Synergy - Part Two

Hi there...

If you've browsed through the bulk of my 5 or 6 posts (humor attempt), you likely saw a post about Synergy and your business.

That relationship is still going strong. His business is doing absolutely fantastic ... to the point of his purchasing his own advertising - which brings additional customers into my studio at no cost to me.

Well, I stumbled upon another business idea that I would not have thought of had it not happened out of necessity.

My daughter turned 13 last April. Instead of having two separate parties for both sides of the family, we wanted one, big party. We decided to have it at the studio because we could crank the music for the girls, have a nice quiet area for the grandparents and plenty of room for the kids to have a great time.

Here is the interesting part ....

Even though the closed sign was up, with all the lights on and the music playing, people kept coming into the shop. When I explained we were closed due to having a party, three different customers asked how much we charged for birthday parties.

DING DING DING DING - the proverbial light bulb going off - DING DING DING

In reasearching my market, I found that private, themed birthday parties fetch $250-$500. Additionaly, there were very few choices for boys. Most themed parties were princess parties, tea parties, etc.

So, after some internet research, I developed a music themed party - One for boys built around Guitar Hero and one for Girls built around American Idol.

So, we're now doing birthday parties at the studio on Saturday's. And you know what? It is a great recruiting tool for new students. The kids come in, we have cool music going, we have Guitar Hero or Karaoke hooked up, we have the lights and the fog machine going and a cool vibe happening.

By the end of the party, most of our studio brochures are in the hands of the kids/parents for private music lessons.

So, not only am I bringing in additional revenue with the parties, I'm also keeping our teachers booked with a steady stream of new students - made even more important that we're now in our slow season, summer.

So in conclusion, keep your business radar on at all times for new ideas. You'll never know when something will come up that will take your business to the next level.

Until next time, work hard and best of luck to you!

Things I "Hate" about running my own business!!!

So, there is no doubt that I love what I do! Since I left at&t, I have not worked a single day. I love it!

But...

Here are some things that I hate about running my own business...

1. People that spit their gum in the urinals! Do the think it will dissolve in a flash and just melt down the drain? No folks, I have to pick that out of the urinal. Thanks!

2. People that pull their old, crusty band aids off and throw them in the floor! Again, is the "band-aid fairy" going to come along and pick it up? No, it's the owner/head janitor that has to pick it up. Ewwwww....

3. Kids that absolutely go insane and tear the place up. I'm talking about siblings that come to their brother/sisters lessons. They run, scream, run, knock things over, tear posters off the wall. All while the parent watches and let's them do it. Home training folks, make those kids behave.

That's all for now. I'll post a few more soon!

Synergy and your business

Synergy

The interaction of two or more agents or forces so that their combined effect is greater than the sum of their individual effects.

Hi again.

Here's a two sentance update to get you up to speed on where I am...

Despite the tough economic times, we're growing. Revenue and profit are both up, and all in all, we're doing well.

Now, here's the latest addition to my business, a instrument repair technician.

At the end of last year, I received a solicitation to rent space in my studio by a person who wanted to set up an instrument repair shop. We negotiated terms in November, had a plan to set up the shop in December and go live in January.

Well, that fell apart. The guy was flaky and with my red flags going up all around me, I called him to tell him that the deal was off.

As soon as I made that call, here comes another guy wanting to do the same thing. But there was something different about this guy.

He had a business plan...

He wanted to work 6 days a week (as compared to just one day for the other guy)...

He had excellent ideas for using our space after our talk and walk through...

So I decided to give it one more shot.

We worked up an agreement in which I was to charge him more per month than the first gentleman and he cut me a check that day (01/06/09) for his rent. The very next day, we were setting up his space and he was in business within 5 days.

Now, this guy is serious about his business. He went out, busted hump and picked up repair contracts for several of the large music stores in town. He turned a $1500 profit his first month and has improved month over month.

So, I get additional revenue each month from his rent, but more importantly, we are now picking up several new students each week from his walk-ins. These are people that had no intention or thought about taking lessons until they came in and saw our studio. As they're waiting to get their instrument repaired, or pick it up, we'll chat them up about lessons, take them on a tour of the studio (which is a major selling point based on our space and programs) and usually pick up 1-5 new students per week just from the repair side of the business.

On the flip side, we're keeping the repairman in business with all our students and teacher repairs. So both of us are benefiting well from the business agreement.

In your own business, look for ways to partner with others that are in the same field but different enough from your business model to be non-competitive. By establishing a partnership, both parties could benefit. And with the tough economic times, there is strength in numbers, no?

Until next time (whenever that is) ... Best of luck to you!

Happy Holidays!

Since my last post, we've been very busy and have had some good things happen with the business.

First, we were covered by our several newspapers here in Arkansas, including being the lead story in the Entertainment section of our largest newspaper in the Thanksgiving Weekend paper. This led to being invited to talk about our programs on local rock station The Point, 94.1.

We also were able to raise 505lbs of food for our holiday food drive, which helped us promote the business again.

All in all, this PR has led to a huge increase in new students coming into the studio...

Lucky, huh?

Not really.

This all started last October when I realized we had a unique service that would make for interesting press. Add to it the charity drive we had planned for the event (the food drive) and I knew that the local press/radio/TV would likely cover us.

So, I hit Google, found the email addresses to the appropriate editors of the papers and the program directors of the radio and TV stations and sent them an email telling them about the programs, which included a video of our rehearsals.

A week later, the phone started ringing and the rest is history.

In your business, look at what you do and see if there is something unique to your product or service. If there is, push your information to the local media and you'll have a chance to get some free PR, which is much better than advertising. As the old saying goes, "you can't buy advertising like that".

And if you don't have something unique to offer, then figure out how to stand out from your competitors. If you don't stand out in some way, why would a customer choose your services over someone else? Luck of the draw? The phone was busy at the other business when they called? Do you really want to rely on getting customers that way? I would think not.

Well, that's all I have for now. Sorry for the length between posts. I'll make it a point to post more often in 2009.

Until then, holiday wishes to all of you, have a Merry Christmas and a safe and happy New Year!

Times is tough, yes they are...

I really believe many businesses are in "hunker down" mode right now, and rightfully so.

Holding on to cash and maintaining what little credit lines you have is essential as this economy heads south.

However, I believe you can also fall off the map by being too cautious. If you cut out all advertising, how will new customers find you? If you do not have a flexible service offering with regard to price and availability, how will you capture your market that is cutting back on spending?

We do great word of mouth advertising, and that is a direct result from our love of teaching and what we have to offer that other studios do not. We have great internet presence with top google ranking for our city in all guitar/bass/drum/teacher/lessons categories.

From that, you would think we could pull ad money back, right? I don't know. Or, let's say, I don't know enough to trust doing it. I've got a few targeted ads scheduled to run DEC/JAN to capture what Christmas spending we can. From past experience with this medium, I think we'll recover cost and make a profit, which is what it is all about right?

So, unless you're squeezing every nickle just to make rent, let loose will a little coin to get some ads going, no matter how small.