For Love and Money

Hiring Your First Employees

In the old days--anywhere from centuries ago to even the 1980s--the word "entrepreneur" often conjured up images of money-grubbing men like railroad barons, bankers or the famed character Alex P. Keaton on Family Ties. Nowadays, however, we know better. Entrepreneurs are like everyone else. We have hopes, dreams, mortgages and responsibilities, too.

Some entrepreneurs are even hopeless romantics. While they want to be rich like anyone else, romance is also on their minds. Their mission is to bring people together, and year round, their offices look like the inside of a Valentine's Day card.

Get in the mood for romance--and prepare to blush a little--as we honor 10 entrepreneurs who have full wallets and full hearts.

Romantic-Minded Entrepreneur: Joshua Levs, 34
Name of Business: MagicProposals.com
What the business does: Helps bachelors come up with the most magical marriage proposal possible
Founded: August 2006
Location: Atlanta
Employees: 0, but he has numerous contractors with whom he works, including videographers and editors who capture the proposals on film

There's something about this business: Levs was a reporter before he began MagicProposals, and he'd had his fill of covering bad news. "Bombings, terrorism, war, Katrina, political divisiveness. They're important stories, but they do eat away at your soul," he says. "Doing this is soul-restoring work. It's about the best in people." Of course, this begs the question: Has anyone turned down one of these magical proposals? "No," says Levs, "but I did have one guy who started to work with me, and we met and started planning. Then he and his girlfriend broke up. He talked to me about how difficult and painful it was." Levs concedes that someday, a "no" is almost inevitable, but until then, he's going to keep helping create magical moments for couples. "Love is life's greatest experience, the reason to live," says Levs, who, yes, is happily married.

Romantic-Minded Entrepreneur: Alexi Faucher, 47
Name of Business: Seduction and Spice
What the business does: Caters romantic dinners
Founded: 2003, though it wasn't a full-time business until last year
Location: Phoenix, Arizona
Employees: 0, but she occasionally uses contractors

There's something about this business: Faucher's business is still in the startup phase, but with projections of $70,000 by the end of this year, she's making a living--and racking up a lifetime of interesting memories. She has catered meals in the back of a limousine for a surprise birthday, as well as in someone's hot tub and another person's hammock. The best part of the business, though, is knowing that she's helping create memories for her clients. "After the stage is set, I take one last look to make sure everything's as perfect as it can be," says Faucher, who then generally disappears, since after all--John Ritter's classic sitcom excepted--two is company, but three's a crowd.

The hardest thing about running her business isn't setting the mood or the table; it's marketing. Faucher has to convince couples that romantic dinners aren't just for Valentine's Day or a birthday or anniversary. Sometimes, "just because" is a good enough reason to give that special someone a romantic dinner.

Romantic-Minded Entrepreneurs: Nicole Matthias, 28, and Catherine Nutt, 37
Name of Business: BadFun.com
What the business does: Sells romantic and slightly naughty gift baskets. Their tag line is, "It's fun to be bad."
Founded: 2005
Location: Hoboken, New Jersey
Employees: 3

There's something about this business: Given that BadFun is projected to hit $1.2 million in revenue before the year is up, there's no question that there's revenue to be found in selling items like the "On Fire Seduction Basket," which comes with edible underwear, sex position manuals and other unmentionables one normally doesn't find in a business article. And then there are the other gift collections like the Ultimate Bondage Basket and Advanced Submission Basket. Still, Matthias notes, "There is absolutely no nudity or potentially offensive content on BadFun.com, which is what sets our shopping experience apart from other sites." She says that their store allows "women and couples to purchase relationship enhancers in a tasteful, mainstream environment."

While the revenue stream is surely nice, Matthias says that one of the most satisfying aspects of owning the company is "when our customers follow up with us and let us know that BadFun helped them to bring the spark back into their relationship."

Romantic-Minded Entrepreneur: Jani Zubkovs, 51
Name of Business: Bonnie's Gang (named after his wife … awww)
What the business does: Sells the trademarked Tonight's the Night "love kit"
Founded: 1996
Location: Long Island, New York
Employees: 0; Zubkovs outsources everything

There's something about this business: Eleven years ago, Zubkovs began selling his "love kit," which consists of aspirin, a shot glass, a moist towelette, love gel, a candle and a condom. So far, he's sold more than 100,000 units of the product. And since then, Zubkovs has expanded into publishing, writing Tonight's the Night … No More Excuses and other books with titles that we'll just leave to the imagination. Zubkovs also is a speaker and a sex workshop facilitator. Interesting.

