Carving Out a Successful Niche

Carving Out a Successful Niche – Part 1

By Brian Hazelgren

Do you know precisely who your customers are? You may know many of them by name, but do you really know what type of people or businesses they are? For example, if you sell to consumers, do you have demographic information (i.e., what are their average income ranges, education, typical occupations, geographic location, family makeup, etc.) that identifies your target buyer?

What about lifestyle information (i.e., hobbies, interests, recreational/entertainment activities, political beliefs, cultural practices, etc.) on your target buyer?

This type of information can help you in two very important ways. It can help you make changes to your product or service itself, in order to better match with what your customers are likely to want. It can also tell you how to reach your customers through advertising, promotions, etc.

For an obvious example, a company that sells athletic shoes may know that its typical customer is also a sports fan. Thus, if that company can build shoes good enough to be worn by professional athletes; it will have a convincing story about quality to tell. It can also benefit by using well-known athletes as spokespersons in its advertising, and by placing advertisements in sports magazines where its customers are likely to see them.

How can you refine your understanding of your own customer base? I suggest you look at the issue from two angles:

Niche marketing— identifying the heavy users of your product so you can direct your marketing efforts more precisely to those users

Segmenting the market— dividing the existing market up into sections or segments that may become new niches for your business

Niche Marketing

Most marketers know that “20 percent of buyers consume 80 percent of product volume.” If you could identify that key 20 percent and find others like them, you could sell much more product with much less effort.

The “heavy users” of your product can be thought of as a market “niche” that you should attempt to dominate. Niche marketing today means targeting, communicating with, selling to, and obtaining feedback from the heaviest users of your business’s products or services.

Picking the right segment of the market is important to achieving sufficiently large sales volume and profitability to survive and prosper as a company. Picking the right market segment means that it is:

• Made up of consumers who will buy from you
• Measurable in quantitative terms
• Substantial enough to generate planned sales volume
• Accessible to your company’s distribution methods
• Sensitive to planned/affordable marketing spending events

 

In identifying your niche and the segment of the market you will target, it is also important to examine other factors that could affect your company’s success. You will want to consider:

• Strength of competitors to attract your niche buyers away from your products
• Similarity of competitive products in the buyers’ minds
• Rate of new product introductions by competitors
• Ease of entry/protectability in the market for your niche

 

Perhaps the driving force behind “niche” marketing or “segmentation” is the need to satisfy and keep those consumers who really love your products or services. Consumers become increasingly more sophisticated and demanding. And product choices continue to expand with prosperity and global competition.

Even large companies have embraced niche marketing, continuing to refine and target their product offerings to different buyer groups. As an example, Nike restaged a multi-billion dollar company that had plateaued by pursuing a segmentation strategy. Nike designed and marketed athletic shoes for each different sport, often further segmenting with specialized models within each sport (i.e., “Air Jordan” basketball shoes, additional basketball models called “Force,” represented by Charles Barkley and David Robinson, and “Flight,” represented by Scottie Pippin).

In addition to the considerations listed above, it also is important to be able to identify and estimate the size of your target market, particularly if you’re thinking about a new venture, so that you can tell if the customer base is large enough to support your business or new product idea. Remember that it’s not enough that people like your business concept. There must be enough target buyers on a frequent-enough basis to sustain your company sales, spending, and profits from year to year.

For example, selling a product or service that people may need only once in a lifetime (i.e., an indestructible pair of shoes) may not be a sustainable business, unless a large number of people need it at any given time, or everyone needs it eventually (i.e., funeral services), or your profit margins generate a substantial income.

How to Segment Your Market

If the universe of all potential buyers is your “market,” then the market can be divided up into sections or “segments” based on any number of factors. For example, you might divide up your customers by age group and find that you sell most of your products to people aged 18 to 34. You might divide them up by family size and find that you sell most of your products to married couples with young children. You might divide them up by economic status and find that you sell most products to people with an annual income of about $50,000 to $75,000. You may even divide them up by geographic location and find that you sell most of your products to people living within two specific ZIP codes.

