Indianpreneurship: A Native American Journey Into Business

Mark Thompson IDRS, Inc.

Who is IDRS

• Founded in 1989

• Based in Plymouth, CA

• Organization provides trainings in negotiation, communications, and mediation and direct dispute resolution services (i.e. mediation, arbitration, facilitation, election monitoring)

• Started microenterprise program in 2011

• Provide microenterprise trainings and technical assistance

What Indianpreneurship Is

• Created by ONABEN: Our Native American Business Network

• Launched in 2005

• Story based training

• Goal of the curriculum is to create a business plan

• Honoring Nations Recipient and NAFOA’s Education Program of the Year

Business Plan: Why? (Tribe)

• Lots of potential entrepreneurs in the community that need to get trained

• Business opportunities for individual tribal members when Tribe creates business

• Good opportunity for life skill development for community members

• Good opportunity for business skill development for tribal employees

Business Plan: Why? (BizDev)

• Learn about priorities and goals in their personal life

• Become a problem solver

• Find out about their financial standing (credit score, credit report, etc.)

• See if being an entrepreneur is right for them

• Build a business that is feasible and sustainable

Business Plan: Why? (Entrepreneur)

• Get funding (loan, IDRS) or certified (8(a))

• Determine the feasibility of your business

• Develop a roadmap

• Understand your business, your product, your customers, your competitors

• Goal setting

• As a communication tool

Building A Business Plan

• Indianpreneurship: Pull-Outs

• One Page Business Plan

• NxLevel Curriculum

• SBA

• Business Plan Pro

• Live Plan

Jasmine Considers Her Own Biz

• What are some of the choices that Jasmine has to make?

• What are soft of the most important things in Jasmine’s life?

• What are the motivating reasons behind why Jasmine might want to start a business?

• Does Jasmine have knowledge to start a basket weaving retail business?

Business Plan Contents

• Executive Summary

• Mission Statement

• Business Description

• Management & Operations Plan

• Marketing Plan

• Financial Plan

• Appendices

Executive Summary

• 1 to 2 page overview of the whole plan

• Written once the business plan is complete

• Someone can read the Executive Summary and get this gist of the business without all the details

• Details and supporting material should be in the plan

Mission Statement

• A mission statement is a statement of the purpose of a company, organization or person; its reason for existing; a written declaration of an organization's core purpose and focus that normally remains unchanged over time.

• Communicates values to managers, employees, and customers

Mission Statement

• IDRS works with American Indian Tribes to strengthen their capacity to be self-governing, to mobilize technical and financial resources needed to meet the challenges facing these communities, and to create opportunities for tribal members in community and economic development.

Smarties

• Rules

– Candy stacks must be standing 5 seconds after the buzzer to count.

– If the goal is NOT reached, count 5 points for each candy stacked.

– If the goal IS reached, count 10 points for each candy stacked UP TO THE GOAL. Add 5 points for each additional candy stacked OVER THE GOAL.

Business Goals

• S = Specific (detailed, not general or vague)

• M = Measurable (includes some quantity or element that can be measured)

• A = Attainable (ambitious but reasonable; often breaks large goals into smaller pieces)

• R = Responsible (the goal-setter feels responsible for and motivated about achieving the goal)

• T = Timed (establishes a time frame for accomplishing the goal)

Business Goals

• Not just “have a good year” but increase sales by 12% or have revenue of $6,000 per month

• Can be number of employees, number of jobs, $’s of sales

• Are there any new initiatives? Do you plan to expand?

• Keeps you coming back to your plan

Business Description

• Personal History of the Owner – How did they come to this idea?

• Value proposition – Why are people going to buy this product or this service from you?

• Location

• Form of Ownership

• Products and Services

Management & Operations

• Management Team

• Key position description

• Outside Professional Support

• Labor requirements – how many employees?

Marketing Plan

• Executive Summary (Marketing story)

• What industry am I in?

• Who are my customers?

– How will I reach them?

• Who are my competitors?

– How do we differ from them?

– How can I maximize my strengths and minimize my weaknesses?

• What is my strategy to compete?

Marketing Plan

• Pricing strategy

• Placement of product / service

• How are you going to advertise?

• Other promotion methods?

• Customer retention strategies

Financial Plan

• Recordkeeping Strategy

– Quickbooks

• Cash Flow Projections

– Pro Forma Income Statement

– Balance Sheet

• Breakeven Analysis

• Ratios

• Budgets

• Personal financial information

GRASPING UNIT ECONOMICS?

ABANDONED CART RATE

COST OF CUSTOMER ACQUISITION

LIFETIME VALUE

PRODUCT/BRAND ASSORTMENT

INCENTIVE PROGRAMS

ACTIVE CUSTOMERS/MO.

CUSTOMER CHURN/MO.

FREQUENCY PURCHASE TRENDS

NEW CUSTOMERS/MO.

TICKET SIZE PURCHASE TRENDS

#ITEMS PURCHASE TRENDS

# CLICKS TO CHECK-OUT

REVENUE BY DAY/WEEK/SEASON

GROSS PROFIT/TRANSACTION

COST PER SKUS

INVENTORY TURNS

SHRINKAGE PICK RATES

DELIVERY TIME

MRR

COST OF CUSTOMER SERVICE

CUSTOMER CONTACT RATE

5.

CAPITAL

EFFICIENCY

Appendix

• Resumes

• Leases & Contracts

• Additional details of any 1 section

• Reports

• Promotional Material

• Letters of Reference

Where do you start?

• Idea Generation

• Cultural and Physical Inventory

• Look at other tribes

• Talk to travel associations

• Talk to tribal members

• Friends and family

• Travel

Where do you start?