So we asked how he responds when, say, his conservative Aunt Esther asks him about his job. "Many of my relatives, especially the older ones, think I don't work," says an amused Zubkovs. "Even my mom used to say to me, ‘What do you do all day? Sleep?'" He admits, "Sometimes I tell people I work in Home Depot. It's a lot easier."

Romantic-Minded Entrepreneur: Amy Graybeal, 25
Name of Business: Magic of Romance Inc.
What the business does: Arranges romantic travel for couples
Founded: 2005
Location: Atlanta
Employees: 1

There's something about this business: Graybeal's business began as an assignment at Georgia Tech in 2004. An overachiever, she turned the full-fledged business plan into an actual business. Now the growing startup tailors each client's trip to his or her own tastes and interests, much like a luxury travel concierge. For instance, if you want to waltz the night away at a Viennese ball, be serenaded in a gondola in Venice, or have a romantic evening out in Atlanta or Albany, Graybeal and her executive director will plan and plot every detail.

"I'll have to tell my husband about that," is the comment Graybeal most often hears from prospective female clients. So far, only one planned trip hit a snag that "no amount of romance could fix. The client ended up catching the stomach flu," says Graybeal, who had a room waiting for the couple in Las Vegas decorated with rose petals and candles, among other surprises. But there was a happy ending; the couple was able to postpone the trip until they were both healthy.

Romantic-Minded Entrepreneur: Rev. Laurie Sue Brockway, 50
Name of Business: WeddingGoddess.com
What the business does: Romance coaching and wedding preparation/officiating. Brockway also has written numerous books, including Wedding Goddess: A Divine Guide to Transforming Wedding Stress into Wedding Bliss
Founded: 1999
Location: New York City
Employees: 0, unless we count a part-time cyber assistant

There's something about this business: "Since I specialize in marrying couples of different faiths and cultural backgrounds, I feel like a cheerleader for love," Brockway says. "People who are meant to be together are not always from the same religion or culture. I celebrate the common denominator between them--love--and try to help them blend their families and traditions as they blend their lives."

Brockway, who says it's "very happy work," has married hundreds of couples, each with "such unique and amazing stories." She adds that weddings between people of different faiths and cultural backgrounds are touching and often healing for the couples and their families. One of the most memorable weddings for her was marrying a Hindu groom and a Jewish bride in a ceremony that she had written for them that included many rituals from both faiths. "Both of their moms were so religious and so concerned about the marriage," Brockway recalls. "However, when they witnessed the ceremony, they realized the two faiths had many similarities and that this couple had found a way to blend their faiths, their lives, their families."

Romantic-Minded Entrepreneur: Kathy M. Newbern, 51, and J.S. Fletcher, 56
Name of Business: YourNovel.com
What the business does: Writes romance books, starring you, the paying customer, as the intrepid hero or heroine
Founded: 1992
Location: Raleigh, North Carolina
Employees: One office manager, who works full-time during their busy seasons and part-time during the down times

There's something about this business: Once upon a time, or more precisely, 15 years ago, Newbern was on a panel at a public relations conference, and the ice-breaker question was, "What would people be surprised to find out about you?" She answered that she had written a yet-to-be published romance novel. Later, at the PR luncheon with her then-boyfriend, Fletcher, accompanying her, Newbern was wistfully asked by a woman at the table, "Wouldn't it be great to read about yourself in one of those romance novels?" Driving home, Fletcher and Newbern looked at each other and said, "You know, we could do that." And they did. Now you can order 21 different books from them.

Customers submit personal details about their lives--everything from occupations, pet names, perfume and so on--and for anywhere from $50 to $120, depending on whether you want a hardcover or paperback, or a photo of you and your beloved on the cover, you and yours can star in a romance novel. Meanwhile, Fletcher and Newbern--whose books are written under the pseudonym, Fletcher Newbern--have been living happily ever after since starting their business. Fletcher has been working on YourNovel.com full-time since 1992, and Newbern has since 2001. And they've long since married. "Writing about love with the one I love and promoting love to the world--what better job descriptions could you ask for?" Newbern says.

