Page 141 - The $100 Startup_ Reinvent the Way You Make a Living, Do What You Love

Building Relationships Is a Strategy, Not a Tactic

Getting to know people, helping them, and asking for help yourself can take you
far. This is not a non-profit endeavor; it often pays off in real money (with
interest!) over time. But it is a long-term strategy, not a short-term tactic to copy
for quick success.

Originally from South Dakota, Scott Meyer was working as a professor of
peace studies in the Arctic Circle in Tromsø, Norway. (It was a long way from
home, but the winters were familiar, he explains.) Meanwhile, his brother John
was a consultant for Accenture in Minneapolis. Scott and John’s migration away
from their roots was normal—back in South Dakota, there was a clear divide
between “people who stayed” and “people who got out.”

After a few years away, both Scott and John began to think of returning home
with a mission. South Dakota wasn’t a bad place, and there was a growing
community of entrepreneurs there, many of whom had a problem. Small
businesses in the region tended to be run by people with fewer technical skills
than those in Minneapolis or Chicago, the region’s main hubs. “Around here,”
Scott told me, “people tend to use an old-school phone book to contact someone,
and many business owners struggle with using email effectively. We knew we
could help them grow their business.”

Scott and John founded 9 Clouds, a consultancy designed to help local
businesses reach more customers through improved communication while gently
educating them along the way. They give clients the fish by helping them reach
new customers. Their clients are smart but worry about wasting time with new
technology. 9 Clouds shows them the benefits of learning new tools that have
been proved to be useful.

The firm works hard to drum up business, but it focuses first on drumming up
value. “Every chance we get, we talk and share information with others and
support them in their work,” Scott says. “It may not be a sale or partnership, but
building those relationships today always comes back around for new
opportunities tomorrow.” The community is noticing: 9 Clouds won second
place in the South Dakota Governor’s Giant Vision contest, and John was
recognized by BusinessWeek as an up-and-coming leader. 9 Clouds did $45,000
in net income during the first six months of operation, $180,000 the next year,
and is now on track to becoming a mid-six-figure business.