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Top 3 Business Lessons Learned in 2010

Posted on January 23, 2011 by Dean Mercado in Success 5 Comments


“Those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it.” — Sir Winston Churchill

Dean Mercado - Internet Marketing Coach & ConsultantI am a firm believer that while we must learn from the past, that past should not only consist of our own experiences but those of others as well… this is why each year I share some of the key lessons I’ve learned (or relearned) with you.  So without further adieu here are my top 3 for 2010:

#1 – Beware The Runaway Barter
While barter can be a tremendous catalyst for both increasing business
and affording the small business owner things they may have difficulty paying for otherwise, barter can also be a major detriment as well.

The 2 biggest potential downsides are:

  1. Excessive willingness to barter can devalue your products and your brand.  This is critically important because it can quickly train your prospects and clients to not want to pay you with money… and cash flow is critically important to the health and success of a small business.
  2. Allowing the barter to become lopsided where one company consumes more than the other and thus creates a huge gap in the amount one company owes the other is very dangerous.  Why?  Because things happen!  Businesses no matter how well their intentions, go out of business all the time.  Try collecting on the barter owed you then.

Now don’t get me wrong, I do believe that barter should at least be considered as an option for doing business, I’ve just learned the hard way to be smarter about it.  A better practice that we learned from our CFO, Stacy Luft this past year was to set a threshold for how much barter credit to extend each client and to reconcile barters monthly whenever possible.  Now that’s sage advice!

#2 – Embrace The Silence
We simply live in very noisy world.  A world where the pace of life seems to be speeding up as well.  It’s no wonder stress levels for many are through the roof.  Facing those kinds of challenges, how can a small business owner productively get things done?  Let alone come up with new and innovative ways to grow the business.

Well for me at least periodic quiet time has become critically important aspect of my game.  This is the time when I step away from our computerized world and clear the brain.  I meditate… I journal… I think… I do whatever it takes to get quiet so that I can focus long enough to enable my “A” game to shine through.

#3 – Commitment To Being Strategic

Every week without fail, we held a formal executive team meeting where we both reflected on what transpired the past week as well as planned out the future ones.  In our planning we’d set goals and determine our strategies for achieving them.  We’d talk through our open projects as well as properly reflect on recently completed ones in an effort to grow from our experiences.  We’d hold ourselves accountable and course correct as a business as needed.  Bottom line… our productivity and results both individually as well as as a team skyrocketed!

All in all 2010 was a solid year for us… one that I feel will become a critical stepping stone for much more future success!

So how did you fare in 2010?  what lessons did you learn?


Kicking and Screaming … I Can’t … You Can’t Make Me! Rantings of a Two Year Old, or Was That Me Resisting My Destiny as a Small Business Owner???

Posted on August 24, 2010 by Andrea Mercado in Success 11 Comments

“I can’t … I can’t do it!”  That’s my two year old daughter’s latest thing.  Anything I ask her to do, she says “I can’t”.  So I tell her “You can!  You can do anything!”  Oh wait a minute…   Do I believe that I can do anything?  Sometimes not so much.  So now I think it is time for me to start setting an example.  How can I tell her she can do anything if I don’t think or operate like that myself?  I have been guilty of the “I can’t” excuse a lot in the recent past.  My most popular one was “I can’t leave my comfy job and my nice guaranteed paycheck!”  (By the way, nothing in life is really guaranteed, is it?  Oh yeah, that death and taxes thing right?)  I secretly begged God that my husband would give up the idea of having our own small business and that he would just get a “regular” job.  At the same time, I prayed that he was right and that we could really have the “dream lifestyle”.  The dream lifestyle for us is to be at home more often than not so that we can raise our kids ourselves.  We also wanted to be able to have work that we really enjoyed and that gave us the satisfaction of doing something that made a difference for others.  I worked in New York City for 18 years; commuted on the train four hours a day.  I was bored out of my mind and miserable.  I was standing at the edge of a cliff, looking over and wanted so badly to take the leap, but I kept backing off (metaphorically speaking of course!).  It was terrifying.  What if we lost everything?  What if we had no food and I couldn’t buy makeup?   And I’d have to wear my glasses because I didn’t have the money to buy new contact lenses!  Or worse, maybe we would have to move in with our parents?  But seriously, it really was very scary.

