July 31, 2007
Don't Take Another Course Until You Call Me
I received a call from a gentleman over the weekend who was just about to plunk down a bunch of dough for a course that would help him buy a great company for a low price with money that came out of thin air. I told this gentleman that it sounded like a fantasy to me, and in all my years of doing deals I've never seen a great company go for a low price that was purchased with money that came out of thin air.
Filed under Business Growth, Raising Capital by Joel Block
July 30, 2007
How Paris Hilton Lost $60 Million Due to Private Equity
Can you imagine being a billionaire grandfather who is publicly embarrassed when your granddaughter's sexual escapades are released on the Internet? Can you imagine being the patriarch of a family whose multibillion dollar fortune (which took over 100 years to accumulate) is laughed at?
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July 27, 2007
Growing Your Business: The Benefits Of Having A Partner
Having a partner in business is great, but not all of the benefits are immediately obvious. Obvious reasons include camaraderie, sharing responsibility, having someone to bounce ideas around with, and having someone to keep you accountable for your progress. All of these are outstanding reasons for having a partner, however, perhaps the most important reason - and one that is frequently overlooked - is the chemistry of your presentation in the marketplace. What I mean by this is that not everyone gets along with everyone else. Sometimes your partner will get along with certain people better than you do. When that happens, you can put your partner out in front so that the sale can be closed by the person who has the best chemistry with the person who is making the purchase.
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Filed under Business Growth, Growth Minute by Joel Block
I’ve worked with entrepreneurs day in and day out for many years, and I find that entrepreneurs are clearly the most difficult-to-understand group of people there is. But this difficult-to-understand group of people is also a group I understand best because I’m an entrepreneur too. Although I always expect the encounters I have with entrepreneurs to be unusual, I’m never prepared for what I actually run into!
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July 24, 2007
Raising Capital: What If You Don't Know Any Investors?
A couple of years ago I was approached by an entrepreneur who had no potential investors in her pipeline. This person had moved to California from out of state, and she didn't know anyone. She asked for my assistance in capitalizing her business. I reviewed the business plan, and it was fascinating. The plan set forth an interesting approach to solving a difficult problem. My suggestion was that rather than finding investors who didn't know her – and whom she didn't know – she should consider a different approach.
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July 23, 2007
Choosing Your Vendors
Who do you do business with? How do you select your vendors? How do you figure out who the best person is to render services to you or your company? I'll tell you that some of the most important factors from my perspective include how cooperative the person is and how helpful he or she is in helping me advance my endeavors and ambitions.
Filed under Business Growth, Growth Minute by Joel Block
July 20, 2007
Only Charge for Your Expertise
Like everyone, I know how to do many things. I can use a computer, I can draw a little picture, I can drive a car, and I can put a band-aid on my kids' fingers when they hurt themselves. But I don't know how to do any of those things well enough to charge a client for showing them how to perform those tasks.
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July 19, 2007
Raising Money: Be Systematic In Your Approach
Not long ago my wife and I went to Costco to do some shopping. While we were in the parking lot, we ran into a family friend and her middle-school aged son. The four of us walked into the store, got carts, and soon went on our separate ways. Five minutes later we saw our friend running frantically around the store. She had placed her car keys into her cart and walked away to look at something. When she returned, her cart – and her keys – were gone, and she was running from person to person, asking if they had seen her car keys.
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July 18, 2007
Building an Investable Business
Every day I talk to entrepreneurs who hope to raise money for their businesses. For most of these people, their desires are little more than pipe dreams that will never come to fruition; but for a few, the dreams become reality.
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July 17, 2007
Why Ask For a Little Capital, When You Can Get a Lot?
You would be amazed how often people come to me for help in raising money, and the amounts that they ask for are ridiculously small. In some of these cases, my analysis of the situation shows that with just a little bit of elbow grease, these people could get significantly more money – the type of money they actually need.
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Filed under Raising Capital by Joel Block
