Micah Choquette

A look back on 2011 in my life

Micah — Mon, 02 Jan 2012 14:45:42 +0000

While I try to make sure that I build in some personal experience with my morale and motivational posts that I write, I rarely take a moment to just let you guys know what’s going on in my own life. As is common this time of year, there’s been a lot of “year in review” articles. Since I’ve never done it before, I think I’ll take a moment and reflect on the past year and what all has happened.

Started a new job at Tulsa World

Though I never thought I’d be part of the “dead-tree society”, I proudly took a job as a web designer and front-end developer at The Tulsa World in late December 2010, just three days shy of the new year. In the past 12 months we’ve rolled out some pretty ambitious designs and ideas that will go a long way toward securing the future of what has now become Oklahoma’s largest family-owned newspaper. I am absolutely thrilled to be a part of that. It’s been the most fun I’ve had in my entire life.

Gained new clients

I’ve started a great relationship with a client that opened up a new world for me. More on that in a bit.

Split the company

After a tumultuous year, my partner and I made the extremely difficult decision to go our separate ways this fall. Leaving Rocket No. 9 was one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to do. I will miss working with Colin very much.

Lost some clients

You win some, you lose some. In addition to the wonderful clients I lost through the split from Rocket No. 9, this year I parted ways with a client who’s been with me since the very beginning of my career. It was a bittersweet moment, knowing that I could no longer provide what they needed, but glad to see that they’ll be okay.

Got back into comics.

As a kid and into my teenage years, I was a semi-regular reader of comic books, particularly Robin, the title series for Batman’s junior. DC’s launch of “The New 52″ provided a perfect opportunity to get back into doing something that I thoroughly enjoyed in my younger days. In addition, it made for great conversation with some of the other comic geeks in the newsroom. By and large, the stories I’m reading now are outstanding. I’ve avoided some of the more controversial ones.

Began journaling on a much more regular basis.

I have the wonderful website of ohlife.com to thank for this one. Their friendly email they send me every day has been a great asset in continuing to write about my day almost every day, which is where the bulk of this post comes from. Sidenote: the desire to begin and continue a near-daily journal stemmed from what I’ve read about the success of folks who write things down. I’d strongly recommend you do so as well, even if it’s just a quick recap of your day.

Read some great stuff!

Got that whole box of Louis L’Amour books! (Thanks, hon!)
Quitter – A superb book by one of my new favorite authors.
Entreleadership – A book I knew I was going to purchase as soon as I saw who’d written it.
The Mackay MBA of selling in the real world. If you don’t know who Harvey Mackay is, you apparently don’t work in the business world.
Weird – This novel from Lifechurch.tv’s Craig Groeschel is one the best I’ve read in dealing with a culture that seems to run cross-grain from everything we’re taught to believe as Christians, and how to deal with it.
Re-read The Richest Man in Babylon. More relevant than ever. I received this as a gift from a beloved Aunt when I graduated from college in 2003. Though it were originally written in 1956, the principles listed in this story about handling your money are just as important today as they were then, if not more so.
Currently absorbed in Steve Job’s Biography. Enjoying it so far.

Discovered what I really love to do.

I hope that everyone has a moment in life where the idea of what they were born to do becomes as crystal to them as it was to me. When I met Jenny Deramo and her husband Brian and saw what they were doing and why, I knew that my new passion in life was to help her and others like her. From this passion comes the resurrection of my old company, with a new zeal and mission. I’m sure you’ll hear more about it later.

Had some really great moments with my family.

Most of these were with my wife and son, who is now 2 1/2. Being 2 is such a wonderful age. You’re exploring, learning, laughing, deciding and generally causing a stirring mix of emotions for mom and dad. My two-year-old has become extremely talkative, and is one of the funnest people I know to carry a conversation with. One particular experience that stands out: every day during the spring, summer and fall we made sure we spent time outside. Nathan’s favorite activity going into Summer was looking for worms under the rocks that surround our flowerbed and goldfish pond in our front yard. One day, I had completely forgotten why we were outside in the first place, and my son interrupted the conversation I was having with my wife with a stern rebuke. He pointed his chubby two-year-old finger at me and with an adorably hateful look in his eyes said, “Daddy, worms!” My wife and I laughed our heads off for a moment and then of course we went to check under the rocks for worms.

