Now I know what you are thinking. Is Derrick turning his blog into a gospel blog, is this going to be something preachy, relax your mind. I will leave the preaching up to your priest, pastors, preachers or ministers for Sunday, but whether you believe or not in God, Jah, Jehovah, or what some call the sources if you are a business person then you must have some kind of faith, because if you didn’t then you wouldn’t have much success. If this is the case then you are reading the right thing. If you are a person who is spiritual then you believe that you are connected to something larger then yourself, and this light or force is what you choose to guide you through life. If this is true then there is no greater time then now when we as humans need that guidance.

As you turn on your televisions read your daily newspaper are you feeling like the future is very uncertain? If walking into the 21st century feels like stepping out on some thin ice by accident because the sign reading warning thin ice was hidden behind some bushes, you are not alone. What is going to get you back to land, or better yet solid ground, sometimes I feel if I didn’t have my faith I would loses my mind. A good example of what I’m talking about is I was watching this heath program on Sunday on bottle water and how some scientist did a study on some bottle water in which they found harmful contaminates, and of course they didn’t mention which bottle waters brands they tested. This annoyed me because not that long ago there was reports on how harmful contaminates were found in tap water. This was the reason why bottle water became so popular. I love bottled water by the way if you couldn’t tell. My point is that a person who likes to keep themselves well informed about the things that are going on in the world may feel like you can’t win. You try your best to live your life right you say your prays, you take your vitamins, pay your tax and still some how you going to come up short. When I get to this point is when I repeat to myself the words Let Go and Let God, what will be will be. This reminds me that I can only do what I can do and to let God do the rest, and no matter how smart or strong I think I am, or how many precautions I take in life or in business there will always be the unforeseen, this where my faith enters into the picture.

When we talking about unforeseen some might say the economy comes to their mind. Other might say that there where signs every where. For those of us who felt like we did what we were supposed to do this statement doesn’t gives us much comfort. I was watching 60 minutes a couple of weeks ago, and they had an interview with the chairman of the Federal Reserve Ben Bernanke. He spoke about how there were signs the economy was improving, and how he felt that things were moving in the right direction the usual rhetoric we hear on a daily bases. The interview became really interesting to me when the interview move from the federal reserve to the chairman’s home town where the business there were failing left and right, and the chairman’s child hood home was one of the many houses in that town in foreclosure, talk about a reality check. Marvin said it best when he said it makes me want to holler.

Ossie Davis the great actor once said that faith and fear can not occupy the same space. If you are an entrepreneur, business person, or a child of spirituality then you understand this statement well. John Hope Bryant founder of Operation Hope in his Silver Right Series pamphlet on Racism said, ” One can not say let go and let God and then grab the steering wheel halfway through a turn in life because you have decided to help God drive”. So keep your eyes on your goals, keep your ears open for good information and opportunity, keep your feet moving forward, and above all let faith be your guide.

Derrick Guest: CEO & Founder
Griot’s Roll Film Production & Services

Mr. Derrick M. Guest will give free advice via articles, panel discussions, speaking engagements, interviews, networking events, seminars, lectures. For booking and interviews contact Eula M. Young at (212) 281-2286 or eula@griotsrollproduction.com.

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What do you value? What is most dear to you? I was watching Charlie Rose the other day and he had this guest author Suzy Welch on his show. The author talked about a book she wrote called 10-10-10 (10 minutes, 10 months, 10 years.) The book is about writing down and understanding what we value most before we make decisions in our lives. I wonder how many of us, meaning entrepreneur, business people know what we value most about having our own business, or why we even started a business in the first place. Was it to become rich and famous, did we start it to be independent. Did the attraction of being our own boss move us in the direction of entrepreneurship, or is it more profound then that, did we do it for the love of a particular field.

My wife and I rented the movie “Notorious”. The movie is pretty well done, not due to the usually reasons meaning sex, drugs, and violence, but rather the presentation of the story of Christopher Wallace (aka Biggie Smalls). The story inspired me to write this blog hence the title Value or volume. Christopher Wallace thought if he had large volumes of money, woman, and pleasure happiness would be a guarantee. He found out toward the end of the movie that his family, friends, and the words of God are what truly brought him happiness, and what had true value in his life.

