Category: New Business Development

I’m writing the my fourth novel right now,
doing a lot of research for it,
research ranging from how to throw knives
to how to walk a tightwire.

Years ago,
writers hoarded their research sources.
Having that knowledge made them special.

Today,
everyone with internet access
has that information.
Having that information
doesn’t make the author special.

Providing it in one place
for readers to reference to
as they read the book
does.

I made an error.
I didn’t post it with my first book immediately.
I received emails about it
and am only now sharing my sources.

A lost opportunity.

Since you are a project person
(why else would you be reading this blog?),
odds are someone in your family
is or will be a project person also.

Having heard a certain 8 year old project person
burned down yet another barn,
here are some of my thoughts
on raising one.

Realize that the projects are going to happen.
Direct these projects by asking questions.
Safe questions like
“I wonder why worms
crawl all over the sidewalk when it rains”,
NOT casual comments like
“I bet fireworks are easy to make”
or
“I wonder how Peter Pan flies.”

Teach good project management skills.
They are going to pick up habits,
they might as well pick up the right ones.

Don’t judge failures,
help them learn from them.
The best way to do that?
Ask more questions.
Let them figure out the answers for themselves.

Most of all,
try to be present for any live experiments.
That way,
small fires don’t end up as big fires.

In
The Intelligence Edge,
the authors state that business people should be able
“to recognize old and unprecedented patterns,
and know how to take advantage of each.”

Knowledge of history is a huge part
of both intelligence gathering
and new product development.

Knowing what worked and
what didn’t work in the past
guides future decisions.

Take the time
to study the history
of your product and industry.

I wanted to buy
a potted miniature rose
for my Mom.
I called up the small town florist
a block from her.

I ask for them to deliver the potted rose.
Sorry, we don’t sell those,
they respond.

A normal customer would hang up at that point.
I, knowing that they share mall space
with a grocery store that DOES sell the roses,
ask if they can simply buy one
as a favor for me, a regular customer,
resell it to me for a mark up,
and
deliver it.

Silence.
No, we can’t do that.

I then call the big chain that DOES do it.
And you know what?
Their prices on the other flowers,
the flowers I normally buy,
are much less expensive.

The main advantage of small business is
flexibility.
Lose that and
you lose customers.

Many of us are or have been in this place.
We have enough income
from our budding business
to pay the bills
but we’re scared to leave the full time job
because we can’t depend on
that entrepreneurial income.
It could stop tomorrow.

How did graphic designer
Janet Lackey solve this problem?

She negotiated a “stable retainer”
guaranteeing her a certain number
of billable hours and revenue.

The best of both worlds.

I’m starting to get feedback
from the book release.
Some of it… good.
Some of it… not-so-good.

Both were expected.
There is a reason that
Roosevelt’s The Man In The Arena speech
is so beloved of entrepreneurs.

“It is not the critic who counts,
not the man who points out
how the strong man stumbled,
or where the doer of deeds
could have done better.
The credit belongs to the man
who is actually in the arena;
whose face is marred by
the dust and sweat and blood;”

The reason being that all doers face critics.
And, as being a critic is easy and safe,
we face many of them.
At every step of our journey.

Don’t let them stop you.

When I’m drafting up a business plan
or trying to understand a new-to-me industry,
I often use Porter’s Five Forces as a checklist.

The five forces affecting any company or industry are;

Potential Entrants
Profitable industries draw competitors.
Are there barriers to entry such as high capital costs or government policies?

Competitive Rivalry
More competitors in a shrinking marketing will affect profitability.

Substitutes
Can and do customers switch easily between substitute products?

The Bargaining Power Of Buyers
The less buyers there are, the more control they have.

and

The Bargaining Power Of Suppliers
Again, less suppliers, more control they have.

I listened to a two hour discussion
between a factory worker and his young protege.
The older man had been with the company
for over 20 years.
He knew just about everything from
the number of gallons per hour
each employee was required to produce
to
the minimum safe distance
a floor worker could stand away
from the machines.

The only piece of information he didn’t know?
What the product was.

Seriously.
He had no idea.

Yes, he could have been working
on a top secret product,
but after years spent on plant floors,
I think it more likely no one ever told him.

What a waste.
He could have spent the last two decades
coming up with product improvements.

My first novel, Breach Of Trust, launched May 1st.
My second novel, Invisible, will launch February 1st.
Because each of these products is unique,
the transition of marketing resources
between the two is easier.
Marketing the new novel
does not supercede the other.
There can even be overlap.

Marketing a replacement product
is more challenging.
What I do is
have maintenance marketing only
in the transition period.

How long should the transition period be?
It depends on the average product turnover.
I like to give it at least a month.

A month in a customer’s mind
is forever,
long enough to forget
that you marketed the old product
as being the “best ever”.

Have you ever seen an invention
and thought “I could have come up with that?”
Odds are,
that is untrue.

The reason no one thought of that invention before
was because that entrepreneur had the unique combination
of skills and insights
to uncover it.

On ChurchOfTheCustomer,
David Vinjamuri, author of Accidental Branding,
talks about how most successful entrepreneurs
came to realize that
“he or she was uniquely position to solve a problem.”

Does that mean you’re out of luck?
No.
Because you also are in a unique position
to solve a problem.
You simply haven’t uncovered the problem yet.