Category: New Business Development

As I mentioned earlier,
I lost my account at Facebook.

I had a tremendous number
of readers, writers
and other industry professionals
following me.

Now, I have zero.

And because
the social media site
makes it dang difficult
to obtain other contact information
for the folks following us,
I can’t reach out to them.

Which means
I never really had
those contacts
in the first place.
Facebook had them.

(Thankfully,
I have other points of contact
like my newsletter.)

If you don’t have
a means
of directly contacting
the people/entities
who buy your products
or use your services,
they aren’t really
YOUR customers.

Try to use
other means
to obtain
their direct contact information.

A certain world leader
admitted,
on tape,
that he knew
how dangerous COVID-19
was.

He knew this
yet he encouraged
his followers
to put themselves in danger.

He deliberately
put the lives of
his ‘superfans’ at risk.

Yet they don’t seem to care.
Even now.

His superfans
know he lied to them,
know he put their lives
in peril
yet they still follow him,
would still do anything
he told them to do.

They aren’t angry
or upset.
They’re as loyal
as ever
to him.

THIS is the power
of superfans.

I have superfans
who will buy
anything I write.

I know I will always have
them as readers.

That’s reassuring
but it is also concerning.

Because I know
if I tell them
to do something bad,
they’ll do that something bad.

If I tell them
to do something dangerous,
they’ll do that something dangerous.

I could hurt others
with one flippant comment.

If you have superfans,
you have power.

Wield that power
carefully.

Last night, I wanted to mail
a letter.
It was midnight.
The mailbox is situated
across the street.

Being female,
I debated
whether or not
ensuring the letter
was delivered on time
was worth the risks
all women face
walking anywhere
at night.

I decided it wasn’t
worth the risk.

My husband merely took the letter
from me
and sprinted to the mailbox.
There was no inner debate.
He doesn’t have any concerns
about walking at night
…because he’s a man.
There are fewer threats for him.

Seth Godin
shares

“Shoes make it easier
to walk around.
We can put one foot
in front of the other
without constantly
scanning for rocks
or rusty nails.

This invisible insulation
is a form of civilization.

And when it’s unevenly available,
it becomes privilege.
Just as invisible sometimes,
but to make things better,
we need to look at it
and realize that it’s there
and do something.”

When you’re making decisions for
or
pitching products/services to
another demographic,
be aware of your invisible privilege.

Just because it is
an easy decision/action for you,
doesn’t mean it is
an easy decision/action for everyone.

In my area of the world,
some people are quite upset
because bars re-opened
before schools re-opened.

These people are assuming
leaders believe it is ‘safe’
to re-open.

That assumption
is so very wrong.

We have never dealt with
a world-wide pandemic
exactly like COVID-19.

No one has ever re-opened
a site like a bar
during a pandemic like COVID-19.

This is a test.
Heck, almost everything
we’re doing
right now
is a test.

We don’t know
exactly
what will happen.

By re-opening bars first,
the risk of that test
going terribly wrong
is shouldered by adults.

Any insights garnered
by that test
will be applied
to school re-openings.
Those insights will hopefully
decrease the odds
of THAT test
going terribly wrong.

We’re experimenting
on adults,
not kids.
That’s the decision
that was made.

(And I completely agree
with it.)

When your industry
gives your business
the green light
to re-open,
THAT will be
a test also.

No one truly knows
what the results
of these tests
will be.
Prepare for that.

An older loved one,
a member
of the Silent Generation,
made an interesting statement
last week.

He said,
“This is your world,
not mine.
I don’t understand
anything about it.”

Prior to
the Great Pause,
he would have never
said that.
He prided himself
on remaining current.

But the changes
have been too fast,
too constant
for him lately.

Almost everything
is changing
due to COVID
and other issues.

He can’t keep up
and he feels
left behind,
out of it,
lost.

This is one of
the main reasons why
a political message
of taking the country
back to where
it used to be
is so very powerful.

This is why
comfort foods,
foods of our childhoods
are popular.

This is why
so many older people
are resisting MORE change.

They can’t deal
with the changes
they’re currently seeing.

What does this mean
for building businesses?

A nod to older products,
to earlier times,
heck, to simple design
might be very much
appreciated.

If you have
an established product,
you might not want
to change it.
Not now.

If you’re designing
a new product,
consider making it simple
to use
or reminiscent
of an established product.

Some people can’t handle
the current changes.
You might not want
to create more change.

The knee-jerk impulse
when we lose something
-our businesses,
our jobs,
our relationships,
etc.
is to try to replace it
with the exact same
thing.

We lost our jobs
as accountants.
We start searching
the same day
for another accountant job.

Our restaurant
closed down permanently
due to the Great Pause.
We start planning
to open a new restaurant.

This isn’t a bad response
IF we truly want
a replacement
to what we had.

We have experience
in the niche.
We likely have connections.
It might be quicker
to start over
at the same thing.

Might be.

Because
if we lost our jobs
in our niche,
other people likely
lost their jobs
in that same niche.
If our businesses closed,
the same factors might exist
(in this case,
people not wanting
to sit in restaurants)
and those factors
will increase the risks
of our next business closing.

