General

What is a full service animation studio doing in a quiet Northern Virginia neighborhood?

Producing animation for “the big screen, the small screen, and all the screens in between,” says its founder, Charlotte Rinderknecht.

Studio Kinate is a “concept to completion” studio whose artists use traditional hand-drawn animation to create its projects.

But it’s not just its unusual location and old-school style that set Kinate apart from other animation studios. “It is our process that makes us stand out. I believe in apprenticeship. The animations we produce rely on interns and apprentices working alongside veteran and senior animators,” Rinderknecht says.

Rinderknecht feels this is an important part of what makes her company special. “Our films not only engage audiences, they inspire a new generation of animators. Each and every Studio Kinate project includes the work of student, intern, and junior animators.” This, she says, is the key to creating relevant and progressive storytelling that resonates with young audiences.

While she had been involved in other businesses, it wasn’t until she decided to seek funding for Studio Kinate that she embarked upon writing her first business plan. “When I was looking for help, it was the reviews that made me turn to Business Plan Pro, because I had no idea where else to turn.”

“My business model is unusual, so people who were advising me had a hard time seeing the possibilities outside the norm,” Charlotte notes. Then she discovered the Business Success Coaching service, and found a coach who supported her vision and helped her achieve it. “My coach, Paul Gibson, was amazing. He helped me keep on goal and helped me with questions that were related more to my industry, that helped me understand how to write my plans. For instance, since my company produces animation for feature distribution, I need to build a plan for each of those projects. Paul was amazing and encouraging.”

Charlotte Rinderknecht

Charlotte considers any business plan a work in progress. “The business plan is a living document and should be revisited to help keep track of where you are going. I feel it is like a map, and you don’t just look at the map when you begin a journey. You need to review and plan new routes as you travel.” On her planning journey, she’s found the most challenging part to be crunching the numbers. “It takes considerable research and planning to develop the funding requirements of the studio. Business Plan Pro helps me get organized and walks me through the process. It also provides additional resources,” she says, which provided valuable assistance in finding the data she needed to complete her plan.

Studio Kinate is not just a business. Its productions include both traditional hand drawing techniques and innovative digital technology, says Charlotte, “because we believe the warmth and artistry of hand drawn animation is an art worth preserving for the next generation.” And since the animations are created by young animators sitting alongside seasoned professionals, viewers and creators alike benefit from the process.

And so does Charlotte. “I love watching people come together on a project. Working with young people and introducing them to veterans in the industry has been priceless. I love watching them work together to produce something that audiences will love. Don’t get me wrong, this is the scariest thing I’ve ever done, but it is also the most rewarding.”

Tags: customer spotlight, Success, success story, testimonials
Posted on January 19th, 2010 | No Comments »

If restaurants operated like phone companies, you’d never know where to go for dinner.

My family has a favorite little burger joint. Even with lots of similar places in town to chose from, we go there often. We know their food and their service, and we’re comfortable there. They recognize us as regulars, so every now and then one of our favorite waitresses will bring us a free order of hush puppies or a beer on the house. It’s not why we go there, but it sure is nice when it happens.

Compare that to how cell phone service providers operate. First of all, once you’ve chosen one, that’s it. You’ve committed to years with them and them alone.

Then, every time you turn around, you see ads offering better terms, cheaper phones, newer services. But not for you, Mr. or Mrs. Locked-in-Customer. Those specials are for new customers only.

To some extent, it makes sense. Each provider is trying to lure customers away from the competition, or to attract brand new cell phone users. In a recent post on his Planning Startups Stories blog, Tim Berry talked about this temptation to focus on the new customer at the expense of your existing ones.

The message this sends to current customers is just terrible. Back in September, my wife and I decided we needed to upgrade our phones and our service plans. But a call to our provider informed us that if we wanted those low prices on cool new phones, we’d have to wait until our contract on our current phones was up in January. And our service plans didn’t end until May, which meant we couldn’t change providers (and thus reap the rewards of their new customer offers) until then.

It’s sort of crazy, isn’t it? I’d been giving them my money for two years. Now, I not only want to give them more of my money for a new phone, but more money every month for a new, pricier plan.

But they wanted to charge me $400 in September for a phone they’d give a stranger off the street for $100 — a phone they’ll let me buy for $100 in January.

