The Chain of Revenue
Over the last few weeks, I have been reviewing the services my company offers and where the greatest potential sources of revenue are. Determining my company’s value chain and its place in it will allow me to better explore where I can capture a higher profit margin or even determine a new service/product offering, to enhance the service I provide for my clients (and capture more revenue).
The value chain can best be defined as the link of activities involved in creating, distributing, and maintaining an end product or service. These activities range from the acquisition of raw materials to providing after-market service. This business framework was made popular by Harvard professor Michael E. Porter in his book Competitive Advantage.
Understanding your value chain helps you understand your competitive advantage and can enhance the way you do business. You may want to add to your offerings by adding a couple of services that you could easily do but your customers currently go elsewhere for. Maybe there is a firm that you usually refer business to but never receive a return from – could you service that business yourself and capture the entire transaction? Subcontract the other firm to still provide the service but include the service as a part of your package, adding a little on top to make sure it is profitable for your firm. Doing this would relieve your customer of having to deal with another company and portray you as more of a lifesaver than you were before – WIN!
Leave a comment to let us know the results of your value chain review and how it will affect your business.
What is the business equivalent of the Olympics?
Over the last week, I have really been into the 2010 Vancouver Olympics. I have never really watched the Winter Olympics before, but from the opening show to pair figure skating and so on, these games have really caught my attention. I have been impressed with how many of these athletes have competed and end up giving their personal best (according to the announcers). The camaraderie of the country teams and their pride to represent their country is outstanding. Outside of when I participated in sports in high school, I don’t think I have heard the US National Anthem so much, not since I was in elementary school in Illinois.
I have watched these games wondering where the business equivalent is. I know the Grammys and Oscars are for entertainers, but what about people in business. Is our success only measured by the amount of profit we bring in? There are competitions such as SBA National Small Business of the Year and top lists here and there that measure so many different factors (from Working Mother‘s and Black Enterprise‘s many lists to Inc. 5000 to Fortune 500 and so on) – would these be the equivalent?
On another (and even greater) note, these games really say a lot about being a part of a team. This evening, I watched the Super-G Alpine Skiing competition with Team USA’s Lindsey Vonn. After winning the Bronze medal (she won the Gold medal in Ladies’ Downhill skiing a few days ago), she was interviewed, discussing how supportive Team USA has been for each other. Paraphrasing, she explained how their individual wins encourage each other to keep competing at their best.
Realizing this motivation is one reason I am so excited to be a part of a newly formed “team.” Remember when I discussed creating your own community? Well, the group has been formed and we are in the midst of creating our individual goals so that our respective businesses will be the best we can have them be at every step. None of our businesses are competitive and that was really by happenstance… they are actually quite complementary but that isn’t what we are in it for. We know that we can perform better by motivating each other and holding each other accountable instead of working in silos.
Maybe THAT is the equivalent of the Olympics, business and otherwise – performing at our personal best!
