Purple Sunrise A Brand That’s Coming to your Breakfast Table Soon
DON’T CALL IT MUSH!
Hot cereals have long been part of the healthy breakfast. Most doctors recommend them as essential for good health, and a tasty alternative to the American standard of bacon and eggs. There are a variety of hot grain cereals to choose, from iconic Quaker Oats and the...
The Mob Museum Adds History, Color, and Character to the Las Vegas Brand
PROHIBITION GAVE PERMISSION
It's ironic that the same former federal courthouse in downtown Las Vegas that was the site of hearings and criminal proceedings against so many mob members wound up being a tourist attraction in the very town that was, in large part, originally built up by the...
Most Microbrew Brands will Remain Regional
WEIGHT, WEIGHT – DON’T TELL ME
A microbrew, also known as a craft beer, is produced in a small commercial brewery that produces no more than 15,000 barrels (or just under half a million gallons) of beer per year. Exact definitions vary, but the terms are typically applied to breweries that are independently...
Our 10 Biggest Mistakes – Don’t Let Them Be Yours
HINDSIGHT IS 20-20
As we travel and speak internationally on the subject of entrepreneurship, we are complemented not so much on the successes we achieved, but on the mistakes we share. In order to engage our audiences of start-ups looking to survive, small businesses looking to grow, or established...
Brand Equity Requires Constant Reinvestment
GROW OR DIE!
There's no treading water in the market stream. Some say, “Sink or swim.” We always like to say, "Swim upstream or get washed out to sea!" What really distinguishes so-called serial entrepreneurs from their cousins, the merchants, brokers, and individual service providers, is their constant reinvestment...
VinoPro Reinvents Itself and the Wine Sales Business in the Process
THE BRAND BEHIND THE BRANDS
For the second year in a row, our client VinoPro again made the Inc. 500 list, showing 190% growth over last year. In 2013, they hit the ultra-prestigious Inc.500 list where they ranked No. 238 with a whopping 1,810% growth. Now, that is something to cheer...
All Your People are Salespeople When They Believe in Your Brand
OVER DELIVER
Our new book, The Entrepreneurial Culture, 23 Ways to Engage and Empower Your People, will be coming out in September. This book was written specifically for corporate executives who want to improve their company culture by borrowing techniques successful entrepreneurs use every day. They know that...
The World Conference on Entrepreneurship Sets the Bar High
SUCCESS STORIES AND BEST PRACTICES
With nearly a thousand delegates from all over the world descending on Dublin, Ireland- the storytelling capital of the world - is it any wonder that storytelling would be the order of the day! This week at the 2014 World Conference on Entrepreneurship, stories of entrepreneurial...
The Brand That Promises Clean Water For All
FROM SEGWAY TO SLINGSHOT
According to the World Health Organization, almost one billion people are without direct access to safe drinking water, resulting in hundreds of deaths per year. Competition for this limited but essential resource is increasingly resulting in violence around the globe. Slingshot In most places, the problem...
Elon Musk – Brand Builder Delux
THINK BIG, REALLY BIG!
Serial Entrepreneur When we are asked, "Who is your brand building hero?" the answer is easy: Elon Musk. He has built and sold brand after brand. He is the classic entrepreneur, taking the money from his last sale and plowing it into a new project, each...
Beware of TMT (Too Much Trouble)
WORK-AROUNDS ARE JUST TOO MUCH WORK
When processes or products suffer from inefficiency, a too-limited focus, or become less relevant, their designers try to “fix” the situation by requiring some action from the users. These “fixes" are an afterthought that usually require the user to perform a series of onerous steps to...
Entrepreneurship Is Brand Building – But How Do You Teach Entrepreneurship?
BUY MY BRAND!
We’ve often said that entrepreneurship is at its essence brand building. Unless you are just creating a job for yourself or a legacy for your kids, you are building value in a brand which you can monetize through acquisition or merger. Today there is an explosion...
College Courses for Brand Builders
THE RETURN OF THE LIBERAL ARTS
When we talk to students about entrepreneurship, we are often asked, “What courses should I take in college besides entrepreneurship?” Entrepreneurship classes do a great job providing students with the structural and operational tools required to build their business. But ultimately, all businesses are brand building....
Crystal Ball Says: Mobile Payments Are Taking Over in 2014
READY TO JOIN THE FUTURE YET?
Mobile payments are exploding in growth and popularity, and plenty of evidence supports this claim. The NBA's Sacramento Kings, for example, will begin accepting Bitcoin, an exclusively digital currency, as a payment method starting March 1, 2014. A state of the industry report released by Mobile...
Brand Image Can be Tainted by a “Made in China” Label
WHAT'S THE REAL COST
Can having your products made in China hurt your brand image? We often say a brand is only as good as its product and reputation. Over the past decade, producers of branded products from machines to clothing, from toys to tools, and from eyeglasses to iPhones...
Successful Brand Building Requires Successful Entrepreneurship
THERE'S A "SHIP" IN ENTREPRENEURSHIP
So much of successful entrepreneurship is brand building that when you finally go to monetize your business, it’s your brand equity that figures so prominently in the value of any acquisition or merger. This is why we focus on entrepreneurship. It is through entrepreneurship that many...
New Year, New Brands
HAVE A POPSICLE!
Every new year we see new brands vying for attention, trying to get traction in the marketplace. Some make it and some don't. We love the success stories of the ones that do because they inspire us with their often unlikely solutions to the barriers of...
The EBV Brand of Entrepreneurship
A VETERANS’ DAY SALUTE
The EBV (Entrepreneurship Bootcamp for Veterans with Disabilities) has emerged as the premier program to train disabled veterans to become successful business owners. This program is privately funded and includes five weeks of military-style intensive training followed by one year of online support and mentorship. The veterans...