Archive for the ‘Entrepreneurship’ Category

How to Become a Mom Entrepreneur?

Monday, November 1st, 2010

v401rcat2qicwcad0em4bcai5vbkncal7izubcaw6cg9zcazxqfejcasuo2ppcailvec9ca1n5n3hca5z76p8caklebbacabwwvn6cabl13x5cajx997aca68r29bcaeokuvucab3mgmtcaia1jl11I enjoyed watching  Donny Deutsch’s show, The Big Idea.  Donny Deutch, an advertising executive, got his own cable tv show after appearing in an early episode of Trump’s The Apprentice.  On his show, Donny would interview entrepreneurs about their products.  The question he asked his guests was:  “How did YOU come up with THIS product?”  Restated the question was:  “How did you come up with your BIG IDEA?”  Invariably, the guest entrepreneur would answer:  “When I was confronted by X problem, I found a way to SOLVE it.” 

The story the entrepreneur told was compelling, sometimes arising from a personal tragedy such as designing a better infant car seat after having had a child injured in a car accident or a nagging, everyday irritant such as not being able to fish out car keys from the bottom of one’s purse (what woman hasn’t had this problem?) or how to keep bra straps from showing when wearing sleeveless tops with wide armholes.   The products featured on his show might cost but a few dollars.  Donny would urge his audience to find solutions to problems in their daily lives. A problem solved could the BIG IDEA for a new or improved product. 

I would dream of being on Donny’s show and telling him that I too fit his entrepreneur pattern of:  frustrating PROBLEM prompts BIG IDEA and determination to SOLVE that problem.  It’s not that difficult to come up with a BIG IDEA.  What is difficult is carrying through on a BIG IDEA and transforming it into a product consumers will actually buy.  I imagined telling Donny how frustrated my son was filling in pages of mindless drills to learn the multiplication tables and my deciding right then and there that there HAD to be a better way!  I would tell him how I drew a grid for tables 1-10 and found amazing patterns for all the tables.  I would tell him how each day my son and I papered the fridge with our discoveries. I would conclude by saying I decided to hire a graphic artist, design my book from cover to cover and publish Teach Your Child the Multiplication Tables to help other families and how in four years I’ve sold almost 10,000 copies!

Every day, moms are confronted with frustrating problems such as discovering toilet paper cascading down the stairway from a child’s bathroom.  An enterprising mom invented a toilet paper dispenser to keep that from happening.  Another mom used her creativity by improving the design of the standard baby pacifier. Why not a pacifier shaped like a rasberry in an eye-catching color?  Look at everyday items in a new light.

Moms spend their days solving problems large and small.  Why not take the leap and become a mom entrepreneur?  Hats off to dad entrepreneurs too!  The results of improving other people’s lives are rewarding.

                              [Image from makijlal.com] 

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Halloween Candy Entrepreneur?

Friday, October 29th, 2010

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Sunday night your little goblins, witches, pirates and fairy tale princesses will be dragging home bags full of Halloween candy.

Now like any good parent, you will want to go through the bag with your child.  Maybe you don’t want them to eat all the sugary hard candy or squirrel away bubble gum that somehow appears in their hair the next morning.  Maybe you want to limit them to an assortment of favorite candy bars.  Snickers was a real get in my house.  At this moment your little princess or pirate will make a sour face and loudly protest that it’s not fair that mommy or daddy is taking candy from them.  Whoever  popularized the notion that something was as easy “as taking candy from a child” did not have children and, therefore, never experienced the outrage of a five-year old Dracula or the weepy indignation of a Strawberry Shortcake.  What is a concerned parent to do?

I suggest you and your child lay the Halloween loot on the kitchen table in order to decide how much and what kind of candy your child keeps.  Sort by type.  This is a good lesson for the little ones.  Instead of counting all the candy, arrange in rows of 5 or more and then multiply to find the answer.  You’re taking inventory just like a candy shop owner would. 

Now after you and your child have determined what and how much to keep, offer to buy the candy you don’t want your child to have.  Why not a penny for each of the hard candy, 5 cents for the candy bars and so on?  The idea is to have your child do the math.  Let your child see the value of what she or he has collected.  A few dollars in exchange for the candy can be saved for a special non-candy treat.  Your child has not only learned a math lesson but also a lesson in entrepreneurship:  this much candy earned me this much cash.  “Hmm, how much can I collect next year?” your child may be thinking.  So this Halloween taking away some of your child’s candy will seem less of a mean trick and more of a  . . . fair exchange.

                           [Image from 97thfloor.com]

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What’s in a name? How I came up with TeaCHildMath?

Wednesday, April 21st, 2010

For a start-up company such as mine, the company name can make all the difference.  Recently, a small business reporter asked how it was that I came up with TeaCHildMath and what advice would I offer other start-ups. 

What other companies had educational products for children, I asked myself.  Hooked On Phonics immediately came to mind.  Hooked on Phonics is a great company name as it tells the consumer what the product is.  So my challenge was to come up with a company name that would not only convey what my product was but also my message.

