In fact, by the time that companies enter their teenage years, the odds that they will go under have flattened out. A twelve year old business and a seventeen year old business face roughly the same odds of being shuttered in the following year.

In the figure below, I use Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) data on the survival of the 1994 cohort of new businesses to illustrate this point. The figure shows the percentage of businesses alive in a given year that failed during the subsequent year. For example, 20.2 percent of the businesses founded in 1994 died between 1994 and 1995. However, only 4.3 of the businesses founded in 1994 and still in operation in 2010 died between 2010 and 2011.

The figure indicates that the new business failure rate for companies started in 1994 steadily declines until 2006 and then flattens out. While the odds of going under never disappear, they pretty much hold steady at 5 percent once the businesses reach age 12.

Source: Created from Bureau of Labor Statistics data

From Small Business Trends

Businesses Face High Rates of Infant Mortality

Business incubators (for our purposes we will include “startup accelerators” under this term) can give startups and small businesses access to tools, office facilities, administrative support and mentoring.  Most offer a significant financial boost.  Incubators can save your startup money (examples: free or subsidized office space and Internet connections) or even serve as a source of seed funding or a way to connect with investors — all to give your startup that extra edge and much needed support.

What Is an Incubator?

A business incubator is a program designed to provide support to new businesses to help them succeed.  Every incubator program is different, but incubators and accelerators typically include access to mentors or experts from different areas of business (finance, marketing and management, for example) who provide guidance on the startup.

Some incubators are place focused, and provide office space and even light manufacturing or technical facilities for a period of time.  They may provide shared access to servers and software, high speed internet connections, telecommunications, and other technical support.  Some also provide shared services, such as administrative or marketing support.

Other incubators are more of a process.  They may focus more on mentors, seed funding, introductions to business partners, and opportunities to present your business to qualified investors.  One example that falls more into this latter type of incubator is Y Combinator, which puts on Demo Day at which its high-tech startups get to pitch to and connect with investors.  Getting investment is a significant end goal of that type of incubator.

While business incubators date back as far as the 1950s, the explosion in growth began with the dot com bubble of 1999. Today, there are more than 1,500 business incubators in North America, and around 7,000 globally.

Each incubator has a different aim. The majority in North America are nonprofits focused on economic development.  Some are supported by state and local communities.  Some are supported by large corporations or corporate foundations, such as the Citrix Startup Accelerator.  And while the media tends to focus on the technology-centric incubators (approximately 39% of North American incubators are tech-focused), there are plenty of others if you are in services, manufacturing, food production, green tech or other niche markets.

What Incubators Do For Startups

In some ways, incubators are like business school on steroids. But instead of spending two years writing fake case studies and research papers, you’re learning hands-on … with your own business.  And unlike with business school, the stakes with a startup are higher — after all it’s your livelihood and that of your employees.

But like business schools, business incubators often have programs for a set period of time.  The program is led by teachers (i.e., mentors) who walk participants through the process of taking a fledgling business and developing it to the point that it can fly on its own.

You learn from the teachers. You learn from other students (i.e., other startup founders) who may be in different stages of business than you are. You learn how to tweak your business idea, make it a profitable or successful one, and sometimes “sell” your idea  to investors.  Meanwhile, depending on the program, you may have access to worldclass facilities, tools and technology.

At the end of the incubator program, you and your startup “graduate.”  This may mean getting enough investment in your business to grow to the next level.  Or it may mean that the business is ready to stand on its own two feet without assistance.  Either way, your startup leaves the nest.

Not All Roses and Unicorns

While you hear a lot about the benefits of incubators, there’s not a lot of focus on the level of commitment and hard work you will endure. It’s by design.

Some incubators involve an intense training or immersion program for a period of time.  In them, an objective is to weed out any participants who aren’t up for the challenge of a startup.  The idea is: if you can’t handle this business crash course, it’s possible that you won’t be prepared to meet the challenge of seeing your startup all the way through to growth and success.

If you have a family, you may not have as much time to spend with them, given the sheer workload some incubators will put you through. Additionally, if there isn’t an incubator in your city, you may have to relocate for the program, separating you from your family.

