You’re Going to Screw Up Constantly When Starting a Business, So Fix Things on the Fly

Posted on September 1, 2009 by Brandon

As an entrepreneur, starting a business is going to be embarrassing (at some point) because you’re going to screw up all the time, whether you realize it or not. The best mindset you can have when trying to grow a company is to not worry about the mistakes and keep pushing forward.

(fill in your preferred motivational generic quote here)

Now, this doesn’t mean you ignore them. In fact, you always need to be searching for the mistakes. This is especially difficult during all the times when you have no clue what you’re supposed to be doing.

In other words, be aware of mistakes and try to fix little things on the fly.

So, in the meantime, know you’re going to look stupid occasionally – or wear the wrong suit/tie combo- or make a quasi-business pitch to a friend’s parent while stammering like Chris Farley, in the movie Tommy Boy.

Lastly, understand that in some way your business will suck at some point. Realize that your product or service will have its faults and welcome the fact that your future clients might see these faults, its ok.

One of the best things we learned how to do was to be honest and always call a spade a spade. That lets us do our job – which is to make sure that mistake gets fixed and figure out how to avoid doing that again. Rinse and repeat. That’s how we keep getting better and keep our customers happy.

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Matt interviewed (again) about social media, this time on ZDNet

Posted on August 4, 2009 by Brandon

Matt was just quoted in a ZDNet article: Job-seeking college grads may require an extreme social networking makeover (zdnet.com).

“Activities in which students partake in college may be on the wild side, but are forgivable since many now-successful adults have been there.”

“We don’t judge our students because in most cases, nobody has ever taught them what to expect,” he said. “Think about it, our generation is a lot more open and tolerant than previous generations, so it’s just part of how they grew up – more upfront and open. There is a problem, though, not too many people know what’s acceptable and what’s not, which is why we let our students know about what to do with their online profiles before entering the workplace.”

Read the full article

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Arriving Late to an Early Morning Meeting Due to Last Night’s 2-for-1 Special is a Legitimate Excuse

Posted on August 3, 2009 by Brandon

Starting a business while being a college student and why you need to take advantage of it.

The title of this section summarizes one of the most important lessons we have learned since starting the business. Don’t worry about being college students.

beer taps

beer taps

We could list hundreds of times when simply being college students with a big dream has given us opportunities that we never imagined would be possible. We would not be where we are today, if it weren’t for so many great people who were happy to help a couple college kids out.

Ignorance is Bliss

In the beginning, we tried extremely hard to convince potential clients that we were credible and knew exactly what we were doing. We thought this would be the most important goal to achieve in order to gain clients. It’s not easy proving your credibility when there really isn’t anything you are credible of. To make it even worse, we were students. Ignorance is bliss…

We have found that entrepreneurship takes hard work but it really isn’t complex: return the wallet, hold doors, don’t upset mom, make a friend, don’t fake anything and don’t worry about being young and inexperienced. These phrases are the foundation to why our company has gotten where it is today. To clarify, we are not a huge company pulling in multi-millions in sales each year, nor is becoming that a big concern to us.

Now, Don’t Get Us Wrong

We would be bankrupt liars if we said money and sales were not important to the company whatsoever. However, what we do realize is that we don’t control or decide how much money our company will make each year. Our clients do. All we worry about is making sure we provide valuable services and a great experience for our clients. We believe that focusing on consistency and continuous improvements in these two areas gives us the best chance for future success. The rest is out of our hands.

A few Concepts & Ideas we live by

This is the fourth installment in a series of posts called:  How We Started a Company in College with $400, No Experience, & No Clue What We Were Doing.

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How We Gained Credibility with Clients Without Having Any Credibility

Posted on July 29, 2009 by Brandon

“I might not always say what you want to hear, but I’ll always tell you the real deal” – Barry Labman (Brandon’s Dad)

TRICKS ARE FOR KIDS

Some businesses cut corners in order to grow fast. We don’t believe a company can be great if it does this. We have worked extremely hard the past four years taking the long way. It’s not easy to do when running a small business.

Every day there are dozens of times when opportunities to cut corners are dangled in front of you, and doing so is tempting. Sometimes it seems that there is no other choice but to give in and do so.

The bottom line is that it will catch up to you and hurt the business in the long run.

We Call Your Bluff

Lying to people about your business is a waste of time. Unless you have multiple World Series of Poker championship bracelets, you’re not a good bluffer anyways. Lying about the smallest things like doubling your number of clients will only lead to taking credibility away from the things that you really do great.

It’s easy to say that they will never find out, but why risk it.  Some of our best clients have come from us being overly honest about our operations. Being honest and trustworthy will always surprise you.

