So I have 2 posts about the speakers at GROWCO (here and here). The first one is a rant because I was frustrated and disappointed, but the second one does offer some tidbits gleaned from the speakers.

On RAD’s Radar has a bunch of the insights and quotes from the sessions I attended at GROWCO.

Now I will sum up the conference in 4 points.

Number 1: I would have to say that in order to really grow your business you need to tell a story. That’s first and foremost. And not a story that is Me, Me, Me. Over the ages storytelling is how history was passed down. You know your own family history from listening to your parents and grandparents tell you stories. If you want people to talk about your company and refer business to you, you need to be able to tell a clear, concise story about what you do that benefits the person who is listening. (It takes time to create this message).

Whether you are networking, giving a presentation, answering a customer complaint, or on a sales appointment, remember that people care about themselves, not you. What message do you want them to take away? (It can only be one message).

Your Brand is the Emotional memory that a person has for either your company or logo or product. I usually describe it as 1K of memory storage of everything they know or have heard about your company. But there has to be an emotional string there somewhere for them to care one way or another. Apathy is the absence of emotion. [FYI, the Coke/Pepsi Challenge with brain imaging]

“You are building a relationship not a sale,” says Norm Brodsky. Raving Fans, Repeat Customers, and Referrals all come from relationships. You need to care about your customer more than making a sale. Period.

It all starts with the Hiring. You can’t teach Friendly. Hire Slow, Fire Fast. If the candidate isn’t smiling and trying to win the position, don’t bother hiring them. Corporate Culture is about hiring friendly, trustworthy people that care about the same things that you care about. [See the story of Zappos.com or any article by Norm Brodsky]

I’m sitting at the INC magazine GROWCO event. My experience with the content of the speakers has not been great so far.

The Elevator Pitch guys were fantastic. On topic. Great info. Engaging and interactive.

Norm Brodsky is a lively speaker with great stories – just read his column on INC. On topic? Not so much. When I’m in a session titled How to Close a Deal, please actually talk about that, not about tangents and Corporate Culture. Was it interesting to hear about Corporate Culture as a way to retain customers, stop relying on a salesperson, and growth? Yes. But that wasn’t the topic.

Paul Spiegelman was on topic with How I Work. Balance is an important topic to entrepreneurs.

As I tweeted this morning, I wonder why sports figures are keynotes. Listening to them regale their glory days is not my idea of worthwhile. George Foreman did drop some gems, like “Just keep getting up” and “Sell, sell, sell” and “Just get out there and do it.” And the audience loved him. Me? I’m a meat and potatoes guy.

I have put on events – ISP Expo, BarCampTampaBay (twice) and have helped other events find speakers, put together panels, and create content. Not many event planners understand that it isn’t so much the $495 for the 3 days but the time away from RGA (revenue generating activities) that keeps people away from conferences. The $495 becomes over $1000 with hotel, airfare, etc. The 3 days means I need to take away quite a few gems. Concrete ideas that can be implemented in my business. Yet that’s not the way it’s usually done. Event planners worry about the vendors who actually pay to have the event take place. Will they be happy. Take a lesson from your speakers: If your customers (attendees) are happy, so will the rest of the stakeholders.

Jim McCann of 1-800-Flowers spoke about himself for an hour — with commercials from his company over the years. Maybe he skimmed Presentation Zen to just catch the words play video. I spoke with INC’s online editor about the speakers. What would have been better? McCann and an editor in white sofas on stage. The monitors filled with the video close-up of McCann. The editor interviews him allowing 10 minutes for the history, then the next 45 minutes to explain how a promotion with AT&T or Martha or CBS Outdoor could be done by a small shop in Iowa. Where does the rubber meet the road? As Julia points out, my favorite word has been GRANULAR, which maybe is too intangible. What I want is something tangible to walk away with.

I didn’t hear all of Amy Simmons speech because my client said it was the same talk she gave yesterday and during the 5 minutes I listened had nothing to so with Making Raving Fans.

I was disappointed with the number of people who left Gail Goodman’s session this morning, especially the women. How many other female CEO’s pulled off an IPO in 2007? What woman entrepreneur wouldn’t want to hear that example speak? (And yet I get some flack that there aren’t enough women speakers).

As a speaker you are incurring costs and time to give a talk, but What’s in it for the Audience? They are giving up as much as you. Don’t you want to WOW them? Jim Rohn used to say that he wanted to perfect his craft every year. he didn’t want someone to say, “You should have seen Jim speak back then.” He wanted to hear, “I heard Jim speak before, but you should hear him now.”

BTW, sandwiches for lunch? Not a good idea. And granola bars or some form of protein for breakfast please. Yet, INC I greatly appreciate the water, soda, coffee all day!

This is the third (and likely last) in a series about Gary Vee’s book, Crush It. (First one, 2nd one).

So you read the book, get a blog, start filming some video, writing some content. Now what?

The average blogger doesn’t make peanuts off Google Adwords, so that isn’t going to be your monetization strategy. Ads? Well, when you get to 25,000 page views per day, you can talk to sponsors about ads and CPM. So what does that leave?

One thing is affiliate product links.You can sell other people’s products on your blog or website to make some affiliate dollars.  [NOTE: Under new FTC rules, you have to identify that you are an affiliate now. ]  Some people do very well with this. Many do not.

The other is selling your own product or services. Ah! But you don’t have any. Right.

Also, do you have corporate structure set up? Do you understand the tex implications of being self-employed – even as an affiliate because you do have to claim that income. (The company paying you is claiming it pays you).

If you have your own product, how do you produce and ship it? What about accepting credit cards? Do you have Business Liability insurance? Does your Home Owners Association allow you to run a commercial business out of your house? Are their zoning laws or other county or state regulations that you need a permit or certificate for? How will you collect and pay sales taxes?

One of the reasons businesses fail is because more than half of running a business has nothing to do with the “FUN” part. There’s admin, bookkeeping, payroll, taxes, insurance, HR, accounts payable, accounts receivable, etc. When you had that W-2, there were other departments that handled all that. You just did your job. Now you are that company – every department – and it will eat up your day.

You know what else I forgot? Sales. You are now the Chief Sales Officer of Brand You. That’s probably not what you thought you would be doing when you got started.

Things to think about for certain.

Two resources: E-Myth by Michael Gerber and SCORE.org, a group of retired execs that help small businesses.