 

Many small businesses stop there, thinking they have enough information to be able to identify and communicate with their most likely customers. However, larger companies will attempt to push on further and find out even more information about their customers’ lifestyles, values, life stage, and so forth.

 

Let’s define some terms:

 

Demographics refers to age, sex, income, education, race, martial status, size of household, geographic location, size of city, and profession.

 

Psychographics refers to personality and emotionally based behavior linked to purchase choices; for example, whether customers are risk-takers or risk-avoiders, impulsive buyers, etc.

 

Lifestyle refers to the collective choice of hobbies, recreational pursuits, entertainment, vacations, and other non-work time pursuits

 

Belief and value systems include religious, political, nationalistic, and cultural beliefs and values.

 

Life stage refers to chronological benchmarking of people’s lives at different ages (i.e., pre-teens, teenagers, empty-nesters, etc.).

 

How can you find out more about your customers? Through market research, of course.

Larger companies segment their markets by conducting extensive market research projects, consisting of several rounds of exploratory research.

 

Customer and product data collection: Researchers gather data from users of similar products regarding:

 

• Consumable products, and how often they are consumed
• Number and timing of brand purchases
• Reasons for purchases
• Consumers’ attitudes about various product attributes
• Importance of the product to the lifestyle of consumer
• Category user information (demographics, psychographics, media habits, etc.)
• Seasonal uses, and seasonal colors

 

Factor and cluster analysis: Researchers analyze the data collected in ways to find correlations between product purchases and other factors, as a basis for identifying actionable consumer target “clusters.” Clusters are defined as “niche markets,” where there are identifiable numbers of buyers or users who share the same characteristics and who thus can be reached by adept advertising and promotion.

 

Cluster identification and importance ranking: Researchers then determine whether clusters are large and viable enough to spend marketing funds on them whether potential marketing niche clusters fit strategic company objectives; i.e., does marketing to this group fit your existing image and long-term goals?

What can smaller companies do to segment their markets?

Smaller companies can research secondary data sources and conduct individual interviews with key trade buyers and consumers or end users of their products and services (qualitative research). Often qualitative research can be accomplished for free or little expense.

Smaller companies also can conduct informal factor and cluster analysis by:

• Watching key competitors’ marketing efforts and copying them
• Talking to key trade buyers about new product introductions
• Conducting needs analyses from qualitative research with individuals and groups

 

In many cases, smaller companies have access to the same databases as large companies for estimating the sizes of market segment clusters and their importance. Some low-cost sources of external secondary data include:

• Trade and association publications and experts
• Basic research publications
• External measurement services (large market research firms include ACNielsen, Burke, and Information Resources, Inc. (IRI)
• Government publications

 

Smaller companies can segment markets by geography, distribution, price, packaging, sizes, product life, and other tangible factors in addition to demographics and lifestyle and psychographic clustering.

Service businesses will want to go as far as developing a cluster of clients based on a radius within a certain geographical area. For example, an interior designer may want to focus on a 50-mile radius, and a math tutor may look at a 20-mile radius for servicing customer needs. Some service businesses like dry cleaners will even tighten down the radius to about 3 to 5 miles.

You decide how large the radius around your business should be, but put some type of limits to where you are physically capable of servicing your customer’s needs.

Getting Over The Hurdles of Life

Getting Over The Hurdles of Life

Brian Hazelgren

The Grand National Steeplechase (also known as The National) is a world-famous horse race that is held annually at Aintree Racecourse, near Liverpool, England. It is a handicap chase run over a distance of 4.5 miles, with horses jumping 32 fences over two circuits of Aintree’s National Course.

The steeplechase is the centerpiece of a three-day meeting, and it is the most valuable National Hunt in Britain.

Usually the first hurdle puts 25% of the participants out of the race; another group is eliminated at the second hurdle, and so on throughout the 32-hurdle race. The horses and riders train rigorously to develop strength and stamina for getting over the 32 hurdles.

About 60,000 people attend the race each year, and pay over $100 to attend. All sorts of handicaps are placed in the way to make this the most difficult steeplechase on the planet.

