Monday, March 24, 2014

10 Rules to Build a Wildly Successful Business

Seth Goldman and Barry Nalebuff built Honest Tea from scratch into a $100 million enterprise. In my recent article on Forbes, you get a few lessons and a compelling story of their journey. Goldman and Nalebuff share 10 must-follow rules on how to start and build an equally impressive empire. You can find these rules in the back of their book; ‘Mission In A Bottle’. 1. Build something you believe in — because that’s the first step to building a great brand. Just like Goldman and Nalebuff, I learned a powerful lesson in tenacious passion from 30 plus years of entrepreneurship. When you’re all alone, sitting in a dark room wondering why your business is failing, there is only one true thing to power you forward — you believe in your purpose. 2. Don’t aim for 10% improvement. Make it radically better and different. Yes — in today’s society we collectively create amazing products, services and companies through entrepreneurship. World changing at times and Honest Tea was radically different when first introduced. But, if you look around, we also live in the land of ‘me-too’ businesses. Don’t fall for it. Dig deep and decide right now to build something radically different and radically better. 3. Prepare to be copied. Don’t start unless you’ll survive imitation. If your idea is truly radical and takes off, you can count the minutes before the copy-cats arrive. How will you survive competition from the big 800-pound gorillas on the block? Or even from the upstart little guys? Your key is a system of ‘continuous innovation’. Although you could also take the road of Honest Tea — make friends with one of the gorillas and let them buy you out. Coca-Cola Company acquired Honest Tea in 2011. 4. Build up reserves of money and energy for bad luck and mistakes. Great advice — but sometimes extremely difficult to do. What startup or growth company has reserves of cash sitting around? But Goldman and Nalebuff make a good point — run as lean as you possibly can and do not waste money or energy. You will endure mistakes and bad luck along the way, so having a good war chest full of capital and energy can help handle it. 5. Never, ever give up control — until you sell. Some high-impact entrepreneurs will readily give up control in exchange for the lure of high-growth through venture capital — but I am not one of them. Relinquish control and you risk losing the culture and vision of the company you set out to build. Even though Honest Tea raised investment capital from the beginning, the co-founders always remained in the driver’s seat. And yes — Goldman can still drive his vision as CEO of Honest Tea, but his boss at Coca-Cola can say ‘no’ at anytime. Thus, true control is now forever gone. 6. Don’t compromise on the big things — compromise on everything else. Vision. Purpose. Core values. Write these things in stone and never budge. But flexibility in the value propositions, products and services you build to execute your purpose is vastly important. Many entrepreneurs I see fail to ‘bend to the market’ by adapting to what their customer’s are telling them. 7. Figure out how to achieve your goals on a tiny budget — then cut that number in half. Yes — you’ve heard it said before — it will cost twice as much, and take twice as long as you think. My recommendation is you apply the principles of lean to your business from day one. No fancy offices. No fancy full color brochures. Your goal is to stay alive until you can nail your secret formula for success. Blowing the budget will insure nothing but a quick death. 8. It’s a marathon, not a sprint. Is it ever. Building a business is neither for the faint of heart or the speed demon. Climbing Mt. Everest is not done in 3 easy steps: 1.) decide you want to do it, 2.) fly to Nepal with zero preparation, 3.) sprint straight up the mountain in 12 easy minutes. Build systems for the long-haul and focus on small-connected steps. It takes 26,364 steps to climb Mt. Everest, and that’s starting from half way up at Basecamp. 9. Take care of your family, personal and spiritual health — if you aren’t laughing or smiling on a regular basis, recalibrate. Imagine the path to a wildly successful business: founder working at a feverish pitch for 18 hours each day, for at least 5 years straight. True? No, it’s not. In my private conversation with Goldman, he flat-out told me two reasons he made it through the rough years: first — he believed in his purpose, second — his drive for personal balance. The notion we need to kill our family relationships, personal health or level of sanity to build our own business is sadly misaligned. Take it from me — don’t go there. 10. Build the enterprise and the brand as if you’ll own them forever. Will you sell your business someday? Maybe. Should that be the sole reason you are building it? Probably not. When you start and build a business based on passion and purpose, with a burning desire to solve the pain of your customer through the deliverance of value, you build a far more valuable enterprise. Those in it for the short-term quick buck rarely succeed. Plaster these 10 rules from Goldman and Nalebuff to your mirror, live by them every day of your life as an entrepreneur and you might end up as successful as they are. Honest. Source: Eric T. Wagner | Forbes, Dr. Dan Thibodeau - 3/19/14

