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Articles from Geoff Ficke | Selfgrowth.com
- The Great Department Store Visionaries Created Much More Than Vast Retail Palaces - by Submitted on May 03, 2011 from Geoff Fickeby: Geoff Ficke The Great Department Store Visionaries Created Much More Than Vast Retail Palaces Before the middle of the 19th century retailing was a disorganized, semi-professional business. Small general merchandise stores carried minimal stock levels and were often limited to local ...
Views: 1435 - 10 Reasons to Be Passionate About Your New Business Idea - by Submitted on Sep 05, 2009 from Geoff Fickeby: Geoff Ficke One of the qualities that we look for when evaluating prospective clients for our consumer product marketing consulting firm is PASSION. If an entrepreneur is not passionate about the product or business idea they are attempting to commercialize we cannot help them. Passion is ...
Views: 1434(2 votes) - Where Does the Money Come From? - by Submitted on Aug 10, 2009 from Geoff FickeFact: In 2005 over 500,000 new business incorporations were organized in the United States. Fact: Of these 500,000 new businesses less than 1,000 received venture capital funding. There are vastly more entrepreneurs seeking start-up funding than there are available funding sources and ...
Views: 1429(3 votes) - An Eccentric Lifestyle Popular in the Early 19th Century Has Left Us the Simple Graham Cracker and More! - by Submitted on May 21, 2011 from Geoff Fickeby: Geoff Ficke An Eccentric Lifestyle Popular in the Early 19th Century Has Left Us the Simple Graham Cracker and More! The Presbyterian Reverend Sylvester Graham, an early 19th century proponent of an extreme, aesthetic lifestyle, is largely forgotten today. During his life, however, ...
Views: 1426 - The Importance of the Unreasonable Man - by Submitted on Aug 24, 2009 from Geoff FickeAlmost every person in the world takes a certain pride in being a reasonable person. They will make prudent choices based on their background and attitudes. The safe decision minimizes the chances of being wrong. No one likes to be wrong. The safe decision, however, carries little upside ...
Views: 1423(1 vote) - Which Business Structure Is Best For Your New Enterprise? - by Submitted on Aug 24, 2009 from Geoff FickeThe type of business structure you organize for your new enterprise is greatly determined by your personality, realities, needs and experience. Millions of people in the United States never enter into any type of formal business structure. This includes the bulk of the black or underground ...
Views: 1419(1 vote) - Imagine What the World Would Be Like Without the Simple Screw - by Submitted on Sep 10, 2009 from Geoff Fickeby: Geoff Ficke We take the simplest devices for granted in our modern technologically advanced world. We turn a tap and water is delivered, hot, temperate and cold. We hit a wall switch and darkness is overcome by light. We open the refrigerator door and peer into a compartment that contains ...
Views: 1417 - How To Assure Failure In a New Venture - by Submitted on Sep 11, 2009 from Geoff Fickeby: Geoff Ficke One of the great benefits we enjoy about the consulting work we do is having the opportunity to review the inventiveness of hundreds of entrepreneurs each year. It truly is amazing how many of these creative talents push the envelope of novelty. There is no such reality as the ...
Views: 1415 - The Most Under-Utilized Resource Entrepreneurs Neglect to Take Advantage of Is Local Universities - by Submitted on Jan 09, 2012 from Geoff Fickeby:Geoff Ficke The Most Under-Utilized Resource Entrepreneurs Neglect to Take Advantage of Is Local Universities Inventors, Entrepreneurs, Artisans and Small Businesses are very often bereft of funds needed to secure professional help that would be beneficial in leveraging their projects ...
Views: 1410(1 vote) - Taking Shortcuts in Order to Secure Investment Funds Is the Pursuit of Fools Gold and Insures Failure - by Submitted on Aug 30, 2013 from Geoff FickeTaking Shortcuts in Order to Secure Investment Funds Is the Pursuit of Fools Gold and Insures Failure by: Geoff Ficke Just today, on a single Linked-In group I visit, I have seen at least five naked pitches seeking funding for a new consumer product, concept or invention. This occurs ...