Participating in an incubator may bring you to the realization that your business model is bad. No one likes his or her  business being criticized, but if you’re not up for it, don’t join an incubator. It’s actually a good thing, being run through the wringer, as it helps you focus your business idea and get advice from seasoned entrepreneurs who know the makings of a solid business.

Going through an incubator program (if it involves an intense period of mentorship and training, for instance) may take time away from running your startup. Some startup founders resent the time taken away from the business to go through intensive bursts of training or meeting other program requirements.

Incubators vary on the program requirements they place on founders.  Understand the program requirements thoroughly in advance, and be realistic about your expectations as you shop for an incubator. Are you willing to have a doubled workload and scheduling inconveniences in exchange for knowledge you won’t get anywhere else and access to investors? It’s worth the price of admission if you’re willing to put in the time and effort.

How to Choose

The incubator that will best serve your startup depends on what you’re looking for. Here are some criteria to keep in mind:

• Geography:  Look close to home first.  If nothing is available, consider relocating if relocation will not be an issue for your family.  Note: some incubators have very specific “place of business” requirements.
• Fits With Your Needs:  Does the incubator offer what your startup REALLY needs?  If what you need is investors and industry partners, then an incubator that focuses on mentoring, providing seed funding and making connections with influential investors should be your focus.  If your greatest need is access to physical facilities, utilities and telecommunications/Internet, then focus your search on incubators that provide those benefits. Be sure to make a list of your needs first.
• Difficulty to Get In: Of the thousands of applications that the most successful accelerators receive, only a fraction are accepted. The more difficult ones to get into tend to be the most rewarding.
• Track Record: You’ll want an incubator that has successfully helped businesses launch, find funding or otherwise succeed. Research to find out what percent of graduates have accomplished these milestones, and what the incubator did to ensure that success. Speak with graduates to get their take on the program as well.
• Who’s Running It: If you’re going to dedicate time to an incubator, you want to be assured that the people running it have their own proven track records as entrepreneurs. What experience do they have that will help you run your company better? How much time do they spend with participants?
• Amount of Time You’ll Need: Some incubator programs will sap all of your mental energy and time, so consider that this will be time spent away from your startup (in the sense of daily operations) and family.
• Niche: Many incubators focus on tech and Web companies, but there are others that focus on other niches. You want one that will connect you to leaders in your industry, has mentors who understand your industry, and/or can provide industry-specific facilities.

There’s no rule saying you can only apply to one incubator, or even the same one once. Make a list of those you’d get the most benefit from and apply to any you’d be willing to relocate for. Some startup founders attend multiple incubator programs, getting more contacts and more experience they can apply to their businesses.

Click on Page 2 below to continue reading . . .

From Small Business Trends

How to Choose a Business Incubator

According to the Organization of Economic Development and Cooperation (OECD) publication, Entrepreneurship at a Glance 2011, less than one percent of companies with ten or more employees are gazelles – employers that have been in operation for no more than five years with ten or more employees that increase employment by 20 percent per year or more for three years.

The United States has an even smaller share of gazelle companies than other developed nations. In 2007, the last year that the OECD measured employment growth in U.S. businesses, less than one quarter of one percent of companies were gazelles. While I have no hard data on the share of gazelles during the recession and weak recovery that followed, I doubt that the share of gazelles increased substantially, if at all. The share of gazelles means that of the roughly half a million new businesses with employees created in the United States every year, a little over 1,000 will be gazelles.

Moreover, most gazelles, while growing faster than other companies, are not adding jobs at a rocket-like pace. After three years, a company with ten employees needs only have a little over 17 workers to have generated the 20 percent per year compound employment growth necessary to be a gazelle.

Companies that grow much faster than gazelle pace (super gazelles) are much rarer still – so rare that they are hard to measure statistically.

Our elected officials need to recognize that the gazelles and super gazelles they love for their job creation capabilities are extremely rare. They should take that information into consideration when formulating policies toward high growth young companies.

Gazelle Photo via Shutterstock

From Small Business Trends

Rarity of High Growth Young Companies

The company is Instagram. In case you’re not familiar with it, Instagram is an elegant photo sharing application you use with an iPhone or Android.  Photos, like mobile, are a hot trend today.  Put the two together and, well, you have a billion dollar deal (at least in Silicon Valley).

