Business friends

If you quilt you probably know other quilters. If you race cars you may belong to a local car club like Ty-Rods in Vernon, CT. Bob Boucher is a snowmobiler and he created a magazine for snowmobile fans. If you hunt, fish or shoot pool you will read magazines and talk to other people about your hobby. Naturally as a business owner you want to have business friends.

Biz friends help in many ways. BFF or "Business friends first" know many things you need to learn and can help you along the way of your journey. Always there to bounce off new ideas, find another opinion and help you stay of of the narrow vision may not be able to imagine.

How to find BFF or business friends. Every owner; restaurant, supermarket, insurance agent, garden supply, veterinarian, doctor, lawyer, chiropractor, accountant, plumber, auto dealer, landlord, store front owner loves referrals.

Referrals are the "life blood" of any business. Never underestimate the value of a good referral. A referral is rooted in reference. To have one person give out another persons name for providing a product or service is held in the highest esteem by the provider.

Start recommending today. Start collecting the business cards of your referrals.

Build up your BFF business cards library with little notes on it. Notes like what are the specialties of that business owner. Once you start recommending it becomes a lot of fun. Imagine your "two cents" making a difference because your helped a fellow business owner find new business and also that keeps you local money locally. Believe in the referral! If you love the product recommend it. If you dont love the product you need to get with the business owner or find a product you do love. Also, by collaborating with the BFF you will establish an ongoing business relation and that person will love you for doing so.

I refer business to other businesses everyday. It becomes second nature to me and my BFF love it as well. And did I tell you... they also recommend my business too ?

Carl Slicer

Business Cards 101

Business cards are one of my pet peeves.

Especially business cards that take more than 10 seconds to figure out what you do for a business. A business card is nothing more than contact information written down in advance and when you want to give a person your contact information for them to keep.


Example #1

How long does it take to figure what the owner is trying to say? Maybe all they want to do is give away cheap photographs, one day of the year, on St Valentines Day?

The cursive type is too small & distracting. The business owner is distracted by the "Photographer" in her. She  does not sell her business on value but on cheap price. Would you refer this person? I wouldn't because she does not know what her value is.

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EXAMPLE #2

The business owner in this card spent a lot of time on layout & design. 60% of the card is a photo of his badge. The telephone font is half the size of his name and thus the name is more important than the telephone number. The business owner works in the Executive Service section which does not tell me a thing. Maybe a police officer working with Executives tells me I would not call him if I needed him to investigate a cold case or help me with a question of some sort.  I wonder if this is room for a CASE# written on the back of this card.
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What I look for in a business card.

Tell me how to contact you in and what you do in less than three seconds. Make the card legible as I wear glasses and cant see #1 font. Point of contact continues a telephone, fax, website and an address.

If you don't have an address then how can I tell where you are from?  Are you serious about your work or will you return my call in two weeks after the water stopped leaking in my basement?

Logos and graphics are distracting if they are not directly connected to the business. People end up wondering what the abstract logo has to do with the electrical wiring in your house.

GIVE the business card away! When handing out your card, give them two. Maybe that person will refer you to another prospect. Mark your calendar when you started handing out that stack of 250 cards. This will tell you how fast your are giving them away.

Carl Slicer

Hobbies can be a business

Hobbies are a great way to start with a business idea.

How do you know if you can make money selling a hobby interest business?

Here is my litmus test.

Do what you love and love what you do. But can I make a profit at doing the same?

If you make 1 quilt it can take hundreds of hours to prepare.

Can you sell that quilt for $10 per hr of your labor? No. Rarely does an average quilt sell for $1000. Maybe $200 or higher is closer. Maybe you don't care about time but I do. Ever hear of the term "It's a labor of love"? Well at 20 cents an hour that is a good example.

#1) Can I duplicate my effort and make money at this hobby?

#2) Is this a local product or anywhere product?

#3) How unique is my product? If you are going to make staples be prepared to compete.

#4) If I believe so strongly in my product am I willing to ask at least 25 people if they would buy this product or service?

Dont go ask more that five family members because that way only 20% will influence the survey.

Be open to criticism as this is the best way to find out some many things about your product and more about yourself.

I have many friends that are business owners and I have developed a tough skin for asking them their opinion. They tell me what they think. They point out what they see can improve, stall or make the product better.

Remember as a business owner, you have to decide what are needs and what are wants.

We need oil in the furnace to heat the house. We want to go on vacation this summer.

Do you have a hobby you want to make money with ?

I would be happy to give you my opinion.

Send me you idea but be prepared to ask your self more questions.

Send to Carl Slicer at CSlicer@Gmail,com. Please include some basics.

Like: Hobby idea you want to make money with. Experience with the hobby idea.

How much money you want to have in sales in the next 12 months. What the survey says after asking 25 people.

Carl Slicer

Government for business

Here are some examples reasons why government works. All politics is local and so is government. The more you understand your local government the more you will understand how it works, why it works & why government has a place. If you dont vote than you can not be apart of tomorrows future.

Here are some facts that I point out.

"The Perfect Government Service."

In 1973 the US Dept of Defense launched 24 space-based global navigation satellite system that circles our globe. You probably now this as GPS or global positioning system. The information that the 24 birds transmit is free to any person, any country or any business to use & calculate a map decision. It only takes 4 satellite angles to determine location, altitude & speed.

