Category: New Business Development

The Resources Are There

An elderly loved one
struggled to get out
of her reclining chair.

She did this for almost a year
and it zapped her energy,
not allowing her
to do many other things.

Plus she hurt herself
trying to get out of
that d*mn chair.

When I heard about her problem,
I researched solutions
and bought her
a power lift reclining chair.
It morphs
from a seated position
to a fully upright position.

My loved one
LOVES this chair.
It has given her
much more mobility
and energy.

She would have bought it sooner
IF she knew it existed.

The problems you’re struggling with
likely have existing solutions also.
You merely don’t know about them.

TALK to business builders,
to leaders,
to people who might be
in your similar position
about your issues.

The solution is out there.
You simply have to locate it.

Do You Have A Stress Release?

Building a business
can be extremely stressful.
Hell, the WORLD can be
extremely stressful.

To remain healthy,
we need to know
when we’re becoming stressed out.

My indication is
I start to hate everything.
A loved one’s indication
is he doesn’t sleep.
Another loved one over eats.

And we need
a way to release that stress.

I putter around the garden,
touching leaves
and watching the bees.
A loved one goes to the gym.
Another loved one
treats herself to a spa day.

Learning how to manage stress
is essential for our success
and for our health.

DO this for yourself.

Give Employees The Day Off

A friend was working
in the office
during Canada’s communications outage.

Communications in that office,
phone, internet, etc.,
were inaccessible.

Her manager refused
to give them the day off,
telling them to do
what they could manually.

What did they do?

They spent the entire day
talking about the communications outage.
No one was working.

On days like that,
emergency days,
disaster days,
if you can,
if tasks don’t have to be done
that day,
give your employees
the day off.

They are unlikely to be working anyway
and it creates goodwill.

To Bundle Or Not To Bundle

Recently, a major communications company
in Canada
had a service outage
for an entire day.
EVERYTHING they offered
– mobile/cell phone, internet,
point of sales services,
landline, TV
was inaccessable.

It was chaos.
A significant portion
of the population
and of businesses
had ALL their communications services
with this company.

They couldn’t attend virtual meetings,
sell products to customers,
transfer money,
pay for products/services,
dial 9-1-1.

The people who had some or all
communications services
with the other major company
could still semi-function.

Communications companies
often offer savings
if we bundle our services
with them,
if we,
for example,
give them all our mobile/cell,
landline, internet, TV business.

The issue with this is…
communications companies
sometimes have service outages.
They have emergencies.
They, for a short while,
can be unusable.

Consider splitting
your communications services.
And ensure you have an action plan
if one of those companies
has a service outage.

Someone Has To Read The Contracts

I was pitched a business opportunity recently.
The person had nothing written down.
Nothing.

He was highly intelligent
and he seemed to know his industry
but I suspect he couldn’t read or write very well.

That was verified when I sent him
a text heavy email
and he immediately called me
to talk about it,
not directly addressing
some of the make-or-break information in that email.

I realized
if I went into business with him,
every detailed interaction with him
would be by voice.

But more critically,
I would be the business partner
reading EVERY business contract
our new company ever encountered or produced.

Yes, our lawyer would read
those contracts also
but mine would be
the second pair of eyes
scanning them.

Supply contracts, employment contracts,
incorporation papers,
tax returns,
all of that would be my responsibility.

That IS a factor.
I don’t like reading contracts.
He wouldn’t be the ideal business partner
for me.

Other people do like reading contracts.
He might be a great business partner
for them.

54% of American Adults
can’t read books crafted
for Grade Six Students
(for 11 year olds).

That adult isn’t reading contracts.

They are trusting other people
at their words.
They are relying on
their often extremely busy lawyer
to catch
every tricksy clause or word in the contract.

If this perspective business partner
has been successful thus far,
they are likely great at reading people.
That’s a valuable skill to have.

But their inability to read
means they will never be the person
who looks at the contracts.

Know the literacy level
of the people you’re doing business with.
Think about how
that will impact YOUR role.

Is It A Problem Or A Situation?

One of the pushbacks
to dealing with climate change
is the assertion
the climate is always changing.
Sure, there have been
two 100 year floods in the past 2 years
but 100 year floods HAVE happened
in the past.

These climate change deniers
argue the relentless and increasingly wild weather
is a situation,
nothing we can change.

That has been disproved
for over half a decade
but this IS a question we should ask ourselves
– are we dealing with a situation
or a problem?

Seth Godin
shares

“We can also have a conversation
about whether
it’s a problem
(problems have solutions)
or whether
it’s simply a situation,
something like gravity
that we have to live with.”

Is our current problem
solvable?

If it isn’t solvable,
then perhaps we are dealing with
a situation
and we have to live with it.

If it is solvable,
then we should move forward
and implement
the best solution
for our problem.

Note: Climate change WAS solvable
a decade ago.
It could be solvable now.
Eventually, unfortunately,
it will become a situation
and that will be disastrous for all of us.

The Argument For No Change

Whether we’re starting a new business
or slowing climate change
or updating a book cover,
there will be someone
opposing us,
wanting no change at all.

Seth Godin
shares
“Once we agree that
we have a problem,
the status quo will show up.
It will argue
with every tool
it has that
any variation from the current path
is
too risky,
too expensive
and too painful
to consider.
The status quo will stall.
It will argue for studies
and will amplify the pain
that will be caused to some
as we try to make things better
for everyone.

And the status quo usually wins.
That’s because
the makers of change
are now playing defense,
forced to justify every choice
and ameliorate every inconvenience.”

Know that someone
will fight for no change.

Prepare for the tactics
they will use
to stop us.

Realize they will NEVER
be supportive of that change.

And push forward.

Planning Ahead

There were hundreds,
perhaps thousands of people
at my junior level
when I started working
for a large beverage company.

I wasn’t the smartest employee there.
I wasn’t the most hard working employee there.
I didn’t have seniority.

But I was one of the few employees
chosen
for the executive fast track program.

Why?

One of the major reasons
I was chosen for the opportunity
was…
I planned ahead.

That is a RARE skill to have.
Most people live in the moment.

And it is a skill
that is valued
and
that can be learned.

How do you learn it?

Seth Godin
shares

“Before we react, though,
it might be worth asking
“and then what happens,”
five times.

Five steps
from here to there…”

Learn how to plan ahead.
Apply that skill
to both your business
and your personal life.

We Aren’t ‘No One’

Yesterday, I posted
about the precautions
we can take
to tackle the seemingly never ending
barrage of viruses.

I was told
‘No one worries
about the pandemic anymore.’

We should ALWAYS worry
about placing employees
and customers in danger.

We should worry because
that is a caring, human thing
to do.

But we should also worry,
as business owners,
because we could get
our a$$es sued off
if people come to harm
in our businesses.

The lawsuits
involving COVID
might not be happening very often now
but I suspect
they WILL happen in the future.

We aren’t ‘no one’s.
And we aren’t ‘the average person’.

We’re business owners.

Don’t be careless
with other people’s lives.