The Blog
2/14/2011 Cupcakes vs. Lawn Care - Judging at the NFTE semi-finals
As someone who became an entrepreneur when I was well into my thirties, I have always wished I had started a little bit younger. That’s one reason I was so excited to join the panel of judges at the NFTE regional semi-finals on January 25.
The National Foundation for Teaching Entrepreneurship, or “Nifty” as it is fondly known, (http://www.nfte.com/what/programs/dc-region) promotes entrepreneurship in lower-income high schools. NFTE trains teachers on their proprietary (and award winning) curriculum, and also partners with local entrepreneurs who visit the classrooms regularly to work with the students on their business plans. Intelligent Office of Alexandria recently started providing remote receptionist services for the DC office of NFTE.
The event on the 25th featured short presentations of the top 25 business plans selected from DC-area schools. Led by the dynamic Julie Kantor, the event was part pep rally and a celebration of the achievements of these top students. But the competition was serious as the students vied for the opportunity to advance to the regional finals and attend a business trip to NY.
My panel of five judges was tasked with picking the best of five business plans to send to the finals. We were instructed to exclusively focus on the business plans and to disregard whether or not the student had actually started the business. Still, it was hard to ignore the fact that our first presenter had already made several thousand dollars from his lawn care business. The student started his thriving business with some help from his Dad. He showed us that he understood the “unit” economics of a lawn care visit and talked about his plans to continue the business through college and beyond. He handled some tough questions well, and in the end we agreed that he was our most polished presenter.
Our next three presenters all did great jobs as well. One talked about her Henna business, another was a budding photographer, and the third had plans to build an app that would help merchants attract young people to their places of business.
Finally, we heard from a young woman who had identified a strong need in her community, a ward in DC with no cupcake stores. Since my own neighborhood, Clarendon, in Arlington, is about to get our third cupcake store, I could hardly imagine the hardships faced by this community. Our young entrepreneur walked into the room with a rack of cupcakes which she encouraged us to sample as one of her entourage passed around napkins. She talked of learning to cook with her mother. She showed us a high margin business and her plans to sell her cupcakes at churches and neighborhood events. She charmed us by talking of donating a percentage of profits to Make a Wish Foundation, who had granted her brother a last wish of a puppy.
Our panel of judges debated at length and eventually we proudly sent our cupcake entrepreneur on to the finals. I left the event that night completely jazzed about the work that NFTE is doing, and since the event I have connected with the NFTE teacher at TC Williams High School in Alexandria to plan a class visit. Intelligent Office of Alexandria is very proud to call NFTE a client.
12/7/2010 Sales Lab's Talk Your Business
Intelligent Office of Alexandria hosted Dick Davies and Sales and Sales Lab as Dick presented his popular “Talk Your Business” seminar. There is no doubt that Dick is a prodigious talker, but this morning he also got all of the seminar participants talking, too, as we practice introducing ourselves and using the power of stories to illustrate why we are excellent and to accelerate the sales process.
This was actually my third “Talk Your Business” seminar, and while the material may be the same, I have benefited each time from the practice, feedback, and listening to others in the room. I had a few key takeaways this morning:
• “Why are you excellent” is a great question to answer during an introduction. And for me, the best way to answer it is to think of it from a customer’s perspective. (“Why do our customers think we are excellent?”) As someone who tends to shy away from boasting, I find it hard to brag about my business, especially to someone I’ve just met. But I can easily reflect on comments we get from our clients (who really do love us), and then it’s just reporting. Even better, our clients tend to love us because of our staff, and I share their enthusiasm, so now a very tough question has become, for me, an easy talking point.
• “Why are you here?” is another question that Dick recommends you answer in your introduction. It sounds obvious, but “I’m here to meet some new clients” cuts to the chase and gives your counterpart a nice opening.
• Tell stories. Stories are so much more memorable than lists of products or capabilities. A story gives your counterpart an opportunity to reflect on how your service or product could help him. Tell the story of how you helped your best client. Dick’s format is simple – (a) their problem, in 1-2 sentences; (b) your solution, in 1-2 sentences; (c) their result, in 1-2 sentences.
• Rehearse. Your introduction and stories get better with practice. Be an actor. Talk, talk, talk.
12/2/2010 Kacy Paide's 100 ways to organize your office
We enjoyed a nice presentation by Kacy Paide this morning. Kacy calls her company The Inspired Office. Her Powerpoint slides were primarily photos – before and after – of the work spaces of a few of her many clients of the past ten years. The “after” pictures were indeed inspiring – tidy rows of well-labeled files, neatly stacked boxes, hanging file systems that resembled pieces of art. Several of the slides showed organizing products that Kacy loves. Her enthusiasm showed me that she probably loves shopping second to organizing.
Kacy handed all the attendees a document titled “100 Ways to Organize Your Office.” Some of my favorites:
#94 – Be Decisive. Every paper that’s out represents an unmade decision.
#79 – Everything needs a designated home. Everything.
To me, these two lessons go hand in hand. #79 is one of the first things I learned in my career when, as a young Navy Ensign, I was drowning in a sea of paperwork. One of the few useful pieces of advice I learned from a lunatic boss was, “Everything needs a place, Matt.” My place was somewhere out of the Navy, eventually, but the lesson stuck.
#92 – Make it a rule to toss junk mail immediately
My problem is that my wife and I do not agree on what is junk mail. I think of catalogs as junk mail. She thinks my Sports Illustrated is junk mail. We have not found a way to reconcile this issue yet.