The horse never knows what to expect beyond the hedge since they can’t see what lies beyond. There may be a moat; there might even be fallen horses; they may even get crowded out by other horses. But, the horse and rider must successfully meet each situation they come to, and get over the obstacle and continue on with the race.

The gates, hedges and ditches the racers encounter during the race are flagged to provide them with difficult obstacles to be jumped along the way with posts and rails erected at the two points where they jump sometimes blindly. Can you imagine jumping blindly over an obstacle not knowing how or where you are going to land? Many people would not ever consider doing something like that. But my first question would be “where’s the fun in always knowing every step and move you are going to…or supposed to take?” To me that kind of lifestyle is just existing, and not really living…but that is just me.

The Aintree course has a reputation as the ultimate test of horse and jockey, and most of the starters fail to complete the race. Only a few horses and riders remain in the race towards the end, and the winner receives a substantial grand prize worth staying in the race for.

Life is very much like the Aintree Steeplechase, and if we have the right attitudes, life’s obstacles can be immensely exciting and motivating. The pathway of life contains many hurdles and opportunities, and can be an adventure that is both invigorating, and immensely frustrating at times.

Whether we like it or not, that is the program of life we all encounter, and the one who is planning the course of his or her life would do well to learn to appreciate the “hurdles” that we all encounter, and prepare for the time when we will run into them.

As someone once said, “The race is not always to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, but to the one who is still in there fighting at the end of the course.”

A motto carved in the Massachusetts School of the Blind says: “Obstacles are things to be overcome.” Obstacles make us think deeper, and show our true character…what we are made of. They also make us act more quickly, and make us prepare better. They are placed in our way to make us stronger and wiser.

“The successful man sees obstacles and turns them into opportunities. The unsuccessful man sees obstacles in his opportunities.” Brian Hazelgren (I had to throw that one in!)

The Hurdles of Life that we encounter make it possible for the strong, determined, persevering person to work his or her way up to the front.

It’s fascinating to see in any group of people how many quit at the first obstacle. Some stick to the job until the second of third hurdle, but only a few develop that quality of stick-to-itiveness and determination that guarantees they will be there at the end of the contest. The weakling focuses how difficult it is for them to find success, while the strong person like Job, says “Though he may slay me, yet will I trust in him….”

We should never be a dropout from finding success. Just like in the difficult Aintree Steeplechase, it’s not how many times we start, it’s how many times we finish what we started out to do. Any one can fall down and quit, and when discouragement arises most people want to quit and move on to something else. However, the winner is the one who takes all of this in stride, and knows that success is just around the corner.

Anybody can have a good record for a brief period of time, but it’s the true leader who keeps on month after month, year after year, taking all the hurdles, and challenges and setbacks in stride, and reaches that pinnacle of success more often that those who quit prematurely. This is what makes a successful life.

We would do well to remember that obstacles are placed in our path to help us grow, and to help us learn more about who we truly are. Many of have encountered obstacles multiple times over, and each time we come out of the challenge a better person, knowing more about what it takes to be successful.

No one ever learns horsemanship riding a tame horse. The skilled mariner does not become so by sailing on calm waters. It was the strong north winds that made the Vikings great. The captain of the football team doesn’t stand on the sidelines sending out signals for the players on the field to follow…they lead by example in practice; on the field during a game; and in life. It was adversity along the way and losing to our rival in high school that taught us to work harder and improve on our mistakes to win the state title. It’s not the path of least resistance that builds strength and power, and courage and initiative.

• We ask for strength and God gives us difficulties to make us strong.
• We pray for wisdom and God sends us problems, the solution of which develops wisdom;
• We plead for prosperity and God gives us brain and brawn to work;
• We ask for courage and God gives us dangers to overcome;
• We beg for favors and God gives us opportunities.

Overcoming our problems and challenges and discouragements is what builds strength. What if we were to take on a different attitude about the hurdles we in life and look at them as helpful benefits of great things we can learn? What if we kept our composure and met these hurdles with enthusiasm to be steady in our thinking, without overreacting and losing our minds…?

