New Business Development – Page 51

Finish A Project Today

Most projects
are never finished.

This is as true
for me,
a project manager,
as it is
for anyone else.

I have unhung paintings,
unsent special requests,
laundry that hasn’t been put away,
emails sitting in the draft folder.

Some of these projects
are no longer valid.
Those can be discarded.

Some of these projects,
however,
are still important
and might only have
one small step left
to take
on them.

Take that step.
Finish that project.

Then harness
that boost of positive energy,
that feeling of accomplishment
from completing a project
to move forward
on other projects.

Wait To Act On Research

The latest ‘game’
is to release a study
with a completely bullsh*t conclusion
and then,
a few weeks later,
after the media coverage
has stopped,
release a retraction,
admitting it was total bullsh*t.

This doesn’t help
those of us
who have made decisions,
including business decisions,
based on the original
bullsh*t conclusions.

The damage has been done.

This has happened
so often
recently,
I’ve added extra steps
to my process.

I wait for a month,
if I can,
to act on any piece
of new information.

I also wait
to hear
feedback on the research
from experts
I trust.

Wait for feedback
and reactions
on new research
before acting upon it.

Changes Create Advantages

The average person
finds change stressful.
That’s normal.
That’s expected.

But for business builders,
change is often
VERY, VERY good.

Change creates gaps
in markets
that we can fill.

Large companies
can’t adapt quickly
to change.
There are too many people
and too many systems
to modify.

I can change my entire business
in a couple of days
if I wanted
to do that.

If I see a hot trend
in publishing,
for example,
I can release a book
in a month or less
to speak to it.

Large New York Publishers
would take
years to play in that hot selling niche.

Small businesses
have advantages
larger competitors
can never match.

Use those advantages!

There Are Endless Opportunities

These are admittedly dark times.

We’re still in the middle
of the COVID pandemic.
There are possible
new pandemics (Bird Flu, Marlburg, etc)
on the horizon.
Nuclear war is becoming
increasingly possible.
Climate change is kicking
our a$$es.
Fascism is on the rise.
There are countless other issues.

But the opportunities
are also endless.

Heck, some of the darkness
brings with it
opportunities.

A buddy is an event planner
specializing in
accessible and pandemic-safe
events.
She is hiring more staff.

Another buddy
sources now-hard-to-find supplies.
She is considering hiring
more staff also.

There are opportunities
EVERYWHERE.
Look for them.

Stop For A Moment

We, business builders,
tend to be heads down
and hard at work
for most of the day.

Take a moment
and look around you.
Gaze up at the sky.
Listen to the birds.
Watch the squirrels play.

Embrace that awareness,
that sense of connection
to something bigger,
something lasting.

You’re a part of all that.
The product or service
you are seeking to supply
will be part of all that.

That is truly special.
Savor it.
Bring that feeling
to your work.

Floating Blobs Of Seaweed

A massive blob of Sargassum Seaweed,
twice the width
of the Continental United States
is headed toward
the Caribbean
and the Gulf Of Mexico.

This is a crisis
for tourism,
for sealife,
for human health.

But, of course,
it is also an opportunity.

Sargassum Seaweed has uses.
It can be a source
of fertilizer
and a good addition
to compost piles.
It is edible.
It can also be fed to livestock.

With every ‘disaster’,
there is always an opportunity,
especially for business builders.

Look for those opportunities.

Delegating For Control Freaks

I have currently delegated
a task
to someone
who gets things done
but always does everything
at the last moment.

It is testing me
especially as I’m someone
who prefers to complete tasks
well in advance.

I remind myself
that his track record
of completing tasks
is dang near 100%.

I am keeping myself busy
with other tasks.

I have scheduled
once a day
check ups with him.
He won’t have anything done
but this stops me
from checking with him
every five minutes.

If you are finding
delegating
challenging,
put systems in place
to help you
manage.

This is
a YOU problem.
YOU need a strategy
to deal with it.

The World Is Getting Dumber

I try to speak truths
here on client k.

Sometimes these truths
are brutal
and not at all politically correct
to talk about.

Here’s one of those brutal truths
– the world is getting dumber.

Every bout of COVID
damages the brain.

I’ve had one bout
of COVID
and I’m definitely dumber
than I was
prior to that infection.

A friend
has had four bouts.
She’s now incapable
of holding a coherent conversation.

She believes she’s making sense.
But she can’t remember
half the words
and can’t hold a thought together.

The child of a friend
asked me what she should do now
to increase the odds
of
getting a well paying job
in the future.

I told her
to avoid getting COVID.

If she does that,
she might end up
running the country.
She’ll be viewed
as a f*ckin’ genius.

The world is getting dumber.
Simply not getting dumber
will give you
a strategic advantage.

Wear a mask.
Social distance.
Install an air purifier
next to your work station.

Protect your brain.
And possibly rule the world.

Beauty And Safety

One of my social media friends
loves the KN95 masks
offered by KAZE.

They’re absolutely beautiful,
come in a variety of colors
and…
they help protect her
from COVID, RSV,
Bird Flu
and the other sh*t
floating around.

She can be fashionable
AND safe.

KAZE is a business
that boomed
during the pandemic.

What other people
saw as a medical necessity
the founders of KAZE
saw as potential luxury good.

There are plenty
of products
we don’t yet know
we need.

Supply one of them.

Preparing For The End

That sounds ominous, doesn’t it?

I don’t view endings
as terrible things.
They are almost always
paired with
new beginnings.

But first,
we have to deal
with the ending
and that’s easier
to do
if we prepare for it.

Preparing for an ending
doesn’t usually hasten it.

I’ve been preparing
for the ending of client k
for over a decade
and I don’t see that ending
happening
any time soon.

But I’m prepared for it
and that will make that transition,
whenever it comes,
smoother…
for everyone.

I can move onto the new beginning
faster and with a happier heart.

Things end.
Preparing for those endings
well in advance
will make them easier.