Some other memories from this year that stand out:

7 years married to my wonderful wife.
The look in her eyes and face (and body ) as she begins achieving her weight loss goals.
The grass-fire that my brother started at our family’s annual Independence Day gathering.
My great-grandma Butch (a very extraordinary woman) passing from this life into eternity.
How out of breath I was when I began running again for the first time.
The joy of watching my son lift his hands and close his eyes as he begins singing a worship song from church, unannounced, in the middle of our living room.
The fulfillment of preaching to teenagers.

And so many more that I can’t recount now, but will remember at some point during life. Thank you Lord, for all the great memories, laughs, good food, warm hugs and fellowship with the people I love this year.

Bring on 2012 – I’ve never been more ready or eager to see you.

Habakkuk 1:5

Product Review: Moo Cards

Micah — Fri, 23 Dec 2011 16:57:04 +0000

I’ll be giving some more freebies away in the next few days, go Like the Facebook Page to find out when!

This is not my real face. Promise.

This is pretty much my face right now. I just got my Moo cards. Yeah, “moo cards”. As in, what a cow says. Congratulations, you’ve seen Sesame Street.

I’ve long been a fan of the company because of their quirky sense of humor and the fact that they have turned a mindlessly-not-unique item – the business card – up on it’s head.

While we’ve all been super happy to create snazzy designs on our business cards in the last few years, lately things have really began to shake up the industry – particularly the notion that the business card industry is dying. Rather than succumb to that notion, Moo has embraced the industry whole-heartedly and had a grand old time proving that this old dog still has a few tricks left.

Aside from being quirky, sassy and just plain funny. And aside from making great products, Moo has put a ton of thought into the details. Literally, every single minute detail has been pored over with the single question, “how can we make this better?”

The software

The software is great. It’s fast, easy to use and they’ve got a ton of ideas. You can even use the ideas and designs that others have come up with. Who’d have thought about using your cards as price tags? Or bookmarks? The way that they think outside the box and incorporate the suggestions and uses of their customers shows how receptive they are to ideas that can keep this struggling industry alive.

The product

The cards themselves were great. Here’s how they look:

Guaranteed to leave her breathless. Or something.

First of all, they don’t come in a cardboard case. These cards get outfitted and packed into a tough case that feels just like you’re getting an engagement ring. Finally, a case that you wouldn’t be adverse to storing your cards in and showing them off. Beautiful.

Fewer trees had to die for my cards than for yours.

The cards themselves are great too, because they’re about half the size of a regular business card which a) makes it easier to port around more of them and b) draws the eye with their size difference. Women would say they were “cute”. I say they’re efficient.

Good for separating your cards and their cards, or your stuff and her stuff.

The tabbed cards that come in your box are another one of those “why didn’t I think of that?” moments. I spend my Saturdays hitting the local independent retailer shows, and I’m always grabbing other cards. Now I have a great way to file them! I also noticed that the lid to the jewel box will still close when the tabs are inserted. Winning!

The Accessories

Best. Invention. Ever.

This little accessory was suggested at the very last page before purchasing. Without hesitation, I added it to my order. It only set me back about $4.00, and the life-saver of having my cards with me wherever I go appealed to be in such a great way, because I kid you not that I meet folks interested in my services in some of the most unusual places. Next time, I’ll be able to say, “Why yes, I do have my card with me!” Boom. Client landed.

Everyone loves free stuff!

Lastly, the free passes for part of your order off next time ensure that you’ll get additional business from me, and that I’ll be telling my friends all about you. Or writing about you in awesome blog posts.