Views: 1403(1 vote) - An Alternative, Inexpensive Way to Penetrate the Market For a New Product - by Submitted on Sep 03, 2009 from Geoff FickeAn Alternative, Inexpensive Way to Penetrate the Market For a New Product My consulting firm receives an average of 2 new product submissions from entrepreneur’s each day. Last year we viewed almost 700 such offerings. They ranged from the silly to the spectacular. The majority of these ...
Views: 1399(2 votes) - Selling Is the Most Important Job For Every Entrepreneur - by Submitted on Aug 22, 2009 from Geoff FickeLet’s consider the example of an entrepreneurial inventor attempting to market his newest creation: a portable hydrostatic body fat test appliance. Design is complete, testing is finished and results exceeded initial assumptions, several working prototypes have been built, UL Approval is in ...
Views: 1399(2 votes) - The Cincinnati Native Who Created the Pet Food Industry in the Mid-19th Century - by Submitted on Jul 13, 2011 from Geoff Fickeby: Geoff Ficke The Cincinnati Native Who Created the Pet Food Industry in the Mid-19th Century Since the domestication of the dog some 10,000 years ago, man’s best friend enjoyed a very limited diet of table scraps, grains and scrounged bits and pieces scoured from fields and city streets ...
Views: 1398(1 vote) - A Case Study in Very Bright Successful People Making Really Bad Product Marketing Decisions - by Submitted on Sep 12, 2011 from Geoff Fickeby: Geoff Ficke A Case Study in Very Bright Successful People Making Really Bad Product Marketing Decisions As my readers know I run a Consumer Product Development and Marketing Consulting Company. We review hundreds of Inventions, Innovations and New Product Concepts each year. These are ...
Views: 1391(1 vote) - How a Cool Food Product Lost an Important Marketing Advantage - and Died - by Submitted on Aug 19, 2009 from Geoff FickeHow a Cool Food Product Lost an Important Marketing Advantage - and Died Recently I was interviewed by a national small business magazine about a topic that is all too real; and very problematic for small businessmen. The author of the story was trying to solve a simple problem that many of ...
Views: 1391(2 votes) - How Do Investors Read Business Plans? - by Submitted on Aug 23, 2009 from Geoff FickeThere are hundreds of thousands of business plans floating around and attempting to find a funding home. I receive hundreds of business plans annually myself, and can definitely state that 99% of these documents are laughable as presentations of an exciting investment opportunity. I am not ...
Views: 1385(3 votes) - A Simple 20-Step Test That Will Confirm Whether or Not a Product Development Project Is Market-Ready - by Submitted on Jun 28, 2011 from Geoff Fickeby: Geoff Ficke A Simple 20-Step Test That Will Confirm Whether or Not a Product Development Project Is Market-Ready For almost four decades my Consulting firm has worked with entrepreneur’s to design, develop, package, Brand, Market and Sell a vast range of Consumer Products. Our job is ...
Views: 1382(1 vote) - Business Plan Mills Turn Out Documents That Are Expensive--and—Mostly Useless to Entrepreneurs! - by Submitted on Feb 06, 2012 from Geoff Fickeby: Geoff Ficke Business Plan Mills Turn Out Documents That Are Expensive--and—Mostly Useless to Entrepreneurs! The Business Plan, and the process involved in crafting these essential documents, is one of the most maligned areas in all of small business. Many start-up firms and ...
Views: 1381(1 vote) - Converting an Idea to Income Is a Process That Requires Planting and Fertilization, Not Hope and Dreaming - by Submitted on Feb 06, 2012 from Geoff Fickeby: Geoff Ficke Converting an Idea to Income Is a Process That Requires Planting and Fertilization, Not Hope and Dreaming Under the category of inexperienced blind hope, a surprising number of people that approach my Consumer Product Development group with a new business idea want us to ...
Views: 1380(1 vote) - You Can Only Succeed at Life or Business If You Keep Moving - by Submitted on Jun 18, 2011 from Geoff Fickeby: Geoff Ficke You Can Only Succeed at Life or Business If You Keep Moving Robert Goizueta, the former Chief-Executive of Coca-Cola was once quoted in Fortune Magazine, saying: “The moment you let avoiding failure become your motivator, you are down the path of inactivity. You can stumble ...
