, you may want to figure out a way to either get in early revenue, or try a different approach. You should be able to bootstrap your company to first revenue without funding…

Connect with Stephen Silver:

In 2009, he raised over 13.2 million in funds for startup companies. He boasts a number of noteworthy success stories and is readily available to talk in greater depth about these deals and the keys to success for raising early stage/seed capital.

On his company website www.MavnFunding.com

On Twitter @silvrtone

On his Facebook profile

Question for you:

What steps have you taken to raise venture backed capital for your business and what challenges have you faced?

Visitors who read this post also read:

Cloud-Based Telephone and Voicemail Services for Your Small Business

Owen McGab Enaohwo — Sun, 22 Aug 2010 00:18:18 +0000

There are many things that large businesses have that a small business can do without for a while. However, a telephone and voicemail system is not one of them. Even in the age of e-mail and social networking, the number one way, short of walking to your door, that most customers or clients will contact you is through a telephone call. In addition, the business owners who makes use of virtual assistants will occasionally find it necessary to actually talk to their VA’s.

This doesn’t mean that your telephone system has to be the same old ones that businesses used 10 years ago, though. The dawning of the Internet and of cloud-based computing has brought with it telephony options that are cheaper for you than standard landlines, and which make it easy and convenient to receive calls, even if you can’t hire an on-site receptionist. Let’s take a look at some of the options available to you.

Internet Telephones. By Internet telephones, I’m referring to programs that you install on your computer. The program features a telephone keypad. You plug up a headphone and microphone to your computer and then make calls as usual. Currently, there are two primary Internet telephone services that I recommend:

1) Skype. I like Skype because I use it for a lot of things including conducting and recording my interviews with small business experts, hence I am always connected on Skype. You can download the program at www.Skype.com and sign up for a free account. You can then prepay for calling credits in one of two ways. You can either buy per minute or you can pay about $2.99 for unlimited calling within the United States. To get your own telephone number, sign up for “Skype In.” This costs you about $18 for three months worth of service.

2) Vonage. Vonage has a lot of features that will you will find useful. For a full list of the features and plans go to www.Vonage.com. I particularly like the Vonage Pro® plan (which will cost you about $34.99 per month) because it comes with the Vonage PC Companion software that you can install on any computer and still be able to make and take calls. I have also been able to get my virtual assistants in the Philippines to install this software on their laptops and they also can use it to make and take US based calls. It is an awesome tool because as long as you have a high-speed internet connection, you can stay in contact with your clients and potential customers no matter what country you are physically in. They now have a mobile application “App” that you can download onto your cell phone which allows you the same benefits, awesome!

So which of the internet telephones described above is better? That depends on your needs. Skype costs much less for each phone call and in my opinion is not as reliable for making calls to Landlines or cell phones as Vonage. That said Skype is awesome for chatting, video meetings, phone conferences, and sharing your screen during demos. The key with Skype is for everyone using it to each have a free Skype account and that is when the features in my view can be used to their full potential. On the other hand, Vonage does not have the cool features like Skype, their core focus is on developing and improving their VOIP phone technology and so far it’s been a great move on their part because I do recommend that if you need an internet phone for make and taking US based calls and also for your Virtual Assistants who might not be physically located in the US to be able to make and take calls as well then Vonage is the best option.

Web-based Voicemail. Even though Skype and Vonage are internet phone systems, they also provide the voicemail features I will be describing below. If for some reason you only need a web-based voicemail, it is possible. For starters, an online voicemail account makes is possible for people from multiple locations to check the messages. This means that if you have a virtual assistant who handles messages, and you also like to keep up with them, you can both do that by logging onto the website that hosts your messages. Another advantage is for those with super-small businesses (one or two employees). In this case, you can’t be by the phone at all hours, but you need for messages to be answered speedily. Many Web-based voicemail services allow you to have the messages forwarded straight to your email account in two versions, the transcribed text and also a copy of the audio message itself. You can also have the messages transcribed and texted to your cell phone. Even if you go out of town, Web-based voicemails allows you to stay on top of your incoming messages. Some of the services I recommend are:

1) Simple Voice Center at www.SimpleVoiceCenter.com has a free option, in which your customers call a number and then must enter an extension to reach you; a toll-free number for six cents a minute; and a regular local phone number, which people can call without entering an extension, for $9.95 a month.

