7
Lessons in Successful Self-Employment from "Weeds"
I have a new love -- and it's not a man or a house or a
car. It's an edgy Showtime television suburban satire, "Weeds", in
which Mary Louise Parker plays a widowed soccer mom, Nancy Botwin, in a
fictional subdivision of Los Angeles called Agrestic. Nancy struggles
with the sudden death of her husband from a heart attack and agonizes
how she'll support her family in the upper-class lifestyle to which they
have become accustomed. Not having any discernable job skills, Nancy
discovers the lucrative income in being the local neighbor pot dealer.
What a way to make a living...;)
The show is ironic, quirky, irreverent, and raunchy (don't watch it if
you're sensitive to 4-letter words -- they are used very liberally
throughout each episode). The dysfunctional family dynamics are
hysterical (I really can't repeat the best quotable lines here),
especially when her unemployed pot-head brother-in-law, Andy, arrives on
her doorstep. Her interactions and affection for her supplier, a black
ghetto family headed by matriarch Heylia James (played by Tonye Patano)
and Heylia's unwed pregnant daughter and ne'er-do-well son, Conrad, are
a stark contrast to her daily life in Agrestic. And, the broad social
and political statements that are constant undercurrents in the series
are really just right on the money.
This show is a big shift for me -- I'm probably the only person my age
who's never done any type of drug (guess I bought into Nancy's Reagan's
"Just Say No" campaign) -- so admitting I love a show about a
pot-dealing suburban mom is strange, I admit. What's most fun for me to
watch is Nancy's development as a entrepreneurial businesswoman who's
going to do what it takes to be the most successful weed dealer in
Agrestic. There's not alot of difference between Nancy and me in the
quest to build successful businesses, except that my business is legal,
of course, and I don't have to dodge bullets in drive-by shootings at my
supplier's house. ;->
Here are some great lessons on building a business from suburban pot mom
Nancy Botwin:
1. Fish where the fish are. Due to her friendship with
her accountant, Doug Wilson (played by Kevin Nealon), and his group of
friends, Nancy quickly realizes that Agrestic is a wonderful market for
her product. She finds a great source of pot and is easily able to sell
it, as her upscale target market is eager to buy and can easily afford
her prices.
Lesson: Know your target market. Are they male or female?
What age group? What industry? What socio-economic group? Where do
they hang out on- and off-line? What do they read? To what groups and
associations (real and virtual, personal and professional) do they
belong? How much money do they make? Can they easily afford your product
or service?
2. It's all about benefits, not features. Doug discovers
a cheap source of medical marijuana in a clinic in LA and thinks he's
discovered a gold mine. However, in order to use the clinic, he has to
get a prescription for medical marijuana from a shady physician and then
drive an hour into the city every time he needs a refill. Nancy offers
him the opportunity to buy the same stuff locally, without the drive,
and no prescription needed.
Lesson: People do business with you because you can help
them solve a problem. They care little about how you solve it (the
features of the solution). They just want you to make the problem go
away so that they have one less thing to worry about (the benefits of
doing business with you).
3. Understand the needs of your target market. Nancy
takes a trip to LA to check out the medical marijuana clinic, and
discovers a sheer cornucopia of pot, available in more varieties than
she'd ever imagined. This visit makes her realize that she's buying the
bottom-of-the-barrel weed and gives her supplier a list of the "good
stuff" that her clients really want. Then, to give her clients a better
high for their buck (and enable her clients to hide their marijuana
use), she begins to package the pot in various baked goods that she
makes in her home kitchen. One client cleans her out of baked goods in
one visit.
Lesson: Give your clients what they want, not what you
think they need. Many service business owners head into the marketplace
and have no idea if they offer a product or service that the public
wants. Or, they offer what they think is good for a client rather than
what will solve a client's pressing problem. Do your market research to
understand the needs and problems of your target market.
