Today’s post comes from Norm Bour, a blogger with the  NewportBeachPatch

Many business owners know what they know, but sometimes do not know what they do. I have seen this several times in the past few months so I don’t think it’s an aberration. I believe it’s a prevalent- and unnoticed-dilemma.

Profile #1:

A  client, a stone mason, stated in his elevator pitch what he did; he worked with  stone. But after drilling down a few levels we found out that he was one of only two people in the entire country that had the ability to laser engrave into any thickness of stone- or any hard surface. He could do surfaces that were only ½”  thin and not have to work with heavy and large pieces or worry about breakage.  As we in the audience listened to him share his story, we realized, and eventually he realized, that he was more than a stone mason. He was an Artist; an Artisan. And he needed to market himself that way.

Profile#2

A  student came through one of our programs stating he was a CPA, bookkeeper and tax preparer. And he mentioned he worked with nonprofits and helped them stay in compliance and take care of their accounting. Seems he was previously the CFO for Easter Seals for 7 years, worked with Head Start and had written grants up to $40M. After we told him he was wasting his time doing taxes and similar work that many, many other were able to do, he started his own company, NonProfit DevelopmentAlliance, and now instead of working for one Easter Seal, he is helping to create hundreds
of them. The entrepreneur inside just needed to be unleashed and trained and we have now partnered with him to run our nonprofit division. It took him awhile, but he, too, realized that he was distinct and was in a class by himself.

Profile #3

Our Filipino student was involved with not just one, or two, or even three, but with four different projects and had a hard time focusing on any one with intensity. As it worked out, two of her ventures were very similar and by focusing some attention to those opportunities is now concentrating on just them and putting some other aside. She knows how to import and export from the Philippines and deal with all the red tape and that is a rare and precious skill set that she needed to focus on. Her income potential is significant and when she has consistent cash flow, then she can play with her other projects.

An exercise:

Question?

How do you determine where to place your efforts?

Answer:

Create a “silo” or category for every business you have and ask yourself:

What percentage of my time do I spend in this venture?

What percentage of my income do I currently receive from this venture?

If I focused everything on this venture what percentage of my income could I make just from this?

On a scale of 1-10, what is my level of passion for this project?

On a scale of 1-10, what is my potential for massive income for
this project?

As you go through this process you will identify some possibilities that you may have ignored or not maximized and you may find that there is gold much closer than you realize. Don’t be afraid to question yourself or ask “what do I really do?” The answer may surprise you.

**Need more exposure for your business? Advertise with OCRG and Welcome Express!

Orange County Advertiser welcomes Guest Blogger, Megan Lavender, Founder & COO, INK

Thomas Edison once said that, “the value of an idea lies in the using of it.” As an advertising professional, I couldn’t disagree more. I believe that ideas have inherent value in and of themselves whether they are ultimately used or not. But how do you determine that value?

Malcolm Gladwell posits that it takes 10,000 hours of practice (roughly 10 years) to become an expert in a particular field. It is these thousands of hours of experience that lead to the ability of a seasoned creative team in our industry to generate a series of ideas – sometimes with seemingly little effort or in a short period of time. The brain of a creative advertising professional is wired to think in ways that others don’t – to make associations and develop game-changing ideas with what sometimes appears like relative ease.

The fact that we make it look easy – sometimes coming up with great ideas “on the fly” in meetings with our clients – can lead to a perceived devaluation of the ideas themselves.

Take the standard agency practice of presenting three or more “big ideas” to a client for any given creative campaign. The client inevitably selects their favorite idea for execution. The client has purchased that final idea, while the “runners up” remain the property of the agency. Unfortunately, it is all too common in our industry that months, or sometimes even years later, those “runner up” concepts will appear in print or online – executed by the client’s internal team without compensating the agency.

It has been my experience that there is no malice or ill intent behind the use of these ideas – in most cases, the client truly doesn’t understand that using an idea without paying for it is tantamount to theft. This misconception is somewhat understandable. An idea by its very nature is ephemeral, intangible and difficult to quantify, especially for most clients who make their living marketing goods that have weight, dimension and a pre-established dollar value. This explains the, “what’s the big deal?” response often encountered when these instances are brought to a client’s attention.

