What Five Years has Taught Me

Kathleen Riessen
Partner - Measured Intentions

How do you a grow a business in a bad economy? How should I find clients? What can I offer my clients? Why would I quit a perfectly good job to go out on my own? How can I juggle being a mom and a business owner?

These are just a few of the questions I asked myself five years ago as I began Measured Intentions. This June, we celebrated our fifth year in business. Read on to see the top five things I learned that could help you succeed in your career as a professional, whether or not you are a business owner.

       1.  Surround yourself with people smarter than you. Within the first few months of the business, I added a business partner that had a different skill set than mine. We did this again a year later. These partners helped define the business and carry it forward. In my case, these partners were equity stakeholders; however, they don’t need to be. They could be vendors that act as partners or they could be mentors or advisors for you.

       2.  Network. Be a well networked person. Don’t just attend events – get involved. I spent the first few years of the business attending all sorts of events both in and out of my industry. Now, I don’t have as much time so I am selective on what I attend; however, I still understand the power of networking and make time each week to maintain relationships and build new ones. Sometimes people are hesitant to talk to me at a function since I am a business owner. I was in your shoes not long ago so don’t be shy. I wouldn’t be at a function if I didn’t want to meet you.

       3.  Give more than you receive. Figure out how you can help others. They will work extra hard to help you. Often times in our business we connect people that can be mutually beneficial to each other. Most of the time it doesn’t result in any direct benefit for us but that is okay. It always pays off in some way over the long term and it makes us feel good.

       4.  Know Your Value. You must determine that you and what you offer are valuable before you can convince someone to buy from you. This takes a lot of self confidence and can easily be rocked. Trust me, it will be rocked, which leads me to my next point.

       5.  Keep going. There are days when you feel like throwing in the hat. When you wonder why you are doing this. When you wonder if you can pay the bills. Those are the days you put one foot in front of the other and keep going.

When I look back at the last five years, I see the steep learning curve and all that we have accomplished. I am sure that in the years to come, I will look back and say the same thing. If I remember the five points above, then I know I will continue to be successful.

Kathleen Riessen is a Partner at Measured Intentions, a marketing consulting firm in Urbandale, Iowa.  

Giants Among Us

Tom Cox
Vice-President of Digital Content
Meredith Corporation

Central Iowa is in a very sweet spot in the U.S. economy.  In addition to being ground zero for agricultural related industry and commodity production, our region is fortunate to be home to the corporate headquarters of the some very large publicly traded insurance, media and financial services companies, or to at least host their major operational centers.  Their campuses of gleaming buildings and manicured lawns, art installations and inspired architecture are sprinkled around downtown and increasingly around the western suburbs.

The thought of contemplating business relationships with these corporate giants is likely very appealing for many of the locally owned businesses that comprise the rolls of the West Des Moines Chamber.  It is however, important for owners and employees of local firms to remember one thing about their friends, neighbors and colleagues who work for these big firms; while these fine folks live in central Iowa and have homes and offices here, and send their kids to school here...they don't really work here.

What?

If you think about the major employers in our community, with the exception of primary health care delivery, almost none of them earn the bulk of their revenue from within the boundaries of our state.  That’s a good thing for the local economy, but it can be challenging for local firms as well.  The majority of the employees of the giants are busy all day long serving customers who live across the U.S. and around the world.  And, like all other major modern enterprises, these corporations are able to source goods and services from across the country and the world.  Personally, I take a phone call a week from any number of earnest sales representatives who would like me to outsource work halfway around the globe.

In my own case, when I go to work each day, unless I am travelling, I may sit downtown but am really in New York, or Atlanta, or Hartford, or Phoenix, or Portland, or any number of other places where we have business units or major vendor relationships.  I do occasionally get to spend budgeted dollars with local firms who directly benefit from having us in town.  But to compete for this, these small firms must continue to provide competitively priced services that go beyond having a local phone number.  All things being equal, it is nice to be able to see the people you work with without going to the airport, but it is no longer essential.

The point of all this is to remember that being near the corporate giants is only an advantage if you are either able to provide a service where relationships and closeness matter, or where your local cost is truly advantageous to the client firm.  Certainly one distinct advantage local firms have is that it is easier to get that first opportunity for a meeting with the folks who they see at school functions or rub elbows with at civic events.  And herein lies a secret... managers like me who have some small part in the overall budgeting process really do like to source locally, but proximity is often far from the top factor in play.  The billions of dollars in earnings the giants bring home each year is a lot of money, but the profits from that are not derived by spending freely or without strict observance to shareholder demands and the "strategic sourcing" of vendor relationships; locally, regionally, nationally and globally.  So when contemplating doing business with the giants among us, find your reason for why being local matters.

Tom Cox is the Vice President of Digital Content for Meredith Corporation's Local Media Group (which owns no Iowa television stations).  He resides in West Des Moines with his wife, Liz, and three children who attend West Des Moines schools. 

Finding a Plumber...

Mike Draper- RAYGUN owner

When I started RAYGUN, the whole venture seemed a little uncertain. I had never screenprinted, I had never used design software, I had never worked in retail, I had never used a cash register, and I didn’t know anyone with similar businesses. I was a 21-year-old history student at the University of Pennsylvania and only knew that I wasn’t cut out for a regular job.

Now when I look back at the trajectory of the company, since it all really started in 2004, I realize that you may need artistic talent to be a great artist. But if you’re looking to build an artistic company, being a great artist isn’t even in the top three things you need.

Number one above all else: reply to all your e-mails as soon as you can.

This really applies to any field. And if you can do that, your odds of success sky-rocket. Replying to all e-mails as soon as possible will help establish some personal discipline, which lets you slog through the endless bullshit that small businesses really face (finding a plumber, fixing a messed-up order from a supplier, find the right kind of track-light bulb). It’s a simple base of your daily routine.

Replying to all e-mails also establishes an aura of dependability with those you’re corresponding with. And dependability is the top thing  you need to run a successful artistic, or non-artistic company. Because at the end of the day, a customer doesn’t necessarily know amazing art from great art, but they do know if it’s a month late. They do know if they’ve been disrespected or not appreciated.

In the beginning, I used to do custom printing and design for other people (that side was sold in 2010), and dependability was my main business edge.

Say you’re a potential screenprinting customer, and your boss has given you a job: have 500 purple t-shirts with a log on them by Friday or you’re fired.

Now, say you have two friends: one is the Picasso + Michelangelo +  Da Vinci of screenprinting, but he only gets stuff done on time 50% of the time, the other friend is me, owner of RAYGUN, who does fine work, but has it done 100% of the time.

You’d have to be high on mescaline to choose the non-dependably guy. Your assignment is not to get great on a t-shirt no matter how long it takes, your assignment is just to have t-shirts by Friday.

There’s an upside and a downside to this business advice.

The upside is that anyone has the potential to do it. Any able bodied person can be dependable, just like any able bodied person can lose weight or control their diet.

The downside is that barely anyone can really accomplish it. Being dependable involves showing up every day. Working hard. Just like losing weight requires eating right and exercising.

The steps are simple, the implementation is hard.

But like losing weight, most people will tell you that there was one small, turning point when they knew they had to do it. For me, the most important thing was my decision that I knew I didn’t want a regular job after college. I wanted to do something creative, and I’d do whatever it took to realize that. Only then, when I was pointed in the right direction, in the direction that I cared about, was I able to muster the discipline to keep my dependability up every day for years on end.