Small Business Blog from Atlantic Canada

I am "CA" Atreya (PMP, MBA), the author of this blog. I help businesses in Atlantic Canada achieve their BHAG successfully. You may subscribe to this blog using a feed reader (RSS).

Did you take a moment to notice the tag line for this blog? “Helping Atlantic Canada’s businesses achieve their BHAG (Big Hairy Audacious Goals)”. So it is only natural for us to seek out individuals who set their goals high, do not fear failure and work smart to achieve their BHAGs. The quest to meet such individuals in Atlantic Canada led me to Dan Martell. A native of Moncton, New Brunswick, Dan is a serial entrepreneur with a string of companies, successes and failures - Maritime Vacation, iThink Interactive, Spheric Technologies Inc and now Flowtown.

His passion for technology is quite apparent when you look at his entrepreneurial ventures. When we talk to technology startups can Silicon Valley be far behind? Now living in San Francisco, Dan is passionately working to bridge the gap between Atlantic Canada and Silicon Valley. “… One of Canada’s best business minds …” is how one individual who worked with Dan describes him. Dan has also played a major role in motivating web/IT entrepreneurs in New Brunswick.

Speaking of the web, if you have ever launched a website I am sure the following sentence will resonate as you waited for traffic to pick up: “There’s nothing sadder than a site that just sits there.” Promoting a website online is tough – with millions of pages being served with the same keyword or key phrase as yours. A small business may not have the deep pockets to waste money on expensive online ads or consultants. That’s where Flowtown comes in.

Here is what Dan has to say about how Flowtown will help small business owners.

Dan: It need not be emphasized that pulling prospects in – the right prospect – is the objective of any marketing initiative. But it’s a tough job to do online. Not all small business owners have the resources or the expertise to develop a SEO compliant website. Even if they do develop their website, typically it ends up more like deadweight in cyberspace. Frustration sets in and the quest for active online lead generation is abandoned for more traditional methods or more good money is thrown after the bad. However, using Flowtown’s technology we can develop landing pages for their website. Small business owners can then measure their cost per lead and optimize their online presence based on their objectives. Flowtown is designed to help small businesses generate money by making sure the website meets the measurable objectives.

CA: Dan, you hit the nail on the head. I recently requested some candid feedback on LinkedIn. I got some great responses, from which I am assuming they are experts in their field. However, no one asked me what my objectives for this blog were? I did implement some of the things that were mentioned because it made sense but I am still hoping that someone will question me on my objectives.

I digress. So as a business owner, you have had your objectives – your goals. How do you translate that into action from your employees? What kind of management style is best suited to grow a startup to success?

Dan: Only the CEO has the furthest vision; i.e. only the leader can see furthest. They know what the end might look like. Often times employees don’t. CEOs and leaders must communicate that vision to employees at every opportunity. In fact I believe that’s the only job the CEO should have - create a vision, communicate it to employees, customer and other stakeholders; go to the market with that vision. If the market conditions change then adjust your tactics or in extreme cases your vision. Never stop the cycle – plan, test, tweak, plan, test, tweak… But everybody in the organization must be pulling in the same direction. The key term here is “the same direction”. There is no use having enthusiastic employees all pulling hard but in various directions.

What tools did you use to make sure your employees know the direction?

Dan: We do not celebrate our successes enough. When your moving quickly to create something big and meaningful, you sometimes forget to celebrate along the way. I am constantly looking at ways to reinforce the good work done by our employees. For example, if a customer has said something positive about the company, I take it back to the employees. I explain to them how their work furthered the company strategy. If an employee or team was singled out, then I make sure I talk to them and again relate it back to our strategic goals. Talking about current successes and relating it back to strategic goals is a great way to reinforce the belief in the company’s vision. People need to be constantly reminded that their work contributes to the company achieving its strategic vision.

What you have said just reinforces what I have been talking about in this blog all this time. Get a goal, get a BHAG and work towards it. And you have seen success along this way. What would be your advice to an individual considering entrepreneurship as an option?

Dan: One - Make sure you get advice from people who have done it before; people who are entrepreneurs. Talk to entrepreneurs whose businesses did not flourish to learn from their mistakes. You do not have to follow the same path and make their mistakes. However, don’t ask parents, friends, teachers and others you trust who are not entrepreneurs. They are your well wishers and would not want you to fail. So they play it safe. So following their advice may limiting.

Two - Become a lifelong student of marketing: This includes all aspects of marketing including sales. You will always need to market a product, service or idea. It does not matter if you customers are going to be internal or external. At the very least, you will need to convince people to buy into your vision. Not understanding marketing principles will significantly limit your success.

Three - Finally, create what you think about, but do not limit what you think. Think big and be the absolute best you can. For example, if you want to set up a business selling widgets strive to be the best at it. Do not compromise on this advice. Even if your geographic market is limited to your city, be the best in your city.

CA: Dan, on behalf of the readers of Atlantic Canada’s Small Business Blog, I’d like to thank you for sharing your business insights. All the best with your new venture.

• CEO Insights - Rivers Corbett @ The Marketing FactoryRivers is a very interesting individual. The enthusiasm in his...
• 10 sites to help you execute your strategy successfullyThe Mawhinney group of companies in Saint John, NB recently...
• Leadership in the era of economic uncertainty - ReviewLeading in the best of times has been a challenge....
• Once upon a dollarHow would you react when you notice a bunch of...