We limped through the next several months, using phones that were practically held together with duct tape, and paying the company less money each month than we would have if they’d let us upgrade. They were practically punishing us for being their customers! (And punishing themselves as well, in lost upgrade revenue.) It doesn’t make sense as a business decision or from a customer service perspective.

Now, can you imagine if restaurants worked that way? What if your reward for being a regular customer at your favorite burger place was to pay more for lower quality food? What if you ordered a dinner special and were told “Sorry, that dish is for new customers only”?

You’d probably head right to another burger joint. They’d have to make you sign some kind of service agreement to treat you that way.

Think about it. When was the last time you heard anyone rave about how much they love their cell phone service provider, the way they might about their favorite restaurant? I’m thinking there might a connection here.

A business needs new customers to survive, as the cell phone guys obviously know. But any good business person also knows that the customers you already have should be equally valued. As Tim Berry said “repeat business is golden.”

Tags: cell phone service providers, customer experience, customer service
Posted on January 12th, 2010 | 1 Comment »

Standards vs. Competition — Technical standards or choices galore? Tim Berry ponders which is better for consumers, and for businesses.

Despair Humor Success — Laughing in the face of adversity can create new opportunities.

Twitter, Mobile Gadgets, Tablets and eBooks — Entrepreneurs should be aware of the major technology trends.

7 Reasons Why Small Business Should Take a Look at Foursquare — Marketing expert John Jantsch says what this application offers (not just the application itself) is of great value to small business marketers.

Posted on January 7th, 2010 | No Comments »

Do You Undervalue Marketing You Can’t Measure? — Tim Berry reminds us of the days pre-Web, when we had to rely on less measurable marketing tactics.

What is your business really good at? — Define your core competency and focus on it to get the best marketing results.

Be Passionate and Be Prepared — An entrepreneur shares his experience incorporating martial arts lessons and business planning.

Fear of bad ideas — Seth Godin says you can’t have  good ideas unless you’re willing to weed through some bad ones.

Posted on December 23rd, 2009 | No Comments »

The sad truth is that sometimes companies fail.

Maybe there’s no such thing as a good way to let your employees know that you’re closing up shop. But there are decent ways, better ways. Call a company meeting and tell everyone face to face. Have managers pull their teams into smaller meetings to be told.

A great way NOT to do it?

Follow Arrow Trucking’s example. According to TheTrucker.com, Arrow stopped payment on the fuel cards their drivers used to gas up while on the road. So the driver’s first hint that something was wrong was when they found themselves far from home, with no fuel money to get their rigs home.

Others at the company headquarters reported that 200 workers were told today to pack up and go home, according to the Business Pundit.

Owning a business doesn’t automatically make you care about the people who work for you. I’m guessing the officials who had to make the decision to ’suspend operations’ didn’t do so lightly. And maybe they even did think about all their employees and how they’d feed their families.

But it’s clear they didn’t think particularly hard about how to tell them the news.

Posted on December 22nd, 2009 | No Comments »

Jim Glasgow has a black belt in karate, does jui jitsu, kickboxes, cycles, and has competed in triathlons and marathons. Oh yeah, and he operates a successful business too.

What connects these pursuits? The passion that he brings to them all.

Jim had always wanted to have his own business. And as  a long time devotee of the martial arts, he says he couldn’t think of anything he’d rather be doing than introducing other people to his passion. But while teaching martial arts was fulfilling, he says,  it wasn’t going to pay the bills. When he had an opportunity to start a business producing a line of products specifically for martial artists and athletes, he jumped at it. “There’s really nothing better,” he says.

Sick Gear is based in Chicago, and launched in December 2008. They manufacture and sell uniforms, shirts, and gear for martial artists.  “Sick Gear was an idea I had a couple of years ago, to come out with a line of products that really dealt with the individual athlete, and recognized how that athlete is separate from somebody in a team sport.” The main product focus for Sick Gear is jui jitsu gi’s, with logo branded apparel and training gear rounding out the line.

Glasgow had a fleeting previous experience as a business owner. “In the past I worked with entrepreneurial  companies. I’d been involved with small companies, and I’d wanted to start my own company for years. So I started a small consulting firm in 2005,” he says. “I was only in business for two or three months,” before an old employer lured him back. “They gave me an offer I really couldn’t refuse,” he remembers with a smile.

