This week’s Business Question of the week was sent in by J. Forbes from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
How did you locate your support? What’s your sorting process?
Omar Tyree Answers:
That sounds like a three-part question. First, you have the public and consumer Support for your products and services, and then you have your Support of staff members, who help you to execute professional and company goals. But from the set up of your question, I’m assuming that you’re referring to the latter form of Support, where an entrepreneur or company builds their professional and supportive “team.”
Initially, I didn’t have a Support team at all. I paid independent contractors to do independent work, based on their skills and price. So, I paid book editors, artists, graphic designers, photographers, even folks to help me to ship boxes of books, all based on need. But I could not consider them a part of my Support “team” until I could count on them with regularity. And that’s pretty easy to do. Over time, those individuals who you can count on will still be there for you.
I began to call on the same people to do certain jobs. And the next thing I knew, I had a constant editor, photographer, and airbrush artist, who I could count on every time to perform to my liking. Then I attracted a literary agent, who became a teammate based on her success at being able to land major publishing deals. After that, I attracted a lawyer, who went out of his way to Support my new goals of creativity and business expansion.
As my own success story rolled forward, I attracted an events manager, who joined my team based on his ability to book paid speaking events. Then I linked up with a financial wealth manager, who wanted to help me raise the finances that I need to bring my books to life on the silver screen. And once I started my nonprofit literacy program, I began to attract Support members who are ready and willing to help me raise funds to teach kids the importance of reading. But we’re talking about a period of over 17-years. And the Support team continues to grow.
So, the reality of The Equation of building Support is that it takes time, accountability, and trust for you to know who works well with you. There is no short cut around that. Your “team” will be based on who you continue to attract and work with consistently toward success. Many other relationships will fall apart based on clashing personalities and or unsuccessful goals. And every individual entrepreneur is forced to find out, in their own time, who will be and will remain a consistent line of Support in their endeavors.
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
Create Small Successes towards Your Ultimate Goal
In this week’s Equation of Making Money series, the Business Question of the Week is asked by J. Chang from sunny Southern California:
At the beginning of each year people write down goals and make resolutions but do not stick to them. What is the difference between the 3 percenters like Robert Kyosaki and Donald Trump who stick to their goals and dream big, and others who lose their steam after a month or two?
Omar Tyree Answers:
That’s a million-dollar question indeed, J. And the answer lies in our own personalities. Some people begin to make goals and stick to them very earlier on in life, where others don’t. With the two men that you have named, they were both introduced to solid, everyday business principles before they even turned teenagers. So business comprehension is very natural for both men. So you can expect them to stick to their goals. They always have! They’ve been trained that way.
However, if you have not been introduced to early business practices and execution, and you’ve pretty much had a make-it-up-as-I-go-along existence, then what you can do now is put yourself in the company of those individuals around you who DO stick to their goals. And don’t just ask them how they do it, become regular hang-out friends or assistants of these individuals if you can, to pick their brains on an everyday level.
What you’ll then find is that these organized, stick-to-it drivers, generally have written down or made mental outlines of what they need to do to accomplish their goals, step by step. They also adapt well to changes that occur in their program. They understand that they are not working on an over-night-project, and they know full well that things take time to happen. The Donald Trump’s and Robert Kiyosaki’s of the world have developed the winning poise to see their plans through because they have been successful before.
So what we all need to do here is create small successes toward our ultimate goals that will drive us on an everyday basis, which can be very tedious for those who are not used to consistency in their lives.
In The Equation, Consistency is the final element of the first component of Love. Individuals who have learned to Love have certain advantages over those who did not. But that does not mean that we all can’t learn to Love. So get busy hanging out with more passionate people and have some of their fiery, stick-to-it Red to rub off on you!
At the beginning of each year people write down goals and make resolutions but do not stick to them. What is the difference between the 3 percenters like Robert Kyosaki and Donald Trump who stick to their goals and dream big, and others who lose their steam after a month or two?
Omar Tyree Answers:
That’s a million-dollar question indeed, J. And the answer lies in our own personalities. Some people begin to make goals and stick to them very earlier on in life, where others don’t. With the two men that you have named, they were both introduced to solid, everyday business principles before they even turned teenagers. So business comprehension is very natural for both men. So you can expect them to stick to their goals. They always have! They’ve been trained that way.
