Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield have ice cream in their veins. These two unlikely entrepreneurial heroes rose to pop culture status by following different paths. Jerry is more of the joker, always ready with a quick quip, who landed his first job in the industry as an ice cream scooper in college. He tried moving through medical school without any success and reverted to work as a lab technician, whilst Ben drove an ice cream truck in his senior school year, but also dropped out of college.

The pair first met each other when they shared a Manhattan apartment following graduation, but they did not explore their entrepreneurial possibilities until they became reunited in upstate New York and decided to go into the food business.

Ben and Jerry’s could just as easily have been a bagel bakery, but they deemed that option too expensive and decided to make ice cream instead. In the equally-as-funky Burlington, VT., they opened their first scoop shop and started churning out their off-the-wall ice cream creations.

Ben and Jerry realized the power of social networking in 1978 and started off by hosting a free film festival and by establishing several traditions, including a give away of free ice cream on the anniversary of the founding of the first store. “We measured our success not just by how much money we made, but by how much we contributed to the community. It was a two-part bottom line.”

Through the 1980s, business was great and they expanded out of state within New England. By 1987, annual sales totalled $32 million and even President Reagan became a Ben & Jerry’s fan in 1988, when he awarded them the prestigious US Small Business Persons of the Year award.

Ben & Jerry’s was, and still is, known for its creativity. Flavors such as “Chunky Monkey” and “Rainforest Crunch” featured unique flavor combinations, unusual packaging and colorful marketing methods. By the end of the 1980s, the company was operating in 18 states within the USA.

Their rapid growth was not without growing pains and they had to further innovate and sometimes capitulate as they grew. They were forced to relinquish some of the firm’s informal hierarchy and more established players, such as Dreyers and Haagen-Dazs, were putting up stiff competition.

Through the 90s, however, the firm continued its growth, with sales approaching $175 million towards the end of the decade. Perhaps inevitably, the brand was purchased by the food giant Unilever in 2000, although a unique arrangement allowed Ben and Jerry’s to continue to feature its unique operating style.

Since the outset, the duo had always been on somewhat of a social mission and this trend continues to this day. They have a solid commitment to recycling and conservation at all facilities and they use hormone-free milk in all products. “Now, when we face a problem like global warming, and you understand that the biggest impacts on global warming come from business and industry, I think business needs to take a leading role,” observes Jerry.

Ben & Jerry’s is very much the quintessential American success story, but they have always maintained their strong social and community values. “Neither of us could have anticipated twenty years ago that a major multi-international would some day sign on, enthusiastically, to pursue and expand the social mission that continues to be an essential part of Ben & Jerry’s and a driving force behind many of our successes.” I’ll lick an ice cream to that.

Adam Toren

The thought of compiling a formal business plan can be quite daunting to the entrepreneur. Many of us see ourselves as the creative type rather than the formal intellectual and we might have an inbuilt tendency to try and fly by the “seat of our pants”. In spite of the pain, perceived or otherwise, involved in its creation, we must invest the time and effort to come up with a formal business plan. It is not as hard as you think, there are plenty of good books on the subject and some really great software packages, such as Business Plan Pro, for example.

So what are the most common errors people face when writing a business plan? Apart from the obvious – procrastination – you should always make sure that you include the necessary items. Make sure that you do devote time to creating the plan and don’t use any excuses, such as your busy schedule. You must look at the bigger picture, which includes the need to craft a formal projection of where you want to go.

When constructing your business plan, think in terms of cash rather than profits. Even though you may come up with a projection which you like – income being greater than expenses – you must understand cash flow. A profit and loss statement should be almost secondary to your cash flow statement, as you must ensure that you have enough cash in hand on a day-by-day basis to even survive.

Don’t focus too much on your grand idea, but make sure that you have all the fundamentals covered. A bold idea is hard to sell, so you need to stress that you have the available time, common sense and business smarts to succeed. If you are looking for investors, they will be more interested in you and/or your people, rather than the idea.

When you’re compiling a business plan, leave out the hype. Do not use any colorful language or preconceived notions. People who will be looking at your business plan will want to see hard, solid facts, backed up by very reasonable assumptions. Milestones must be set, tasks established and sound logic applied to your reasoning.

Remember that you must focus and not come up with an unachievable list of too many priorities. Your strategies are very important and you will only be kidding yourself if you try and cast your net too wide.

It’s an obvious goal to project growth, make sure that it is realistic and that any growth spurts are tied and referenced to understandable and realistic events. Your projections must be conservative at all times and you must be able to defend them.