Romantic-Minded Entrepreneur: Mary Loomis-Shrier, 40
Name of Business: Trashy.com
What the business does: Sells lingerie, shoes, hosiery and alluring costumes
Founded: 1997
Location: Los Angeles
Employees: 50, including employees from the company she runs with her husband, Trashy Lingerie

There's something about this business: Surprisingly, Loomis-Shrier's business has nothing to do with sanitation issues, unless you count the fact that what some think is trashy may be another's treasure. Her husband, Mitch Shrier, began Trashy Lingerie in 1974. Eighteen years later, Mitch met Mary, who quickly had ideas for a sister company: Trashy.com. Eventually, the couple married and had a son, and as their small family unit expanded, so did their business.

Mary created Trashy Girls five years ago, which is the entertainment side of their company. "I hire models to do television appearances for us, host massive parties all over the country," she says. "I have my own channel on broadband and cable networks. There is no limit to what you can do with a brand image." But as glamorous or as trashy as her brand's image may seem, Mary concedes that she has plenty in common with other enterprising entrepreneurs: "Beautiful clothes, beautiful models, photo shoots--it's all sexy. But where the real work takes place is downtown L.A. in a 10,000-square-foot warehouse with hand sewers and pattern makers and bolts of fabric, people pulling from bins, and paperwork up to the ceiling, [all] to make sure the customer gets their lingerie on time and is looking great."

Romantic-Minded Entrepreneur: Delmond R. Newton, 33
Name of Business: Fever Beverage International
What the business does: Sells an all-natural libido stimulation beverage and is in the process of marketing the product at nightclubs and other hotspots across the country
Founded: 2006
Location: West Conshohocken, Pennsylvania
Employees: 9

There's something about this business: Just as an apple once fell on another Newton's head and inspired him to come up with the concept of gravity, Delmond Newton had his epiphany when considering all of the energy drinks on the market. What if, he thought, there was a drink to enhance one's sexual energy? Pretty soon, he was contacting an herbalist and looking into creating a beverage and a company around it. Newton relishes his new life. "We live for challenges," he says. "Because we are pioneering a new category, everyone tells us it won't work, and we are constantly proving them wrong." And, of course, we had to ask what Newton tells his friends and family when they ask him about his new business. "Everyone wants to enhance their sex life, but when grandmom asks me," admits Newton, "I just tell her I have a fun company."

Romantic-Minded Entrepreneur: Andrea Miller, 35
Name of Business: Tango
What the business does: Produces a magazine all about romance. Tango's subtitle is, "Smart talk about love."
Founded: 2006
Location: New York City
Employees: 10 full-time; 15 part-timers

There's something about this business: Miller was reading a book about relationships called Soulmates with her now-fiance, Sanjay Bhatnagar, when she suddenly had a realization. "This type of smart, practical relationship content would be invaluable to other young, educated professionals," she says. "I knew that creating a multimedia brand, which catered to women who were seeking to build a life with someone--something like Sex and the City meets Oprah--we could become the premier media brand for women 25 to 45." Whether that happens or not, Miller is having the time of her life being immersed in love and relationship issues, and you have to like the title of her magazine. She admits she's always pleased when people she meets suddenly "get" the name. After all, this is a magazine about love, and it takes two to tango.

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Pricing: The Magic Number

Martin Lawrence-Racism(stand up comedy)

If you don't have a carefully considered pricing strategy, chances are you're leaving money on the table. Here's how to figure out what your prices should be

Lisa Pierce sets her company's prices using a technique best described as advanced back-of-the-envelope. The founder of eight-employee Alpha & Omega Delivery, a courier service in Springfield, Ill., simply adds up her costs and estimates how much she needs to charge to cover that amount. But her $500,000 company has seen the edge of bankruptcy in five of its eight years, and Pierce's pricing strategy—or lack thereof—isn't helping. "That's gonna change," she says.

Any of this sound familiar? The "charge based on what the other guys are charging and hope to squeeze out a profit" method of pricing, otherwise known as "cost and competition," is used by plenty of companies, both large and small. It's intuitive and can be relatively easy to work out. But it often leaves a lot of money on the table. As Thomas Nagle, a partner at Cambridge (Mass.) consultant Monitor Group, puts it, sticking to the cost-and-competition paradigm "is an almost certain way to lose." That's because the cost-and-competition method has little to do with how your customers value your products or services. For all you know, your pricing may be steering people away from your company.

