Where Best-Selling Ideas Really Come From

If he had listened to his gut, Yes To Carrots co-founder Ido Leffler would have rejected the product that became the company's biggest hit.

Courtesy of company.

Ido Leffler, co-founder of Yes To, Inc., almost rejected the product that became the company's bestseller.

As the Chief Carrot Lover and co-founder of my skin care company, Yes To (makers of the Yes To Carrots skin care line), I'm the product guy. I love big ideas--and I like to think that I have a pretty good understanding of the ones our customers will love. 

But a few years ago, I learned a couple of key product lessons that every founder must learn early on:

a) You're not always right, and

b) Sometimes the best ideas come from unexpected sources.   

Here's what happened. 

The Idea That Wouldn't Go Away 

My co-founder is Lance Kalish, and he's also our resident finance wiz and operations guy. One day, he approached me with what he called 'a game-changing idea.' Usually when Lance comes to me with grandiose ideas for products, marketing concepts, or PR stunts--all of the areas of the business I handle--I simply smile, nod, and pretend to take him seriously. (And in full disclosure, I know he does the same when I ramble on to him about my big ideas regarding the balance sheet.) 

But this time, he was more persistent than usual. He said he had watched his wife go through pack after pack of crappy facial cleansing wipes. He had decided that not only should Yes To enter this product category but also that we could do it better than anyone else. I gave him my usual response: 'Yeah, sounds great, mate. We'll keep that one on the back burner.' Disposable wipes didn't exactly fit our mission to be earth-friendly, so this struck me as a terrible move for our company to make. 

Lance proceeded to bring the idea up to me weekly for the next couple of months (to my mild annoyance). Finally, to quiet him down, I agreed to add it to our new product development pipeline and promised to show the idea to one of our key retailers at an upcoming strategic session. 

In the meantime, our product team did a bit of research and learned that it was possible to create wipes that were compostable, hypoallergenic, and 98% natural. We mocked up the packaging and prepared to show it to the retailer.  

I was still not completely convinced that the retailer would be interested, so I buried the pitch at the end of the presentation. When we finally got to this slide, I watched Lance's face brighten up. This was his big moment. I cautiously started to describe the product, thinking I'd hear crickets. 

To my total surprise (and Lance's delight), the buyer stopped me halfway through my pitch. 'Mark my words,' he said. 'This will be your No. 1 item next year.' I was dumbfounded. Then the buyer added, 'I want it in three months. Can you do that?' We looked around the room at one another and then responded in typical Yes To fashion--with a big "Yes!"

The Making of a Bestseller 

Our team went into overdrive to finalize the product. Anyone in product development knows the process usually takes around 12 months. Needless to say, this was a very chaotic, though creative, cycle. My favorite part was our fragrance-selection process: I sent an intern to our favorite San Francisco watering hole with three different product samples and enough money to buy a few pitchers of magaritas for patrons willing to cast their vote. Very scientific! 

In the end, we pulled it off. Three months later, the Yes To Cucumbers Facial Towelettes were on shelves, and they quickly became the No. 1 product in the entire category. 

Lance has had a field day with this one ever since. 

So, my advice is simple: You're brimming with brilliant ideas and sound insight into your customers' behaviors and desires. But you're not the only one. Keep your eyes and ears open to ideas from everyone--even the finance guy. They could be brainstorming your next big thing.

Ido Leffler is co-founder and 'Chief Carrot Lover' of San Francisco-based Yes To Inc., maker of Yes To Carrots and the #2 natural beauty brand in the country. @idoleffler

Do You Pass This Key Leadership Test?

The stakes are high, and the pressure is on. Here's how great bosses respond in challenging situations.

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It happens every time. You occasionally face a problem or challenge so big, so important, so critical that it requires your total focus, and that's when one of your employees is most likely to feel he must talk to you--right now.

Tell me I'm wrong.

(Didn't think so.)

For example, say you own a manufacturing facility. A truckload of parts just arrived. As pallets are getting unloaded, your quality team performs random sample inspections and determines the defect rate is too high.

Normally, you would reject the shipment, but you desperately need the parts to meet a critical ship date for your biggest customer. You can sort in-house, but that means pulling employees off other work so you can go all hands on deck.

Should you eat the cost and suffer delays on other jobs so you can satisfy your biggest customer, or do you reject the shipment and miss that customer's ship date? The clock is ticking, and employees are waiting.

