Entrepreneur Creates Unique Service: Moving Zoo Animals

The next time you're driving down the highway, you could be right next to a rhino and not even realize it. Entrepreneurs like Chris Danhauer make a living transporting zoo animals to other locations for breeding, conservation, or educational purposes.

It's an unconventional business, to be sure. But someone has to be responsible for moving giraffes and gorillas.

Before starting his business, Planned Migration, Danhaur was a zookeeper. He said it was that experience that allowed him to build up trust and a good name with the zoos that use his services. He told CNN:

"If I wouldn't have had the skills and qualification, there would have been no way [zoos] would have touched me."

He is the founder and sole-employee of the Texas-based company. He takes a lot of care when loading and unloading the animals and he supervises the animals during each trip. One of the benefits of transporting animals by road.

Zoos don't just use companies like Planned Migration to transport animals. Some utilize air travel, commercial flights, and even priority mail. The size and temperament of each animal helps determine how they should travel.

Road travel is certainly a popular option though. Planned Migration moves more than 200 animals per year. Most of those moves occurring during the spring and fall.

Danhaur’s trips usually take less than 24 hours total. Price varies by distance and type of animal. Moving a small antelope a short distance could cost as little as $500. But moving an elephant hundreds of miles could cost up to $12,000.

Aside from loading and unloading the animals, driving and supervising, Danhauer said that planning each trip is key. Some animals require extra training before being transported. Other times, Danhauer just has to coordinate with other institutions to ensure a smooth trip.

Ideally, you shouldn't even be able to tell when you're driving next to a zoo animal. Though some of them are a little difficult to hide. So next time you see a large crate being pulled by a truck on the freeway, take a closer look. It could be Danhauer or another entrepreneur transporting some of your favorite zoo animals.

Image: CNN

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After beating Google, Korea's Naver goes global with messaging app Line

SEOUL (Reuters) - The billionaire founder of web portal operator Naver Corp beat back Google Inc to leave South Korea one of few countries where the U.S. search engine does not dominate.

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TrustLeaf Helps You Structure “Family and Friends” Loans for Your Startup

You may have heard that borrowing money from family and friends to start a business is a bad idea. Still, the fact of the matter is that many entrepreneurs have gotten their start this way leading to the founding of many well-known brands.

For example, entrepreneur Jim Casey started the business that today is UPS way back in 1907 with a family loan of just $100.

Sam Walton, legendary founder of the WalMart chain, borrowed even more — $20,000 — from his father-in-law to open his first store.

Finally, John Mackey and Renee Lawson, who would together go on to found the popular Whole Foods store and brand, would do so with a $45,000 loan from family and friends back in 1978.

A Sunnyvale, Cal. startup called TrustLeaf is attempting to simplify the method by which entrepreneurs can approach family and friends for loans.

For a fee, depending upon the type and complexity of the campaign, TrustLeaf allows you to invite family and friends to pledge financial support for a business venture. The site says it offers standard online agreements for repayment of loans, then manages the loans and keeps track of repayments while tracking your progress.

According to the company, 38 percent of the estimated 6 million small businesses started annually in the U.S. begin with funding from friends and family.

In a recent release, the company explains:

“Friend and family loans provide many potential advantages over traditional forms of investment. They may be available when other capital is not, are often cheaper, offer greater flexibility, and perhaps most importantly, represents validation from key supporters. Many entrepreneurs, however, hesitate to take out loans from friends and family, fearing that it may damage their relationship.”

The key to avoiding these potential problems is to manage personal loans responsibly, the company claims.

TrustLeaf also recently released a free Friends & Family Loans Guide. The 19-page ebook recounts the examples of great entrepreneurs and great brands including those listed above that started out thanks to funding from family and friends. But it also provides tips on avoiding awkwardness while approaching family and friends about a business loan.

Finally, the ebook includes suggestions on the ideal interest rates for personal loans and the creation of the necessary documentation to keep track of personal loans and avoid misunderstandings between friends or family members about the rates or other details of repayment.

Personal loans from friends and family may be an option entrepreneurs need to consider when other funding opportunities are scarce.

TrustLeaf hopes to provide services for those entrepreneurs who may need a source of funding from investors who already know and trust them.

Image: TrustLeaf

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How a Meetup Group Led a Mompreneur to Launch a Business

Jill Salzman (pictured center above, in orange) was already a mom and an entrepreneur before she launched The Founding Moms' Exchange in 2009.

The mother of two was juggling multiple businesses, including a music management firm and a children's accessory line. And she wanted a way to connect with other mom entrepreneurs.

So she used the website Meetup.com to start a group in her hometown of Oak Park, Illinois. Moms would get together monthly to swap tips and collaborate with one another. Within 6 months of the initial gathering, the group had grown to over 200 members.

Eventually, the group began to grow beyond the Oak Park meetup. Moms wanted to see groups set up in other cities. Salzman was happy to see the growth, telling CNN:

"One of the women who was attending said, 'I hate driving the five miles [to Oak Park], so let's open one in Chicago.' And then I thought, 'Let's open one in L.A. where I used to live, then in New York, where I'm from.'"

Now, Salzman oversees offline groups that meet in 43 different cities and 9 countries. The Founding Moms' Exchange has over 8,000 members that participate in these groups.

But Salzman has also expanded The Founding Moms beyond the offline groups. Today, the group website includes podcasts, newsletters, and an online community where members can connect with other mom entrepreneurs. Membership to the site costs $37 per month.

