Category: Startups

Famous Failures – Walt Disney

Posted on by Chris Mahan

It’s hard to believe that the “happiest place on earth” was the creation of someone who grew up in a household that was about as far from happy as you can image.

Meet Walt Disney. It’s another name that is well known throughout the world. Disney has come a long way from a cartoon mouse that Walt drew by hand to the latest Disney movie, Raya and the Last Dragon which was created with a budget of over 100 million dollars.

However, Disney never set out to become a household name. In fact, his beginnings have a whole lot more to do with escaping from a bad situation and trying to find his place in the world.

Walt Disney grew up with a father so cruel and abusive that Walt’s elder brothers couldn’t leave home soon enough. Walt himself made his escape before he was considered an adult. He tried to enlist in the army to fight in WWI but was rejected because of his age. So, he lied about his age in order to get a position as an ambulance driver for the Red Cross. When the Red Cross sent him to France, Walt arrived after the war had already ended.

With such rough beginnings, it should come as no surprise young Walt kept drawing as a way to hold onto his sanity in difficult times. After the war, he tried to make a living off his drawings, first as an apprentice to an animation studio, then later in a studio of his own, which he formed with his friend Ub Iwerks. That business failed due to the inability to gain customers. He then created an animation business with a co-worker by the name of Fred Harman, but that business went bankrupt within a few years.

Not one to be easily put off by failure, Disney dug in his heels and tried again. He headed for California, which he felt would become the epicenter for the movie industry, and set up shop. Here he had success with Oswald, a cartoon rabbit that the public loved. So did the unscrupulous people he was working with. His animators were stolen right out from under him, as was the very character he’d created.

Most people probably would have quit somewhere around here. Not Walt. He instead created a mouse named Mickey and kept going.

From there, Disney never rested. He tried his hand at a full-length animated film, Snow White and the Seven Dwarves, which became very successful. On the other hand, he also tried things that were considered ‘flops,’ such as Fantasia and Pinocchio. His was a career full of ups and downs. When he opened Disneyland, just about everything that could go wrong, did. Instead of throwing in the towel, Walt simply dug in and worked harder to make it the success he knew it could be.

The life of Walt Disney teaches us many things. First, it doesn’t matter where you begin. The point is to get started. Second, you can’t let disaster get you down. You simply need to pull yourself up and move on without looking back. No matter where you are in life, keep going. The only thing that can hold you back is you.

What Would You Give to Have More Time in Your Day?

Posted on by Chris Mahan

I can’t give you more than the 604,800 seconds that everyone has in their week, but I can show you a simple way to be more productive with those allotted seconds.

Our modern world recognizes being busy as being important. It seems the more running around you do, the more urgent tasks you have, the more respected you are. Think about it – have you ever talked about how busy you are when someone asked you how you were? Probably. We all do it.

But being busy doesn’t mean we are being effective at making the changes we want in our lives. In fact, it may mean the opposite – that we are wasting time on tasks that really aren’t that important. That leaves us drained of energy and wondering what it’s all for.

The Pareto Principle, maybe better known as the 80/20 principle, is a way to use your time effectively so you get more done and are working on the right activities. In a nutshell, the principle says that approximately 20% of your effort yields 80% of your results. Likewise, the reverse is also true. There are tasks that take 80% effort, yet only yield 20% of your results. The goal, obviously, is to determine which tasks are which.

The easiest and fastest way to achieve your outcomes and reach your potential is to streamline your action items. Some tasks that don’t make the cut (don’t yield 80%) can be ignored as unimportant, while others may still need doing, but not necessarily by you. Those 20% yield tasks that still need to be completed can be outsourced so you are free to complete the creative tasks you are best at.

Here’s how to see if an item is a 20% or an 80% job:

  • Keep a list of outcomes handy so you can review it throughout each day.
  • Write down each task that you need to complete for the day.
  • Now, go through each item and compare it to your outcomes. Does it align? From past experience, how much effort did the item take? And what was the benefit? Is it worth it?
  • If it is, but you don’t need to do it, hand it off to someone else.
  • If it’s not, mark a line through it and move on to the next item on the list.
  • Use a simple tracking system to measure the results vs. the effort on each task or technique you use. This will help you determine if something is a 20% or 80% undertaking later.

The point of this exercise is to keep firmly in your mind that not all activities yield the same benefits. And that it’s not necessary to implement every idea that you come across. Choose only those that align with your goals and will offer the most reward.

Of course, you can take a shortcut to increasing your revenue and profits by engaging in what I’ve determined to be 5 areas that comprise the 20% of efforts in your business that lead to 80% of your profit. Visit my website and scroll down to the section, “Free Training for Business Owners.” Watch the 25 minute training video for an overview of an approach that will give you insight as to how you can increase your revenue and profits in as little as 90 days. As an added bonus, I’ll also send you a short email training series to provide even more insight into the process.

Kick Start Your Marketing

Posted on by Chris Mahan

Today I’d like to teach you about the three most important start up marketing tools you need to get and keep new customers.

  1. In person: It’s essential you meet with customers/clients in person whenever possible. This shows you respect them and take the time to work with your clients to give personal attention to each of them.
  2. Follow up letter: Always take a moment to send a follow up letter about what you talked about, new agreements or partnerships made and to thank them for taking the time to meet with you. Likewise, you should always send thank you letters or small gifts to partners you find success with.
  3. Phone call: Use a telephone call to follow up with them to talk again about the matters you talked about in your meeting and offer any assistance you can to help their business run smoothly and more successfully.

None of these will work if you don’t have a quality product/service to back you up!

Here are the key steps for putting together your start-up marketing tools:

  1. Research potential customers, buyers, competitors and their preferred methods of distribution.
  2. Talk to potential customers. Take a hard look at your product from a customer’s perspective and see what it needs to be successful.
  3. Follow up with your 3-step process from above.
  4. Develop systems for contact follow through, quality control standards and customer service.
  5. Develop post-sale follow up system to keep lines of communication open is customers and build on your current relationship which increases future purchases.

“Marketing and innovation produce results; all the rest are costs” Peter Drucker, management consultant

Here’s another one I love from an icon:

“If there is any one secret of success, it lies in the ability to get the other person’s point of view and see things from that person’s angle as well as from your own.” Henry Ford, Founder of Ford Motor Company

This lesson has offered you the tools to put together a start-up marketing plan that can be used over and over again to help your customer base and business grow in a manageable way.