But it wasn’t what he wanted to be doing. Looking back, he says, “I spent a lot of years in business dreading going to work, just hating it and wondering what I was doing. Life is too short to do that.”

With a motto of “succeed or fail, you just have to take a shot” when you really want something, Jim took his shot. And a few years later, Sick Gear became a reality. “I’d written some very rough business plans before, when I started my consulting business,” he says, and had covered the topic in college as well. “I had some classes that included the concepts and components of business plans. But they never brought you through a thorough business plan, integrating the financials with the marketing… This is the first time that I really put everything together.”

“When I did the Sick Gear business plan, I used Business Plan Pro. That was really a nice tool. It was very user friendly, and just walked me through all the steps. It helped me think about the plan in a logical format,” he recalls. He added that the process of writing the plan, and the questions and issues the software brought up, made him think about areas of his business that he might not have previously considered.

Jim continues to use Business Plan Pro to help him manage his business. “I truly believe a business plan is never done. It’s a living document that you have to incorporate, every day, into your business. It makes it a lot easier using software like this.”

Through his martial arts training and his business experience, Jim says he has learned the value of seeking advice and listening to other people’s stories. “I think the more advice you get from other people, the better. You pick up on the success stories and learn from the mistakes. It’s so helpful getting the advice from people who’ve been through it.”

Ultimately, says Jim, success comes down to a few key factors. “You’ve got to have a passion for what you do. You’ve got to be resilient, and you’ve got to be prepared.  If you don’t do your homework and put together a business plan, you’re doomed to failure. There are going to be things that come around that you just didn’t plan for,” he adds, but you’ll be better prepared to deal with them. “And Business Plan Pro really helped me do that.”

Tags: customer spotlight, Small Business, Success, success story, testimonial, testimonials
Posted on December 15th, 2009 | 1 Comment »

Which Comes First: Plan or Pitch? — You might think you can pitch your business idea without having a plan. Tim Berry explains why that’s not a good idea.

How a Business is Learning What Small Businesses Want to Learn — Asking your customers what they’re looking for can help you develop or improve your product or build new business.

Startups: Unique and Revolutionary, or Forget It? — Does a new venture have to be groundbreaking to be worthwhile?

Get an Evergreen for Your Blog This Holiday Season — If you have a blog, you want to read this post about how to create an “evergreen” post — one that readers will keep coming back to again and again.

Tags: blogs, BWIR
Posted on December 10th, 2009 | No Comments »

James P. Shelley

James P. Shelley creates business documents for a living. He writes full business plans, financial plans, summaries, even Web copy and employee/employer documents (like employee manuals). He works with startups and ongoing businesses to craft their documents, and explains, “my specialty is to work with principals and key employees of existing businesses of all types to create changes that will help them reach their next level of organization, leadership, and performance, and to improve their profitability.”

Back in 1996, Jim was launching a health information consulting company with a few partners, and used Business Plan Pro to write the plan for that business. Since then, he has used several versions of the software to write plans for his own businesses, as well as all business and financial plans he writes for his clients. “I like the simplicity of Business Plan Pro,” he notes.

“In 2004 I engineered my own business plan for a venture separate from my writing business. The lending institution told me that it was one of the best plans they had ever seen; very detailed and easy to understand. This resulted in a business loan that included the purchase of a business and the associated real property.”

A business plan is an important document, according to Jim, because it helps to determine if a business idea will work. “Many people have great business ideas, but until everything is fleshed out — until they look at how all the numbers gel together — it’s a guessing game.” But almost as important as the plan is for determining the course of the business for the business owner, is the tremendous impact it has on lenders and investors. “Having a properly prepared business plan has ensured my clients present their ideas to the proper people in a proper format. It must be perfect. There is no un-ringing the bell.”

Writing a business plan is an everyday thing for Jim, but he experiences the same difficulties as anyone who sits down to the task. “The biggest challenge of engineering a business plan without Business Plan Pro is the financial plan component. Engineering a financial plan as comprehensive as that in Business Plan Pro, using a workbook with spreadsheets, is simply too time consuming.” He tells the story of a client who handed him a bundle of 36 spreadsheets, prepared by a CPA. Though it was challenging, he was able to cull the information from all those sheets and use Business Plan Pro to create a finished product that made his client happy. “I’m not a CPA, but when everything folded together in Business Plan Pro, the end result was a comprehensive financial plan easily understood by most any banker.”

