Over the last few months I have got to go to some really neat places across the country and conduct seminars at Gift Shows (trade shows for the gift, resort, and souvenir industries). I’ve had so much fun and am humbled and honored by the opportunity to be in front of so many people from my industry listening to what I have to say.  I am by no means a social media expert, but the independent retail industry is behind the 8-ball when it comes to using social media, so I have lent my experience and passion for teaching to help people get more competitive on and offline….and the pay doesn’t hurt either!

After technical and sound problems with the video recorded at the gift show seminars I have gone ahead and sat down at my computer and recorded the audio for the Intro to Social Media Seminar. Below are the slideshows from both of the seminars I have conducted. For the Intro seminar, if you click play, my voice will take you through the entire seminar.

There is currently no audio for the Advanced slideshow.

Please contact me with any questions or concerns. brian [at] sandshack.com

American business has been greenwashed. Every business that strives to reach the masses has come up with or attributed their brand to some form of environmental mission.  Many companies simply support environmental works because they believe they will be more appealing to their customers.  Although this could be viewed negatively, I think it is great.  Even if the management of the company doesn’t care, let them throw money at various conservation works…as long as something gets done.

But I believe the greenwashing of American business has inadvertently affected those businesses that truly strive to make a positive impact on the environment.  As a result of so many businesses making some form of environmental pledge, the consumer is less likely to praise any small environmental impact a company is making.  Unfortunately small businesses that are “just” environmentally friendly will no longer stand out in 2010 as they may have in years past.

So what can and should a small business that wants to have a positive impact on the environment and stand out from the crowd do?

I believe the answer is to become more specific with environmental missions. For instance, instead of having a blanket statement that a certain percentage is being donated towards saving the rainforests a company will need to donate money towards saving gorilla babies who have been orphaned due to poaching.  The reason for this is that people are more likely to take note of a business that is accomplishing a concrete goal than a company who has a vague and somewhat confusing, albeit good, environmental mission.

The concept of having a concrete and SPECIFIC mission can be applied to other forms of socially responsible businesses as well.

One company that does not necessarily have an environmental mission has been incredibly successful with a concrete socially responsible mission of donating one pair of shoes to a child in need for every one pair they sell.  As many of us know from a popular AT&T commercial last year, this company is TOMS Shoes.  TOMS has a nice product, but without their concrete and impressive mission, it is not anything very special.  Competing in the highly competitive footwear market and growing as fast as they have is a direct result of the press and publicity they have achieved from their mission, not their products.  If TOMS had a similar mission and took the same amount of money they put in to giving one pair of shoes away for every one they sell and gave it to children in need through lump sum monetary donations, their mission would not be nearly as visible or impressive sounding as it is.  In fact, they may spend far less on giving children shoes than another company that helps children in need…but they must not be very successful, as I haven’t heard of them.

The association between the sale of a product and accomplishing a concrete social or environmental action, rather than a vague monetary donation, is very influential to consumers deciding whether or not to buy a product.

Having a concrete environmental or social mission can be cheap, and a concrete mission will deliver a far greater return on investment than a non-concrete mission that costs the same amount of money.

What do you think? Do you agree with this?  Let’s hear your thoughts in the comments section.

It's easy for entrepreneurs to get lonely - increase interactions with people outside of your business

As I prepare to head down south to Virginia today for a tradeshow that starts there tomorrow, I am faced with the realization that it is very easy to be lonely as an entrepreneur.

Don’t get me wrong, entrepreneurship is a fast paced and exciting lifestyle, but at the end of the day, many entrepreneurs are left with nothing but their company.

Entrepreneurs are loners.

We work all day and through the night. We cannot grasp the concept of a 9 to 5 job, and therefore our hours are usually 9 am to midnight.  Many times, a weekend comes and goes and we don’t even come up for breath.

Needless to say, we meet many amazing people as entrepreneurs.  I have been to networking events and met countless entrepreneurs who have made hundreds of millions (and billions) of dollars running a company they started.  Entrepreneurs love to network with other entrepreneurs, but when networking is all said and done, many times, all you take away is a business card and future contact you can use for a business need later down the road. Also, even once an entrepreneur grows their company to a scale where countless employees surround them everyday, it is still easy to be lonely, after all, it is difficult to ever become true friends with employees.

