Entrepreneurs need to be opportunistic to add unexpected profits to the bottom-line. Raymone Crowe, Jr., demonstrated that lesson when Vice-President Joe Biden was scheduled to speak in a parking lot across the narrow street in front of his Java Exchange Cafe. He ran a special promotion the day of the visit on “The Super Joe”, a Latte with a punch. Boasting that this special latte would be unveiled during the Vice-President’s visit created an avenue for email and word-of-mouth publicity.
Biden’s visit was to launch new energy initiatives and inform the citizenry of stimulus dollars being awarded to Michigan alternative energy businesses. Crowe tied in his promotion to Biden’s purpose by claiming the latte “packs such a huge energy punch, normal humans have been observed producing four times their workload after one cup “.
This theme was especially pertinent to Crowe’s clientele. His business is located in Detroit’s Tech Town complex. The complex is home to more than one hundred business specializing in alternative energy, life sciences, technology, and security. Crowe’s energy burst focus of the campaign was a direct tie-in for the business sectors in the building while playing to the typical entrepreneurial desire to be more productive. Opportunistic entrepreneurialism takes many facets. The most popular form is selling items, such as souvenirs, at events. These are popular ventures at sporting and political events.
Brick & Mortar entrepreneurs need to be more creative. In the early years of the Woodward Dream Cruise, a classic car auto event near Detroit, the businesses up and down the nostalgic highway complained about the event’s effect on their regular customer’s ability to get to their businesses. Now many have figured out ways to connect to the classic car culture by offering specials designed for the sedentary nature of the potential customers stationed along the event’s route.
Card and gift shops along the Cruise route sell souvenirs, restaurants offer special boxed meals, sidewalk sales abound, and some businesses rent out their parking lots. In a down economy it is critically important to take advantage of unexpected opportunities if you want unexpected profits.
Author Rick Weaver is founder of Max Impact, a leadership and business strategy development company. His white paper “You’re Not Running a Vineyard — so stop your whinning!” provides insight into lame excuses for poor performance, is one of the complimentary resources available in the MaxImpact Resource Center.