Let me explain by asking a question.  What’s the difference between the various banks in your community?  Or the grocery stores?  Or even the fast-food joints?  Too often, darn little, just enough to motivate customers to keep moving their business … playing each business off each other.  (When it comes to restaurants, my friends and I know just where to find the “buck-a-burger” night on Monday, “Taco Tuesday,” and “Fabulous two-fer Friday” specials.”  But that doesn’t buy our loyalty for the rest of the week.)

So, why lock yourself into an exhausting, low-profit, head-to-head, toe-to-toe competition over weekly specials and tiny price differences?   (“Mortgage rates at our bank are .25% lower!!!” or “Peas this week only, save 7 cents!”)?  Big woof!  They do not work.  Let me repeat that:  They do NOT work.  Sure, they keep you from falling behind the herd, but they sure do NOT put you in the lead.  (And remember,  “Unless you’re the lead sled dog, the view never changes.”) That’s kind of like having air conditioning.  Big deal.  You have to.  But it doesn’t bring in business.)    

Instead, let me take the example of grocery stores and show you how the lead dogs do it, starting with Fairway Foods in New York/New Jersey.  Fairway is a fairly small, privately-owned mini-chain, with a funky personality that turns shopping into an adventure.  One of their owners, Steve Jenkins, travels the globe periodically to find unique products and purchase them directly at competitive prices.  (I could be wrong, but I think they have the biggest olive section in the world.  And their cheeses.  Well, Jenkins has become a self-taught — and world-famous — cheese expert, and finds cheeses that make you want to go to Fairway for them alone.)  It’s a quirky, cramped, friendly place … and people love it.  Yes, their prices are competitive, but their real competitive advantage is the experience of just wandering the aisles and discovering foods you’re not going to find at the Super-store chains.

Then there’s Trader Joe’s, another funky grocery store that tends to place their stores in inconvenient places, offer limited choices and provide gourmet selections at reasonable prices.  They have created loyal followers that are the envy of every grocer.  It’s not the products (well, it is, kind of), but the experience.  They do limited advertising, offer no weekly specials, and drive the other stores crazy.

Finally, take Aldi foods, which I used to think of as low-quality, low-rent stores.  I was wrong.  First of all, Aldi’s owns Trader Joe’s, bought them back in the late ’70s, and their owners, two German brothers, rank among the top five richest people in the world!  Aldi’s dominates the grocery business in Europe.  They have made their fortunes by offering excellent quality at up to one-third lower prices, with limited selections (see why they bought Trader Joe’s?) and a no-frills atmosphere.  They succeed by buying directly, managing overhead ferociously and providing quality.

The point:  If you want to compete (and you’d better want to), get outside the box and find a way to make you and your products and your business unique.  Give yourself a special competitive advantage and skip the weekly specials.  As with Fairway, Trader Joe’s and Aldi Foods, make what you have to offer so compelling that customers come to you … and keep coming. 

So, work hard, make money, have fun  … and learn to compete on your own terms.  [Mini-ad:  Need help finding your marketing groove and your unique competitive advantage. Call me.] 

As a small business owner, you don’t follow the herd.  You lead it … and if anyone else follows, that fine.  If not, so be it.  (One of the best bumper stickers I ever saw read:  “Unless you’re the lead sled dog, the view never changes.”) 

You’re holding your business together and making it work because you cut your own path, go your own way, make your own rules.

That’s what a friend of mine has done.  In this lousy economy, with its even lousier housing market, he started a “home detailing” business.  He approaches home sellers and for a fee, spruces up the home and makes it more attractive.  While others are going broke, he is so busy that he is hiring people … and still can’t keep up.  That’s a man who made his own rules, and he’s profiting handsomely as a result.

The bottom line:  During these tough times, you cannot afford to stay huddled in the box.  It’s time to get out of it.  Think about new ways to make money, cut costs, keep on growing (not just surviving) in this recession.

The best example is what happens all too often when you lend someone money and they can’t (or won’t repay).  Too often, that person will begin to resent you, avoid you, eventually pick a fight so he or she can break off the relationship.  People can be funny that way.   So, work hard, make money, have fun … and don’t put people in your debt.  — JRI   

Simple. Success is not about well-balanced balance sheets, fat-cat backers with lots of investment dollars, or even (gasp!) a rock-solid business plan.  It’s about passion.

Have a passion, have a belief, have a vision about what you want and where you deeply, wildly, passionately want to go … and all the rest will come.

So, work hard.  Make money.  Have fun.  And unleash your passion and your dream.
– John R. Ingrisano, The Freestyle Entrepreneur

“One person with a belief is equal to
a force of ninety-nine who have only
interests.”
– John Stuart Mill

There is honest money to be made and there are genuine opportunities to be seized — yes, in spite of the hand wringing of big biz and big gov, both of which are racing about in a mad dash money grab.

My point:  Put your hand down and get back to work.  Folks like us make money; we don’t beg for it…and we don’t wait for it to drop in our laps.  So, work hard.  Make money.  And, yes, have fun. – John R. Ingrisano

“Destiny is no matter of chance.  It
is a matter of choice:  It is not a
thing to be waited for; it is a thing
to be achieved.”
 – William Jennings Byan