I am not lonely, but I can see how easy it would be for me to slip into a state of loneliness if I am not careful.

That’s why entrepreneurs must keep an open mind and realize that interaction with people outside of their business venture is important.

To be honest, I am having difficulty taking heed to my own advice, but by writing it down here, I hope to encourage myself to increase my interactions with people unattached from my life as an entrepreneur.

What are some other ways that entrepreneurs can combat loneliness?

This morning I was reading through some of my past articles on brianlinton.com and I thought I would bring you five links to articles that you might have missed. The unfortunate thing about blogging is that visitors to the homepage of a blog rarely look deeper into the archives of the blog.  So even if there were great articles written in October, but a person becomes a regular reader in December, he or she may only be familiar with the content from December on.

So without further ado, here are five articles that I wanted to bring back and share with you.  And please, feel free to explore the archives of my blog by either selecting a month (located on the right side bar) or a subject (located on the header).

• Entrepreneurial Insight – Why All Entrepreneurs Should Write

• Be the Nicest Person Your Customers Know

• Love, be Passionate and Thankful for What You Do

• Always Ask for Business

• When Should You Outsource to Asia?

A Sand Shack belt display - We have been taking preorders for these units since November 2008 for delivery in April 2009.

When you run a business that sells physical products that need to be manufactured specifically for your company, you will most likely always have a problem with inventory control. You don’t want to have too much inventory, as that ties up your cash, however, you don’t want to have too little because you won’t be able to immediately fulfill an order. So how do you plan out how much inventory you will need, and how can you lessen your risk of producing too much of a certain product and having waste because it doesn’t sell?

The answer is ‘Preorders’.

The way I operate Sand Shack is I develop samples of all my products that I plan to sell for a certain season about 8 months before any of these products will appear on store shelves. After I develop samples I make catalogs and then debut the products at tradeshows across the east coast, where I take orders for the products. I also take the samples and catalogs to all my current customers and have them place orders for the upcoming season. I also send a couple samples and a lot of catalogs out to all my sales representatives, who show the lines to their customers and take orders, which they fax back to me. I take as many orders as I possibly can before I start large-scale production of any product.

This hat is a one-of a-kind sample - but I've already taken thousands of dollars in orders for it.

So that is what I have been doing for the past four months. I have been taking orders for products that don’t exist. I currently have no inventory of Sand Shack’s spring summer 2009 lines, but I have tens of thousands of dollars of orders. This week I sent purchase orders in excess of $40k to my factories overseas to begin production on all the products (hats, belts, flip-flops, and jewelry). Although I would like to wait until I get even more orders, I need to begin production in order to begin shipping products to stores in April.

Because I will still be taking orders from stores after large-scale production begins and I will also get reorders from stores during the summer months I need to extrapolate the orders I take and produce enough product that will be on-hand for these future orders. I will produce about six times that of which I currently have orders for.

In summary, here are the five reasons preorders are important

1. They allow you to gauge the demand for your products and minimize the risk of producing something you won’t be able to sell

2. They allow you to know exactly how much money you will be collecting once you have the products made.

3. They allow you to access a loan to manufacture the product based on the dollar value of orders taken. Lenders are more comfortable lending you money if it is to manufacture product you have already sold. (however in this market any loan is difficult to get).

4. You can better plan your company’s direction 6 months in advance. Preorders show you where your company is going.

5. Retail stores need to plan what their store is carrying well before the products hit the shelves. Preorders allow you to make a bigger presence in a store.

Any questions on how to take preorders? Let’s discuss them in the comment section.

Like what you read? Please consider subscribing to brianlinton.com in a reader

Today I have a great video to show you, however I am reluctant to deem it an episode of The Entrepreneur Road Show (ERS).  The reason I don’t want to call it an episode of ERS is because ERS is about my adventures as an entrepreneur and about the often unexplored ways people make money, and although I have had plenty of adventures recently, I have just not edited the footage into episodes of ERS.  Today’s video is not adventurous and not about any intersting way people make money, but it is informative and gives a great insight into my life as an entrepreneur and how I go about my operations at Sand Shack.