If you’re interested in purchasing Moo cards yourself, use my referral link! http://moo.com/share/chf5p6

I’ll be giving some more freebies away in the next few days, go Like the Facebook Page to find out when!

Getting to WIN: Discovering your dream and going after it.

Micah — Thu, 27 Oct 2011 13:05:57 +0000

Lots of people are out of work right now. According to most polls, and depending on the area in which you live in, around 9% or more. People are gathering in Wall Street and politicians are ensuring that a jobs plan of some sort are integral to their campaigns. It's no secret: jobs are scarce.

Or are they? Where I live, in the midwest, I see Now Hiring signs everywhere. Granted, a lot of them are for restaurants or gas stations or other venues outside your normal 9-5 office job, but it proves that this whole "There are no jobs" excuse is completely false over here. I think a larger part of the problem falls into two things, and both of them have to do with a single dilemma: vision.

Long-term vision

Remember in second grade, where you stood up and told everyone what you wanted to be when you grew up? When I was a kid, I wanted to be a police officer. My days were spent largely engrossed in comic books and Batman cartoons, and while I knew even as a second-grader that I couldn't grow up to be a super-hero, I still liked the idea of being able to help people and save the day, so becoming a cop seemed to be the logical choice.

Like most of you, where I am now is not where I dreamed I'd be at second grade. The difference is, I'm okay with that. I'm still finding a way to fuel my passion for helping others, even though I'm not wearing a badge. I have never allowed that vision I had as a tyke to dissipate.

I really believe that's largely where the problem lies with so many of our out-of-work citizens that will tell you they are "in between jobs at the moment". They have no vision. They aren't sure what they want to be when they grow up, and consequently, they have very little direction in their lives towards any sort of goal. It's why you'll often see them going after the latest and greatest movement of the moment or getting into trouble, because they have no vision.

In his book Quitter: Closing the gap between your day job and dream job, Jon Acuff quotes from a magazine article about actor Ryan Gosling who, after the success of The Notebook got a job making sandwiches in a deli. His reason? He didn't want to end up without any vision from lack of just working. He said that the problem with Hollywood is that people don't work. They make a good movie or two and then they get into drugs. He submitted that the world would be a much better place if "people had a pile of rocks in their backyard and just moved them from one place to another."

Short-term vision

In other words, work will keep you going, even when your vision is blurred. I learned this myself last year. In June of 2010, I lost my full-time job and took the opportunity to try to get Rocket No. 9 into my full-time gig. A major problem was, I didn't have the self-discipline to get up and hustle like I should have and next thing you know, we were having some serious financial problems and my marriage was stressing pretty badly. So, I went and got a job. At a video store. Working nights. My responsibility to my family forced me to apparently put my dream on hold for awhile.

The kicker? Within 90 days of getting that job, I had another one, full-time, making good money, doing what I love. And Rocket No. 9 is still alive and kicking, and in fact, is doing better than it was when I was doing it full-time. I'm convinced this is because I did what I needed to do to strengthen my vision with work. Even though it wasn't work related to my vision, it allowed me to keep going and making progress.

If you're one of the people in desperate need of a job, go get one. Even if it means humbling yourself and getting something you're over-qualified for. Maybe you can even find an internship doing something you really enjoy. I'm confident that as you step out and begin to do something with your hands, you'll see your own vision gain some clarity and give you direction in your life.

Image Source: https://plus.google.com/u/0/107863815725205770085/posts

The wonderful problem of having too much work.

Micah — Wed, 26 Oct 2011 11:49:46 +0000

Full disclosure, this blog post comes as a result of reading Paul Down's article on the same subject this morning. While he tells about how he specifically will deal with it at his shop, I'll attempt to give a more generic approach to how to handle this sort of problem.

