Category Archives: Entrepreneurs

What Do you want to be When You Grow Up?

  By Erica Diamond

That was the question I asked 25 Grade 2 students this morning. And I got a gamut of answers, “A businessman, a lawyer, a nurse, a doctor, a spy like my mom (hmmm okay), an opera singer (yes I laughed too), a celebrity (what career is that exactly?), a baseball player, a hockey player, go into my daddy’s business, a JUGGLER.” OK great answers! Yes, I just left my son’s school for “Parents as Teachers Day.” I volunteered for this once-a-year day last year, and I was excited to return again this year.

The minute I walked into the class, I saw my son’s face. The smile was ear to ear. If he coulda crawled back into the womb, believe me, he would have. Of course he was totally misbehaving and showing off in front of his friends. Up and down, talking out of turn, chatting non-stop. But I let it go because 9/10 times, he’s such a rule follower and an absolute joy. My little son on the other hand, we may have to teach about condom use at 10 years old, but that’s a whole other ball of wax.

Anyhow, after I listened to the kids’ answers of what they wanted to be when they grow up, I put two words on the Smart Board – ENTREPRENEUR and KIDPRENEUR. A few actually knew the word: my son obviously knew the word… he’s lived with an entrepreneur since he’s born, so he understands. But most kids didn’t. When I read the definition of ‘entrepreneur’ (from a kid’s book I will tell you about soon), things like: you are your own boss, you set your own hours, you make your own money and generally, if you want more money, you have to work harder. You don’t have to ask anyone when you want to go on vacation. You make the rules. You have to work as hard as all the people who work for you and then harder. You have to know ALL the jobs in your company, etc… You could have heard a pin drop. They were interested.

What was so cool, was then seeing the sparkle in their eyes. Their brains working. A life of possibility. A future still undetermined, with boundless opportunity. This notion that their whole life still lies ahead of them, and they can pick and choose how they want to live it. And it made me realize that some people I know my own age, or even older, still don’t know what they want to be when they grow up. It made me think of the many people working jobs they hate. Living a life of rut and routine because there are bills to pay and mouths to feed. But that’s life. That’s reality. And it’s tough in adulthood to just press the reset button and get a “redo.” That is what was so pure and exciting to teach these children about the future. And about the now. That it’s never too early to plan… to plan what you want to be, to save your money, to get organized.

As you know, WomenOnTheFence.com is not a Blog with product reviews and endorsements. It wasn’t my vision when I started a year ago. But today I’m going to encourage all of you moms and grandmothers, aunts and sisters, to get the book KIDPRENEURS for the kids in your life. The writers of this book sent me a copy for my kids, as they know that I am an entrepreneur and felt I would appreciate it. As a blogger, I get sent stuff all the time, explaining each and every time, I DON’T DO REVIEWS. But the reason why I chose to Blog about this one, is because YOUR CHILDREN ARE THE FUTURE. MY CHILDREN ARE THE FUTURE. Why not teach them all the possibilities and avenues, at an age where they are discovering the world around them. Hey, no one ever died of hard of hard work!! I like getting my kids thinking outside the box, and I hope you will encourage yours to as well. Are they too young to start their own business now? Obviously! But as I pointed out to the Grade 2 class, even making a lemonade stand is entrepreneurial. You  have to make good tasty lemonade, sell it at the right price, find customers, understand the costs involved, set a selling price, and decide what you’re going to do with your profits (in our lemonade stands, the boys get to keep $1.00-2.00 each, and the rest put in their bank account, or give to charity). Selling chocolate bars is very entrepreneurial as well. If you’re looking at me like I’m crazy, that’s okay. I simply wanted to point out to you mommies, a different approach. Our kids are never too young to start.

I don’t think we need to shelter them as much as we were sheltered. I think we should expose our kids and then let them make their own choices. My boys know all the swear words, but they don’t use them. They know about where babies come from. They know about death. Not every intricate detail, but if they ask, I answer. Every time. It’s just the way I am. To me, knowledge is power, not danger, if handled with kit gloves.

So, after the 25 Grade 2 students finished their business plans (I gave them handouts from the book), and I told them they can bring their plans home and work on them with their family, I told them one last simple thing before I left:

You can be ANYTHING you want to be if you set your mind to it, and work hard.

And for you, the adults, who maybe also still haven’t figured out what you want to be when you grow up:

You can be ANYTHING you want to be if you set your mind to it, and work hard.

It’s never too late.