However, if you have not been introduced to early business practices and execution, and you’ve pretty much had a make-it-up-as-I-go-along existence, then what you can do now is put yourself in the company of those individuals around you who DO stick to their goals. And don’t just ask them how they do it, become regular hang-out friends or assistants of these individuals if you can, to pick their brains on an everyday level.
What you’ll then find is that these organized, stick-to-it drivers, generally have written down or made mental outlines of what they need to do to accomplish their goals, step by step. They also adapt well to changes that occur in their program. They understand that they are not working on an over-night-project, and they know full well that things take time to happen. The Donald Trump’s and Robert Kiyosaki’s of the world have developed the winning poise to see their plans through because they have been successful before.
So what we all need to do here is create small successes toward our ultimate goals that will drive us on an everyday basis, which can be very tedious for those who are not used to consistency in their lives.
In The Equation, Consistency is the final element of the first component of Love. Individuals who have learned to Love have certain advantages over those who did not. But that does not mean that we all can’t learn to Love. So get busy hanging out with more passionate people and have some of their fiery, stick-to-it Red to rub off on you!
Monday, March 9, 2009
“Leslie” Soon to Hit the Big Screen
This week’s “Business Question of the Week” is posed by Bessie McElvaine, who resides in Charlotte, NC:
I just finished reading your book Leslie and enjoyed it a lot. Is there a strong possibility that you will do a sequel?
Omar Tyree Answers:
Well, Bessie, you’re in luck. For the most part, we want to answer strictly “business” questions in this weekly Equation blog, but in this particular case, and with this particular book title of Leslie, you have actually chosen my next big business adventure into feature film production. The book Leslie was written as a movie idea nearly a decade ago, and now we are extremely close to realizing this great New Orleans-based novel as my first feature film production. And that is indeed “big business.”
With all that’s going on with the world economy these days, American films miraculously continue to make money, with already $1 billion dollars alone in January 2009, and a reported 22% business increase from 2008 at this time, while nearly every other business, outside of Wendy’s and McDonald’s - because we all have to eat – tanks.
With that being said, the idea of Leslie was originally thought up as a trilogy, where I would write not one, not two, but three books in a Leslie series. But I never wrote the sequel book because I wanted to wait for enough people to read the first book. Well, with a great film production now in the works, as soon as we acquire the green-light capital needed to start the Leslie film production down in New Orleans, Louisiana, for this summer, I will then begin an immediate discussion with the publishing houses about the sequel and trilogy books, which would be pushed a lot stronger by the extreme marking power of an expected film.
So The Equation for this week’s question encompasses all 4 components, beginning with your Love for Leslie as a novel, my Art of creating Leslie in the first place, and now adapting it into a screenplay, the new Support that we expect to receive for the novel produced as a feature film, and the Business investors that we still need for it all to happen.
So stay tuned to my web site announcements between now and June to see if we are really on our way toward Leslie the film, which immediately kicks in the sequel, as well as the trilogy.
I just finished reading your book Leslie and enjoyed it a lot. Is there a strong possibility that you will do a sequel?
Omar Tyree Answers:
Well, Bessie, you’re in luck. For the most part, we want to answer strictly “business” questions in this weekly Equation blog, but in this particular case, and with this particular book title of Leslie, you have actually chosen my next big business adventure into feature film production. The book Leslie was written as a movie idea nearly a decade ago, and now we are extremely close to realizing this great New Orleans-based novel as my first feature film production. And that is indeed “big business.”
With all that’s going on with the world economy these days, American films miraculously continue to make money, with already $1 billion dollars alone in January 2009, and a reported 22% business increase from 2008 at this time, while nearly every other business, outside of Wendy’s and McDonald’s - because we all have to eat – tanks.
With that being said, the idea of Leslie was originally thought up as a trilogy, where I would write not one, not two, but three books in a Leslie series. But I never wrote the sequel book because I wanted to wait for enough people to read the first book. Well, with a great film production now in the works, as soon as we acquire the green-light capital needed to start the Leslie film production down in New Orleans, Louisiana, for this summer, I will then begin an immediate discussion with the publishing houses about the sequel and trilogy books, which would be pushed a lot stronger by the extreme marking power of an expected film.
