Fighting Back Against Shopper's Guilt

Today's economy has lead to people feeling "shopper's guilt" and "luxury shame" which has caused a problem for many luxury brands. How do we fight back against this? Here are some tactics being used by the many companies trying to solve this problem.

Three Main Tatics:

- The Internet/Online Shopping: having your product avaliable throughout the internet is are very effective way to avoid shopper's guilt because people don't feel as guilty when they are purchasing luxury products over the internet because it is much more personal; you are the only one that knows you are buying the products. Online shopping allows you to purchase the luxury brands and products that you want while having the privacy of being in your own home.

- Charity: Having money being donated to charity whenever one of your products are purchased is another way to help get passed shopper's guilt. When people know that their money is being given to a charity it makes them feel alot better about buying the luxury brand because they know their money is going to a good cause.

- Novel Shopping Experience: opening up pop-up stores in malls and other new locations is another method of helping avoid shopper's guilt. If people are surprised by new luxury stores that they didn't know existed they are often tempted to go inside and look and by just seeing it by surprise they don't get the chance to avoid it in the first place.

Graffiti Removal Service

Paul Watts came to the sharks with the offer of 350k for 15% equity of his company. Paul Watt's company is a Graffiti Removal Service (GNS) which is a completely mobile graffiti removal service. Paul Watts used a special chemical to easily remove the graffiti from a stop sign to show the sharks how easy it was for him to remove graffiti, but the sharks immediatley jumped on him by asking if he owned the product which no he didn't. They questioned whether other people could simply get the product and how his franchise would work if other people could just start their own business doing the same thing. Also, Paul Watt overvalued his company hugely, his offer ment that he believed his company was worth over 2 million dollars which at the time defintly was not.

Soul's Calling Inc.

Gina Cotroneo from Dallas presented to the sharks her company Soul's Calling which is a company that creates and markets a "fashion-with-a-purpose" accessory and gift line. She wanted 150k for 25% equity of her company but the problem was over a 5 year period her sales have only been 18k. These numbers were way too low for the sharks and therefore none of the sharks were in. All of the sharks offered her free advice though, Kevin O stated that "numbers never lie" and that people should never let emotion get in the way of business and that she should let it go. The overall basic message was that Gina should stop proceeding with her dream of this business because realistically it was not working.

Jump Forward

Brian Duggan and Adam McCombs are two business entrepreneurs that run a company calls Jump Forward. Jump Forward is an online system that allows high school athletes and their parents to create detailed profiles and market themselves to college coaches. They also created a Blackberry application, that allows coaches to negotiate the difficult rules on contacting high school athletes. If these rules are broken it could lead to large fines for the universities. The colleges pay a subscription fee and so far 30 different schools assigned up, and they have 60,000 students who've created profiles, for free. Kevin O was the first to bite, with an offer of $200,000 for 20% of the business. Robert quickly offered $300,000 for 35%. After asking entrepreneurs to step out of the tank Robert and Kevin came to an agreement, and offered $400,000 for 50% of the business. Brain and Adam rejected the deal which lead to Robert offering $500,000 for 50%, when it looked like they wouldn't accept that he offered $600,000 for 50%. Brian countered with $750,000 for 50% or 300,000 for 25%. Robert and Kevin were unwilling to budge from the $600,000 offer, just when it looked like the deal was going to fall aparat Brain and Adam said Done and accepted the deal.

Mr.Poncho and URO club

Mr.Poncho:

Sandy Hyun and Roman Pietrs purposed the business Mr.Poncho which is a protective cover for MP3 players, with the way to keep your headphones from getting tangled. They were looking for $50,000 for 25% stake in the business. The business is two years old and last year had sales of $35,000, the protective case is patent pending, but the innovative cop is just a re-purpose patent. This means that somebody else owns the only innovative or interesting part of this business. Also, the competition of the business they were going in was huge. Their are tons of different businesses putting out different types of cases, and plastic covers. No sharks were willing to invest in the business and the young entreprenuers left empy handed.