What do you think??

xoxEDxox

Have a great weekend ladies, and enjoy this quote…

 www.womenonthefence.com

NBC Today Show: Successful Entrepreneurs with Dyslexia

More and more entrepreneurs are  saying they  had symptoms of Dyslexia in school.  An early  lifetime of difficulties & challenges faced in the classroom by those suffering from Dyslexia  can lead to success later when they learn to compensate with other skills.  Some of those skills are;  developing new ways of doing things, delegating responsibility and problem solving.  These areas happen to be the needed skills of an entrepreneur. 

If your child especially dislikes structured environments, naturally finds their own ways of doing things or is having difficulty with comprehension in school…they may be the next successful entrepreneur later in life. 

Cash-In on your Passion: Gary Vaynerchuk talks business in the 21st Century

“Ask yourself ,  what do I want to do for the rest of my life.”  Words to live by.  Gary Vaynerchuk  is definately irreverent but he says it like it is and some of us that need to hear it..well, need to hear it in HIS way.

His book Crush IT is must read and will knock your attitude into high gear when it comes to profitably and getting things done.

Stop Making Excuses for not being Profitable!

I hear a lot of excuses from people as to why they aren’t profitable or why they can’t get a business up and running online.  It’s the same story different day.  For years people have been guilty of procrastination and excuses.  It’s part of our make-up, it’s in our DNA. 

It’s only when we decide we want more, decide we are fed up and decide we going to take control of our income and our lifestyle that we begin to make progress.   It’s after you hear that first “ka-ching” and make that first sale that you realize you have something to offer that the world wants.  So go give it to them!  There is nothing wrong for getting paid what you are worth.    What are you waiting for?

The first step is the hardest to take.  Just take the first step!

Crystal O’Connor is a single Mother of 3 kids and she can show you how to get started. 

www.moxiemompreneur.com

Tedx Conference entirely for Youth: by Angela Maiers

I am a huge fan of TED, a platform for the nation’s biggest and brightest thinkers to spread their world changing ideas. But adults aren’t the only ones with big ideas and talents. TEDxRedmond was the first ever TED-events arranged for kids by kids with a theme of “Power to the Students.”

Over four hundred youth attendees packed the Washington theater last month for one of the largest TEDx events entirely for youth. I was unable to attend, but feel honored to know both the organizer, former TED speaker Adora Svitak, and several of the students presenting.

After speaking at the annual TED conference in Long Beach, California, Adora, twelve-year-old teacher, speaker, and author spoke about wanting to bring a TED-like experience home to Redmond, Washington. “I had such a great experience during my first time at TED, but I realized that not everyone had such an opportunity,” she explained. “Through TEDxRedmond, I’m hoping to share the magic of TED in an independently organized event.”

I am especially proud of Zoe Sprankle whom I had the honor of coaching as she prepared for this life changing presentation appropriately titled: Small Actions, Large Impact

Zoe, I could not be prouder!
By Angela Maiers

Richard Branson in TED / Dyslexic / ADHD / ADD

 

Richard Branson is yet another successful entrepreneur that indicates he was not a good student.  He goes on to define his learning style as dyslexic and suggests a low IQ score be the result of his assesment.  Intersesting how this pattern continues to emerge in the stories of particularly successful entrepreneurs.  As the need to create jobs increases it becomes more and more important to assess the WAY we educate these students instead of assess them with scores and tests that give little to no clear prediction in regards to success, fortitude or creativity in an individual’s future.  Starting a business is risky and one of the most popular traits and characteristics of an entrepreneur is their high risk tolerance

Nell Merlino on What Holds Women Entrepreneurs Back

Nell Merlino on What Holds Women Entrepreneurs Back

The founder of Make Mine a Million $ Business explains why her effort to get 1 million women-owned companies to $1 million in annual revenue by 2010 didn’t pan out

By Karen E. Klein

From Business Week

In 2005, when she launched Make Mine a Million $ Business, Nell Merlino set an ambitious goal: getting 1 million women-owned companies to $1 million in annual revenue by 2010. Merlino, president of Count-Me-In for Women’s Economic Independence and the creative force behind Take Our Daughters to Work Day, admits that goal was overly ambitious. But she says she hasn’t given up on advocating for women-owned businesses. She spoke to Smart Answers columnist Karen E. Klein recently; edited excerpts of their conversation follow.

Karen E. Klein: When I spoke with one of your program’s backers in 2006, you hoped to have 1 million women entrepreneurs over the $1 million barrier by this year. What happened?