In the bible Jesus told the story of the rich man that filled his store house with good things that he already had, but when he tears down his store house to build a bigger one in order to accumulate more good things Gods tells him his time is up. When God called him what do you think he was thinking? what did he truly value? Was the rich man thinking I hope my hedge fund will be alright, or was he thinking l hope I did something that effected peoples lives, whether it be family, friends, etc.
Some of you reading this may be saying what’s my point? Am I saying that pursuing the American dream of make your life and your family’s life more finically secure is wrong, I’m I anti American? No, what I’m saying is do you know at your core why you get up every morning to do what you do. Is being an entrepreneur a passion, and what is the root of that passion? Does it have to do with how much money you think you are going to make, or how many people will admire you if you are profiled in some hot magazine of the moment, or was that passion rooted in doing what you love. Why did you really take this journey?

Do you remember when you first started your business, and you thought about all the time you would be able spend with your family, or how you came up with this great idea to help fill a void in your community. When you think about it what we value most is what will truly drive us in the right direction toward our original goal, and will keep us truly for filled in our quest. There is a song by Robin Thick called “Magic” in the song one the lyrics goes a rich man can be poor and a poor man can be rich. I hope you find the value in these words.

Derrick Guest: CEO & Founder
Griot’s Roll Film Production & Services

Mr. Derrick M. Guest will give free advice via articles, panel discussions, speaking engagements, interviews, networking events, seminars, lectures. For booking and interviews contact Eula M. Young at (212) 281-2286 or eula@griotsrollproduction.com.

Hey check out the May 2009 issue of Black Enterprise Magazine. I am here with my wife Eula and our 8 year old daughter Shassee. Peace & Blessings, Derrick

 

In this world that we now live in of me first, and succeed at the cost of others. What are you doing to work with other business owners to achieve a common goal?

I was listening to Michael Baisden on Wednesday, and he had this discussion about the hair industry, and how the Korean community now controls 75 % of all profits. The consensus on the show was that African Americans don’t work together like Korean Americans to attain and achieve common goals. This was the belief of why Blacks had lost control of the industry, whether you agree with this line of thinking or not there is something to be said about why it seems that in our community, meaning the African American community why we do not have majority control of any industry. I know some of you may be saying the music or sports industries, but the truth is that African Americans may populate those careers but we don’t dominate the economic machine that powers those industries.

When I started my business five years ago there were few people in my family or my wife’s family that were thrilled about me leaving my city job to start my own business, not to say that they shouldn’t be concerned with the move that we were making because of the economic, and physical challenges that we would incurred by taking on a risk like running your own business. What I am trying to point out is that not one person ask or even tried to investigate if the business we were getting into was a good idea, maybe even seeing if they themseveles could be investors in the business. Even now when I talk to family members about what we do and some of the successes we have had with the business, I still feel like I talking to them about my date at the prom. They sit and stare at me and smile and nod, and say things like that’s great or wow keep working man. My point is no one is asking how I can help, maybe aid us in their knowledge, money, man power maybe the goal of making my business a success becomes all of our success. A great example of this is the Golden Krust Caribbean franchise, the company was started by Lowell Hawthorne, but the business is a family owned and run business. Their story goes with this company that each family member brought something to the table, Mr. Hawthrone has a sister who was an accountant she handles the books. He also has a brother who is great at construction he handles the building process for each one of their new stores. This is the Golden Krust story and this is the reason that business is so successful.

If you are familiar with place like the Grameen Bank in Indian and Project Enterprise that has been established here in America, the premises that these organization are built on are the very points that I’m trying to get across in this blog. They work through the power of community. These organizations have turned out successful businesses that will give the community jobs and better the neighborhoods there in.
There is an old saying that says it takes village to raises a child. I would add to that in saying that it takes a village to raise capital, and create commerce’s. So if you chose to try to go it alone you may get somewhere, but if we help one another we all get there together.

Many years ago, business owners could only spread the word about their services about as far as a horse could travel. The invention of the telephone changed that, allowing us to reach other towns, cities, and states. Now, the internet has set an entirely new standard in international correspondence and e-commerce.

A recent poll on CNN.com determined that consumers feel that for businesses in the U.S.,"internet has become a necessity," yet many businesses still have not embraced this strange new world. With the introduction of online video ads, internet marketing has become the only way to remain competitive in many industries.