UROclub:

Dr.Floyd Seskin was a urologist and an avid golfer, who purposed his business called UROClub which was a product that allowed men to urinate into a hollow club that looks like a seven iron. The doctor had sold 3000 units last year and had sales of $70,000. This was not enough to convince most of The Sharks and one by one The Sharks dropped out. All expect for Kevin H who offered $25,000 for 70%, Dr.Seskin was looking for a business experience and not moeny so he accepted the offer.

The Bobble Place

Jeff Wolsky was an entreprenuer who ran successful online business selling custom-made bobblehead dolls, but the business he purposed to the sharks was a business called The Bobble Place which was a kiosk system that sold these custom bobble heads Customers would provide a picture of themselves and pick out the body for their bobblehead. Then the bobble head would be custom-made by Jeff's already existing business, The Bobble Place is a seperate business from his wildly successful online business. Jeff was looking for $75 000 for a 15% equity in his business.

Seven Keys to Success - Eric Van Maren

1. The value of hard work
- be prepared to work harder then your employees

2. Be passionate...love what you do

3. Make mistakes and learn from it
- don't make hasty decisions

4. Guard your reputation
- you spend a lifetime building a reputation but you can lose it quickly

5. Networking. Build your network.
- 5000 names in his contact
- use your contacts, ask for help

6. Hire smart people

7. Partnerships
- what does your partner bring to the table

*Known Knowns - lumber cost
*Unknown Known - snow removal
*Unknown Unknowns - CRISIS - exit strategies

Creativity

Education is ment to take us into this future that we can't grasp because the future is so unpredictable but in order to survive we need creativity. Creativity now, is as important in education as literacy. Kids aren't afraid to be wrong because they don't care. All children are born artists but grow out of creativity rather than growing into it. Kids as they become adults began to become afraid of being wrong because of the education system which teachs kids that being wrong is bad but the truth is if people aren't willing to be wrong then they will never come up with anything original. In schools throughout the world, the education system is built in the same hierarchy where math, sciences, humanities and all of those core subjects are at the top and subjects such as art, music, and dance are all at the bottom. The arts are at the bottom of the hierarchy of education. The education system has formed are minds in a sense to not be creative and we should critically re-think how the education system works and how intelligence is viewed.

Sam Walton (founder of wal-mart) Notes

which company would you choose?

between the two companies; the grill charm company and the bobble head company I would choose the grill charm company without a doubt. I not only liked the idea of the grill charm company more but I also liked the entreprenuer more as well. The entrepreneur of the bobble head company was only offering equity for the new un-tested company he was wanting to start, not his main online company that is already greating lots of profit. The entreprenuer wanted the sharks to give him 75'000 dollars for something that had no real proof that it would be succesful and also wouldnt share any of his other company with them for insurance on their money. The man was greedy and also wasnt very professional, when asked by the sharks what his profits were, he couldnt give them a hard answer, only price ranges. First impressions are very important and who you are going into business with is very important as well which is mainly why I would not go into business with the bobble head company entreprenuer. I would have made a deal with the grill charm company because I really liked the idea as well as the entreprenuer. She was very determined and passionate about her idea and didn't ask overvalue her company. You could tell that she wanted to expand and was willing to give up some to gain in terms of her idea growing as a company. Giving what the sharks offered, I would have probably offered about 75'000 dollars for 30% of her company or tried to get in on a deal with one of the sharks because I really believe that the product is a good product and would want to get in on it.