There is a story of a famous lecture on beans and walnuts that was delivered by Ralph Parlette. He would fill a large glass jar half full of beans and half full with walnuts. Then he would mix them up and shake the jar. The beans would quickly sink to the bottom of the jar, while the walnuts would rise to the top.

Then he would turn the jar upside down and do the same thing again by shaking the jar until the beans and the walnuts would react just as they had done before…beans to the bottom and walnuts to the top. The same bumps, the same jolts, the same relentless shaking that sent the beans to the bottom, and the walnuts rose to the top of the jar.

So we need to ask ourselves, are we are bean or are we a walnut? Some like a little work because it is easy, but the result is that they shrivel up to the size of the task of what they choose to do. Others like the big jobs, and the things that will stretch their skills, and they enthusiastically accept the challenge to make themselves strive for a successful life.

If we want a strong back, we should go out and get a bigger load to carry. It has been said that this is like striking a balance financially. If our income is less than our outgo, it is much better to increase our income than to decrease our outgo.

If we quit when it gets tough, and when things are not going as smoothly as we had anticipated, we will end up going down like the bean if we are not careful. However, if we learn from the shaking and jolting of life that we can develop the determination and skills to fight our way up to the top, we will be much happier.

Each of us has had setbacks, and will continue to have them. Someone once said that “It’s nothing against you to fall down flat, but to lie there is sure disgrace.” We need to have the courage to get back up when we get knocked down, and exercise a little faith, and a little wisdom, and get over that hurdle. These things are put in our paths to teach us how to get around the obstacle, and find success. We could look at this like “how do I turn this obstacle into an opportunity.”

Just like in the steeplechase race at Aintree, hurdles are placed in our path, and only those with perseverance and the fortitude to keep pushing forward learning from their mistakes and the mistakes of others, that we can make it to the finish line. But if the hurdles are good, and can teach us things along the way, we should accept them eagerly by running out to get over them!

www.brianhazelgren.com

Greatest Shortcut to Prosperity

A small investment in building character pays us back a millionfold. Every pound of energy we put into learning for the development of initiative, courage, and our own personality, we get back in many ways. For every determination that we put in to life comes back to us fantastically multiplied!

Nature is rich, and it was intended that everyone could take part in that abundance. The essence of having abundance in this life is what we must believe in. We must raise our sights for greater accomplishments and never let the thought of failure hinder our progress or hold us back, or limit our accomplishments. We must think success, and feel success and work for success, and its ok to work on increasing and expanding our boundaries.

Most of us tend to underestimate the real potential that we have within us. It was never intended that we should be poor, or worried , or unable to pay our bills, when we are surrounded with so much abundance.

When we think of fear, discouragement, and failure, that’s what we will get. We need to think of strength, and courage, and success. Our achievements and failures today are a sum total of our thoughts of yesterday. Whatever price we set upon ourselves, life will give back to us. If we visualize and emphasize our worries, our fears, and our negative attitudes, we live with and become saturated by them. We make them real by our practices.

When I was involved in sports at a younger age, I would put my mind to it, and my thoughts became my actions. There was no way someone else was going to beat me. In business today, as a parent, or in civic and ecclesiastical responsibilities, I believe in success.

Remember that thoughts are energy. Thoughts are magnets that attract to us to the various things that we think of. The greatest shortcut to prosperity is to think of it. Prosperity attracts more opportunities, and poverty repels it. Many of us have eyes but don’t see the great opportunities that are staring us right in the face. Before we can our true heart’s desire, we must get clearly fixed in our mind what we want and then concentrate all of our attention on that one thing. Most of us struggle on in a vague sort of way hoping that something will turn up, not knowing for certainty what to expect. We usually waste enough energy to get us to our destination. Most of us spend far more too much energy on the detours instead of concentrating on the main thing we started out to accomplish.

Remember that you can accomplish great things, and you can make a big difference in the lives of those you associate with…including your own. Our Creator intended for each of us to be successful, to experience abundance in this life, and good measure.

I don’t know who said this, but here is a good thing to remember  about abundance. “I bargained with life for a penny, only to find dismayed that anything I had asked of life, Life would have paid.”

