Ideas out loud

   

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Today I was able to go see Mike Michalowicz aka the Toilet Paper Entrepreneur (blog), in Copenhagen (DK), talk to a group of entrepreneurs / people working with entrepreneurs. At first impression he is could be mistaken as being arrogant and full of himself, but on closing inspection he's just has a great passion for what he does and has the self confidence and self belief to keep doing it in the only way he knows how, as the Toilet Paper Entrepreneur.

Like some of Mikes blog posts he comes across as a little rough around the edges and unprepared, but his presentation had some good points and examples that reaffirm some of the things you do as an entrepreneur. Below are his 10 tips for entrepreneurs and small businesses.

1. Blending

• Mike gives the example of The Commerce Bank who's owner Vernon Hill incorporated his insights from his days as an owner of Burger King franchises to the banking industry i.e. extending opening hours, and other service orientated elements
• Take Away: Don't be afraid to take ideas from other industries and apply them to your own.

2. Area of Innovation

• Understand your area of Innovation and don't compete with others i.e. Walmart and price
• Take away: Focus on one area and innovate the hell out of it

3. Be the 'est'est

• You always remember or recall those who are the b'est', high'est', rud'est', fast'est', you get the picture
• Take away: Make sure your business dominates and is the est'est' of your industry, city, etc. because no one remembers who came second to Michael Phelps in the Bejing Olympics, but we all sure as heck know who Michael Phelps is. Ask yourself what are we best at?

4. Under promise / Under Deliver

• Mike gives the example of a company of his that promises a delivery time of 4 weeks even though they usually can produce the good in less than a week. However, when they call up the customer and tell them that their product will be arriving 3 weeks early you can imagine their surprise and happiness for the news. Think they'll tell other people about that service...? You bet! This even works in the scenario that something goes wrong in production and it takes 3 weeks, the customer still gets his product a week early and is still really happy.
• Take Away: Customers expectations are the only thing you can control, so make sure you manage them to be in your favour. Can you change your terms of service, delivery date, etc. to surprise your customers?

5. Port of Entry

• Mike gives the example of New Jersey, which is apparently quite a pretty state but unknown to most as the 'port of entry' from NY gives tourists a horrible impression of being a highly industrial and dirty state. 
• Take Away: Make sure your customers first impression of your 'port of entry' is the one that is congruent with the message you want to communicate. i.e. website, culture, business cards, dress, phone answering etc. How does your 'port of entry' look?

6. Paredo Principal

• The 80/20 rule is a great way for you to take what works from other companies, competitors, industries etc to your own. i.e. take 20% of those things that work really well for your competitor and apply it to your own business, product, service etc.
• Take Away: 80% of the results will come from 20% of the effort made to your business so make sure you get the 20% right.

7. Polarize People

• Don't be afraid to polarize people, you may upset/offend 90% of the population but 10% will be your greatest fans and love the fact that the other 90% don't get it. Polarizing causes people to have opinions and take sides, either way their talking about your company and the more they talk the more likely it will convert to sales.
• Take Away: Don't be afraid to be 'extreme'! Ask yourself what is your "outrageous claim"?

8. Go Outside your industry

• In researching how to make his book The Toilet Paper Entrepreneur a best seller, Mike got an idea from the cleaning indsutry, which was to put a phone number on the back of the book next to the barcode, something that all cleaning products have on their label. Sounds strange but it resulted in Mike having an extra 10% in sales.
• Take Away: Don't hang out with your own peers with similar problems at the same industry workshops / conferences etc. go check another industry and their ideas etc for some inspiration and get a little edge on your competitors as none of them will be there.

9. Leapfrogging

• Mike tells the case about how Blockbuster then Netflix made massive improvements to their industry to change the rules of the game i.e. offering more videos than the competition (Blockbuster) and now Netflix offers more latest release movies that you can keep for as long as you like.
• Take Away: What massive improvements can you make to the industry standard or service, delivery, distribution etc.

10. Always do what's unexpected

• When The Toilet Paper Entrepreneur was first published, Barnes and Noble didn't want to stock it on their shelves, so Mike and his team did something a little unexpected, they snuck books into the store placing them on the shelves. You can imagine the surprise of the customers who tried to buy the book and to the staff that tried to tell them that it wasn't stocked by them. Must have been an interesting conversation.
• Take Away: Don't do what everyone else is doing, do something that is unexpected, worst case you'll get some attention and make people talk about you. Ask yourself what could we do that wouldn't be expected?

One of the things I like best about Mike's presentation and tips for the rest of us is that they are extremely practical and down to earth, no fancy theory just plain simple things that all of us can apply. So if you don't get a chance to hear Mike grab a copy of his book The Toilet Paper Entrepreneur, it's one of the top business books sold in 2009.