#38 – Create a “Kudos” or “Yay” file to collect all papers and cards that praise you.
I love this idea, and in fact learned it a long time ago from an old girlfriend who called it her “love letters” file. Any time you need some cheering up, that’s the place to look.
#33 Have a designated notebook just for ideas.
I’ve started using my cell phone for this, as I’ve lost so many ideas that were scribbled in generic notebooks and calendars. Now I’ve got an idea list on my iphone.
#29 – Donate foreign currency to Unicef’s Change for Good program.
I have won, pesos, thai bhat, rupees, pounds, and some currency I cannot identify sitting around my house. Ican’t wait to look up this website.
#13 – Never Face a Wall. Face the room and ideally, the door.
I learned this one in a delightful little book about Feng Shui for the office. Of course, a beautiful executive office suite can help you find peace!
#10 – Create a “Museum” file for your keepsakes.
Such a great idea, for all those old documents that you can’t seem to throw away. There are some random documents that I get connected to. An expired passport, a newsletter I wrote at an old company, a favorite paper from college.
#7 – Eliminate the ugliest thing in your office.
That would be me!
Kacy can be reached at 202-262-1207, or www.theinspiredoffice.com.
11/23/2010 What I Learned from Marc Slavin of MarcParc
We host lots of seminars at Intelligent Office of Alexandria, and I sit through almost all of them. For some reason, yesterday’s lunch meeting of TECA – The Entrepreneur’s Club of America – really resonated with me. I think it was because Marc Slavin, the founder of MarcParc, came in with no notes, no pretention, and no agenda other than to tell his story and motivate some others. I took away several nuggets that I found thought-provoking. Here are the top six:
(1) If you want your kid to be an entrepreneur, then be an entrepreneur. Marc’s grandfather started parking cars somewhere around 1920. Marc grew up in the business, working with his Dad and his uncle, and so his preparation was complete by the time he went out on his own. It’s in his blood.
(2) There is always someone who helped any successful person. Marc believes that the notion of a self-made person is a crock. He still remembers, and thanks, the person who gave his new company its first shot at managing a garage. I’ve been thinking since then about people who have helped me along my journey, and they are plentiful. I have some thanking to get done.
(3) Do one thing well. Marc got that advice from his grandmother, and it has defined his business. This goes hand in hand with the next point:
(4) Business is simple. Don’t overcomplicate. Park as many cars as you can, and take in more money than you pay out. In today’s landscape of consultants, distractions, and data, sometimes that simple notion can get lost.
(5) The most important thing is people. I hear that more than any other advice in my frequent interactions with successful entrepreneurs. Marc says that when he hires someone, especially at an executive level, he does not expect to have to motivate them. They should show up motivated. In return, he focuses on taking care of his employees. And when the wrong person is in the job, move fast to make a correction.
(6) Live life well. The business is important, but Marc makes plenty of time for family and his hobbies. He takes most Fridays off and just got his pilot’s license. Easy to say when you have achieved the level of success that MarcParc has achieved, but Marc has lived this way throughout his career.
March 10, 2010: We hosted an engaging seminar today delivered by Vinay Kumar, an associate at Winning Ways, Inc. The title of the talk was "Selling for Introverts." Vinay is very well known and respected and a frequent speaker in the local Association community, so it's hard to believe he is an introvert. Yet he told stories from early in his career of the dread he felt at picking up the phone for sales calls, or showing up at a networking event where he did not know many people. Many of us in the room could relate. By the end of the session, the introverts in attendance understood how they could see their introversion as an advantage in sales. Thanks, Vinay!
February 5, 2010: Great tip today from the Institute of Management Consultants: http://www.imcusa.org/members/blog_view.asp?id=334056.
We love hearing stories like this, as it gets right to the core of our business - helping our clients become more effective. Our most basic reception services save our clients time by enabling them to avoid many time-consuming nuisance calls and choose which calls they want to take without ever alienating a caller.
But the clients who benefit the most use higher value added services, such as estimating, scheduling, and event registration.
For example, we offer estimating and scheduling services to a moving company. Our team of receptionists has undergone extensive training with the company. When we receive a call, our receptionists walk the caller through a multi-page questionnaire. "How many bedrooms do you have? Apartment or house? Is there a freight elevator? etc etc. At the end of the call we produce an estimate of the cost and schedule the appointment. When the questions get over our head, "Let me get my manager to help us with that."
We are helping this company stay lean and mean and NEVER miss a sales call. Could your company benefit from a service like this?
February 1, 2010: Intelligent Office of Alexandria, VA, (http://alexandria.intelligentoffice.com) will host the new Alexandria Chamber of Commerce Internet Engagement Group on February 2. To mark the occasion, we have launched our new blog with this posting.
Intelligent Office (IO) is a franchise operation offering professional office and meeting space, back office services like Remote Receptionist Services, and "Business Identity" packages, so that small businesses can have the benefits of a professional business address, mail services, etc. We help small companies enhance their presentation and professionalism and thereby gain credibility with their clients and prospects. Our clients include attorneys, government contractors, consultants, medical professionals, moving companies, cleaning companies, and more.
Our blog will focus on issues relevant to small business, particularly those with a focus on creating back-office efficiencies and a professional image.
If you happen to catch this in time, please join us for the kickoff meeting of the new Chamber group tomorrow morning. If not, we hope to hear from you in the future.
