New Business Development – Page 39

Who NOT To Ask For Help

There are people
in this world
who close the doors
behind them.

If a program
or a pathway
or a strategy
benefited them in the past
and they’re now
no longer using it,
they will try the d@mnedest
to eliminate it.

Be VERY careful
around those people.

If you find yourself
on the wrong side of a door,
they will not only
not help you
but they will try
to ensure that door
is never opened to you
or anyone else.

Do NOT ask them
for help.
Ever.
They will make
the situation worse
for you.

And actively work to keep
the doors you have used
open.

Because I guarantee
others are trying
to close them.

Not Believing In Reality

Every candidate
for a major US political party
recently
stood up and said
climate change wasn’t real.

Much of the US
is on fire
or in severe drought
or under water.

A five year old
could tell you
something was wrong
with climate.

Sane leaders
know climate change is real also.

When leaders say
they ‘don’t believe’
an obvious problem
is ‘real’,
they’re saying
‘I don’t plan
to ever help you
with that problem’.

And often
the full message is
‘And I will likely make
that problem worse.’

Don’t expect help
from leaders
who refuse
to ‘believe’ in a problem.

We’re on our own
with those leaders.

The Good Ol’ Days Vs Progress

There’s a push
by a certain group of people
to bring
‘the good ol’ days back.’

The ol’ days weren’t
all that good
for the average person
and they were downright terrible
for many groups of people.

But for you and me,
there’s a more personal
issue with
bringing back ‘the good ol’ days’

– Our businesses
didn’t exist
in the good ol’ days.

My Romance Novel Business
couldn’t have existed
50 years ago.
It relies on
technology
and systems
that didn’t exist then.

Your business
couldn’t have existed
either.

Simply promoting our businesses,
spreading word about them,
would have been super difficult.

Heck, starting a business
was d@mn difficult
50 years ago.

You and I
don’t want
the ‘good ol’ days’
to come back.

Stop yearning
for a past
that didn’t exist.

Focus
on the great days
in front of us.

Changes Take Resources

Many companies
are reinstating mask mandates
due to COVID.

They are spending time
and resources
to reinstate these mandates.

As they spent time
and resources
to remove these mandates.

A couple months from now,
I suspect they will
spend time
and resources
to remove them again.

And then a few months later,
they’ll spend time
and resources to reinforce
the mandates again.

Until the vaccines arrive
that stop the spread of COVID
(which ARE in development),
COVID isn’t going anywhere.

Save time and money
and keep the mask mandates.

Change distracts
everyone.

And mask mandates send
a signal
you care about your employees.

A Person To Blame

Some people are blaming
arsonists for the wildfires
all over the world,
instead of the real culprits
– drought and climate change.

That doesn’t surprise me.

Many people look
for a person or a group to blame
for their problems.

And they want promises
that person or group
will ‘be dealt with’
i.e. punished.

That prospect makes them happier.

A business building buddy,
knowing this,
blames all the problems
customers come to her with
on Stanley.

Stanley made that change
in their favorite product.
Stanley set that return policy.
F*ckin’ Stanley, always messing up.

No one in the company
is named Stanley.
He is a dummy target
for both customers and employees
to curse,
a name to give
when the customer demands one.

Cursing Stanley makes them happier
and it makes them more likely
to remain loyal to my buddy’s business.

People often
are looking for a person
or a group to blame.

Do your best
to ensure no real person or group
is harmed.

Dolly Parton And Protecting Your Intellectual Property

Elvis Presley wanted to record
Dolly Parton’s song
“I will always love you”
but he wanted half of the publishing rights
to do so.

Dolly Parton said no.
“I said,
‘Well, now it’s already been a hit.
I wrote it
and I’ve already published it,
and this is the stuff
I’m leaving for my family
when I’m dead and gone.
That money goes in
for stuff for my brothers and sisters
and nieces and nephews,
so I can’t give up half the publishing,’
and he said
‘Well then, we can’t record it.’”

“You have to take care of your business.
Everybody’s going to use you
if they can.
These are my songs.
They’re like my children.
And I expect them to support me
when I’m old.”

Protect your intellectual rights.

Creating A Career Path For Employees

You hire an awesomely intelligent
self-starting new employee.
She is keen and eager
to learn and work.

She also wants to know
how she gets to the next level
and what that next level is.

She needs a career path.

You might be thinking,
“My business is still small.
I don’t have positions
for her to move to.”

Actually,
you do.
You have unlimited positions
because you can make
that sh*t up.

This year,
she might be a Mail Processing Clerk
and she is in charge of
stuffing mailers into envelopes.

The second year,
she might be a Customer Service Assistant
and she, yes, still stuffs mailers into envelopes
but she also prints the labels
for those mailers.

The third year,
she might be a Customer Service Coordinator
and she does all the above
plus she helps design the mailers.

Her resume screams career progression.
She is also being recognized
for her increased skill level
and
she is given more and more responsibilities.
Plus she receives pay increases
that, at the very least,
keep up with inflation.

And, in return for that,
you have a better likelihood
of retaining a valuable employee.

Create a career path
for your employees.

Accountability And Climate Change

When 1.5C was set as a target,
world leaders knew
what we’re seeing today
– the fires, the floods,
the excessive heat, the crop failures –
would happen.

(They also believed
we would lose
all of the coral reefs.)

Leaders felt those losses,
the disasters
and
the deaths were acceptable.

Today, youth
are suing governments
and winning

And they SHOULD win
because the climate disasters
we’re experiencing today
were a deliberate choice.

Governments
should be held accountable
for that choice.

As business leaders,
we should also
expect to be held
accountable for our decisions.

That is part of
leadership.

Time IS A Contribution

A group of us
were contributing
funds
toward a gift.

One person
in the group
was delivering it
and staying
for the not-so-fun event
to support the gift recipient.

I told the group
the delivery person
shouldn’t contribute funds.
She was already contributing
in other ways.

The delivery person
protested
and insisted on contributing financially
as well.

F*ck no.
Time, in this busy, busy world,
is THE most precious resource.

That partner
who is doing most of the work
on your joint project?
They should have
a much lower buy-in.

Value time.
It is MORE important
than a financial contribution.

Feeding The Strong

One of my Romance Novels series
sells REALLY well.
It earns
more than all the other series
combined.

THAT is the series
I promote the most.

Why?

Because $1 promoting that series
has a larger financial return
than $1 promoting any other series.

The series has a fanbase
to help boost the promotions.
These readers (customers)
are more likely to share
promotional material.

The series already has a good ranking (positioning)
at online booksellers.
Promotion boosts that ranking higher
and higher ranking means
exponentially larger visibility.

It has the glowing reviews
which help sell the book
once readers (prospects) arrive
at the sales page.

It has momentum
and an object in motion
stays in motion.

Feed the strong.

That usually has
a better return
than promoting the weak.