New Business Development – Page 14

Mistakes Are Valuable

I’m growing cauliflower
for the first time
this year.

I doubt I’ll harvest
any cauliflower.

I started the plants
at the wrong time.

I didn’t cover them
with insect netting.

I made many, MANY
other mistakes.

And that’s okay.
That should be expected.

When we do anything
for the first time
-start our first business,
produce our first product,
make our first sales call,
etc.
-we WILL make mistakes.

Those mistakes,
if we learn from them,
are valuable.

Knowing what NOT to do
increases our odds
of success
the next time.

Learn from the mistake,
ensure you don’t make it again,
and move on.

Retreating Is An Option

Are you feeling overwhelmed?

Is the project
you’re leading too big
for you and your team?

Are more and more targets
slipping?

It is okay
to scale back projects,
to say no,
to reduce your scope.

Wars have been won
because the winning leadership
realized
the power of a strategic retreat.

Sometimes we have to
take some steps back
before we can push forward.

If you need to retreat,
craft a plan
and retreat.

We All Have Resources

When I’m thinking about
starting a new business,
I’ll often list
the things
I have a lot of.

And we ALL have
a lot of something.

We could have
so much of that something
we don’t notice
we have it.

This could be
time
or
chicken bones
or
school kids walking past
our front doors
or
weeds in the garden
or
other things.

You might be thinking
chicken bones
isn’t a resource.

F*ck yeah, it is a resource.

Chicken bones
could be dried
and ground up
to make bone meal,
as one small example.

Bone meal sells
for over $8 US
a pound
on Amazon.

Those weeds in the garden?
They could be used
to make an organic fertilizer,
as one example.

Those kids walking past
your front door?
They could be potential customers.

We all have a lot
of something.

Consider using that something
as a base
for your new business.

Why Business Builders Should Listen To Immigrants

As business builders,
we are always searching
for better products/services
and
different products/services
for our specific markets.

You know who
likely has exposure
to different products/services,
different ways of doing things,
different approaches?

Immigrants.
Newcomers to our area.

And they often know
why their home country’s
products/services
or ways of doing things
are useful
and
the negatives
associated with
those approaches.

If you want to develop
a wide set
of different products/services,
surround yourself
with immigrants
originating
from all over the world.

Talk with them.
Listen to them.
Hire them.

Then tweak the information
for your specific market.

Learn from immigrants.

Always Be Learning

We’re all busy.
I realize that.

But we should set aside
some time
every week
for learning new things.

Watch a 15 minute
YouTube video
on marketing.

Read a post
about industry changes
while spending time
in the bathroom.

Have lunch
with a skilled business builder.

Listen to a podcast
on packaging
while waiting in line
at the grocery store.

Increase your knowledge.
It will improve
your odds of success.

Always be learning.

Why Business Builders Should Support The Right To Protest

Protesters often block streets.
They come into conflict
with the police.

They disrupt.

(Which is exactly
what protests SHOULD do.)

It is tempting
for business builders
like you and I
to side with
…well…
the other side,
with the authorities.

RESIST that urge.

Building a new business
is a form of protest.

We are questioning
the status quo.

We are daring
to move from employees,
the ‘norm’,
to business builders.

We’re the rebels
of the corporate world.

And big business
would love to squash us.

(Most governments,
right now,
are controlled by
big business.)

Business builders,
entrepreneurs,
artists,
contractors,
other non-employees,
are protesters.

Support the right
to protest.

Assumptions About Business Builders

Yesterday, I mentioned
that personal relationships change
when we start businesses.

We’re no longer
one of the working people.
We’re management,
business owners,
the ‘man.’

There will be other assumptions
made about us.

Some people think
all entrepreneurs
or business owners
are wealthy.
(laughs semi-hysterically)

Some people think
we have unlimited free time.
Working for ourselves,
somehow,
becomes
never working.
(Instead of the reality
– always working.)

Some people think
we will always have
a well-paying, super flexible
job available for them
or others
whenever they need one.
(Where do I sign up
for one of those?)

And there will be more assumptions
made about you
and anyone else
who starts a business.

Expect those assumptions,
correct them,
if that is possible
and you care to do that,
and continue
building your business.

No Sympathy For Business Owners

Some of my buddies
complain constantly
about their jobs.

I get it.
I used to do that also.

Used to do that.

I don’t do it anymore
even though
there are plenty of things
to complain about
when running our own businesses.

Because we’re not ‘allowed’
to complain,
according to many job working buddies.

We are, supposedly,
in control
and can stop dreadful tasks
at any time.

(Supposedly because,
in reality,
customers and partners
have significant say
in what we do
and when we do it.)

We profit from our business,
again, supposedly.

(As many of us
don’t earn profits for years
if ever
from our businesses.)

We are now ‘the man’,
the boss.
We’re on the other side
of the table.

And we are unlikely
to get any sympathy
from buddies
who aren’t on that side
of the table
with us.

Don’t complain
to job-working friends.

Reach out
to fellow business builders
for sympathy.

Start Small, Then Expand

I’ve expanded
the vegetable garden
this year.

I suspect I’ll expand
the vegetable garden
next year.

Why didn’t I expand it
more
this year?

Wouldn’t that be
more resource efficient?

I didn’t expand it
more
because it is MUCH easier
with gardening,
with business,
with almost every project
to start small
and then expand
than it is
to start large
and then reduce.

We’ve all been overwhelmed
by a project
that is much too large
for us and our team
to handle successfully.

That is soul
and team crushing.
It is stressful.
It usually ends
in failure.

But we often don’t know
how large a project
is too large for us.

The best way
to discover that
is by slowing increasing
the size of projects.

We can usually sense
when the size is
approaching our team’s limit.

And if we don’t
sense that,
we can often reduce
our little bit too large project
by…that little bit.

Start small.
Then expand.

Have An Exit Strategy

I’m now at the age
when friends and siblings
are talking about
traditional retirement.

Some people are pushing back,
saying it is too early
to talk about that.

Those people are wrong.

Retiring is an exit strategy
and we should always have
an exit strategy.

We should form one,
preferably,
when we start a project
or career
or business.

Because nothing is forever
and we wouldn’t want it
to be forever.

We want the flexibility
of being able to end one thing
and start another.

What is your exit strategy
for the business you’re building?