Category: New Business Development

The first few months on a new job,
in a new industry,
are a golden time.
No one expects you to know anything
so you can ask the crazy questions
and suggest the revolutionary ideas
with no risk of looking like an a$$.

If the ideas don’t work,
you have an excuse.
You’re the new kid.
You don’t know any better.

But sometimes the ideas work
and that is when
your career can really take off.

As it did for
Scott McGillivray,
host of Income Property.

He
shares
in the March/April
The Costco Connection

“I think my innocence
on the television side of things
was almost an asset,
because a lot of people
on these shows
want to be on TV.
I didn’t really care
and I didn’t really know,
so I just played myself.
I think [Debbie Travis]
was a little surprised
when she would come around
and talk to me,
and if she was wrong about something
I would just say it.”

Take advantage
of the first few months
on a new job.

I have writing buddies
who have been polishing
the same damn story
for ten long years.
They want everything to be perfect,
to be 100% sure
that when they finally send the story
to agents or publishers,
they’ll sell it.

They’ll never sell their stories.

Why?

Because there’s never any
100% certainty in life
or business.

As Mark Burnett
shared,
on Piers Morgan Live,

“You can only have a little bit figured out
and go forward anyway.
And believe in faith that it will work out.
The people who need to be 100% sure
don’t do anything.”

You will always have some uncertainty.
Don’t let this uncertainty stop you.
Launch the damn product.

The latest thing
is to complain about every slight.
Someone made a politically insensitive comment?
Out them on the internet.
Rally up some sympathy.
Perhaps have a donation jar.

There’s no shortage of content
because there is no shortage of insensitive
unfair
comments.

Why?

Because the world isn’t fair.
North Americans are complaining
about people calling them fat.
Half the world away,
people are starving to death.
That’s certainly not fair.

We can spend our lives being offended,
complaining about this or that slight,
or
we can spend our lives doing,
making a difference.

My mom often tells me
“Success is the best revenge.”
If you’re truly offended by someone,
get your revenge.
Be successful.

Yesterday, I talked about
how my New York publisher
didn’t tag my books properly
AND didn’t put my books
in the proper categories.

I contacted my editor.
She told me
they have a (antiquated) system
and they don’t do anything special
for Amazon,
the bookseller responsible
for over 80% of my sales.

They refused to tweak my listings
to ensure the stories are in the right categories
and have the right tags.

I politely pushed back,
stating that this reduces
my chances of success to damn close to zero.
The reply was
this is our system.
We’re not changing it.

So I looped in my agent
and asked to escalate it.
I posted a query on the author loop.
I’m raising a freakin’ stink
because I have nothing to lose.
If my sales are low,
I don’t get paid
and I will ironically get fired
from the publisher causing my sales to be low.

You launched your product
because you believe in it.
Fight for its success.

When I investigated what failed
during my latest book release,
I found out that
not only did my (big New York) publisher
not tag my books with key words,
they didn’t even put them
into the right categories at Amazon.

You would think they’d care
to do that.
They’re making twice what I do
on every sale.

They didn’t care.
(and ironically,
they don’t even care enough
to correct their mistake)

No one cares about your business
as much as you do.
This doesn’t mean you do everything
(that’s impossible)
but it does mean you track the results you want
and hold people accountable.

Delegation is necessary
but it is always paired with
managing this delegation.

I believe that
success in life
is about knowing
your strengths and your weaknesses.

Many entrepreneurs are great
at starting companies.
They aren’t great at managing these companies.
Some entrepreneurs sell their companies.
Other entrepreneurs,
including Marie Moody,
fire themselves as CEO.

Marie Moody,
Founder of
Stella & Chewy’s,
shares

“I had to learn everything as I went.
But I surrounded myself with good people
as soon as I could afford to.
I understood that I couldn’t do everything myself
and I had no problem delegating.
Having hundreds of people report to me
and managing performance reviews
and making hiring decisions
is not where I thrive.
I understand these are hugely important things
but they’re not where
I want to focus my energy.
I think more at a strategic level.”

Know your strengths and weaknesses
and have the balls
to fire yourself if you can’t do the job.

Millennials are a rising consumer force
and a big opportunity
for new businesses.

What are some of the things
they’re looking for?

Market Research Blog
shares

“They want what they want,
when they want it, and
they expect more for less.
They are adventurous and
are less likely to fall into
the lull over strict brand loyalty,
which was the hallmark of Baby Boomers.
In essence, the Millennial consumer profile
is built on convenience,
flexible/non-existent brand loyalty,
and price sensitivity.”

This lack of brand loyalty
might mean trouble for the established companies
but it is an opportunity
for new businesses.

Consider the millennials
as a target market.

I had a release failure last week.
I got mad and then sad.
Now, I’m in the post-launch evaluation stage.
I’m looking at everything that went right
(because something usually goes right
with failures also)
and everything that went wrong.

This stage is painful
but necessary for success.

As Erika Napoletano
shares
“If insanity means
doing the same task repeatedly
hoping to get a different result,
then isn’t the path to sanity
figuring out what worked
and what you could do differently?

Because something has to change
if you want any shot at all
at making your plan work.”

Take time to evaluate your failures
to increase your odds of success.

One of the most important steps
in building a team
is deciding on rewards.

As Seth Godin
shares
“If you’re not happy
with how institutions or people act,
take a look at what they get rewarded for.

Until we change the rewards,
we’re not going to change the behavior,
because people always have a reason.
Even if the reason isn’t our reason.”

Even if your partners aren’t interested
in the actual reward,
they place an increased value
on whatever action you reward.

The street team for one of my pen names
knows that whenever we hit the top 100 lists
at Amazon,
we have a big party.
They work their a$$es off
to earn that big party.

Rewards matter.
Ensure you reward the behavior you want.

When I told people
that I was going to
quit my cushy corporate job
and become a romance writer,
the reaction was… well…
it wasn’t encouraging.

If I hadn’t thought it through,
if I hadn’t been determined to do it,
the reactions likely would have stopped me.

If you’re doing anything truly different,
you’ll likely face resistance.
Sometimes it is better
not to say anything
until the gutsy deed is done.

Dave Barrett,
Founder of Expensify,
shares

“Actually, that is
my biggest piece of advice:
Don’t tell anyone what you are doing.

I wasn’t afraid that
someone was going to steal my idea;
I didn’t tell anyone
because when you do tell people,
the experience is completely demoralizing.
In the years leading up to this,
I would go to friends or family
and tell them an idea I had for a company
and, with the best intentions,
they would say things like,
“Well, have you thought about this?
And this?”

Talking to people about an idea
made me spend my days
thinking about why I was going to fail.
With Expensify, I didn’t tell anyone
but my wife until we launched.
I’d been working on it
for about 18 months at that point.”

Think before you tell people
about your plans.