One day several years ago, my pastor got up and began to deliver an issue the church was facing: the church parking lot needed some repair and expansion, and they needed to rethink how the process of getting out of the parking lot worked. With two Saturday night services (at the time; they have since scaled back to one) and two Sunday Morning services, traffic flow was a big issue, and could quickly turn a pleasant church-going experience into a very unpleasant one.

The thing he remarked on was this: "This is a very good problem to have. There are loads of churches that would love to have this problem." And it's true, isn't it? As freelancers or business-owners, having more work means the prospect of more money, which makes you more profitable. The idea that you would have "more than enough" is a utopia that a lot of us only dream of. And on occasion, we're likely to have it happen to us. The question is, how do you manage it successfully, so that those you have to turn away because you're booked solid don't leave with a sour taste for your company? Or more importantly, how do you handle it when more work than usual comes through your door and you need to take it in order to pay your bills or your employees?

Why you would want more work

The company isn't doing so well, so this influx of work is a much-needed blessing. At the same time you're saying your prayer of thanks about this influx of work, you should be planning out how to spread this around and stretch the money so that you can do your best to keep the company from becoming so thin again. Pay your debts. Save for a rainy day. Buy more tools, people or marketing. Use your newfound work wisely, because these things tend to come in clumps, not streams.

You've needed to delegate more tasks to someone else, and this will allow you to hire the additional staff to do that. Use caution here, and plan thoroughly, because you don't want to spend the money to hire someone, only to have to lay them off later because you didn't plan well. Be sure to hire this employee in order to not only take some of the load off of you, but to earn their own keep. They need to be able to produce enough that you can keep them on for the long haul.

You've got the room and staff to handle it, an increase in production is a good thing. This is seemingly a perfect situation, but it rarely happens like this. By definition, getting "more than enough" work means just that – it's more than enough, hopefully not more than you can handle. Explain to your staff that things may be busy for a little while and give them a plan of what's going to happen as you guys handle these new orders. Will people be working weekends? Overtime? Will you need to shuffle people around a bit, perhaps moves a salesman to the production floor in order to keep up? It's good to have a plan in place ahead of time for these things, instead of trying to throw something together at the moment you need it.

Why you might need to turn that project down

Do you have a sufficient workforce to handle it? If you don't, do not try to force it to work. I cannot express how important this is. Trying to force a square peg through a round hole is only going to lead to some bruised knuckles and a failed experiment. I used to work in a manufacturing setting, where there was a goal on how much we wanted to make that week or that month, but once we surpassed that goal, there was literally no stopping it. It didn't matter that we were busting at the seams with work already – it just kept pouring in. The result was a lot of grumpy people on the production floor, and a boss who didn't understand why his people weren't thrilled that we were raking in profits by the truckload. Their inability to successfully turn away work or outsource it inevitably lead to my leaving the company after only 7 months, which left them in worse shape than before. Your company relies on your customers and your team equally, and they need to coexist peacefully.

Does it align with your corporate vision? In my business, I care about passionate people. If I'm on the tail-end of a project and someone comes to me with the prospect of a deal involving bringing their passion to the web, I will at least give it some thought. If possible, I'll schedule it for sometime after my current project finishes, but if this prospect is on some sort of deadline because of a big event or other essential element, then I might work some extra hours to make sure they get taken care of. I'll do all of this because it aligns with my passion and vision: working with others who have a passion for what they do.

How to turn away work.

Most of us never rehearse how we'll react when we find out we've got too much work, so our reaction seems to be to knee-jerk and can leave everyone feeling let down if we're not careful in our approach. If you find yourself suddenly with too much work, here's what you do:

Reschedule it to a later date if possible.
Refer them to a colleague. And then, as a show of good will, check in on that project from time to time to see how they're taking care of what would have been your project. This will show the client that you really care about them, even though they're not your project.
Outsource it. I rarely do this because it means that I won't have a lot of control over the final project, but sometimes I just can't find any other alternative.

How to prepare for more work.