Views: 1378(1 vote) - The Most Useful Funding Technique for Funding a Business Startup Is the Oldest: Bootstrapping - by Submitted on May 06, 2012 from Geoff Fickeby: Geoff Ficke The Most Useful Funding Technique for Funding a Business Startup Is the Oldest: Bootstrapping My Consumer Product Development and Marketing Consulting firm is approached almost daily by entrepreneurs seeking to launch a new enterprise. For many of these aspiring business ...
Views: 1376(2 votes) - 5 Questions That Must Be Answered Before Attempting to Fund or Launch Your Consumer Product - by Submitted on Jan 09, 2012 from Geoff Ficke5 Questions That Must Be Answered Before Attempting to Fund or Launch Your Consumer Product I am constantly amazed at the naivety of first time entrepreneurs and inventors when it comes to the due diligence they must conduct in order to get their idea, concept or prototype to market. Even ...
Views: 1375(1 vote) - How One of the Fashion World’s Earliest Great Innovators Lost Everything by Lack of Innovation - by Submitted on Jun 18, 2011 from Geoff Fickeby: Geoff Ficke How One of the Fashion World’s Earliest Great Innovators Lost Everything by Lack of Innovation It is startling to study an empires crumble, decline and ultimately perishing on the ash heap of history. It happened to ancient states such as Egypt, Rome, Athens and ...
Views: 1372(1 vote) - Our Demise is Greatly Overstated The United States’ Future is Incandescent - by Submitted on Sep 08, 2009 from Geoff Fickeby: Geoff Ficke As we slog along under the full weight of the current financial calamity, there is much weeping and gnashing of teeth about the future of the United States. Many of our countries fiercest enemies and critics are gloating over their perception that our wave has crested and we ...
Views: 1372(3 votes) - The Simple Wisdom We Learn from Studying Ancient Greek Rhetorical Form Chiasmus - by Submitted on Jul 08, 2011 from Geoff Fickeby: Geoff Ficke The Simple Wisdom We Learn from Studying Ancient Greek Rhetorical Form Chiasmus The ancient Greeks perfected and gifted to us the unique rhetorical form known as chiasmus. Simply stated, chiasmus is a figure of speech in which two phrases are inverted to display a ...
Views: 1363(1 vote) - How An Immigrant With Just a Few Canaries Builds a Vast Fortune - by Submitted on Aug 19, 2009 from Geoff FickeIn the 1920’s Germany was in tatters. The formerly great empire was dismantled, the powerful army humiliated by its defeat in World War I and the population starved, cold and living in despair. Businesses that had been successful before the war were decimated by the outcome. There was no way to ...
Views: 1362(2 votes) - Making a Minor Product Usage Change Can Propel Major Sales Advances - by Submitted on Jun 28, 2011 from Geoff Fickeby: Geoff Ficke Making a Minor Product Usage Change Can Propel Major Sales Advances In the middle of the 20th century pre-packaged foods and mixes were not as ubiquitous as they are today. Typically, a middle class home had a housewife present and preparing her families meals from scratch. ...
Views: 1362(1 vote) - Make a Friend Everyday, Network! - by Submitted on Aug 23, 2009 from Geoff FickeHave you ever noticed how successful people always seem to have a very wide net of friends and acquaintances? Howard Hughes became an infamous recluse only after he was fabulously wealthy. His network of business associations enabled him to excel in aviation, manufacturing, heavy industry, oil, ...
Views: 1356(13 votes) - Make Color & Style Indispensible Elements to Sell More Products - by Submitted on Jul 15, 2011 from Geoff FickeMake Color & Style Indispensible Elements to Sell More Products Have you never visited a Williams Sonoma store? Notice how the toaster they sell for $300 per unit is always displayed so prominently. Have you ever asked yourself who needs a $300 toaster when a perfectly acceptable bread ...
Views: 1353(2 votes) - …And We Want the Government To Do What? - by Submitted on Sep 06, 2009 from Geoff Fickeby: Geoff Ficke I am always amazed when I see well educated, seemingly worldly people make themselves look and sound silly by promoting ever more aggressive expansion of government. We are currently in our national election cycle, admittedly the silly season for politicians. This year, ...
