Small Business Center

Obviously most people know me as a cartoonist, but I’m also a stay-at-home dad. I quit my last day job soon after my son was born and I’ve been juggling diaper pins and ink pens ever since.

Usually the two roles don’t intersect. I know a lot of cartoonists that get material from their families, but I prefer to have work be work, and Dad be Dad .

But, to be fair, occasionally they can’t help but overlap, such as the above cartoon which came about after a routine checkup at the pediatrician with my daughter.

(And, to be fair, “object permanence” is inherently funny.)

I used to own a market research firm, and we’d do just about anything for a buck. You need focus groups? No problem. You need a conjoint study? We’re your guys. Mall intercepts? Let me get out my clipboard.

I found by offering such a broad set of services, we never really got good at any one thing. We had consultants doing certain types of projects only once or twice a year, so they lacked experience and got intellectually rusty. We needed all sorts of people to offer such a broad set of services, making the business neither scalable nor sellable. Eventually we decided to change models and offer one set of research papers to all of our clients on a subscription basis.

The subscription business started off well enough, but along the way, someone asked us if we still did focus groups. It was like a recovering addict being offered a fix. We jumped at the opportunity to do the project. The problem was that people noticed the crack in our resolve and burrowed a large hole in our claim of being specialists. Clients realized we weren’t totally committed to the subscription model and started asking for customization to our reports and one-off side projects. My employees noticed we had strayed from our offering and started accepting other projects — much like a child seeing his parents say one thing and do another.

Pretty soon, we were running two businesses in parallel with our resources being spread across two completely different models. We were half-pregnant: spread thin, cash flow tightened, project quality slipped and deadlines pushed. After a while, with clients demanding custom work, we had to abandon the subscription model and go back to just doing projects.

After retreating for a few years into the misery of owning an unsellable service business, we took another run at building a subscription business. This time, we told clients we were not accepting custom projects anymore.

We had to start saying no before clients realized we were serious.

I expected good clients to balk and that sales would dip. Instead, a funny thing happened: we started having much better conversations. Clients stopped asking us to do custom work and started asking how our new model could help them achieve their goals. For every one client who said no to our new model, two new ones heard about our unique offer and wanted in. Our salespeople got good at the pitch and were able to sign up 100 enterprise customers as subscribers.

The subscription business is a build-once-sell-many-times annuity model. Our scalability, recurring revenue and focus ultimately allowed me to sell the business in 2008.

Here’s a video that describes how you can identify a scalable product or service of your own:

There’s plenty to watch in today’s small business news roundup from Small Business Trends. Here are links to the highlights from the news and blogs we follow.

Operations

How do you get more customers even in a tough economy? How about setting prices based on value not cost? Sound crazy? Read on. BusinessWeek

Let’s make a deal. Being successful in small business is about getting what you’re worth, but the key is to make sure you’re giving as good as you get. The Toilet Paper Entrepreneur

87% of business owners are satisfied with their jobs. A recent poll suggests business owners enjoy the highest job satisfaction (even over doctors and lawyers.) The pollsters suggest it’s partly because business owners make more money.  While that’s true in some cases, it’s not true across the board.  We at Small Business Trends think that a large part of the satisfaction comes from feeling in control … and being self-sufficient. Gallup.com

Marketing

Where is your online traffic? They’re on Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter and it’s time to go get them. Here’s how. America’s Best Business Practices

How is your business standing out from the crowd? Are you a helpful book or an annoying direct mail flyer? Open Forum

Why your business really needs a blog. We know, we know. You’ve heard it all before.  But John Joyce explains why you really can’t afford to neglect this most important marketing tool. The Small BizNest

Startup

When should an entrepreneur say no to a paying customer? When doing business with the wrong partner could cost you much more. The Rise to the Top

How do you grow your business on a budget? One word: Magnets! Small Business CEO

Legal

Long Time Coming. The SBA under the Obama Administration has finally proposed a rule to implement a law increasing the share of federal contracts to women-owned businesses  … a decade after it was passed. NYTimes.com

Watch out for “unethical tax schemes”. A recent IRS e-News bulletin warns about schemes specifically targeting home business. While we at Small Business Trends believe you should get the deductions you’re entitled to, don’t fall for tax schemes that seem “too good to be true.” IRS.gov

Policy

Should small business people be calling the shots? A poll finds 51 percent of Americans believe the business community makes better financial decisions than Washington. Rasmussen Reports

How will health care reform really affect your business? Business owners have been screaming for years about the rising cost of healthcare/insurance.  But could the cure be worse than the ailment?  Learn what Washington’s prescription for a healthier America will cost you, according to the NFIB

Washington to the rescue? Really? Congress has OK’d more money for popular SBA backed loans and the media is again portraying small businesses as needing a bailout. But one community banker has a different view. The video is more interesting than the text story — watch it. CNNMoney.com

The Cadillac health care tax. OK, it’s not a tax on your car. But the health care plan being proposed may actually hurt those small businesses already offering coverage. Kaiser Health News

We hope you’re enjoying your daily small business news roundup here at Small Business Trends. Here is the latest from news sources and blogs we are following regularly.

Marketing

What can Lego teach us about guerrilla marketing? Shane Gibson talks about giving away real value and offering a variety of options in the digital world. Closing Bigger.net

Does your business really need customers? Here’s a completely different way to look at and treat the people you serve each day. Walt Goshert

Self-Development

How to create your own online business training. Whether you attend an accredited business school or design your own “personal MBA” with online and other resources, the key to a good education is the information you take away. Copyblogger

Learn better speaking skills with seven simple steps. When it’s time to do a presentation for your small business, some simple advice will help you shine. MarketingProfs Daily Fix

Tech

Google Translate breaks the online language barrier. Think Skype is something? Joel Libava will tell you about one more tool that will increase your small business’s global reach. The Franchise King

New mobile devices may challenge Apple products. What will a Sony line of products offer by way of small business tech tools? WSJ

Operations

Want to make more money from your small business while putting less time in? Who doesn’t? But the key to success may be much more than simply increasing your efficiency. Bloggertone.com

Embarrassed by your profit margin? Remember, profitability is a sign of a healthy business and of good value delivered to your clients and customers. MyProjectTracker

Does your small business need a lawyer? Better read this first. Open Forum

Do you take notes while meeting with clients? Or when having any kind of important business meeting where issues are being discussed and hashed out? You should and here are some more tips on how to do it right. Sales Tip A Day

Startup

A great business is about more than a great idea. When it comes to launching your next venture, you’ll need plenty of hard work and the right skills. 37 Signals

Actions speak louder than words. What’s the difference between talking about that startup idea and making it happen? The answer is simpler than you think. Chris Brogan

Ever dream of launching an online retail store? Entrepreneur Cristian Dorobantescu talks with one small business owner about his experiences in the competitive world of e-commerce. Entrepreneurship Interviews

Policy

Are more loans really the key to recovery? Or is easy credit what got us into this mess in the first place? Cato Institute

More sales not government incentives are the key to economic growth. Businesses are happy about any tax breaks, but a $15 billion jobs bill won’t create new hires on its own. WSJ