Category: New Business Development

Newer writers and business builders
are often servants of great ideas.
They have an awesome
flash of inspiration
and they want to run with it,
not caring
if it is the right idea
for them,
for their business,
for their future.

The idea is only
the exciting beginning.
To make it a success,
it has to made a reality.
It has to be built,
promoted,
sold,
serviced.

If the idea doesn’t fit
into current branding
and/or
current systems,
that is more difficult
to do.

Seth Godin
shares

“We put a lot of pressure
on the idea
to be perfect
because it distracts us
from the reality that
the hundred steps
after the idea
are going to make
all the difference.
Nearly every organization
you can point to
is built around an idea
that wasn’t original
or perfect.

The effort
and investment
and evolution
made the difference.”

The idea is merely
the beginning.
Evaluate it
before you nurture it

We all make
mistakes.

MOST people
don’t learn from
those mistakes,
unfortunately.

They make the same
dumb type of choices
again and again.

And then they wonder
why they continue to
fail.

Learning
from mistakes
is work.
And making great choices
is a learned skill,
a skill that requires
…yes…
WORK
and conscious thought.

When I make a mistake
(and I make a mistake
at least once a day),
I examine
– why it was a mistake
– what the consequences
of that mistake
were and could have been
– what caused me
to make that mistake
– the signs I didn’t detect
that could have prevented
the mistake
– what I should look for
in the future
to avoid making
that mistake.

Did I not gather
enough information?
Did I gather TOO much
information?
Was the information
from faulty sources?
How could I have determined
those sources were faulty?
etc.

The focus is
what I could have done.
If I was fooled
by someone,
how could I have
detected
I was being fooled?

Examine your bad choices.
Then put steps in place
to ensure
you make better choices
in the future.

One thing
this pandemic
has shown us
is
you’ll never convince
everyone
something is important.

Studies show
mask wearing
slows the spread of COVID-19
and saves lives.

Yet people
in the US
are protesting that mandate,
saying it is their right
NOT to wear a mask.

Some people won’t wear
a piece of cloth
over their mouths and noses
for the limited time
they’re in public
even if it will save
their loved ones’ lives.

They definitely
won’t buy your product/service
just because
it will make
their lives better/easier/happier.

Everyone is NOT
your market
and they don’t have to be
your market.

A tiny section
of the population
is often enough
to make your product/service
and your business
a success.

Ignore the others
and make that small group
happy.

I give a percentage
of my sales
to a certain cause.

Every year,
at the end of December,
I post the impact
of that giving.

The first year
I did this,
the impact was very small.

Five years later,
the annual impact
(which I don’t talk about)
is still very small
but
the cumulative impact
is sizable.

It is large enough
to make readers
proud and excited
that they’re making a difference.

If you plan to
give a portion of your sales
back to charity
OR
volunteer hours
OR give in a different way,
consider starting that now.
Keep track of that giving.

Oh, and consider ‘tracking’ it
by a measurement other than
dollars given.
Use meals donated
or people helped
or trees planted.

THAT is the true difference
you’re making
in the world.

I met someone yesterday.
When he was a teenager,
he suffered from a brain injury
and he was told
he would be paralyzed
from the neck down
for the rest of his life.

He didn’t accept that answer.
Within two years,
he had trained his brain
to overcome the injury
and he took his first steps.

Now, he’s in his late twenties
and he is one of the top salespeople
in a Fortune 500 company.

That isn’t a coincidence.

People who have been tested
and have proven themselves
to have tremendous inner strength
are often
unstoppable in their chosen fields.

They’ve faced adversity
and know they can overcome it.
When they face another round
of adversity
(as we all do),
they strive to defeat it again.

When you are seeking
to partner with people,
to hire people,
to tie your success
to people,
ask them about adversities
they’ve faced.

Inner strength is
a powerful asset.

I’m building a complex world
under one of my
Romance Novel brands.

When I published
the first few books,
I received complaints
about the lack of
complex world building
because I didn’t dump it all
into those books.

Now, 30 plus books later,
that brand
is acclaimed for world building.
That is one of the reasons
readers buy
those books.

There was a delay
between the first creation
and the recognition
of what I was attempting to do.

Seth Godin
shares

“There’s often a significant lag
between the creation
of something useful
and when the market recognizes it.

That’s an opportunity
for speculators and investors,
who can buy
before the recognition happens.

And it’s an opportunity or a trap
for creators,
who might get disheartened
about the lack of
applause and upside
immediately after
they’ve created something.”

It is normal
if prospects don’t ‘get’
what you’re doing right away.

Be patient.

I admit
to having been luckier
than most of my writing buddies.
I’ve had more breakout hits.
I’ve had more surprise mentions
by big writers and other celebrities.
I’ve been discovered
by more influentials.

But I’ve also written
MANY more stories
than most of my writing buddies.
I show up at
MANY more events.
I talk to
MANY more people.

If we calculated a ratio
of luck to any of these actions,
I suspect my ratio
would be the same as
the ratios of my writing buddies.

I have more luck
because I take more action.

Seth Godin
shares

“If you show up
with good work
and generous action,
again and again,
sooner or later
something that appears
to others
to be luck
will appear.”

If you want to
get lucky more,
do more.

I post quite a few things
on social media.
I post purchased stock art
for story inspiration.
I post stories about
my family and my neighborhood.
I also, of course,
post about my books.

Whenever I post
about my books,
people unfriend
or unfollow me.

Some of them
complain
before they do that.

I really don’t give
a sh*t
about those complaints.

The folks
who are only there
for the ‘extras’
aren’t my target audience.

They not only want to be
entertained for free
but they want to do it
without any interruptions,
without any mention
of how I make a living.

They won’t ever be buyers.
If they can’t even
tolerate one post
about my products,
they definitely aren’t
ever going to buy them.

If people complain about
posts regarding your products/services
on your business social media accounts,
let them go.

A loved one
ranted about me
to me
on the weekend.

He is going through
an extremely stressful time
with multiple loved ones
being gravely ill
due to the pandemic.

He lost his sh*t
and when he did,
he took it out on me,
one of his biggest supporters,
someone who would have done
anything for him.

After that vent,
I can no longer say that.

Yes, I understand
why he lost it
and yes, he apologized.

I will forgive him
but it has permanently damaged
our relationship a bit.

If you feel the pressure
building
inside you,
release it
but in a way
that won’t hurt
the people
who love you,
who support you.

Rant about politics.
Rant about the virus.
Rant about the randomness
of the world.
Release your frustrations
on those types of topics.

Don’t rant about loved ones.

You could also
simply primal scream.

I heard and saw
a man walking in our neighborhood
doing that.
He would scream
and then calmly have a smoke,
scream,
then calmly have a smoke.
It look very cathartic.

Release your frustrations
in a non-hurtful way.

Whenever I find myself
becoming too bitter
with the world,
too selfish,
too inward looking,
I send a postcard
to a senior living residence
(found in a group on Facebook).

That act of giving
without any hope
of receiving
forces me to look
outside myself,
have some faith
in humanity.

I tend to overeat
especially when I’m feeling stressed.
I eat more and more
every day
until I’m eating
way more than is healthy.

Once a week,
I fast.
Going to zero
every seven days
means even if I eat
more and more
every consecutive day,
I’m not eating way more
than is healthy.

If you have harmful
tendencies,
consider putting
corrective behaviors
in place.

Correct yourself
if that’s possible.