Nell Merlino: We didn’t make it! We have 38 that have cumulatively crossed that barrier and we’ve lost very few women off that list. But we’ve also raised $10 million and helped women generate $100 million in revenue and create 6,000 jobs.

Between 1997 and 2006, businesses that were fully or majority women-owned grew at nearly twice the rate of all U.S. firms, but the numbers haven’t budged much since then. There are still just over 10 million women-owned companies in the U.S., generating around $1.9 trillion in annual sales. What happened?

The 2008-2009 recession slowed a lot of people down. For a lot of women, their top goal over the last couple of years was just to survive. Fortunately a lot of them got through it and did better than they expected.

What is Make Mine a Million doing now?

We do regional events all the time that attract many participants. And in 2009 we did a $100,000 online competition that 1,500 women entered. The top 54 companies grew 59 percent in 2009 over 2008 and increased their employment on average by 113 percent.

What made those 54 particularly successful?

We looked at that and it turned out they did everything that we recommended. They came to at least half of our webinars, they did 15-minute telephone speed-coaching sessions, and they got business coaches as we suggested. They were looking for guidance and they took it.

The woman who won the competition, who runs a technology security business, grew from $500,000 to $1.5 million in annual revenue and hired nine new people. She used to think that the way to grow was to put more of her time into the business. Her breakthrough was to hire someone full-time to help her get new contracts.

Is hiring a stumbling block for women business owners in general?

We did a survey of women-owned companies doing from $150,000 to $700,000 in revenue and 87 percent said they want to grow. But 54 percent believed they could grow without hiring anybody else.

Why the reluctance?

We’ve found that many women are afraid to hire. There’s a fear that you won’t be able to meet payroll and you’ll have people relying on you. There’s a fear that if you cede control, you don’t know how others will manage your brand.

Most women have to manage family and business, so they believe that if they keep their businesses small, they can handle it all. But the opposite is true! If your company gets bigger, you can break off large pieces and hand them off, letting go of the day-to-day work yourself. Creating new products and selling are usually the strong suit for women entrepreneurs. They should do more of that.

Only about 20 percent of U.S. companies with $1 million or more in revenue are women-owned. And 6 percent of male-owned firms are at $1 million compared with 3 percent of all women-owned firms. What is holding women entrepreneurs back?

Not knowing enough about their finances and where their company stands financially. And not enough big thinking. For instance, the cupcake business is really big now. Do you want a retail shop, or do you want to figure out how to sell to Starbucks (SBUX)? The ones who do best are those who figure out how to sell to as many customers as they can find. Women coming out of corporate jobs know they need to find corporate customers, but the others do not.

How has the lack of credit affected women business owners in the last couple of years?

Access to capital and credit for women sucks worse than it ever has. All of the things the [Obama] Administration has done have been helpful, like the 90 percent guaranteed loans. And some women have done well with community banks, which have a lot of women employees and not just gray-haired white men. They are the ray of light at the moment. But the bigger banks have really shut down on small business.

Are you still optimistic about women in business?

I’m always cautiously optimistic. I keep seeing it. We’ve learned that it costs about $6,000 to $8,000 to move a woman-owned business to $1 million. That’s for the coaching, the webinars, and those things, not the funding. But it’s really not much! By 2045 I’d like to have a million women-owned businesses at $1 million. I’m going to do it! I may be dead, but it’s going to happen.

Karen E. Klein is a Los Angeles-based writer who covers entrepreneurship and small-business issues.

So You Want to Be Your Own Boss…

So You Want to Be Your Own Boss…

8 tips to get you going, even if you don’t know where to start

By Tamara Monosoff

From Entrepreneur.com

If you want to start a business but don’t know where to start, don’t worry–you are not alone. In fact, given the new economic reality of our time, more people than ever before have found the “job” they thought was waiting for them doesn’t exist. Others have come to the conclusion that they would rather create work they love, constructed to fit with their own life goals. No matter what the motivation is to be your own boss, you can start today.

Here are eight tips to get you started:

  1. Take a Stand for Yourself.
    If you are dissatisfied with your current circumstances, admit that no one can fix them except for you. It doesn’t do any good to blame the economy, your boss, your spouse or your family. Change can only occur when you make a conscious decision to make it happen.
  2. Identify the Right Business for You.
    Give yourself permission to explore. Be willing to look at different facets of yourself (your personality, social styles, age) and listen to your intuition. We tend to ignore intuition even though deep down we often know the truth. Ask yourself “What gives me energy even when I’m tired?”