Business Ownership is Not For the Faint of Heart

Here are a few things to remember as you take your journey down the path of entrepreneurship.

• Business ownership is not for the faint of heart…it takes
  • drive,
  • determination,
  • a dogged approach to winning business,
  • good marketing skills,
  • great people skills,
  • a little bit of luck, and
  • capital.
• Your business plan will need to be developed and updated periodically.
• Your competition will constantly need to be evaluated. They will come up with new products and services that you will need to compete against. Consistently do your homework.
• Once you have developed a solid Unique Selling Advantage tell everyone why your business is different and why people should buy from you.
• Set achievable goals that will make you stretch a little.
• Keep advertising and marketing no matter what.
• Set high standards and make sure that your employees follow these high standards.
• Have fun at what you do…”if it isn’t fun, then why do it?”

 

“If a man cannot dream he will soon be asleep to all the important things this life has to offer. If a man cannot pray he will soon only listen to himself. And if he has no charity for others he will soon be the only important thing in his pathetic existence.” Brian Hazelgren

This is your time to dream and to achieve your dreams. You have all the tools around you to help you succeed. Take advantage of the materials that will help you learn how to best run your business. Don’t get discouraged when you make mistakes, because you will. Learn from them and keep picking yourself up again, and again and again.

There is so much to learn…so don’t get overwhelmed in the process. Take the time to learn from those who have been in the trenches, fighting the battles, learning along the way and achieving success.

Goal #1: Come up with a list of what you feel are the next steps for you in your business journey

Goal #2: Write down the things that are keeping you awake at night in regards to your business and what you still need help with

Hire The Right People

Publicizing a Job Opening

Once you’ve determined that you need to hire someone and figured out what you need done, you’re ready to let the world know about your job opening.

There are several ways to do so:

• Advertising. The most common means of advertising is in newspapers. Newspaper ads are relatively inexpensive and get good response and quick turnaround. Trade journals are more expensive and generate less response, but can be used effectively for highly paid, highly skilled professionals.
• Writing good job ads. There are some things you should include in your ads, and some things you should not include, particularly if you’re covered by antidiscrimination laws.
• Personal recruiting. This involves going to places such as schools to find and attract job candidates. It can also include personal referrals.
• Outside services. If you tend to hire frequently or you need to hire several employees at once, this is a good route to use because they do a lot of the legwork. It can be expensive, though.
• Evaluating your choices. We provide some pointers on situations that might favor one method over another.

Screening Job Applicants

Once the word is out that you have a job opening, expect to get phone calls, in-person visits, and resumes in the mail. But what do you do once the calls, letters, and people start coming in?

1. First, determine whether the person is indeed an applicant. If you’re hiring your first employee, chances are that anyone who expresses interest in any way is an applicant. If, however, you have 15 or more employees, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) requires that you keep all records of all applicants for a full year, so determining who is an official applicant and who isn’t becomes more important.
2. Decide how to respond to applicants. It’s always a good practice to acknowledge everyone who applies for the job, even if you decide that they aren’t suited for it.
3. Decide on the type of information that you are going to require from applicants and how you are going to get it. Do you have an application you want them to fill out or are you going to rely on resumes? Which other types of application materials could you ask for?
4. Determine if you’re going to test your applicants. A few industries and jobs require certain testing, but most are at your discretion. What you need in an employee will determine what, if any, testing you want to do. Refer to the job description, if you have one, and see if any of the requirements necessitate testing.

How Do You Interview Applicants?

Once you’ve gathered the information you need from applicants and you’ve reviewed it, you’re ready to start making some appointments to interview the most promising candidates.

Most people believe that they are good judges of character. Just a short chat with a job applicant and they can tell you whether he or she is hardworking, honest, creative, and loyal. Of course, it’s usually not that easy.

Assessing applicants’ qualifications by talking to them is a highly subjective method of choosing employees. However, used in partnership with other screening methods, such as applications and background checking, it can be an extremely useful selection tool. After all, one of the most important qualifications a person must have for any job is the right personality to work well with the supervisor and co-workers, and you can’t get that information off a resume or application.