Pierce knows she needs to find a new approach. It may be time for you to do the same. While both cost and competition are important, they shouldn't be your focus. Consultants agree that there is a correct price for everything—often a band of prices for different combinations of products and different customers. That price brings satisfactory returns, sure, but it also helps strengthen sales and accurately reflects the value you're delivering to customers. Not surprisingly, that ideal price isn't going to be found by just looking at the cost of doing business or what your competitors are charging.

Developing a pricing strategy begins with determining the true value of your offerings to customers. If you doubt that different people place different values on the exact same product or service, just go to an auction, where a single item can bring wildly varying bids. For entrepreneurs, the key is to segment customers and charge a corresponding range of prices. That will take some research. Say, for example, you charge a flat fee for telephone technical support. To determine demand and how much you should charge, you'll need to track the number of calls that come in and how long they last. You may find that you can charge a variety of prices, with customers who stay on the line longer paying more than those with simple questions that need only fast answers.

Changing a company's prices often demands a shift in a company's culture, says Nagle. Salespeople will need to shake the habit of selling at the lowest price to close a deal, and any employee who works directly with customers must be able to explain the value of your product. "Getting the price 100% correct is obviously a great goal," says Rafi Mohammed, a Batten Fellow at the University of Virginia's Darden Graduate School of Business. "Few firms do it, but there's a lot of room to be better in pricing today than you were yesterday."

DON'T SELL YOURSELF SHORT
It may be counterintuitive, but the lowest price will not always reel in the most customers. Eric Mitchell, founder and president of the Professional Pricing Society in Marietta, Ga., suggests plotting a simple graph that shows your actual historical sales by volume and price, or by volume and discount, or volume and profit. You may find that lower prices really do not drive volume. If the graph looks as scattered as a shotgun blast, you're pricing haphazardly and probably are giving discounts that aren't driving sales. Sometimes that's the result of bidding low to win a job, then being stuck with that number.

People pay for what they value, and that translates into a willingness to pay a premium for higher-quality, greater expertise, or faster service. There is often a gap between what customers will pay and what a business charges. The first step toward closing it, Mohammed suggests, is for entrepreneurs to ask, "How much do my customers value me, and what's their next best option?"

If you have the budget, you can try the big-company tactic of employing researchers to perform so-called discrete choice analysis. In this scenario, customers view different products with different features and are asked to judge the varying prices researchers attach to them. Those findings help a company settle on an attractive mix of features and price them accordingly.

As you may suspect, there's also a simpler, cheaper way to get good pricing information: Just ask the right questions of employees and customers. "Your people on the front line have a really good idea about what customers want and need, and you should tap them for insight," says Mohammed. "Your sales force knows a lot about what people think about value, but they don't have an avenue to get it out." Then there are your customers. "You don't have to do big research," says Mitchell. "If you have 5 or 10 people who are 50% of your sales, just ask them, 'Where do I fit into your system?' If your customer says he is saving $100,000 a year because you cut his turnaround time, or because your service is so fast, that's a hint to charge more for faster delivery."

Keep conversations friendly, and ask customers what they would substitute for your product if it did not exist. That will tell you if they have other options and how good those options are, which reveals the true value of your product or service.

Alpha & Omega's Pierce discovered she had a number of customers who don't have a viable alternative to her courier service. She charges $50 to pick up and deliver legal documents, such as traffic court decisions, to attorneys who can then get a client's driver's license restored in a matter of days rather than weeks. She thinks the lawyers might pay twice as much and is thinking about how she could speed things up further and charge even more. Pierce also charges a flat fee for pharmaceutical deliveries, even though shipments that include narcotics have to be accompanied by a special tracking form that means more time and responsibility for her drivers. The narcotics deliveries should be commanding a premium over other drug deliveries.

Selling versions of the same product at different prices to different customers often means listing separate rates for students, senior citizens, educational institutions, corporations, or other groups of customers. A subtle change in what a product is or how it is packaged can mean a significant leap in value. Think of it as offering good, better, and best choices. Restaurants often exploit this technique by offering early bird discounts, normal dinner hour prices, and a chef's table where special attention is lavished on patrons for a premium price. While there is no magic formula, Mohammed says two or three price levels are usually sufficient. "You don't want to make it too complex," he says.