2) Telemessage at www.VoiceMessage4You.com is extremely convenient, since they notify you via email of an incoming message, and even attach an mp3 file of that message. That means you can listen to the message right from your e-mail.

3) Google Voice which I think is the best because I love Google. Anyways, this one is located at www.Google.com/Voice. In addition to all the other features described above for web-based voicemail services, Google allows you to have your cell phone messages forwarded to your Google Voice account. The benefit of doing this is that you can then either listen to the messages online or even read a transcribed copy of it that Google sends to you.

Questions for you

What disadvantages and advantages have you encountered with Internet telephone and web-based voicemail services?
If you have not used them, what would need to happen before you start using them?

Visitors who read this post also read:

How to use Youtube Videos to train your Virtual Assistant on the tasks you need done

Owen McGab Enaohwo — Wed, 18 Aug 2010 18:20:57 +0000

“How do I train my virtual assistant to get things done just the way I like it?” is one question I always get asked all the time by small business owners. The answer is simply that you need to have a well outlined systems and processes map that explains what, why, how and when you need your tasks done. You also need to explain the standards for how the results provided to you by the virtual assistant will be measured. When the person is there with you at the same location, you can literally show them the ropes. But how do you do that when the person lives in a different location—maybe even a different city, state, or possibly even a different country?

One of the best ways is by creating a series of training videos. Thanks to the power of the Internet, this is easier than ever. By making use of free video hosting sites, you can create training videos and upload them to the site. Then you just give the URL link to the videos to your virtual assistants, and they will have an instant, on-location trainer. And yes, I do recommend Youtube for this project. Uploading videos to the video hosting sites is faster than trying to email the actual video files to your VA, plus it stays there, ready to be accessed, by all your future virtual assistants. If you are concerned about privacy, Youtube also makes it possible to keep videos private, so you need not worry about competitors getting an inside look at how you do business.

Let’s take a look at the steps involved in creating your virtual assistant training videos.

Write a list of everything that you want to train your virtual assistant(s) to do. This step should come even before you get your materials together for producing the video—because the materials that you’ll need will be partly determined by what lessons you plan to cover. Some examples might be: proper telephone procedures, how to use any software that you need them to use, how to use any collaboration or virtual-office websites that you will be using, and anything else specific to your assignments for the VA.
Now gather together the tools and materials you’ll need for the video. This will include the office equipment that you’ll be training the assistant to use, software you’ll need them to use. Most importantly, you need a good digital video camera / camcorder, a tripod, camera lights, a microphone, a computer with enough processing power to do video editing, and editing software such as Vegas Movie Studio HD (if you are using a PC) and ScreenFlow (if you are using a Mac). You also need screen capture software such as Camtasia and Screenr that allow you to record the content displayed on your computer screen.
Keep each video lesson to no more than 15 minutes. There are a couple of reasons for this. First, Youtube videos are limited to about 15 minutes, and you might lose a viewer if you try to span one lesson over more than one video. Beyond that, though, it’s easier for your virtual assistant to digest bite-sized chunks.
Before you ever start filming, put the content of your videos down on paper. This means first, write an outline of everything that you’ll cover in each video. Then, based on the outline, create a script. Once you have a script, do a dry run, seeing how long it takes you to finish each script. Once you have it down to about the length that you want, you’re ready to film.
Record the introduction and conclusion at the same time. These are the parts where you will be talking directly into the camera, to the viewer explaining the reasons for the task and so on. By filming these at the same time, you’ll ensure that everything looks and sounds consistent. Same sound volume, same distance from the camera, and so on. Also it gives the viewer the feeling that you are next to them explaining the task.
Record the steps for carrying out the task. After you film the introduction and conclusion, film yourself actually doing the steps of the task that you want the viewer to learn. Depending on the type of task you might just need a screen capture video or a combination of both. Try to get close-ups of important elements (views of the computer screen, equipment they’re using, etc.).
Edit and create the video. Connect your camera to your computer with its USB cord and upload the video files. Then open them in your video editing software, depending on the one you use, it can be as simple as “cutting” and “pasting” them into the right spot. Add in the introduction, the video that shows the steps and also the conclusion. Feel free to play with the transition effects and to cut out anything you don’t want in it. You may also want to upload a musical soundtrack for it. Once everything is in order, render the video in the format that you desire, I recommend MP4.
Upload the video to Youtube. This step is really easy and Youtube does a great job of explaining how you can get this done. Just make sure when uploading the video, you select the “private” option, so that only people for whom you provide the URL link can view the video.
Share the link with your Virtual Assistant. Send your training links to your virtual assistants and you’re done. Your on-site trainer will soon be on the job!

