Category: New Business Development

When You’ve Suffered A Loss

Recently, I suffered
a financial loss.

I can recover from it.

But my immediate reaction
was to hoard,
to not spend my money
or my time or my skills
on anything or anyone.

That’s human nature.
We’re trying to stop
the losses.

But it is the exact opposite
of what we should do.
Because it makes us
feel stingy
and poor
and that isn’t conducive
to becoming successful.

Instead, I allocated an afternoon
and I picked up garbage
in my neighborhood.
As I filled bags,
I felt generous,
giving,
wealthy.

And then I went back
to working on my business.

If you suffer a loss,
yes, grieve that loss
but also give a little to the world,
whether that’s a dollar
to provide one meal via the food bank
or your skills at graphic design.

You’re rich.
Remind yourself of that.

Those That Go First

We are rarely truly first.

There is usually a company
that has targeted
the same market
as we are targeting.

There is usually someone
who has tackled
similar challenges
as we’re currently tackling.

There is usually a climate
on this wonderful planet
that is a few years ahead
of what our own climate
will eventually become.

Do your research.

Learn from
those pioneers,
from the people or entities
who before us.

That might make
the difference
between
success
and
failure.

I’m Listening And Learning

It is human nature
to want to be part
of a conversation.

Yet it is extremely difficult
to contribute
to a conversation
we have no expertise in.

If we have some knowledge
of the topic
we can ask questions
but sometimes
we don’t have
the knowledge to do that.

Often, people bullsh*t
in that situation.
They pretend to have
expertise on the topic
and bungle around,
often detracting from
and harming
the conversation.

I prefer to say
something along the lines
of
“I’m listening
and learning.”

That satisfies the urge
to contribute
and it encourages the conversation.

Listeners DO
contribute to conversations.
When in doubt,
be one.

Thinning The Possibilities

I recently had to thin
my tomato plant seedlings.

It was painful.

I had to kill
several potential plants.

But doing that
will give the remaining plants
more nutrients, water, space,
other resources.
It gives those plants
better odds of surviving
and bearing tomatoes.

Many of us have
too many projects on the go.
By pausing or killing some,
we can give the remaining projects
more resources
and a better chance of success.

Sometimes we have to kill projects
to succeed.
Do it.

If You Have Employees…

If we have employees,
our highest priority task
is to keep them safe.

If that means
literally
standing between them
and danger,
that is where
we should be positioned.

Of course,
we should try to do
all we can
to keep our employees
AND
ourselves
out of danger.
We should put
safeguards in place.

But if those safeguards fail,
as business builders,
we are the people
who should be placed
in most danger.

If we are unwilling
to accept that reality,
the solution is simple
– we build businesses
that don’t require onsite employees.

That is what I’ve done
with the Romance Novel Writing Business.
I don’t have any employees
and the people I partner with
work from their own homes.

If we have employees,
their safety comes first.

Employees And Team Building Activities

At client k,
we don’t shy away
from the brutal truth
and the brutal truth
is…

many executives
and managers
don’t care
if employees live or die,
as long as sales happen
and work is completed.

That was driven home
to everyone
during the pandemic…
which is STILL happening.

Mask mandates
were dropped quickly,
if they were mandated at all.
Employees are expected
to come to the office
even when they’re ill
and are likely to infect others.
Very little is being done
for the dead and grieving.

The lack of caring
is evident everywhere.

And employees
are understandably bitter.

This is NOT the time
for team building activities,
fake expressions of comradery,
or
we’re-all-in-this-together
speeches.

Let time pass
before
bringing that bullsh*t back.

All Or Nothing

I have some non-writing projects
on the go
and I won’t have
much time for writing
over the next couple years.

I was debating
whether or not
I should continue
publishing books.

Then I realized…
I was being a f*ckin’ idiot.
This doesn’t have to be
an either/or,
all or nothing
situation.

I could publish
one book a year
instead of
my current five books a year.
That would give me
time
to do both.

I suspect
one of the decisions
you’re currently contemplating
isn’t an either/or,
all or nothing
situation either.

Contemplate all the possibilities
between those two extremes.

When Two Major Schedule Disasters Happen

My editor is struggling
with the impacts of COVID.
She told me
it would take her
4 times as long
to edit my next release.

That’s okay.
I factor in time
for one major ‘disaster’
into my release schedule.

After taking a month
instead of a week
to look at first rounds
of edits,
my editor told me
the story
wasn’t working for her.

I have to do
major, burn the story
to the ground
rewrites.

That’s an even BIGGER
scheduling disaster.

I didn’t have
TWO major scheduling disasters
built into my timeline.

And I should have that
factored in
because the world
is completely f*cked up
right now.
The odds of
two major scheduling disasters
happening
is high.

Schedule for two
major disruptions
to your product development
timelines.

Pay Your Creatives

As a business builder
now in the creative space,
I have realized one truth…

Many people don’t pay
creatives well.

Business leaders,
for some f*cking unknown reason,
think that,
while they’re building their own businesses
expecting to be well paid for their products/services,
creative business builders
should be doing it purely for the ‘art.’

That’s bullsh*t.
Creatives need to eat also.

Martha Stewart
shares

“We were half creative
and half business.
Most businesses don’t treat
the creatives
and pay them as well
as the business people.
So many companies
make the mistake of:
‘Oh, we need them,
but they don’t need to be paid
as much.’
Well, we paid them as much.
I’m very proud of that fact.”

Pay your f*ckin’ creatives.

Prepare For Net Zero

The climate is changing.
That is indisputable.

Rules, laws, customer expectations
will change with it.
Net zero, for example,
will be an expectation
for businesses.

As business builders,
we should be preparing for this.
It is easier to make
these changes gradually now
than wait
and
have to modify everything all at once.

How do we prepare?

Canada is
planting trees
that can survive
in warmer climates
than Canada experiences right now.

If we plant trees
around our business buildings,
seeking to lower energy usage
and offset carbon output,
we should do the same.
Dead trees won’t provide
those benefits.

We should consider
installing solar panels
on those buildings,
adding outlets for electric vehicles
and
rain barrels to capture water,
having natural ground cover
instead of grass,
low usage toilets,
more insulation, etc.

If we need a company car,
we should consider
buying an electric car.
It is better for the environment
and it relays to customers
we’re preparing
for the future.

We should consider
alternatives to single use plastic,
should find
environmentally-friendly alternatives
for our packaging,
keeping recycling rules in mind.

Every aspect of our businesses
should be examined
and modified
so our businesses
have a minimal impact
on the environment.

Net zero, as an expectation,
is coming.
Start preparing for it now.