Facebook, the social networking giant, plans on an IPO soon.  As to the why of the acquisition, it makes sense when you think of how important photos are on Facebook.  AllThingsD noted earlied today:

Facebook is currently the largest photo-storage site in the world, with an average of 250 million photos uploaded per day, as Kara Swisher notes here. A 2011 Pew Internet study showed that 20 percent of Facebook users cop to commenting on a Facebook photo at least once a day. Many felt that Instagram, with its user base of around 33 million — and with about a million of those users having signed up immediately after the Android version of the mobile app launched last week — was increasingly becoming a real threat in the social networking space.

And there’s another small-but-noteworthy value-add here for Facebook as well: Your location.

Instagram, which was created by Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger back in March of 2010, has an easy-to-use geotag feature in its photo-sharing process that lets users tell everyone exactly where they were when they took their photos.

Om Malik agrees, in a more colorful fashion.

But what if you’re an employee in an “old media” company? Wonder how it feels to know that the venerable, blue chip company you work for — The New York Times — has a public stock value less than the $1 billion the younger-than-two-year-old-startup fetched?  Of course, the two valuations are not exactly apples to apples – but similar enough to marvel over.

Seems like a crazy valuation, but as I pointed out yesterday, investment interest in tech startups is hot again. The Facebook-Instagram acquisition is just one more sign.

From Small Business Trends

Crazy Valuations: Instagram Deal Worth More Than New York Times

But could the good times be back again? Judging from reports about Y Combinator’s recent Demo Day, it may be boom times again for Web and mobile tech startups.

Jason Freedman, co-founder of 42 Floors wrote a piece enticingly titled, “Did everybody see what just happened? The pendulum has swung.” In it he outlines that investors are hungry to invest in tech startups, even without business plans — and very different from his experience in 2009. He writes:

“The feeling was palpable. Y Combinator had sixty-five companies present (42Floors was one of them). And we saw 500 eager investors, frenzied almost, excited to invest in entrepreneurs. One investor emailed me four times, texted me three times, called me and sent me a message on LinkedIn — desperate to get a check in before the round closes.

No business plans, not even pitch decks this time. One 2-1/2 minute pitch and a quick follow up meeting. Seven figure seed rounds that can be closed within days and oversubscribed 2x to 3x. Founders with no experience fundraising and no pre-existing networks, making connections with top tier guys. It was really a sight to see.”

He goes on to offer advice to startup entrepreneurs who get seed round funding: “Shut up and get back to work.”  You’ll quickly run through your money, and all the hype won’t matter if you’re not satisfying users and customers.

Y Combinator has been described as an incubator.  On its website it says it provides seed funding to startups, and works with founders to develop their ideas and help them deal with investors.  It holds an annual Demo Day where startup founders present their ideas.

So what types of businesses were hot at Y Combinator’s Demo Day in 2012? According to Eric Eldon writing in Techcrunch: mobile.

“But the thing that is sticking out the most is the nature of the products being launched. Out of the 39 companies presenting on the record today, 15 are mobile-first by my count. * * * The companies today are also noticeably practical — these are not just games and simple utilities.”

More coverage of Y Combinator’s Demo Day is at GigaOm: 10 Startups to Watch.  And at the New York Post:  Tech Incubator Heating Up Investors.

Be careful not to draw too strong a conclusion from just one event.  But it is a sign of a promising trend.

From Small Business Trends

Tech Startup Market Hot Again?

That’s why recent data from the Kauffman Firm Survey (KFS) is disappointing: It demonstrates how rare employment growth among new companies really is.

The KFS is an ambitious effort to track 4,928 companies founded in 2004 over time to identify which businesses survive, die, stagnate and grow, and identify why some businesses do better than others. Not too long ago, the Kauffman Foundation released the sixth year results for the survey and the findings aren’t very pretty.

The data show that relatively few new companies survive over time, let alone grow. By 2009, only 56 percent of the companies started in 2004 were still in business, according to the Kauffman Foundation’s analysis of the data.

Moreover, hiring people isn’t very common for young businesses. Only about half of the companies that survived to year six had any employees at all. This means that at age six, only 29 percent of the companies started in 2004 were providing a job for anyone.

The number of jobs provided by most of these companies is very modest. According to the Foundation’s analysis, the typical (median) six year old company had only a single employee, while the average (mean) business had 3.7 workers.