October 2009: My Entrepreneurial Journey
Over the last couple of weeks, I have been looking at what to do to increase my income and still harness this drive I have around entrepreneurship. This blog has been very helpful with keeping me motivated to keep it moving (along with having these two babies). I know that I want to develop my business offline – pursuing more paying clients and output. To do that I have:
- attended a couple of business networking meetings as discussed in my blog post The 30 Sec Sell! and have been invited to more
- reached out to my network as suggested in the post Leveraging Your Rolodex… to seek business building opportunities
- submitted my first physical ad to run throughout the year in 2010
I am also building my presence online via the following methods:
- updating my website to attract new clients
- continuing to update this blog on a weekly basis, really to help me grow and share information with you as suggested in the post Seth Godin and Tom Peters on Blogging
- placing my blog in multiple directories so that others interested in entrepreneurship will have an easy way to find me
- joined The Millionaire Journey, a group of like-minded people also seeking to grow their income via multiple methods. It has been good to be connected as suggested in the post Create Your Own Community… fortunately, I did not have to create this one (but I’m working on that)
- created a Facebook fan page for YB Consulting to share with those I know
What I plan to do over the next couple of months are the following:
- Identify a couple of mentors that are considered “entrepreneur experts” and learn about what they do with that energy
- Find a networking group to join that I enjoy and will attend consistently
- Promote myself with organizations and people I could potentially partner with to optimally serve entrepreneurs as suggested in the post Partnering for Success
- Identify speaking opportunities in the area to share what I know and market my expertise
- Increase weekly blog posts including posts related to current, relevant news regarding entrepreneur and small business matters
- Create a few online forums to share information with and connect related individuals
- Create electronic products to share information online and develop another revenue stream. The first product I will do is an ebook based off the presentation below that I created for NSBE Alumni RTP a few years ago:
So as you see, I have a busy couple of months ahead of me. None of this includes Cardinal Business Strategies, Inc, the latest business I have founded. Every year, I get contacted by MBA students looking for internships with YB Consulting. I would LOVE to take on interns next year because of having sooo much work to do…
Not only am I providing information about entrepreneurship, I AM an entrepreneur and loving every minute of it!
Has this blog given you relevant information and inspiration for your business? What do you plan to do over the next couple of months to build business, particularly related to connecting to others? Please leave your comments.
October 2009: My Entrepreneurial Journey
Over the last couple of weeks, I have been looking at what to do to increase my income and still harness this drive I have around entrepreneurship. This blog has been very helpful with keeping me motivated to keep it moving (along with having these two babies). I know that I want to develop my business offline – pursuing more paying clients and output. To do that I have:
- attended a couple of business networking meetings as discussed in my blog post The 30 Sec Sell! and have been invited to more
- reached out to my network as suggested in the post Leveraging Your Rolodex… to seek business building opportunities
- submitted my first physical ad to run throughout the year in 2010
I am also building my presence online via the following methods:
- updating my website to attract new clients
- continuing to update this blog on a weekly basis, really to help me grow and share information with you as suggested in the post Seth Godin and Tom Peters on Blogging
- placing my blog in multiple directories so that others interested in entrepreneurship will have an easy way to find me
- joined The Millionaire Journey, a group of like-minded people also seeking to grow their income via multiple methods. It has been good to be connected as suggested in the post Create Your Own Community… fortunately, I did not have to create this one (but I’m working on that)
- created a Facebook fan page for YB Consulting to share with those I know
What I plan to do over the next couple of months are the following:
- Identify a couple of mentors that are considered “entrepreneur experts” and learn about what they do with that energy
- Find a networking group to join that I enjoy and will attend consistently
- Promote myself with organizations and people I could potentially partner with to optimally serve entrepreneurs as suggested in the post Partnering for Success
- Identify speaking opportunities in the area to share what I know and market my expertise
- Increase weekly blog posts including posts related to current, relevant news regarding entrepreneur and small business matters
- Create a few online forums to share information with and connect related individuals
- Create electronic products to share information online and develop another revenue stream. The first product I will do is an ebook based off the presentation below that I created for NSBE Alumni RTP a few years ago:
So as you see, I have a busy couple of months ahead of me. None of this includes Cardinal Business Strategies, Inc, the latest business I have founded. Every year, I get contacted by MBA students looking for internships with YB Consulting. I would LOVE to take on interns next year because of having sooo much work to do…
Not only am I providing information about entrepreneurship, I AM an entrepreneur and loving every minute of it!
Has this blog given you relevant information and inspiration for your business? What do you plan to do over the next couple of months to build business, particularly related to connecting to others? Please leave your comments.
I’m Telling You, It Works
I read a really great article at Black Enterprise’s website about business owners using their combined resources for a bigger bang. The article, Implementing a Strategic Partnership, provides real world examples of what can happen when business owners join together, especially during these times, to grow individually and support their communities.
