customers who told him how he should expand his services. Strahl said: “We would finish a trademark search and then a customer would ask us if we offered other services such as trademark filing or preparing patent applications. I started to call this the ‘do you do this phenomenon.’ I always said sure. Then we would meet that commitment and in the process decide if this was a service we wanted to offer on a regular basis.” Strahl’s metrics required that any service offered on a regular basis by Mr. Trademark be largely automated and generate, on average, a specific profit number for every 15-minute period allocated to serving a client.
Mr. Trademark’s approach is noteworthy for two reasons: It’s one clear demonstration of how successful go-it-alone entrepreneurs also turn down paying business. By establishing clear profit objectives, Strahl could quickly assess whether specific activities were worthwhile. Unfortunately, many start-up businesses are seduced by the lure of revenues without clearly assessing the profitability associated with these revenues. It also demonstrates how customers are often the best source of new product ideas. Unsolicited customer requests for related new services are a recurring theme for go-it-alone entrepreneurs. This is one of the many reasons the most successful solo entrepreneurs work extra hard to stay in close touch with their customers.
The mantra for each of the businesses discussed above could easily be the same: They develop a quick, inexpensive process for discovering what new products and services potential customers will buy. The benefits here are threefold: (1) They rarely waste precious dollars on failed launches, (2) They limit the time they devote to any unsuccessful initiative, and (3) They view their business as a constantly evolving, flexible system that can maintain its competitive edge.