Even the biggest company in the sample is a small business. At 265 workers, this company was a little more than half the minimum size of a large business, according to the Small Business Administration’s definition (500 or fewer workers). That is, none of the new businesses tracked in the study experienced the kind of break out growth that investors, entrepreneurs, and policy makers hope new companies will have.

While a complete understanding of the causes of new business job growth awaits systematic analysis, one factor jumps out: whether the business began as an employer. The KFS reveals that only 11 percent of businesses without employees in their start-up year had any employees six years later.

Doomed Growth Photo via Shutterstock

From Small Business Trends

Startup Company Growth

In exchange for an investment from the Sharks, those entrepreneurs willing to enter the Shark Tank offer a percentage of their companies’ equity. The Shark Tank members are colorful personalities, and are often brutally tough during discussions and negotiations with the entrepreneurs.

In Season 3, the four Mastronardo brothers, owners of Nardo’s Naturals, presented their offer to the five Sharks, including billionaire Mark Cuban, owner and chairman of HDNet and outspoken owner of the 2010-2011 NBA championship Dallas Mavericks, real estate mogul Barbara Corcoran, technology innovator Robert Herjavec, fashion and branding expert Daymond John and venture capitalist Kevin O’Leary.

Read on for the story of how these brothers made it out of the Shark Tank alive — and are thriving.

Background: How Nardo’s Natural Came to Be

In 2008, D.J., the oldest Mastronardo brother (now 30), while working as a health and nutrition guru, and taping a “Healthy Cooking” segment in New Mexico, burned his hand. His mother, a certified wound care specialist, suggested that after the pain stopped, he put coconut oil on the burn to heal. D.J. was amazed at how well his hand healed in just a few days. He told his brothers, and they came up with an idea to create a skincare company using all-natural ingredients.  Since each Mastronardo brother offered a different skill set, they decided that, working together, they could create a successful skincare company.

Nardo’s Natural was officially launched in 2009. Two of the brothers, Kyle, 28, the operations / visionary guy, and Danny, 26, skilled in marketing, P.R. and design, worked full-time in the business.  D.J. provided health and nutrition insight, and youngest brother K.J., 24, with an accounting background, contributed financial expertise while working full-time at a corporate job to help provide funding for the start-up business.

The Products

The brothers began by creating all-natural and organic formulations in their kitchen. They made all of the products themselves, by hand, and did all the labeling, packing and shipping, as well.

Revenues from 2009 to 2011, however, were only $30,000, from online sales and local spa sales. Most of the brothers’ time and money was spent creating formulations without parabens and toxins, that provided a healthy alternative to daily skin care.

They offered a variety of skin care products, including moisturizers for the face and body, skin and body scrubs and cleansers, lip balms, a cream for pain relief, and even an organic bug repellent.

Getting on Shark Tank

In April, 2011, a friend sent the brothers a link to an episode of Shark Tank.  Despite their hard work, there was not much money coming in, and they realized that being on the show would be an amazing opportunity. That very night, Kyle sent an email submission to Shark Tank.

Nardo’s Natural made it through the first round, and for the next several months, the brothers went through an intense screening process along with tens of thousands of other Shark Tank hopefuls.  They had to make a video, complete surveys, get background checks, and provide extensive information, each time making it through another round.

Finally a producer from Shark Tank called in June, 2011, and a month later the brothers went to Los Angeles to tape a segment.

What Shark Tank is Like

“We were incredibly excited, but also nervous,” says Kyle.  “Here we were with this huge opportunity, and we were just a bunch of brothers negotiating with these big-time entrepreneurs.”

The taping process is similar to those of other reality shows. Many entrepreneurs were taped, but not all made it onto the televised show.

Actual negotiations with Nardo’s Natural and the Shark Tank panel took much longer, but the segment was cut. What was included during the televised show was some video footage of the brothers and their hometown, including a spa esthetician using their products, and the brothers, shirtless, at the beach.

However, “there were some really critical things that viewers didn’t see,” Danny points out.

Mainly, the reaction of the Sharks to Nardo’s Natural products.  “Every Shark had our products in their hands, and they were trying them out,” says Danny.  “Barbara Corcoran really loved the vanilla body lotion. And in addition to other factors, she tends to invest in products that she personally likes and connects with.”

