Ross Chandler Hill

Be the expert.

It has been way too long since I blogged; but I think its important, so I am going to try to start being better about it. 

I read a book that my mother gave me called “Raising Eyebrows”, it is a story about the foundation of Tweezerman, you know, the tweezers that you see in Walgreens and lots of other stores.  It was a fantastic book, I may try to include a link to it; but seriously, the advice that he gave was so practical.  Dal LaMagna, the founder, is a perfect picture of entrepreneurial ADD.  He tried so many different businesses; but he settled on one that no one else really was that interested in, and he perfected it.  He became the industry expert on tweezers…  On Tweezermans home page, it says, “Tweezerman, the beauty tool experts.”

Drew Hanlen, a student at Belmont University, and founder of Pure Sweat Basketball, said some very inspirational things this morning about branding. He was talking about another students business; but his comment was true for everyone.  “You have to become an expert in whatever field you are into be successful.”  For him, he is an expert in basketball fitness.  When someone meets with Drew, they know this, this is how he has branded himself and his business.

Since I began to pursue my entrepreneurial dreams a few years ago, I have had many ideas and considered starting a lot of them.  Recently though, I had a moment when I realized that I need to pick something and stick to it.  I don’t get much done when I am all over the place with ideas.  What good are ideas if none of them happen. 

DormStor.com is my business, and it is something that I am excited about.  Yeah, to most people that sounds like the most boring idea ever; but I am not most people and it sounds like a lot of fun to me. 

Over the next year, with the help of my mentors, I will become the industry expert on student storage and shipping, as well as the lifestyles of students living on campus.  I am branding my business differently than most would; but I believe because I am promoting it differently and more efficiently, that it will be to my benefit.  By the end of the year, I want everyone to know what DormStor is, and I believe that by staying focused and becoming the expert, I can do that.

RCH

Swiss Army Knife

I remember when I got my first Swiss Army Knife, it amazed me how it could solve any problem you came across.  I was about four year old when I received my first one, so if I had a bottle of wine, I could open it with the cork screw (Mother, THAT WAS A JOKE), I could chop up some onions, the possibilities were endless…  Like the swiss army knife, many start-ups are bogged down by over-complication. These start-ups focus their attention on having the most features, or solving the most problems.  I am always fighting the urge to do this, like many entrepreneurs; but I believe that by practicing a few simple exercises, I can help myself stay focused on one idea and sharpen my blade, rather than dull it.     

Let me give you an example.  I thought of a website, www.muzixity.com (music city.com).  The point of the website was to allow musicians to network with one another.  The site would be inhabited by singers looking for songs, songwriters looking for singers, producers looking for jobs, and so on (“professional linkedin for musicians”).  The simplistic idea of this site was very appealing to everyone that I pitched it to; but once I started thinking about it, new ideas for the site came into my head. “What if we sold music as well, what if we allowed each artist to create a website for their band and host it under the muzixity domain?”  This is where I ran into problems…

When it came time to pitch my idea to a web developer, the idea had grown into an enlarged, messy version of my original plan.  The foundation still had it’s integrity; but the rest of it was just clutter.  The developer said that my idea was achievable; but that it would take a lot of money and time to do what I had proposed.  In the end he gave me a solution that I try to follow still today.  

Start with a simple idea.

Whenever you have an idea for a business, look at it in its most basic form.  Take that initial idea and put it into practice to test it.  You will never know if an idea will work if you haven’t done anything with it.  Mark Montgomery, an amazing entrepreneur here in Nashville said, “Great ideas with no follow through are just hobbies.”  So if you have an idea that you feel you can test in some way, shape or form, test it.  Once you test it you will know the problems, and the things you are doing well.

Don’t think an idea to death.

My girlfriend Griffin will definitely agree with me on this because I do this all the time.  I will think through twenty years of a business before I have even created the LLC, and then because I fear the future, I scrap the concept.  If you have something that you think could be viable, do it.  Don’t think it.  Start small, grow big. 

Share Your Ideas.

I am very protective about my ideas and a lot of the time, I am very reluctant to share them with peers, for fear that they might steal them.  That is dumb on my part; because the majority of the time, my friends are very supportive and offer to help in any way they can.  If you have an idea that you are really unsure about, share it with someone, share it with ten people.  Everyone reading this blog probably has a facebook, so use your messaging feature…  It’s that easy.  If your idea is too complicated, you will find out fast when you share it. 

In the end, if people don’t understand it, or if you are worried about what will happen to your idea in twenty years, you may be SAKing it, so let’s all try to avoid that from now on.

SAK = Swiss Army Knife.

PEACE

Exciting.

Today, I had a great meeting with the Entrepreneurship Chair at Belmont, Dr. Jeff Cornwall.  He is an extremely knowledgeable person and always gives great advice.  We talked about some of my new entrepreneurial ideas and then talked about the future of Belmont’s Entrepreneurship Center, exciting stuff!  I can’t wait to get working on some of these things, more details coming soon!

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