While choosing a name for my company, I consulted my IP attorneys, Knobbe Martens Olson & Bear.  They advised that a made-up name such as KODAK was far easier to trademark.  I would have problems if my company name were too descriptive, i.e,  you could name a computer company “Apple” but you couldn’t name a company that sold apples (the fruit) “Apple.”   However, as a small company I wanted my name to immediately tell the consumer what my product was the way Hooked on Phonics  does.

On a blank piece of paper, I wrote name after name. As my title of my workbook  is Teach Your Child the Multiplication Tables, I wanted both teach and child in my company name.  As teach ends in ch and child begins with ch, I decided to blend these words and emphasize this blend by capitalizing the CH.  Next I added math which would leave open the possibility of math books other than multiplication.

TeaCHildMath immediately conveys teaching children math.  My company name is my message, my mission statement.  My name is my advertising, my branding.  Consumers see TeaCHildMath on a banner at a book fair and know my product is math for children.  If my name were a made-up name such as TCM, they would most likely walk right by.
 
TeaCHildMath is now trademarked in the European Union, Mexico, Australia and Korea.  Only Canada judged TeaCHildMath too descriptive and denied my trademark request.  Although I was disappointed, the recognition I receive in the U.S. and elsewhere far outweighs this.  So my advice for a small company is be creative and choose a name that describes your product.  Branding plays a critical part in attracting your customers. 

What’s in a company’s name?  Everything.

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Marketing for Small Businesses: A good press release can make all the difference

Monday, April 19th, 2010

Last week I was quoted in this blog:   www.snackbox.us/…/small-business-shoulda-coulda-wouldas.html  on marketing strategies for small businesses.

Eugenia Francis (http://www.teachildmath.com/) wishes she had learned the value of press releases sooner. “A well written press release is a good investment. ‘Times Tables, the Key to Your Child’s Success?’ (which I wrote) was blasted over the internet. Not only has [the press release] appeared in several languages, but [it] was reprinted in EDUCATION MATTERS, a periodical for teachers. I should’ve done this earlier,” says Ms Francis.

Press releases are important, and with so many free and low-cost press release distribution services online, it is possible for even a small business to develop a strong marketing campaign that includes press releases. Just know that to see tremendous return on your investment – like anything in life – it’s not just quantity, it’s quality. Send out press releases often, but you have to have a great story to tell before you decide to send out a press release.

And don’t do any new marketing strategy unless you can evaluate its effectiveness and your ROI (return on investment). Ms. Francis suggests adding coupons to your newspaper ads. “Advertising in magazines [and newspapers] is expensive. Every quarter, the ad exec would beg me to renew my ad. I decided to include a coupon in the ad. When not one coupon was redeemed, I dropped my ad. My advice: include a coupon in your ads to see if indeed you are reaching/persuading customers.”

www.snackbox.us/…/small-business-shoulda-coulda-wouldas.html

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Teach Your Child Entrepreneurship

Thursday, January 14th, 2010

As the owner and founder of TeaCHildMath and small business entrepreneur,  I am frequently asked how to teach children entrepreneurship. 

My recommendation is to have your child actually run a business such as a lemonade stand.  Have your child compute the cost of the lemons, the sugar, the cups and other incidentals. 

At the end of the day, have your child count up the sales and figure out the net profit.  Your child is solving some real math problems in a real context, not only addition and subtraction but multiplication and division.  What was the net profit at the end of the day if 15 cups of lemonade at 50 cents each were sold and the cost was 5 cents per cup?  Math in a real context is powerful.  Your child is holding a fistful of dollars and a cup full of change.  He/she is very interested in how much money he/she made and how to increase profits next time. 

Discuss what factors increase sales such as selling on a summer day, cost of products, lemonade stand location and developing salesmanship skills by engaging with customers.  What of advertising with a bigger sign and maybe one posted on the corner?  Discuss whether diversifying the product line by selling chocoate chip cookies would increase sales.  One lemonade-stand entrepreneur in my neighborhood found, not surprisingly, it was cheaper to buy chocolate chip cookies at Costco and reselling them.

A dollar your child earns is worth so much more than the dollar you give him. Think also of your child’s pride and satisfaction in running his or her business.  Why not teach your child to be resourceful at an early age?  Why not develop these entrepreneurial skills?

Entrepreneurship is developing an idea, product or service and selling it.  Start with a lemonade stand; the lessons learned here are Basic Entrepreneurship 101.

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Women are natural entrepreneurs

Monday, August 17th, 2009

This morning I was asked what attributes women possessed that made them entrepreneurs.  Here’s my reply for all the moms who each day invent a better way of doing something or refine a product and dream of developing it to help others:

Women are natural entrepreneurs because they are wired to be innovative, always seeking better and easier ways of doing things.  Men evolved relying on physical strength; women had to use their wits to survive.  Whereas men were focused on the big target such as killing the mammoth, women had to care for children and multi-task.  Women also see connections that men often miss.  Entrepeneurs must be innovative, creative and able to perform a dozen things at one time.  Women’s social skills also serve them well in entrepreneurship.

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