Just Get the Job Done and Do it Well

There’s nothing wrong with not having 100 people on staff; they don’t need 100 people. They need the least amount of people to get the job done; nothing more, nothing less.

When we speak to people, we don’t bring up all the great things we may or may not have done in the past. Really, who cares? It’s over.

The only thing that matters is what we are doing now and how we are helping the person in front of us at that moment. We are either ready or we are not, simple as that.

Return the Wallet and No Cell Phone Contracts

As much as we don’t look at the past to judge our performance, we also do the same with the future.

We don’t believe in long-term contracts, set-up fees, or early termination fees. If the customer wants to leave, we screwed up somehow or they found something better. Why should they owe money if they didn’t get what they were expecting or were unsatisfied?

Our approach: suck it up and “return their wallet.” If you need clarification or reason why you should always do this, simply take a clean sheet of paper and write down what you think of your cell phone company and what you think they should change.

A few Concepts & Ideas we live by

This is the third installment in a series of posts called:  How We Started a Company in College with $400, No Experience, & No Clue What We Were Doing.

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Make a Friend, Not a Sale

Posted on July 27, 2009 by Brandon

Make a Friend, Not a Sale

Vin Diesel closing a sale in Boiler Room

Vin Diesel closing a sale in Boiler Room

When I used to visit my dad at work, I never once witnessed a customer leaving his office unhappy or angry. No matter the personality or mood of the person who entered, minutes later… BOOM!  A happy customer emerges shaking my Dad’s hand “thanks for all  your help Barry!” It was like a magic trick.   Now I’m sure there were times that this didn’t happen and someone walked out disgruntled, but I never saw it.

One day after seeing another 180 degree customer walk out, I finally asked my dad: “How’d you do that? How did you make that sale?”

He looked at me and said, “It’s easy, I made a friend; I didn’t make a sale.”

We suck at selling

Ever see Vin Diesel in the movie Boiler Room? He’s hurdling over desks, racing to a sales rep yelling “RECKO!” all because a big lead is on the phone waiting to be closed by a sweet talking sales rep. Great scene. Not us.

We don’t have fancy pitches explaining how we are the best at anything and everything the customer needs and we don’t throw out fake figures or percentages to prove our credibility.

To be honest, neither of us were born with a silver tongue or the gift of the gab and according to the few sales books we’ve read, we both suck at selling.

As far as sales and convincing potential clients we are worthy, we simply tell them what we ACTUALLY do. To clarify, we don’t oversell. We tell it how it is and don’t throw out fake figures or percentages to prove our credibility. It might sound crazy, but it works.

Bottom Line; Don’t “Act as if”

Don’t claim to be something when you’re not, and don’t claim to be great at something when you know you aren’t. Our best clients didn’t come from us having glamorized our business or services; they came from us having made a friend.

A few Concepts & Ideas we live by

This is the second installment in a series of posts called:  How We Started a Company in College with $400, No Experience, & No Clue What We Were Doing.

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Hold the Door, Return the Wallet, and Don’t Disappoint Mom

Posted on July 22, 2009 by Brandon

Concepts and ideas we live by: Part I

Not to sound like bad people, but we hate the phrase “business ethics.”

Don’t get us wrong, we do like and respect the phrase’s meaning and what it describes. We just don’t like when those 14 letters are in that exact order.

For some reason, we always confuse that phrase with something that sucks: a miserably boring class, that basically teaches common sense, we had to take (and spend thousands of dollars on) because of required credits.

Instead, we just make sure we do the following:

  • Hold Doors: Find ways to help other people out, even when it doesn’t benefit us at all directly.
  • Return Wallets: If we don’t feel right about something we did, we admit it and do something about it.
  • Don’t Disappoint Mom: Don’t do anything that would possibly upset our Moms, even if she wouldn’t find out about it.

So, to keep things simple, we prefer to say: “Hold Doors”, “Return Wallets” and “Don’t Disappoint Mom.”

A few Concepts & Ideas we live by

This is the first installment in a series of posts called:  How We Started a Company in College with $400, No Experience, & No Clue What We Were Doing.

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How We Started a Company in College with $400, No Experience, & No Clue What We Were Doing

Posted on July 22, 2009 by Brandon

Starting a Business During Our Freshman Year in College

We created ROCS during our freshman year at George Mason University with no real clue as to what we were doing.  The two of us combined had a total of 0 years experience in  human resources or staffing and a whopping $400 in funding to work with (Brandon’s $200 was credit from downsizing his campus meal plan.)  We didn’t know much about the student job market we were entering other than the fact that we didn’t really like it.