From mom and pop brick and mortars, to small start-ups, to large multi-million dollar corporations, businesses of all sizes have discovered one basic truth: Online video ads lead to sales. The Online Publishers Association recently published a report entitled "Frames of Reference: Online Video Advertising, Content and Consumer Behavior". The report finds that out of 80% of viewers who watched an online video ad, over half took some type of action. Close to a third had visited a related Web site, 22% looked for more information, 15% percent had gone to a store, and 12% made a purchase.
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Now you may be saying, "well only 12% made a purchase, that's not very good," Well consider this...if you have $100,000 in sales, 12% of that is $12,000. Online video ads are very affordable, and can cost $300 to $3000, but not using a video ad can cost you $12,000. The marketers already using online video ads have obviously already done this math, and arrived at this conclusion on their own.

But here's what's really interesting; this study also found that "if a consumer has a positive attitude towards an advertised brand, and likes the video content that the ad appeared within, brand consideration jumps 61%. If the consumer's initial attitude toward the brand is neutral or even negative, brand consideration still rises 21% if they like the adjacent video content."

In addition to being powerfully effective at informing your prospects and converting them to customers, online video ads also get incredible search engine placement. Search engines give online video content priority over all other forms of content online.

An online video ad uploaded to many different video sharing websites will be indexed quicker, and placed higher on the search engines because 1) there are multiple websites linking to and hosting your content, and 2) your content is video. Some video ad production services, such as CommercialMaker.com, will create your video ad, and upload it to over 60 content sharing websites for you, many times giving you first page search engine placement in less than 24 hours.

So whether you use online spokesmodels, a repurposed TV commercial, or an online video ad created specifically for the internet, online video ads should be an important part of your marketing campaign.

Arik Bannister is the owner of CommercialMaker.

What are you doing to improve what you do? A wise man once told me that visual images are raw material for the mind. Is what you do inspiring to others, and if not how can you be better at it? The bible says have you beheld a man skillful in his work before kings is where he will station himself. What president Obama, and my mentor Bunns have taught me if you do well greatness will seek you out you will not have to seek out greatness.

So what are you doing to step up your game? Are you working on your craft as much as you can? If you sing what are your weaknesses and how can you improve on those weaknesses. One thing that sticks out in my head is Tiger Woods. I was watching I believe it was 60 minutes and Tiger woods talk about how he changed his swing to improve it, now we all know how great a golfer Tiger Woods is and at the time of this interview he had already won many golf tournaments. But Tiger decided that he needed to improve it to tweak some things in order to be a better golfer. This didn’t come easy for him because of his decision he lost tournaments, which I’m sure was not easy for a champion such as himself, but he made the sacrifice to be better when he was already the best. I mention earlier my mentor Bunn who owns the store hats by Bunns on Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Blvd between 134th & 135th Street. If you need a custom made hat go check out Bunns, and tell him I sent you so I can collect my 5%, any way the thing I love about Bunns is he takes pride in his work, and people take notice of that. Bunns doesn’t take time to go out to go out to networking events. He doesn’t spend time on the phone calling reporters to get in the next hot magazine. Bunns spends the bulk of his time working on his craft. He sits at his sowing machine in back of his store, Marlboros in one hand hat material in the other and all the energy that would go into a marketing campaign, brain storming on how to get the next sale goes into the artistry of making hats. This has paid big time for Bunn I have sat in his store and witness everyone from politicians, celebrities, and even millionaires come into Bunns store to purchase a hat. They all know what time he puts into his work and want to have piece of something wonderful like a piece of music written by a brilliant musician or a piece of art made by Picasso. This has inspired me to work harder on my craft. I read books go to seminars on how to improve myself as business owner. The reason why I write this blog is to keep my writing skills sharp. I also try to think of better ways of improving the quality of our videos, and what else could we do to help our clients get the most bang for their buck when they purchase our services.

So as they say on the street you good, or could you be better? What is your final diagnosis, and if it’s what I think, what’s your process of change? The dictionary defines the word better as higher in quality or greater in excellence, are you there yet?

Derrick Guest: CEO & Founder
Griot’s Roll Film Production & Services

Mr. Derrick M. Guest will give free advice via articles, panel discussions, speaking engagements, interviews, networking events, seminars, lectures. For booking and interviews contact Eula M. Young at (212) 281-2286 or eula@griotsrollproduction.com.