Site2Street LLC - Part 2

Yesterday I covered some of the background of Site2Street, the premise behind the technology, and one of the deployable possibilities (retail storefront). Today I'd like to cover a much broader aspect: utilizing our technology to add revenue to your property.

Think about how many glass windowpanes you see every day. Now think of shopping malls, outdoor malls, marinas, vacant stores, and all of the public high-foot-traffic areas that you frequent throughout your day. If you're responsible for bringing in advertising revenue for any of these venues, you should always be on the lookout for new opportunities to make you and your property more money.

Let's say you are the property manager for a well-known mall. Now let's assume you charge $7,000 per month for a decent-sized banner advertisement in a high-traffic location. This is a generic, standard, vinyl or paper-based banner displayed on a concourse wall or an overhead walkway... Sounds about right, doesn't it?

Now you introduce 20 new advertising spaces in your mall, and they ad spaces are in some of the best locations in the mall... after all, you can transform any glass window into ad space. So you purchase each window from us for $15,000 each. Now you charge $8,000 per month for advertising on that new ad space. After two months, you've already turned a profit from your new ad space.

Let's not forget that you no longer have to put up the banners, tear them down, or any of the other headaches associated with traditional advertising. You, the marketing manager, can update, edit, and completely manage your 'advertising windows' from your office at the click of a button. Hey - if you really want to spice it up - just make it interactive!

It just makes sense!

Site2Street LLC - Part 1

This will be Part 1 in a multi-part series on my latest venture, Site2Street LLC. Site2Street has gone through various revisions over the past two years. We've developed into a company that has a very focused vision in mind, with some of the latest technology, which will enable our clients to leap into the next generation of advertising and information dissemination.

I have had the pleasure of dealing with unique companies and individuals that have really propelled Site2Street forward in it's progression and developmental life-cycle. We're essentially taking an existing technology and making it better! The technological name for the main application is "Projected Capacitance Technology." It's a fancy way of saying that we have a film, which you apply to any glass surface, and it transforms it into a projection image-capturing surface. Remember the movie Minority Report with Tom Cruise? Well, that technology exists - and we don't need those weird gloves to make it work!

The applications for this are limitless. Storefront advertising; creating advertising space that was considered "useless" before this advancement in technology; advertising networks; and many more that we'll delve into here shortly.

So what are we doing with it? Well we're developing software that will enable clients to remotely manage all of their "advertising windows." Not only that, but it will have a host of features that I can't quite tell you about just yet. Our ultimate goal is to put an advertising window in every airport, shopping mall, marketplace, marina, and high-value consumer marketplace in the world.

Consider this... There are 1,085 GAP stores in the United States. They have to pay for printing, ink, paper, shipping, recycling/trash fees, props, and man hours wasted to setup/tear down the front window displays. Let's say they change the front window sales every 2 months (probably much less than this, but for the sake of argument I like to be conservative on my numbers and estimates). Let's also say they average $300 in fees for each sales campaign. $300 x 6 changes x 1,085 stores = $1,953,000.... for in-store advertising. Considering GAP's revenue was $14.5billion in the US alone last year, that's not much... but they could save a considerable amount of money by using our Site2Street solution.

Not only that, but they can *Go Green* and save the environment at the same time. Did I mention that GAP headquarters can change every single sign with the click of a button? That's right... the marketing director at GAP Headquarters just logs into our web portal, and from there he/she can edit, change, and fully manage the campaign at every store in realtime. Click a button, and the advertisement changes.

More to come in the Part 2!

Arc of Visibility

So the other day I took a pretty big step and decided it was time to get "expert guidance" for myself and the business (Site2Street LLC). I've been following a great leader and entrepreneur for quite some time by the name of Rich Lazzara. Rich is the VP of Lazzara Yachts (www.lazzarayachts.com) and certainly knows his stuff. He took Lazzara Yachts from $6 million in sales to nearly $100 million. Quite a feat if you ask me.

Rich also kept up with the Lazzara Yachts blog (www.lazzarayachtsblog.com), began his own blog/informational site (www.richlazzara.com) and even began an online marketing company (www.roarkmedia.com). Needless to say, Rich has his hands full with plenty of projects and businesses. The great thing though, is that he takes the time to do these things. He takes the time to update people on his thoughts and happenings, which is really a rare occurrence for someone in his position.

The new age of media and business is upon us. As Rich puts it, he's a "Generation neXt Entrepreneur." I encourage you to peruse his various sites, take in as much information as possible, and really take a good look at the businesses. While you're at it, pick out your dream yacht. If you want it, you have the power to get it.

What really matters

When being in the business mindset, it's easy to lose sight of what's really important in life. Your family, kids, siblings, friends, and all of your loved ones count on you. You have to ensure you take time to sit back and relax. If you don't have a hobby - find one!

Too often, we get wrapped up in what we're doing and we forget what's really important in life. For unsaid reasons, I really had a revelation today that I needed to step back and look at what's important. Let me tell you... it was a breath of fresh air. I went throughout the rest of the day with a smile, great attitude, and a general feeling of being 'okay'... if that makes any sense.

Just make sure you tell those you love, that you love them. Try not to hold that grudge too long. And for your own well-being, take some time off! When everything is stripped away, you have yourself and your loved ones. Everything else can be replaced.

