Category: New Business Development

One of my publishers told me
that she had two empty spots
for July.
If I submitted a 10,000 word story
by midnight May 24th,
I could snag one of those spots.

She told me May 14th.
I had no appropriate stories
already written.
I had 10 days to write 10,000 words
while working 12 hour days
on the business gig.
I thought it was impossible
but the opp was too good
not to try for.

I subbed 11:30 pm on the 24th.

If you were offered the chance of a lifetime
if you completed step one
of your business launch
in 10 days,
could you do it?

If the answer is yes
then…
why AREN’T you doing it?
Make your own chance of a lifetime.

Attended an intriguing session
held by Harlequin’s Digital Marketing Team.

Sulemaan Ahmed,
Director of Digital Marketing,
talked about winning over
the BPU.

What is the BPU?
The Business Prevention Team,
that’s what he calls the person
or group of people
who resist every new idea or product launch.

Some of the tactics he reco’s
are
to bombard them with information
(“education is the antidote to ignorance”)
and to share early (or rather all) wins
with everyone,
giving acknowledgment
to all team members involved.
That guy in legal who helped
with the vendor contract?
Associate the win with his name.

Very clever.
That increases the odds
that not only he’ll support your innovation
but other people on his team will also.

BPU’s are in every organization.
If you want to manage projects,
you need to learn how to deal with them.

On our bus tour of India,
we stopped at a small village.
Many of the travelers
were dismayed over the living conditions.
There were no fridges,
no air conditioning,
and
no tv’s.
Surely these people were very, very poor.

Not so.
Our tour guide told us
that these farmers
were quite wealthy.
They didn’t have these things
because they didn’t feel they needed them.

So what did they spend their money on?
Building their revenue streams.
Every spare cent
was spent on buying more land.
This land made them even more money,
money that they spent
on buying more land.

Spend money on land,
not tv’s.
Only incur expenses
that build your business.

One of my buddies
is known for bringing up problems.
She points out
how this and this and this
is ‘wrong.’

The issue is…

she never has any solutions.

My stance on this is
‘don’t talk to me
about a problem
if you don’t have at least one solution.’

It doesn’t have to be
a perfect solution
(I don’t think perfect solutions exist)
but it has to be something
that shows me
you’ve put some thought
into the problem.

That holds true with criticism also.
If you’re going to tell me
what I am doing is wrong,
the least you can do
is also tell me how to do it right.

Don’t be a lazy critic.
If you want me
to take your thoughts seriously,
put some actual thought
into them.

2010 is a third done.
How are you doing on your goals?

I look at my goals more often
than 3 times a year.
I tend to check in
on my goals daily.
There are so many wonderful opps
and interesting projects out there,
I become distracted otherwise.

I look at what my goals are.
Do they still apply?
(As I know I become distracted by new ideas,
I purposefully make changing my goals
more difficult)
Am I spending adequate time
achieving each goal?
Are all my projects aligned with my goals?

If you find yourself drifting,
it is time to focus back
on your goals.
Make 2010 your best year ever!

Once my cash flow was large enough
to cover my basic expenses
(and my basic expenses are less
than most people’s),
I stopped working
and building
for money.

Money became a scorecard
of progress,
not my purpose.
My purpose is to make a difference.

As Michael Lee-Chin,
one of Canada’s richest men
puts it
“At the end of the day,
all of us are seeking to build a legacy
that society can be proud of.
And you certainly won’t build a legacy
that society can be proud of
by doing what everyone else is doing.
If you have principles,
and if you’re thinking long term
and if you really believe
your principles are right,
wealth is secondary.”

What will you be remembered for?

A study of 101 movie sequels
released in North American theaters
between 1998 and 2006
has put numbers behind
sequel success.

It is all about star power.
“If you had to choose one thing
to be consistent on,
it’s the star power,
keeping those same stars,”
says Mark Houston,
Professor of Marketing
with Texas Christian University.

That must be why
more and more studios
are locking stars into film series
(an example is the Twilight cast).

It makes sense branding-wise also
as movies are so tightly co-branded
with the stars appearing in them.

If you’re producing a sequel,
spend money to obtain
the same stars.

Some folks ask me
when I’m going to ‘take it easy.’
These aren’t entrepreneurs.
Entrepreneurs know that business building
is a lot more interesting
than sitting on the couch
watching tv.
They know the answer is ‘never.’

One reason for that answer
is because there is
no finish life in business.
Even if you reach the top,
you need to keep going
to maintain that position.

Alden Mills,
founder of Perfect Fitness,
learned this lesson early
from his stint in the SEALs.

“”They’d say,
‘OK, it’s a four-mile timed run,”
he says.
“I’d run so hard,
I’d throw up at the finish line.
Then they’d say,
‘Now it’s a 10-mile timed run.
Keep running.’
You don’t know when that race is over,
so you can never give up.”
Ditto: business.”

There IS no finish line
in business.

Yesterday, we talked about
getting things in writing.

What I should have also mentioned
was be as specific as possible
when getting things in writing.

I’ve had to learn that
time and time again
when it comes to cover art.

I’ll state that my heroine
looks like Pamela Anderson.

I’m thinking Pamela Anderson
in her glory days,
looking the best she’s ever looked.

The cover artist will pull up
a photo of Pamela Anderson
after a terrible haircut
and an all night boozefest.

Now I get specific
and send a link to a photo.

Joel Spolsky of Fog Creek Software
has reach a similar conclusion.

There is a great interview
with Paul English,
co-founder of Kayak.com,
and the innovative way
he handles customer service.

Here is a snippet
(the entire article is well worth reading)

“The engineers and I handle customer support.
When I tell people that,
they look at me like I’m smoking crack.
They say,
“Why would you pay an engineer $150,000
to answer phones
when you could pay someone in Arizona
$8 an hour?”
If you make the engineers answer
e-mails and phone calls
from the customers,
the second or third time
they get the same question,
they’ll actually stop what they’re doing
and fix the code.
Then we don’t have those questions anymore.”

If your problem solvers
are in charge of customer service,
your customer service problems
will get solved.