Erika Mangrum, president, and David Mangrum, chief financial officer, of the 63-employee, $2.2 million Iatria Spa & Health Center in Raleigh, N.C., offer patrons a variety of spa packages with different mixes of services and themes. Erika says the three-hour "Teen Queen" for $175 is more "educational," and includes a deep cleansing facial and cosmetics makeover, while "Tranquil Destinations," a three-hour package that includes massages and body wraps, is geared to groups of women or couples and costs $304 a person. The spa has four locations, and the Mangrums add 5% to 10% for services at the downtown spa. "A couple of people, in the beginning, said, `Why does it cost more at your downtown location?' because they wanted the pricing to be the same everywhere. We just can't. It has to be more in the downtown area," she says, noting that leasing space in a city's center is more expensive than in the suburbs. The different prices do create minor hassles: If a customer receives a gift certificate bought at a suburban location and redeems it at the downtown spa, she will have to pay the difference.

Nagle says even businesses that initially argue they can't add options can usually find a way. Often, the key is to unbundle services currently sold together. "You see this at bike stores where you can buy a bike unassembled or assembled, and you can buy additional parts and put them on yourself or have the store do it for an additional price," says Nagle.

SELL IT TO THE SALESPEOPLE
A new pricing strategy won't pay off if customers don't understand the logic behind it. But before your customers can understand it, your employees have to. Mangrum says because her prices are slightly higher than most other spas in the area, her employees know how to discuss the services so that potential customers understand the difference. When a customer calls and asks for the price of a massage, the receptionist is sure to outline the amenities included.

One key to changing pricing culture: convincing your sales team that low prices aren't always the answer to closing sales. If your salespeople are compensated solely on volume, says Mohammed, they have no incentive to maximize profits. Ideally, reconsidering your pricing will force you to think more about your customers' needs and wants. And that's priceless.

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Generate Ad Revenue With Your Website

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If you have a website that provides free information or a free service, you may be sitting on a potential goldmine. It is possible to generate ad revenue with any website, even if it is just a blog or a message board. For our purposes here, we will review each of the different income streams available to you as a webmaster so that you can formulate a plan to turn your free service into a money making business.

The simplest way to get some ads running on your website is by displaying banners or text links for affiliate programs, strategically placed on your webpage where people will see the advertisements and subsequently click on them.

An affiliate program is a program whereby you, the affiliate, display a banner or text link advertising the products or services of another business. If someone clicks on that ad and then purchases something from that other company, you will be paid a commission on that sale.

There are thousands of affiliate programs available to you. Major corporations such as Amazon and Barnes and Noble have affiliate opportunities, as do smaller online businesses such as insurance quoting websites and internet dating services.

I recommend that you perform a search on Google for affiliate programs and sign up for those that either somehow relate to the topics being discussed on your website or are enticing enough that people will click on the banner ad. You should rotate different banners on to your website each day of the week, and then stick with those that work best. Try several different affiliate programs and see what works.

Another way you can make money with your site is by displaying pay-per-click (PPC) advertisements on your webpage. You need to sign up with companies that deliver PPC ads. Nextag has a pay-per-click program, as do several ad delivery services such as Adrevolver. Google Adsense is probably the most popular pay-per-click advertisement delivery service on the internet, and you should sign up with them as well.

It is also possible to make some significant ad revenue from your site by actually charging companies a fee to advertise on your website. This is easier said than done; your website has to establish itself as receiving a lot of high quality traffic.

If you have a website that gets thousands of hits per day, you need to have statistics that prove it so that you can justify someone paying a fee to advertise on your website. The more popular your site is, the more you can charge. Only if your website receives a ton of traffic will you be able to charge other websites a fee to display their banner on your site.

The best way to make money online is with a dealer program, which is a little different from an affiliate program. With a dealer program, you actually add a webpage to your own site that is tailored to fit the look and feel of your own website, rather than simply displaying an affiliate banner.

With a dealer program, the products or services of the other company are actually sold directly through your own website, so that you are in total control of the sale. Meanwhile, the parent company does all the order processing and shipping, etc. You can just sit back and collect your money.

I hope this information has been helpful. Sometimes, it is easier to make money with a website that provides nothing but free information than it is with an actual business. However, you will need to run ads for products or services that somehow relate to the subject matter of your site.

If your site provides information about obtaining a mortgage, then your site should have affiliate banners or links to mortgage quoting services. There needs to be a relationship between between what kind of information your site provides and what you are advertising. Doing this will enable you to turn your free website into a real business.

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About the Author: Jim Pretin is the owner of http://www.forms4free.com, a service that helps programmers make free HTML forms.

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