Category: New Business Development

Paying Attention

One of my buddies
recently told me
she doesn’t pay attention
to what was happening
in the rest of the world.

She is an employee
with set assigned tasks
and very few decisions to make.
She can survive
at her job
without knowing trends
or other changes.

We’re business builders.
We can’t be as unaware.

To increase the likelihood
of our businesses succeeding,
we have to pay attention
to what is happening
all around us.

We need to know
if our customers are dealing
with a recession,
for example,
or if the people making
our products
are currently under water
…literally.

We need to know
if a tax ruling
coming into effect
in January
will impact us.

We need to know
if our customers
are moving from Facebook
to TikTok.

We have to pay attention.
That’s part of our job.

The Favor Asker

A fellow writer
always asks me
to help her promote
her new releases.

So I asked her
to do the same
for me.

I never heard from her
again.

Many of us know
people who constantly ask us
to do things for them
and yet
never seem to volunteer
to do that same thing
for us.

The easiest way
to stop them
from asking for free labor
is to ask them
to provide free labor.

Ask the favor asker
for a favor.

Entry Level Jobs

Some business owners
believe the least skilled job
in their business
is ‘entry level.’

That position usually isn’t
an entry level job.

If a job listing requirement
requires experience,
it isn’t entry level.

If the job requires
any decision-making AT ALL,
it isn’t entry level.

If it requires
‘using your best judgment’,
it isn’t entry level.

If the person doing the job
doesn’t have frequent
(many times an hour)
contact with their supervisor,
it isn’t entry level.

The wages for those jobs
might be low
but they aren’t entry level positions.

Recognize those employees
as skilled
and, if they’re good
at their jobs,
do your best
to retain them.

Have Different Layers Of Insurance

One of my buddies
told me
she couldn’t afford insurance
on a certain high-priced item
so she installed highly visible
security cameras
around it.

Which is a type of insurance.
It is protection
from the possibility of loss.

Having an extra story
I can release
if I absolutely needed
that income
is insurance.

Having an extra $100
hidden in my home
is insurance.

Having an arrangement
with another business owner
that gives me
an emergency place
to run my business
is insurance.

We should have
different layers of insurance,
including the traditional kind.

And then we should hope
we never have to use
any of those layers.

Always A Little Bit Successful

One of my writing buddies
(owner of a small business)
told me her current book release
(product release)
was an absolute failure.

I asked her questions
about it
and uncovered
that it was only
an ‘absolute failure’
based on her expectations.

The book will break-even financially
within the release month
and, after that point,
it will earn a return.

This is often the case.

Our businesses aren’t
either
complete successes
or
complete failures.
It isn’t an
all or nothing situation.

A business, for example,
that survived
for a year
and then had to close
still SURVIVED for a year.

It paid salaries for a year.
It served the community
for a year.
Things were learned.
People gained experience.

Success and failure
is a range
and we will fall
somewhere between
the two extremes.

We will ALWAYS be
a little bit of a success.

Learn From Other Industries And Regions

Part of being a business builder
is trying to predict
the challenges and opportunities
our businesses will eventually face.

This is one of the reasons
I talk about climate change
here.

We should be building
our businesses
to survive and THRIVE
in the future.

And there WILL be businesses
thriving
while the climate changes.

One of the things
I do to predict
the future
is look at other industries
and at other countries.

China, for example,
usually has weather
similar
to where I am currently located.

They are experiencing severe drought.
That drought has led to
electricity shortages.
Businesses are being forced
to temporarily close.

I can’t run ANY of my businesses
without electricity.
During a drought,
while food and water prices
sky rocket,
I would likely be forced
to close my businesses too.
I wouldn’t derive any income
from them.

Which is why
I’m investing in solar.
My businesses need
a source of power
that will still be available
during times of drought.
Solar would hopefully
fulfil this need.

I’m not suggesting
you invest in solar.
Your coordinates are different
from mine.
Your comparable regions
will be different also.

I’m suggesting
you stay aware
of challenges and opportunities
in similar regions,
similar industries,
and factor those possibilities
into your plan.

Use other regions
and industries
in your predictions
for your business’ future.

Grieving Queen Elizabeth II

There has been extensive coverage
on U.S. TV networks
of Queen Elizabeth II’s death.

Why would U.S. viewers
care about the passing
of another country’s queen?

Because the coverage
isn’t about that queen’s death.
It is about the deaths
of our own loved ones.

Grieving a public figure
is less about the public figure
and
more about collectively grieving
our personal losses.

The public figure
emotionally represents
our lost loved ones.

Few countries, over the past few years,
have lost more people
than the U.S.

Give your employees
and other partners
time to grieve on Monday.
Honor their pain and sorrow.

It has been a tough
few years.
Allow them a moment
to acknowledge that fact
and derive some comfort
from the people around them.

That World No Longer Exists

During a workshop,
a new writer asked
a writing hero
how she got her start
in the business.

The writing hero
prefaced her answer
with
“It was a different time
then”
and, while she relayed
her story,
she pointed out
again and again
how her path to publication
wouldn’t work now.

The world changes quickly.

I consider
anything that happened
before the pandemic
to be a situation
that couldn’t be duplicated
right now.

And even that
might be too long
of a time frame.

Ensure the advice
you’re receiving
is still relevant today.

If you’re giving advice,
ensure it applies
to the current situation.

The world is changing.
Your advice should be
changing also.

Giving Advice

Most people don’t want
our advice.

That’s the brutal truth.

But some of us
(points to myself)
feel a responsibility
to share what we know.

There are ways
of doing this
that are less…pushy.

One of the reasons
I started blogging
(first at
Road To Forbes
and now at client k)
is because
I had so much life experience
and knowledge
and
no one to relay it to.

I put my insights here
where people can find them
if they need that advice.

A loved one
is very much aware
of the climate situation.

He makes jokes about
being a prepper,
a doomer,
preparing for the end
of times.

People laugh.
They tease him.

But they also ask questions.
They are now aware
there IS a situation.

There are a multitude
of ways
to give advice
without forcing it
on unwilling recipients.

Find the way
that works for you.

Plan For Startup Mistakes

When I craft financial statements
for new businesses,
I outline
what I believe are
the best case,
worst case
and
most likely case scenarios.

The most likely case scenario
ALWAYS includes buffer
for mistakes,
for stumbles,
for less than ideal startups.

Even the most experienced
project manager
makes errors.
It is a new product/service.
That means new errors
will be made.

Seth Godin
shares

“…the real startup costs
are
the missteps, errors and learnings
that every new project goes through
on the way to success.”

Plan to make mistakes.
They are part of the
startup experience.