Ignoring the Haters

When telling people about our new business start-up idea years ago, we got many reactions.  The majority being: chuckling, doubting, and waiting for a punch-line (when we stopped talking, they thought a punch-line was coming.)

Our Secret Recipe

So how did we get the company to where it is today from only $400 and no business plan? It’s pretty simple:
  • We told people who we were
  • We told them what we could do for them
  • We worked as hard as we could to get the job done
  • And if we messed up anywhere along the way, we admitted it

Thats basically it. No secret recipes.  If you expected more, sorry.  This process has worked for us so far and we think its the best way to  have a chance of becoming a great company. It’s not very complicated. It can be extremely demanding, challenging, and time consuming—but not complicated.

Keeping Things Simple

We avoid arduous processes, strict rules or complex plans for the company to follow.  They slow things down and never work. What we do have instead, are some simple phrases that we use to keep us going in the right direction.

A few Concepts & Ideas we live by:

  1. Return lost wallets, hold open doors, and don’t disappoint mom
  2. Make a friend, not a sale
  3. Tricks are for kids
  4. Arriving late to an early morning meeting due to last nights college two-for-one special is a legitimate excuse

We will be adding our thoughts and reasoning of each throughout the next couple of weeks.  Stay tuned for the updated posts..

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Matt interviewed about social media on CNBC

Posted on July 16, 2009 by ROCS

Matt was just quoted in a CNBC article: Social Media: What Employers Think (cnbc.com).

“Social media gives proactive jobseekers an edge…But social media does not replace offline tactics.

Most everyone I spoke to acknowledged that social media was just one part of their recruiting strategy.  Matt Smith, Student and Business Finder of Responsible Outgoing College Students (a.k.a. ROCS) goes as far as saying that nothing beats old-fashioned, live communication (and he’s a Generation Y!).  Smith acknowledges that blogs, websites, and online networks help jobseekers distinguish themselves, but he estimates that the vast majority of their hires come from traditional networking.

Read the full article

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The ROCS Mission for Students During College: Build Up Skills & Gain Experience Each Year

Posted on July 10, 2009 by Matt

Our mission for students

ROCS was created to help college students and recent grads. While you’re in school, it’s important to think about your future, but have reasonable expectations. In other words, don’t think you’re going to get a job as a financial broker making $100k a year. We’re sure it’s possible somewhere, but to the average student, it’s not possible. We realize you may not be the same person as when you began your Freshman year, but feel free to take advantage of an Internship, Part-Time, Full-Time, or Direct Hire positions. Not everyone can qualify for all positions, but based on our years helping students find jobs, here’s some advice we can offer:

Freshman

You just got out of your High School years or decided to attend college after a year or two off. Now, you’re on your way to get that diploma you’ve heard your friends talk about. While you may not qualify for every position, Part-Time or Temporary positions would best suit any College Freshman. During Summer or Winter break, check out or job postings for any internships.

Sophomore

You’re done with Gen. Ed and have decided on your major. It’s time to start thinking about how you can put your degree to use while gaining some real world experience. If you’re considering a career option, it’s best to explore by dabbling in a few different career paths. For example, if you’re considering Marketing, check out a job that’s research focused, on the account side, or working in the company’s in-house marketing department. We think that our On-Call, Temporary, or Part-Time jobs might be best.

Junior

Your Junior Year (or 3rd Year for the students on the more than 4 year college plan), is getting into the nitty-gritty of your degree. Put those classes to use and combine it with a job that matches your studies/degree program. This way, you’ve got some practical experience combined with the degree too! For Juniors, our On-Call, Temporary, Part-Time, or Internships might be most practical. In the summer, we have lots of full-time temporary positions available as well.

Senior

Ahhh…  the final stretch before freedom. It’s also a good time to hit the panic button if you need some experience. That’s where we can help. Whether you’ve got a resume full of experience or you need a little extra padding, ROCS can help you out.

College Grad

We all kick and scream and wish we could go back to college, but that’s not an option. You’ve got a degree and have more options available to you than when you were in college. Put that 18th Century Literature degree to use by doing something useful. If you’ve got bills to pay and are hungry for a position (and a paycheck); perhaps we can help. Whether you’re interviewing at other places, have a part-time job to help fray living costs.

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The Official ROCS Theme Song

Posted on July 7, 2009 by Brandon

Big thanks to Patrick “Gametime” Moore (Tom’s younger brother) for putting this together.  Just click the play button below to begin listening to the first ever ROCS rap song.

The Official ROCS Theme Song

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