Cameron Johnson's Blog

$23 billion, what a nice round number.

So, the Mars company and Warren Buffett are buying Wrigley for $23 Billion bucks.  That's a lot of gum!

I love this deal for what it is NOT:  No ultra-complex sub-prime mortgages that will explode in 5 years, no gambling on brand-new untested technology that may or may not be next big thing, no "flavor of the day" celebrity must-have.  It's a solid deal because it's about proven, time-tested products and companies.

Warren Buffet is famous for this; he just simply buys stock in companies that he A) understands, and B) believes in.  He's become the world's richest man by following that philosophy, so I'm betting this will prove to be another of his smart moves. He likes good companies at a discount, who doesn’t?

Keep that in mind when you're thinking about your own great ideas:  Is this something that a potential customer (or investor) can understand, or are there too many complexities to explain it to someone in an elevator?

That's the tricky paradox involved in many entrepreneur success stories; taking a new approach to a proven product or service to give people a familiar & established "widget", but doing it in a way no else had considered before. Many of my ideas have been very simple ones, yet they’ve also turned out to be very lucrative.

Success Encourages Success

I love seeing more stories like my own…

Encouraging young entrepreneurship is my passion in life, so watching it happen out there for more and more people is fantastic.

Anthony Morrison's story sounds very familiar to my own, so I'm looking forward to seeing what he has to say when his book, "I Net Millions" comes out.

And how about Ashley Qualls?  She started putting some designs up on her website to share with a few friends, it then exploded into a $70,000-a-month business. She's still just 17...

There are more every day.  Their stories should encourage all of us to believe in ourselves and reach for our dreams.  Success encourages success, and the more you immerse yourself in the world of those who have achieved it, the more you'll be motivated to create your own.  At times it can seem like a lonely, impossible dream when you're not getting "there" as fast as you'd like to.  Those are the times when you need to take a break and browse through some of these success-stories to keep your motivation up.

So, keep reading their stories and start writing your own!

Wrigley: 100 Years later, the same things build success.

With the Wrigley sale in the news, I've done some reading on the company's beginnings. What impressed me the most was how the practices that made William Wrigley Jr. his fortune over a 100 years ago are the very same ones that are front and center in the successful marketing efforts of today.

Have a look at the story behind the gum.  Here are a few things that jumped out at me:

Quote:  "Several times the young company was on the verge of going under, but hard work overcame the difficulties, and the business forged ahead."

All of us go through tough challenges as we try to find the right road to our goals, Wrigley was no different.  And, as anyone who has made it will tell you, those two words "hard work" are more often than not the key to beating the obstacles. 

Quote:  "He had a gift for seeing his customers' point of view and accommodating himself to their needs."

Brilliant. I’ve always said business is more common sense and less rocket science. He didn't try to force an unwanted product on his customers, he listened to them, and gave them what they were asking for.  Something I didn't know: The gum started out as just a give-away while he was selling baking powder.  He latched on to the demand for the gum outweighing the demand for the baking powder and...you know the rest.

Quote:  "He saw that consumer acceptance of Wrigley's gum could be built faster by telling people about the benefits of the product through newspaper and magazine ads, outdoor posters and other forms of advertising. Then, as more and more consumers began to ask for and buy Wrigley's chewing gum in the stores, the storekeeper would naturally want to keep a sufficient stock of Wrigley brands on hand."

An excellent example of "pull" marketing, about 80 years before the term was invented! Young entrepreneurs are exciting even 106 years later!

Only feed the Good Dog

A sales trainer I met had one of the most unique motto's I've ever heard:

"Inside every person are two dogs: a good dog, and a bad dog.  Only feed the good dog." 

This was his ice-breaker to start off presentations on how to improve your performance as a sales rep.  I'm not sure it's the best analogy, and I have no idea if he's still opening with that one, but hey- I'll remember it forever so it's got to be worth something!

I was reminded of that saying when I took a look at Marcus Buckingham's book, Go Put Your Strengths to Work.  It's not so much about breaking out on your own as entrepreneur, but about focusing on your best qualities to improve the type & quality of work you do; whether it's as your own boss, or working for someone else. Even though it's not purely entrepreneurial, I love the message that it sends: everyone has different strengths, and the key to your success is finding and working with them instead of just avoiding mistakes.  A great message, regardless of your status as employee or employer.