Always make sure that you are not living in a bubble and that you are thoroughly aware of your business competition. If your business plan is too inwardly focused, you run the risk of ignoring other companies in your marketplace at your peril.

Don’t base your business plan and your very success on one mega-deal. This is known colloquially as putting “all your eggs in one basket” and should you, or your clients drop this basket, you will be doomed!

Remember, this does not have to be rocket science. A business plan is based, first and foremost, on common sense. You must, deep down within yourself, believe in all the assertions and assumptions that you’re making. Take time to sit down in a quiet room and really think it all through, before committing to paper. Solid preparation now puts you in good stead for the future.

Share your experiences on writing a business plan.

Adam Toren

Hi Everyone, Adam Toren here with another poll update!

In this poll, we are  putting together an amazing list of entrepreneurial tools and gadgets which make our busy lives so much easier. By the end of the poll we should have gathered an excellent list – so add your entry now! It’s just a click away and your entry goes live on Twitter.

We are asking…

Word-of-mouth is certainly the best form of marketing available. In a recent study by the authority site emarketer.com, it was shown that fully 53% of online traffic comes from word-of-mouth – recommendations and referrals made by others.

The growth of the Internet has certainly enhanced the potential for positive results from word-of-mouth referrals. News used to take a lot longer to spread when the telephone was the most effective means of communication. News can now travel at lightning speeds through the many forms of e-mail, instant messaging, SMS text messaging and the Web 2.0 children – Facebook, MySpace, YouTube, Twitter, etc.

Nowadays, in Internet marketing terms, it is relatively easy to prompt people for a recommendation. “Tell a friend” scripts are easy to promote and these messages stand a great chance of reaching their proposed recipients, due to the fact that they are coming from a trusted friend or acquaintance. Recognizable e-mail addresses normally sail past those pesky spam filters.

There are many ways to generate valuable online publicity through the use of press release services. You should have a clear strategy, defined and regular, and strive to incorporate different tactics. A series of written press releases should aim to show your product or service as relevant and “hot”. Create a buzz around your product. Inject some controversy and color and always aim to establish yourself as a credible expert in your niche.

One of the beauties of the Internet as we know it today is its ability to provide viral exposure. Whilst aiming to brand yourself as the credible expert, consider giving something of value away for free. Make sure that you research this well, however, so that your intended audience feels that you truly are giving away something of value and that this is not just your opinion!

Find out what value and what kind of information your target audience is looking for. Are they looking for inspiration, or simply a lighthearted message of some kind? Use the many Internet distribution channels to provide something of perceived value at little or no cost. Never employ the hard sell – but do make sure that you include subtle links so that interested people can find you.
In all your Internet Marketing Initiatives, aim for viral exposure and attract valuable word-of-mouth recommendations.

What do you think of Tell a Friend forms? Do you use this method of referrals?

Matthew Toren

This week I was fortunate to catch up with Darren Rowse for a great  interview.

Darren Rowse is perhaps the most famous full time Blogger in the area of helping other bloggers add income streams to their blogs. www.Problogger.net

Adam: Your writing style is very clear, informative and focused where does your writing style come from, it’s quite unique?

Darren: It’s just the way I write and always have. I’ve not really thought much about it or done any training – I guess I just write like I think or speak.

Adam: You are obviously a dedicated and thorough person, do you think that these are two important traits for setting up your own business?

Darren: Actually I’m not naturally that disciplined or thorough (just ask my wife). But for some reason when it comes to my business I’ve surprised myself with my ability to stick at it on a daily basis for years now. I could still work some more on the ‘thoroughness’ aspect of things though.
I’m not sure that they’re essential traits of someone going into business but they certainly help. I think traits like persistence, sticking to your values and goals and learning from your mistakes are just as important.

Adam: You’ve been blogging since before most people had even heard of it, there has been a huge rise in the number of bloggers out there where do you see it going over the next 2 years?

Darren: Now you’re making me feel old!
The ‘future of blogging’ question is one that I’m asked a lot. A few thoughts:
- Obviously there’s lots of changes in technology happening which will impact what we do.
- We’re also seeing convergence of technologies (blogs are looking less like ‘blogs’ and more like sites with different mediums).
- People are still using the web to hunt for advice, news, community and entertainment – blogs that provide these things will thrive (this is one thing that isn’t changing).

Adam: Would you class yourself more as a teacher, tutor or guide rather than a professional blogger, this seems to be what all your work comes down to?