So The Equation for this week’s question encompasses all 4 components, beginning with your Love for Leslie as a novel, my Art of creating Leslie in the first place, and now adapting it into a screenplay, the new Support that we expect to receive for the novel produced as a feature film, and the Business investors that we still need for it all to happen.
So stay tuned to my web site announcements between now and June to see if we are really on our way toward Leslie the film, which immediately kicks in the sequel, as well as the trilogy.
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
Want a Book Deal from a Major Publishing Company, Learn to Hustle
This week we turn to the Big Apple for the “Business Question of the Week,” Nicole Little from New York asks:
What advice would you give to a self-published author looking to get a book deal from a major publishing company? What are some steps that a self-published author needs to take to position his or herself for a book deal?
Omar Tyree Answers
Nicole, as the famous song and acronym from a Staten Island, New York, rap group called the Wu-Tang Clan goes, “Cash Rules Everything Around Me / CREAMed it / the money / dollar, dollar bill, y’all!”
When I was picked up for my first, historical 2-book deal with Simon & Schuster, it was because I had already sold 25,000 books on my own, which represented more than $250,000 generated in the publishing industry with my name attached to it. So it became a no-brainer. “If this kid can move $250,000 worth of product on his own, imagine what he can do with us behind him.”
With that being said, as a self-published author, you have to learn how to HUSTLE, with marketing, promoting, sales, and hopefully a good book that creates a lot of buzz through word-of-mouth.
Just to name a few self-published authors outside of myself in the African-American publishing arena who went on to become major brand names are; E. Lynn Harris, Michael Baisden, Terri Woods, and Vickie Stringer. And although Terry McMillan, Zane, and Carl Weber were not self-published, they utilized much of same business savvy and marketing tools that self-published authors used to push their works and create major followings.
So, similar to last week’s blog, The Equation for success in any business is the accumulation of Green SUPPORT! You must have it in order to survive and to move forward. And once you have shown that you can indeed gather a large number of supporters for your work, you will have no problem getting a major publishing house to sit down at the deal table and talk serious numbers with you.
Now, if you would also like to know more about what steps to take to make those bigger sales happen through time-tested ideas, well, you’re talking to a man who has been there and done that himself, so now ask me about my publishing “Master’s Degree” program @ (www.OmarTyree.com). But that’s only if you’re serious about moving forward!
What advice would you give to a self-published author looking to get a book deal from a major publishing company? What are some steps that a self-published author needs to take to position his or herself for a book deal?
Omar Tyree Answers
Nicole, as the famous song and acronym from a Staten Island, New York, rap group called the Wu-Tang Clan goes, “Cash Rules Everything Around Me / CREAMed it / the money / dollar, dollar bill, y’all!”
When I was picked up for my first, historical 2-book deal with Simon & Schuster, it was because I had already sold 25,000 books on my own, which represented more than $250,000 generated in the publishing industry with my name attached to it. So it became a no-brainer. “If this kid can move $250,000 worth of product on his own, imagine what he can do with us behind him.”
With that being said, as a self-published author, you have to learn how to HUSTLE, with marketing, promoting, sales, and hopefully a good book that creates a lot of buzz through word-of-mouth.
Just to name a few self-published authors outside of myself in the African-American publishing arena who went on to become major brand names are; E. Lynn Harris, Michael Baisden, Terri Woods, and Vickie Stringer. And although Terry McMillan, Zane, and Carl Weber were not self-published, they utilized much of same business savvy and marketing tools that self-published authors used to push their works and create major followings.
So, similar to last week’s blog, The Equation for success in any business is the accumulation of Green SUPPORT! You must have it in order to survive and to move forward. And once you have shown that you can indeed gather a large number of supporters for your work, you will have no problem getting a major publishing house to sit down at the deal table and talk serious numbers with you.