I’ve always said, when you’re passionate about whatever it is you are doing, then you will almost always be successful. Check out Marcus’ book today and you’ll find yourself on the road to success!

Tools of the trade

Not only has the internet opened up an unlimited world of opportunities to start your own business with just about zero risk, it's also filled with services that can make the mechanics of being an entrepreneur easier than ever.

Not everyone is an expert in marketing or manufacturing.  Luckily, there are some great sites out there that can take over some of the more time-consuming, non-billable work for you.  Take for instance that most exciting of tasks- Accounting!

Knowing where you are with cash-flow and staying on top of monies owed to you is key to keeping your business moving, but too many people let this part of the business slide because they are so busy fulfilling the opportunities they're generating.  You can lose money because you're too busy making it to keep track of it.

There are a number of spots on the web that can help out in this regard, one of them is Blinksale.  With very little set-up time, you can be generating, recording, & tracking invoices securely online.  There is a great range of optional services that you can add if you see fit, so you can do anything from send out a few simple manual invoices a month, to setting up  hundreds of auto-recurring invoices.  Blinksale can link with Paypal to make the payment that much more fluid, ie. fast.  You can store, categorize, & reference all of you invoices and see at a glance what's been paid and what's still pending.  And the best part- for the simpler option, it's free.  You can try it out with 3 free invoices a month to get a feel for it, and upgrades from there are pretty reasonable when you consider how much paperwork it removes from your life.

As with everything, shop around.  Blinksale is one of a number of services, but it's a good one to look at if you're spending too much time chasing post-it notes around your office and wondering if you've actually received any of that hard-earned money.  

The Invisible Links

I'm always pleasantly surprised by the huge variety of people who have taken an interest in me. Obviously the business world is where I pop up the most, on sites like this:

http://www.quantum88network.com/discover-the-secret-of-a-young-millionaire-cameron-johnson/

but it's amazing to see what other indirectly-linked social & media writers find common interest between their passions and mine. For instance, who would have thought a chef would take an interest in my book? But- RawChefDan mentioned me in his March 19th entry:

http://rawchefdan.typepad.com /rawchefdan/2008/03/23yr-old-self-m.html

If you've read my book, you know about the work I've done with John David Mann. He's a great guy with a talent for putting up great information and ideas, tying business & social news together to comment on the world at large, not always just about the almighty dollar:

http://www.johndavidmann.com/journal/

Another interesting site I hadn't seen before, with some great tips:

http://linmorel.com/livingbrilliantly/?p=11

Some other blogs I follow are full of great ideas to give you specific business help, or just generally encourage & motivate you in the quest for ever-improving your business. Have a look at these and see what you think:

http://www.ducttapemarketing.com/blog/

http://blog.guykawasaki.com/
http://bniblog.co.nz/relationship-marketing/a-person-of-value/ 

What I take from all this is another reminder that ambition, drive, focus, and success don't always have to be about how much money you're putting in your pocket. It's about doing what you love and the happiness you gain from it; whether it's a financial security, or just a big smile. Always remember what's it's all about.

You can hug American trees, too.

There was a time when, if you wanted to reduce the amount of emissions created by your driving, your best bet was to buy an import.  That time has passed.

True, Ford and the other big guys were initially left behind in the race to be more environmentally friendly.  But, they've learned their lesson and the result is an offering of steadily cleaner domestic vehicles with every new model year.

Ford's new 3.5 litre Duratec engine will soon make up 20% of the power-plants rolling off their assembly lines, and it's continuing the trend of cleaner combustion engines.  It's a V-6 that still achieves PZEV certification, and you can run it on regular-grade 87 Octane- no more draining your wallet to help the environment every time you fill up.

The number of domestic hybrid-powered vehicles continues to expand as well.  So, if you do want to spend a bit more to support this technology when you purchase your next car, "more" can be a little less if you shop closer to home and don't automatically go with the import. 

Perhaps the most impressive new trend across almost all industries these days is how they look at their processes & systems from the ground up in search of ways to be more environmentally responsible in everything they do.  This means that it's not just the end-product that leaves less of a harmful footprint, but every step that went into producing it is cleaner as well.  A great example of this is Ford's new painting process, which is both cleaner and actually more cost-effective.  Win-win for everyone.

