|
The background on these transcripts
|
| HATTIE: Many entrepreneurs get their ideas for starting a business while working for somebody else. A stockbroker got tired of hearing his small business clients complain about their people problems. So he decided to become part of the solution. (Voiceover) Even though you don't know him, and he's hundreds of miles away, he could be writing your paycheck. Payroll Transfers, Inc. has 800 clients and writes paychecks for 12,000 employees. MARC MOORE (Payroll Transfers, Inc.): We do employee leasing. We handle the payroll administration, the payroll taxes, the workers' compensation, the benefit administration to include life, dental, health, vision plans and so forth for the client's 401(k). And we also help our clients stay in compliance with the various rules and regulations from state and federal governments as far as employees go. So if we can take--help our clients by taking a lot of the hassles and frustrations in administration off their desks, they can then focus on their business and make more money. HATTIE: (Voiceover) They've done this in just five years, and today they have 140 full-time employees in Tampa, Florida, with over 200 independent marketing people all over the country. They have clients in 36 states and are continuing to expand. I met the president, Marc Moore. In five years, you've gone from zero to 800 customers. How did this happen? MARC: We started with the goal of growing the company very large and very strong. In fact, from the day we wrote the business plan, we developed a slogan called `Bigger, Better, Stronger, Faster.' And that's what we wanted to have, and to be, every day as a company, was bigger, better, stronger, and capable of operating faster. Good product, good price, good service, a lot of hard work and some luck. I mean, we go out there, we have a game plan, we understand our market, we understand our clients, and what they want and what they need. And if you focus on that and you deliver that to the clients, word of mouth does wonders. One client will lead us to five other clients over the course of two or three years. HATTIE: Well, do you get your clients to sell for you? MARC: Absolutely. They're the best salespeople. HATTIE: Now this is your building... (Voiceover) The principal owner and CEO is Mel Klinghoffer. You've done other businesses in this industry, and you've been successful, but this is the best. Payroll Transfers is the most successful. Why do you think that is? MEL KLINGHOFFER (CEO, Payroll Transfers): The main reason is the dedication and the hard work of the employees. We have a management team that is both creative and innovative, and has a lot of bright individuals that set the stage and control the direction as well as the operations of the company. HATTIE: You must have a process for hiring, yourself. What is it? MARC: Well, my philosophy for hiring is that one person can only control so many people, including myself, so what I look for--and I work with the managers that we have--is a philosophy I call of hiring 10s. And a 10 is a top-quality, very good employee, a person that is bright, a person that is capable, a person that works well with other people. And then I watch the people that I hire, and hopefully I hire a 10, and watch the first level that they hire, because a 10, if told and instructed and brought along, should hire 10s also. HATTIE: You're growing so fast. Does it take a different kind of employee to work in this kind of environment? MARC: I think that you want people who are optimistic, who are growth-oriented and who want to have fun. And I think that our employees would be probably let down if we stopped growing so fast. They enjoy it. HATTIE: (Voiceover) I asked Marc what advice he could give the person who wants to grow a business. MARC: Eat, sleep, drink, think of nothing but your business. Until you're up and stable and in the safe zone, I wouldn't think or do anything but business. I very much believe in reading. You have to read to know what's going on, and then forecast what impact is that going to have, not only on my company, but on the client's company two, three, five years from now. We have a philosophy called `pack a parachute.' And `pack a parachute' means always have a backup, to every person, vendor, machine, anything that we do, always have a backup. HATTIE: Well, it's obvious you're not doing this for money anymore because you can sell out, not have to work anymore the rest of your life. Why are you doing this? MARC: Because I love it. HATTIE: Sliver of Genius? Yes. Marc Moore came into an industry that was already established, but he said he could build a company that's bigger, better, stronger and faster, and he's done it. HOST: If you haven't started your own business yet, listen up because that's the subject of today's book reviews. There are dozens of books on business start-up, and each takes a different approach. I've chosen three as examples. As a new business owner, you'll need to know about the federal laws and regulations that govern your new venture, as well as the laws of your particular state. Oasis