New Business Development – Page 52

The Small Wins

A loved one and I
were talking
about our ‘wins’
in life, thus far.

We are both
fairly successful
and we were trying
to pinpoint our ‘big breaks.’

There weren’t any.

We had both
experienced
many small wins
that usually required
a lot of upfront work.

It took me over 800 applications
to land my first full time job
after graduation, for example.
That job was low paying
and consisted of many different roles
but it gave me a range of experience
and that helped me greatly
in the future.

My loved one met someone
who hooked him up
with his dream job,
as another example.

But this loved one
had thousands of people
in his database at the time
plus decades of work experience
and learning.

Don’t worry if you haven’t yet
experienced
your big break.

The little breaks can add up
to big success.

Experiment Small

An expert claimed
he could make viable compost
using
only coffee grounds
and
shredded paper.

I can obtain coffee grounds
from local coffee shops.
I have plenty of compost-worthy
shredded paper.

So I made one batch of compost.
I could have made
fifteen batches.
but if it goes wrong,
I’ll have to dispose of it.

If it goes right,
I’ll happily make
the additional fourteen batches.

Start with the smallest viable
experiment.
Then expand
if that experiment
is successful.

Make A List Of Assets

If a business builder
needs to build a business
on a small budget,
the first thing
I suggest they do
is make a list of all the assets
they have access to.

This includes
skills, knowledge, relationships,
belongings, access to equipment,
potential customers
and so much more.

Do you have access
to a printer
at your local library?
That’s an asset.

Does your approachable city councilor
have knowledge she can share
about zoning codes?
That’s an asset.

Once your HUGE list
of assets
is crafted,
gather with some folks you trust
and brainstorm business ideas.

Share your wildest ideas
first.

Your brainstorming partners
can then suggest their more original ideas
without worrying you’ll judge them.

You likely have
most of the tools you need
to start a business.

Consider using those assets.

The Assets You Don’t Realize You Have

One of my friends
sells compost.

She makes the compost
in old pots
on her balcony.

The compost she sells
is derived from
her kitchen scraps
plus the leaves
and grass clippings
she collects
from the apartment
yard maintenance crew.

Yes, she considers
her kitchen scraps
to be valuable assets.

We all have assets
we don’t realize
we have.

It might be the story
haunting your dreams
or
the sports equipment
in your closet
or
your Grandma’s salsa recipe
or
something else.

Consider using what you already have
to start a new business.

Sales And Product Development

Yesterday,
I talked about
how I pitch story ideas
to my agent.

I do this
BEFORE I start writing the story.

It makes no sense
to spend months
on a story idea
my agent (salesperson) can’t sell.

It also makes no sense
to not include
my agent’s inputs.
Those inputs
should help her
sell the story.

Sales should
ALWAYS
be included
in new product development.

They are on
the front lines.
They talk with customers.
They know what customers like.

Involve salespeople
in the product development
process.

Spite Is A Valid Motivator

Every time
one of my writing buddies
has
a book release,
she says,
“Take that Professor” X
“You said I would never
be a writer.
You can suck a$$
because look at me now.”

And then she laughs.

She is fueled
by pure spite.

And…
it works for her.

I once received
a review
that said
my action-packed romance
had too much sex in it.

I crammed the next story
with as many sex scenes
as I could fit into
the plot
BECAUSE of that review.

And that sex-filled story
sold VERY well.

Spite is a valid motivator.
Embrace it!

Using Boredom To Your Advantage

There is a reason,
I suspect,
that media and leaders
are talking about Bird Flu now,
before it shifts
to human to human transmission.

And I don’t think
that reason is preparedness.

I believe leaders
are leveraging the tendency
for people to become bored,
to no longer worry
about threats
after a passage of time.

In a month or two,
bird flu will become old news.
It won’t interest people
because we will have talked about it
for a while.

When human to human transmission happens
and the sickness and dying occurs
in larger numbers,
there won’t be a push
to put protections in place
that might disrupt business.

Business builders
in the publishing industry
used this same tactic
to employ AI
for cover art, editing, writing.

There was big outrage
at first.
Readers then got bored
and moved on.
The publishing industry
is now rolling out
AI everything
and there is no pushback.

Realize that people
bore easily.
Use that
to your advantage.

Not Everyone Needs The Same Return

I’ve blogged daily here
on client k
for almost 18 years.

Before that,
I blogged daily
on Road To Forbes.

I make no money
from this blog.
It costs time and money
to host.

But I DO receive a return
on that investment.

Daily posts push me
to remain current,
to constantly research developments,
and
I derive joy
knowing someone might read my posts
and learn something
that will help them.

And that is enough for me.
It might not be a big enough return
for you.
But I’m okay with that return.

Why am I telling you this?

Because not everyone
needs a financial return
immediately or…ever.

Not everyone is seeking
what you are seeking
from a time and money investment.

Of course,
you’ll have more partners
interested in your start up
if you already have a gazillion dollars
in sales
or you have big money backing
your business.

But if you’re broke a$$
with no sales,
you still might interest
perspective partners.
It might take you more time
to find these partners
but they are out there.

Not everyone needs
a financial return.

Reversing Decisions

Netflix recently announced
they planned to force subscribers
to log in from their home location
once a month.
This was an effort
to reduce password sharing.

It backfired horrendously.
And Netflix hastily
reversed that decision.

Because THAT is what
leaders often have to do.

We make hundreds, thousands
of decisions.

Some of them will be wrong decisions.

We have to reverse those bad decisions
or risk destroying our businesses.

We can blame it
on a tech blooper,
as Netflix did,
or on an imaginary intern
or something else
to save a bit of our pride.

But those decisions
have to be reversed.

Embrace that prospect.

Accept that it WILL happen.

While building our businesses,
we WILL have to
reverse decisions.

Work In Your Industry

A future entrepreneur
talked with me
yesterday.
He wanted to open
a restaurant.

Had he ever
worked in a restaurant?
No.

But he’d
‘done his research.’

Here’s the issue
with ‘doing your research’
without working in the industry
– there are hundreds
or perhaps thousands of
bits of insider knowledge
the people you talk with
won’t tell you.

Why?

Because for them,
that knowledge is like breathing.
They don’t think about it.
It just…is.

But for you,
that knowledge
could be the difference
between your business
failing or succeeding.

And everyone you work with
will expect you,
as the business’s founder,
to know about it.

If you don’t know about it,
at best,
you’ll look like a dumb a$$.

At worst,
you’ll destroy your business.

Take a business cycle
(for the restaurant business,
that would be a year
as business over the December holidays
is MUCH different from
business over the summer months)
and work in the industry.

You can do this part time.

The lessons learned
will be more than worth
the time spent.