I just wrote about young entrepreneurs so I think I’ll roll with that topic a little more. I had said that many young entrepreneurs, and I include myself in this group, take the risk of starting a business because they are naive or “clueless”. I meant this as a positive. I also think that at a young age you may be more aggressive and assertive. There are times when dogged determination must prevail over ego or logic. I’ll give you a few examples from the Axxess early days.
This is how I often felt selling Axxess books
- Every Saturday morning, I would go the farmer’s market with a backpack full of Axxess Books and two cups of coffee from Roco. I’d stand behind a cement partition that runs the length of the parking lot on Santa Barbara Street and display the Axxess Book on top of it. I wasn’t allowed to have a booth at the market and I probably couldn’t have afforded one anyway, so this was my only option. I rarely even sold one book and more often than not left without a sale at all. It was embarrassing to see friends, old school pals, and even girls I was trying to get dates with and having to stand there and peddle my “coupon book” as people called it. But I didn’t care. I knew that by standing there hundreds of people who walked by would at least see the product and heard (willingly or not) my 8 second pitch. Week after week I’d see many of the same people and eventually people either felt bad for me or thought I had heart – so they’d buy a book. I even landed an advertising client who was in the program for nearly five years. It was rough, getting there each weekend and putting on enthusiasm and a smile – but as I learned, combine that with persistence and that’s often all it takes.
- After we published our first book in 1999 we realized we hadn’t’ given much thought to how we were going to market or sell Axxess Books. At the time, we honestly thought we just needed to make the product and the sales would follow. We created a brochure, put them all around town and waited for the phone to ring. And waited, and waited. With zero sales we were perplexed. We had seen other programs work with schools so we called a few and begged them to try our “fundraiser”. They’d never heard of us and unsurprisingly weren’t interested. Somehow, we ended up partnering with the local chapter of the Special Olympics. We agreed to give them $10 per sale if we could promote the Axxess Book as a fundraiser for their organization. The catch was that we had to do the door to door sales, and I say ‘we” meaning my partner Nate & I. So everyday, around 4:30 we’d put on our Special Olympics polo shirts (that we had to buy) and go knocking door to door. Now, this was miserable and we dreaded it every day because the last thing people want to deal with right when they get home from work is two Jackasses trying to show off their biceps in polo shirts while selling a book they’d 1) never heard of and 2) had very little in it. Plus, the Card concept was sort of new and for some reason people couldn’t understand why the pages didn’t have perforations on them (to tear out the offer) and what the card even did. All we hoped for was a cash sale so we could get some pizza and maybe a few beers – and the payday rarely came. But in retrospect, even shortly thereafter we knew that those days pounding the streets were excellent training. For me personally, it helped me develop a thick skin and learn some true fundamentals about the sales game. And as I said, we definitely didn’t’ look or feel very cool, but we had to do what we had to do. My shareholders may not have received a check or a return on their investment for a few years but at least they knew we were trying!
Hopefully I can dig up some other stories to share in the future. If any young entrepreneurs are out there and reading this or anyone considering starting a business of their own – just remember, do whatever it takes (within reason of course!) no matter how embarrassing it may feel. In the end you’ll hopefully learn something, you may even sell something, and people will admire you for giving it your all.