That kind of reaction may have helped viewers understand why Barbara Corcoran invested in a company with only $30,000 in sales, with the male Sharks shaking their heads at the numbers.

Just for the record, Corcoran is laughing all the way to the bank.  According to Danny, she has the best track record of all the Sharks, with her Shark investments profiting the most in the group. “She also tends to invest in very small businesses and helps them grow nationally, and our business fits that profile.”

Whether you get a deal or not, there’s no guarantee that you’ll be on the televised show. Luckily, the Nardo brothers not only made a deal with Barbara Corcoran, they also made it into the March 9, 2012 televised Shark Tank show.

What Happened After the Deal

“We weren’t allowed to let anyone not directly involved in our business or in our business activities know about our deal, until the show aired,” says Danny.

So what happened between July, 2011, and the show’s airing in March, 2012?

The short answer:  plenty.

First on the list was to set up a legal agreement with Corcoran as part of the due diligence process.  During the show, the brothers had originally offered a 12% equity stake in their business in exchange for an investment of $75,000.  Corcoran asked for a 50% equity stake in exchange for a $75,000 investment, which the brothers agreed to.

However, when the brothers met with Corcoran after the show, they let her know that all of the brothers would be working full-time in the business, which led Corcoran to “sweeten the deal a bit,” notes Danny.

Once an agreement was reached, Corcoran offered her advice and contacts, as well as the expertise of her team.  Due to the large number of businesses she invests in, Barbara has a team that provides expertise to her companies, in the areas of design, marketing, operations, and more.

Product Recommendations and Changes

“Barbara’s team was incredibly helpful.  They would do everything from showing us pictures of competitors’ products, to putting our products on a table across the room to determine what stood out about them,” offers Danny.

Barbara and her team’s input (and Barbara’s funding) led the Nardo brothers to change their labels, bottles, even cut down their product line, to focus on core products.

One suggestion was to make the “Fourever Young” kit the Nardo’s Natural flagship product.  The kit contains four items that can be used in a complete skincare regimen:  a face cleanser, mask, moisturizer and lip balm.

And instead of the brothers bottling the products by hand, Barbara’s team recommended finding a company that could do this on a larger scale. Wanting to “keep it local,” the brothers found a company in their area that they contract with to hand-pour their products.

And while the TV show included Barbara’s comment that she “hated the name Nardo’s Natural,” the name stayed.  “Barbara never brought it up again,” says Danny.

Sales Strategies

As all of us in business know, nothing happens until you make a sale.

“Barbara is amazing,” says Kyle.  “Not only does she have a top-notch personal network that she worked on our behalf, and a great new business development team, but she also connected us with the other Shark Tank businesses she invested in, to get some sales activities going.”

“We speak to Barbara often, and also communicate via email,” notes Danny.  “The other day she sent us a note asking us to send a bunch of our products to her contact at Disney, as they are interested in checking them out.”

She also gives some advice that is out-of-the-box, such as her suggestion that the brothers do a calendar.  At first they joked about it, then realized it was a “pretty cool branding idea.” The calendar featuring the four young, good-looking brothers is selling well on their Website.

What are some of the larger deals pending? “Barbara is working to get our products on QVC,” says Danny.  And since the brothers are near the headquarters of HSN in Tampa, they are also pitching their products to HSN.

The brothers are also talking with top retailers and distributors.

The Power of Shark Tank Exposure

While much has happened in the months between the show’s taping and its airing, the actual show airing on March 9, 2012, had an amazing effect on the business.

Says Danny, “The exposure was monumental.”

And not just the exposure. In a 24-hour period after the show aired, Nardos Natural got 1.1 million Website hits, more than it had gotten in the company’s entire time in business prior to that. Hundreds of orders came in during the show, and their Merchant Account briefly shut down their credit card processing function on their Website, suspecting fraud.

After fixing that glitch, the orders kept coming in, as did congratulatory emails, questions, and more.

