Friday, March 22, 2013

How Are You Perceived?

How are people viewing you?  Do you know?
This week SBM brought in Peter Strople for our Top 100 People To Know Award luncheon.  Peter, better known as the Most Connected Man In America, asked the audience these questions.
They are great questions.  As business owners, we spend so much time and energy trying to satisfy our current clients and woo new clients, we never really step back and discover how we are being perceived in the marketplace.
And perception is reality.
Peter challenged everyone in the audience to sit their customers and prospects down and ask them.  You might be surprised at the response.
--Ron Ameln, SBM

Monday, March 18, 2013

Foundation For Growth: People Helping Others Succeed

There is always a lot of talk around town on what the region can do to create a better environment for entrepreneurial success.
Do we need a China hub?  Do we need more incubators?  More venture capital?  More angel investors?  More universities?  You get the point.
All of those things are important.  No question.
However, what we really need is more people helping others.  We need more people stepping up to unselfishly help others succeed.
This means we need more larger companies taking smaller, younger firms under their wing to incubate them, helping them grow and introducing them to possible contacts.
This means we need more smaller companies doing the same things with even smaller companies.
This means we need all of them to encourage our children to think about entrepreneurship.
If we want to be known as a community for entrepreneurs, we first need to be a community that is willing to reach out and help others succeed.  Not for any personal or financial gain, just to help others succeed.
If we can accomplish this feat, every entrepreneur will find us.
-Ron Ameln, SBM