Category: New Business Development

I don’t watch much television.

I get my news from the internet,
including the latest commercials,
local or global
(thank you YouTube).

I’ll watch an episode or two
of the hottest shows
to stay current
(crucial in new business development)
but other than that,
I’m too busy doing other things.

What other things?

Well, Seth Godin and Clay Shirky
have a theory
that the building of sites
such as Wikipedia
corresponds directly to
the decrease in television viewing.

What could you be doing
with your television time?

What is one way to differentiate
your business?

Provide alterations.

Sure, sell the product everyone else is
but make it easy for the customer,
for an additional charge,
to alter the product.

Consulting companies do this with software.
Authors do this at booksignings.
You can do it with your product also.

Info Marketing Blog has a great post
on Paul Michael,
the mail order tycoon.

All of it is worth reading
but my favorite part is his quote
“I am only valuable when I am creating.”

Why is that?
Because he outsourced
almost everything else,
including the writing of his books.

It allowed him to build wealth
and his business quickly.

Spend time creating.

Tackling challenges are a have-to-do
for all entrepreneurs
but some love it.

Like Kathy Ireland.

“Every time we have had a serious challenge,
looking back,
it was an opportunity for great growth
that would not have happened
had we not had that challenge.

So I welcome challenges today.
I really do.
Consider it pure joy,
that’s how I feel about challenges.

They give us character.
They help refine us and give us strength
and make us better.

And if we’re not having challenges,
we’re not trying hard enough.
We’re not pushing.
We’re not growing.”

Are you having challenges?

Sean Diddy Combs
in an interview on Ellen
explained why he has a portfolio
of ‘jobs.’

Coming from the Bronx,
he said
“we’re like hustlers
and we always have five or six jobs.”
“That’s the way I was raised.”

Most entrepreneurs
apply the lessons in one field
to others.
They also work hard.

Are you a hustler?

Social networking is a hot buzzword
around the marketing watering holes.
Everyone wants a social network component
to a business.
They want to be the next Facebook.

Not likely to happen.

IT entrepreneur Robert Herjavec
points out
“To make a Facebook,
you need something
everyone would log into.”

It has to have mass appeal.

It is possible to make a six figure living
writing romance eBooks.

But not by writing what
everyone else is.

Raelene Gorlinsky, publisher for Ellora’s Cave,
points out that the
two big money making genres
are
erotica and sci fi romance.

Why?

Because these novels aren’t
as readily available from the print publishers.
To compete with the big publishers,
eBook publishers have to offer something unique.

Is your offering unique?

More and more companies
are using auctions to find suppliers.
Suppliers bid on the business
and all services remaining equal,
the low bid wins.

That is a good deal
if you are buying.
A bad deal
if you are selling.

How to avoid having your margins squeezed
by auctions?

GE’s CIO Gary Reiner
explains their strategy…
“The more commodity-like the part or service is,
the easier it is to auction;
and the more differentiated,
the less easy it is to auction.
By design, every year we try to make
more of our business portfolio be
products and services that are noncommodity –
that are differentiated.
So we have been fortunate not to be
as auctioned on the sell side as
we are on the buy side.”

Are your products noncommodity?

The Fortune 500 companies are
seen as industry leaders.
They are NOT innovation leaders.
They have too much to risk.

The innovation leaders are the start ups.
They’re forced in that role.

Bernie Hadley-Beauregard,
founder of Brandever Strategy Inc.,
says start ups become successful
“By taking chances that the
large competitors dare not take.”

If your new product isn’t risky,
it has either been done
or been tested and failed.

When I hear financial security stated
as a reason for starting a business,
I cringe.

Entrepreneurship is NOT for the cautious.
It is NOT a direct route to wealth
and being able to risk everything
to feed a hungry start up
is necessary for business building success.

As David “Patch” Patchell-Evans,
the multi-millionaire founder of
GoodLife Fitness Clubs states
“You have to be able to
risk the mortgage.”