Category: New Business Development

In Face Off,
the special-effects make-up competition,
the most risky task
to take on
is the head sculpt.

If the entry loses,
the judges will ask who did the head sculpt.
That artist goes home.

If the entry wins,
the judges will award the win
to the artist who completed the head sculpt.

The contestants know this.

In the early stages,
while the contestants work in teams,
the weaker contestants
will do anything
to avoid being the ONE person
responsible for the head sculpt.

The great contestants,
in contrast,
will take responsibility
for the head sculpt.
They’ll hone their craft,
incorporating the judges’ comments/advice,
while competing against a large group.

At the end of the competition,
when the groups of many
have become single contestants,
these great contestants will have gained
much more experience
with this critical component.

They take smaller upfront risks
to mitigate the huge risk
they know they’ll face in the future.

Is it possible for you to take smaller risks now
to avoid having to take the large risks
in the future?

Currently,
I’m testing a tactic
to sell more books on Amazon.

Why?

Because Amazon has changed yet again,
eliminating product tags,
and I have to find a new method
to grow my sales.

But if Amazon hadn’t changed,
I would have been testing something else.
The world changes constantly.
Old tactics don’t work.
New tactics have to be tested.

Jurgen Appelo tests tactics
through his blog.

“A blog helps me
to run experiments.
I sometimes have a half-baked idea
that I can put to the test
by simply writing about it.

Sometimes people like the idea,
sometimes they don’t.
Early feedback from readers
helps me not to waste time
on unsuccessful ideas.”

What are you testing?

Last year,
the January price
for a newsletter cover spot ad
at a romance reseller
was $15.

This year,
the same newsletter cover spot ad
costs $30.

Why?
Because the newsletter distribution
has doubled.
This bookseller has doubled in size.

A small publisher was grumbling
about this bookseller
not giving her the attention
she once received.
I asked her if HER sales had doubled in size.

They hadn’t
which meant that,
yes, this publisher WAS less important
to that bookseller.

THIS is why
it is important to grow
at least
at the same rate as partners.

Your target growth rate
should keep pace
or surpass
your partner’s growth rate.

Many of us have multiple projects
on the go.
When we are stuck
(or waiting)
on one project,
we jump to another project.

Often,
working on this other project
will shake some solutions loose
on the first project.

It also can increase productivity,
decreasing down time.

Can.
Because it can kill productivity
Projects that are never finished
(at least to the point
where there’s a possibility of a return)
are a waste of time.

One of my buddies starts stories weekly,
never finishing them.
She jumps projects
and never returns to them.

Having learned from my friend,
I never have more
than two stories in progress.
This rule forces me to finish a story
before I can start another
yet it gives me a break
when one story isn’t working.

Jumping projects can be productive
as long as you also finish projects.

Another topic
Chris Anderson,
author of The Long Tail
and Makers,
discussed at the Consumer Electronics Show
was the rise of 3D printers
(printers that can replicate
3 dimensional objects).

The example he gave was doll furniture.
Doll furniture is outrageously expensive
compared to the materials used.
The scale of doll houses are different
so it is challenging to find pieces that fit.
And the selection is limited.

With 3D printers,
all of these issues go away.
Children can design their own custom furniture,
scaling it to fit their specific house,
and produce it without leaving their room
for the same cost or less.

What does this mean for
doll house furniture manufacturers?
They’re looking at possible obsolescence.
They’re facing the same challenges
the music industry and the publishing industry
are now facing.

3D printers are coming.
The prices are dropping
and the quality is improving.

Look at your business.
What can you do now
that will stop customers from switching?

Chris Anderson,
author of
The Long Tail
was at the Consumer Electronics Show
talking about manufacturing,
the subject of his latest book
Makers.

When asked by an audience member
about manufacturing in the U.S.A.,
Chris Anderson was optimistic.

Why?

Because of the use of robots
in manufacturing.
“We all buy robots
at the same price.”
With robots,
“the cost of labor
diminishes as a factor.”

When an audience member
pushed back
that robots would cost jobs,
Anderson stated these jobs
had already left the U.S.A.
China should be worried
about robots taking jobs,
not Americans.

Having products manufactured
in the U.S.A. can be
a great marketing strategy.

When evaluating places to manufacture,
don’t assume the U.S.A is more expensive.

Some business building gurus
talk about complex business plans,
start up courses,
market research,
and a zillion other things
they feel
aspiring entrepreneurs need
before starting.

Not Avner Ronen,
Founder of Boxee.
He tells would-be entrepreneurs to

“Just start.
The biggest enemy of
starting a business
is not starting it.

You can always find reasons
not to do something.

Just start,
give it a name and
treat it as a real thing.

If you don’t start,
it will never happen.”

An object in motion
is more likely to stay in motion.

Just start.
Today.
This minute.
No hesitation.
No excuses.
GO!

When I was fretting
about pitching a new product
to a team of executives,
one of my mentors told me
that sick feeling in my stomach
was a GOOD thing.
It meant
I was doing something different
and only by doing something different
could I grow
and truly make a difference
in the world.

Robert Gorelick,
president of Benefit Equity, Inc.
applies this thinking
to business.

“Being innovative takes
an open, inquisitive mindset
that encourages you
to look outside of your comfort zone
to analyze what has successfully been done
in other industries
so you can adapt those tactics
to your business.”

Do something different
or learn something different
every single day.
It could be as simple
as eating your eggs sunny-side up
rather than over-easy
or as challenging
as learning a common sentence
(like “Do you speak English?”)
in another language.

Get outside of your comfort zone.

As you grow your business,
you eventually should be
delegating the day-to-day operations
and taking a more strategic or managerial role.

Often we don’t realize
how involved we are in our businesses.

Paul Meades,
managing director of
Meades & Company,
suggests*

“Look at your organizational structure
in a chart.
If you don’t have one,
imagine one.
Think of each business function or process
having a box on that chart
– e.g., sales, customer service,
fulfillment, production.
How many of the boxes on the chart
are you regularly involved in?
Think about how you can get out
of those boxes you don’t want
or need to be in
– by outsourcing, delegating
or recruiting.”

Allow your business to grow
by removing the bottleneck – you.

*The Costco Connection
January/February 2013

My first stories were published
in a single format (eBook)
in a single subgenre of romance.
This allowed me to focus
on one area.
I figured out what worked,
what was successful.
I built a readership
and THEN,
having that small win under my belt,
I expanded into other subgenres,
other formats.

Dolf van den Brink,
president and chief executive
of Heineken USA,
shares

“We were losing
so much market share
every month,
and the problem seemed so big,
but we started small.
We focused on one neighborhood
and tried to conquer 20 outlets
rather than worrying about 20,000.
We were able to do that,
and that started to build our confidence.
You have to make people believe
that they can win again.”

Start small.
Focus on one segment,
one product, one challenge.