I’ve spent the last few days with Matt Hoover, winner of Season 2 of The Biggest Loser. I first met Matt when he came to one of my events and he has been a quiet inspiration to me since. But, since he’s been here, I’ve had the opportunity to really talk to him and listen to what he says and it is changing me.

Matt is here training for the 2012 Olympics as a Greco Roman wrestler. He trains at least three times a day, he rigorously monitors his diet, all while he runs his business with his wife. Oh, and he just completed the Ironman World Championships in Kona, HI (2.5 mile swim, 112 mile bike ride and a marathon all in the same day).

I’ve literally NEVER heard Matt make an excuse for anything, ever. He doesn’t complain, he just does. And he does it again and again and again, no matter what. So this morning when Matt got up and told me about this I was more than a little surprised, turns out Matt is human but he does something you and I often don’t he explains it all in his blog.

In one of our discussions Matt says to me “Everyone should do something they think is impossible at least once in their life.” That really got me thinking. I mean here is a guy who was massive when he made up his mind to go on a television show, he lost more weight than anyone else on the show, married another contestant on the show, had two amazing boys and built a thriving business all while others in reality TV publicly melt down, fall apart or abruptly fade away. Matt wakes up and does something impossible every day. Matt is not out to win a personality contest (though I have no doubt if that were important to him he’d win that too) he’s out to win what matters to him and he’s relentless in the pursuit.

In a short time the topic came around to business. I completely agree with Matt, every Entrepreneur needs to do one thing they think is impossible in their life with their business. I’m the first to admit I haven’t done anything impossible with my business in a long time but worse, I haven’t tried. I’ve had tremendous success in the past and I’ve done well through a tough economy. And, there are so many opportunities in the middle of a bad economic crisis but I’ve played it safe, I’ve focused on maintaining not thriving (more about that soon) and I’ve allowed myself to be comfortable rather than take more chances. I violated a core tenant I’ve lived my life by and built my business on, Matt helped me see that.

Matt takes chances, he makes things happen, he pushes himself beyond what most of us would consider human and not just in one area of his life where it is comfortable, in every area of his life. The result is that he accomplishes regularly what most people only dream of, in life, in business, and in his relationship.

There is no reason not to thrive in this economy, even if it means changing what you do. There is no reason not to accomplish all you’ve ever wanted to in life even if it means working harder than you ever have. There is no reason not to do one thing that is impossible because you’ve never done it before.

I want to encourage you and challenge you to include in the comments below the one thing you want to do that is impossible in your life and/or in your business in the coming year. Don’t hold back, be bold. I’ll share mine with you shortly as well.

This Bukowski poem (recited by Bono) exemplifies what it means to be bold and go all the way.

Grains of Montana is a small restaurant and bakery franchise that opened up about a mile and a half from my house. It was located in the back of a business complex on a very busy corner between two Marriott hotels. It was difficult to see from the road but they did occasionally put up a roadside sign talking about breakfast.

They were open for several months and I finally stopped in (It took me a long time because I incorrectly thought they were Montana Wheat, another group of restaurants in Boise which were in and out and which served primarily high carb meals which I don’t eat regularly. When I stopped in, I found out that they actually had a very extensive menu plus the best non-fat, sugar free Chai tea I’ve ever had. Two days later I went back and they were closed . . . for good. I decided to do a little research to learn more about the chain. I looked at their website and there are only three (now two) locations and the cost to open a Grains of Montana restaurant $551,00 – $684,000! Over half a million dollars to open a restaurant that serves pizza, sandwiches, and coffee drinks. I don’t care how good it is, the amount you have to sell to make that make sense is tremendous, especially for a chain that isn’t well known like McDonalds or Burger King or even Baja Fresh. But here is the kicker, after you spend all they say (from their website FAQ) this:

“What about other costs? There are additional costs such as
advertising, licenses, utility deposits, uniforms, food and small wares
inventory, and working capital. These costs should be $22,500 to
$27,500. If you choose to obtain a beverage license, additional costs
will be incurred.”

Ok, here is the problem, if you spend $684,000 on building a restaurant, you need to spend more than $27,500 (less licenses, utility deposits, food and small wares inventory and working capital) on advertising! Come on, really? After you take away all of those other things you have maybe half of that left, to spend on advertising. This is a recipe for failure fast.

