The Fortune 500 companies are
seen as industry leaders.
They are NOT innovation leaders.
They have too much to risk.
The innovation leaders are the start ups.
They’re forced in that role.
Bernie Hadley-Beauregard,
founder of Brandever Strategy Inc.,
says start ups become successful
“By taking chances that the
large competitors dare not take.”
If your new product isn’t risky,
it has either been done
or been tested and failed.
When I hear financial security stated
as a reason for starting a business,
I cringe.
Entrepreneurship is NOT for the cautious.
It is NOT a direct route to wealth
and being able to risk everything
to feed a hungry start up
is necessary for business building success.
As David “Patch” Patchell-Evans,
the multi-millionaire founder of
GoodLife Fitness Clubs states
“You have to be able to
risk the mortgage.”
I saw an interview with guitar great
Carlos Santana.
He talked about the importance of
goals and plans.
He feels that without them,
a person is at the whim of others.
“There are a lot of whatever people.
I don’t want to be a whatever person.
I’m not a control freak
but I’m not a victim.”
Don’t be a whatever person.
Have a plan.
You can’t consider a trip to Bath complete,
without a stop at Sally Lunn’s
and a taste of their famous Bath Bun.
Sally Lunn’s is the oldest house in Bath.
They’ve also been making the same bun
since 1680.
Same huge size
(no downsizing for them),
same great recipe.
You’d think that would be enough
to draw visitors in.
But no, Sally Lunn’s doesn’t do “enough”,
they do more.
They have a free museum.
They give out free samples
with perhaps the friendliest employee I’ve ever met.
Their website not only has
tips on Bath attractions
but recommendations
on competing restaurants travelers should consider.
They over deliver and delight.
And that is why I would go back.
Mid July is the most challenging time
for me as an entrepreneur.
Most of my employee buddies
spend their weekends at the cottage.
I spend it marketing.
How to stay productive,
especially when results are delayed?
I employ Yaro Starak’s technique.
“One of the things I did and still do
whenever I feel less than enthusiastic
is to focus on output,
rather than the external elements
that bring me down.”
If I do the same thing
that other successful marketers do,
over and over,
I SHOULD get the same results.
Until real results come in,
I base achievement
on what I do.
Kim T. Gordon at Entrepreneur.com
shares her top 5 tips
for great copywriting…
1) Write one-to-one.
2) Make your message “outer-directed.”
(about your reader)
3) Lead with benefits.
(to your reader, not to you)
4) Follow the rules of engagement
(use direct, short words).
and
5) Provoke a reaction
(Most common way? Ask a question)
1) Write one-to-one
applies to any sort of writing.
When I write my novels,
I write for a specific single reader in mind.
As Gordon states
“People read marketing copy as individuals,
not as a group.”
Online review sites expect
eBook copies of books to review.
It doesn’t matter if the book
will only be in print,
they wish to review it in eBook.
As a blogger,
I dislike it when advertisers call me.
When readers call me,
okay,
but when advertisers call me,
it tells me they want to do business
on THEIR terms, not mine.
eCulture has its own etiquette.
If you’re asking for favors online,
it helps
if you respect it.
In a brilliant interview with Fast Company,
Ram Charan talks about
why killing ideas is necessary…
“…because the success rate of innovation
is not going to be 100 percent.
If it’s 100 percent, you’re taking no risks.”
He says that deciding what ideas to kill
is easier if there is a portfolio of innovation.
Ideas can be ranked by priority.
“…if you take one idea,
it’s going to be almost impossible to kill.”
Agreed.
If you have a product development team
and only one innovation in the pipeline,
killing that one idea
will put them out of a job.
Highly unlikely they’ll support that move.
In March’s Men’s Health,
Matthew McConaughey says
“I don’t like to leave crumbs.
I like to do things right,
and not cheat to get ’em done.
That’s what a man does.
I don’t owe anybody anything.
I never go anywhere
and worry,
‘Oh shit,
so-and-so’s here.’
I don’t have crumbs in my past.”
That’s what smart women do also.
Don’t do anything you’ll be ashamed of
later.
Ever wonder why you see
clusters of antique stores
side by side in a mall?
Because grouping like stores
drives more traffic.
In Sharon Harvey Rosenberg’s
The Frugal Duchess,
Adele Meyer,
the executive director of the
National Association of Resale and Thrift Shops
says
“Consumers will drive further
if they have more than one store to visit.
I’m seeing more of it happen.”
Can you team up with your competition
to drive more business?