This, also, might be
the perfect time
to make a change,
to retrain and apply
for a job
we’ve always wanted
to try,
to open a business
that is different
from our previous business.

Do you want to make
a change
yet don’t have any ideas?

Look at what you have
-your experience,
knowledge,
connections,
physical assets.
Think wild.
List everything
you could possibly do,
however unusual.

Something might spark.

Starting over
can be a great time
to make a change.

You’re starting over.

Maybe you lost your job
or your business didn’t survive
the Great Pause
or a relationship ended
or you were forced to move.

First, realize
you HAVE started over
in the past
and you managed that.
You weren’t born
with the job
or the business.
You started over
when you started
that job or that business
and you succeeded at that.

You can succeed at this.

Second,
you aren’t starting over
with nothing.
List what you have.

List your experiences,
however unusual.
You made breakfast this morning?
List that.
You tended to a child
when she was ill?
List that.
This, of course,
includes the tasks you’ve done
on all the jobs
you’ve ever held.
Note which tasks you enjoyed.

List your education.
Did you complete high school?
List that.
Did you listen to a podcast
on social media?
List that.
Did you watch a documentary
on climate change?
List it.

List your physical assets.
Do you have a car?
List it.
Do you own a suit?
List it.
Do you have plants
on your windowsill?
List that.

List your connections.
Do you have a friend
who has a job
at a coffee shop?
List that.
Do you stay in contact
with a coworker
at a previous job?
List that information.

Don’t filter the additions
to your lists.
Not yet.
List everything you can
think of.

Next,
list everything you’re interested
in doing.
Everything.
If you’re interested
in doing crosswords all day,
list it.
If you like tasting draft beers,
list that.
If you like sleeping in,
list that.

Look at your lists.
Look at everything
you have.

You might be
starting over
but you’re not
starting over
with nothing.

You have skills
and interests
and connections
and possessions
and other assets.

Many of us,
due to the great changes
around us,
are starting over.

There are some
myths
around doing that.

Ephie Johnson,
the president of
Neighborhood Christian Centers,
shares

“You could grit and grind
as a 19-year-old,
until you get to 25 or 30,
and you’re finally getting there.

But at 30, 40 years old
now you are trying to start over again?
How are you going to do that?
It’s hard.”

There are three myths
within those statements.

1) You never ‘get there.’
If you’re not regularly
re-inventing yourself
or starting over,
you’ll eventually
be forced to do that.

There is NO shame
around starting over.
None.

It is a part of life
now.
There is no getting
to one point,
landing one job,
and staying there.

Those days are over
for the majority
of us.

2) Being older
makes it EASIER
to start over,
not harder.

Yes, you might not have
the same level
of energy or enthusiasm
but you should have
knowledge, connections,
experience
to more than offset that.

The article proves that
again and again.
The people interviewed
might temporarily need
food banks
but they have cars.
Some of them
have houses.
They have neighbors
and family
and other loved ones.

and

3) Starting over
is always hard.
Change isn’t easy for younger people
and it isn’t easy for older people.

Change is necessary.
It is unavoidable.
But it is never easy.

I find it challenging
and I’m a project manager
and a serial entrepreneur.
My life is constant change.

If you’re starting over,
know that you’ve done this
in the past.

You started over
when you moved into
a new neighborhood,
when you took your last job,
when you started a new relationship,
when you did most
of the key things
in your life.

You managed that
and you will manage now.

You can do this.

The average American
reads
1 book a MONTH.

If I was writing
for the average American,
I wouldn’t be profitable.

Voracious Romance Readers,
in contrast,
read at least a book a WEEK.
That’s over 4 times
the average.

Many of my readers
read a book a DAY.

THEY are my target readership.

If you’re building a niche business,
information on the ‘average person’
won’t usually add value
to you
and it might cause
you to make wrong decisions.

The average person isn’t your target,
is usually not representative
in any way
of the people you’re trying to reach.

Seth Godin
shares

““Our typical customer”
is a more accurate and useful way
to start a sentence than,
“the average person.”
Because typical implies intent.
“The person we are seeking to serve does this…””

Delve deeper
than the ‘average person.’

Uncover stats
on the typical person
in your target market
instead.

Quick fixes are dramatic.
They garner attention.
They make us look
like superstars.
Almost everyone has the focus
to implement a quick fix.

But quick fixes are rare
and often
they solve only
the small problems.

The big problems
usually take
years of daily effort
to solve.

Which is why
very few people
tackle these big problems.

Seth Godin
shares

“Perhaps we can start
with a very small part of it.
One person,
one opportunity,
one connection.

Drip by drip,
with commitment.

Those are the two hard parts.
The insight to do it
drip by drip
and the persistence
to commit to it.”

Very few people
can stick to one problem
for years.

Hell, as we saw
with the recent crisis,
very few people
can focus on one problem
for three months.

If you have this ability
and the inclination,
you could solve
one of
the almost unlimited
number of
large problems
facing your industry,
your country,
our world.

That’s a gift.