Wednesday, March 5, 2014

10 Interesting Facts About Chiropractic

Spinal manipulation has existed for at least 2500 years and chiropractic care as we know it today began over a hundred years ago in Davenport, Iowa by Daniel David Palmer. D.D. Palmer and his son B.J. Palmer went on to start what is now Palmer College of Chiropractic. Since that time, it has gained recognition worldwide as an effective form of health care. Patient satisfaction is typically very high and studies have shown that, compared to conventional medical care, chiropractic is more safe and financially feasible for many ailments. It’s no surprise that people enjoy chiropractic coverage through their insurance and it’s even offered to men and women serving in the military. Clearly, chiropractic is accepted, widely used, and familiar to most people. It’s also a profession in which a number of interesting footnotes have come to exist. Let’s take a look at a few of the lesser-known facts about chiropractic. 1. May Help Torture And Trauma Survivors - Torture and trauma are real horrors that can cause survivors to experience pain, depression, PTSD, and other horrible long-term problems. Could a wellness approach help to make them well? It seems so. The Boston University School of Public Health reports that some forms of complementary and alternative medicine such as meditation, massage, acupuncture, and chiropractic may be effective as part of a comprehensive approach for treating survivors of torture and trauma. 2. Chiropractic Is Worldwide - Chiropractic is popular all over the world. Although the chiropractic profession was founded in the United States in 1895, spinal manipulation has a long history of use in China. By the 1960′s it spread to Canada, New Zealand, and South Africa. It’s more recently extended across Asia, Europe, Latin America, and Australia. In fact, in Australia, one in four adults have consulted with a chiropractor and nearly 40% of the elderly population rely on complementary and alternative medicine like chiropractic. 3. The Face Paper Sheet Really Works - If you think about it, the average chiropractor’s table probably comes in contact with as many people as the average park bench. As such, hygiene standards are important to make sure the facilities do not become a petri dish of disgusting pathogens. In 2011, the Canadian Memorial Chiropractic College evaluated the cleanliness of area chiropractic clinics and found that, while bacteria was a valid concern, most chiropractors were proactive with disinfection and the face paper sheet used to cover the table headpieces was an effective barrier to germs. 4. The Amish Like Chiropractic Too - The Amish may reject many of the modern “conveniences” many of us enjoy, but there is no denying that they have somewhat of a reputation for embracing a robust, natural approach to maintaining good health — an approach that is quite similar to wellness. It’s no surprise that this has lead to an acceptance of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) in the Amish community. A few years ago, the Northeastern Ohio Universities College of Medicine conducted a survey of Amish women concerning their use of CAM and reported that thirty-six percent used nutritional supplements, herbal therapies, and chiropractic medicine. 5. Chiropractors Do It Better - It’s not uncommon for an adjustment to produce an almost orgasmic moan of relief. If you’ve ever had a kink in your neck that a chiropractor was able to remedy, you know what I’m talking about. It begs the question, why does it feel so good? Well, in addition to unpinching pinched nerves, realigning the misaligned, and generally guiding things back where they need to be, manipulation stimulates muscular and tendon sensory receptors to produce an excitatory effect on the central nervous system and often times a release of endorphins. 6. Sometimes The Healers Need Healing - Being a chiropractor can be physically demanding and there are times when performing an adjustment requires you to throw your back into it. Unfortunately, chiropractors aren’t immune to throwing their back out. In 2006, the Los Angeles College of Chiropractic surveyed 1000 United States chiropractors to determine what work-related injuries they’ve experienced. Respondents said that the most common affected their hand, shoulder, and lower back and occurred while performing an adjustment or positioning a patient. Giving credence to experience, it was also found that most injuries occurred in the first five years of practice. 7. Female Chiropractors Can Hold Their Own - As said, being a chiropractor can present physical demands and performing an adjustment can require a lot of thrust. This has led some to squint their eyes and wonder if smaller-framed male and female chiropractors can cut the mustard. Well, fear not. When researchers at the University of Victoria pitted the abilities of 14 male chiropractors against 14 female chiropractors, they found that female chiropractors are just as able as their male colleagues. 8. A Little More Diversity Would Be Nice - The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality reported that the average chiropractic patient in 2008 was white, female, of higher income, and residing in a small metro area. And, although Medicare covers chiropractic care, the Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy & Clinical Practice found that from 2002-2008, 97% of Medicare-covered recipients of chiropractic care were white. Why is this? Everyone can benefit from chiropractic. I would really love to hear some feedback — what can the chiropractic industry do to attract a more accurate sampling of our diverse American population? 9. Don’t Let Your Untrained Friend Adjust You - “Hey dude! Will you pop my back?” Have you ever heard someone say that? Worse, have you ever said it? Worse yet, have you been the one to do the popping? Stop it! Proper chiropractic care involves more than a few simple motions and manipulation is only safe when performed by someone who has received the necessary training. Chiropractic is not monkey-see, monkey-do! Do you need proof? In 2001, a man in India developed severe spinal cord and brainstem problems after receiving an adjustment from his barber. That’s just one example. Bad idea. 10. One Of The Most Successful Chiropractors Ever Was Blind - Vision impairment does not make a person incapable, and a fantastic example of that was Dr. Charles Robinson Johnson. In 1918, when he was 39, Dr. Johnson graduated from the Palmer School of Chiropractic and became the first blind chiropractor, and one of the most successful. For over 25 years he practiced in Peekskill, New York and had a well traveled reputation as a miracle healer, seeing hundreds of patients each week. The newspapers even called him, “The Man Who Made Peekskill Famous.” Quite an achievement for someone blind and born in a mining camp! Source: Dr. Edward F. Group III, www.globalhealingcenter.com, 3/5/14.