Become a Government Contractor

According to Entrepreneur Magazine, "the United States government is the world's largest customer. Each year, the federal government and its various agencies procure more than $300 billion of everything from airplanes to zippers."

This means that their are plenty of contracts coming straight from the White House. Oddly enough, very few minority entrepreneurs actualy pursue these opportunities.

$300 billion a year is definitely worth taking a look at. Available government contracts are all listed online at www.fedbizopps.gov

However, first you must register as a contractor at www.ccr.gov. Then, you have to get certified by the National Minority Supplier Council at www.nmsdcus.org

Sounds like a lot of work, and it is. So you better get started!

Reinvent The Wheel

Black Enterprise Business Report recently met with Lisa Price, the founder of Carol's Daughter, for an exclusive interview.

For those of you that don't know, Carol's Daughter is a $10 million skin care/fragrance company endorsed by Mary J. Blige, Will Smith, Jada Pinkett-Smith, and Jay-Z. But before the money and celebrity endorsements, Lisa Price was just a start-up entrepreneur like many of us. In fact, she started the company in her kitchen.

What amazes me about her is that what she's doing is not very revolutionary; She just reinvented the wheel. Keep this in mind when coming up with new ideas for your company!

You do not have to be the next Bill Gates to be successful in business. Just find a better way to do something that someone else is already doing.

Congrats to Lisa Price, and anyone who thinks like her!


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Beware of the DROA

Be very cautious of a company called Domain Registry of America (www.DROA.com). They are domain thieves, and they are out to get your domain name(s). They are especially targeting minority businesses, but other businesses as well.

This company will send you deceptive letters through the postal mail, urging you to renew your domain. The deceptive part is that when you renew your domain through them, they will transfer it away from your current registrar without your permission.

This can cause great confusion when you want to manage your domain, and may result in downtime for your web site. It can even cause you to lose your domain name.

The solution is to only deal with YOUR registrar (GoDaddy, Network Solutions, etc) regarding your domain name. If any other company contacts you about your domain name, ignore them completely.

Blame Yourself

In order to move forward in business, sometimes YOU have to accept the blame. The moment you realize this, your company will flourish. Entrepreneurs who don't admit to their mistakes, will likely make the same mistakes over and over again.

I've seen many musicians blame their record labels for lack of promotion when their CDs don't sell. However, most of the time its their music that just wasn't good enough. So their CD flopped because their music sucked!

I've seen tons of Black entrepreneurs blame their lack of success on "the industry", or "the timing", or "the location". Some people will even blame the targeted consumers who didn't buy into their ideas. "People are stupid for not seeing the benefit of what I'm selling," they say.

When things go wrong in business, you have to realistically assess what happened. If all fingers point at you, then accept the blame and learn from your mistakes.

Every business owner will make bad decisions, and will take a loss. This is a completely normal and necessary learning process. Accept it, absorb the damage, and move on!

The Customer Is Not Always Right

Some may disagree with this, but I just had to make this statement. For some reason, many people like to say "the customer is always right." My rule is this: The customer should be valued, and should be treated with respect. But the customer is not always right.

These days, customers will try to manipulate your company policies so that they can get "special services". This may include unwarranted refunds, exchanges, discounts, or even free stuff. A smart business owner will not put up with this!

Whenever you are dealing with a "problem" customer, handle them respectfully but do not deviate from your policy.

Have a detailed company policy in writing that is easily accessible to the customer. Your strategy of defense is to refer them to that policy. There will be nothing to debate about because you have everything in writing.

Now there are some cases when the customer is right. In these situations, it would be wise to compromise.

There Is An Easier Way To Earn Those Points

You don't have to be that frequent of a flyer to earn frequent flyer miles. In fact, nowadays you don't have to fly at all to earn frequent flyer miles.

You already know about the credit cards that you can use to earn points, but now they have debit cards that earn points too. I personally recommend using the debit card, over the credit card - because you will use the debit card more often, and will earn more points faster.

Unfortunately, I only know of one check/debit card that allows you to earn airline points on your everyday purchases: It's the Chase Continental Airlines Business Banking Card.