Market research

So you have a great idea, huh? Good start. I dont know how many times I've heard this... "I have an idea for XYZ - and it's the first of it's kind in the world! No one has done it before!" That might be true, or it may be that you just haven't searched hard enough. You'll find that when courting investors, they want a "No BS" approach on who your competitors are and how you will beat them at their own game. If you tell the investors you have absolutely no competitors - they're likely to giggle and have you move on.

Think about it... Google got funding while having a heap of competitors. Yahoo, MSN, Web Crawler, Ask.com, etc. Although Google was able to get their funding quite easily (I only wish the world were that simple), you can rest assured they knew their competition. Yes, Google is quite the example, but in all reality - they came from nothing, and that's what makes them my prime example for most things.

The point here is that you need to do your research. I mean, really do it! If you don't think you have a direct competitor, you'd better evaluate who your close competitors are. If you are making XYZ widgets, and the closest you can find are XY widgets, then rip apart their business model, price structure, background information, management information and personnel, public records, etc. Find out how they operate, who they have working for them, why they sell what they sell, and then beat them.

I am very competitive, and I heartily believe that business is war. The companies that stay on top are those that crush their competition, utilize their leverage (whether it be size, monetary assets, etc), and overtake their competitors. Everyone loves to hate Walmart. Why? Because they run little mom and pop shops out of business. It's unfortunate, but it's business. Unless mom and pop can compete with inventory and prices, they're usually doomed. Walmart just does it bigger, better, and cheaper than most other companies... that's how the world works, and that's where the small guys get stomped on.

If you think for one second that Walmart, Google, Yahoo, Amazon, Zappos, or any other major player does not keep tabs on their competitors - you are terribly wrong. Even the big boys need to know who is sipping from their Kool Aid. If you sleep, you slip. Take it as a lesson to keep on your toes and know and understand your market and competitors. If you don't... well, you should just close the door and turn off the lights, because it's officially game over.

John Hancock

If you didn't document it, it never happened, right? Right! I have heard horror stories about poor little ol' business partners that get burned, simply because they didn't have documentation in place to protect themselves. Whether you are the owner, a co-owner, a partner - whatever your role may be - you must protect yourself!

How can I do this, you ask? Well, you document and sign everything! Non-Disclosure Agreements do wonders for those of you in business with other interested parties. Likewise, Non-Compete Agreements can save you from an interested party with way too much information. You simply have to protect yourself these days, as everyone is looking to make a buck. Are you really too lazy to draw up a document and risk losing your livelihood? I'm not!

If you do a simple Google search for examples of NDAs or Non-Competes, you will see that they're rather simple documents that can be edited and applied in a very short amount of time. Before I divulge intimate information regarding my business, I require people to sign an NDA. The only time I do not require an NDA is when I am pitching investors. VCs and AIs simply will not sign them. Frankly, they have better things to do than to try and copy your "great idea."

A great example: When I put up a job posting for our Chief Marketing Officer position for Site2Street, I had about 30 applicants. Every single one of them was required to sign the NDA prior to the interview! The easiest way I accomplished this was with the use of an online signatory agent. I use EchoSign (www.echosign.com) and I love them! They offer 5 free signatures before you need to make your account a 'paid account', and their service is just amazingly simple and intuitive. You upload your document, place the signature blocks on the document, sign it, and then it automatically sends an e-mail to the other person to sign the document electronically. It's easy, efficient, and cheap!

Be very careful with whom you discuss important private business information with. Sharks lurk where you least expect them, and you don't want to get bit simply because you didn't have a document in place.

Registering, Forms, Fees, Oh My!

What is the one thing I usually hear from people wanting to start a business? "I don't know how."
Needless to say, I've kicked this dead horse enough. What we will deal with today is how and when to register, what to do with taxes, business licenses, and more.

If I were to describe every type of business entity, it would take pages and pages to show you the pros/cons of each, as well as the regulations and taxation benefits of each. If you need information on each of the types of entities, please do your research before committing!

You will want to look for: Sole Proprietor (the most basic of business entities); Limited Liability Company (I prefer this type, and I have used this for most of my businesses); Partnership; C-Corporation; S-Corporation; Non-profit. A great site for information: About.com - Inc Info

As you can see, there are a ton of options. The biggest point I want to make is - please do not pay some company to file your papers for you! You're paying someone else to file papers that would take you 20 minutes to do. All you need to do is Do Your Research!
I register in Nevada since my principal business is in Nevada - along with all of the benefits that Nevada offers. A lot of people will go with Nevada or Delaware simply because those states offer great benefits to businesses... but you may hit some snags along the way if you decide to incorporate out of state. I personally don't recommend incorporating outside of your current state.

Some basics you will want to cover:
- Business license for your city, county, state
- DBA registration (doing business as) if you intend to do business other than your assigned name
- Business entity registration and members list (if other than sole proprietor)
- EIN tax registration via the IRS

I feel like I'm forgetting something here, so I'll update when I have a clear head! :)

You may find yourself wondering if you should really register with all the appropriate authorities and such. The short answer is YES! When you cut corners, avoid registering with certain authorities, and you try to keep your operation under the radar, then you're setting yourself up for trouble. If you're still lost - I encourage you to look at those legal filing places online, see what they would file for you, and take that information and do it yourself! Why pay someone $700, what would cost you $250 to do yourself?