What Makes a Good Business Idea?
By TLS | May 12, 2008
What makes a good business idea? I know lots of people that have started businesses with what seems to be the golden touch. Everything seems to come together, revenue starts flowing, and boom - success! But I also know other people who think they have a great business idea and they give it their all, but the business just doesn’t take off. What gives?
Is it really in the business idea itself? Or is the success of a startup more closely related to the personalities and skills of the individuals who are running it? If you have insight into this, please let me know.
Overall, I think a strong management team is important, but is that always a requirement? I doubt it. I’m sure there are lots of companies that become successful in spite of their founders/managers. Even so, it has to help. Some of the best examples of leadership and business acumen I have ever seen can be found in my former bosses. In these individuals you will find a fantastic combination of entrepreneurial grit, infectious charisma, and hawk-like adherence to the numbers. It’s no wonder their companies grew into sustainable, profitable enterprises. These are guys that I try to emulate, and I have found success, but the big win has eluded me so far.
Take, for example, the online marketing and lead generation site for LASIK surgeons called 1-800-LASERDR.COM. We started this business five years ago, but it is little more than a healthy proof of concept. It has modest revenues from a handful of loyal customers. Granted, we have not had the resources to build the business as quickly as we would have liked, but I still thought we would be farther along by now. So what is the problem? I am too close to the business to give an objective critique.
Obviously, this business is under capitalized and lacks resources. Perhaps that is the entire problem. But perhaps not. I have no doubt that the same company in the hands of my mentors would be at least 10 times larger and on track to being the best referral based business in the laser eye surgery market by now.
So, we are at a crossroads. Your feedback (if you are reading) is encouraged.
We intend to raise a seed round of financing to kick start the business, but we are also intersted in establishing a strategic alliance that could help us tip the balance. The model is similar to other businesses in the space, with some important differences.
(1) First, our service is production based, so there is built in upside to our model. The better we perform for our clients, the more money we make.
(2) Second, we offer an extension into the offline world for LASIK surgery marketing. None of our competitors have the domain/phone number combination. We are positioned to be the 1-800-DENTIST of the LASIK market.
(3) And third, our customers get exclusive relationships with us. If someone is looking for a Phoenix LASIK surgeon, we will send that person to our one client in Phoenix. We do not double deal - no sending of prospective patients to more than one client.
Please give your feedback! I’m all ears.
Topics: Management, Business | No Comments »
PageRank Is Up
By TLS | May 2, 2008
Recently all of my personal sites and the sites that I do SEO for have experienced an increase in PageRank. Obviously, this is a welcome change. It’s nice to see good practices paying off. It’s frustrating when I see other sites blatantly cheating or flirting with the dark side get high rankings - especially when sites that obey the rules don’t get ranked as high.
Pagerank is good, but ultimately what counts is that the sites are ranked well in SERPS so that customers, clients, members, and/or buyers can find them. Fortunately, I am very happy with the results for my sites thus far.
Many of them rank in the top 5 results for critical keywords. Obviously, I would like to see this trend continue. I think more improvement can be made on several of the sites by adding additional optimized content. Others mainly lack quality backlinks, which in my opinion is the most difficult aspect of SEO.
Topics: PageRank, Interactive Marketing, SEO | No Comments »
The King of Torts
By TLS | April 25, 2008
So I’m in the middle of reading John Grisham’s The King of Torts. Makes me think about the whole "ambulance chaser" label slapped on attorneys. So what is it that gets people upset at the attorneys?
Is it the way they advertise? If that was the problem then those guys would go out of business, but often they get the most business. How far is too far when it comes to getting clients? There are many attorney commercials on TV that are extremely "hollywood" - full of clever slogans, jingles, and dramatizations. I see the ads on TV all the time asking people to call The Law Offices of James Sokolove, LLC. Nothing wrong with that. Their ads are very tame. Dark backdrop, ominous voice-over, and contact info.
Is it the number of lawsuites filed? Maybe that’s it.
Or, more likely, is it the money that attorneys get from settlements. It seems to me that this is our winner. Would lawyers get such a bad wrap of they didn’t get a percentage of settlements and judgments? Doubt it.