Fast forward 30+ years later and numerous business products are developed and the entire world benefits.

Trimble, Garmin, Loran, TomTom, Motorola, Nokia, LG, Microsoft, OnStar, Verizon Wireless, T-Mobile, ATT, Sprint Nextel, Google Android & Apple IPhone and may others sell a product related to the mathematics in the angles.

This field is a multi-billion dollar industry. But the data is transmitted free to all in the world after the US Taxpayer has paid for and maintains the GPS system.

Our gift to the world.

My point is this. The GPS system is the most perfect system of the 21st century that develops a standard, provided by taxpayers, and allows all to use the information available.

Can you imagine if Microsoft or Motorola ever owned the satellites?

Ever hear of a company called Qualcomm? QCOM cellphones were one of the best cellphones in use over 10 years ago. But Qualcomm decided to focus on the software & firmware market instead and today holds one of the most widely used patents in cellphone use today. QCOM had sales revenues in 2010 of $11 billion & employs over 17,000 people. Look inside your cellphone for a "CDMA" label & thats owned by QCOM.

The perfect government model.

Carl Slicer

Aluminum Scrap or soda cans.

Aluminum Scrap or soda cans.

Easy source to find and the most common metal mined on the earth surface.

We all know about precious metals like gold & silver but what about the other metals. Like steel, copper, aluminum etc?

I use www.Kitco.com for my daily quote updates on metals. Gold hovers around $1400 an ounce & silver is ready to break through to $30 an ounce. But what about aluminum cans?

It takes 32 (12 oz) soda cans to make a pound of scrap aluminum at 16 ounces per pound. In Connecticut the deposit on a soda can is $0.05 per can. That produces $0.80 per pound for deposit.

BUT in December 2010, the prices of Aluminum (AL scrap) is around 7 cents per soda can.

Being 2 cents more than the deposit means that 40% more than the Conn deposit.

You can purchase a soda can crusher for $7.00 at Amazon.com if you want to store AL in a 32 gallon trash barrel will run you $15.00 at your local hardware store. The trash barrel is easy to cover and easy to move when full.

Use $1.00 a pound as your guide. In 2010, the average scrap for Aluminum was $0.9723 a pound. NOTE: What scrap dealers will pay for AL cans in 2010 average was $0.70 a pound. To melt down the metal the melting point is 3600 degrees Fahrenheit. This temperature is very hot and it would be rare to find a smelter.

I think as Aluminum soda can collecting is similar to collecting change in a jar. How many cans can you collect in a given year?

Carl Slicer.

Refer: www.MetalPrices.com, www.Kitco.com

Tire Rack Used Tire Business High End

Model: Buy used tires, store & sort them, and re sell them to the public.

Storage: Either a shed, garage or large basement will suffice. Extra room at Public Storage has a 5' x 5' storage unit for $30-$40 a month & first month is $1.00.

Use look newspapers & www.Craigslist.org to find "Tire Deals".

Look for the more expensive & heavier cars & trucks.

IE: Cadillac STS Michelin tire is a $225 tire before mounted. A set of 2 tires plus mounting is going to run the owner $500.

Today on Craigs list a Michelin 255/60R-16 X-Ice, 50% tread left, snow tires are selling form $75.00. This same tire is $150 or $300 for the pair.

Always travel to the seller with cash. Offer $60 for the set.

If you sell the 1 tire for $45 in the next winter season, you will have a 50% return on your money for 1 year.

How much money do you want to make ? How many tires do you have to sell ?

Look for: Cadillac, Lincoln. BMW, Audi, Mercedes Benz, Infinity, and heavy trucks.

Big bucks for tires. It's nothing for a heavy truck or BMW owner to spend $1000 for a set of 4 new tires.

Another Craigslist.org ad shows 255/50 R19 for a Mercedes ML350. 75% remaining tread asking $150 for a SET OF 4 Tires.

Buy those tires & sell them 1 at a time. $37.5o cost & flip it for $65.00 each is 70% return profit on your cash. Can you wait a year to get 70% interest on your money ?

Carl Slicer

Tools: YouTube is a great source for learning too.

Recipe for learning: Take a drive for learning & mix it well with knowledge. Shake, shake, shake until it turns the color you want & tada!

Take key words for any business and apply them to YouTube. Let's see what happens.

Example: "Property Management Tips" will generate 11 clips on YouTube.com.

Now sort by MOST Viewed & lets start learning. I have included the search clip from YouTube.

YouTube has over 5000 clips found using keywords "Property Management". The parentheses limit the search to that particular phrase.

Search for key words "Window Cleaning" and over 4000 results come back. Now you can sort by view count, ratings by viewers, date the clip was created, etc.

I have learned that an average clip will be "Liked" approx every 1000 views. So if a clip had 14,000 viewings & the "Likes" are 14 then the clip is above average.

Follow the experts too. When you find clips you like dont forget to "Follower" that producer.

Two things will happen. First, you will be notified when a new clip comes out and perhaps an updated clip is available on that subject matter. Second, its a great way to review the clips you found worthwhile learning from. Maybe you might want your wife or employee to learn a technique for cleaning windows.

Remember knowledge is power.

Carl Slicer.