Happy 26th Anniversary, Rush Limbaugh: Business Lessons for Quad State Owners

Frankly, An Editorial

If you are one of those who are 'kinda embarrassed' telling your friends that you listen to Rush Limbaugh's radio program, it might pay you to listen up.

Starting the 27th year is wonderful for ANY business, let alone being a radio program. Shoot, many of us don't even like the same music, revere the same business guru, or even like the same food we did 26 years ago, right?

 

While I have not had the time luxury to listen to all the three hours of one of Rush's programs for years, or even snippets of it for weeks at a time, there are some take-aways in business that we can take to heart.

Find What You Love to Do and You'll Never Work a Day In Your Life

You've heard this statement before--probably from a wise parent--if not from a favorite business mentor. It is true nonetheless.

If you've followed Rush's career even lightly, you'll know that he is fond of saying that he 'knew what he wanted to do' in life when he was 16 years of age--have something to do with radio. It was his love of country and truly wanting the best for all US citizens that gave him his thoughtful opinions that he turned into parody to communicate those opinions.

As a marketer, Limbaugh is quite at home with the concept of niche marketing. When he was at a single radio station in Sacramento, California, he came to the conclusion that there was a large swath of conservative thought in America. He needed to be on many stations across the USA in order to capture that audience.

He convinced his initial investors to fund a nationwide syndication in 1988 and the rest, as they say, is history.

While he started out as a lone voice in the conservative movement, there were scores of both local and national conservative talk shows that launched in his wake. Yet he has remained THE #1 talk show (not just conservative talk show) in the media for 26 years.

Some radio executives even say Rush Limbaugh saved AM radio. If you remember the late 1980s, FM radio was 'the' thing. And AM radio stations were dying and going bankrupt. Their advertising sales were in the pits. And then Limbaugh came along.

We have several radio stations right here in our Quad State footprint that owe their success to the Limbaugh program. However, as one owner told me in the late 1990s, he knows of other owners who say the same thing. However, he said they would NEVER admit the fact due to the so-called 'polarizing' impact of Limbaugh, no matter how true it was.

What is amazing to me is Limbaugh's shrugging off oftentimes cutting criticism. I've been amazed that there seems to be SO many in the media, whether they have a vindictive agenda or they simply are intellectually lazy, consistently mistake or lie about Limbaugh's opinions. I've witnessed this with my own ears.

What Ever Your Hand Finds To Do, Do It Heartily 

We all have different work habits. Some of us work fast in short 1-2-hour bursts and do an 'editing' job on our efforts or leave that to others.

Others work methodically over long stretches of time. I've known business writers and even business owners with an idea for a new business spent 8-10 hours or more straight.

The watch-word in business, no matter what your working style is to always work as if you have a deadline. If you remember your high school or collegiate athletics, you've probably had a coach that told you to 'leave 100% out on the field.'  My own football coach told us if you still have any spring in your step after a game, he will assign laps!

The great pains with which Limbaugh documents his opinions is also amazing. In fact, Tom Sullivan, president of the national opinion research firm The Sullivan Group, has been given complete access to both the live radio broadcast and the printed document of every word uttered on the program documents every statement.

As a result Limbaugh's opinions measured against the documented truth about a topic--not just polls or public opinion--Limbaugh has enjoyed being 99.8% accurate in his pronouncements.

Whatever Your Hand Finds To Do, Do It With All Confidence

I'm reminded of the book of Joshua in the Bible, first chapter, in fact occurring many times in the chapter, "only be strong and very courageous" in carry out your assignment.

The one thing in business, whether we sell a product or a service, is to know what we know and realize that we have the best service/product that our customers will have the pleasure of experiencing. We are going to make them glad they talked to us!

Limbaugh could be a good pitchman...maybe not only the order of Ed McMahon (the old Johnny Carson Tonight Show)  or Billy Mays (of infomercial fame), but he takes on advertisers very carefully. He's got to believe in the product/service just as the advertisers do.