So you sit staring at your desk, knowing you have about 20 minutes to make a decision, and knowing that no matter what you decide, you're kinda screwed. In walks an employee who says, "I really need to talk to you."

Not now, you think, and you automatically start to say, "Can I get with you a little later?" but you look up and see he's really upset.

That pause allows him to keep talking. "I call the babysitter every day at lunch to make sure she gets my son home safe from preschool. But this week our lunch break got moved to a different time, so now that doesn't work. My supervisor won't let me leave the line to make calls, and that means I have to sit and worry for an hour until I go on break..."

Maybe you empathize. Or maybe you think it's pretty silly that he doesn't trust his babysitter (if he feels like he needs to call every day, maybe he needs a new babysitter).

However you feel about his problem, right now you have your own problem to deal with: deciding whether you should eat thousands of dollars in cost or whether you should upset your biggest customer.

And that's when you take a key leadership test: Can you approach the employee's problem as if it was just as important as the problem you face? Because it is: To him, his issue is just as important.

Give his problem the attention and consideration he feels it deserves, and you pass. Assume your issue is more important and brush him aside, and you fail.

To a shop-floor employee, a change in break schedules, an interpersonal problem with team members, not having the proper tools, etc., can seem like major issues. To you, losing a major customer or incurring thousands in additional expense is a major issue.

You have very different points of view, and both of you are right.

Great leaders treat an employee issue, no matter how "small," as a major issue. Great leaders give employee concerns the same attention they give business-critical concerns.

When an employee comes to you with a problem, no matter how minor it may seem to you, to that employee it's a major issue. Whether you can view a problem from the employee's perspective, and not just from your own, is a key leadership test great leaders pass with flying colors.

Jeff Haden learned much of what he knows about business and technology as he worked his way up in the manufacturing industry. Everything else he picks up from ghostwriting books for some of the smartest leaders he knows in business. @jeff_haden

Best Sales Advice From a Martial-Arts Master, Navy SEAL & More

My mentors have included an ex-Navy SEAL, a martial-arts master, and the top closer in the advertising industry. Here's what they taught me.

Discovery Channel

Richard Machowicz, a former Navy SEAL, author, and host of the Discovery Channel show Future Weapons.

I've been lucky to have had three great mentors who have had a great impact on the way I think, sell, and deal with the obstacles that stand in the way of my goals.

Here are some of their best tips that will help you focus and hit your sales targets a little more easily when you find yourself off course:

1. Always Be Ready

My martial-arts trainer--Dai Shihan Mark Walker of Eye to Eye Jiu Jitsu--has been studying martial arts for more than 25 years; he works with Navy SEALs and other units in the Special Forces. 

He talks regularly about being prepared and aware at all times. As he reinforces the basics, he explains that constant training and preparation give you the confidence to perform under pressure.

Business training is not so different from martial-arts training. Practice constantly: Keep prospecting; write handwritten thank-you notes; keep your top targets posted on your office wall; and provide massive follow-up and support to your customer base, to make them your top promoters. All that hard work makes a clear path to your goals.

No matter how well your business is going, you should always be alert to what's around you. I've seen many business owners enjoy a great streak of success, but in the process ignore the constant prospecting that sets you up for future streaks.

It's much easier to prospect for new business when you're doing well and your confidence is high; it also keeps your skills sharp.

2. Be Comfortable Being Uncomfortable

Sometimes people can affect you in a very short time--becoming mentors, even briefly, with advice that stays with you.

Several years ago I interviewed Richard Machowicz--a former Navy SEAL, author, and host of the Discovery Channel and Military Channel show Future Weapons. The conversation had a profound effect on me.

One of the statements he made was that the key to success is being comfortable being uncomfortable. That means doing things that take you out of your comfort zone. 

Here's how that translates to sales: Sometimes when you're prospecting, you need to call at the highest level of the company in order to hit your targets. That might make many people uneasy--but the only way to really learn how to do it is by actually making it happen. That's how you get over your fears and start learning real skills that help you get in the door.

Never forget: Successful people do the things that unsuccessful people don't like to do. 

3.  Listen

Tony Wainwright was a legend in the advertising industry: I never met anyone who had built so many strong relationships with so many top business people across all industries. 

I learned many lessons from him, but the one I remember most is this: "Most people really don't listen to the people they meet. Truly listen to not just what they say but also how they feel, what's going on in their personal lives, their body language, and more."

