Stomp This! A Business Model with Style

I went to see Stomp! with my family in Sacramento a couple of nights ago. One of those ‘we are not having enough fun in our lives’ moments where we went online and got 5th row seat 6 hours before show time.

Fantastic show (if you dont know what Stomp! is, here is a link to the official Stomp! website)

What I found to be even more interesting is the business model of a show like this. It’s the same as others like it (e.g., Blue Man Group, Cirque du Soleil) but it was the first time I really thought about it.

Sort of like a franchise except without all the FTC BS.  It’s pretty simple and I suspect amazingly profitable:

Come up with an idea for a performance, make it happen, perfect it, do it many many times until it is viral or popular enough to expand, replicate.

Once the guys who started Stomp did the above and had a core group that performed and constantly sold out shows, they trained another cast so 2 performances could be ongoing at the same time.  And then another, and another.  Dont want to do too many or the market gets saturated.  Pretty soon, they have trained the trainers and they just do whatever part of this business they want to.

Like branch out into the creation of a DVD.  Or an IMAX special film.  Etc.  They get royalties from everything since it was their intellectual capital that started it all.  All passive income sources.  Scalable, expandable, etc.

Very entrepreneurial.  Very nice.

Recession Proof Your Life Part 5

This is the 5th and final installment of my series on Recession Proofing Your Life.  In this blog, I talk about where you really want to be going in the long(er) run and that is owning your own business, the statistically best chance for you to become a millionaire.

Part 5 – The Real Opportunity

In my wealth coaching practice (a hybrid of business and life coaching), I have talked to any number of people – peers and clients – who have said “losing my job was one of the best things that ever happened to me.” ‘Why is that?’ you might ask. Because it forces us to re-evaluate our job situation and, hopefully, the rest of our lives. We all too often get weighed down by “what is.” What we’re used to, the status quo, not rocking the boat, etc. Often, we attach far too much importance to a J.O.B. and rely on them not only for our self esteem, but as the focal point around which our lives are defined.  Some people are lucky and really love their jobs. The last I checked, the percentages who claimed this mythical status was in the low 20% of those employed for someone else (the number goes up significantly for the self-employed). In general, being an employee turns out to be better than nothing (quite often a true statement) and the path of least resistance.   In the current economic climate, the best job in the world could indeed be the one you have (last Friday’s unemployment numbers were the worst in years) so let me say this again: THERE IS NOTHING WRONG WITH HAVING A JOB.  However, in my experience, the employee route is typically - there are always exceptions - antithetical to growth and keeps us from our full potential as human beings. Read more

Free Financial Literacy and Business Training Courses

This is a quick post to let anyone who is reading my blog to have access to this really cool blog posting that I found today.  It is a collection of free resources/courseware (lectures, problems. white papers) from leading universities (MIT, Carnegie-Mellon, Columbia, etc.) on entrepreneurship, business and finances.  They range from good, everyday guidance and info to more esoteric stuff which is of questionable value to anyone but a rocket scientist.

But, it’s all free and chance to get something from the leading educational institutions without selling your first born.

You can find it all at this entry from the Cultivate Greatness blog.

This is Your Future … Bailing out Walls Street’s Donkey

Most people remember - or have heard about - the old commercial, “This is your brain” (holds up an egg).  “this is your brain on drugs (shows the egg frying in a pan).

The commentator then asks, “Any questions?”

This is analogous to what King Henry (Paulson) and Big Ben Bernanke are doing to your future, and more specifically, the future of your kids, your grandkids, etc.  This bailout plan - or whatever they call it - is so much more of the wrong thing.

• They tell us it’s necessary (they are scared to death by the way … they have to say something). Read more
  Filed Under: Entrepreneurship, Markets and Money, Personal Finance
  Tagged: government bailout, Personal Finance

  Entrepreneurship Is On Hold

  September 13, 2008 by Mark T. Rafter · Leave a Comment 

  I’m serious … I’ll write more about this soon but the realization just hit me that the approach I have been taking with clients and in my talks to various groups about being more entrepreneurial may be less appropriate given the current economic climate.

  I’m going to have to think more about this …  stay tuned, check back soon, dont be a buffoon stay away from monsoons.

  You don’t need a Weatherman to know which way the wind blows.

  Indeed.

  Filed Under: Entrepreneurship, Small Business, economy
  Tagged: Entrepreneurship, recession, starting a company