    How do you know what business is “right” for you? There are three common approaches to entrepreneurship:

    Do What You Know: Have you been laid off or want a change? Look at work you have done for others in the past and think about how you could package those skills and offer them as your own services or products.

    Do What Others Do: Learn about other businesses that interest you. Once you have identified a business you like, emulate it.

    Solve a Common Problem: Is there a gap in the market? Is there a service or product you would like to bring to market? (Note: This is the highest-risk of the three approaches.) If you choose to do this, make sure that you become a student and gain knowledge first before you spend any money.

  1. Business Planning Improves Your Chances for Success.
    Most people don’t plan, but it will help you get to market faster. Abusiness plan will help you gain clarity, focus and confidence. A plan does not need to be more than one page. As you write down your goals, strategies and action steps, your business becomes real.

    Ask yourself the following questions:
    – What am I building?
    – Who will I serve?
    – What is the promise I am making to my customers/clients and to myself?
    – What are my objectives, strategies and action plans (steps) to achieve my goals?

  2. Know Your Target Audience Before You Spend a Penny.
    Before you spend money, find out if people will actually buy your products or services. This may be the most important thing you do. You can do this by validating your market. In other words, who, exactly, will buy your products or services other than your family or friends? (And don’t say… “Everyone in America will want my product.” Trust me–they won’t.) What is the size of your target market? Who are your customers? Is your product or service relevant to their everyday life? Why do they need it?

    There is industry research available that you can uncover for free. Read industry articles with data (Google the relevant industry associations) and read Census data to learn more. However, the most important way to get this information is to ask your target market/customers directly and then listen.

  3. Understand Your Personal Finances and Choose the Right Kind of Money You Need for Your Business.
    As an entrepreneur, your personal life and business life are interconnected. You are likely to be your first–and possibly only–investor. Therefore, having a detailed understanding of your personalfinances, and the ability to track them, is an essential first step before seeking outside funding for your business. This is why I recommend setting up your personal accounts in a money management system such as Mint.com to simplify this process.

    As you are creating your business plan, you will need to consider what type of business you are building–a lifestyle business (smaller amount of startup funds), a franchise (moderate investment depending on the franchise), or a high-tech business (will require significant capital investment). Depending on where you fall on the continuum, you will need a different amount of money to launch and grow your business, and it does matter what kind of money you accept.

  4. Build a Support Network.
    You’ve made the internal commitment to your business. Now you need to cultivate a network of supporters, advisors, partners, allies and vendors. If you believe in your business, others will, too.

    Network locally, nationally & via social networks. Join networks like NAPW.com, your local chamber of commerce, or other relevant business groups. Here are some networking basics:

    – When attending networking events, ask others what they do and think about how you can help them. The key is to listen more than tout yourself.
    – No matter what group you join, be generous, help others and make introductions without charging them.
    – By becoming a generous leader, you will be the first person that comes to mind when someone you’ve helped needs your service or hears of someone else who needs your service.

  5. Sell By Creating Value.
    Even though we purchase products and services every day, people don’t want to be “sold.” Focus on serving others. The more people you serve, the more money you will make. When considering your customers or clients, ask yourself:

    – What can I give them?
    – How can I make them successful in their own pursuits?
    – This approach can help lead you to new ways to hone your product or service and deliver more value, which your customers will appreciate.

  6. Get the Word Out.
    Be willing to say who you are and what you do with conviction and without apology. Embrace and use the most effective online tools (Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, LinkedIn) available to broadcast your news. Use social networks as “pointer” sites; i.e., to point to anything you think will be of interest to your fans and followers.

    Even though social networks are essential today (you must use them!), don’t underestimate the power of other methods to get the word out: e.g., word-of-mouth marketing, website and internet marketing tools, public relations, blog posts, columns and articles, speeches, e-mail, newsletters, and the old-fashioned but still essential telephone.

    If you take these steps, you’ll be well on your way to becoming your own boss. It’s important to remember that you are not alone. If you want to “be your own boss” but you still feel stuck, reach out and connect with other entrepreneurs in a variety of ways. You may be surprised by the invaluable contacts that are right at your fingertips.


Tamara Monosoff is the author of Your Million Dollar Dream: Regain Control & Be Your Own Boss (hit #1 on Amazon in 3 categories: Marketing, Entrepreneurship & Home-Based Businesses). She is also the best-selling author of The Mom Inventors Handbook, Secrets of Millionaire Moms, co-author of The One Page Business Plan for Women in Business, and CEO of www.MomInvented.com. Connect on Twitter and Facebook.