Blue Ocean Strategy

Six key statements:

1. reconstruct market boundries

2. focus on the big picture, not the numbers

3. reach beyond existing demand

4. get the strategic sequence right

5. overcome key organizational hurdles

6. build execution into strategy

Two companies that I would consider to be Blue Ocean companies are

Seth Godin on Sliced Bread

Seth Godin starts of by talking about sliced bread and how it took 15 years to catch on due to bad advertising. The way people use to advertise was known as "the T.V industrail complex". The way this idea worked was that you buy some ads which gets more distribution which sells more products which gets more money. This cycle continues to go in a circle, but in fact was cancelled because it was proven to not be effective. Advertisers usually target the mass majority of average people; the people in the middle of the curve, when in fact they should try and target the curve of people (the fringe) who are obessed with their product or service because they will listen and hopefully tell their freinds thus the word will spread. Another major point Seth Godin made was that Design is free when you get to scale and the people who come up with remarkable things are people who find a way to make design work for them. Also, being safe is risky and being very good is bad because both of these are boring and people don't notice boring things therefore they won't notice you or your business.

Pitching Element Bars

Element Bars is a company that makes personalized energy bars. The entrepreneur - Jonathans -intial offer to the sharks was 150 k for 15% equity. Even after the first Shark is out the entreprenuer doesnt give up and still answers his doubts and questions then he follows with telling the sharks about his features and benefits. Daymond (one of the sharks) makes the comment "the first person to name a price losses" which means basically that you shouldnt put up a number first because you need to see what others are willing to pay for first. Johnathan put up to big of a number for the amount of equity he was asking for, but when Daymond was about to decline he let them know that he was willing to neogatiate which in turn lead to Daymond offering 150 k for 75% equity of his company and Kevin H offering 150 k for 100% equity and a 4 % royalty to Jonathan. Jonathan considered the offer but wasn't willing to give up that much equity and countered to Daymonds offer with 20% equity; Daymond refused and was out. Jonathan was left with one shark (Kevin H) whose offer was still up, Johnathan told him that he was not willing to make the deal because he wasnt able to give up all that equity he told him that he wasnt willing to go over 50%. Kevin H countered with the same offer but for only 35%, Johanthan countered again saying that he was only willing to give up 25%. Kevin H gave him his final offer meeting halfway at 30% equity, Johanthan then accepted the deal.

Some Key Negotiation Skills Johanthan used:

1. Doesn't give up - explain counter offer

2. features/ benefits

3. first person to name a price losses

4. Force others to make offer

5. meet in the middle

Shark Tank Vs.

SHARK TANK VS. MR. TOD'S PIES:

Mr.Tod's Pies was a small business company in the fast food industry that sold a number of different pies. Tod came into the Shark Tank asking for $460'000 for 10% of his company from the Sharks, in the end 3 of the sharks were out but the remaining 2 offered him $230'000 each for 25% each of the company. Tod was faced with a major decision, give up half of his company for $460'000, or walk away from the deal. Tod decided to accept the deal which was a great decision on his part.Tod had over valued his company and his intial offer was unrealistic, but in the end he came to realization and did what he had to do for his company.

SHARK TANK VS. IONIC EAR

After Mr. Tod's Pies had came in next came a Business entreprenuer with the idea of an "ionic ear". His idea was basically a bluetooth technology piece that would be surgically implanted into peoples ears. The Sharks laughed and reduculed his idea, and honestly told him that it was not a good and realisitic idea for the present time. The entrepreneur should have been more realistic and probably should have took feedback from more people before going in front of the sharks because if he would have he would have possibly reconsidered the value of his idea.

SHARK TANK VS. WII SPOT

The next idea was a stand that would go into medical rooms for patients that included a number of different portable screens that would allow the patient to read email, search for information, etc. Basically the idea was a convient portable computer screen for patients. The entrepreneur wanted 1.2 million for only 10% of his company which was way over valuing his company. Saying that he wanted 1.2 million for only 10% means that he valued his company at 12 million dollars which was crazy. Also, his idea had many faults, such as email which every patient already had access to via cell phone, and even laptops which many patients tend to bring and use. Overall his idea just wasnt that good and one major thing I learned was to seek feedback from experienced business people before really putting excessive amounts of money into your business. This man had sacrificed everything (his kids college funds, his houses, etc.) and put everything into his idea which is not right. You need to be realisitic about things and get feed back from experienced people who know what they are talking about and also to never put your family at risk.