Now, if you would also like to know more about what steps to take to make those bigger sales happen through time-tested ideas, well, you’re talking to a man who has been there and done that himself, so now ask me about my publishing “Master’s Degree” program @ (www.OmarTyree.com). But that’s only if you’re serious about moving forward!
Friday, February 27, 2009
Men Read for Education, Women for Pleasure
This week’s “ Business Question of The Week” is asked by Heather Washington, San Francisco, CA.
In The Equation, you speak about a book signing you had at a mall kiosk that was located right across from a video store. You wrote about the lines of men who came to buy the new John Madden video game, but had no interest in buying a book. Why do you think men would rather play video games over reading a book?
Omar Tyree Answers:
That’s easy. Men would rather play a video game over reading a book because a video game takes them away from their everyday grind of work, while reading a book keeps them in it. You must understand that a majority of men don’t actually read books for pleasure, they read books to sharpen up on certain career skills, or to read about other men who they admire in industry or in character. With that in mind, for men, reading is not so much to be enjoyed as it is, but to be studied and digested.
Women, on the other hand, tend to read much more for pleasure, where the actual content itself is not taken as seriously as if a man would read it. So oftentimes, when I ask the average woman to explain what she read to me, many of them can only offer if they felt the book was good or not, based on their personal pleasure principle, while bringing up certain emotional points of the book that they may have disagreed with or found interesting. But they usually cannot state an overall view, objective, or theme of a book like an average reading man would.
On the flipside, where video-playing men can get all into understanding the physical and technical manipulations of a video game, most women would find that to be a tremendous deal of work for no particular purpose at all. Why would a man want to spend so much effort and time, like a human octopus with a joystick, just to score imaginary touchdowns, steal cars, shoot up enemies, and kill bloodsucking zombies instead of doing more constructive things like fixing the broken garage door, repainting the house, or helping their sons and daughters with their homework assignments?
So as the book and the saying goes, Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus. But since I happen to be in the book writing and publishing industry, I became one of those few men who will actually read for pleasure as well as for work. And I happen to Love it! But what if I was not a writer? How much would I love to read then?
The Equation here concerns our individual Passions and Purposes. What turns us on as men or as women? And what is the ultimate Purpose for the things that we choose to do in our lives?
In The Equation, you speak about a book signing you had at a mall kiosk that was located right across from a video store. You wrote about the lines of men who came to buy the new John Madden video game, but had no interest in buying a book. Why do you think men would rather play video games over reading a book?
Omar Tyree Answers:
That’s easy. Men would rather play a video game over reading a book because a video game takes them away from their everyday grind of work, while reading a book keeps them in it. You must understand that a majority of men don’t actually read books for pleasure, they read books to sharpen up on certain career skills, or to read about other men who they admire in industry or in character. With that in mind, for men, reading is not so much to be enjoyed as it is, but to be studied and digested.
Women, on the other hand, tend to read much more for pleasure, where the actual content itself is not taken as seriously as if a man would read it. So oftentimes, when I ask the average woman to explain what she read to me, many of them can only offer if they felt the book was good or not, based on their personal pleasure principle, while bringing up certain emotional points of the book that they may have disagreed with or found interesting. But they usually cannot state an overall view, objective, or theme of a book like an average reading man would.
On the flipside, where video-playing men can get all into understanding the physical and technical manipulations of a video game, most women would find that to be a tremendous deal of work for no particular purpose at all. Why would a man want to spend so much effort and time, like a human octopus with a joystick, just to score imaginary touchdowns, steal cars, shoot up enemies, and kill bloodsucking zombies instead of doing more constructive things like fixing the broken garage door, repainting the house, or helping their sons and daughters with their homework assignments?
So as the book and the saying goes, Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus. But since I happen to be in the book writing and publishing industry, I became one of those few men who will actually read for pleasure as well as for work. And I happen to Love it! But what if I was not a writer? How much would I love to read then?
The Equation here concerns our individual Passions and Purposes. What turns us on as men or as women? And what is the ultimate Purpose for the things that we choose to do in our lives?
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
Using Technology to Keep In Touch
This week’s “ Business Question of The Week” comes from S.R. from Virginia:
I know you travel a lot promoting your books and I’m sure you meet a lot of great people wherever you go. How do you keep in touch with the people you have worked with and what is the best way to follow up opportunities with them? It can all seem so overwhelming?
