Category: New Business Development

With True Grit,
the remake of the John Wayne classic,
being an Oscar contender,
there is a lot of talk
about how grit is an American attribute.

But what is grit?

“Grit is a willingness
to commit to long-term goals,
and to persist in the face of difficulty.
Studies show that gritty people
obtain more education in their lifetime,
and earn higher college GPAs.
Grit predicts which cadets
will stick out their first grueling year
at West Point.
In fact, grit even predicts
which round contestants will make it to
at the Scripps National Spelling Bee.”

And as Heidi Grant Halvorson points out,
it is one of the nine things
successful people do differently.

Romance is a very large genre,
yet the pool of productive romance writers
numbers only in the low thousands.
(if that high)
In my few years of writing,
I must have met most of these writers
and as I continue with my career,
I’ll likely work with all of them.

My opinion on the ‘ism’s
(sexism, racism, whateverism)
is that applying that requirement
to whom I will work with
restricts an already small pool of doers.
It makes the difficult rise to success
even more challenging.

There’s a reason why
many people see
Charlie Sheen’s and Mel Gibson’s
‘ism based rants
as a sign of mental instability.

It is because sane successful people
tend to look at success first,
and other factors after.

Consider whether you value your ‘ism
enough to hamper your success.

I believe in luck.
You can increase the odds of success
as much as you can
but there is still a possibility
that failure will happen.
When that long shot failure happens,
I call it bad luck.

Recently, I’ve had a string of bad luck.
I’ve seen failure after failure on tasks,
even on simple menial ones.
The odds for each failure is low
yet it has been occurring.

This streak of failures can’t extend forever.
The odds are against it.
So I know it will correct
and I’ll see some success.

I’ll be even Steven in the luck department.
(Actually, based on the odds,
results should be skewed toward success)

That’s why I don’t get overly upset
when bad luck happens.

Bad luck is expected,
but good luck is even more expected.

I have long told people
that I plan to retire at 40
(which is this year).

The corporate folks get excited and envious
because retirement for those in corporate
means the end of work.
They envision retirement
as a weekend extended into forever.
It is a time to play golf
and travel
and sleep in late.

My entrepreneur friends simply grin
because retirement for them
often means working on their own projects,
heedless of an urgent payoff.
They also envision retirement
as a weekend extended into forever
except their weekends are currently filled
with projects important to them.

Happily, because many of these projects pay,
(my writing already pays)
entrepreneurs are often able
to retire earlier than those in corporate.

Plan for retirement
but, if you are an entrepreneur,
plan for a hard working retirement.

A large publisher has
a special call out for submissions.
The call is so detailed
and so specific,
that any stories written for it
will not be usable anywhere else.

On the positive,
the number of stories submitted
will be low
BECAUSE of the exact requirements.

On the negative,
the story has one shot
at being sold.
If it doesn’t sell to this publisher,
it won’t be published.

In corporate,
we are faced with this dilemma
over and over again.
A prospective client wants a special product pitched,
with no guarantees they’ll take it.

What does a project manager/writer do?

We weigh the odds of the product
being accepted/bought.
Do we have an established relationship with the prospect?
How many other products will be pitched?
What does our company/brand name
bring to the product
that will increase/decrease our odds?
Can we pull this product off?
Have we done (written) something similar in the past?

Based on these factors,
we weigh the probability
and then decide if the risks
(time, money, morale, brand perception)
are worth it.

Yesterday,
as I was putting the finishing touches
on my alien/human love story,
I listened to two full hours
of Britney Spears songs.

Why?

Because that was what the radio was playing.
Last night was the release
of the video
for her new single
‘Hold It Against Me.’
To celebrate,
radio stations were playing her back catalog,
and
I’m certain iTune sales
of that back catalog
got a boast.

Whenever I release a new story,
I sell more of my older stories.
My new story isn’t a replacement
for my old stories.
They complement each other.

The more stories I sell,
the more of my back catalog
I sell with each new release.
(that is why
many romance writers claim that
the best promo is writing the next book)

With complement products,
more product development is almost always better.
With replacement products,
the opposite is often true.

When you’re designing products,
consider whether your new products
complement your older products
OR
replace them.

The most painful part of writing,
for me,
is editing.
It is also the most important.

In editing,
I receive all that critical feedback
that makes me a better writer.
Editing also polishes an okay story
into a brilliant story,
and that post-edit story will be the only story
readers (i.e. customers) will see.

I could delegate my edits to someone else.
It would save me some pain short-term,
but it would change my career path long-term.
It is a critical job
and, as boss of my own writing career,
I should do it.

In business building,
there are also painful yet critical jobs.

Hiring, for example,
is a long grueling process,
yet whom you hire,
especially at leadership levels,
will shape the future of your company.

Do these jobs.
Don’t bellyache about it.
Don’t delegate it.
Do it.

I recently subbed a story
to my publisher.
It was a push-the-envelope story
and had some rather raw scenes.

I fretted about this story.
I considered self-censoring it
to make it more salable.

My editor’s response?

“Don’t you dare.
Send it in as is.
If we have to dial it back,
we will.”

She did push back,
but not on all the risque scenes.
A couple of them were changed,
and one was eliminated,
but most of them remained whole.

The result is a story
that will still sell to the mainstream
and also breaks new ground.
It is a much better story
than it would have been
if I had chickened out
and made the changes.

Be bold.
Be fearless.

If your executive team or mentors or sounding board
asks you to dial it back,
consider it,
but don’t self-censor.

One of my blogs,
although I don’t allocate
much time to it,
spins off okay advertising revenue.
I believe that,
if I applied myself,
I could make some solid money with it,
not I’ll-never-have-to-work-again money,
but solid.

It is my back burner project.
I have bigger opps now,
(the I’ll-never-have-to-work-again money projects)
but if I ever run out of ideas,
it is there,
waiting for me.
I work on it
when I need a change
or
while I’m mulling over another problem.

It maintains itself
with a couple of weeks work
every year.

Why don’t I delegate
my back burner project
so it can grow bigger faster?

Because the real benefit
of a back burner project
is the fearlessness it inspires.

I go out and try my crazy ideas,
taking risks with my projects, and career,
knowing that if my world truly goes to shit,
I can fall back on this back burner project.
I’ll have something to do
(the fear of every doer
is running out of things to do)
and maybe some cash flow.

This assumption may be completely wrong
but it gives me the confidence I need
to be successful in other areas.

Confidence is important.
Do what you need to do
to maintain it,
even if it means keeping a project
simmering on the back burner.

I am busy loading a year’s worth
of posts on my photo travel blog.
Last week, I loaded half a year’s worth.
This week, I will load the second half.

I’m in the home stretch
and I’m tempted to add bells and whistles,
the fancy stuff
that adds value
but isn’t entirely necessary.

I’m resisting.
Why?
Because I have to lay the base first.
THEN when or if
I have time,
I can go back and add features.

Build your basic product.
Do your basic marketing.
Get the job requested done.

THEN add the special little touches
that will wow and amaze your customers.