And as those in the audience witnessed, advertisers who questioned Limbaugh's pronouncements, take pronouncements during the Sandra Fluke controversy, and succumbed to boycott threats--and then tried to get back on the show after the boycott was proven phony--were politely told to find another advertising medium.

Confidence In Knowing What You Believe and Why You Believe

Having confidence means that you have confidence in your ideas--both on and off the field of business. It means having thought through what and why you believe--about your product or service, your employees, your market, and your life.

Having confidence doesn't mean necessarily that you blab it all over the place and thus become obnoxious to be around. No way. But it does mean that you will not shy away from giving your opinion--about business, markets or even life--when someone asks.

I could launch into a very touching dissertation as to one reason why I feel that those of us in the business world lose out is due to a lack of confidence and all--but I won't!

This Writer's Personal Encounter with The Rush Limbaugh Show In our Quad State Region

It was 1994 and I was working with one of my local clients who had purchased a business about a year earlier. If you remember, Limbaugh had been on the air nationally about six years at that time. And was just coming to the end of a bunch of public appearances.

I just love to work with family businesses. And I really enjoyed this client. My client's father and all three of his sons had their own businesses. (Personally, while I love to watch a husband-wife work together on their one business, I think that in this case, it was the fact that what helped them develop, was because they each had INDIVIDUAL businesses.)

Anyway, my client was creating a new division with new products and services. My job was to develop 'everything that had to do with marketing and promotion.' (Just love that type of assignment!)

I was listening to Limbaugh's program when I was travelling a ways in the car. Rush told the audience that while he really enjoyed going around the country and meeting listeners, he said he had made up his mind to do only one more public appearance.

As he had not stated where that final appearance was to be, I called Rush's Chief of Staff, Kit Carson. Kit told me that the criteria for the 'last Rush Limbaugh appearance' was NOT going to be in or even near any major city, but somewhere in the hinterlands.

I thought "Wow, we have a lot of hinterlands in our Quad State region--away from Washington, DC and major cities. I called Kit back and asked him if I could ask my client to sponsor it."  After all my client would not have to put out any money for Limbaugh, but just accommodate listeners in the area coming to the event.

I thought that although my client had an in-town location, he did have a large parking lot. And there was plenty of parking nearby.

When I asked my client and he thought it would be interesting. Especially as the dates were pretty flexible. And that he could see my tie-in to his new division that he was just launching. I was excited.

I was deflated when he said, "We just don't have room, ask my brother" His brother's business was out in the country, yet along a main road. Lots more room for people and for parking. It was perfect.

I sat in front of his brother whom I had known previously. He asked me to come back a couple of times. He had a fast-growing business and wanted he got all the information so that he could make an informed decision.

I was excited once again. I made another call to Rush's 'H.R.' Kit Carson. He looked up the new location and he was excited.

But alas, my client's brother said no also-. Sigh! And he was a HUGE Rush Limbaugh fan. He didn't say as much but my guess was that as he was going to be running for office in a couple years, he didn't want to have any 'lightening rod.' Really sad.

Well, I just re-lived that point. And I'm upset again. Ha! It could have been SO GOOD for our Quad State region if he would have said yes.

The point here is to never miss an opportunity to give your business a voice in your noisy marketplace--you may not have another chance!

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 Article first appeared in www.QuadStateBusinessJournal.com

Keeping Your Quad State Business from Failure

 

As I have spent several years working with SCORE in and around my 41 years earning my paycheck with street-level entrepreneurs, I thought it was about time the Quad State Business Journal did an article on why businesses fail.

I know that SCORE and SBDC folks are ‘supposed’ to accentuate the positive with entrepreneurs and business owners who seek their advice. It’s dictated by the SBA and Commerce Department among other ‘polite’ societal norms.