But, first you need to:

• Plan for the interview, by deciding where to have the interview and choosing an interview format.
• Know how to conduct the interview, by understanding your role as an interviewer, and knowing what to ask and what not to ask.

Doing a Background Check

After you’ve collected information about applicants and done several interviews, you’re ready to check the background of your most promising candidates.

Because so many people misrepresent their background and credentials, it is important to do at least a little checking to see if what the applicant says about his or her background is true. A lot of employers don’t do any checking, and they often regret that decision. The applicant may be unqualified for the job or may have some personality trait or past experience that causes problems for you later.

Moreover, if your applicant will have contact with other employees or with customers, an important reason to do that checking is to avoid negligent hiring claims. If you have an employee who turns violent and harms either a customer or another employee, you could be slapped with a lawsuit if reference checking would have kept you from hiring that person.

If you have employees who have or will have significant contact with the public, customers, patients, or children, you’ll want to be particularly careful about doing a thorough background check, including a check of criminal records to the extent permitted by law.

For more information regarding how to do a proper background check, consider the following:

• General guidelines for reference checks
• Employment references
• Personal references
• Education records
• Credit reports
• Driving records
• Criminal records
• Documentation of the reference check

Making the Hire

After you’ve interviewed your top candidates for a job and checked their backgrounds, you must decide which one you want to hire. Use the notes that you’ve taken in interviews to help you.

Now you’re ready to make a job offer to your top candidate.

A job offer may be made orally—either in person or over the phone—or in writing. I recommend you do it over the phone, so you get a quicker answer to the offer and so that your chosen applicant doesn’t get snapped up by some other employer while your written offer is still in the mail.

No matter what the form of the job offer is, the principle is the same. Do not make promises or statements that can be construed as promises, that you cannot or do not intend to keep. Those statements can sometimes lead to expensive litigation if you later decide to terminate the employee.

When a job offer is extended, it should include the following information:

• Position offered
• Location and working hours
• Salary (although sometimes salary must be negotiated before the applicant will accept)
• Benefits
• Starting date
• Any papers or information that should be brought on the first day of work
• A date by which the applicant must respond to your job offer, so you can move on to the next candidate if your first choice doesn’t accept

While making a job offer is usually a positive experience, there are some areas to be mindful of and things to beware of. Don’t create an employment contract with an offer.

What Do You Do After the Hire?

After you’ve made the job offer and the candidate accepts it, you can begin to take steps to:

• Complete the required paperwork (i.e., I-9, W-4, insurance application, credit card application, a copy of the employee handbook, etc.).
• Set up personnel files.
• Orient the employee.
• Review your recruiting and hiring process.
• Provide the proper training for their specific job responsibilities.
• Make them a feel a part of the team.
• Hold reviews after 30 days, 90 days, and six months. (These can be brief interviews to find out how happy they are…after all, it cost enough time and resources to hire them in the first place.)

Free Enterprise Model

The Free Enterprise Model is universal and allows all types of managers in all types of industries to work with an idea, and either bring it to fruition, or decide to ban the idea.

First, it begins with an IDEA that moves the manager to some form of action. The idea begins to take shape as the OPPORTUNITY is sized up and analyzed. The manager then begins to communicate his or her idea to others, and conducts further analysis of the opportunity. This analysis is required to realize just how viable the opportunity may or may not be.

Once it is determined that there exists a fairly practical opportunity, the manager then begins to design a plan for gathering the proper RESOURCES. In this case, the resources are those elements that are needed to turn an opportunity into reality.

The resources required here may vary from organization to organization, but there are a few basic resources to consider: Tools, Technology, Capital, Industry Best Practices, Partners, Suppliers, Value Added Resellers (VAR’s), and most important People, or staff–not the management team. Resources are vastly important in the overall success of making the opportunity a reality.

After the Resources have been identified and even allocated, the next step is to formulate the TEAM that will be responsible for driving the entire concept into a formidable, moneymaking opportunity. The team is made up of individuals who will be held responsible for the success (or heaven forbid, failure) of the opportunity.