4. The failure of most businesses is due to undercapitalization.
Nancy's personal expenses are exceeding her income, and she approaches
her supplier, Heylia, to give her inventory on credit. Heylia laughs in
her face, but after Nancy begs, she's permitted to hock her leased Land
Rover and multi-carat wedding ring with Heylia to get the quantity of
pot that she needs for the week.
Lesson: Being self-employed is a financial roller-coaster
ride. Have financial reserves in place before you start your business
so that you can pay your bills until you begin making a profit. And, if
you come up short of cash, try negotiation with your suppliers or
vendors for more favorable payment terms.
5. Slow and steady wins the business growth race. Nancy
becomes heady with her sales success in her suburb and begins to eye
other markets so she can make even more money. While on the local
college campus seeking a tutor for her son, she realizes the campus is a
ready-made market for pot and is initially very successful in capturing
that market. However, what she doesn't realize is that she is treading
on another dealer's territory (one of the campus security officers), and
in a mock arrest on campus by this officer, she loses about $15,000
worth of inventory. When she tells Heylia what happened, Heylia just
laughs and tells Nancy she's been "jacked" by another dealer, and that's
the price she pays for trying to grow too fast.
Lesson: Great success in your business will make you want
to conquer the world. However, quick expansion without proper planning
makes many a business owner go belly-up. Plan for the growth of your
business, and include that growth in your business plans and vision
statements so that it's a natural evolution of your business.
6. To be successful, you need your family's support.
Nancy tries to be an "moral" pot dealer and refuses to sell to
children, or permit anyone working for her to sell to children. In the
same vein, she tries to shield her children from the true nature of her
business, not wanting to set a bad example for them (see the irony in
this series?). However, secrets are hard to keep from teenagers. In
an act of rebellion, Silas, her 15 year-old son, tells her he doesn't
have to follow her rules any longer, throwing in her face that she has
no right to tell him what do to since she's selling pot. When she tells
Andy, her brother-in-law, about the situation, Andy tells her that Silas
is just angry with her because she has lied to him about how she's
making money.
Lesson: Deciding to run your own business can be the
quickest road to divorce or family alienation. Keep your family updated
on what's happening in your business, especially if you run a business
that's going to keep you away from them on an ongoing basis. Family
rules, structure, and expectations may need to shift for awhile, and the
more that you family can be a part of creating that change, the
healthier and happier you all will be.
7. The Lone Ranger didn't ride alone. As Nancy reviews
her life lessons in entrepreneurship during Season 1, she realizes that
it's hard work running a business by herself. She invites her
accountant and attorney (two of her best clients), her brother-in-law,
another dealer, and son of her supplier to go into business with her and
help her grow her territory and make it all work.
Lesson: You're great at the core service you provide to
your clients, but you can't be good at everything, nor should you try to
be. Create two lists, one of what you love to do, and the other of what
you hate to do. Do what you do best (and love to do) and delegate the
rest to your support team. Spend your time more profitably looking for
opportunities rather than wasting it on tasks that you can hire out much
more cheaply and efficiently than by trying to do it all yourself.
Business lessons show up in many shapes, forms, and sizes. Tune in to
the next season of "Weeds" and see what's in store for Nancy as she
builds her suburban pot empire.
(c) 2009 Donna Gunter
WANT TO USE THIS ARTICLE IN YOUR EZINE OR WEB SITE? You
can, as long as you reprint the article in its entirety
and include this blurb with it:
Online Business Coach
Donna Gunter helps baby boomers create profitable online retirement businesses
by demystifying the steps needed to successfully market a
baby boomer business online. Would you
like to learn the specific Internet marketing strategies that get results?
Discover how to increase your visibility and get found online by claiming your
FREE gift, TurboCharge Your Online Marketing Toolkit, at ==>
http://www.OnlineBizU.com
Return
to Index of All Articles
Want to receive more articles like
these? Subscribe to my free weekly email newsletter, Get Clients Online,
where you'll learn the proven strategies I use every single day in my business
to get 95% of my clients from Internet marketing.
Subscribe below:
|
