Category: New Business Development

Got an irate email
from a so-called ‘reader’,
upset because I’ve joined
the masses of bloggers
‘selling’ eBooks.

Newsflash jackass!
I’m not selling anything.
The Best of Clientk 2005 PDF
is absolutely free.

The ‘ad’ for my romance novel
also on the sidebar?
There for informational purposes.
I haven’t sold a single copy
from this site
(you are not the target audience).
If I ever did,
I’d likely miss a post
because I’d be in shock.

Yes, I will be putting together
Best Of… eBooks
for the later years.
When I get a spare second
(laughing hysterically).

I am swamped.
Up to my ears in opportunities.
When I reach this point,
I set aside some of that valuable time
and see what projects I can cull
or delegate.

I must not be the only one
with more opps than resources.
Tom Peters is suggesting
we all launch
a ‘Stop Doing Strategic Review’
putting eliminating non-value adding working
as a priority.

What can you stop doing today?

Oh, and if you’re thinking
‘What opps?’
take a deeper look
at the changes around us.
THIS is a great time
to achieve!

My philosophy is
if I can make one life
a tiny bit better
then I’ve done my job.

I don’t publish for money or fame
(have enough of one,
don’t want the other).

I publish my novels for
that single reader email
I get.
You know the one.
The one that says
“I read your book
and I felt better about…”

Seth Godin has a brilliant post
on making your life matter.

Make it matter.
If you do nothing else,
make your life matter.

When I was on the development team
for a kid targeted juice,
we looked to lessons learned
in kiddie cereal
and toys
and trading cards.

It was more relevant to us
than the adult beverage industry.

When you’re bringing innovation
to your industry,
you often benefit more
from looking outside your industry.

Take eBook publishers.
Should they be looking
at the print book business
(their own industry)
or the music business
for their business model?

JA Konrath and many others
think
eBooks should be sold
like iTunes,
inexpensively and protection free.

Why?

Because they will be,
either legally or pirated.

If you’re waiting for an economic recovery
to make a move
(why? I don’t know)
then make a move.

I saw my first big indicator yesterday.
An entrepreneur looking for financing
called me
to put together a business plan.

I don’t deliberately look
for these opportunities.
I don’t advertise.
I don’t ask for them.

Why was I called?

It was a referral.
The business plan preparer
had a backlog so large
he knew he’d never
fill this new request.
He flipped it to me.

Makes you wonder
what these entrepreneurs know
that you don’t,
doesn’t it?

I listened to a buddy
vent about a certain ‘wrong.’
I sympathized with him
but when asked
what I was going to do about it,
I said ‘nothing.’

His reply to that?
‘To just stand there and watch…
How can anyone justify that?’

Easy…
There are larger wrongs
that I have more power to right
and I’d like to concentrate my energy there.

We can’t possibly right all the wrongs in the world.
We can’t launch all the products needed.
We can’t write all the stories needed to be written.

Concentrate on one or two fights.
When that fight is over
(successful or not),
THEN move onto the next one.

Elizabeth Gilbert,
author of Eat, Pray, Love,
talked about creativity
on TED

My favorite part of her speech?
When she says
that her job is
to sit down
and write.
Genius and brilliance
may or may not show up.
If it doesn’t
“I’m going to keep writing anyway
because that’s my job.
And I would please
like the record to reflect
today
that I showed up
for my part of the job.”

For the past two weeks,
genius has not shown up
while I was writing.
I wrote anyway.
Yesterday, it appeared.
Suddenly my current story ‘works.’

Yes, there will be massive rewrites
but I doubt genius would have shown up
without all that hard work.

Whatever your job is,
show up for it,
body, mind, and soul.

I bought a mattress yesterday
from an HVAC installer.

How did an HVAC installer
become a mattress salesman?

He installed an HVAC unit in a hotel.
That hotel was then sold.
The former owner was declaring bankruptcy.
Before that happened,
the HVAC installer
was given a choice.
He could receive nothing
(as he was way down the list of creditors)
or he could take 30 brand new mattress sets
as payment.
He took the mattress sets.

If you think
your customers will never pay,
you may wish
to work out a deal
for payment in kind.

Something is always better than nothing.

One clear message
the Jon And Kate Plus 8 drama
has reinforced
is that no one,
not the client (viewers or the networks)
or the media,
has your best interests first,
not unless they align with theirs.

The average person
(myself included)
is selfish.
They will try to convince you
to support their goals first
(In the Jon and Kate situation,
the viewers, network, and media
want drama and family strife).

How to ensure your goals get met?
First, have goals, clear goals.
Then review them.
With each decision,
ask ‘does this bring me closer to my goal?’
If it does, say yes.
If it doesn’t, say no.

It sounds very easy
but sticking to goals is, in reality, challenging.
Ask Jon and Kate.

And yes, I know I’ve talked about this before
but since I need reminding,
I figured you might benefit from a reminder also.

Your product will never be perfect.
Never, ever, ever.

But most people can’t accept that.
They tweak, and tweak, and tweak.
They’d tweak the second
before the product goes live
if you allow them.

This messes up
government approvals,
production schedules,
marketing material,
sales pitches,
and ultimately the entire launch.

The solution?
You don’t let last minute tweaks happen.
You give a drop dead date
for product changes.
(Save any additional changes for the next edition.)