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Esther: Welcome to The BusinessMakers Overtime Show. Your resource for off the beaten path business news, tips and tricks. I'm Esther Steinfeld –
Katie: And I'm Katie Laird –
Esther: - and we're your hosts, serving you a fresh batch of entrepreneurial brilliance every single week. This episode we're listening to what those Businessmaker boys are up to with Russ Capper's great interview with the founders of an organic tanning salon called "Throwing Copper."
Katie: After that, Esther and I will wrap up in segment three with the latest juicy Wall Street conspiracy theories.
Esther: Woo!
Katie: And how true some of them may or may not be. Paranoid much? But first, we've got some news items to cover. Everything from Bernie Madoff paraphernalia to Snoop Dogg, of all people, teaching budding young entrepreneurs.
Esther: Interesting.
Katie: I tell ya. Big names in the headlines this week, Esther.
Esther: Absolutely. Everyone's getting into the entrepreneurial game, aren't they?
Katie: I love it. Makes me excited.
Esther: I know. So I guess we should start talking about good ol' Bernie Madoff first. It's pretty interesting what's been happening with him lately. They had quite a large auction, where they auctioned off all his stuff and his stuff went for so much money.
Katie: Big money.
Esther: It's crazy.
Katie: It is.
Esther: I mean his stuff that was worth nothing. Some of these things were worth, like, ten dollars went for, like, thousands of dollars instead.
Katie: Geeze. It just –
Esther: It's nuts.
Katie: I mean just by virtue of having been owned by a criminal. How interesting.
Esther: It was al- it's almost like they were buying it for the irony of it, you know?
Katie: Oh, yeah, yeah. Kinda like, you know, folks that were snatching up all the Enron paraphernalia. I mean it's – it's a piece of history. A piece of business history, no less.
Esther: So listen to this. Lot 346 was a life preserver from one of Bernie's boats and the white ring said, "Bullship, New York."
Katie: (Laughter)
Esther: That was emblazoned on it and it was worth $160.00. It went for $7,500.00, instead. Is that crazy?
Katie: That's ridiculous!
Esther: Yeah. What really made the news, what really kind of brought the headline to life was the fact that his, his Mets jacket went for $14,000.00; actually $14,500.00.
Katie: Good Lord!
Esther: More than 20 times what was expected.
Katie: Oh my gosh. This is –
Esther: Somebody does – it's a bright blue, tacky jacket with his name, huge, on the back in white letters. I mean, when you're walking around –
Katie: That's insane.
Esther: - New York City in your Bernie Madoff Mets jacket, you know you're worth some money.
Katie: That's right. One of a kind. Or, I mean what if somebody, some budding entrepreneur wants to start, like the Hard Rock Café for big names in business – what would that even be called, you know, like –
Esther: Oh gosh. I wouldn't even know where to begin.
Katie: The Bankroll Café. Like, I don't know. So Bernie Madoff, sitting in a glass case above your head while you're eating a hamburger, like I don't even know.
(Laughter)
Esther: And you know, it's really kind of funny is that the item that was supposed to go for the most money was actually called the prisoner's watch.
Katie: Oh my –
Esther: It's a Rolex. It's called the prisoner's watch and it didn't go for nearly as much as they thought it would, so it's kind of funny.
Katie: Yeah it is.
Esther: You know. So anyway. Moving on, let's talk about Snoop Dogg and what he's up to.
Katie: Ah, Snoop Dogg.
Esther: Just chillin'?
Katie: Just – no, he's actually out there, doing good and not just doing good; he's helping young entrepreneurs, actually aspiring college entrepreneurs. Kind of soak in some of his hard-earned street business savvy. Which is exciting. Recently –
Esther: He's a hustla, right?
Katie: - he's a hustla. [sings] Hustla, baby and I want you to – but that's totally not Snoop Dogg.
Esther: That's not even Snoop Dogg. Even I know that.
Katie: All right.
(Laughter)
Katie: So, Snoop Dogg was at –
Esther: I'm pretty sure John is laughing hysterically right now. Just need you all to know. Wish that we could –
Katie: Come on.
Esther: - take a picture –
Katie: You know I got skills.
Esther: - of the faces that he's making at us right now.
Katie: You know I got skills, John.
Esther: Don't laugh. We'll, we'll rap. We'll rap a whole song.
Katie: (Laughter) Yeah. And that is a threat, not a promise, by the way.
Esther: Yeah. (Laughter) That's video, right there. Anyway.
