As a small business owner selling products by the hundreds per month that mega-companies sell by the hundreds per minute, do you ever wonder if there are enough people to buy your "indie" product when so many are buying the mega-company brands? If so, stop wondering and just get to work selling your wares. If the microbrewery industry is any indication, indie has more appeal -- and the big boys know it. This means that if you are willing to work hard, you're already a winner no matter what.

I've been watching the upward growth of the microbrewery industry for many years now, particularly since my cousin's brand of "Mojo Highway" golden ale was featured in a major hip hop magazine several years ago. Unfortunately, he did not have the funding to expand his brand and the beer company went under, but his experience demonstrated the clear consumer demand for products made by micro-manufacturers of everything from soap to alcoholic beverages.

An MSNBC article today further confirms this. Mega-company beer sales declined 1.6% last year while micro-brewery sales jumped a whopping 9%. So what are the bigger companies doing? Doling out big bucks to snap up the smaller brands and ward off the competition, that's what!

Think about it. You can buy a product that you see advertised on the side of buses, during championship football game halftime shows and in sleek major department store catalogs. Or you can buy a product made by someone who started his or her business from passion to deliver you the best product imaginable. And to top it all off, she used to work at one of the world's mega-companies and became just as tired and burned out as you are, so she started her own business. Now, she supports her family by making and selling to you the products she feels so passionate about. If the product quality and performance are there (and often times, both are better than the major brands), then which would you choose to buy?

The corporate suction of niche brands is happening all over. Remember back in 2000 when the Hain Food Group - the country's largest health food company at the time, and which is now called the Hain Celestial Group -- bought Celestial Seasonings for close to $400 million? (And it has since purchased many more indie companies including a brand of organic baby food.) Or how about when Disney purchased Baby Einstein from mom and entrepreneur Julie Clark for a reported $25 million?

Big companies' products are convenient because they are ubiquitous. When people want to buy a product at a discount price that meets a physical need, they are there. For example, say you're at a football game and they sell big brew in the stands. Your buddies are buying it by the gallon, so you have some too. Or you're running around like a crazy woman on December 24 trying to finish your holiday shopping and you spot mega-brand company lotion on sale at a 50% discount. What are you going to do?

But when you want to buy a product that fills more than a physical need, you act differently. You want to be inspired by the products you spend your money on. You want to identify with the place from when they came, and when they sprang forth from the heart of a person just like you who is pursuing a life-long dream to get a beautiful product into your hot little hands, which are you going to choose?

Lifestyle CEOs, our time has come. Of course it's not easy. Julie Clark spent a lot of time running Baby Einstein before Disney came along. (You can enjoy my Lifestyle CEO interview with Julie here.) But if you do have a quality product, and there is a demand for it, you can grow it to the point where you will have a lot of options.

You'll be able to stay small, and make enough money to support yourself, your family and maybe even have a small business asset to hand off in your will. Or you can work like the dickens for a decade and sell your baby for millions of dollars to a company that will fold it into their own group of brands. And there are a thousand options in between. Partner with someone else. License your brand. Franchise it. Only the length of your life limits the possibilities.

So, again, if you ever worry about whether there are enough people to buy your "indie" product when so many are buying the mega-company brands, use the time you spend worrying about that to take actions to move your business forward -- step by step, day by day.

Now, stop worrying!! And get to work!!

Posted by Donna Maria at 09:30 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

How many times have you sat down in front of your computer or in your office and just stared at the walls because you didn't know what to do next. If you're a mom like me, it probably wasn't long before someone in the house found something for you to do. But let's say the young ones are out for a while and it's just you trying to figure out how to get your business from where it is now to where you want it to be -- generating more cash flow! Sound familiar? If so, then these Simple Steps To Make Your Cash Register Ring are for you.

1. Pursue Ideal Opportunities ONLY. No one can be all things to all people, and yet the most common mistake I see mom business owners make is trying to straddle over too many fences as they say "yes" to everyone who calls. If you are a home gardening expert, stick to that and do it well. Heck, you may actually have more than one area of expertise, and if so, stick to them. But don't try to pursue every single opportunity that comes along. Doing so diffuses your impact and marginalizes your circle of influence. Stick to serving people who fit your idea of a model customer. That will keep you busy enough without trying to say "yes" to everyone that comes along.