Ultimately, I have no concept of this stuff, yet, but I am looking forward to greater understanding in school and then in practice over the next several years. Until then I’ll just sit back and enjoy Grisham’s fiction.
tort - Damage, injury, or a wrongful act done willfully, negligently, or in circumstances involving strict liability, but not involving breach of contract, for which a civil suit can be brought.
American Heritage Dictionary
Topics: Books, Law | No Comments »
Thomas Skinner in the News
By TLS | April 14, 2008
I was poking around on the web tonight and came across this archived article from 2001 in the Deseret News. This was a report on a venture funding event that the company I worked for (Communitect) attended. I believe this historic document is the first time I was ever quoted in the media. Whoo-hoo! Check it out:
Utah techies flock to Winternet
A chance to see hot technologies and schmooze with peers
By Lois M. Collins
Deseret News staff writerIn what has become a trade show with a twist, hundreds of people packed into the Third West Bistro in Salt Lake City Thursday night to see some of Utah’s hottest technologies.
But the main event was the opportunity to schmooze — not only to see who’s doing what but to explore ways that Utah technology companies can augment, complement and assist each other.
Winternet is an annual event sponsored by Wasatch Venture Fund to showcase the companies included in its portfolio — everything from the Web-crawling, data-gathering WhizBang! Labs to the online document storage capabilities of NetDocuments and Talk2’s voice-enabled Web applications.
“I came to see who’s attracting interest,” said Troy Hamler of Humanvoice, a real-time, real-person customer support service. “Technology changes rapidly, and it’s important to keep your finger on the pulse.”
Jenny Olsen said her company, Lineo, has been a beneficiary of venture capital and came to Winternet to see how they could help other technology companies.
Lineo specializes in imbedded applications, like the brains in a credit card processor in the self-service pump at the gas station. Most of their products have been based on the Linux operating system, but they’re now moving into a more general market.
Communitect doesn’t have a product yet. But sales director Thomas Skinner was happy to talk to people about their upcoming mobile customer service. It’s designed to work with wireless devices like cell phones to let companies answer customers’ simple questions. For instance, someone could request a credit increase on a credit card when faced with an unexpectedly high bill while dining, he said. And do it silently, typing the request, to avoid embarrassment.
Networking at Winternet allows his company to follow its plan to “skate where the puck is going to be.”
The shift in focus, emphasizing a chance to just visit with each other instead of principally touting products, is a result of feedback, according to Todd Stevens, managing director of Wasatch Venture Fund. “We found people just want to go and see how they can partner, how they can work together.”
The timing this year coincided with the Wayne Brown conference, attracting some tech-savvy out-of-staters to the show, he said. “We’re hear to demonstrate Utah’s vibrant, growing high-tech community. The Internet has seen some bruising (with failed dot-coms), but this shows a lot of Utah companies are doing well.”
“It never hurts to meet new folks,” Matt Thomas of Talk2 said.
Other Utah companies showcased during Winternet included emWare, Freeport.com, Cerberian, MyAssociation, Inetz, Campus Pipeline, Wasatch Digital IQ, the Technology to Market alliance, Skogen Group and DoBox.
——————————————————————————–
E-MAIL: lois@desnews.com
——————————————————————————–
Words: 459
Section: Business
This was a big blast from the past. I had a great time at Communitect (now known as Smile Reminder). I learned a lot from my friend (and boss), Jim Higgins, and gained valuable experience.
Topics: Work, Business | No Comments »
Law School is a Go!
By TLS | April 11, 2008
I found out today that I was accepted to the UNLV Boyd School of Law, so I will be starting law school in the fall. I’m looking forward to the challenge of learning the law and I know it will be a rewarding experience.
Now that I know I will be attending law school I suspect that I will gradually begin to devote more of my consulting efforts towards law firm marketing and law firm seo as perfecting my skills in these areas will bode well for me as a future attorney.
Let the fun begin! 
Topics: Law School, Education, Interactive Marketing, SEO | 1 Comment »
« Previous Entries