Omar Tyree Answers:
You know what, I’ve had that same issue for years. I literally have stacks and stacks of business cards from being out on the road on book signing tours and at speaking events. And it is overwhelming to have that many contacts to call back and follow up with.
Amazingly, I have always been able to at least call back the people who I’ve wanted to do business with, but not all of them. All of the contacts may not be important in your immediate stream of things. However, you never know when something big may spark from an unlikely source. So you may have to touch bases with people anyway.
In my final fiction book entitled Pecking Order, published in September 2008, my main character “Ivan David” came up with the excellent idea of utilizing his web site staff to input all of the data from the business cards that he collected at network functions and parties. They would then send out thank you notes and follow up, especially since “Ivan” had an internet and web site marketing business.
So to take a page out of my book, Pecking Order, you may want to pay someone as little as $50 to input all of your business cards into an e-mail and data file like “Ivan David” does, and send them all a form letter from your “assistant” with your return address attached for their responses so you can carry out business with the interested parties from there. And e-mails make this process a lot simpler than phone calls.
In the meantime, if you don’t already have it, you may want to check out that Pecking Order book. I hear it’s about a guy named “Ivan David” who utilizes The Equation’s third component of Support to amass a fortune in just four incredible years. So learn it from the experience.
If you have a question you would like to ask Omar Tyree, please email it to omartyree@ascendantstrategy.net.
I know you travel a lot promoting your books and I’m sure you meet a lot of great people wherever you go. How do you keep in touch with the people you have worked with and what is the best way to follow up opportunities with them? It can all seem so overwhelming?
Omar Tyree Answers:
You know what, I’ve had that same issue for years. I literally have stacks and stacks of business cards from being out on the road on book signing tours and at speaking events. And it is overwhelming to have that many contacts to call back and follow up with.
Amazingly, I have always been able to at least call back the people who I’ve wanted to do business with, but not all of them. All of the contacts may not be important in your immediate stream of things. However, you never know when something big may spark from an unlikely source. So you may have to touch bases with people anyway.
In my final fiction book entitled Pecking Order, published in September 2008, my main character “Ivan David” came up with the excellent idea of utilizing his web site staff to input all of the data from the business cards that he collected at network functions and parties. They would then send out thank you notes and follow up, especially since “Ivan” had an internet and web site marketing business.
So to take a page out of my book, Pecking Order, you may want to pay someone as little as $50 to input all of your business cards into an e-mail and data file like “Ivan David” does, and send them all a form letter from your “assistant” with your return address attached for their responses so you can carry out business with the interested parties from there. And e-mails make this process a lot simpler than phone calls.
In the meantime, if you don’t already have it, you may want to check out that Pecking Order book. I hear it’s about a guy named “Ivan David” who utilizes The Equation’s third component of Support to amass a fortune in just four incredible years. So learn it from the experience.
If you have a question you would like to ask Omar Tyree, please email it to omartyree@ascendantstrategy.net.
Saturday, February 7, 2009
Does a career in the arts void business sense?
This week’s “Business Question of The Week” comes from Naila Chauncey,Columbus, OH:
Question - Why do you think that those with careers in the arts are not given credibility as business people?
Omar Tyree Answers:
To make a long story short here, people who have careers in the arts have a blessing and a curse dilemma. Even though the business salesman, marketers, company men, and investment people can’t sell anything without creative products to sell, they typically don’t want the artistic opinions or emotions in the way when they’re trying to push the dollars and cents game. And artists typically have more of an invested interest in what they’re trying to create than just pure dollars and cents. Artists typically have quality control goals, just like salespeople have numbers goals. But typically, many business people have learned to disrespect the artists who create and innovate the product because they are not driven by the utilitarian purpose of a buck for the sake of a buck. Artists want to earn that money with their quality control in check.
