Category: New Business Development

Two of my writer friends
have spent roughly
the same amount of resources
on promotion
over the last decade
on their brands.

One of them
has a HUGE readership.

The other one
has an okay readership.

What is the difference?

Consistency of product.
Trust in the book
the writer will deliver.

The huge readership writer
produces romance novels
in a certain niche.
That’s all she produces.

Her readers know this.
They trust my friend
to tell that type of story.
They trust
when they buy
one of her stories,
she will give them
what they expect.

The okay selling writer
jumps around.
Sometimes her stories
have a romantic happy ending.
Sometimes everyone
in her stories dies.

Readers don’t trust her
to tell a consistent story.
They don’t trust her
to give them
what they’re seeking
(unless they’re seeking
the unexpected).
They buy her stories
but only after being convinced
the story is one
they want.

The huge selling writer
has earned
her readers’ trust.

The okay selling writer
hasn’t earned
that trust.

Seth Godin
shares

“I used to ask,
“If you stole Steven Spielberg’s
address book,
would it help you
get a movie made?”

The point was that
even if you had
the phone numbers and names,
calling them up
and saying you’d stolen them
wasn’t worth very much.
The data has no value
without trust
and connection.”

If you don’t build trust
with your prospects/customers,
every interaction will be
similar
to a brand new interaction
(or worse).

That’s a he11 of a lot
harder
than starting
from a point of trust.

Trust has value.
Respect it.

As a business builder
and a writer,
I tend to work
all the time.

There are officially
no weekends
or holidays for me.

But I try not to
schedule work
on weekends and holidays.

Why?

Because if I schedule
work
7 days a week
and I fall behind schedule,
I don’t have any time
to catch up
to my schedule.

Every time an emergency
or an unexpected opportunity
happens,
I’d fall more and more
behind on my schedule
until my schedule
is meaningless.

A buffer of 2 days
out of 7
seems huge.
Unfortunately, it isn’t.
And if I DO have
excess time,
I can work on projects
I’m passionate about.
That makes working
on my ‘days off’
emotionally easier.

Try not to schedule
work
on your days off.

Give yourself that buffer.

Every so often,
the debate over
whether or not
white authors
should write books
with diverse characters
rages on social media.

No one seems to want
to touch the REAL
reason
this can be an issue
(but I will
because that is what
client k does).

There isn’t a problem
with white writers
WRITING diverse characters
well
(doing it well is important).

There IS a problem
with white writers
PROMOTING
that they’ve written
a book with diverse characters.

Why?

Because when a writer
merely promotes
the diverse book
like she usually promotes
her non-diverse books,
she is likely to bring
readers
TO other diverse writers’ books.

If she deliberately promotes
her diverse book
to a different readership,
to the diverse-book-loving readership,
she is taking a sale
AWAY from diverse writers.

And by promoting her book
as a diverse book,
she is suggesting
it is representative of
ALL diverse books.
She is setting herself up
as THE diverse book writer.

This applies to businesses
that tout their diverse hiring
yet have no diverse leaders
and to businesses
that promote their female-friendliness
yet have no female leaders.

Don’t promote a half a$$ effort
and expect no push back
from the truly diverse
or the truly female-friendly
businesses and communities.

Take these steps…quietly,
without fanfare
because that is the right thing
to do.
The people who care
WILL notice.

Think before promoting
your efforts.

Just because you’re doing it
doesn’t mean
you have to tell the world
you’re doing it.

When my account was terminated
at Facebook,
no one from the company
was interested
in why that had to happen.

I had gathered the information,
had no one to share it with.

Which tells me
either
a) that happens
ALL the time at Facebook
or
b) Facebook doesn’t care
about weaknesses
in their systems.

Both of these
are a cause for concern
for me
as perspective user
and that’s why
I’m not rushing
to rejoin Facebook.

About a year ago,
the wrong formula
was used in
a store bought
macaroni and cheese mix.

I contacted the manufacturer,
told them about the issue,
said I had bought
multiple boxes
all from the same batch.

They weren’t interested
in retrieving those boxes.
They sent me a coupon
for one box
and told me
to destroy the rest.

I’ll never purchase
that product
again.

The big companies
might have
plenty of customers.

I can’t be
as flippant with
my customers.

When something goes wrong,
I gather all the information
I can
and I investigate why.
Then I tell the customer,
assure them
it won’t happen again.

Because it CAN’T happen again.
I risk losing customers
every time it happens.

Investigate
when things go wrong.

An aspiring writer
told me yesterday
that she wished she had
my talent for writing.
Writing is very hard work
for her.

It is hard work for me
also.
And she has as much
or more ‘talent’
as I do.