Try to find out when "more work" will strike. Are you launching a new advertising campaign, or does business pick up at certain times of the year? Be sure to have temps waiting in the wings to come in and pick up the extra slack if needed. Get them in there and trained before the big rush hits.

Talk to your team about how to handle more work. You're less likely to have people on your team mad at you if you explain the situation to them and explain what's going to happen, as well as take time to hear from them on their own reactions and ideas. If you hear a collective groan from your team whenever "more work" comes it, it means you're not communicating with them effectively on how to handle the situation.

Do you have any other tips on how to handle having more than enough work? I'm sure many of us wish we had that problem. Let me know in the comments!

The best advice Steve Jobs ever gave Larry Page

Micah — Mon, 24 Oct 2011 13:21:33 +0000

In a short clip on 60minutesovertime.com, Steve Jobs, initially miffed at Larry Page and Google for "ripping-off" his iPhone with their Android Operating System, decided that since he'd been mentored by other great tech industry pioneers like Hewlett and Packard, he would give Google's CEO some advice of his own. Arguably, it's the best he's ever received.

Focus. Don't be like Microsoft, making products all over the map. Find out what you do best and focus on that. (Author's note: this is some advice that Google could definitely benefit from. While they have great products, a lot of us think that they're spread too thin, and need to return to their roots and evaluate where they're concentrating their efforts.)

Don't be too nice. As a CEO of the second most valuable company in the world. Steve Jobs has been well known for accepting nothing less than the absolute best people and the absolute best work from those people. He stressed to Page that it was important to build a team of excellent people and that on occasion, it would require that he "blow some people off".

I believe that having a clear-cut goal and vision for your own company is essential to your success, and this advice from Steve Jobs rings true to that principle. Laser-like focus and a clear idea of who you want to be associated with – things that Apple became famous for – are very much needed for any company wishing to leave the sort of legacy that Steve did.

See the video here.

Question: If you had the chance, what sort of business advice would you leave to some up-and-coming CEO in your industry?

Image Source: intomobile.com

The power of do.

Micah — Tue, 11 Oct 2011 17:41:35 +0000

Quick show of hands: anyone here write for a living? Design? Do something creative?

How often do you have to deal with "writer's block" or "creative's block"? Yeah, me too.

In fact, this syndrome isn't exclusive to the creative field, either. Plenty of people in business or at home simply procrastinate doing something because their "get-up-'n-go got up and went". There's always something else to do, some bill to pay, someone that needs your attention and some lead you need to follow up on. The problem? Getting started.

In the movie Finding Forrester, Rob Brown's character Jamal Wallace sits down with his mentor, played by Sean Connery and struggles to begin writing his story on a old-school typewriter. After several seconds of deafening silence, Connery shouts, "For God's sake, just tap the keys!" (emphasis mine). And right there, Jamal learns the best tip he'll ever get about overcoming writer's block and writing a good story: just tap the keys.

When you look at the list of stuff you have to do, it can get overwhelming. When you think about what you forgot, it can guilt you into a depression. Rather than try and point out some new piece of software or give you some step-by-step formula to getting your to-do list to-done, let me just offer you this advice; write it down if you need to or want to and then just do it. Just start on the first thing. Make a goal. Need to write that paper tomorrow? Crank out three paragraphs or a page of ideas tonight before bed. Trying to dredge up the inspiration for a new logo design? Just put a pencil to paper and draw for awhile.

There is amazing power in just doing something. Inevitably it leads to a) doing the thing you meant to do and b) getting something done. And let's face it, when you get something done, you feel good about yourself, even if only for a little while.

So what are you still reading for? I know you've stuff that needs doing. Get out there and do!

Goodbye, Steve.

Micah — Tue, 11 Oct 2011 11:48:11 +0000

Okay, let me just start off by saying that I wasn't sure about writing a post like this until this morning. So many people have flooded the internet with great stories about Steve Jobs and his passing that I almost didn't write this for fear of it being seen as nothing more than a "me too" marketing ploy to play off the death of one of the world's greatest innovators.