Then I got pregnant with my daughter.  Because of some complications I had she was born two months early.  So while I was peering over that cliff, someone came up behind me and pushed me off!  No warning, no time to prepare … I was out!  I didn’t go back to my comfy cushy 9-5 job in New York City.  I wouldn’t leave my baby with someone else only to see her for an hour a day if I was lucky enough to get home in time.  Two years later, I now know that it was the best thing that ever happened to me.  I could never go back to the life I had before, nor would I want to.  Being pushed into that decision was like ripping off a band-aid that you know has had its last legs in one fell swoop.  It stung for a bit, but then after a while it started to feel better and better.  It’s not easy making those kinds of decisions.  There is so much unknown in running a small business, but I knew that if we wanted something different for ourselves we had to do something different.

In the movie Steel Magnolias, Julia Roberts’ character has a line that goes “I would rather have thirty minutes of wonderful than a lifetime of nothing special.” (Sorry guys for the “girl movie” reference).  If you don’t take a chance or make some kind of move you will never know what you may have missed.  Take a chance, make a leap!  Take a small step towards something you have been thinking about for years.  It doesn’t have to be an uncalculated or drastic move like picking up and leaving your job and starting a business.  I wouldn’t recommend that to just anyone.  But maybe you just start doing some research about what you might like to do.  Or maybe you already have a small business and it’s getting out there and really promoting yourself the way you know you should be doing.  Look, I’m taking another leap right here!  This is my first official article and blog post for Online Marketing Muscle. It’s scary because I don’t know what people will think of it.  Do I write well enough?  Do I make sense?  But I made the decision to just go for it.

Another great quote I always call to mind is “I’d rather regret the things I have done than the things that I haven’t .” — Lucille Ball Sometimes you need that push off the cliff to get going.  Maybe you need to hire a coach for your small business.  (Hint, hint … Dean Mercado is an awesome marketing coach!)  OK, that was a plug, but hey, it’s my article.  I can do anything!


Surefire Way To Never Have To Compete On Price Again!

Posted on April 25, 2009 by Dean Mercado in Marketing Strategy 2 Comments

“There are no traffic jams along the extra mile.” – Roger Staubach

With an 18 month old daughter… who is now very mobile… and a second child on the way, my wife and I decided it was time to fence in our yard for both their safety and our sanity. So we started to solicit estimates from a few vendors. Much to our dismay the prices for what appeared to be comparable fences varied by over $2000. Unfortunately for the vendors, there was little if any differentiation between them. They asked too few questions and made too few recommendations. They essentially positioned themselves to compete on price… in my opinion, the worst positioning a small business can take!

So as responsible and mindful consumers what did we do? While we didn’t hire the lowest price vendor, we did however ask the one that gave us the best warm and fuzzy feeling to at least come close to the lowest price. We don’t mind paying a few extra dollars for that warm and fuzzy feeling, even amongst the current state of the economy. And my guess is that many other consumers feel the same.

My suggestion… avoid this scenario for your business at all costs! Don’t position yourself for a price war. Stand out!

How? It’s simple… Be willing to do the little things that your competition is either unwilling or too lazy to do.

Why? Because it’s the little things that make all the difference! It’s the little things that show you actually care! It’s the little things that justify your existence and your fees! It’s the little things that get you hired!

We’re not talking about breaking the bank here. If you put just a little creative thought into this, there are literally dozens of little things you could do to out-class the competition. For example:

  • Provide your prospect with a tips sheet on selecting the best vendor and/or solution.
  • Educate your prospect on any unforeseeable hiccups they may experience in the buying process (e.g. special permits and variances they may need to move forward, other expenses, etc.).
  • Provide price quotes from and/or public information about a few of your competitors to show how you clearly are the best choice. I don’t mean bad mouth your competition. Just stick to the facts and point out the differences between the companies that seem to matter to your target market most.

And to keep your existing clients happily paying your fees, you can model…

  • The chiropractor who buys balloons and sings Happy Birthday to his patients.
  • The cleaning company who leaves mints on your pillows and fun animal shapes out of a towel at the foot of your bed when their done cleaning your home.
  • The landscaper that provides you with great time-saving and beautification tips for your yard.

Sounds so simple right? Yet so few small businesses do these little over and above gestures. These little gems are examples of great marketing!

I’d be willing to bet that most customers of these vendors won’t be so concerned if their prices were a few dollars more.

The bottom line… Be remarkable amongst an unremarkable world! Do that and you most certainly won’t be competing on price any longer.

Copyright 2009 Online Marketing Muscle — All Rights Reserved.



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