My time with SCORE was fun, don’t get me wrong. We helped a lot of sharp entrepreneurs get launched. But I suppose what was the beginning of the end of our relationship was the time that I told a newly-retired NASA engineer who retired from the Goddard Space Flight Center to go home and thank the Lord he has a pension.

And to forget his business idea–simply because he was uncoachable, unteachable and was unwilling to listen to even the most timid among us SCORE counselors–unless he is aiming for a huge write-off.

SCORE and SBA Aren’t Used To Telling Dysfunctional Entrepreneurs They are Dysfunctional

That’s not meant to be as irreverent as it sounds. I have always felt empathy for founders and their stakeholders. After all, it’s not as if I were some paragon of virtuous behavior when I was an executive, either. Nobody’s perfect.

Nevertheless, you can’t fix a problem until you face the truth. So whenever I have an opportunity to help a promising startup that can’t find its way or a mature company in need of a turnaround, it is difficult to watch them fail simply because those in charge aren’t willing to deal with their limitations.

Of course, we’re all human. But the beauty of an organization is that the head honcho does not have to go it alone.  Here in our Quad State region, there is a lot of help for both the start-up and ‘mature’ entrepreneur if one is willing to extend oneself. That even goes beyond SCORE, SBDC or various ‘governmental’ help.

Is There Non-Governmental Help In the House?

There are successful business owners, right now, in our region, who would be thrilled to help a new entrepreneur get started or a mature entrepreneur get through a sticky business issue–if approached decently. (I suppose that ‘if approached decently’ is fodder for another full article.)

And yet, in all the years I’ve been doing this, the most common preventable failure mode by far is when CEOs are simply not willing to do what is best for their company. Call it fear, greed, myopic views or just plain selfishness, a business–whether start-up or mature–cannot survive their owner denial to give their dreams life-giving marketplace air.

I say “not willing” because it is a choice. Denial is a choice. Failing to challenge your own comfort zone is a choice. Maintaining the status quo is a choice. Listening to groupthink is a choice. Lacking the courage to face your fears is a choice. And putting your own self-interest ahead of those of your stakeholders and your business is a choice.

Make It Your Business to Understand Your Market

Stephen Covey’s writing wisely asked us to ‘understand, then seek to be understood.’   Gerber, author of ‘The-E-Myth told us to ‘work on your business, not in your business.’ If you are  too busy to go outside your market to take a look at it from an outsider’s or a customer’s point of view, hire a consultant to give you that perspective.

Any decent psychiatrist will tell you that on some level smart people do understand what’s really going on. They do have common sense. They hear what others are telling them. They know what they’re doing. So when they suppress it, bury it in their subconscious, hear what they want to hear – call it what you want – that, my friends, is a choice.

Sure there are indeed concrete reasons why companies fail. Jump on any SCORE or business publication website and you will see a list.  But failure of leadership is at the root of a great 99.9% of them.

Sure there are unforeseen things–even right down to selling a company and thinking that the proceeds will fund one’s retirement. And then you get shafted. I can personally give testimony for that! But what do you do after that?

You Have to Lead Yourself, Number One: Be In It for the Long Haul 

There are so many terrific Quad State business owner stories about owners who were dealt a bad hand, a dirty deal, a sudden change in their market. We wish we could tell them all. But these owners gave short-shrift to their pity party and re-invented themselves and their businesses.

Lots of companies run out of cash. But while some can’t raise capital, you would not believe how many can and simply don’t. Oftentimes, their founders aren’t willing to give up a piece of the pie. They try to bootstrap a promising venture and end up starving it to death. Or they have too high a burn rate, aren’t willing to invest the time it takes to raise a round of funding, wait too long and run out of time.

It’s hard to imagine how many beneficial ideas, inventions and innovations never see the light of day because they offer solutions that don’t actually solve any real problems. Or they’ve come up with concepts, not products.