Salzman also monetizes her business through speaking engagements, books, and the Founding Kit, a service to help entrepreneurs grow their businesses.

Entrepreneurship among mothers has been a growing trend for years. Often, these moms see a gap in the market that affects their own lives, and then choose to fill it themselves.

In this case, Salzman wanted a way to get together with other entrepreneurial moms and didn't see an existing opportunity in her area. So she created one. As it happens, other moms were looking for the same thing. And that's why The Founding Moms has been able to grow to where it is today.

Image: Courtesy Jill Salzman, CNN

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“The Secrets I Share With My Friends” Are Now Shared With You

Nadine Larder knows a few things about running a small business.  And she’s willing to share her secrets with you in her new book, “The Secrets I Share With My Friends: Everything I Know About Building a Small Business.”

This is one of the most aptly named books I’ve ever seen.  The cover shows two business women (one of them the author, the red head) sitting down for a drink together, and chatting.  And that’s more or less how the book reads.

This book is written in a light breezy style sharing tips about starting and growing your own business.  It gives you the impression of a friend sitting down with you every morning for 15 minutes over coffee, and giving you a small lesson each day.  Those short business lessons are the “secrets” Larder has learned over a period of two decades in business.

And Larder has learned a lot.  A mother of five, she left the corporate world after a career in sales.  With $100 she started Printer Bees, which she describes as a one-stop marketing shop for small businesses, especially those in the real estate field.  As you might imagine, with a name like Printer Bees there’s a focus on printed marketing materials on the website.

But before your eyes roll back in your head and you dismiss this as “old school” marketing — get this:  Larder is a master of the electronic world.

In fact, I met Larder (@NadineLarder on Twitter) in April while attending the Infusionsoft #ICON14 user conference, where she gave me a signed copy of her book.  Infusionsoft is the sophisticated marketing automation software.  Larder was one of three finalists for their Small Business ICON award.  She also was a “Best in Class” winner for Lead Nurture and Conversion.

In other words, the woman knows a thing or two about getting and converting leads using online marketing software.

And that’s one of the things that impressed me about this book:  the way it blends online marketing and offline marketing.  The book is particularly strong when it comes to practical advice about networking, branding, building an email list and following up on leads.  She ties together offline marketing and networking, with online marketing.

Although marketing takes up a fair chunk of the book, it’s about so much more.   Larder shares her lessons for starting and operating a business.  For instance, she covers delegating.  And she minces no words:

“I truly believe that many small businesses fail because owners don’t know how to delegate. They believe no one can do the job better than they can.  In most cases, it’s simply not true.  As an entrepreneur, you stand only to benefit from knowing where you’re needed and where you’re not.”

She goes on with another “in your face” dose of reality for business owners when she writes:

“If you’re frustrating the people in your business or, even worse, your customers because you drop balls, put things off, can’t get to it or refuse to do it, this is an indication of your weaknesses. Yup, it’s a ‘ding in the armor,’  and you’re going to have to face it, get over it, and get over yourself.  You’re not perfect or the best at everything.  Your business will suffer until you come to terms with it and begin to delegate your weaknesses.”

So there!

As any business owner who has started a business from scratch and grown it can attest, there’s truth in her words.  Many of our businesses would have been better off had we trusted our people — or found someone we could trust — and delegated earlier.  Instead, we spend too long mired in the details of our businesses. We’re busy working IN the business. Meanwhile, strategy and the bigger picture activities we should be working on get short shrift because we don’t have time.  And then we get frustrated when our businesses don’t grow.  Hello?

The book’s advice doesn’t stop with what or why.  It also gets into “how to’s” that I found invaluable.  There are short “how-to” nuggets throughout like this one:

“I have found the best way to learn what my customers want from me and my business is to sit with the customer service department once a week and answer phones.  I strongly recommend you try this exercise.  Use an alias if you wish to remain anonymous.  I don’t use my real name when I want to answer phones, interact with customers, or sense firsthand what my team is experiencing.  Using my real names messes with our systems because people want to talk to me again, and I’m not always available.  When people call back looking for me (my alias), the team knows they can take over where I left off, letting the customer know I was temporarily filling in that day.”

Now that is real world advice for running a small business.  If you’re like me, you’ll jot down a half dozen pointers like that to try out in your own business.

Oh, and I mentioned “light and breezy” earlier, but don’t get the wrong idea.  That merely refers to the style of writing, not the substance in the book.

Yes, you’ll find sections like “10 Ways to Know Your Business Card is Tacky.”  Sure, it’s amusing.  (My favorite is number 7, “Your headshot photo looks like a mug shot from the last time you ‘did time’.”)  But it’s also useful information.   In fact, that style and the humor is what makes the book so readable, and the book’s information so memorable.  Who wants to read a dry boring book?  And what good is it if none of it sticks in your mind?

I love books where you know the author, like Larder, really has run a successful business. Some writers can talk a good game, but a smaller percentage actually know what they are talking about.

The one negative with this book is that I believe it only comes in paperback.  There’s no Kindle or other ebook version I could find. I think it would get wider visibility if an ebook version were available.

“The Secrets I Share With My Friends“ is a gem of a book packed with insights for in-the-trenches small business owners.  It’s real-life stuff … lessons you need for running your business. It contains advice just about any type of business can use.  Whether you run a brick-and-mortar business, or an online-only business, there’s something for everyone, and I highly recommend Larder’s book.  She will inspire you to change a few things in your own business.

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