So, don't let past history drive your future decisions.  You can hug a tree right in your own backyard.

Challenge your body, and your mind will win.

If you’ve read my book, you’ll recall my mention of the challenges of trying to maintain a healthy personal life while building a successful business life. Ask anyone who pours a lot themselves into their work, and they have all had the same struggle at least once in their career.

It’s an easy cycle to fall into. Running a business, especially starting one, demands a lot of time. That time has to come from somewhere so the first cut is usually leisure time; followed by social life, family life, sleep… you get the picture. As a result, you can quite easily let a healthy business take priority over a healthy body.

Believe it or not, taking some time away from your business every day can be one of the best methods of increasing the productivity of the hours you spend at it. You probably know this and have great intentions of making those breaks happen, but how well do you actually follow through with it? It’s too easy to put it off to later today, or tomorrow, or next week. So how do you make it a priority in your day?

Sign up for some type of physical challenge. If you’re a runner, maybe it’s that first official race. It doesn’t have to be the Boston Marathon, just a fun 10k run. Maybe it’s a mountain-biking tour, or joining a martial arts club. Only you know what “it” is, but we all have that “it”: something we’ve got an interest in achieving but have never taken the time focus on it. Sounds a lot like that business you’ve always wanted to start, doesn’t it? And that’s the point: There are so many similarities between the world of building a successful business and the world of building a successful person that you know achieving one has to complement the other.

Talk to a runner sometime about how clear their head is after that Sunday morning training run, and you’ll get an idea of the additional benefits of keeping some activity in your life. I have one friend who swears by the successful “backgrounding” he achieves by running. He’ll be stuck on a decision or problem for hours in the office without reaching a solution, but when he comes back from his daily run- the answer is waiting for him with the Gatorade. By taking the pressure off your mind and letting it simmer for a half-hour while you’re focused on some physical task, you’ll often see the answers more clearly than if you stew in front of a monitor for that half-hour. Even aside from helping you with specific problems, you’ll just plain feel better and have more energy to put into your life.

Set a goal for something six months from now (a race? Your orange-belt in Karate?) and that will force you to make time in your weekly schedule for the preparation. You’ll be amazed at the return on investment you’ll see after just a couple of weeks. Your business time will be more focused and energized, and the sense of achievement you feel when you reach that physical goal will become an additional motivation to achieve your entrepreneurial goals.

Health & wealth rhyme for a reason, here’s wishing you both!

You Call the Shots! Virtual Book Tour...TONIGHT!

Today at 4pm Pacific/7pm Eastern is a free 1-hour call with myself and my great friend, Alex Mandossian. Visit www.YouCalltheShotsBookTour.com for more information and to get the free details!

If you miss the call, it'll remain online in its recorded version so feel free to pass this link along to your friends and family.

How in the world do I...

So you have an idea.  What now?  How do you make the first step toward realizing your goal?  What have others done? Help!

Hang in there, you're not alone.

With every passing week, there are more and more resources out there for those of you who want to put the effort into making your dream a tangible reality.

Striking out on your own can be a lonely venture.  Knowing that other people just like you are on a similar path can be a comforting reassurance that, hey- you're not crazy! You're one of a proud new breed of business people fuelling the engine of the future.

As always, the net provides a wealth of resources.  I've noticed a few sites that do two things that everyone in the business world, me included, needs:  A peer group- knowing that you're not alone!  And- legal & business help with the mechanics of starting and running a successful business.

A few links that do both:

• http://www.youngmoney.com/entrepreneur Some great stories, and helpful information on writing your business plan.
• http://www.sitepoint.com/article/top-tips-young-entrepreneurs  This rings a familiar bell. Eight great tips from another young success-story.
• http://www.entrepreneur.com/youngmillionaires Read about people who took an idea and ran with it- successfully.
• http://www.sba.gov/teens/  The US Small business Administration. If you're new to the world of business, this is an excellent site on the nuts & bolts of it all, and it has some inspirational stories of people who have done it.
• http://www.score.org/young.html  Great Resources on starting your business.  And, to add a sense of urgency- entrepreneurial competitions. 

With these and many more resources at your disposal, there's no reason you can't start on the path to your success today.  Fear of the unknown shouldn't be an obstacle to making that first jump.  To the contrary, it should be the added rush that makes you GO FOR IT!