I merely have
more skill at writing.
I’ve worked on the craft
for many decades.
I’ve taken courses, workshops.
I’ve experimented
with different techniques.
I practice every d@mn day.

What she thinks
is genetic-bestowed talent
is truly practice-honed skill.

Which is awesome
because talent can’t be
increased
but skill can grow
unceasingly.

Seth Godin
shares

Leaders talk about
developing real skills
and encouraging people
to develop
into their full potential,
but too often,
we take the short-term path
of betting on
raw talent
instead.

And of course,
what looks like raw talent
might not be.

It could simply be
our confusion about
first impressions
compared to
the power of commitment,
enrollment
and persistence.”

If you have the choice
between two people
of equal abilities,
one who got there
based on talent alone,
and
one who got there
based on skills
honed by hard work,
always choose
the person
with the skills.

Skills can be improved.
Talent can’t be.

Older people
have a greater chance
of dying from COVID-19.

So society
has been asking
younger people
to take more of the risks,
to shop for older people,
to cover their jobs,
to go into crowded spaces.

And younger people
have been answering these calls.
They have been
risking illness
to keep other people safe.

Younger people,
of course,
are now testing positive
in greater numbers
than any other group.

And they are being
blamed for this.
The media
gets coverage
of the rare party
and they point to THAT
as the reason for the increase.

It is unfair
to ask someone
to sacrifice themselves
for others
and then blame them
for suffering
the consequences
of that sacrifice.

If you,
as a business builder,
send your temp
or your assistant
or your youngest employee
into a risky situation,
support them
when that situation
hurts them.

They deserve respect,
not reprimand.

And yes,
they KNOW
you’re putting them
at risk.
They’re young,
not stupid.

I’ve been posting
every day here
at client k
(formerly Road To Forbes)
for fifteen years.

Jscott, the founder,
convinced me
to blog semi-anonymously
about my experiences
in business,
telling the whole
unvarnished,
often unpopular
truth.

At the time,
there weren’t many
female business bloggers.
Those voices were
desperately needed.

I’m happy
that times have changed,
that female business builders
now have a solid presence
online.

I continue to post here
to give back.
The information,
the knowledge I’ve gained
over the years
should go somewhere.

But I’ve also gained so much
from the experience.

Blogging every day
forces me
to continue learning.
That, alone,
is worth the time
and effort.

That learning has given me
a competitive advantage
and it has made me,
I believe,
a more interesting,
happier person.

If you wish to celebrate
these 15 years
with me,
to give me a present,
learn something new today.

Spend 5 minutes or longer
and gain a new piece
of knowledge.

That would fill me
with joy.

Today I am processing
25 pounds of tomatoes.

I’m cutting them up
and freezing them
to be used in soups
and sauces
throughout the year.

Tomatoes
are inexpensive
this time of year.
Processing them
all at once
takes less time
than processing them
one meal at a time
in the future.

Last weekend,
I booked
all my book promotions
at a certain site
for the rest of the year
(and much of 2021).

The established,
unlikely to go anywhere
site was having
a sale
and it was easier
to enter the details
of each book once
and copy that promotion.

We’re heading into
a busy season
for many business builders.

Consider completing
the tasks you can now.

If you can complete
the tasks faster
and cheaper
in bulk,
consider doing that.

When I was a kid,
I was all about
special projects
(Yes, I didn’t change much
over the years.
My career consists
of special projects now.)

I did the core work
and then I asked teachers
for special projects.
Often these projects
were self-assigned
and self-led.
I turned them
into the teacher
and she/he marked them
but everything else
was all me.

I found regular school work
was all memorization.
I wanted to LEARN
and that’s a deeper process.

Seth Godin
shares

“Self-direction unlocks
our ability
to contribute for a lifetime,
whereas preparing
for the test
ensures that
we will always be
at the mercy of the person
who is giving the test.”

With the world changing
so quickly
and there being
so many sources
of unreliable information
(like a certain world leader
– eye roll),
knowing how to learn
is now
a key life skill.

And we can do this
at any age.

Learn how to learn.

One thing
I’ve discovered
after being forced
to leave Facebook
is…

the drama
was sucking up
a lot of my time
and a lot of my energy.

There were a gazillion
little issues
I saw every day
on my timeline
or in messenger
that didn’t directly impact me,
that I likely
didn’t respond to,
but were stealing my attention
for a few seconds.

No longer interacting
with that drama
has given me
resources to deal
with more important things.

I have more time
and more energy.

And forgoing that drama
hasn’t decreased my sales.

Even if drama
doesn’t involve you,
it might IMPACT you.

Consider
avoiding it
as much as possible.