You might say, what does this have to do with hitting your sales targets? It has everything to do with it. Most sales are lost because of miscommunication: The customer thought you said X, when you thought you'd said Y (or vice versa).

Business is built on relationships, and listening is what keeps them strong. When you are seen as a person who really cares about the individual you're with--not just about landing the account--it makes a huge difference when hitting your targets.

Barry Farber is a marketing consultant for corporations, business owners, professional athletes, and entertainers. He is the best-selling author of 11 books and a frequent featured guest on CNN, CNBC and QVC. Visit him at his website.

How I Became a Better Boss

Indigo Johnson, CEO of Careers in Transition, fired her employees on a regular basis until she started focusing on their strengths instead of their weaknesses.

Andy Ryan

A New Woman Indigo Johnson now focuses on her employees' strengths instead of their weaknesses.

COMPANY PROFILE

Company: Careers In Transition

2012 Rank: No. 239

3 year growth: 1,500%

2011 Revenue: $5.2 million

Even as her company advised federal agencies and businesses on how to train and nurture employees, Indigo Johnson, a former Marine, ran her team like a drill instructor. She fired employees so regularly that few of them ever lasted longer than a year. Until finally she realized'she was the problem. As told to April Joyner.

Coming from the Marine Corps, I always felt that you had to be hard charging and no nonsense to get results. But many of my employees withered under the pressure. I didn't give them a chance to grow. I fired them.

I had been running a human resources company for more than a decade, and I'd written a book about career management. I would help my clients' employees identify why they weren't getting promotions and develop more skills. But I wasn't doing those things for my own staff.

That all changed about two years ago, when I started a Ph.D. program in leadership. I read a wonderful article that said, "Pulling on grass doesn't make it grow faster." That was so profound for me. I always felt that if I pulled you, that would make you stronger. I had to soften up.

I had blamed the people I fired. But no one is going to come to your company perfect. If you look at the common thread, it was me. It wasn't our hiring practice, because we vetted people really well. But once they were here, I didn't help them flourish.

More than anything, I had to allow people to utilize their strengths. I had focused on weaknesses. If you weren't good at something, I would try to get you to correct it. But you can't change who people are. All you can do is give them an environment where their positive attributes will expand.

Now I focus on nurturing. A big thing for me is having retreats and strategic-planning sessions, so that people can step aside from their hands-on work and take time to develop. And if people say they'd like to try a new skill, we give them an opportunity to do it.

I also hired a confidant, my COO, who joined the company last year. As a business owner, it's hard to get candid feedback. Now I have someone who can tell me, "This is how it's done."

I haven't fired anyone in more than a year, and we've tripled our number of employees. That's huge. One of my employees just had her one-year anniversary at the company. At a recent team-building event, she said, "The life I had a year ago is not the same life I have today." That lets me know I'm on the right path.

April Joyner is a reporter for Inc. magazine. She regularly covers sales and marketing topics and writes on start-ups for Inc.'s Elevator Pitch column. She lives in Brooklyn, New York. @aprjoy

6 Tricks for Getting More Stuff Done

Technology's great, but it can distract us to the point where productivity suffers. Here's how to minimize the disruptions.

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Let's face it: Despite all of the positives associated with today's rapidly changing business environment, technology can also cause distractions and put a strain on our productivity. You answer 10 emails only to have 20 more in your inbox. You are expected to be available 24/7. You have to schedule conference calls with people across the globe. You are tempted to text and email during meetings. You can't stay off Twitter during the workday.

Whatever your personal distractions may be, following these six simple steps should help you to increase personal productivity and job performance.

1. Do the Worst First

Whenever possible, we like to get up early, sometimes before others are even awake (especially Bill), and knock out the most important (or most arduous) tasks of the day before the phone calls and emails start rolling in. This can be the most productive part of the day, and it feels great to have your most time-consuming or undesirable task completed first thing. If you are not a morning person, then identify your personal peak time in which you are able to fully dedicate yourself to your highest-priority task.

2. Break Projects Into Chunks

It's easy to get overwhelmed with large, ongoing projects. A good trick is to consistently chip away at the project to avoid procrastinating and finding yourself in a bind. By taking one large project and separating it into individual mini-projects with individual deadlines, you can achieve small wins each day to keep yourself motivated and on track.