Here are some ways to kill your small business quickly.

1. Choose a poor location - Sometimes the best use of your marketing budget can be to get a better location than the one you are in. In the case of this restaurant, they were in what would appear to be a busy area but they were in the back of the strip mall area, hidden behind a Taco Bell, a Qdoba, and a Pita Pit.

2. Don’t advertise - If you build it, it is very unlikely they will come if they don’t know about you. I pay a lot of attention to ads because that is a big part of my business, other than their sign and one mailing, I never heard about Grains of Montana when they opened or after. I’m not going to say they didn’t do more but if they did it wasn’t effective at getting my attention.

3. Create poor advertising – If you let the advertising media (radio, newspaper, mailer, tv) create your ads they are very unlikely to be effective. If you use the same people who write, create and voice ads for every other business in your category, you’ll end up with ads that look and sound like every other ad in your category.

4. Don’t create an experience for people to remember - Sandwich/pizza/coffee restaurants are a dime a dozen. If you just think that your signage and decor are going to cause people to get excited you are wrong. If you think that your food alone will do it you are wrong. There are too many choices, many that is similar to yours. Having a good product or service isn’t enough anymore, exceptional is the expectation.

5. Over invest in the business up front - Spend like you are a thriving business and don’t act like a start up is one of the fastest ways to fail. In the case of the local Grains of Montana, the franchise is very new and the investment is very high. If you invest most of your money in opening and not enough in promotion you are most likely short lived.

So what to do to Instead?

1. Choose your location well – Especially in the case of retail and restaurants, location
truly is everything, get in the best, most visible location you can
find. It would appear that Grains of Montana would have been in a good
location between two hotels but they were hidden from everyone but one
of the hotels. If your business relies on impulse, fast repeat business
and ease of access, spend more on that. In this case, not only were
they hidden, they were hard to get into and out of.

2. You have to be seen to sell – Budget enough money and talent to impact your marketplace. Marketing is a marathon not a sprint, you need to have enough resources to last through opening. You also need to leverage current influence technologies like social media. It is important that you hit your potential market from as many different media as possible to create effective long term memories. You must also create a real reason to believe what you say is true and the experience had better prove it.

3. Create ads that matter – Ads have to cause people to stop and listen or read. You must spend time creating ads that are different and bring a different message to the market. The time you spend really thinking about what matters to your potential consumers and giving them a real reason to believe it is true will pay off in sale after sale. Don’t use overused voices and talent in your ads. When you use voices on the radio or television that are on radio and television every day (for example disc jockeys or newscasters) you lose. Their voices are so over saturated that they simply move into the background. Hire the best talent you can afford and leverage it.

4. Create an experience to remember – People want to be amazed, amused, entertained, shocked, surprised, and thrilled. They want their expectation to meet the experience. Think about how you can create an environment, a culture, an experience that people can’t forget. Not to beat a dead horse, but Zappos does it extremely well. Zero in sales ten years ago to over a billion in sales now. Experience is everything and it doesn’t happen without a great deal of thought and dedication to implementing not only with the customer but empowering every member of your staff to be sure the expectation is met with an incredible experience.

5. Act like a bootstrapping start up – Even if you have the money to buy the franchise, ask yourself the question “If I hired the top consultant in the industry to help me start this business could I be as successful and save much more than I’ll spend?” This is especially important in the case of buying newer franchises. If I were the Grains of Montana people I would have purchased as much used equipment as possible, I would have negotiated every dime of the contract and every single purchase. The more money you take away from the top line investment you add back to your ability to market sell, or extend operating capital. I’d also compare very closely the cost of hiring the best consultant or start up restaurant person for six months to help me create my own restaurant versus buying a new franchise with such a large investment up front. For a unique look at how Brandon Wright owner of Ultra Clean a disaster clean up company gets others to pay for his advertising right click here and choose save target as to download the mp3, this is a great study in how to make things happen and how to market well.

There is plenty of money to be made in this economy in any business but there is no room for silly mistakes. Small businesses have to focus on doing things right, doing them better than the competition, and doing them ruthless consistency.