Making an Expo “Work!”

September greetings everyone!

I have always loved the month of September.

Growing up in Upstate New York, September signaled the end of summer (quite literally).  There was a crispness in the air in the morning.  The trees would start turning their magnificent array of colors and the sounds and smells in the air were quite different than the months prior.

Obviously, living in Houston, Texas, September is more like an extension of August, with the exception of the anticipation of the fall home & garden shows, craft shows, and (of course) business conferences and expos.

Several noteworthy conferences for small business owners and aspiring entrepreneurs in September and October are the Houston Minority Supplier Development Council’s Business Expo 2014 ( www.hmsdc.org), September 24th & 25th, the Transportation Diversity Council’s 1st Annual Southwest Transportation & Infrastructure Summit ( www.tdc-ntl.org ), October 10, 2014, and the Houston Small Business Expo (www.HoustonSmallBusinessExpo.com), October 11^th.  Small Business Today Magazine is indeed proud to be a media sponsor of all three of these events.

Whether you are an attendee or exhibitor at one of these or other business conferences this year, I don’t have to tell you that these conference and expos are huge investments for everyone (often requiring travel/lodging expenses, man hours, exhibit costs, promotional costs, etc., not to mention the price of attending the conference.  They can be a huge waste of time and money or be a major catalyst to growing your business; it just depends on what your purpose of being there is and your goals for the conference.  I am a veteran of hundreds of these both as an exhibitor and as an attendee.

Here is a list of some things that will make your attendance more profitable:

1.      Set your goal as to what you would ideally like to accomplish.

2.      Your pre-conference preparation will play a major role in your ability to reach those goals that you want to achieve while you are there.

3.      Connect through social media with those individuals who you are counting on meeting there.  Possibly arrange a pre- or post- meeting appointment.

4.      Take the time to visit with all the exhibitors.  Each are experts in their phase of your business and may have the answers to your immediate  needs and/or be an excellent source of referrals.

5.      “Be on a mission” while you are there.  Take advantage of every opportunity to connect with everyone.  You never know who may be in a position to aid your businesses growth into the coming year!

6.      For exhibitors, engage as many attendees in conversation as possible. Look and act like you are there to do business.

Conferences and expos can be an amazing source of business if you are committed to making them so!

If you are attending HMSDC’s Business Expo 2014, please come by our booths 525 and 624 and drop your business card in the bowl for a chance to win a $2,200 multi-media package.  We’d love to chat with you and you might also get to meet this month’s Cover Honoree, Martha Ceballos with ELP Enterprises Inc.  Martha is one of the recipients of HMSDC’s “Emerging 10” awards and is on this month’s cover with that award.

It is time to let you get started on this very special issue.

Good Reading, Good Sales, and Great Success to You,

Steve Levine

President & Executive Publisher

sbtmagazine.net

Give Up, Give In or Give It All You Got!

 

August greetings everyone!

As Executive Publisher of SMALL BUSINESS TODAY and Co-host of SMALL BUSINESS TODAY MAGAZINE TALK SHOW, I have the opportunity to go one-on-one with some of Houston’s most successful entrepreneurs who have built multi-million dollar and sometimes multi-billion dollar businesses despite the odds against their doing so. They also share with Barbara and I their thoughts on creating wealth, starting and growing a successful business and happiness.

All of these amazing business leaders have offered up the same piece of advice: “Don’t quit at halftime!” If starting and growing a successful business were easy, then anyone could do it. It takes passion, purpose and perseverance.

I am not ashamed to share with you that almost every endeavor that I have succeeded at (apartment leasing, residential real estate and “Yes” advertising sales and publishing (which I am now in my 36^th year of that pursuit), professional speaker and trainer, etc.). I was convinced early on that each was not for me and wanted to quit each one. Luckily, there was always someone there to talk me out of quitting.

My very dear friend and monthly columnist Ruben Gonzalez shares in this issue a little of his own story and early fears in an article entitled, “What’s Holding You Back?”

Ruben shares with us that when he decided to take up the sport of luge and train for the Olympics four years away, he knew he had two major obstacles to overcome. Two things that HAD to happen or else he would be watching the Olympics on TV: first, he had to learn how to luge (back then he couldn't even spell luge) and second, he had to be ranked in the top 50 lugers in the world to qualify to compete in the Olympics. Ruben would only have only two luge seasons to learn how to slide, because the last two seasons he needed to race internationally to work on his world ranking. Most people would have looked at those obstacles and quit before they got started!

You can read the story of how he succeeded in "The Courage to Succeed." What's more important than the rest of the story is how YOU can develop the mental toughness to
look at an obstacle and become fired up and excited about the challenge ahead.

This month’s cover honoree, Elizabeth Stone had every reason to give up after setbacks that would have put any small business owner out of business! Being flooded out by Tropical Storm Allison, having major setbacks as a result of 9/11 and the Enron crash she had more than enough reason to close her doors then. Add to that that Elizabeth had drained all of her cash building out a new facility and due to the recent incidences, her business sales dropped off by 40%.   Over the next three years, Elizabeth “begged and borrowed” to keep herself and her company alive and her doors open.  She became really behind paying her vendors and went to everyone in person and said, “I can’t pay you what I owe you right now but I need to keep doing business.  I promise that I will pay you back every single penny.  If you let me pay C.O.D. on every new order, I will pay you an extra $50 each time until I have paid you in full.”  It took Elizabeth six years but she paid back everyone she owed! 

Elizabeth reflected, “It made me a stronger person.  I have the same vendors today.  I am loyal to the ones who worked with me and they have trust, faith, and respect for me because they know I paid every penny back even when so many people did not!”

It is time to let you get started on this very special issue.

 

Good Reading, Good Sales, and Success to You,

 

 

 

Steve Levine

President & Executive Publisher