But do you really want your innovative artists spending time calling up Tom, Dick, and Harry to sell the product instead of creating the product anyway? Then they’ll have the valid excuse that they didn’t have enough time to create or perform well to make the product valuable enough to sell. So you have to look at the priorities of the business model and say, “Look, we need folks to be able to focus on creating the best product that we can get.” And that is their JOB, and that is BUSINESS whether the rest of us understand that or not! But if you start having every artist or innovator or athlete for that matter, trying to do everything, and their premiere product begins to suffer because of it, then we ALL suffer.
And the artists and athletes who do tend to get too involved in the business side, can generally come off as unfocused, greedy, selfish, and money-driven which ends up hurting their business when people can’t connect to the Love of the art. Nevertheless, both of these departments of innovation (Art) and sales (Support) are needed to make economic gain. And the Business people have to understand that. It’s ALL A PART OF THE BUSINESS!
So no matter how many times you hear the creative Art people complaining about the sales and Support people, and vice versa, they both need each other to survive. Humans who are never inspired by the Love of entertainment, performance, or new innovation will not have the daily energy to work. PERIOD! So the companies who are able to better balance those two entities of innovation and sales, are usually the ones that are more successful. Because if you disrespect your creative artists, and they start leaving your company to join someone else, and your team can no longer win because of it, then your business model has failed. And if you have artists who don’t understand the importance of the business model and sales force, then you need to sit them down and explain it to them, or give them The Equation to read (smile).
And The Equation to this answer is this; IT’S A TEAMWORK GAME, SO LEARN TO RESPECT EVERY PART OF THE TEAM! Just ask the Pittsburgh Steelers! It’s offense AND defense that wins the game! But when you do find those artists who can also do the Support that is needed for the Business, or a salesperson who can comprehend the excellence an execution of the Art, the synergy becomes a beautiful thing to witness.
Question - Why do you think that those with careers in the arts are not given credibility as business people?
Omar Tyree Answers:
To make a long story short here, people who have careers in the arts have a blessing and a curse dilemma. Even though the business salesman, marketers, company men, and investment people can’t sell anything without creative products to sell, they typically don’t want the artistic opinions or emotions in the way when they’re trying to push the dollars and cents game. And artists typically have more of an invested interest in what they’re trying to create than just pure dollars and cents. Artists typically have quality control goals, just like salespeople have numbers goals. But typically, many business people have learned to disrespect the artists who create and innovate the product because they are not driven by the utilitarian purpose of a buck for the sake of a buck. Artists want to earn that money with their quality control in check.
But do you really want your innovative artists spending time calling up Tom, Dick, and Harry to sell the product instead of creating the product anyway? Then they’ll have the valid excuse that they didn’t have enough time to create or perform well to make the product valuable enough to sell. So you have to look at the priorities of the business model and say, “Look, we need folks to be able to focus on creating the best product that we can get.” And that is their JOB, and that is BUSINESS whether the rest of us understand that or not! But if you start having every artist or innovator or athlete for that matter, trying to do everything, and their premiere product begins to suffer because of it, then we ALL suffer.
And the artists and athletes who do tend to get too involved in the business side, can generally come off as unfocused, greedy, selfish, and money-driven which ends up hurting their business when people can’t connect to the Love of the art. Nevertheless, both of these departments of innovation (Art) and sales (Support) are needed to make economic gain. And the Business people have to understand that. It’s ALL A PART OF THE BUSINESS!
So no matter how many times you hear the creative Art people complaining about the sales and Support people, and vice versa, they both need each other to survive. Humans who are never inspired by the Love of entertainment, performance, or new innovation will not have the daily energy to work. PERIOD! So the companies who are able to better balance those two entities of innovation and sales, are usually the ones that are more successful. Because if you disrespect your creative artists, and they start leaving your company to join someone else, and your team can no longer win because of it, then your business model has failed. And if you have artists who don’t understand the importance of the business model and sales force, then you need to sit them down and explain it to them, or give them The Equation to read (smile).
And The Equation to this answer is this; IT’S A TEAMWORK GAME, SO LEARN TO RESPECT EVERY PART OF THE TEAM! Just ask the Pittsburgh Steelers! It’s offense AND defense that wins the game! But when you do find those artists who can also do the Support that is needed for the Business, or a salesperson who can comprehend the excellence an execution of the Art, the synergy becomes a beautiful thing to witness.
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