Please note that the above steps I have outlined are not meant to be exhaustive, it is just a guide to get you thinking of how you can create Youtube videos to use for training your virtual assistant. Keep in mind that the more detailed you are in explaining the tasks you need done, the higher the chances of you getting the results that you desire.

Questions for you:

If you know of any other good, free video editing programs, what are they?
What other video-sharing sites might work better than Youtube? I’d like to hear your input.

Visitors who read this post also read:

Interview: Kevin Dwinnell on How to properly build an online community for a small business

Owen McGab Enaohwo — Fri, 13 Aug 2010 06:05:30 +0000

Building an online community around my business, products and services is something that is very important to me because I have realized that the very successful brands and companies have been able to stay successful by creating and maintaining a following of loyal fans. Today, consumers are demanding that companies provide value to them even before becoming clients; hence they are requiring business owners to become Resources before becoming Vendors. If you choose to ignore this fact and attempt to keep to your old ways marketing, sooner or later you will be ignored by those whom you seek to turn into clients.

Knowing that there is a need for small business owners to properly learn how to build online communities for their businesses, I invited Kevin Dwinnell, director of product and marketing for Brand Thunder; a company that creates a communication channel between brands and their online audience through customized browsers to come on the show to share his insights on what you need to know in order to properly build an online community of loyal and adoring fans of your business.

In this interview Kevin discussed:

How to make your online community vibrant and active
Why you need to give your audience an open, non-censored platform to interact and how to maintain a level of decorum
The differences between building an online community of consumers (B2C) and businesses (B2B)
How to increase the level of interaction within your online community by recognizing and empowering the leaders within it
How to effectively participate and engage in conversations on other related sites
The social interaction tools that can provide you with the analysis, metrics and results of your community building efforts
How to use the feedback you get from your community to troubleshoot and improve your products and services

In his own words:

In general, being part of a community can be a very powerful thing for small businesses. It’s a place where a greater sphere of influence can take place. But like any gathering of people, it’s going to take time to discover where you feel the best.

The elements that make community thrive:

Vibrant and active – people want to be where there’s action.

Be open, non-censoring but maintain a level of decorum

Recognition keeps people engaged

Timely sharing of information creates deeper bonds

Available channels for communities online:

Web 2.0 – Twitter, Facebook, Farmville, YouTube, LinkedIn – social-network focused

Web 1.0 – Forums, Groups, Bulletin-board systems – topic focused, anyone initiates

Others – email lists, blogs

Where to start, what to aspire to:

Metrics – track so you can gauge progress

Smaller steps to take to gain a voice and sample the commitment

Participate in existing communities

Guest blog

Managing a large community can entail

Lots of time

Learning to foster participation to enable sustainability as well as growth, and achieve critical mass

Tools to help along the way:

TweetBeep

HootSuite

Google Alerts

Get Satisfaction

Gist/NetworkHippo

Connect with Kevin Dwinnell:

On his company website www.BrandThunder.com

On Twitter @kdwinnell

On his company Facebook Page

Questions for you:

How has the internet leveled the playing field for all businesses?
In what ways can smaller companies compete with the big boys for the mindshare of potential clients? Please share your thoughts on this.