Advice for Shark Tank Hopefuls

Since the show aired, the Nardo brothers have been inundated with questions from Shark Tank hopefuls. Here are some tips:

• Show your personality.  For example, when asked to submit a video, the brothers showed their funny sides, including joking and real-life bloopers.  “We didn’t make it slick and professional,” says Kyle.  “We wanted to show them what we were really like, and each of our different personalities.”
• Fill out forms precisely and follow directions perfectly.  “We made sure we filled out information exactly as it was asked, and submitted items in the exact timeframe,” says Kyle.  “We didn’t want them to have a reason to cut us.”
• Just do it!  Apply to be on Shark Tank!

What’s Next

The brothers will continue to work even more closely together.

Though they are Philadelphia natives, three of the brothers moved to St. Petersburg, Florida, after Danny graduated from the University of Tampa. K.J., the youngest, moved to St. Petersburg recently to work full-time in the business.

And there’s another exciting venture on the horizon. “Now that we’re all here, we will be working on a pilot for our own reality show,” says Danny.

Is it hard working so closely with family members? “Sure, there are challenges, but the four of us are close.  We really love each other, and always work things out,” notes Kyle.

So with all of these activities, what are the sales projections for the company?

“In the next two years, we’re on track to make $4.8 million in sales,” says Kyle.

Thanks to Shark Tank, the brothers have pending deals with shopping networks and retailers, a calendar, a reality show and more – all while working and living near the beach in Florida. Truly the American dream for the four Mastronardo brothers from Philadelphia.  And one that many of us hope to achieve.

Shark Tank Photo via Shutterstock

From Small Business Trends

Nardo’s Natural Survived and Thrived from Appearing on TV’s Shark Tank

Nobel Prize-winning economist Kenneth Arrow explained why entrepreneurs rarely sell their new product ideas to established companies better able to exploit them.

His answer has become known as “Arrow’s Information Paradox” and goes like this: If you try to sell someone a piece of knowledge, like an idea for a new product, they won’t buy it unless you also provide evidence that the idea will work. Otherwise, the buyer risks wasting money on ideas that go nowhere. Therefore, to sell an idea to someone else, an entrepreneur needs to disclose information about it.

That’s the problem. Ideas cannot be taken back once they are revealed. However, once someone has been told an idea, any incentive to pay for the idea evaporates since the information the information just provided for free cannot be rescinded.

This is the paradox: Ideas cannot be sold if they aren’t disclosed, but once they are disclosed no one will pay for them.

Professor Arrow explained that the patent system helps to solve this paradox. If you have a patented technology, you can disclose it to see if a buyer is interested. If the disclosure peaks the buyer’s interest then he or she will have to pay to use it. As long as the patent cannot easily be worked around, this legal protection precludes others from pursuing your idea without paying for it.

Companies are getting much better at avoiding Arrow’s Paradox than they use to be. While markets for technology remain a very tiny share of all economic activity – the World International Patent Organization (WIPO) reports that they totaled approximately 1/3 of 1 percent of world GDP in 2009 – they are growing very rapidly. The WIPO found that when measured in constant (2009) dollars, the total spent on royalties on licensing was $15.5 billion in 1970, $44.3 billion in 1990 and $180 billion in 2009.

Alongside the rise in the magnitude of markets for technology, a variety of organizations that help match buyers and sellers have emerged, including IP clearing houses, technology licensing offices at universities and government agencies, IP brokerages, and auction houses, WIPO reports. Moreover, big, established companies have become more active at soliciting technologies developed by independent entrepreneurs and academic institutions. And more companies are forming to make money solely from the development and sale of intellectual property, letting others use their IP to make and sell products.

In short, in high tech, more businesses are selling ideas as companies are using the patent system to get around Arrow’s paradox.

High Tech Concept Photo via Shutterstock

From Small Business Trends

Emerging Markets for High Tech Ideas

If vision was a box of tools, then you could buy a kit from the local Dream Store. And that box of vision would contain all the essential things that the small business owner needs to “see” in order to dream bigger and act on it.  But as it turns out, you can’t purchase vision.

No matter the size of your company, one man or woman, a small team or a hundred members - vision and what you do with it is still the key component (but not the only one) to long term impact and success.  And all business owners need at least two types of vision for their business.

BIG VISION

What’s the problem that you solve?  Every successful business is a solution to someone’s pain.  What’s that pain point and what’s your answer?  What do you want your business to look like, feel like? What do you want your life to look like, feel like as a result of this business?