While the financial tools were his favorite part of the software, he says the flow of the program was really helpful as well. “The outline feature is very appealing. I like to see where I’ve been, where I’m going, and enjoy being guided towards a conclusion. I also like the review feature… which identifies the success or failure of your work.”

One feature of Business Plan Pro that Jim doesn’t use is the plan versus actual comparison. Since he’s writing the plans for other people, he doesn’t usually have the opportunity to follow up. “However, for my clients, I encourage them to purchase Business Plan Pro Premier Edition so they can use that feature once they’ve established their business.”

Jim has been writing business plans for clients for over four years, and says he has not written any of them without Business Plan Pro. “While I consider myself very organized, I found the intuitiveness of Business Plan Pro quite appealing.  It really is a smart approach to engineering such an important document.”

Before starting his writing business, Jim says he labored in the corporate world — “Been there, done that.” He finds a great deal of satisfaction in what he’s doing now. “I enjoy helping people identify, reach, and enjoy their hopes, dreams, and aspirations through proper planning.”

Check out Jim’s website for more about what he does, samples of his work, or to contact him directly.

Tags: customer spotlight, news, success story, testimonial, testimonials
Posted on December 8th, 2009 | 1 Comment »

Presumably you, as a business owner, are devoting hours of work, lots of energy, and possibly a delayed or reduced salary to get your dream off the ground. This kind of commitment is assumed. The real test of your business mission (or better, your mantra) is the commitment of your customers and your employees.

What kind of business would you have if your employees cared so much about what you do that they were willing to do this?

Employees at Providence St. Vincent Medical Center in Portland, Oregon, dance in a video to promote breast cancer awareness.

What kind of business would you have if your customers cared so much about what you’re offering that they were willing to do this?



Apple customers start lining up outside the store one week before the release of Apple’s 3G.

Or this?

Star Wars fan dad creates an AT-AT stroller for his son.

Your business is only as successful as your employees and customers make it. Give them something to get inspired by and excited about.

by Sara Prentice Manela
Editor
Palo Alto Software, Inc.

Tags: entrepreneurship, Marketing
Posted on December 2nd, 2009 | No Comments »

“It can’t be done.”

Photo credit: Michael Wolf
Wolf has documented residents in Hong Kong’s oldest public housing development, living in flats most of us would consider far too small to hold a single person, let alone a family; each is a mere 100 square feet.

This is what some companies say when faced with unexpected customer demands. But this is what successful entrepreneurs call a challenge to creativity.

What assumptions about the impossible are holding you back?

They might be about technology: “In order to get more bandwidth, we have to spend more money.”
At Palo Alto Software, we recently made some innovative changes to our database structure that provided more data availability, and scalability, at a significantly smaller cost. The trick was to challenge the assumptions represented by standard hosting services and move into the cloud.

They might be about logistics: “Nobody can guarantee that a package will get there overnight.”
In the early 1970’s, Frederick W. Smith bought an aircraft company and started providing express delivery services for small parcels. You might know his company today as FedEx.

They might be about the effectiveness of a new solution: “Fevers are caused by imbalanced humors that vary from one individual to another.”
Luckily for us, Ignaz Semmelweis didn’t listen when his colleagues insisted that it was perfectly safe to go from performing autopsies on young mothers who had died of fever to delivering babies in the next room, without washing their hands in between. Without the germ theory of disease to explain his observations, Ignaz was unable to convince his colleagues that they were spreading a physical contagion. Nevertheless, his publications were the stimulus behind the practical experiments of hand washing by doctors that are the basic elements of contemporary antiseptic policy.

Once you identify your challenges, make sure that your innovations are providing real value to the customer–Guy Kawasaki illustrates the point very nicely in this talk on Niche Marketing at the Entrepreneurial Thought Leader Speaker Series at Stanford.

Sara Prentice Manela
Editor
Palo Alto Software

Tags: business planning
Posted on November 30th, 2009 | No Comments »