Open For Business OnTheHORN.com

We talk with Joe Zwiebel, President of New England Business Media., about:


What is a flat business org chart?


Why is flat better for selling?


And we role play with Joe Zwiebel selling US on advertising with his online publications.

Issue: Your business model is about how you make money.


Rules: Sell products - gross margins rule the day

Sell personal services - hourly optimization is key

Sell knowledge - licensing and distribution matter

Solve a need - Uber has no cars; Alibaba has no inventory


Actions: Answer the following questions:

What problem do you solve?

Is it worth solving?

Is anyone else focusing on the problem?

Are you better?

Will people pay for the answer?

Will they pay enough to make it worthwhile?


Conclusion: A unique business model that solves a problem and makes money


Dissent: Speed to market and resources

Social Media has become CLICK BAIT for business owners getting screwed by consultants. I observe people forgetting the basic tenant of social media, if they ever knew it at all, and that’s is SOCIAL!


Engaging with other, sans sales pitch.


For this episode I ask my friend Johnny Mac -- owner of Barbarino Nissan and Barbarino Mitsubishi, to visit with me to discuss social media and how he uses it.

At the age of five, Billy Nachman and Hobson Brown were forced into their first collared shirts to attend an all-boys school in New York City. Although initially squirmy and uncomfortable, the boys quickly began to notice the power of the polo: the approving nods from parents, the lingering glances from the ladies...


These two lifelong friends have created a brand that is classic but not stuffy. They tell us how they did it.

CEO and Founder of iDevices, Chris Allen,

iDevices - started with the invention of the iGrill - one of the first app-enabled devices to be featured in the Apple retail stores way back in 2010,


This was the cutting / bleeding edge of the IoT era - the Internet of Things era.


Today Chris’ company, iDevices, blends the art and science of app development and hardware infuse to create wondrous new products to make our lives more enjoyable.

Inbound marketing and accurate marketing ROI -- they are like two peas in a pod. Beer prices may go up if fracking messes up the water. Starting an online business? A few bases you need to cover. Customers leaving? A few questions to ask. Brian, Tommy and Ken go far and wide in this episode of Open for Business.


Steve Hall from Hubspot was our guest this week (he also run AdRant.com). He wrote a HubSpot blog post about how inbound marketing aligns well with how people make buying decisions. The biggest AHA moment of the conversation -- the alignment really brings to the forefront the ability to get accurate ROI on your inbound marketing, and marketing ROI has been the elusive holy grail forever.


http://blog.hubspot.com/blog/tabid/6307/bid/34158/how-inbound-marketing-aligns-with-the-new-purchase-loop?source=Blog_Email_[How%20Inbound%20Marketin]


Brewers in Philly are in a panic. Fracking is coming to PA and if it pollutes the water it pollutes the beer. Pizza in Philly will never taste the same.


http://www.bizjournals.com/philadelphia/blog/dell-poncet/2013/02/new-reason-to-oppose-fracking-is.html?ana=e_abd


Going online with your business? 1) make sure your domain is available, 2) decide on open source or custom built for the website, 3) start small and build.


http://www.bizjournals.com/denver/blog/broadway_17th/2013/02/lessons-learned-from-launching-an.html?ana=e_abd&page=all


Have you ever asked a customer the following -- How will you know we are doing a good job? What does success look like? These are just two of the questions to consider if you are losing customers and are not sure why.


http://www.bizjournals.com/denver/blog/broadway_17th/2013/02/im-losing-customers-and-i-dont-know.html?ana=e_abd&page=all


Open for Business #67 – more great information than you could hope for in less than an hour.