How to Create an Overnight Success

How to Create an Overnight Success

Natalie Zaun just wanted to make a few extra bucks. What she got is a six-figure business that just keeps growing.

By Natalie Zaun

From Entrepreneur.com


While chasing kids around the kitchen in the fall of 2006, a friend and I decided we wanted to do more than pick up toys and change dirty diapers.

She sewed and, as a former junior high school English teacher, I was comfortable in front of others. So we thought we’d give the idea of selling custom purses at parties a try. After contacting a few friends to host parties, we quickly felt the excitement of giving women an opportunity to design their own purse. So with a little effort and research, PURSEnally Yours officially launched in January 2007, specializing in customer-designed purses.

Our intent was to make a little extra money, spend some time away from our lives as moms and perhaps even hire someone to work with us by the end of the year. It didn’t exactly happen that way. We hired another seamstress within two weeks, and we began to get quite busy just with the sales I was generating. In the first month, we had sewn 31 purses designed by our customers. By the end of the year, we had sewn thousands of them. Our sales topped six figures our first year in business.

During that first year, we hired six seamstresses and fabric cutters, and 13 direct-sales consultants. Because we need people who can sew well, we start them out sewing samples for us. Currently, we have a production team of 10 independent contractors and a waiting list just as long of women interested in working for us. I’ve been very cautious in hiring, consulting our attorney and our accountant to make sure these ladies fit the parameters of independent contractors.

A couple of blurbs in the local media, Fishers/Geist Magazine and at Geist.com, helped spread the word in the early days, but our customer base that first year grew largely by word of mouth through our customers and their handbags.

While the early success was certainly exciting, it was also overwhelming. About midway through the year, my partner needed to give up her portion of the company because of family conflicts. By the time we hit the last quarter of the year (aka, the busiest time), I was overseeing all aspects of the company, including production, which I knew nothing about. Fortunately, the seamstresses working directly with me were very excited about our success, and they were very helpful in navigating me into the next year.

After happily surviving the first year of owning a business–and succeeding–I was able to create a system that is still very effective and efficient today. The beauty about creating and owning your own business is that you can really design it however you wish. I have done just that.

PURSEnally Yours operates as a direct-sales company, which allows me to recruit ladies independently to sell purses through in-home parties or online. It also allows me to expand my reach. The company originally only had consultants in Indiana; now we have consultants throughout the country.

Initially, the biggest challenge in adding consultants was the cost of producing a sales kit. Each kit costs from $500 to $600–a lot to ask of women who wanted to join the team. So in the beginning, we didn’t charge consultants for the kits. Today the kits cost consultants $299 to $399, depending on whether we have specials at the time.

The design kit includes all of our current sizes and styles of purses and accessories, and consultants continue to receive new fabric swatches, fringes, etc., throughout the year. In addition, I work directly with each of them offering communication via e-mail or the phone to answer questions, provide support and give suggestions. We also offer incentives for consultants to get active quickly and earn cash back. Most of the women on our team are previous customers or have heard about the company through family and friends.

We also advertise for consultants via the web and encourage our sales team to spread the word. And we include a note in every customer’s purse mentioning our consulting opportunities. Turnover is high, so we’re always on the lookout for new consultants.

Members of our production team also work independently from their homes. They pick up orders from the office on a weekly basis, sew the purses and accessories at their discretion, and return them by the date requested. This has been a great opportunity for those ladies to turn their hobby into a full-time living.

PURSEnally Yours has been successful in growing without much risk. Because everyone works as an independent contractor, the “office” is still located in my basement. And because our products are custom designed, the company carries virtually no overhead. The office also doubles as my warehouse.

More than 80 varieties of fabrics are numbered and lined up on shelves. Each week, my production leader (head seamstress) sends me an e-mail with all the orders that have been collected, and I fill totes with fabric for our cutters to pick up and return by the weekend. They’ll cut the order per customer designs. Once they are returned, notions get added, and then they’re ready for the seamstresses to pick up.

The excitement of PURSEnally Yours continues to spread as more women are exposed to the fun, fashionable concept of designing their own purses. Currently, we are on track to have our best year yet. The recession did slow us down a bit, so I expect this year to be closer to what I was anticipating in the second or third year of business. We tend to do about 65 percent of our sales during the fourth quarter. But based on our gross sales and continued expansion of our consulting crew, we hope to reach $250,000 by the end of the year.