And yes, I know this is now the second Tuesday in a row without a new episode of The Entrepreneur Road Show…at least I have a video up, right?

Introduction

Small business owners are faced with a variety of issues on a day to day basis. One of the issues that many product based business owners face is the issue of storing their inventory.  So if you need to store your inventory do you need to buy or rent a warehouse?  Here is a simple, cost-effective answer.

Please help me review my new website DailyEntrepreneurTip.com before I launch it in mid-March.

Consider catching up on episodes of The Entrepreneur Road Show now.

Next week, follow me as I try to make sales in Boston and realize how much my life has changed since becoming an entrepreneur as I party it up with an old high school buddy.

This is part of Brianlinton.com’s How To Be a Successful Entrepreneur Guide.

So you want to be an entrepreneur.  Maybe you already are one but have lost your way and need to start over.  You have the drive, passion, and desire to take control of your future and make a living by running your own business.

Now what?

You know you have it in you…to grow a company from an idea into something you make your living off of, but what are you going to sell? What are you going to build your business from?

Before I go on and explain how to figure out what your company should sell, let me tell you a little bit about how I decided what to sell when starting Sand Shack.

When I was a freshman in college I knew I wanted to own my own company one day, and after reading numerous books on entrepreneurship I was so pumped up and decided that there was no better time than the present to start a business.  With a loose understanding of business and a desire to create a brand I would be proud of I started brainstorming ways I could make money.  The first idea that popped into my head was to buy private islands in Southeast Asia, develop them, and then sell them to Chinese business moguls.  Strangely enough I actually gave that idea some serious thought but soon realized the obvious cash flow and logistical problems I would have with starting an operation like that.  After coming up with copious amounts of other ideas I finally settled on creating a brand of beaded beach jewelry and selling it in Cape Cod, Massachusetts during my summer break.

Why did I choose to sell beaded beach jewelry?

Firstly, I observed that during the summer in Cape Cod (where I would go to visit extended family), stores would sell beaded jewelry for a much higher cost than I knew I could buy it in Southeast Asia for (where I grew up).  For instance, I would see a necklace for $10 in Cape Cod that I knew I could get for $0.40 in Thailand.  After making this observation I decided to research ways I could create an economical supply chain of this product from Asia to Cape Cod.  I also researched how much I would charge, how I would sell it, and how I would brand it.  Figuring out the business side of this operation to the best of my inexperienced ability, I decided to act on my observation and research and start Sand Shack.  Since then I have expanded my product line, changed my company logo and branding strategy, and matured and grown my business in many other ways, but the process of deciding what I could sell remains the same.  That process is as follows:

1. Observe

• I observed the discrepancy in price of beaded jewelry between Asia and Cape Cod.

2. Research

• I researched how I could get large quantities of it to Cape Cod during the summer to sell.  I then researched what wholesale price I could sell it for.

3. Act

• I developed a branding strategy and began testing the market by slowing selling jewelry.  That first summer I turned an initial investment of $600 into $10,000.  Since then, Sand Shack has grown and diversified to include apparel and multiple lines of jewelry.

So if you are trying to figure out what to sell, start by observing things around you, you will be surprised at how many business opportunities there are right in front of your nose.

Read more about selling things that are right in front of your nose here.

How did you find out what to sell?  Or are you still trying to figure that out? Let’s talk about that in the discussion section below.

Like what you read? Please bookmark this site and subscribe to it via RSS reader.

Here is a little more information on Brianlinton.com’s new series on entrepreneurship.

Here is where I will be hanging out for the next few days at SurfExpo (One of the largest national surf shows). If you are anywhere cold, don't be jealous...it's not like I'm playing golf or swimming everyday, but maybe after the show is done =)

Being an entrepreneur is a learned ability, and although not everybody wants to be an entrepreneur, everybody CAN be an entrepreneur. An entrepreneur is somebody who makes their own money, and therefore, there are infinite amounts of ways to become an entrepreneur. Even people who sell cat poop coffee are entrepreneurs! And just as their as there are countless ways to become an entrepreneur, once you become one, there are almost an infinite amount of things you need to be able to do to be a successful entrepreneur.