To get the card, you have to bank with Chase and (of course) they have to be in your local area. So, not everyone can benefit right now - but I'm sure other banks will soon jump on the bandwagon.

Anyhow, for every dollar you spend, you earn one mile towards a Delta, Continental or Northwest Airlines flight. So if you use the card for all your business purposes, you should be able to earn at least one free airline ticket every month.

If Chase banks are in your area, I would give it a shot. If not, I would ask your bank if they have a debit card that can earn you some airline points. If they don't, be patient because eventually they will.

Learn To Have "Thick Skin"

Any successful person will tell you that you need "thick skin" (like that of an elephant) to survive in business. Having thick skin means you have the ability to withstand criticism, handle confrontation, and put your foot down when you have to.

This means that as an employer, you have to be able to fire people when necessary, and turn down unwarranted requests for raises. There is no room for emotional attachments or relationships in the workplace. This is exactly why many people don't recommend hiring family members.

Business is very cut throat. Your clients will come down on you in a heartbeat if they aren't happy with your services. Your creditors will come down on you if they aren't paid on time. So you have to come down on your staff when their performance is unsatisfactory.

You don't have to be mean or rude, just tough.

Junk Mail Has A Purpose

You ever wonder why you keep getting the same old junk mail in your postal mail box? That's because advertising through junk mail actually works!

Think about it: Direct mail marketing to millions of people every single day or week can be very expensive. Why would companies continue to do this if it wasn't effective?

The truth is that people (at home or at work) actually look at junk mail, and will respond if they see fit to. So why not launch a small postcard marketing campaign to your potential or existing customers? It only costs $0.26 to mail a postcard, but through bulk rates you can mail them out for as low as $0.19 each.

Why not run a small test to see what happens? That's what I did 5 years ago, and now I'm a postcard marketing addict.

If interested, I recommend using 48hourprint.com or ModernPostcard.com - both are fast and have reasonable prices.

If It Doesn't Make Sense, Don't Do It

The picture above is a great depiction of a gullible person. What you see is a businessman who has just sold a refrigerator and freezer to an Eskimo. Of course, an Eskimo wouldn't need either one. Somehow though, he was convinced to buy something that he didn't even need.

The moral of the story: If it doesn't make sense, don't do it.

For some strange reason, it is very common for people to make business decisions (or life decisions) that even they agree don't make sense. In many cases, the reason why was: intimidation, pressure, being thoughtloss, and/or just being gullible.

I think people also resort to doing things that don't make sense, when they feel they have no other options. Well, you do have an option: the option to not do it.

Here are some tips to avoid making unwise business decisions:

1) Don't fall for the sales pitch. Don't allow sales people to pressure you into buying something your company doesn't even need. Be abrupt, and hurt their feelings if you have to!

2) Don't be gullible. Stop believing everything people tell you. Question everything - especially business advice. So what if he's a lawyer or an MBA or a Ph.D? Lawyers, doctors and other reputable people give bad advice every single day. Double-check what people are telling you.

3) Be realistic. Does it sound realistic that you can get two million email address for only 100 bucks? Any far-fetched claims like this are likely to be untrue.

4) Stay focused. Don't take your eye off the bottom line. If you're getting ready to make a business decision that is not going to help your bottom line, then it's probably not a good decision.

Have The Courage To Be Courageous

Its good to have a healthy fear of failing in business; This will keep you from making unwise decisions. However, don't allow fear to inhibit your ideas. In other words, don't allow the fear of failing to be the reason why you never gave it a shot.

Here is the dictionary definition of the word 'entrepreneur': a person who takes the risk of organizing and operating a new business venture.

Yes, business is a risk. If you call yourself an entrepreneur, then you are a risk-taker. You can not be an entrepreneur if you do not courageously step outside your boundaries to pursue a business idea.

Successful business men and women are courageous. They understand that business is risky, and are willing to move forward despite this. Potentially losing money doesn't hold them back from pursuing their goals.

You must understand that every business will assume risk of some sort, and will suffer sometimes because of it. This may very well mean losing money. But also understand that risk has led to tons of success stories.

Grasp what I'm saying here, and your success story will be next! Fully understand what it means to wear the "Entrepreneur" shirt.