Category: New Business Development

Winter is emotionally tough
for many people,
especially in cold climates.
The decrease in sunlight
greatly influences
moods.

And we’re currently
still in the middle
of a pandemic.
Pandemics are REALLY tough
on us.
There is no getting accustomed
to a pandemic.
It doesn’t matter
how long
we endure one.

There is a FREE
and relatively easy way
to make
employees, partners,
customers, random strangers
happier
– Tell them
they’re doing a great job.

That ‘job’
could be ringing
our groceries through
at the cash register,
or
completing
a spreadsheet
or
shipping product
or
merely getting through
the day.

The job
isn’t important.

What is important
is the appreciation,
that we ‘see’ them,
that we acknowledge them
and
that we make them feel
a little bit happier.

Tell someone
they’re doing a great job
today.

The world is changing
…quickly
and, if we wish to be
successful,
we have to change
also.

One way I do this
is, every once in a while,
I’ll check myself
and ask myself
“When was the last time
I changed my mind
on something, anything?”

If that isn’t within
a couple of weeks,
I have a problem.

Then I ask myself,
“WHY did I change
my mind?”

If that wasn’t due
to new facts or revelations,
I have a problem also.

If that was due
to warping facts
to fit my world view,
I have a HUGE problem.

If we don’t want
to become dinosaurs,
outdated
and irrelevant,
our minds have to change
with the world around us.

When was the last time
you changed your mind?

I have a perverse nature.
Many business builders
have one too.

When someone says
I can’t do something,
that’s the thing
I want to do.

When they say
I’ll fail,
that’s what
I apply myself
to succeed at.

I feel like
I’m being a Rebel,
doing my own thing.

But the reality is…
I’m still being controlled
by other people.
I’m doing the opposite
of what they want
but that opposite
might not be
what I want.

Seth Godin
shares

“I know
you’ve been proving
the naysayers wrong
for so long
that by now
it feels like
a regular part of the journey.
It’s entirely possible,
though,
that the folks
who are pointing out
that the industry’s path
might not be your path
have a point.

For every person
who has proven
the skeptics wrong,
there are a hundred
who should have listened to them
and done the work
they cared about
instead of
keeping track
of the wrong metrics.”

Don’t be manipulated
by your perverse nature.

Evaluate your choices.
Ensure they are
what YOU want.

I was looking for
a professional
to help me
with a specific part
of my business.

I received dozens
of recommendations.
I spent time and other resources
evaluating those recommendations.
I had a few awesome candidates.
I only needed one person.

So, after discussing this
with the awesome candidates,
gaining their approval,
I posted
that if anyone was looking for
the same type of professional,
contact me.
I suspect,
judging by the number of people
who contacted me,
all of the qualified candidates
landed projects.

The candidates were happy.
The folks I recommended
the candidate to
were happy.
I’ve built goodwill
with both of these groups
and am happy.

We all won.

Seth Godin
shares

“100 people apply for a job.
99 are sent home.
What if the winner hadn’t applied?
You might have been thrilled
with the person
who almost got the job.”

Be generous.

Share the surplus,
whether that is talent
or other resources.

Business builders
tend to be
an optimistic bunch.

We have to be
this way.

We’re spending energy
and other resources,
creating products
and designing services,
with the hope
that, when they are launched,
there will be people
or other entities
wanting them.

That requires
vast amounts of
optimism.

The world can be
very dark,
very pessimistic
right now.

It requires effort
to protect our optimism.

I don’t look at
social media
or the news,
for example,
before and while
I’m creating.

I call
my struggling-with-despair
friends
AFTER I’ve written
my chapter for the day
or
AFTER I’ve
crafted a marketing campaign
or
AFTER I’ve
filled out a cover request form.

I don’t ask for feedback
on scenes
until I’m ready
to hear the negatives.

I arrange my days
to ensure
I have the hopeful outlook
I require
to complete
my necessary tasks.

Do what you have to do
to protect your optimism.

It might feel
a bit selfish
but this is needed,
especially now.

Most people can’t picture
an object
they’ve never seen
based on words alone.

You can talk about it
for hours
and they still won’t
‘get it.’

They simply don’t have
that ability.

This is often why
business builders
create prototypes.

Prototypes,
often a smaller,
cheaper,
less functional
version of the real thing,
give these people
something to look at,
something to touch.

Even then,
you will encounter people
who don’t have the ability
to envision the product
as larger,
as functional,
fabricated from
quality materials,
etc..

The challenge is…
people who don’t have
the ability to envision
final versions
are unlikely to tell you
they lack that ability.

We have to guess
whether they do
or don’t.

(Some indications
they don’t have the ability
is if they rigorously test
the prototype,
if they comment
on the cheapness
of the materials,
if they furrow their brows,
if they don’t add anything
to your description,
etc.)

Treat pre-launch feedback
with caution.

The feedback giver
might not have the ability
to envision final products.

It is 2021,
a new year.

Celebrate it
by taking action
toward your goals.

It doesn’t have to be
a huge action.
I’m a fan of small actions
taken every day
for years
(which is why
blogging appeals to me).

But take action.

As Tanya Dalton
shares

“Having owned
my current business
for more than 10 years
— and mentored
hundreds of women business owners
— I’ve come to realize
one of the most common struggles
we women entrepreneurs display
when it comes to
embracing leadership
is
hesitation.
Hesitation to take the leap,
hesitation to speak up,
hesitation to leave our mark
on the world.”

Take that leap.
Make your goals happen.
Change the world.

2020 was a challenging year
for me
and for almost every other
business builder.

It was a sh*t show
with crisis after crisis
happening,
especially in the US.

But when we look back
on the year
tonight,
as people often do
on New Year’s Eve,
remember the good times
also.

There WERE good times.
There WERE wins.
There WERE accomplishments.

F*ck, simply surviving the year
was an accomplishment.
Be extremely proud of that.

Find some good in 2020.
Learn lessons from it.

Take that experience
into 2021.

Note:
If you can’t find
one snippet of good
in 2020,
consider tracking achievements
more lastingly
in the future.
Because there WERE achievements
and we should be celebrating them.

You might think
you’re your target market
but you aren’t.

Merely the act
of CREATING a product
differentiates you
from the people
you hope to BUY your product.

Start by assuming
you know VERY little
about your target market.

This is a good stance
to take
on almost everything.
Assume you know nothing
and educate yourself.

Seth Godin
shares

“That’s a common mistake.
We make it all the time.
We assume that
our neighborhood is like
every neighborhood,
that our situation
and experience is universal.

That’s rarely true.”

You are NOT
your target market.
Stop yourself
whenever you think that.

Most of our 2020 plans
were discarded
in the wake
of the pandemic,
climate change
and other occurrences.

It might seem futile
to plan for 2021.
There’s a high chance
2021 will be as volatile
as 2020.

But doing random sh*t
won’t make
the year
any easier to navigate.
It will likely
make it even more challenging.

I am basing my plans
on today’s situation.
We’re still in partial lockdown
in my area.
I’m assuming that will continue.

Then I’m building
contingency plans
off that plan.

What will I do
if the area fully opens up
tomorrow?
What will I do
if we have a vaccine sooner?
What will I do
if we never have a vaccine?

Will I use all these plans?

No.
But it forces me
to think about the situation
in detail,
to look at all the risks
and
all the possibilities.

That will help me
as a business builder.
It will prepare me
for some of the sh*t,
both negative and positive,
coming our way.

Plan for 2021.
Think about the year
ahead of us.