As you go through the exercises of sizing up an opportunity, gathering the proper resources and assembling the best management team, four very important elements should not be overlooked as the process continues. Those four elements are:

• Communication
• Plan of Action
• Strategy
• Assessment/Review

Communication is paramount throughout the entire process. If communication breaks down, the process breaks down and will ultimately fail. Several years ago, I introduced the Power Planning Model™ for strategic planning, in which I explain that communication is the foundation of all successful planning operations. Pay close attention to the communication between members of the planning committee and management. Keep a close watch that someone is driving the process forward and that no backbiting or undermining is occurring.

Develop a Plan of Action and see the fruits of your planning labors. This is where you will actually begin to implement what you have designed. Your Action Plan is your Implementation Strategy.

How will you put into practice what you have committed to writing? Although the Strategic Plan itself is a call to multiple forms of action, a succinct Plan of Action to get things moving is also required. It outlines the steps you will be taking, your milestones you and your team will be achieving, who is responsible for the completion of the milestone, start and end dates, and a budget for each element.

Strategy is defined as 1 a (1): the science and art of employing the political, economic, psychological, and military forces of a nation or group of nations to afford the maximum support to adopted policies in peace or war (2): the science and art of military command exercised to meet the enemy in combat under advantageous conditions b: a variety of or instance of the use of strategy  2 a: a careful plan or method: a clever stratagem b: the art of devising or employing plans or stratagems toward a goal  3: an adaptation or complex of adaptations (as of behavior, metabolism, or structure) that serves or appears to serve an important function in achieving evolutionary success.

And Stratagem is defined as 1 a: an artifice or trick in war for deceiving and outwitting the enemy b: a cleverly contrived trick or scheme for gaining an end.

Whether it comes down to war, winning a game or beating your competition, formulating a strategy is the first step to achieving success.

Assessment and Reviews should occur after you have implemented your plan. You will need to assess how well your plan is working. You should review with your team what things are working and which things are not.

• Has the plan been implemented?
• What are the bumps in the road that have occurred?
• What changes should you make?
• Who should you reward if things are going well? (Don’t forget this item…people like to be recognized for doing a good job.)

So, now that you have learned about the Free Enterprise Model, how does this help you understand how business flows?_________________________________________________

What is your business IDEA? ____________________________________________________

What RESOURCES do you need to make it work? ___________________________________

How will you find/gather these Resources? _________________________________________

Who are the players on your TEAM? ______________________________________________

What are their strengths (including yours)? __________________________________________

What are their weaknesses (including yours)? _______________________________________

Can you think of others (not on your payroll that will play a role in the overall success of your venture (i.e. your attorney, CPA, insurance agent, marketing consultant, etc.)?  ____________________________________________________________________________

What are your plans to find out if this IDEA that you have will really work? _________________

Where will you find the data to assess the real market OPPORTUNITY? __________________

Spend a few minutes answering these questions, and thinking through how the Free Enterprise Model will help you grow your business. Good luck!

www.brianhazelgren.com

Toasted Pecan Pudding

My wife Ann makes the most amazing pie called Toasted Pecan Pudding. It’s so delicious and makes me salivate to try it again! Tomorrow cant come soon enough to have a few bites…Anyway, several people wanted the recipe, so with Ann’s permission, here it is…

TOASTED PECAN PUDDING PIE

1/2 c. butter, melted

1 1/2 c. coconut

1 c. flour

1 c. chopped pecans

1/4 c. packed brown suger

2. pkg. (3 oz ea) instant vanilla pudding

3 c. cold mile

1 – 8 oz. whipped topping

COMBINE butter, coconut, flour, pecans and sugar. Spread into thin large, un-greased pan. Bake at 325 degrees for 30 minutes until lightly browned. Cool.

In a large bowl, beat pudding mix and milk. Fold in whipped topping. Place half of pecan mixture in 9×13 pan and spread the pudding mixture over. Top with remaining pecan mixture. Chill until ready to serve…and enjoy! (try not to salivate too much during the process!