3. Pay Attention

We've all had that moment in a meeting where we are asked a question only to realize we weren't fully paying attention. Put down your phone and shut off your laptop during conference calls or meetings. Don't just go through the motions; nothing is worth doing unless you are fully engaged. We understand it might be difficult to disconnect, but give it a shot. Trust us--you will be amazed at how much more you get out of meetings by giving them your full attention.

4. The Inbox Can Wait

Responsiveness is critical for professionals at all levels. However, don't let the influx of emails distract you from getting your work done. Designate communication-free times in which you dedicate 60 to 90 minutes to real work. If you are a manager, it is also helpful to set the tone at the top by not expecting others to be available 24/7.

5. Write Everything Down

This tip comes from David Allen's book Getting Things Done. Any time an idea or to-do pops into your head, immediately write it down. This isn't rocket science, but we often have so much on our plates or so many back-to-back meetings that we can forget critical thoughts and ideas we have throughout the day.

6. Take Breaks

An often overlooked pillar of productivity is to make time for yourself to do something you truly enjoy. Whether it be reading industry-related articles, taking an exercise class, or leaving a little early to eat dinner with your family, it is important to take the time to refuel and recharge so you are ready to attack your to-do list again tomorrow.

The most important part of this process is finding a system that works for you and sticking to it. And always remember to fully engage in whatever it is you are doing, whether it be a project, a client meeting, or even vacation.

What makes you more productive? Share your thoughts with us at karlandbill@avondalestrategicpartners.com.

Avondale associate Lindsay Comstock contributed to this article.

Karl Stark and Bill Stewart are Managing Directors and co-founders of Avondale, a strategic advisory firm focused on growing companies. Avondale, based in Chicago, is a high-growth company itself, and is ranked No. 95 on the 2011 Inc. 500 list. @karlstark

Thank the People Who Really Matter

Take a moment to remember all the people, seen and unseen, known and anonymous, on whose work your success depends.

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A European friend of mine recently interrogated me about Labor Day. "I guess," he concluded, "this proves Americans appreciate irony. Not working on Labor Day--that's pretty cool!"

His sense of humor aside, I always think that Labor Day--in contrast with the various May Day holidays celebrated in Europe--might be more meaningful if we thought about it as something other than the beginning of a new school year and end of summer vacations.

It's a useful day on which to contemplate how much we all depend on the labor of others, without which we really could do nothing. I'm talking about the food we buy that's grown, delivered, and sold by an army of farmers, truck drivers, and store assistants, the Internet we access because someone somewhere is minding the servers (as Andrew Blum has demonstrated, they're not in the "cloud" but mostly underground), and the garbage collectors who ensure we aren't sitting in a mess of our own making. Almost all labor is invisible, but we depend on it and would soon notice its absence.

What's ironic in this context, I believe, is that most business coverage focuses on the heroic soloists: the Steve Jobses, Mark Zuckerbergs, Martha Stewarts, Irene Rosenfelds, or even Julia Childs who single-handedly created huge companies or brands. Why is this myth so potent? We all know, if we take the time to think about it, that none of these people accomplished anything alone. Each needed moral support from friends and families, financial support from investors and backers, technical support from engineers, scientists, and accountants, and honest feedback from those brave enough to proffer it. The solitary heroic narrative disguises these stagehands, but they are always there and always necessary.

Great leaders know this, and many struggle (often ineffectively) against their own canonization. The most honest come to recognize their dependence on the gifts and talents of people around them and work hard to diffuse the applause. This isn't (or shouldn't be) just modesty. Great companies are built through collaboration, argument, debate, and dissent that take good ideas, test them, and stretch them. The most endangered leader is the one surrounded by sycophants and yes men and women; their ubiquity goes a long way toward explaining the series of banking fiascos we've witnessed over the past five years.

So this Labor Day, while you're not laboring (if you're so lucky), spare a thought for all those people, seen and unseen, known and anonymous, on whose work you depend. They're everywhere you go and inside everything you do. And most wouldn't mind the occasional thank-you.

Margaret Heffernan is an entrepreneur and author. She has been chief executive of InfoMation Corporation, ZineZone Corporation, and iCAST Corporation. In 2011, she published her third book, Willful Blindness. @M_Heffernan

I'm Still Getting My Hands Dirty

He got rich flipping houses, then became famous doing it on television. But he really hit his stride when he began thinking of himself as an educator.