Views: 1344(3 votes) - Why Is the Right To Fail So Important?...and, Why It is Mostly Unique To America - by Submitted on Aug 10, 2009 from Geoff FickeThe American economic system of capitalism is unique in the industrialized world. Forms of capitalism exist in many countries, and the one general statement that applies to its usage is that capitalist countries are always more prosperous than non-capitalist states. That being stated, why is ...
Views: 1342(1 vote) - Entrepreneurial Creativity Is Still Rife in the Fashion Jewelry and Cosmetic World - by Submitted on Jun 18, 2011 from Geoff Fickeby: Geoff Ficke Entrepreneurial Creativity Is Still Rife in the Fashion Jewelry and Cosmetic World My Product Development and Marketing Consulting firm has had a busy spring introducing a slew of new products in international cosmetic and jewelry industry trade shows. We participated in ...
Views: 1340(1 vote) - Words Used to Present Your Business Proposition Must be Carefully Chosen - by Submitted on Feb 08, 2012 from Geoff Fickeby: Geoff Ficke Words Used to Present Your Business Proposition Must be Carefully Chosen This week I was forwarded a Business Plan from a Venture Capital principal for whom I perform consulting services. This gentleman had read the elevator pitch for the product and had initial interest in ...
Views: 1340(1 vote) - Differentiation for a Small Brand Is Essential - Consider Organic Tea - by Submitted on Aug 17, 2009 from Geoff FickeRecently my marketing consulting firm was approached by the owners of a young organic tea company seeking guidance in piercing the retail product distribution channel. The entrepreneur’s behind the venture were hard working, passionate and fully committed; both personally and financially. They ...
Views: 1333(2 votes) - How a Pre-Sell Campaign Will Mitigate Financial Risk and Confirm Market Acceptance for New Consumer Products - by Submitted on May 06, 2013 from Geoff FickeHow a Pre-Sell Campaign Will Mitigate Financial Risk and Confirm Market Acceptance for New Consumer Products by: Geoff Ficke Our Consumer Product Development and Marketing Consulting firm typically works with two types of clients. One is a startup requiring total support and guidance from ...
Views: 1333(1 vote) - Bootstrapping Your Way to Success - by Submitted on Aug 20, 2009 from Geoff FickeThere is no more accurate American descriptive phrase of the rags to riches success then: “He pulled himself up by his bootstraps”. The pioneers, backwoodsmen, cowboys, whalers and other prototypical American hero classes all possessed an air of courage, self-reliance, and belief that they could ...
Views: 1331(1 vote) - Problems Are Arriving In Great Batches And That Can Be a Very Good Thing! - by Submitted on Sep 09, 2009 from Geoff Fickeby: Geoff Ficke William Shakespeare” famous quote from Hamlet, “When sorrows come, they come not single spies, but in battalions”, is particularly relevant today. All of the news seems bad. The negative numbers are huge. The human devastation seems interminable. Governments everywhere seem ...
Views: 1327(1 vote) - What Modern Marketers Can Learn From A 100 Year Old Artisan Auto Maker - by Submitted on Aug 21, 2009 from Geoff FickeH. F. S. Morgan launched his eponymous car manufacturing company in England in 1909. For a century, through world wars and great economic turbulence, Morgan Motor Company has produced some of the most stylish, desirable automobiles ever produced. Unless you are a classic car enthusiast, you ...
Views: 1325(2 votes) - 5 Tips for Small Businesses and Start-ups to Use To Appear Bigger than They Really Are - by Submitted on Feb 06, 2012 from Geoff Fickeby: Geoff Ficke 5 Tips for Small Businesses and Start-ups to Use To Appear Bigger than They Really Are For many years I have worked almost exclusively with entrepreneurs, inventors and small businesses seeking to start, or grow a business against daunting odds and competitive ...
Views: 1319(1 vote) - The Most Common Mistakes Entrepreneurs Make And Why Markets Tolerate No Shortcuts - by Submitted on Aug 07, 2009 from Geoff FickeThe question I receive more often than any other is: “What is the mistake you most frequently observe inventors or entrepreneurs making?” The answer is an easy one. Most unsuccessful entrepreneurs try to get to market by taking shortcuts. We live in a commercial maelstrom. The marketplace is ...