Just as entrepreneurs are vast and varied so too is the content you can read on the subject of entrepreneurship.  This series is simple in its approach, yet detailed in its content.  The series covers everything from how to figure out what you want to sell, to how to form your company, to how to do your own financial accounting.

The lessons and examples primarily come from what I have learned from starting and growing my main company, Sand Shack.  Therefore, the information presented in this series is the most useful information about entrepreneurship you will find; it is not full of fluffy book-knowledge, instead it is packed full of lessons and reflections directly from the trenches of my life as an entrepreneur.

Here is a list of the topics that will be covered over the next few months.  Although you can expect to see a couple of these topics covered each week, there is no schedule or order to when these articles will be posted.

How To Figure Out What You Want To Sell

How and Why to Write a Business Plan

How To Form Your Company

How To Fund Your Startup

How To Work From Anywhere

How To Run a Company Part-Time

How To Find Your First Customer

How To Hire Part-Time Help

How To Hire Sales Representatives and How Much to Pay Them

How To Get Your Products Made

How To Sell – A General Approach

How To Sell at Tradeshows

How To Find Tradeshows To Sell Your Products At

How To Get a Newspaper or Other Publication to Write About You

How To Leverage Great PR and Increase Business

How to Get a Patent or Trademark

How to do Your Own Financial Accounting

How To Spend Less, Make More

How To Get Your Products Made

How To Keep Your Customers Happy

Hello from Orlando!

If you have any ‘How To’ topic on entrepreneurship you think I should consider writing about, mention it in the comment section and I’ll see what I can do.

Also, if you like the looks of these topics and don’t want to miss out on reading them, subscribe to Brianlinton.com via RSS reader (that is the little strange button up in the right hand corner of this website).

Part 1 of a two part series on ‘How to Leverage Your Company’s Social Cause and Increase Business’

A Sand Shack volunteer event in Cape Cod, MA. Don't just say you support something, actually DO something to support it.

Never before have start-ups focused as heavily on various social causes as they do now.  For many young entrepreneurs launching their first company it is almost obvious to them that they need to help the world while building their company. The new generation of entrepreneurs has (so far) successfully mixed conventional and social entrepreneurship, creating hundreds of thousands for-profit companies with strong social causes embedded in their DNA.  People realize more than ever that a company does not have to be a nonprofit organization to accomplish a lot of good.  In fact, attaching your company to a social cause not only has the potential to help the world but your bottom line as well.

If your company is to have a social cause, as an entrepreneur you should be able to leverage it and increase business as a result of it. But, an important thing you must first understand is the difference between leveraging a cause and exploiting a cause.

Leveraging a cause is NOT exploiting a cause.

The above statement is directed towards two different types of people.

The first type of person doesn’t like to use their company’s social cause to increase business because they are afraid they will be exploiting the cause and looked down upon.  These types of people need to realize that using their social cause to increase business is not only good for their company, but also good for the cause they support.  The larger their companies get the more help and exposure they can provide for their associated cause.  This is not exploitation.

The second type of person the above statement is directed towards are those who blindly associate their company with a cause and make false statements and promises that play off the emotions of the public in an effort to increase business.  This is exploitation.  If a company associates themselves with a cause they better intend on actually doing something meaningful for it.

When I first started Sand Shack I did not immediately associate my company’s social cause with the conservation of our world’s oceans and beaches, however, it was something that I very quickly realized I wanted to do.  I grew up in Singapore, which is a tiny (but very powerful) island nation in Southeast Asia.  While growing up I traveled to countless countries, seeing both pristine beaches and waters and those strewn with waste and trash.  From my life experiences I became very passionate about ocean conservation.  So, shortly after starting Sand Shack I realized that the nautical inspired brand I was building and the markets that I was selling my products to would fit perfectly with a cause such as ocean conservation, a cause that luckily was in line with my passions.  Hence, Sand Shack is now strongly associated with ocean conservation. Some of the things we do are organize and host volunteer ocean conservation events during the summer months and donate 5% of all company proceeds to ocean conservation outside the company to help ‘keep it blue’.  Building Sand Shack around this cause has helped us distinguish ourselves as well as grow at a faster pace than we would without it.  But the success of this association is due to a carefully thought out and planned strategy of how to leverage the cause without exploiting it.