Lord, please let it be more than that.

The honest truth is that the passing of Steve Jobs has shaken me more than I thought it would. Maybe it's because it was so sudden (though some claim they saw it coming when he formally resigned in August), or maybe I'm being influenced by the outpouring of love and gratitude for the man who changed the world. But in any case, it turned out to be more of an ordeal now that I've been forced to process it.

I'm a devoted Apple fan, for sure, have been for a number of years now. But that's not why I'm shaken. I really don't know for sure if Apple will lose product sales because the next one won't be officially debuted by Jobs (though the most recent one wasn't either, and it's already topped 1 million in pre-sales). Apparently, Steve has organized his company in such a way that they will be taken care of for a long time.

I'm more shaken by the fact that the world has lost one of her most special people. I can think of nobody else who has influenced my own generation across so many different levels (other than Jesus). Love him or hate him, you can't deny the fact that Steve Jobs was an extremely gifted and talented individual that did things in his life that many of us only dream about. He inspired us to think about things we hadn't thought about before and to put importance on things that others weren't.

He was probably a tough boss. I'm not sure I could've worked for him. He had immense persuasion not only over his own team, but his "enemies". He jump-started motivation and innovation in even his competitors. How many people can really say that?

The world has lost a visionary like no other. We will go on, but we can't forget the mark that this very special man left on this world.

What’s The Big Deal? Developing a strategy for communicating your company’s core values.

Micah — Wed, 05 Oct 2011 13:11:24 +0000

Whether you want it or not, your company is a big deal. It has some defining characteristic that will be automatically associated with it once people have experienced your brand. The trick is, getting that characteristic to be a positive one.

Keeping your roster filled

I recently sat down with a good friend and business mentor and told him about one of my most irritating problems of late: people. Not clients, my own people on my team. The problem? I couldn't seem to keep them.

Rocket No. 9 is a virtual company by choice. It helps keep overhead down and allows us to explore the opportunities (and the setbacks) of operating in this sort of environment. We have no physical location, and 100% of her employees (aside from the managing members) are freelancers.

Like most companies that work with freelancers on a regular basis, we like to keep using the same ones over and again. It helps establish good relationships that can often pay off in the long run. As a freelancer myself, I feel connected to and respect these folks. I'm always looking at new talent, but as far as establishing relationships, I don't try to jump from one guy to the next willy-nilly.

The problem has been finding folks who are serious about working with us on an ongoing basis. We've had more than one person who turned out to be pretty flaky and it's a bad deal all around: for us, them and the client. When we have to fire someone, I usually take it pretty tough because my dream is to create company that people love to work at and with – when I see that someone is not enjoying our relationship or taking it seriously, it's very hard for me not to take it personally, though I know I shouldn't.

So the question I asked when I sat down with my friend was this: "How can I attract solid, dependable folks to come work for Rocket No. 9" – His answer was another question: "What are your core values?"

Defining your values

Honestly, the question kind of blind-sided me. Beyond what my partner and I had determined the company values should be when we first launched this thing, I hadn't given it much thought. I knew where to start, though. "I want to be a company that's recognized for it's integrity and dependability," I told him.

"Okay," he said. "Then you need to establish those expectations from the moment you begin to interview someone." He went to explain how I should put these core values front and center for the company and all who do business with us, and to lead with those values when talking with potential freelancers. Rather than ask them to whip out their portfolio, ask them where they stand on these values. How would they handle certain situations that don't necessarily include Photoshop and HTML?

Asking the right questions

If I ask you to tell me what you know about Enron, you likely won't mention first that they traded energy. You'll tell me what they've become known for: scandal and greed. Inasmuch, establishing the core values for your business will help you set guidelines for how your run your business and thus help you control how the public perceives you. A counselor once told me: "You can teach what you know, but you'll ultimately reproduce what you are." Meaning, the values you hold yourself to will be what ultimately shines through in the midst of company turmoil or professional conflict. Understanding these values though, sometimes means asking some tough questions:

What would you do if an employee was found to be embezzling money?
How would you handle a long-term client that suddenly demanded more than you could handle or afford?
What if your company hit rock-bottom and had to sell or go out of business – how would you handle the customers you have?
What do you want in a successor to your position?