Darren: I see myself as a communicator and community builder. I’m passionate about these two things and my ultimate goal is to build communities that send people away from them better than when they came.
This means teaching and sharing information – but it also means connecting people with one another and pointing out other resources online (and offline) to help them better themselves.
I think if you consistently help people to be better at some aspect of their lives then you’re going to be a step closer to building a profitable business.

Adam: You have a Theology Degree, that is quite heavy going how did you keep yourself motivated to complete it whilst working as well?

Darren: Well the degree took me 10-11 years to complete – so it was a long term thing and something that I was in no rush to complete.
I’m not really sure I’ve got great tips to share on this except that it took me a good decade to find my feet and to discover what I was passionate about in life.
I gradually honed into it by looking at my experiences, skills, personality, gifts, values and passions and eventually ended up in what I’m doing (for now – who knows what the next stage will be).

Adam: Do you think that everyone should be encouraged to take the higher education route, what advantages does it give you?

Darren: I don’t think it’s for everyone. While I’m glad I studied Theology (and Marketing before that) what I do now has largely come about through teaching myself and trial and error.
I am a big believer in self improvement and always being a learner – but higher education isn’t the only path to achieve these things.

Adam: You are a very spiritual person, what are your thoughts on the less moral sides of the internet?

Darren: I don’t see the internet as being much different to any other place, community or medium – it’s got good and bad, life giving and life sucking parts of it.
I don’t get too caught up in condemning the ‘evils of the web’ though – I’d rather work on doing something positive and being a part of making the web known for being something that helps people be the best that they can be.

Adam: Do you think governments/law enforcement agencies should try and get involved with regulation and censorship of the internet?

Darren: I’m not sure that this is the answer. Our government here in Australia has been talking about censoring the web and I don’t really see this as being a way forward. To be honest I’m not sure what the answer is but investing billions into shutting down parts of the web doesn’t seem like a great use of money, I’d rather see them investing the cash into education and resourcing people to build parts of the web that make a positive difference.

Adam: Which of your current roles do you most relish and why?

Darren: My day is made any time that I get an email from a reader telling me that something that I’ve published has showed them how to do something that’s important to them. I regularly get emails from readers sharing how they’ve learned to make money and feed their families through blogging for instance – that never fails to make me smile.

Adam: Now that you have settled into your new area do you miss the multicultural nature of where you lived before and do you think that its important that we expose our children to different cultures?

Darren: I’ve only really moved about 15 minutes drive from where we used to live – things are a little more ’suburban’ here but I’m regularly back in my old haunts.
Our kids are still pretty young but we’ll travel with them in the years ahead and will give them some good exposure to different cultures and people of different backgrounds – I know that this has been important in my own journey and think it will be for them too.

Adam Toren

If any of you have flown easyJet, stayed in an easyHotel, or rented an easyCar, then you know this serial entrepreneur. Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou defines the entrepreneurial spirit, both by his success in developing businesses and in giving back to the community. He offers a multitude of best practices that I think all entrepreneurs, whether just starting out or in business for years, will find beneficial.

As the son of a wealthy Greek shipping tycoon, it would have been easy for Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou to sit back and take it easy. But instead, he worked to amass his own fortune by establishing a business empire that continues to expand and succeed. His first endeavor was at age 25 with the shipping company Stelmar, funded in part with a loan from his father. With its success, Haji-Ioannou founded easyJet, now a well-known budget airline throughout Europe. The multitude of easyGroup companies soon followed.

“I was just lucky with easyJet. I took an enormous risk with my family’s fortune back in the 90s and I was lucky to have been in the right place and at the right time when the European airline industry was deregulating and with the right father to give me a lot of money to bet on new aircraft. And it worked.”

Haji-Ioannou is of the strong belief that once you’ve built a successful venture and want to move on to other opportunities, then you need to put your trust in a manager to carry on your vision. “Entrepreneurs mess around, once you’ve proven the business model leave it alone and get a manager in, and hire a proven manger.”

For entrepreneurs working towards developing a brand, Haji-Ioannou’s model is one to use as a guide. “Your brand is created out of customer contact and the experience your customers have of you.” As the owner of easyGroup.com, Haji-Ioannou created a business empire with easyBus.com, easyCar.com, easyCinema.com, easyCruise.com, easy4men.com, easyHotel.com, easyInternetcafe.com, easyJet.com, easyJobs.com, easyMobile.com, easyMoney.com, easyMusic.com, easyOffice.com, easyPizza.com, easyValue.com, easyVan.com and easyWatch.com.