What I Learned About Google.

What I learned from Google?
After watching these videos on google I have learned a numurous about of things. One concept that I really liked and enjoyed learning about was about how google was as a company. Google isn't like the traditional company. Google does many things that most companies would not do and thus helps them seperate themself from the competition even more. One well known rule to companies is to stick with a logo and never change it in order to establish their brand while google realizes that they have established their brand and change their logo everyday. Also, they offer many benefits to their employees such as good quality food, laundry machines, and also freedom. The freedom google offers to it's employees is my favourite benefit that they give. Google allows it's employees to work on what they beleive is good for their company, they have a rule in which 20% of their time can be completely devoted to whatever products or projects they wish to do. Allowing freedom to employees hugely contributes to googles success as a company by not only making it convient for people to work for google, but by making people want to work for google.

Greed vs. Giving it up

In this episode of Shark Tank, the founders of College Hunks Hauling Junk and College Foxes Packing Boxes were faced with an offer of 250, 000 for 50% of their new business College Foxes Packing Boxes and 10% of their existing business called College Hunks Hauling Junk. The founders decided to decline the offer, which was a huge mistake. They were greedy, and valued their business and own expertise more then it was actually worth when in fact they should have been realistic and by being realistic I mean they should have realized that if they want to expand their company they are going to have to give something up in order to get something in return.

Mark Zuckerberg

Mark Zuckerberg is the founder of facebook and after watching his interviews I have learned some intresting key points. One of the first things that I learned about Mark Zuckerberg is that he is only 23 years old, which really surprised me. I thought to myself here is this young adult at the age of only 23 years old already running a multi-billion dollar company. This truly shows that success can come at any age and any time. Mark Zuckerberg simply started a small website based out of just his university with no real intent to make his website into a business and it quickly expanded to over 40 unversities and colleges. Facebook has now expanded throughout the whole world and is being compared to major websites such as google. Also, another thing that Mark Zuckerberg does with his company, is that the company office has a dorm-like atmosphere. All of his employees are fed and there clothes are drycleaned; therefore, they have no need to leave and go out for lunch or go home. It is this type of environment that helps employees become closer and more comfortable with eachother which in turn leads to them sharing and dicussing ideas with eachother and being able to give each other feedback to try and improve these ideas.

Steve Jobs "do what you love, don't settle"

The main key point I took from Steve Jobs speech was to do what you love and to never settle for average. Throughout the speech he consistly talked about how he loves what he does, and how people need to follow their heart and find what they love in order to acheive great success because in business you will face hardships. Steve Job faced a major hardship when he was fired from apple after he had already put so much time and effort into making the mac, and you don't love what you do, you won't beable to make it through tough times like these. Steve Jobs loves what he does, and when he got fired from apple, he continued to do what he loved. Steve Job started over what he did, and in fact states now that getting fired was one of the best things to ever happen to him as he later created next, pixar and also met his wife. Overall, the main lesson to take out of Steve jobs speech is to find what you love, and never stop looking until you find it; don't get caught up in others expectations, stick to your own and follow your heart.

Richard Branson

Richard Branson is an extremely succesful entrepreneur, best known for his virgin brand of over 360 companies. After watching his intreview, I have learned three very important lessons:

1. you don't have to be academically smart to succed in business as an entrepreneur. Richard Branson did terribly in his academics at school and in fact left school at the age of 15, and was still a huge success.

2. The stereotype of being a business man and having to do dirty things such as stabbing people in the back in order to succed is not true one bit. Richard Branson has been accused of being one of these types of business men when in fact he is not.

3. You don't always have to just focus on one company, having many companies and always expanding is much more benefical. Look at all of Richard Bransons companies and how much success he has had even though most of his businesses aren't in a sense "huge" businesses.

