Posts Tagged homework
Book outline: Crush It! part 1
Posted by eviator in For Job Seekers on December 2, 2009
As a professional I always strive to be the best at what I do, which is why I am a big fan of sharpening my marketing tools. A big part of this is reading the latest business books and trying to learn as much as I can; only a fool thinks he/she knows everything. I recently read Crush It! Cash In On Your Passion by Gary Vaynerchuk, and have learned some very useful techniques for marketing / branding yourself online, as well as effective ways to use social networking websites to accomplish marketing goals; both of which are essential skills in today’s business world. I’m going to go through this book, chapter by chapter, describing the salient points as well as offering my own commentary. The chapter 1 discussion starts now.
In his first chapter, Passion is everything, Vaynerchuk offers his secret to success.
- Love your family
- Work superhard
- Live your passion
This formula may seem overly basic to some, but if you think about it, you know it’s true. At one of my previous jobs, I found myself dissatisfied even though the pay was good, and the job was challenging. At the time, I had no idea why, but after reading this book, I’ve realized what I was missing. I wasn’t living my passion. I’m betting that this is the point where most people have problems. With food to put on the table and bills to pay, it’s easy to think of success as something to be measured by money. We seldom realize that success should be measured by how happy we are. If you’re not living your passion, you are missing out on one of the most important elements of success.
Living your passion sounds great, but in the meantime you have bills to pay and so you won’t (and shouldn’t) quit your day job just yet. The good news is that with all of the opportunities available using free social networking websites (such as blogs like the one you are reading now), you can still live your passion, and may even be able to make some money off of it in the future. Vaynerchuk discusses these social networking websites as well as money making opportunities later in the book, which we will get to in a future post.
Notable quotes from this chapter:
- Money goes where people go.
- It’s never a bad time to start a business unless you’re starting a mediocre business.
- The person who can dominate in rough times is the person who can dominate, period.
- Social media = business, period.
Have you noticed something missing in your life? Are you living your passion? Email me EdwardViator [at] evil-marketer [dot] com
Do you show an understanding of the marketing landscape?
An integral part of the business and marketing plan is to provide a fundamental understanding of the market space. When getting the attention of the investor it is paramount that the entrepreneurs demonstrate that understanding in a concise manner. As an entrepreneur what might you need to show?
- How big is the market?
- Is it a new or mature market? Is it growing, staying steady, or shrinking?
- Who are the major players? This includes the producers and the buyers.
- What products are in the market?
- How is the market segmented?
- What are the outside influencers?
- What barriers exist in the market for new products?
There are many other aspects (which I will address in a later post) in a marketing plan’s overview of the market condition; but these are the fundamentals when first introducing you to potential investors. Later, there is time to do a deep dive but the initial impressions should be that you did your homework and you are someone that is the right person to tackle this market.
Tell me about the marketspace?
Showing understanding of the business and the market is required to attract the savvy investor. The March 23, 2009 post lists questions that the investor may ask to determine if the entrepreneur did their homework. This post looks at one of those questions:
What is currently going on in that marketspace (the big issues)?
This question is much more than it seems. This question allows the entrepreneur to talk about the opportunity and potential of the company. If the entrepreneur just supplies information then they have missed the point.
While it may be obvious how to answer this question and just rattle off a few pat answers, remember that the audience is potential investors. They may be savvier than the entrepreneur in that industry or totally ignorant (in which they may know of experts). Always treat them as “well-informed” but ignorant of your company. The answer should be concise, but not confined to a listing of the major issues. The audience needs to know why your company is important to the industry and how your company is going to address a problem in that industry.
This question can be broken up:
- What are the major challenges of the industry now?
- What is the future of the industry?
- How is your company going to be affected now and in the future?
- How is your company going to address these challenges and turn them into opportunities?
- What is the expected outcome for your company and possibly, the industry?
This may seem like the entrepreneur is thinking too big. Is every business going to change the world? No. This still applies to someone on a much smaller scale.
What about someone opening a restaurant in the neighborhood? The restaurant industry has challenges and a future. The neighborhood may pose unique challenges to the restaurant which can be turned into opportunities. It may be challenging to open the restaurant, but the owner has a fresh concept that has proven successful in other similar neighborhoods. Rather than changing the industry, how would the restaurant change the neighborhood, or the immediate stores around it? Will it cause other stores to open up near it and see even further increase in walk-in traffic?
Once again, in a very concise manner, the smart entrepreneur can inform the investor of what is important about the market, how the company will address it, and how the company will be successful. Rather than seeing this question as just getting information, this is another opportunity to sell the potential of the manager and the company.