Katie: So Snoop Dogg was speaking at an event called Mentoring Madness which is basically a great event that's helping aspiring college entrepreneurs really get a lot of business tidbits from amazing veterans. Blake, the founder of Tom's Shoes. The Chairman of Starwood Hotels and, last but not least, I mean, Snoop Dogg, which is –
Esther: Snoop, right.
Katie: - a pretty – so not just a rapper but also an entrepreneur in his own right.
Esther: Absolutely.
Katie: And, and I love his quote. So his main, the main takeaway for all these budding entrepreneurs from Snoop Dogg was, "It ain't nothin' y'all can't do." Now there's not a whole lot of CEOs or business start-up dudes and dudettes that could really get away with something like that but I mean, it really makes sense coming from Snoop.
Esther: It resonated, kind of with the audience.
Katie: It resonates. So I mean, basically, he's saying that, you know, you can't see that you don't have money, you don't have time, you don't have connections. You can't let all those roadblocks stand in your way.
Esther: Right.
Katie: So, you know, he was sharing his stories about hustlin' from the ground up. He didn't have any money so he went to DJs and then to parties until he met the right people. So, you know, not to be afraid of failure but just take what you got and run with it.
Esther: Absolutely. And actually, what he was there to talk about was the Snoopy Football League, which is his newest project –
Katie: Very cool.
Esther: - which teaches, you know, inner city youth how – to quote Snoop Dogg – to win and to lose –
Katie: Yep.
Esther: - which I think is great that – a lesson that he learned and is kind of passing on to maybe some of the less fortunate children of the world that, you know, you kinda have to learn how to win and also you have to learn how to take those losses and keep on going.
Katie: Exactly.
Esther: So, good job, Snoop Dogg.
Katie: Well, and it's interesting 'cause if you think about a lot of, you know, kind of inner city mentality – I mean there are a lot of kids that grow up thinking that the only way that they're gonna get out of whatever situation they're in is that either they're gonna be a big sports star, they're gonna be a professional athlete, or they're gonna go big in the rap industry or in the music industry. So having these icons –
Esther: Yeah.
Katie: - you know, be able to talk to kids and saying, "Hey, here's where you need to go. Here's – you know, let's learn good sportsmanship. Let's learn, you know, how to devise your own marketing plans or, you know, take one on the chin –
Esther: Right.
Katie: - when failure happens. " That's gonna change the world. I mean, it's not just –
Esther: Absolutely.
Katie: You know, go big and wear big old gold chains. I mean there's so much out there for, you know, creative and inventive minds, so –
Esther: Definitely.
Katie: - hats off to you, Snoop. I'm impressed.
Esther: Well, speaking of creative and inventive minds.
Katie: I love this.
Esther: There's been some talk that Gen-Xers are getting increasingly, quote/quote, whatever in the workplace.
Katie: Whatever.
Esther: Whatever. So, in these hard times, you know, there's all these like grumblings. According to MSNBC, there's all these grumblings from the Gen-X generation about how frustrated they are to be kind of this red-headed step-child stuck in between the Baby Boomers and their children.
Katie: Those, those whiny Gen-Yers.
Esther: Oh, we suck. I know you hate us. No, so it's kind of interesting. The article is talking to a lot of Gen-Xers about their frustrations and also about what they're doing and how they see this recession because what's happened is a lot of the Baby Boomers can't retire now because, you know, the 401Ks have been hit, their pension plans have been hit so what are they –
Katie: Exactly.
Esther: - gonna do, they're gonna keep working, which means –
Katie: They have to.
Esther: - the Gen-Xers can't move up.
Katie: Right.
Esther: Get those promotions that they want. And the Gen-Yers are willing to work for a lot less money. They are working scrappy. They're working late.
Katie: Yeah.
Esther: And they're just doing it for a lot less, so –
Katie: Yeah and this is after they've already paid their dues and now they're like, "Hey guys," I mean, like, "Way to totally change the world on us, you know?"
Esther: Exactly.
Katie: That, woo hoo.
Esther: Well they're, you know, there's definitely some, some, some anger I sense in some of these quotes. Listen to this: "'It's so annoying,' Says Lisa Chamberlain, another Gen-Xer who wrote the book Slackenomics. 'First, it was always the Baby Boomers overshadowing everything. Then there was this brief period in the mid-90s where Gen-X was cool. Now it's 'Well what are the kids doing?' It's like, yo, hello, the Google guys are Gen-Xers.'" Bitter much?
Katie: Bitter much, yeah.
Esther: Whoa. Come on now.
Katie: So, whenever I am out there, you know, talking to companies, specifically about social media, and you know, getting companies online, which of course is what I do every day, I have to, you know, try to pump up – I mean there's this kind of void whenever you're talking about those generational gaps between, like who's gonna be accepting of the new technologies of, you know, the, the new stuff – whether it's all hype, whether it's whatever, and typically the Gen-Xers – they aren't that group. Like, they're the ones that feel like they're entitled, which is funny because they're not supposed to be the entitlement generation.