The Greek-Cypriot entrepreneur revels that his secret to success is to “Look at companies where the consumers are paying out of their own pockets and give them a product at the right price and they will take it; Choose a product/service where when you reduce the price more consumers buy; Look at the yield management, which is the same product given at different prices; Eliminate the frills; Under promise and over deliver; and Don’t expand too fast.”

During these challenging economic times, Haji-Ioannou, like other entrepreneurs, is trying to position his companies to make it through the uncertainty. “Remember, risk and reward is asymmetrical. You can’t risk having to raise debt or equity in a deep recession. I believe that the competitive landscape will not be as benign as we think it will be. I think we are entering an era of big government.”

Haji-Ioannou, who is worth over $700 million, is committed to giving back to his community and helping other entrepreneurs. He provides over 200 scholarships to his alma maters, the London School of Economics and Cass Business School in London, to support young, exceptional scholars; he created the Disabled Entrepreneur of the Year award to recognize entrepreneurs who have overcome limitations to start their businesses; he co-founded CYMEPA to preserve the marine environment in Cypress; he established the Stelios Award for Business Cooperation in Cyprus; he supports the Pendeli Reforestation project in Greece; he established the Stelios Haji-Ioannou Award for Entrepreneur of the Year in Greece; and he established the Stelios Philanthropic Foundation to recognize far-reaching aspirations, innovative ideas and measurable change.

It is for his services to entrepreneurship that Haji-Ioannou received a knighthood from Queen Elizabeth II in 2006. “I am very passionate about encouraging and recognizing entrepreneurial spirit, and seeking out and celebrating business ability.”

His advice to budding entrepreneurs is threefold: “Pay attention to the detail of a business, those mistakes in the business model may be small now but they are compounded by growth. Don’t overestimate what consumers will pay for something that saves them time. Don’t bet the farm on your business, put enough in to have enough skin in the game, an amount that is meaningful but leaves an amount small enough for you to survive.”

Adam Toren

Photograph courtesy of easyGroup

First impressions are everything. We know this from our daily life experience, where we are constantly discovering new people, places, products and services and making instantaneous, subconscious, assumptions. When it comes to your business, one of the first impressions that a client gets to see is your logo. It should be a well conceived, well designed instant interpretation of everything that your business stands for. So, when it comes to designing a logo, there’s no pressure, right?

It’s crucial to understand several key elements when it comes to designing a great logo for your business. Firstly, you should do some soul-searching. Do you have the funds or resources to be able to employ the services of a professional logo designer? Whilst this person or company may be the answer to your problem, many new businesses rarely have the funds available to go down this route. As this is often the case, here are some of those key elements to consider as you come up with your own masterpiece.

Choose your logotype.

You can simply choose to portray your business name in one of the very many thousands of different fonts available. Or, you could choose to incorporate a visual image representing your business type – for example, you could include a graphic of a paintbrush if you are an artist. Thirdly, you could merely base your logo around a custom-made symbol of some kind, but this is not advisable as in your early days you need your logo to be instantly identifiable and to relate to your specific business enterprise.

Get your message across.

You need to be very clear what your message is, to start off with. Keep this message firmly in your mind when you are creating your logo and try to get it across in graphic form.

Make your logo aesthetically pleasing.

Your finished result should be balanced, clean, distinctive, and functional. Your logo should “work” when reproduced through any medium, in monochrome as well as in color.

Avoid a generic look.

Don’t be tempted to use clip art, and come up with a redundant look. Be creative!

Be cost effective.

Don’t go over the top and create a masterpiece of design with deep colors using a rainbow spectrum. Remember that you are going to have to reproduce your logo in many different formats and you might not be too pleased with the accompanying costs.

Make sure it is usable.

If you do not have a natural eye for design, bring in a friend who does, or better still someone who has some expertise in this area to get their advice. Will your logo translate into all potential environments? For example, how will it look when reproduced on a polo shirt?

Take time to address the fundamentals and enjoy the process of logo creation. It can be a lot of fun, but you should remember to keep your customers in mind with a focus on the very purpose for your business when you put everything together. Your logo will help you to build valuable equity, establish credibility and achieve success.

How did you choose your logo?

Matthew Toren

Time for a poll update! Thanks so much for all you entries so far – we are lovin’ this new way for you to send in your votes.

We need your help in putting together an Awesome list of entrepreneurial tools and gadgets, and we are running this poll through Twitter. If you have a Twitter account cast your vote – or post your entry – and if you don’t have a Twitter account – Where have you been?

