Category: New Business Development

We’re due
for a ‘just do it’ reminder
because
all of the knowledge, skill, ideas
in the world
is useless
unless we do something with it.

Mike McCue,
chief executive of Flipboard,
shares

“The first lesson was
that I’d bought all these business books
because I hadn’t gone to school.
And I really got
into the theoretical aspects
of starting a company.

Then what I finally realized
after about six months
is that I just needed to do it.
I just needed to actually build something.
And that was a good lesson
— do something, build something
and everything will happen from there.”

Build something
TODAY.

Before starting a new story,
I usually take one or two days
to do…
nothing.
I claim I use this for plotting
because,
by the end of the second day,
I often have a plot.
In the quiet spaces,
I find creative solutions.

As Kevin Cashman,
author of
The Pause Principle,
shares in the July/August
The Costco Connection

“Step back
from the hurried, hectic pace,
the onslaught of information.
Go for a walk or run.
Sit by the river.
Take a power nap,
meditate
or listen to relaxing music.
New ideas and innovations emerge
in the spaces
between the doing.”

If you need new ideas,
take some time off.
It sounds counter intuitive
but it often works.

Are you coasting?

I know I have been.
I haven’t been pushing myself
and when I don’t push myself,
I’m not as happy with my life.

Nellie Akalp
shares

“Boredom is one of the biggest obstacles
to job satisfaction.

After a year or so
of coming in to work
and doing the same thing,
we get stuck in a rut.

Get some of that startup enthusiasm back
by doing things differently,
challenging yourself and
making an effort
to learn something new this summer.

We tend to be happiest
when we’re working right
at the limits of our abilities.”

Challenge yourself!
Get that excitement back.

A buddy told me recently
he was envious
that I worked for myself.
He had to work from 9 to 5.
I could work whenever I want.

I laughed.
I CAN work whenever I want
but to grow my writing business,
that whenever is at least 70 hours a week.
Working from 9 to 5 would be
like a vacation for me.

Janet Pierce,
business intelligence project executive
at Accenture
shares in
July/August’s CMA Magazine

“You can’t be afraid of hard work.
If people get into working for themselves
because they don’t like
how hard it is to work for others,
they probably shouldn’t do it.
You’ll be working more hours.
It never stops.
You basically live your business.”

There are many great reasons
to start your own business.
Working less hours isn’t one of these reasons.

I belong to a group of five writers.
We’re all roughly at the same level
and as our readerships grow,
we continue to be at equivalent levels.

Why?

Because we use the healthy competition
between us
to drive us to perform.
If one of us finishes writing a story,
it pushes the rest of us to finish our stories also.

Ashley Merryman,
co-author of
Top Dog,
shares
in the July/August’s CMA Magazine

“When accepting his recent Oscar,
Quentin Tarantino yelled out,
“I love the competition.”
That says it all.
Having others do great work
can spur you to do the same.
Competition also fuels innovation
because it puts firm parameters
and a deadline
around the creative process.”

Competition is a GOOD thing.
It drives us to perform.
Embrace competition.

I was born with a heart defect.
Every time,
I see my doctor,
he’s amazed I’m still alive.

I have always known
that today could be my last day on Earth.
I’m not waiting,
as some of my friends are,
until age 65
to write a novel,
travel to Russia,
launch a business.
I have done and am doing these things now.
I’m also very conscious of
how I’d like to be remembered.

Donovan Campbell
in The Leader’s Code
shares

“I believe that most great leaders,
whether consciously or unconsciously,
begin their leadership journey
by internalizing man’s mortality.
Understanding that
our days are finite
makes each day an infinite gift.
A limited number of actions
means that every action counts.
No day is irrelevant,
no action is insignificant,
no choice is inconsequential.”

How would you like to be remembered
and what are you doing TODAY
to achieve this?

I have reading buddies
who claim to LOVE every single thing
I write.
I’ve written over 60 very different stories.
I find it very difficult to trust
that these buddies truly love everything
I write.

I go to these reading buddies
when my confidence is flagging
and I need a boost.

However,
when I want an honest opinion
about one of my stories,
I talk to someone else,
someone who has the balls
to tell me when a story doesn’t work.

As Erika Napoletano
shares

“The reality is,
nodding your head nonstop
won’t net you the trusted relationships
your business needs to grow and thrive.
Think of the people in your life
who are nonstop “yes machines.”
Do you trust them
to tell you the truth
or do you know they’ll only tell you
what you want to hear?

Your ability to say no
when a no is warranted
can help you reclaim your business
from overly controlling clients.
It can also help you build your reputation
as an honest partner
that’s willing to have tough conversations
in the interest of doing better business
and achieving better results.”

We don’t trust people
who always say yes.
If you want to be trusted,
you HAVE to say no.

During this past book release,
I outsourced (nonessential) duties to friends.
Many folks think
when they outsource to friends,
they’ll be a priority for them.
These contractor friends
will do their best work for them.

The truth is often
the opposite.

People are lazy.
They seek to do as little as possible.
Our friends are people.
Our friends also know
we’ll hesitate before pushing them,
before asking for work to be redone.
We’ll often accept crap from them
that we wouldn’t accept from other vendors.
AND we’ll likely pay full price for this crap.

In my case,
not one contractor friend did
what I paid her to do
in a way that equaled her normal work.
Thankfully,
none of these tasks were essential
to my success.

Unless your friend is extremely professional,
think twice about outsourcing work to her.

For my most recent release,
my publisher’s publicist promised
wonderful promotion,
my publisher’s blog tour organizer promised
wonderful promotion,
and
the manager of my street team promised
wonderful promotion.

Sounds great, right?

Except
the publicist was hijacked
by a better selling writer,
the blog tour organizer had no connections
in my subgenre,
and the street team manager was sidelined
by a personal emergency.

But that was okay
because I organized my own promotion.
My sales weren’t stellar
but they were respectable
(and all three groups took responsibility
for these sales).

As Barry Moltz
shares

“”Love everyone,
trust few and
paddle your own canoe.”

Assume that people
have the best intentions,
but only trust those
who have earned it.

Your business is what
you and your team make of it.

Don’t depend on others
for your own success.”

Paddle your own canoe.
Ask for help
but don’t count on others
for your success.

I’ve talked about the challenges of
managing
high school students
but not about the benefits
of hiring students

Anita Campbell
shares

“If you need skills
that college-age students
typically excel in,
like social media or Web design,
a summer internship
could be the perfect solution.

No, you shouldn’t set an intern loose
to manage your company’s
social media presence,
but an intern can help train
older, less tech-savvy employees
in the nuts and bolts of social media,
while learning from their guidance
what is (and isn’t) appropriate
for achieving your business goals.”

The transfer of information
shouldn’t be one way
when a student is hired.
Learn from her
as she learns from you.