Gregg Segal

Hit It Armando Montelongo gets back to his roots in business.

COMPANY PROFILE

Company: Armando Montelongo Companies

2012 Rank: No. 90

3 year growth: 3,215%

2011 Revenue: $74.5 million

Eleven years ago, Armando Montelongo was $50,000 in debt, had a credit rating of 501, and was living with his wife and toddler son in his in-laws' garage. He changed his fortunes by learning to flip houses: buying them on the cheap, fixing them up, and reselling them for a profit. That led to a three-year stint on the A&E show Flip This House, and then to a business selling books and DVDs and giving seminars to would-be flippers around the country. As told to Darren Dahl.

I grew up in San Antonio; my dad worked in the construction business. But in 1986, the economy changed dramatically, and the real estate market tanked in Texas. A lot of people lost a lot of money, including my family. We lived through some hard times, and it made a lasting emotional impression on me.

By 2001, I had gotten married and had a son, but I hadn't done much with my life.

My son was two and a half. I remember thinking, One day, he'll think of his dad as either a winner or a loser when it came to money. That's when I decided to enter the real estate game.

I made a few friends who knew the business and who helped mentor me. My dad let me borrow $1,000, and I began buying and selling distressed houses locally. At that time, there was a huge mold scare in Texas, and houses were dropping in value by up to 40 percent overnight. At the same time, homeowners were in litigation with their insurance companies over paying their claims. I began offering myself as an expert witness to the attorneys. I would put in an offer to buy a house, which helped them establish a value for the house in court.

"It's like if someone had been out there studying how Hearst or Getty or Trump did it from the ground up. That's what I'm offering."

Whenever I didn't know what I was doing, I adopted the philosophy of "fake it until you make it." I would walk into any situation the way I did with the lawyers in the mold lawsuits. I would act like the biggest and best real estate investor around who would buy any house in any condition. By working extremely hard and finding people with a need, that's what I started to become.

With the help of an investor, I would buy a house for $60,000 that was originally valued at $150,000. I then put $20,000 into repairs and got a microbiologist to certify that it was clear of mold. I would put the house on the market for $120,000, and it would sell within 30 days. I kept doing this over and over again. It was a volume game. Within three years, I had made $3 million.

The TV show was probably one of the greatest things that ever happened to me. It was a life changer, and I'm grateful for it. It will be cool to show the videos to my grandkids.

There are two types of people: those meant to be on camera and those who are never meant to be. I was meant to be on camera, because I have a lot to say. When you're the seventh of eight kids, you learn how to speak up.

I once told my wife that if I ever learned how to make money, I would teach the world. That's the truth. Flip This House became the platform for me to do that. So I made the commitment to build a $100 million business teaching people to get rich'or I'd go bankrupt trying. We did $74 million in 2011 and are on track to hit $100 million this year.

Since starting the company, we have come in contact with 300,000 of what I call our "students," people who want to learn the real estate business from attending our seminar or buying our books and videos. Our seminars are held in anywhere from six to 18 cities a week. I personally do nine three-day advanced seminars a year.

We teach people how to assess houses by looking at things like the roofline, the foundation, and the condition of the paint. When you flip houses, you can't afford to get the rehab numbers wrong. We can teach only part of that in the classroom. The rest comes from seeing and touching the house itself.

I am building the next great American brand associated with wealth. That's why I've sponsored Indy 500 cars and the final table of the World Series of Poker. It's like if someone had been out there studying how Hearst or Getty or Trump did it from the ground up, following what they did every day and seeing how they banged their head on the table and overcame challenges. That's what I'm offering.

I still invest heavily in real estate. I'm out there making deals. That's separate from the seminar business. I will only teach people how to flip houses if I'm doing it myself.

When I was 25, I wrote a list of goals. I found that list the year after I started my seminar business and realized I had surpassed every goal I had set. It's my belief that if you have a dream, it should be your only action in life to go after it without a backup plan.

The foreclosure market has created an incredible inventory of distressed properties. If people aren't getting educated about the real estate market, foreclosures, and banks, they are missing a phenomenal time to get really rich. When I look around, I feel like a shark in a minnow tank.

Darren Dahl is a contributing editor at Inc. Magazine, which he has written for since 2004. He also works as a collaborative writer and editor and has partnered with several high-profile authors. Dahl lives in Asheville, NC.