We are asking…

As an Entrepreneur – What is the one thing you cannot do without? ENTER NOW

Books have been written about it. And I mean big, thick books… Pay-per-click marketing, as best perfected by our Californian friends at Google, is touted as one of the most effective forms of online advertising. It’s quite a simple model really – advertisers show their highly targeted messages to potential consumers and pay a fee to the service provider only when a consumer clicks on their ad and goes through to their website. The ads are displayed if they are relevant to the search term, or keywords, entered by the searcher. Simple, really, and highly profitable to the Googles of this world.

Depending on the competitiveness of the niche, advertisers can pay as little as five cents per click up to more than 40 or $50 per click, such as in the case of certain personal injury attorneys. Pay per click marketing is itself marketed as a perfect form of advertising, yet it is pretty complex and takes a good bit of understanding on the part of the advertiser.

There are a number of things to remember when it comes to successful pay per click marketing. Essentially, you must make sure that your ad is correctly put together and is part of a well thought-out campaign. It is not enough to come up with an ad and expect to get the best rates, the best position, or the best display to click ratio. As far as Google’s Adwords is concerned, for example, the position that you achieve on the page of search engine results is based on the click through rate of your advert, and not just the bid price. The higher the CTR of your advert, the better position you will achieve, for the lower bid price.

You must make sure that your ad copy is very well thought out. First of all, you will need to make sure that your search phrase or keyword is as targeted as possible — the ubiquitous long tail — otherwise you will pay very highly and get few qualified results. Your ad copy’s title should be highly relevant and ideally contain your keyword. Not only will your viewers think this is more relevant, but the Googles of the world who are in the business of assigning a much maligned “quality score” to your campaign, will think so too.

Make sure that the page your ad points to, for click through purposes, is also highly relevant and matched to your keywords in the content of your ad. Otherwise you will get a penalty and your quality score will suffer, meaning that your ad will not show as highly on the page, and/or your cost per click will be higher.

Always track the success of a pay per click campaign, and test, test, test. Use a large number of targeted key words and be sure to track which ones are effective. Get rid of those that are not, as soon as you possibly can.

In short, pay per click marketing can be highly effective, but it requires a lot or preparation and attention during the running of the campaign!

Do you have any other tips on Pay Per Click Marketing?

Adam Toren

This week our interview is with Bobby Chang.

Bobby Chang is the COO of Rapidshare.com, one of the worlds most visited websites, with an Alexa ranking of just 15!

Adam: You have had considerable success with the launch of RapidShare in 2006.
What business were you in prior to this?

Bobby: I was in telecommunication voice and IP business before joining RapidShare, and the team already had a lot of experience in file hosting.

Adam: You always talk about learning lessons and moving on, what lessons did you take with you into the launch of RapidShare?

Bobby: I knew that technology is one of the keys to success. You need a high performing system landscape to match the users´ expectations. Another lesson I had learned was to always listen to the users carefully. Some companies loose this ability as they grow and I am always trying to match the users’ needs as quickly as possible.

Adam: What is your educational background, do you believe that the traditional
education system fosters entrepreneurial spirit?

Bobby: My background is economics and I think that entrepreneurial spirit is related to personality rather than education systems. I think the family background influences a lot, if you become an entrepreneur or not, because this is the place where children can learn to take on responsibility and make decisions.

Adam: What is your management style and how has it adapted during your
company’s rapid growth?

Bobby: If a company grows, you spend more and more time communicating, motivating and inspiring people. I think communication skills are very important if you lead a bigger company.

Adam: Your business is constantly under fire, how do you manage to retain such
composure under constant pressure?

Bobby: Of course it is hard, if the company is under fire. But at the same time there is a lot of success. That’s what keeps me going and what rewards me at the end of the day. Apart from that, we are a good team.

Adam: You have been quoted as being an admirer of Steve Jobs, what are your
thoughts on Bill Gates?

Bobby: Bill Gates has done many remarkable things and of course he is a great man that facilitated many things in IT and communication. I often refer to Steve Jobs, because the way he built iTunes relates directly to what we call Internet economics. He was the one that legalized Napster more or less, a task that everyone deemed to be impossible and that changed the music industry a lot.

Adam: What inspires you and motivates you?

Bobby: Many things inspire me, I like technology and I am fascinated by the internet and all the new ways of communication and collaboration it offers.
Every day, there is something new to be discovered, because there a millions of talented people out there designing next generation’s applications. That is exciting.

Adam Toren