What I Learned from Arnold

What I learned from Arnold is that truly anything is possible if you set your mind to it. Arnold followed his passions since he was young. At the age of 15 he discovered body building and fell in love with the sport. His dream became to be the best body builder in the world, and even though the sport wasn't very popular and his parents didn't support him in doing it, he still pursued his dream because it was what he enjoyed to do. His philosophy throughout his whole life was to always be enjoying life, and never to be doing something that took away from your joy. Also, Arnold showed me some prime examples of perseverance. When Arnold began to pursue his dream of becoming a movie star; all he was told was negative things about how he wasn't going to become a successful actor because of his body build, his accent, his acting skills, etc. Arnold didn't let these negative comments phase him, he kept on pursueing his dream of becoming a famous actor and in the end due to all his perseverence he succeded.

"...who am I?"

Assessment #1 - Personality Assesment:

In this assessment I found out that my dominant personality type was Choleric (The Extrovert; The Doer; The Optimist). The key strengths to this type of personality are being a born leader, dynamic and active, compulsive need for change, must correct wrongs, strong-willed and decisive. Weaknesses to managhe for this personality type are being bossy, impatient, and quick-tempered. My secondary personality type was Sanguine (The Extrovert; The Talker; The Optimist). The key strengths of this personality type are appeal.ing personality, talkative, story-teller, life of the party, good sense of humor, memory for color, physically holds on to listener. Weaknesses to manage for this personality type are compulsive talker, exaggerates and elaborates.

Assessment #2 - PersonalDNA.com Assessment

This assessments results for me were that I'm an Animated Director. Being an Animated Director means that I am very practical and pay attention to details, I am outgoing, comfortable with others, and up for anything.

Assessment #3 - VIA Survey of Character Strengths

Strength 1: Capacity to love and be loved - You value close relations with others, in particular those in which sharing and caring are reciprocated.

Strength 2: Honesty, authenticity, and genuieness - You are an honest person, not only speaking the truth but by living your life in a genuine way.

Strength 3: Citizenship, teamwork, and loyalty - You excel as a membver of a group, you are a loyal and dedicated teammate.

Strength 4: Industry, dilgence, and perseverance - you work heard to finish what you start

Strength 5: Modesty and humility - you do not seek the spotlight, preferring to let you accomplishments speak for themselves.

So What?

Now that I know all of this information and can focus on my strengths, and use them to my advantage and also, at the same time be aware of my weaknesses and manage them. Another way I can use all this information to my advantage is to play upon my strengths and use them all to my advantage. They are my qualities that I am good at so why not use them to my advantage. Being aware of my weaknesses is another great advantage because not all the qualities in these assessments are good and therefore being aware and being able to manage these bad qualities will not only help me become a better entrepreneur but also an overall better person.

If the bottom fell out tomorrow I would...

If i lost my job, I would start to seek work else where right away, but being in a crisis and having to support my family I would need to start making money as soon as possible. I have many resources such as a tractor, lawn mower, pressure washer, weed eater, and also a suv. Using these resources that I have I could do many jobs for money such as washing cars, washing windows, mowing laws, weed eating, and also with my suv I could pick up peoples junk. All of these jobs are very common jobs that people need done and are willing to pay money for. Also. another idea I have would be running a food ordering service where people could call me with there order and I could go pick up their food for them.

"How to Kill the Entrepreneurial Spirit"

I enjoyed reading the article " How to Kill the Entrepreneurial Spirit" by Larry Farrell very much. I found all of the stories of not only the successful businesses very interesting but also the not so successful business interesting as well. The story about Xerox especially, I was extremely shocked that Xerox invented so many break through products such as the first computer and first fax machine and due to bad marketing lost billions of dollars of profit. The story of Xerox is a perfect example of bad marketing and just goes to prove that no matter how good your product is you need to have marketing skills as well to go along with it in order for the business to be successful. After reading this article I have learned that in order to have a successful business you need to not only have a good product but also good marketing as well to go along with that good product, if you have both of these attributes then your business will be successful.