Views: 1313(1 vote) - The 5 Personal Traits Essential for Achieving Entrepreneurial Success - by Submitted on Jul 08, 2011 from Geoff Fickeby: Geoff Ficke The 5 Personal Traits Essential for Achieving Entrepreneurial Success I have worked with Entrepreneurs, Inventors and businesses large and small all over the world in my career as a Consumer Product Development and Marketing Consultant. For every 20 opportunities we review, ...
Views: 1306(1 vote) - Adding Features to Products Can Create Blockbuster Opportunities - by Submitted on Sep 10, 2009 from Geoff Fickeby: Geoff Ficke I have written in the past about the huge commercial opportunities afforded divergent products and inventions, as opposed to convergent features added to existing products. Divergent products are truly groundbreaking, destructive, disruptive breakthroughs. However, very few ...
Views: 1298 - A Baseball Player as an Entrepreneurial Role Model - by Submitted on Aug 04, 2009 from Geoff FickeWatching the Chicago White Sox win the World Series for the first time since 1917, I was struck again how wondrous this beautiful sport still can be. The purest American game, baseball teaches so many of the values we appreciate in all areas of life. Hard work, doing the little things, hustle, ...
Views: 1296 - Is Now the Best Time to Start a New Business? - by Submitted on Aug 10, 2009 from Geoff FickeI am often asked if these are good times for new enterprise opportunities? Should I wait? Is the economy down? Is it a good funding market? Is competition too intense? These, and dozens more stated concerns are nothing more than self-imposed hurdles to movement. Now is the best time in ...
Views: 1294(4 votes) - In Defense Of Success - by Submitted on Aug 18, 2009 from Geoff FickeDuring a January 1980 television interview, then British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher stated, “No one would remember the Good Samaritan if he’d only had good intentions. He had money as well”. Our current times make this keen observation particularly relevant. We continually are bombarded ...
Views: 1291 - Making Hobbies Profitable A Boating Enthusiast Invents a Fun Job - by Submitted on Aug 18, 2009 from Geoff FickeWe have all heard some version of the old saying, “find something you enjoy doing and make your living in that field”. For most people that would seem to be easier said than done. Millions of these working Jane’s and Joe’s go to employment that is not physically, psychologically or financially ...
Views: 1291(1 vote) - Why Don’t Business Schools Produce more Entrepreneurs? - by Submitted on Jul 13, 2011 from Geoff Fickeby: Geoff Ficke Why Don’t Business Schools Produce more Entrepreneurs? For most of my life I have been a serial Entrepreneur. Even as a kid growing up I knew I wanted to control my own destiny. In order to be free and self-supporting I was constantly seeking opportunity in every way ...
Views: 1291(2 votes) - How to Snatch Commercial Failure From the Jaws of Victory - by Submitted on Sep 10, 2009 from Geoff Fickeby: Geoff Ficke As readers of my articles well know, I run a marketing and product development-consulting firm. We review hundreds of novel consumer products, new service concepts and prototypes each year. The level of creativity contained in some of these offerings is truly stunning and ...
Views: 1282 - Sourcing and Defining Volume Pricing Is an Absolute Must for Aspiring Consumer Product Entrepreneurs - by Submitted on May 06, 2012 from Geoff Fickeby: Geoff Ficke Sourcing and Defining Volume Pricing Is an Absolute Must for Aspiring Consumer Product Entrepreneurs I have been mentoring a young female entrepreneur for several months. She is not a client of my Consumer Product Branding and Marketing Consulting firm. This earnest lady ...
Views: 1281(2 votes) - An Old Mustard Brand Teaches the Power of Marketing Exclusivity - by Submitted on Jun 22, 2011 from Geoff Fickeby: Geoff Ficke An Old Mustard Brand Teaches the Power of Marketing Exclusivity The practice of Brand Exclusivity is one that consumers associate with Luxury Goods categories such as Cosmetics, Perfumery, Jewelry, Fashion or Automobiles. The Marketing Strategy utilized to keep product ...
Views: 1277(2 votes)