Defining company values is something that should be required right out of the gate, but unfortunately, too many businesses (like mine, admittedly) try to make something up as we go along, hoping we'll fall into it one day. Well, it's true: you can either define your perception now or someone else will define it for you.

image source: tshirtguru.com

Blogging: You’re doing it wrong?

Micah — Tue, 13 Sep 2011 13:10:00 +0000

Most of my time with Rocket No. 9 is spent looking at small businesses and how they’re using their online identity to well – identify with their target audience. When it comes to blogging, so many of them are doing it wrong.

I think there’s the idea that because a blog is a quick-and-easy posting tool (or it should be) that it’s the best way to update your readers or subscribers with news about your organization. I believe that if you have a product or sell a service, then news about said product or service needs to be an extremely small part of your blog. Relegate it to a category, not a major portion of the content.

A blog is not primarily a news tool. To be effective, a blog needs to be primarily an engagement tool. People don’t subscribe to your blog because they want to see the latest changes and updates to your product or service (unless you have a blog specifically dedicated to that). By and large, people subscribe to your blog for your experience and wisdom. Really. If you’ve been doing what you do for awhile and others want to learn more about it, it’s a great chance to share your wisdom with your readers. If you just solved a unique problem for a customer of yours, it’s a terrific way to share your experience so that they can learn from it. Or maybe they found a different way to solve that problem and want to comment on it.

Think about it – what good does it do to shovel out useless information to a captive audience? Truth is, if you’re not engaging them, they won’t be captivated for long.

Take some time this week to think about your blog (if you have one) and what you can do to turn it into more of an engagement tool that drives your readers to do more with your business – and I don’t just mean buy more stuff.

Groupon: How and When to do it.

Micah — Sat, 13 Aug 2011 14:26:00 +0000

In the last article about mega-popular Daily Deal site Groupon, I told you about the scenarios that could happen as a result. The news was by and large, not good. It may have left a few of you feeling as though the whole thing was a sham and not worth even being considered. The truth is, Groupon has worked really well for a particular type of business, and again, there’s the stat that “95% of Groupon merchants would use them again.” So it can’t be horrible (at least not at first). In this article, I’ll discuss the type of business you need to be if you want to do a Groupon deal successfully, and ways to make your Groupon feature most effective.

First of all, not every business is suited to be featured on Groupon. As mentioned last time, “seasoned businesses with a steady stream of customers” should probably not use Groupon in the first place, because they don’t need to. Since opening, getting featured on Groupon has migrated from being a marketing opportunity to being “the thing to do”, as made plain by it’s sheer numbers: Some business, somewhere within a city block of you has likely been featured on Groupon. I believe this has resulted in businesses unwittingly getting themselves into trouble because they were simply trying to be cool.

Even businesses that have been around for a good long while are now finding themselves in trouble because, through Groupon, they made a promise they couldn’t keep to their customers. Or if they were able to keep it, it was probably so strained that they lost money on products, produce or staff. Some of them may have even quit.

Case Study: Posies Cafe and Bakery

One of the most well-known cases like this was for a small bakery and cafe in the Portland area called Posies.

The deal went down like this: Jessie, owner and operator of Posies since it opened, was approached and convinced by Groupon to take a 50% hit on her sales for a chance to grow her business. Actually, that’s not entirely correct. She discounted the price of her product by 50% (because Grouponers really respond to big savings, the salesman said) and then gave half of the remainder to Groupon. So she was actually knocking her price down by %75 in order to (possibly) gain more business in the future.