Developing a big vision is about slowing down long enough to flush out and record your dreams.  You don’t have to know everything to get started, but you need a little more than a vague feeling of what you want because you have to be able to consistently articulate it on some level.  Which brings me to the next type of vision.

TEAM VISION

Who’s going to help you? You cannot do it all by yourself. If success is a part of the plan, then even the smallest small business will need a team of employees and/or independent contractors.  And the leader needs a vision for their team or he/she will destroy it one conversation, one action at a time.  Your sustainable growth depends on the vision, the team and the systems.

A short list of people you need at some point:

1. An administrator or virtual assistant to help take care of the daily details.
2. A marketing assistant/consultant/coach and a marketing system for getting the word out there, because businesses don’t sell themselves.
3. A customer service rep, someone who’s primary focus is taking care of client needs and concerns. In the early stages your administrator can do this. However, this person or team or the company you contract must have a deep understanding of what your company offers and a true passion for taking care of people.

Big vision requires a great team and a leader who gets it.

Vision Concept Photo via Shutterstock

From Small Business Trends

Big Vision Requires a Great Team and a Leader Who Gets It

Market Via Your Own Website

For the inventor who wants to keep as much of the profits as possible, selling direct is the way to go. However, selling on your own website can be hard. Here is a sample of all the things you’ll encounter:

• Setting up the site – This involves buying a URL, getting a hosting package, installing a CMS like WordPress yourself or hiring a web designer to set up the site for you.
• Writing the content – Once you have a site, you’ve still got to write all the content that goes on the pages. And you’ll probably want a good content marketing strategy to keep your blog relevant to users and search engines alike.
• Conversion – Before people arrive at your site you’ll need to prepare how you’ll “convert” them. If you have an email newsletter, you’ll need to have a place for people to signup. If you’re selling your product you need a shopping cart and payment method. Take care of conversion early and make the most of your traffic.
• Search engine optimization (SEO) – SEO should be laced through this entire process from site setup to content writing to linkbuilding, but you need to have a focus with your on-page and off-page SEO so that you start ranking on terms that drive business.
• Pay-Per-Click (PPC) advertising – If you don’t want to wait for your SEO rankings, you can get traffic quickly using a PPC platform. Obviously Google AdWords is the biggest, but Microsoft adCenter, Facebook, LinkedIn and others can provide great sources of targeted traffic.
• Email marketing – Whether they’ve just signed up for a newsletter or if they’ve purchased a product, email marketing is how you further your relationship. Staying top of mind is important and leads to repeat customers and upsells.
• Social media – You can’t escape the reach of Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and the many other social media sites. While you won’t need a presence on every platform, you want to be on the right ones and you want to be actively participating. A deserted social media account can hurt your credibility.

As you can see, this can be a bit overwhelming. However, there are ways to simplify the process.

Sell Through A Platform

There are a lot of different platforms out there and they vary in how they work and the level of control you have. Craigslist and eBay are very simple ways to list a product and make sales. If you want more of a “store” you can go with a site like Etsy or Cafepress that gives you control over the layout and styling. Whichever platform you choose you can usually avoid the hassle of setting up your own website and they will usually have a built-in payment system.

The downside to these options is that you still need to drive traffic to your listings or store. If you’re not particularly marketing minded, this can still seem overwhelming. So what’s even easier?

License Your Invention

The easiest way to get your invention to market is to license it to an existing company. They’ll handle production, sales and fulfillment and give you a percentage of each sale. While licensing deals can be structured many ways, the inventor usually keeps the patents and rights to the invention. So how does one get a licensing deal? There are a few methods:

• Cold-calling – This is the hardest way to get in and it requires a lot of effort, but sometimes dogged persistence can be the key to success.
• Personal network – As the saying goes “It’s not what you know, but who you know.” Having a personal connection within the licensing company will give you a champion inside, but even if you can get an introduction through a common connection you’ll be ahead of the game.
• Invention Contests – Many companies run contests searching for inventions to license and sell. One example I came across was the Big Ideas Worldwide Invention Contest. They are accepting applications through March 1st and will have 10 finalists present 3 weeks later to pick the winners.

Invention Photo via Shutterstock

From Small Business Trends

Getting Your Invention To Market