Lots of entrepreneurs are not in it for the long haul or for the right reasons; they think they can make a quick million or feed their egos. Some don’t think they need a unique value proposition or competitive differentiation. Others have holes in their strategy so big it would take a miracle to fill them.

I see this stuff every day. And none of it is rocket science, folks. It’s Startup 101. You should all know better. In all likelihood, you probably do. But you do it anyway. And fail. That’s what I’m talking about.

Success Is Hard–But So Is Failure–We Must Take Risks but We Need to Manage Them

Look, it’s not easy starting and growing a business. If it were, every startup would succeed. The problem is they can’t. Don’t kid yourself. Markets are zero-sum games. They are elastic but they are also competitive. People and companies have limited budgets. Ad dollars are finite. We are all after the same number of eyeballs and page views.

Just so this isn’t misunderstood or misinterpreted, let me make an important distinction. You should take risks. You should do what you love. You should take the plunge if it is in you to do it. You will never know how things would have turned out if you don’t. All I’m saying is do it with your eyes open.

I don’t care how inspired or passionate you are. Like it or not, there are laws of physics, finance, and human nature your ego simply cannot overcome. By all means, reach for the stars. But if you don’t keep your feet planted firmly on the ground, you’re just going to end up floating away. And trust me when I tell you, there are no customers up there.

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Originally appearing in www.QuadSBusinessJournal.com

Entrepreneurs to Meet at Country Inn in Berkeley Springs August 7th!

Update!

(July 1, 2014, 201) – What happens when a professional wrestler, physician/rock and roll singer, serial entrepreneur and astrologer come together for a one-night only appearance? The result can only be an incredibly unique panel discussion. “So You Want to be a Star? Branding Yourself for the 21^st Century” will be held Thurs., Aug. 7^th at the Country Inn, Berkeley Springs, beginning at 5:30 p.m.

Panelists are Peter Corum, developer of Morgan Grove’s Market, radio host and banker; John Diamondidis, aka Big John Greene, a professional wrestler and Internet entrepreneur; and Dr. Matt Hahn, owner of River Bend Family Medicine and a rock and roll singer. Well-known Berkeley Springs resident and business owner Jeanne Mozier will moderate the discussion. Mozier is also an author, tourism promoter, astrologer and social entrepreneur.

The program is presented as part of the Eastern Panhandle Entrepreneurs Forum (EPEF). The event, which is free and open to the public, will be held at the Country Inn in Berkeley Springs, and begins at 5:30 p.m. with networking, refreshments and exhibitors. The educational portion of the program begins at 6:30. Exhibitor space is available for $5 a table. Please email amy@jcda.net to reserve a table.

Organized by the economic development authorities in Jefferson, Berkeley and Morgan counties, the EPEF is a non-profit organization of individuals in the business and technical communities that promotes the creation and growth of innovative new businesses in the Eastern Panhandle. Programs are held the first Thursday of each month (except July), rotating between venues in the three counties. The organization is based on the premise that the future economic vitality of our region comes in large part from the emergence of new businesses through entrepreneurship.

 In order for this to occur, there must be an entrepreneurial culture, a pool of resources to draw from, and successful models to follow.

2014 Sponsors: Accurate Systems, American Public University System, ANW Enterprises, Around the Panhandle magazine, Bank of Charles Town, Blue Ridge CTC, BB&T, City National Bank, Comcast Business Division, Diehl Law Firm, HBS Tax and Small Business Experts, HMS Technologies, Howard Shockey & Sons, Inc., United Bank, Panorama at the Peak, Mid-Atlantic ProTel, Remax 1st Realty, Specialized Engineering, Triad Engineering, University of Charleston-Martinsburg, WV Manufacturer’s Extension Partnership.

For more information call or click: epef@jcda.net, 304-728-3255, http://www.jcda.net/entrepreneurs-forum/. The Country Inn is located at 110 S. Washington St., Berkeley Springs (www.thecountryinnwv.com/).