Category: New Business Development

Many of Jason Derulo’s songs
benefit greatly
from the sampling of other songs.

Sampling is fraught with legal issues.
It can be a long process
to get permission to sample a song.
There’s a big risk
that the artist will say no.

So when in the development process
does Jason Derulo ask permission
(or ‘clear’ the sample)?

When it works.
As he says,
“If the whole song’s not great,
it makes no sense to clear it.”

Keep in mind though
that there are low(ish) development costs
to get a song to the working stage.

The higher the development costs,
the earlier you should look
into gaining permission.

I was watching a documentary
on Taylor Swift
(Talkin’ ‘Bout on CMT).
I admire Taylor Swift
for her age-appropriate songs.
These songs are age-appropriate
because she writes them.

Her songwriting prowess isn’t a fluke.
Early in her career,
she hooked up with a senior songwriter
and wrote songs with her.
They wrote EVERY Tuesday,
after Taylor’s schooling.
for two hours EVERY week.

Does she have raw songwriting talent?
Of course.
But even a tween knows
that isn’t enough.
She found herself a mentor
and she worked at it,
every week
for hours.

Writers write,
and doers do,
consistently.

Are you consistently honing your talents?

I have three sets of edits
from three different stories
that I have to get done this week.
I’ve been working every night
until the wee hours of the morning
and I haven’t left my house in four days.

It is the holiday season.
I have invites for events every night
and I’ve had to turn them all down.

That isn’t great
but it is okay
because I’ve made an effort
during not-as-busy times
to be there for these loved ones.

The temptation for entrepreneurs
is to work, work, work
all year round, around the clock.
That’s easy to do
but doing that means punishing our loved ones,
our support team, our partners.

What I prefer to do
is to work like a crazy woman
when I absolutely have to
(like now)
and then make a real effort
to be there for loved ones
during downtime.

People understand
when emergencies happen.
They don’t understand
when emergencies happen
365 days a year.

Build in some time
for family and friends.

We often talk about
how we are living in the age of individualism.

Really?
Really?

Because
DuPont reports
that 50% of all cars globally
are painted either
silver (26%)
or black (24%).

It takes a mere 3 more colors
white (16%),
gray (16%)
and red (6%)
to cover 88% of the car market.

That doesn’t say individualism to me.
That says herd mentality.

The average person doesn’t want
a bright blue car.
She may want to be a little bit different
(to satisfy her individualism)
but she doesn’t want to be truly different.

That’s important to remember
when designing products.

One of my writer friends
likes to write purely artsy novels.
She refuses to,
as she says,
‘sell out.’
She has challenges keeping a publisher
because… well…
while her stories rock,
her sales suck.

Another friend writes stories
that are in demand.
This makes her publisher VERY happy
and earns her a decent living.
Every once in a while,
she throws in an artsy piece,
displaying the width and breadth
of her creativity.
These pieces sell more
and are wider read
than my other friend’s
because she has a larger reader base.

Angelina Jolie has a similar approach
to her movie projects.
She makes the big blockbusters
like Salt
(which grossed $289 million U.S.
world-wide)
to give her the credentials
and the fan base
for her smaller projects.

In December’s Cineplex Magazine,
she tells Kevin Williamson
“You do need to balance things
to make sure
you can always continue
to do different types and sizes of films.
You have to be conscious of that balance.”

Sometimes you have to give
your customers what they want
before giving them
what you want.

I wanted to learn to write steamier fiction.
I could have taken courses.
I could have asked an author buddy
to mentor me.

Instead, I subbed stories
to erotic romance publishers.
The steam wasn’t there
but the plot was.
A publisher contracted one of my stories
and my editor helped me up the heat level.
I got paid to learn.

Years ago,
I wanted to learn about franchising.
I had no franchise experience
but I had killer new business development skills.
One of the top quick service restaurant franchises
hired me to help them develop new products,
and they taught me about franchising.

Going back to school is great.
Taking night courses is great.

Getting PAID to learn is even better.
Odds are…
you can parlay the skills you have
into getting a job
to teach you the new skills you need.

BTW… one awesome benefit
to getting paid to learn
is that you are learning
from people who are also doing.
No airy fairy theory nonsense.

Did you just wince?

Most people do
because most people don’t need any more problems.

…unless you’re an entrepreneur
looking for an idea
and then
you’re looking for a problem to solve.
The bigger the problem,
the more lucrative the opportunity.

As Rajesh Setty says
“General tendency is to stay away
from problems
and stay far away from bigger problems.
However, if you are not solving a big enough problem,
chances are that you may not
be doing anything important.”

Problems are opportunities.
If you have a problem
or an irritation
or frustration,
ask yourself
if enough other people feel the same
to warrant you designing a solution.

One of my author buddies
shared that she was in a dry spell.
She couldn’t think of any plot ideas.

Well… dang… that’s an easy fix.

We rounded up four other writers
and we spat out ideas.
She ended up
with a list two pages long.

Any writer
or inventor
or entrepreneur
has so many ideas,
she can’t possibly bring them to life.

So if you need ideas,
ask.
You may not use hers
but they may prod
an idea of your own to life.

Be generous with your extra ideas.
Ask for ideas if you need them.
Help others help you
to change the world.

I attended a mini-writer’s retreat
this past weekend.
The biggest topic of conversation
was the gap between
what writers wanted from their agents
and
the level of service they were receiving.

NONE of the dissatisfied writers
had contacted their agents
and outlined how
(the medium)
and how often
they prefer to communicate.

NONE of the writers
have set up a regular monthly call
or email or snail mail letter
with their missing-in-action agents.

NONE of the writers
have asked for what they need
to make them happy with the relationship.

Your business partner is
NOT a mind reader.
Your business partner is
as busy as you are.

She is not sitting around
wondering whether or not you’re happy.
She assumes you’re happy
unless you tell her otherwise.

Be an adult.
Stand up and ASK for what you need.

People have been predicting the future
since the beginning of time.
Entrepreneurs like you and I,
anxious to cash in
on the next hot thing,
often follow these predictions closely.

We don’t always believe them though
and that’s a very good thing.

The latest list of dumbness…
I mean predictions…
is themarknews’s list
of 5 industries that are doomed to fail.

They are
The Record Store
Factory Farming
The Tobacco Industry
Celebrities
and
Print Media.

(Notice the clever selling.
They sandwich their wild predictions
between two more broadly accepted calls.)

Celebrities have been around
longer than predictions.
They aren’t going anywhere.

They may and will change
but as long as there are followers,
there will be leaders
and these leaders will be smacked
with the celebrity label.

As for smoking…
In 2005,
24.4% of young adults
aged 18 to 24
smoked.
Yep, a quarter of that demographic.
I don’t think the tobacco companies are worried.

Follow the predictions
but you may wish to research
the trends to ensure they are aligned.