2. Identify Your Foundation and Build Around It. Take the time to actually hone in on the foundation of your business. What is it that you do? What is it that you sell? Once you identify that, structure your business and your strategy around that. If you are a professional organizer, build your business structure and activities around that. Write articles for local publications -- everyone can use some help getting more organized. Start your own blog on the topic, contribute your expertise to discussion groups organized around the topic, speak for free at your local public library, start writing your book. As you can see, the possibilities are endless. Do what homebuilders do: lay the foundation and build up and out from there.

3. Institutionalize Your Activities. How many different ways do you go about accomplishing the same routine activities week after week? If it's more than a few ways, you need to cut some things out. For example, if you accept credit cards as payment in full for a product and someone asks you if they can pay in installments, it may be tempting to allow that. After all, it's a sale and you get the money eventually. But in reality, adjusting the structure of your business to accommodate such a request will usually be more trouble than it's worth, especially if you are not set up to track payments over time. The idea is to operate your business so that it can all but run itself. It may not be automated, but the way you do things should be. Make routine business activities as predictable, non-variable and automated as possible.

4. Delegate. What freedom! What exhilaration! There is great joy in delegating tasks that someone else can do more efficiently than you can. I know, I know -- you're a do-it-yourselfer and this is your business. That may be true, but unless you learn to delegate, it won't be a business for long because you won't be able to do everything yourself. If you try to, the business will plateau. Yes, it will simply stop growing because you can't be effective at doing everything and still grow profitably.

I once heard someone say, "I'm too busy running my business to actually make any money!" Don't let this happen to you. Delegate some of the tasks that others can do more effectively than you can. You don't have to delegate everything all at once. Remember that small drops of water make a mighty ocean, so start by getting people to do small things for you. Maybe start with having someone else update your website or edit the articles you write. Perhaps you sell products you make yourself and could use a "helper" to assist you in the manufacturing, packing and/or shipping process. Whatever the case, start by finding small things that someone else can do for a small fee or trade. You'll be glad you did.

If these tips have been helpful to you, you will love my interview with Jim McCaffrey, who provided these tips and more on a recent edition of the Lifestyle CEO Show. To enjoy the show, click here.

Posted by Donna Maria at 10:57 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

A few years ago I met Marla Russo through a member of the Handmade Beauty Network. At the time, I didn't know much about public relations and since meeting Marla, I still don't know everything, but I know a whole lot more than I did then. Marla is the founder and president of Bella PR where for the past five years, she has represented women-owned businesses to the most influential editors in the magazine publishing industry. If you want to generate buzz about your products but don't know where to start, here's Marla's advice.

1. Get Organized. You have to know your product inside and out, and present it well. No crooked or smudged labels or leaky bottles. Make sure graphics are neat and coorindated. Labels can be printed on a home computer, but they still have to be nicely done. If you are not organized, you can't look organized. If a magazine or newspaper editor sees "unorganized," they will sense the risk associated with touting your product to their readers, and when that happens, your product ends up in the nearest trash pile.

2. Know Your Target. Everybody wants to be in a magazine, but which one? Oprah's would be great, but is it really the best one for you? This is where knowing your target comes in. Read several publications for a few months and identify the ones you think are the best fit for your product or service. If you don't sell organic products, don't waste your time sending them to the editor of a magazine focusing on organic living. Read publications to get a feel for what their style is. If a magazine only features products with a celebrity testimonial angle, and you don't have any celebrity customers, that magazine may not be worth your time.

3. Think Locally. Don't forget about the regional press. Your backyard newspaper is not the New York Times, but as they say, there's no such thing as bad publicity. Even a feature in a small neighborhood publication gives your products credibility so don't forget about the media in your own back yard.

4. Tell Your Story. Everyone loves a good story. Make sure your press release and other media "pitches" tell your story. What's interesting about the way your products came into being? What's the personal side of your business? Editors are "influencers," who like to present their readers with stories that resonate and create excitement. Tell a good story and the buzz will follow.

If these tips have stimulated your apetite for more, enjoy my entire interview with Marla (and tons of other great interviews) on my Lifestyle CEO Show radio page!

Posted by Donna Maria at 01:56 PM | Permalink