Given the prevalence of this occurrence in our industry, I believe that some responsibility lies with the agency to educate clients about the value of ideas at the outset of a project – helping them to understand the nature of the creative process and the concept of intellectual property – before the ideas themselves are ever presented.

I also believe there may be some value in re-exploring the IP model as it relates to our industry. In this new world of open-source, crowd sourced, shared ideas, are we in the advertising industry trying too hard to cling to an outdated model for the ownership of concepts? I recently came across a blog in which two relatively senior advertising creatives posted ideas daily and encouraged others to “steal them.” Is this the future of our industry, and if so, is it a good thing?

Megan Lavender, Founder & COO, INK

**Need more exposure for your business? Advertise with OCRG and Welcome Express!

In Q1/11, local retailing experienced its fourth consecutive quarterly gain as store owners hired to meet the busiest shopping pace in 18 months. The biggest wrinkle is how consumers will react to rising inflation.

Local business office space & building rental can be a good economic indicator. Q1/11 marked the 4th consecutive quarter for positive “net absorption,” of office building space. 78% of that rental activity surrounds the John Wayne Airport, suggesting that companies are starting to expand their operations in expectation of a recovery.

2011 OC Business Leaders survey just released states that 64% of local executives feel “decidedly better” about Orange County’s economy & believe it will improve this year. Only 39% felt that way in 2010. 73% expect revenues will be up for 2011. Health care & the technology sector are expected to have the most potential for growth.

OC added nearly 80,000 housing units between 2000 – 2010, bringing the total number of homes to 1,048,907 compared to 969,484 in 2000. County-wide, average occupancy is 3 people per household.

Home ownership is still an important goal: A recent Pew Research survey found homeowners (and renters) overwhelmingly stated that a house was a great investment, even 5 years after the real estate downturn. Amongst renters, 24% “rent as a matter of choice,” 75% “rent as a result of circumstance.” Regarding the future, 17% said they “would continue to rent,” while 81% “wanted to buy a house at some point.”

For a quick snapshot of the Welcome Express Family of Products: http://www.facebook.com/WelcomeExpress

Have you heard? Everything’s coming up “Chocolate” this summer in Southern California at the premier chocolate, wine and coffee festival! In addition to a myriad of chocolate delicacies to delight your palette, there will be wine tastings, fine coffees to sample, a celebrity chef challenge, a fashion show and fun filled `Chocolatetivities’ for the entire family. A few of our sponsors include; Disneyland, jetBlue, OC Foodies, OC Standard and Lance Magazine.

This is a HUGE sales and promotional opportunity for sponsors and exhibitors to get their product brand “out there” to the public in a fun, friendly and tantalizing way; but most significantly, it supports education through the art and the charities who will be benefiting. The Event promises to become the signature festival for MUZEO and throughout Southern California, raising funds to benefit MUZEO’s Eniro program for access to the Arts for at-risk youth and children throughout the region. A portion of sponsorship and sales for the festival goes to charity and is tax deductible.

Now how can you, the OC Business Owner get involved? How about becoming an exhibitor?

Exhibitor Booths include those for businesses, food and drink vendors, as well as Non-Profit/Charity Groups. Here is a tasting of what you need to know…

• For food and drink vendors it’s $200 for a booth. They sell tastings at about $3 a ticket and keep half. The other half   goes to MUZEO charity.   Any chocolate vendors will be in an air conditioned area.  A food or drink permit is required. Electrical is an extra fee.
• Business booths are $500 – $750
• Charity booths are $200. Charities have to have a raffle or activity that patrons will use tickets   to pay for. The charity keeps half of proceeds.
• Restaurants, Food and Drink Vendors can also choose the option of a booth, free of charge if they donate 100 percent of tasting tickets proceeds to MUZEO charity

Already touted as the “Can’t Miss” event of the 2011 summer season, CHOCOLATE ~ The Event appeals to chocoholics, foodies, music fans and art enthusiasts of all ages. Click for more information on becoming a sponsor or on the event itself.