Esther: Right.
Katie: So, you have the guys with the money up there in all the CEO positions, the Baby Boomers. You have the Gen-Yers that are hungry, hungry – have all these skills, have all these tools at their disposal, and then in the middle is kind of this lump sometimes – in some companies.
Esther: Yeah.
Katie: Where, to get those kids and their skills to the money and the Boomers, you know, those people have to loosen up a little.
Esther: Yeah.
Katie: And I love you, Gen-Xers but yeah. None of us are perfect. (Laughter) We may be whiny, but, you know, you gotta – you've got to let go and like, embrace, embrace the world –
Esther: Embrace the future.
Katie: - as it is.
Esther: Yeah.
Katie: Yeah. You're all gonna be okay, but whoa. (Laughter)
Esther: Yeah. So –
Katie: Very interesting article.
Esther: Very. So another thing we like to do on this show, other than the business week in review, is talk about links because as Gen-Yers, we love the Internet.
Katie: Yay.
Esther: We're supposed to, right?
Katie: That's right. (Laughter)
Esther: And we do. So Katie, would you like to share your link of the week?
Katie: I really would. There is a fantastic site called killerstartups.com.
Esther: Huh.
Katie: And I feel like the name is pretty darn explanatory. It is a blog that's updated every single day, sometimes four or five times a day, which is very impressive.
Esther: Wow.
Katie: On nothing but new startups out there and they break it down into their roles, into what they're, you know, their funders and the company's executives, you know, their past experiences, and then the good, the bad and why they may or may not last. So they really break down these startup companies, which is a great way for you to not only get ideas for your own business – see what's out there, what's working, maybe what your competition's up to, what it's gonna look like in a few months – but also to maybe consider actually submitting your startup, your killer startup because the traffic on this site is ridiculous.
Esther: Cool.
Katie: So you're gonna get tons of eyeballs and a really interesting kind of dissection from these editors that know startups, that, you know, know what's worked well in the past and what's do- you know, probably gonna be doomed for failure – and get some free feedback. So –
Esther: Awesome.
Katie: - great ideas and just a fun place to just click around, you know, really, really interesting companies out there. So hopefully we'll see one of yours one there one day.
Esther: Yeah.
Katie: As a successful one. (Laughter)
Esther: Absolutely. Absolutely.
Katie: So what about you? What's – what's tickling your Internet fancy these days, Esther?
Esther: Well, as somebody who works in the online retail world, I find that a lot of websites are lacking this online database of help tips. You know, this kind of sourcing of all the information of FAQs, the, "Where can I submit a ticket, I have a problem," you know, it's just not – it's not easy to find. It's very complicated to do this –
Katie: Huh.
Esther: - and the thing is, it really can clog up your phones.
Katie: Oh yeah.
Esther: If you have people calling you over little questions every second of the day –
Katie: Right.
Esther: - you know, that takes time away from customer service calls. It takes time away from sales calls.
Katie: And it frustrates the customers, too.
Esther: Right.
Katie: Like, yeah, they need to know how to do things on their own sometimes.
Esther: Exactly. So along comes this wonderful new tool called Zen Desk.
Katie: Woo.
Esther: Z-E-N-D-E-S-K.com.
Katie: Very cool.
Esther: So it's this completely customizable help desk for customers to use and it makes organizing all of your information super, super easy, super helpful. It's just a great tool. So you collect and you organize all this customer data. There's forums, you – I mean it's completely customizable. You wouldn't even believe some of the sites that actually use it and there's a list of sites on there you can go and see, "Oh, that's using Zen Desk?"
Katie: Ah! (Laughter)
Esther: And it's really cool 'cause it's scalable, so as your company grows, they'll grow with you.
Katie: Which is so important, 'cause that's where a lot of, especially online companies, kind of fail to remember. I mean, they need to keep servicing, updating and it's a pain in the butt. So having someone help you like Zen Desk, like –
Esther: Exactly.
Katie: - how valuable is that?
Esther: Exactly. Zen Desk. My link of the week.
Katie: I love it. So we got killerstartups.com and zendesk.com.
Esther: Absolutely.
Katie: Definitely worth a Google. So exciting things ahead. Stay tuned for a great interview with Russ Capper, as he talks to the founders of "Throwing Copper," Stephanie and Samantha. We'll see you in segment two. You're listening to The BusinessMakers Overtime Show, heard here and online at theBusinessMakers.com.