Think Outside the Bag
Here are some tips detailing what I’ve found helpful in developing my company:

  • Stay involved. I was so tired after the first full year of business that I passed along as much work as possible the next year. In doing so, however, I found myself frustrated because not everything was being done the way I thought it should be, such as communicating with salespeople and encouraging unique approaches to working with new consultants. I also noticed a decline in overall sales. Since it’s my company, nobody was going to care more than I did. I quickly became fully engaged again. I believe that in time I will have the opportunity to be comfortable and less involved, but it wasn’t meant to be in the second year of business.
  • Be proactive. I did not need to make a big financial investment when launching Pursenally Yours. This made it easy to get started, but challenging when trying to promote my business. I knew the concept was great, as the feedback from customers and consultants was phenomenal. So I did some research, created a press release and started contacting local and national print and broadcast media. I went to them instead of waiting for them to come to me. I get a response about 30 percent of the time, which often turns into free exposure for the company.
  • Change with the seasons. I see numerous designs from repeat customers throughout the year. This tells me that, as seasons change, so do purses. I make sure we continue to update our inventory by launching new fabrics every three months and a new product twice a year. Not only do ladies have the opportunity to design their own unique purses, but they can do it all year long. It’s just as exciting for us as it is for the customers to see the new selections available.
  • Give back. It’s easy once the company grows and you start earning money to want to keep as much as you can. It’s important, however, to make sure you take the time to give back. We have worked with numerous schools, churches and other nonprofit organizations to create FUNdraisers! It’s an opportunity to share the concept of the company with others, while they enjoy raising money for their favorite organization. Hosting a purse party to raise money can certainly be more creative and memorable than flipping through a catalog to place an order.

I was a junior high English teacher before I had children. I didn’t start PURSEnally Yours until both of my kids were born. I’m happy to report that I’ve been able to maintain my stay-at-home mom status while successfully growing and managing a nationwide business.


Natalie Zaun is the owner of PURSEnally Yours, specializing in custom purses, hip handbags and trendy totes. PURSEnally Yours operates in eight states and works with some 65 women who help sell, sew, cut and create the custom-designed products.

Harry Potter and Personal Branding

Harry Potter and Personal Branding

By Nick Nanton and J.W. Dicks

From Fast Company

The Wizarding World of Harry Potter opened at Universal Studios Orlando June 18 and the studio is reporting rising attendance and guest spending. This is of particular significance since Universal’s theme park attendance had been hurt by the global recession and travel slowdown. The opening of the new attraction had been a long awaited event for Universal and Harry Potter fans, so the news of positive performance brings a welcome sigh of relief for the hefty $250 million bet Universal placed when they went after the Harry Potter attraction and scooped it out from under Disney who resides only a few miles away.

While all looks great with Harry Potter and the investment Universal made, the naysayers have been wondering out loud if Harry Potter will indeed have legs for years to come, after the last movie is out. After all, J.K. Rowling has said she will write no more Potter books and she certainly has enough money (Forbes estimates her net worth at more than $1 billion) to make that statement believable.

First, it will be a very long time before all of the Harry Potter fans even have an opportunity to go to the attraction. By then, many of the readers will have had more of their children come of reading age and turned into Harry Potter fans. And at some point, the books will pass down to the next generation. Additionally, just because J.K. Rowling doesn’t want to write any more books, doesn’t mean she won’t license different forms of Harry Potteradventures, from cartoons to video games. All of this brand continuity is up to Universal, who has both the burden and the opportunity, to make the Harry Potter brand stay fresh and make its product line continue to flow.

The lesson in all of this for us is to remember that we too must be vigilant with our own brands and work to keep them fresh with new ideas and expanding products that not only grow in number, but also lead into new business verticals and opportunities. Like Universal, most of us have invested lots of time and money to build our brand and in doing so have secured a bit of intellectual property that we have that is unique. While our brand may not have the value of Harry Potter, it doesn’t have to for it to be an opportunity to create more jobs, economic growth contributions, and a nice nest egg for ourselves and families. That’s a bit of “Wizarding” magic in and of itself.

JW Dicks (@jwdicks) & Nick Nanton (@nicknanton) are best-selling authors that consult for small- and medium-sized businesses on how to build their business through Personality Driven Marketing, Personal Brand Positioning, Guaranteed Media, and Mining Hidden Business Assets. They offer free articles, white papers, and case studies at their Web site. Jack and Nick have been featured in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, Newsweek, FastCompany.com, and many more media outlets.