• Not the idea, it’s the execution

• Are you passionate about this?

• Do you have expertise?

• Are there barriers to entry?

• Don’t worry that someone else is doing it, customers want to hear you too

Things to Consider

• Tribal Constraints

• Personal or Tribal Goals

• Capacity of tribal members

• How would customers buy from you?

• How many customers are possible?

Products and Services

• Service: Horse Back Riding Business

• Description: Provide hour long guided horse back rides to travelers. Ride will feature horse information, historical and cultural facts, and fun anecdotes.

Features and Benefits

• Feature: a prominent or conspicuous part or characteristic

• Benefit: something that is advantageous or good; an advantage

Features and Benefits

• Feature: Only use Peruvian Paso horses

• Benefit: Smoothest ride (comfort)

• Feature: Cheapest horse back ride around

• Benefit: Saves the customer money

Features and Benefits

• Feature: Located next to a national park

• Benefit 1: Better riding experience (satisfaction)

• Benefit 2: Easy trip to both spots (convenience)

• Benefit 3: Great product for the family

Features and Benefits

• What is the customer’s point of view?

– What are they looking for: cheapest, best quality, most convenient, Native American owned, a combination?

• Can I add features to the product to make it more valuable to the customer?

– What does this do to cost?

Marketing Story

Way Out West Ranch Rides provides hour-long and custom horseback riding services to the greater Yosemite travel region. Located in Groveland, CA, our proximity to Yosemite National Park provides a steady stream of customers as well as access to the Park for unmatched scenery on the ride. We use the Peruvian Paso which provides the ultimate comfort to customers while our location just outside the park reduces our cost allowing us to offer the lowest price for horseback rides in the area. We have a steady demand from locals for custom events and during peak travel season, we are at capacity by providing alternative entertainment options for tourists visiting Yosemite.

Ad Copy

Way Out West Ranch Rides provides the perfect vacation excursion for your family. Come enjoy the beauty of Yosemite National Park while WOW takes you through a history lesson on horseback. We offer the finest riding horses for your comfort and our prices won’t pinch your pocketbook. A horseback ride with Way Out West will make you say WOW! Y’all come now.

Marketing Research

• Looking at the industry you’re in

• Trends that affect your industry and the economy as a whole

• Defining your target market

– Geographics

– Demographics

– Psychographics

– Business characteristics

• Who is my competition?

Marketing Research

• Primary Research Experiments, investigations, or tests carried out to acquire data first-hand, rather than being gathered from published sources. Surveys, interviews, polls, focus groups

Marketing Research

• Secondary Research Research based on data collected by someone else or for a purpose other than the current one Magazine articles, census data, industry reports

How to do Market Research

• Hire a Market Research firm

– Costs tend to run into the multiple thousands

• Hire an individual market researcher

– Cost range in the $100 per hour

– Elance

– Odesk

– Guru.com

How to do Market Research

• Interview potential customers

– Find customers on Facebook

– If your customer is a business then the yellow pages (i.e. travel agents)

– Set up a booth at a fair, especially if your target market will be attending…get e-mail addresses

– Can tailor the survey to get the specific info you need

– Difficulty getting large numbers of responses

– For Surveys can use on-line solutions (Survey Monkey, Google Drive)

How to do Market Research

• What factors do you consider when purchasing this product or service?

• What do you like or dislike about current products or services currently on the market?

• What areas would you suggest for improvement?

• What is the appropriate price for a product or service?

How to do Market Research

• Find accurate, on-point secondary data

• Local economic development department

• Chambers of Commerce

• Visitors & Convention Bureau, Tourism Council, Recreation Authority

• Nevada Indian Commission

• American Indian Alaska Native Tourism Association

How to do Market Research

• U.S. Census Bureau

• U.S. Travel Association

• Nevada Department of Tourism & Cultural Affairs

• Bureau of Labor Statistics

• Trade Magazines

• Competitors: Yelp, Trip Advisor, Google

How to do Market Research

• How many tourists visit my area each year?

• How much money do they spend?

• How much do tourists typically spend on a product like mine?

• Who are my competitors?

• What products do they offer?

• What are they charging?

4 P’s of Marketing

• Price

• Product

• Placement

• Promotion

Promotion

• Identity package

– Logo

– Letterhead

– Business Cards

– Signage

– Packaging

– Postcards

• Vistaprint, PS Print, GotPrint

Promotion

• Website

– Get a custom domain name

• www.wayoutwest.com

– Think about mobile

– SEO / PPC

– Wordpress

• Wix, Strikingly, Google Sites, Dreamhost, BlueHost

Promotion

• Social Media

– Make sure your target market is using the network you’re marketing on

– Facebook: 1.4 billion active users worldwide

– Ads on FB now very similar to PPC advertising on search engines

– Google+ has SEO ramifications

– Posting on a regular basis most effective

– Twitter, LinkedIn, Tumblr, Snapchat, and many more

Promotion

• Public Relations

– Use of newsworthy events to promote your business

– Development of press releases

– Another source of free marketing

• Advertising

– Traditional media: TV, Radio, Print

– Tends to be more expensive

– Also new media options

Promotion

– Free ads in shoppers

– Letters of recommendation

– Attendance at trade shows

– Direct mail

– A computer

– An e-mail signature

– A landing page

– Blogs

– Podcasting

– E-Books

– Joint ventures

– Speeches

– Free seminars

– …etc.

• 200 Marketing Weapons

Contact us:

• Indian Dispute Resolution Services, Inc. (IDRS, Inc.) P.O. Box 877 Plymouth, CA 95669

• (916) 482-5800

• www.idrsinc.org

• Mark Thompson mark@idrsinc.org