New Business Development – Page 49

Our Businesses Grow At Their Own Unique Speeds

A loved one started
tomato plants from seed.
He compared their growth
with the growth
of other tomato plants
on social media videos.

His plants were growing
at a slower rate.

But they are healthy plants.

And different growth rates
should be expected.
All seeds are unique.
Each tomato seed
is slightly different.

As is each business.

No two businesses
are situated in
the exact same location,
for example.
That’s impossible
even or especially
on the internet.

There can only be
one first listing
after a search
on a keyword,
for example.

We can take steps
to increase growth
but don’t be surprised
if our business grow
at different rates.

They SHOULD grow
at different rates.
They are different businesses.

Working With Our Unique Surroundings

My enjoyment regarding gardening
increased substantially
when I stopped
fighting my unique environment
and
started
working with it.

I have squirrels, for example.
Years ago, I planted
hundreds of tulips.
The squirrels LOVE tulips
and they shredded every single bulb.

I then did my research
and uncovered squirrels dislike daffodils.

I planted a few daffodil bulbs.
The squirrels left them alone.
The daffodils flourished
and multiplied.

Years later,
I have beautiful Spring beds
filled with daffodils.

Because I worked with
my unique environment.
I didn’t fight it.
I didn’t try to change it
into something it wouldn’t naturally be.

I suspect right now
you’re fighting some aspect
of your business’s environment.

It could be walk by traffic
consisting of people
who speak another language.
Or a social media platform
that suppresses posts
with certain keywords.

If you figure out a way
to work with that aspect
(you hire an employee who speaks
that other language, for example),
business building
will be MUCH easier.

There Is NO Unskilled Labor

A TikTok has gone viral
showing a person
folding jeans
with a snap of his hands.

Retail workers
have supported it.

Some claim
to be able
to do the same thing
with dress shirts.

A quick service restaurant worker
talked about
how she could wrap two burgers
at the same time,
holding one in each hand.

There is NO unskilled labor.
Every job has
tricks to learn
and skills to obtain
to do it well.

Remember that
when you’re deciding
on wages
and interacting
with employees.

Try Before Starting

A buddy of mine
impulsively bought a farm.

No one in her immediate family,
including herself,
had ever farmed.
Heck, they didn’t even
have a garden
prior to the purchase.

But my friend
had watched a gazillion
videos posted by influencers
about farming
or homesteading.
She thought it looked easy.

Farming isn’t easy
and it isn’t anything
like what the influencers
show.
Within days
my buddy was regretting her decision.

Work in an industry
before starting a business
in it.

Try a lifestyle
before adapting it fully.

This will increase
your odds of success
and boost your happiness levels.

Quietly Do The Right Thing

A buddy monitors
air quality
wherever she goes.

She has noticed
that many businesses
now have awesome air quality.

When she asked
some of these business owners,
they admitted
they had upgraded
their ventilation systems,
improving their air cleaners.

They were concerned
about their employees’
and their customers’ health
and they realized illnesses
weren’t going away.

But they didn’t promote
these upgrades
because
‘no one wants to hear
about COVID anymore.’

They quietly did good.

Not every positive action
has to be broadcast.
You can take positive action quietly.

Oh and consider
upgrading your air cleaning systems.

Because your competitors
certainly are.

The US Could Be YOUR World

Yesterday,
I talked about
how the US is a tiny percentage
of the world
and
how we should ensure
our promotions
aren’t US specific.

IF we have
an international customer base.

You might not have
an international customer base.
Your online (or bricks and mortar) business
might only serve the US
or
your State
or
your city
or
your neighborhood.

That’s okay.
No.
It might be more than okay.
It might be great
for you and your business.

Online businesses
don’t have to serve everyone
who happens to be online.
They can serve
neighborhoods
or cities
or other specific regions.

Your online business
doesn’t have to be
international.

The Queen Bee

A Mom I know
has problems with
ALL her daughters.

Which doesn’t surprise me
because she has problems
working with women.

She’s a Queen Bee.

There is only one
Queen Bee
in a hive.
If another Queen
is born,
the hive splits
or one of the Queens die.

This Mom
emotionally needs
to be the only female
in a group.

If there’s another female,
especially a strong female,
she tries to eliminate her,
either emotionally destroying her
or pushing her out of the group.

A Queen Bee could want to be
the only male in the group,
the only Asian person in the group,
the only creative person in the group,
the only great organizer in the group,
etc.

And they will eliminate
any competitors for that role.
It doesn’t matter to them
how great that rival is
for the group
or
for the business.

If you are seeing friction
between the two ‘only’s
in a group,
one of those ‘only’s
could be a Queen Bee.

Deal with them.

Or they will push away
talented employees or partners
AND
likely customers.

Under Promise

One thing Amazon does
exceptionally well
is under promise.

I was told,
for example,
that some Easter chocolate
I purchased
would arrive a month
AFTER Easter,
two full months
after I had ordered it.

It arrived
a couple days
before Easter
and I was overjoyed.

That was almost
a full month
after I had ordered it.
That’s an obscene
length of time
for an online order.

But I was happy
with it
because it was a month
before Amazon had promised
it would be delivered.

The balance, of course,
is to under promise
enough to make customers happy
but not so much
that customers go elsewhere.

Consider under promising
a little bit.
Manage customer expectations.

Do Your Research When Working With A Mentor

Having a mentor
while building a business
can mean
the difference
between success and failure.

But great mentors are rare.
They’re super busy.
They are in demand.
They want to work with people
who value their time.

How do we show them
we value their time?

By doing our f*cking research
before asking a question.

I usually frame the question
by saying
something like this,
“XYZ study says
books sell more copies
if titles are 3 words or less.
Is that your experience too?”

Then I sit back,
listen,
take notes.

My mentor knows
I’ve put work into my question.
She knows
I’m more likely
to act on her insights.
She feels valued.

Do your research
before asking your mentor
a question.

Check Your Arrogance

I’ve seen an increasing number
of articles
claiming animals don’t love
or
animals don’t think.

(These articles are preparing people
for when some humans are viewed
as animals
in the future
but that is an entirely different post.)

Believing animals don’t
think or love
is arrogance.

Science has proven
they think.

Heck, animals might be smarter
than humans are.
Cats understand English words.
Few of us know ANY cat words.

This arrogance by humans
is a means for us
to justify our actions.

We employ this strategy
elsewhere also.

Sally deserves to be paid less
because she isn’t as educated
as we are, for example.

We can’t tell employees
the real reason
behind that decision
because they can’t handle
that truth, as another example.

That’s arrogance.
Ensure it is justified
before using it
to make decisions.