The Costco Connection

FRESHviews
Don’t quit,
Part 2

THE FUEL THAT drives many of us is passion. If you are passionate about what you are doing, it is impossible to quit. Another strong supporter is attitude. A positive attitude will see you through just about anything and everything.

One thought that is always uppermost in my mind is this: If I stop I am sure to lose everything I have invested in my idea. I don’t know what may happen or whom I may meet if I just keep going one more second, one more day or one more week. It is impossible to know who is heading my way with a piece of my answer. I constantly remind myself there are no facts concerning the future. It is always in the process of development. If you drop out, you lose your place.

I have a partner, Stacey Wong, who worked with me 20 years ago, after which we went our separate ways, on friendly terms. A couple of months ago I saw his wife, Lorena, and discovered they had moved back to Honolulu from Kauai. He and I met just to say hello and catch up. There was no conversation at all about working together. However, one unplanned and unrelated event after another happened, and before we knew it we were partners and he was CEO of The Cookie Kahuna. We never once discussed it. However, there it was.

I now believe in divine intervention. Stacey and I complement each other perfectly.

He is the ideal partner I always wanted but never had. I am convinced the universe is in order. You have everything to gain and nothing to lose if you just stay the course. Life is about living, not quitting. Success is yours if you just claim it.

For years I have heard “Man plans and
God laughs.” For me, partnering with Stacey
is confirmation of the truth in that state-
ment. My mantra from now on is “Let go, let
God.” Whoever your God is, give him or her a
chance to lead you to success. I promise you,
it works if you work it. Success can be yours
today. Get out of your own way and, for your
sake, please do not quit! C

WALLY AMOS: BE POSITIVE

Wally Amos is the founder of The Cookie Kahuna.

You can reach Wally at www.thecookie kahuna.com.

By Mindy Charski

CAN YOU DESCRIBE what your business does—clearly, succinctly and in a way that spurs curiosity? It’s not always easy for small-business owners.

Many have trouble choosing one message to focus on because they’re so passionate about what they do, says Kerri Konik, chief executive officer of the branding and marketing agency Brandscape Atelier. Many end up offering long-winded explanations that overload listeners.

Crafting a strong business description takes time but is worth the investment. Consider it a brand-building tool you can use to communicate with many audiences, including customers, prospects, potential funding partners, journalists and even your own employees.

“It shows your company’s focus and can
help distinguish your small business from
another,” says Dan Antonelli, author of
Building a Big Small Business Brand (Sign Craft
Publishing Co., 2013; not available at Costco).
“It also allows you to better control the mes-
sage to avoid any confusion or disconnect with
your target audience.”
It’s best to keep these gems short—only
one or two sentences—but there’s not a single
formula for constructing the perfect narrative
about your business.

Mike Crawford, president of the integrated marketing communications firm M/C/C, says descriptions should explain what your business does and the value it provides. Determine that value by researching your target audience’s buying criteria, the Costco member says.

Then, craft a description in the language
your buyers would use, while steering clear of
jargon. For instance, a cloud storage company
that wants people to know its services are
always available could say it offers “multiple
backups and redundancy,” but that phrase
would be hard for some to digest. Instead,
Crawford says the company could say, “We
provide cloud storage services with reliability
to the extreme.”
Referencing the consumer you target can
be useful, too. Antonelli says he could describe
his own company with a statement like
“Graphic D-Signs provides
custom-designed branding, mar-
keting, digital and advertising solutions for
small businesses.” Could the reference to small
businesses turn away larger ones? “It can be
limiting, but in our space, [small business] is
the world we focus on,” he says. “It is a unique
point of distinction for us.”
Another option worth considering is
Konik’s three-part equation: State what you
do, who you do it for and the results they get
from working with you. An example she
offers is, “I’m a software engineer, and I work
with enterprise-level companies in the sport-
ing industry so they can increase sales.”
Or a chiropractor may say, “I work with
stressed, busy individuals, and I release ten-
sion in the spine so they have less pain and
more ease and grace in their day,” says Konik,
who is also a Costco member.

“Keep it simple; less is more,” Konik says. “When [listeners] are intrigued or at least somewhat interested, the golden ticket—the invitation to engage deeper—is ‘Oh wow, tell me more.’ ” C

Dallas-based Costco member Mindy Charski (@ mindycharski on Twitter) specializes in business.

THE SMALL BUSINESS
Administration (SBA)
recently rolled out a
tool to help small busi-
nesses find financing to “get their busi-
ness off the ground or take the next big
step in their expansion plan.”
LINC (Leveraging Information and
Networks to access Capital) provides an
online matchmaking tool for small busi-
nesses and potential lenders beyond local
options. It’s being rolled out in two
phases. The first, now online, connects
small-business owners with nonprofit
lenders who offer free financial advice
and specialize in microlending, smaller
loans and real estate financing. Phase
two will add banks that offer an even
wider array of financial products.

In the longer term, LINC could be modified to facilitate government contracting by connecting eligible small businesses with procurement officers, prime contractors and federal buyers.