Category: New Business Development

A buddy’s daughter
resisted completing her school work
every evening.
She preferred to watch TV instead.

My buddy was frustrated.
She asked me for suggestions.
I asked her what SHE did
when she came home
from work every evening.

My buddy watched TV.

Now, my buddy sits
at the dinner table
and works.
The daughter sits beside her
and completes her school work.
She doesn’t argue.
She does.
Just like her mom.

We can talk the good talk
all we want
but our employees, our partners, our kids
watch what we do.
They do what they do.

We can’t expect them to work hard
if we’re goofing around.

There’s been a lot of coverage
over Mandy Patinkin’s departure
from the TV show
Criminal Minds.
He stars in a new thriller
that seems very similar
yet subtly isn’t
and some people don’t understand
why the difference matters to him.

I do.
Last year, I wrote a story
that was very similar to
many other stories I’ve written
except
the story didn’t have a happy ending.

The story was very profitable
and the difference was very subtle
but it felt wrong.

I only wrote one of these stories
and I walked away from this product line.
Mandy Patinkin walked away from Criminal Minds
after two seasons.

And walking away is okay.
There are plenty of other stories to write,
television roles to star in,
products to launch,
that are BOTH profitable
AND give us a sense of pride.

Make the difference
YOU want to make
in the world.

If it doesn’t feel right,
walk away.

I haven’t checked the stats
on Clientk
in a couple of years.
I don’t know
if one person reads this blog
or five thousand people read this blog.

Because the number doesn’t matter.
I write this blog to help others,
whether that is one other
or five thousand others,
and I write this blog
to stay current,
to push my continuous education.

Of course, I could easily check
the number of readers.
I could track how long readers spend
reading each post.
I could track what sites they visit
before and after Clientk.
There are a zillion measurements
I could check.

But every measurement I check
takes time
and more dangerously,
every measurement I check
has the opportunity
to steal my focus.

If I check the number of readers
and I have only one reader,
I might decide
a) writing these posts
aren’t worth my time
or
b) I should market this blog.

Neither of these outcomes
help me achieve my goals for this blog.

That is why
I measure what matters
and nothing more.

For the past year,
I was the only person
in my household
working at home.

That changed a couple of weeks ago.
Now, there are two of us
working at home.

At first,
we tried to save money
and shared everything.
One phone line.
One printer (linked to my computer only).
No duplicates.

That really hurt productivity.
We were both heavy printer users.
Sharing that printer
slowed us down.

Finally, we broke down
and invested in that home office.
We bought an additional printer.
We bought noise-reducing headphones
and other devices
to make the home office more productive.

As Carla Young shares

“Only share resources
that you each use part-time or infrequently.
For example,
because we both need the telephone,
we each have our own designated line,
but as neither of us uses the printer on a daily basis,
we share a single printer.

The upside to separating your critical work systems
is that in an emergency,
you have the other system as a backup.
So when a telephone battery dies
or a VoIP line isn’t available,
you have at least part-time access
to an alternate system.”

Invest in the devices you need
to make your shared home office work
for you.

I find it challenging
to function
around too much negativity.
I need optimism and hope
to launch a product
and change the world.

Turns out,
there’s scientific proof
that negativity harms the brain.

Minda Zetlin
(with input by
Trevor Blake,
author of Three Simple Steps:
A Map to Success in Business and Life)
shares

“Research shows that
exposure to 30 minutes or more
of negativity
–including viewing such material on TV
–actually peels away neurons
in the brain’s hippocampus.
“That’s the part of your brain
you need for problem solving,”
he (Blake) says.
“Basically, it turns your brain to mush.””

This doesn’t mean
everything can be sunshine and roses
all of the time.
We need to listen to complaints
and problems.
But we should limit our exposure
to unproductive negativity.

Keep it happy.
Keep it productive.

I’m not someone who gets lucky
the first time
so I KNOW the value of luck.
I can work really, really hard
(and I usually do)
but if I don’t get ‘lucky’,
I won’t see any results.

Barry Moltz shares this
about luck
(with insight from Frans Johansson,
author of The Click Moment)

“When Rovio released Angry Birds
people thought the company was overnight success,
but this product was the company’s 52nd game.

According to Johansson,
small-business owners need to
“realize that the world is random
and as a result,
they need to keep trying
until they actually strike gold.””

Luck plays an big role in success.
The chances of getting lucky
usually increase with hard work.

A couple days ago,
a loved one flippantly asked
what Ryan Seacrest ever did
to deserve his fame.

He worked his ass off.
That’s what he did.

“In addition to hosting American Idol,
Seacrest appears 7 days a week on E!,
hosts a daily radio show from 5 to 10 A.M.,
appears on the Today show,
runs a television production company, and
recently received $300 million
in private equity funding
to acquire more businesses.”

Sometimes it feels like
we’re the only people
working like demons,
converting our dreams into reality.

We aren’t alone.
The successful
(present and future)
are working these long hours too.

Some days I dread writing for this blog.
I’m busy, really busy,
and finding articles to read
and write
takes time.

But I do it
because I promised to blog
every day.

And I learn.
I learn a little more every day.
I read about business
when I’d rather stare at the back of my eyelids.
I constantly search for new topics.
I put in a little more work
than I normally would
into my continuous learning.

I’ve reached the conclusion
that I need to do the same thing
with my writing career.
I tell myself to study writing every day
but when I get busy,
that studying is dropped.

If I had a daily writing blog,
I wouldn’t drop the studying.

To be successful,
you need to learn something new
in your chosen field
every single day.
Figure out how to make that happen.

I’m hosting a discussion
within my writing chapter
on writing short stories in October.
Even if writing chapter buddies
aren’t currently interested in writing short stories,
I suggest they take this free course.
Why?
Because knowing about these opportunities
will give them an alternative path
if their current plans don’t work out.

Richard Wiseman,
author of The Luck Factor,
shares

“We are traditionally taught
to be really focused,
to be really driven,
to try really hard at tasks.
But in the real world,
you’ve got opportunities all around you.
And if you’re driven in one direction,
you’re not going to spot the others.
It’s about getting people
to have various game plans
running in their heads.”

Work on your game plan
but be conscious of other possible plans.
Be open to other ideas.

I’m part of the marketing team
for one of my publishers.
The biggest issue the publisher is facing
is that their writers
(their entrepreneurs)
wish to spend all of their time writing
(on product development)
and no time marketing or interacting with readers
(customers).

A successful entrepreneur has to market.
A successful entrepreneur has to sell
and interact with customers.

Gallup Business Journal
shared 10 traits of successful entrepreneurs.
One of these traits
is the ability to build relationships.

“Starting or growing a business
involves interacting with many people.
An entrepreneur may be the originator of the idea,
but almost immediately,
he or she must interact with others
to secure resources,
engage with potential customers and suppliers,
or hire and manage employees.
The ability to build strong relationships
is crucial for survival and growth.”

Building relationships is a must for success.
There are no lone rangers
in business or writing.