So, when you are trying to figure out what social cause you want your company to be associated with, and want to be able to successfully leverage your cause without exploiting it, consider the following points.

1. Choose something you are truly passionate about

• If you choose a cause to support that you don’t care about, you will not only find it difficult to allocate time and money for the cause, but you may also find yourself exploiting the cause and making false promises and statements that you know people want to hear, rather than actually DOING things for the cause. I am truly passionate about ocean conservation, and therefore, it is a great cause for me to associate my company with.

2. Choose a cause that makes sense for your company to support

• The tobacco giant Phillip Morris is a real good example of a company that supports a cause that makes NO sense for them to support.  Every year, Phillip Morris spends billions of dollars on youth anti-smoking programs while continuing to make hundreds of billions of dollars from the sales of cigarettes.  Ok, I don’t smoke and certainly do not support the tobacco industry, but come on…do you really think that Phillip Morris wants to prevent teens from smoking?  On the other hand, Sand Shack is a nautically inspired brand and is sold to stores in coastal resort regions…ocean conservation is therefore a great fit.

3. Choose something other people care about

• Although it would be great to support research and development of furniture that you can’t stub your toes on, it may not be well received by enough people to make it a cause that will help grow your company (although you may get some interesting PR from it).  But at the same time I am not an advocate for associating your company with something that already has thousands of companies associated with; find something that people care about but that not too many people or companies are doing something for.

4. Do something big and meaningful for your associated cause

• Don’t just say, “We support the conservation of our oceans and beaches”, DO SOMETHING to show your support of ocean and beach conservation.  And don’t just do something small, do something, big, bold, and press worthy.  Do something that actually helps your cause.  Remember, every time a story is written about your company and associated cause, it is not only good for your company, but it also helps build awareness for your cause.  We give 5% of Sand Shack’s proceeds to ocean conservation efforts: 5% is a big number. We don’t give a portion of our proceeds, or 1 or 2 percent…we give 5%. It sounds good, and it is good for the cause.

If you decide to associate your company with a social cause think long and hard about what it is you want to support, because the cause you choose should not simply be something that receives a yearly sum of money from your company, it should be visible in every aspect of your company; whether that be the people who work for you, the products you sell, or the press you receive, your cause will become apart of the DNA of your company.  Choose something you will be passionate and excited about for as long as you plan on running your company.  Choose something that needs your support. Choose something that in the long run will increase your business and help grow your company.

Do you have a social cause associated with your company or are trying to figure out what social cause to associate your startup with? Let’s discuss them in the comment section.

The first box of new sample Sand Shack products. I feel like a 5 year old on Christmas morning when opening a box of new samples.

As an entrepreneur, I go through cycles of being not-so-busy and extremely busy.  Right now I am at the tail end of a not-so-busy cycle and am about to enter an extremely busy schedule for the rest of the year until Christmas.

But in all honesty, I would rather be busy.  The last couple of weeks have been extremely boring, it has been a period of waiting and minimal work because Sand Shack products for 2009 had already been designed and sourced but weren’t physically here yet so I haven’t been able to prepare marketing materials or start selling them yet. I’ve just been waiting and writing emails to my manufacturers begging them to hurry up, as well as trying to boost online retail sales on sandshack.com.  Last night the first big box of samples for Sand Shack’s new products arrived and 3 more boxes are scheduled to come next week.  Within two days of the time the last package is scheduled to arrive I am off to Ocean City, Maryland for the first tradeshow of the selling season.

This week is going to be extremely busy, but I have no reason to complain.  I am an entrepreneur and I live for moments like these when I am under pressure, have to make three catalogs in 2 days, am attending 7 upcoming tradeshows, and only 24 hours in a day to build a company I am proud of. This year is critical to my company’s success, I have invested everything my company and I have back into Sand Shack in preparation for 2009.

But even under such immense pressure to succeed, the way I see it is that I am young and have nothing to lose and everything to gain.