Press has developed an individual guide for each of the 50 states and the District of Columbia entitled, "Starting and Operating a Business in"--and you fill in your own state. Updated annually, this book is divided into two parts. Chapters 1 through 10, written by Harvard-educated attorney and CPA Michael Jenkins, concentrate on federal information such as choosing the right legal form of the business, and planning for tax savings. The final chapter deals with the state laws and regulations of your particular state. It's co-authored by resident small-business experts in the fields of law, accounting, tax and education. Once you've purchased the book, you can purchase the annual updates for less. Now a companion guide to "Starting and Operating a Business" is "Start Your Own Business: A Beginner's Guide." This work, also from Oasis Press, is a user-friendly workbook covering eight topics, more general in nature than those in the first book. Each subject is presented as a checklist, and you can simply check off the activities as you complete them. Throughout the text, you'll find plan-of-action worksheets to help you identify the things you need to do, along with informative strategies and tips. At the end of each segment is a list of resources that are, in my opinion, too heavily skewed towards other books by the same publisher to be of real benefit. The strength of this book is its action-oriented format. If you really believe a business owner who fails to plan, plans to fail, then you'll really go for "The Start Up Guide: A One-Year Plan for Entrepreneurs" by David Bangs Jr. This detailed action plan provides a framework for covering all the steps in the planning process and shows you exactly what you should be doing when, beginning one year from the time you plan to open your doors for business. If you tend to procrastinate, this countdown format can help you get moving. Streetfighting HATTIE: Advertising dollars are precious. To get the most from your radio advertising, you might want to try this idea from Jeff Slutsky. It's called Streetfighter Marketing. JEFF SLUTSKY (Marketing Consultant): As a street fighter, when you buy advertising, you have to make sure every dollar you spend does the job of $3 or $4. For example, when you buy radio time--now radio is a very versatile form of advertising. It can work well with small budgets in a lot of different markets so you might want to look at it. But the thing is you have to do certain things to make sure you make impact. One of the things I like to do with a radio schedule is I always use a live announcer tag. That's at the end of the commercial. The last five seconds, the announcer comes in live and announces something about the spot. The reason I do this is twofold: One, all things being equal, I want to be the last commercial in the commercial break. They usually put six or eight commercials in a row. Now you've seen people in a car listening to the radio. What happens when the commercials come on? They're changing buttons, so I want to be the last one. Well, they're not going to put me last, normally, but inside the DJ booth, they're real, real busy and they have these things called carts that look like the old eight-track tapes. That's what they put the commercials on. And they put them in machines, automatic, and they're very busy during a commercial break, so they don't want to put you in the middle, they put you last because they've got to come back and announce the next song or do the weather or whatever, so they wait for you to--last. So you get the better position. Then what I do for my live announcer tag. Say it's five seconds, I used about nine seconds' worth of copy and I do it in the form of a tongue-twister. So they come on, the cue light comes on and they go, `That's tomorrow at ja da-da, da, da, da.' And they mess it up. And what do they do when they mess up? They start joking about it. Now what happens? Radio is a background medium. People are driving along, or at work, not paying attention. All of a sudden the jock screws up, right? And they come in, now they're paying attention because he's doing jokes, he's talking to the guy in the helicopter doing the traffic reports, `I can't believe you said that.' I've seen this go on for half an hour. You get all this precious free--extra free time, plus you get all this attention drawn to it, and as soon as they mess up your spot, you call your sales representative, `He messed up my commercial,' and you get what's called a make-good. That's street fighting. HATTIE: We'll hear another street fighter idea from Jeff next week. Also, a son takes over his father's business, but it's not handed to him. He has to buy it. HOST: (Voiceover) And have you ever wondered who moves air freight once it's on the ground? We'll meet the entrepreneur who's filling that gap. Plus our regulars on the law, telecommunications, technology and working at home. HATTIE: This thought before we go. Virginia Woolf wrote, `Life is arduous, difficult, a perpetual struggle. It calls for gigantic courage and strength. More than anything, it calls for confidence in one's self.' |