Tag: marketing

Don’t take any advice

Posted on by Steve Sammartino

While watching Eddie Murphy on Inside The Actors Studio Interview – he said some amazing things which I thought were great for entrepreneurs. When asked by the audience what advice he’d give to any aspiring actors this is what he said:

The advice I would give an actor is not to take any advice from anyone. Because I remember when I was younger, I would ask for advice… because with actors when you make that choice, you know it deep down, and you know in your heart, you know what you wanna do and you know what your abilities are and lots of time advice could screw you up. A great advice story was from Rodney Dangerfield. I did the comic strip in Fort Lauder Dale when I was like 16 or 17 years old and Dangerfield walks in. And the whole room was ‘Oh Dangerfield is here’ – everyone bumped all the comics and no one wanted to go up cause Dangerfield was in the room. And I was so confident back then I was like Mr Dangerfield, I want you to watch my show… I want you to watch.. He said, Oh yeh, I’ll stick around kid. And he watches. And I did my thing, and I was really dirty (with my language) and after the show, he said… ‘Hey kid, you said a lot of bad things there, hey watch your language”. He gave me a big speech about my language and the words I was using, and it really took the wind out of my sails, and I was like WOW, cause I really killed that night…


Then 5 or 6 years later, I’m at the bathroom at Caesars Palace, and Dangerfield comes in and he’s in the urinal right next to me, and I haven’t seen him since that night. I look over and he looks back and said: “Hey, who knew?”

Startup Blog would love to know what advice have you ignored to advantage?

twitter-follow-me

The end of television

Posted on by Steve Sammartino

There’s been a lot of talk about the end of television lately. You’ve heard it all. But one simple fact I heard today reminded me today of why television is doomed.

The end of the ratings period.

Yep, that old chestnut. But let’s stop and think for moment what it means and the legacy issues associated with the concept of the rating and non-rating periods.

It was something television could do. It could ‘have a holiday’. It could do this for one simple reason, it had no real competitors. TV broadcasters justified their actions too. They told us that their TV stars needed a break. They told us they were getting ready for the new season with great new episodes and shows. They told us we could enjoy our favourite re-runs. Sure we could go down the the video rental store, but it was much harder than turning on a television and a poor substitute at best.

Today, the end of the ratings period is a continued legacy which proves that broadcasters still don’t get it. We don’t care what time of year it is, we don;’t have to. We still spend money. The economy keeps churning. We still want current, new, exciting information and entertainment. Good news for us is that now we can go elsewhere to get it. And it’s more convenient than TV. It’s on demand, and uninterrupted. The fact that the ratings period still exists today has me flummoxed.

And as long as the television broadcasting industry thinks it can get away with it’s ‘holiday’, it is yet to understand what is happening. It alone is proof TV as an industry, is doomed. This little thing, the non-ratings period, is proof they don’t believe that is the end of their cosy little attention monopoly.

Good bye television, hope you enjoyed your stay.

twitter-follow-me

My new startup

Posted on by Steve Sammartino

I’m launching a new startup. For those who don’t know about it here are some of the key points:

  • The brand extension comes from an already successful enterprise
  • The partnership & legal agreements were entered into over a year ago
  • The idea is not an original one, rather a new execution of a proven formula
  • We didn’t pitch the idea or ask for permission, we just did it
  • It’s a brand extension
  • It’s a self funded project with no external capital. But we wont have ownership
  • We will give away the corporation, once it is cash flow positive
  • It’s a very long lead project
  • It wont be cash flow positive for more than 20 years
  • Estimated cost of the project is around $500K
  • We do expect to however, to yield emotional & community benefits very early after launch
  • It’s an industry we’ve never worked in before, but have a natural flair for it
  • Some of the product development will be outsourced to 3rd parties
  • Outsourcing will occur in 3 large segments of up to 6 years each
  • The most important product development will be done in house
  • There wont be any major advertising, brand awareness will be driven through family & friends
  • We already know it’s unique, but wont require any intellectual property protection
  • However, major security measures will be taken to protect the asset, especially in the incubation phase

My new startup is my baby due January 25th, and it’s the most exciting one I’ve ever been involved in. We’re involved in more startups than we think…

Startup Blog says: Let’s not define ourselves by what we own, but the cool stuff we do.

twitter-follow-me

Run an event

Posted on by Steve Sammartino

If you read this blog regularly you know that I have recently held a Startup School in Melbourne. Beside the fact that it was great fun it also a very enlightening entrepreneurial experience in a way that most businesses are not. It had a start, a middle and an end. It allowed me the entrepreneur to conceive of something, implement it, promote it and post analysis it. This is something we usually must do while our business is in progress.

Events give us the opportunity to improve our entrepreneurial skills, because everything is compressed into a tight time line, with defined deadlines. It forces us to make tough and quick decisions on the marketing mix (Product, Price Place and Promotion).

No matter what type of business you own, or skills you have you can and should run an event of some sort for the above reasons. The lessons you’ll gain will help your full time gig immeasurably.

Startup Blog says: Events are rad.

Building your personal brand

Posted on by Steve Sammartino

One of the sections at Startup School is building personal brands. Which are of increasing importance in the entrepreneurial sphere. Once upon a time our business reputation built a personal brand. Recently things have flipped somewhat where our personal brands are used to build our business ones. Jay Z style… It just so happens that it works on a micro level as well.

Build a personal reputation, as a smart, caring,  and giving person in this new business context (or have some hit song and Hip Hop wars) and you’ll be on the way to building an external financial brand.

So here’s some nuggets from Startup School to get excited about:

[slideshare id=2482471&doc=startupschool-personalbrandingforslideshare-091112045944-phpapp02]

Startup School