Now think for a second – if you go into a clothing store, where is the stuff that’s marked down by 75%? On the clearance rack. This is the product that they’ve got too much of and need to get rid of it before they throw it away. It is usually not a considerable part of their marketing campaigns because it doesn’t make them much money.

In the mind of her customers, Jessie has told them she’s got so much product, she can almost give it away, and she almost did. By the time her deal was over, she had angered many of her loyal customers (not just Groupon members) and she had to put in over $8,000 of her own money in order to cover the bills she couldn’t pay because she’d cheapened her product so much. She said what I’ve heard a number of times already:

“I’ll never use Groupon again. Worst decision I’ve ever made.”

What to remember about running a Groupon Deal

Now, to her own credit, Jessie had a few bad ideas about her Groupon. I haven’t spoken with her, so I don’t know if these ideas were sold to her or she was simply ignorant of the terms of her sale. There is, in fact, a way to use Groupon that won’t guarantee increase, but will make your chances much better and will at least allow you to pay your own bills. Folks who use Groupon should remember the following:

You get to set the limits. The Groupon rep on the phone is not a marketing expert – they are a salesman. Their job is make sure that the deal swings in favor of Groupon, not the small business owner. If you allow them, you’ll end up just like Jessie – not even able to pay your own bills because you took such a hit in your product pricing. Don’t listen to their baloney story about “you’ll never have to advertise again after using Groupon.” That’s bull. Smart business owners know that they’ll never stop marketing their business. Understand that you have a lot more say than they may let on and be clear about what your goals are. You can control a lot of the aspects of the deal. Don’t want them to take 50%? Tell them. Don’t want to sell your product for half of the normal cost? Let them know. You can even set the expiration date yourself, or put a cap on how many of your Groupons can be sold. If they truth is that 95% of Groupon Merchants would use them again, then they need your business as much you think you need their marketing deal. Feel free to take advantage of that in regards to keeping your lifeboat from sinking.

One of our clients – a local blogging mom named Jenny who calls herself The Peaceful Housewife sells budget-friendly and energy-friendly products. She did plenty of her own research and took in some Rocket No. 9 consulting before deciding to launch her own Groupon deal with some heavily modified restrictions. Here’s what she had to say:

The Groupon deal went well. I sold 41 vouchers. I’ve already had contact with several of the customers and have gotten several orders from the deal. So far, everything is great. I had my check in the mail 4 days after the deal ended, which I thought was spectacular. So far I’m happy with it. As for whether or not I’d do it again, tough call. I’ll have to wait and see if I get any repeat orders or new non-Groupon customers from the deal.

Jenny made it a point to dip her toe in the water of Groupon, not dive in head-first. As a result, she’s not feeling the stress that’s left so many other small businesses in a bind over a single deal. She also is being persistent about seeing the true value of the marketing campaign – to create repeat customers, not just one-time Grouponers. Time will tell if this proves to be fruitful.

What kind of business should run a Groupon deal?

As stated before, a seasoned business with a steady stream of clients does not need to run a Groupon deal, if only to seem hip to “what all the others are doing these days”. There is a special niche of folks that I believe can actually benefit from a Groupon deal, because of what it’s made to do: drive a load of traffic to your door on a short-term basis.

Here are some of the folks who could benefit from Groupon:

A small retail or restaurant business that has just opened up shop and is looking to make a splash, and has money to spend.
A business sponsoring or endorsing some sort of event, where foot-traffic is more important than revenue.
Someone needing to create awareness of an event, promotion or particular product in a short amount of time. And is willing to pay for it.

Knowledge is Power

I don’t believe that Groupon deliberately sets out to kill the businesses they’re involved with – it’s ultimately the fault of the businesses for biting off more than they can chew. If you’re considering going Groupon in the near future, I hope this short series has enlightened you to the advantages and possible harmful effects of using this or any other Daily Deal sites. With the knowledge of how to harness the terms of your deal, you can make it work out best for you.