Category: New Business Development

Keep Your Genealogy Records

The Fascists (Republican Party)
in the US
are openly talking about
denaturalization.

That’s the stripping
of citizenship
from citizens.

One day,
people are American citizens.

The next day,
these same people will be country-less.

And they could be ‘deported’
to random countries.

You can bet
all your startup funds
Fascists in other countries
(like the Conservatives in Canada)
want to do this also.

Which means
we are all at risk
of being deported,
whether we were born
in our current citizenship country
or not.

We should
be prepared for that
if it happens.

That means getting
our genealogy records
in order.

We should have copies
of birth certificates
and marriage certificates
for our parents,
grandparents,
great-grandparents,
as far back
as possible.

The goal is to have ‘proof’
we have a tie
to another country.

That will increase the odds
we will be allowed
to stay in that country.

Sh*t is getting ugly.
Prepare for the ugliness now.

Maintain The Base

I’ve been attending
the Consumer Electronics Show
in Vegas
for decades.

The CES knows this
and sends me
emails
offering free registration
four months in advance.

Why would they do this
when they know
I’ll go anyway?

Because making these offers
maintains
their base of attendees.
They can tell advertisers
and exhibitors
that they already have
X number of attendees signed up.

Having a base
of attendees
or sales
or preorders
can benefit us in many different ways.

Maintain that base.
Do what you can
to make them happy.

If You Have To Remind People More Than Once…

I have a cabinet
in my kitchen
filled with valued dry ingredients.
It is secure
…WHEN the doors are closed.

The doors weren’t being closed.

So I took everything
other people in the household
used
out of that cabinet
and moved it elsewhere.

Now, the doors remain closed
MUCH more often.

I don’t have to remind
other people
to do this
and
I don’t have to rely
on their COVID-ravaged brains
to do it.

Build your business systems
the same way.

If you have to remind an employee
or another associate
about something more than once,
that system isn’t working.

Change it.

Go Outside

I have a book
(a project)
due
(to be finalized)
soon.

I went outside
for five minutes
and watched the bees buzz
and listened to the birds sing.

The Amazon Rainforest is in
its death throes.
The Great Barrier Reef
has been bleached
beyond recovery.
The AMOC is slowing.

Your neighborhood
won’t be immune
to climate change.

Go outside
for at least five minutes.

Look at a tree.
Touch grass.
Feel the sun
on your face.

It will calm
your stressed a$$ down,
allow you to think
more clearly.

And years from now,
when your surroundings
are less…hospitable
to nature,
you will look back
at those five minutes
and be grateful.

People Don’t Want To Change

I temporarily reversed
a health condition
that kills people
in my family.

My family members
know I did this.

Not one person
has asked me
HOW I did this.

Because they know
they’ll have to change
SOMETHING
and they don’t want
to change
ANYTHING.

Even if it will give them
an additional decade or so
of healthy living.

THIS is how
resistant
people are to change.

F*ck, most people won’t wear
a little piece of cloth
over their pie-holes
to prevent themselves
from being sick
half a f*ckin’ year.

They WILL also resist
any change to their lifestyles
our products/services
cause.

Reduce the impacts
of your products/services.

Make any change
they cause
as easy as possible
for your target audience.

Expect some resistance.

Allow People To Say No Easily

Most people,
if feeling obliged
to say yes to a task
or to an obligation,
will do a sh*t job
at it.

It is often MUCH better
to find someone
who truly wants
to say yes.

So give the person
you’re asking
an easy way
to say no.

I usually give them a choice.

“Could you promote my book
in your newsletter
or
help spread the word
in some other way?”

“Do you want to help
with this charity event
or
will you be an attendee only?”

Give people an easy way
to say no.

Solve Part Of The Problem

A buddy
asked his social media followers
how the world could make
their food systems
more secure.

A follower suggested
lawns,
the largest irrigated ‘crop’
in the USA,
could be converted to vegetable gardens.

Someone else dismissed
that ‘solution,’
saying it would only provide
a fraction
of the food
the entire country’s population
would need.

This same person
dismissed every other suggestion
using the same argument.

Okay, dumba$$,
if you’re looking for
one easy solution,
you’re not going to get one.

The solution will be
dozens of smaller solutions.

Just as the solution
for your target market’s problem
will likely be
dozens of smaller solutions.

And you, as a business builder,
could provide one of those
smaller solutions.

Focus on solving a part
of the problem.

THAT is doable.
And it could be
extremely profitable.

Influencers Aren’t Experts

As traditional media
is now controlled by the billionaires,
I follow experts
on social media
to hear the truth
about what the f*ck is going on
and to make better decisions.

Influencers aren’t experts
(in anything other than
being influencers).

Influencers have
large followings
because they tell people
what they want to hear.

They tell people,
for example,
the pandemic is over
and they don’t have to mask.

They tell people,
as another example,
climate change is reversible
and they don’t have to
change their lifestyles at all.

Experts tend to have
much smaller followings
because they tell people
the brutal truth.

They tell people
the pandemic is far from over,
people are dying every day from COVID,
there are other much more severe pandemics
on the horizon
and everyone who values their brain
and their health
should mask.

They tell people
climate change will increase exponentially
in intensity,
that this was the hottest year
in history
yet will be the coldest year
when compared to the future,
and we have to change
almost everything about our lifestyles
to survive that future.

No one wants to hear that sh*t.

I definitely don’t want to hear it.

Yet I force myself to listen
because it impacts my business
and my own survival.

Very few people will do the same, however.

True experts don’t gain
large followings.

Influencers aren’t experts.

Reach out to influencers
for marketing help.
They’re brilliant at that.

But ignore what they have to say
about other issues.

If You Break Your Word…

I watched a horror movie
yesterday.

I don’t like horror movies.
At all.

But I told a loved one
if he couldn’t find anyone else
to watch it with him,
I’d go with him.

He couldn’t find anyone else
to watch it with him.
I went with him.

Because I gave him my word
and if I ‘changed my mind’,
he’d rightly know
my word was worthless.

I value his trust.
I watched the horror movie
(with my eyes partially covered
the entire time).

If you break your word,
your vows or your promises,
you also break trust.
FOREVER.

Remember that.

The “I’m So Hungry” Test

Before I enter into
a long term partnership
with anyone,
I administer
the “I’m So Hungry” test.

As I’m arranging
an early meeting with them,
I’ll say something like
“Jeepers. I’m so hungry.
I haven’t had time
to eat much today.”

If they bring me food,
any type of food
– a sandwich, a cracker,
a piece of gum,
anything,
I’ll consider
partnering with them.

If they don’t bring me anything,
they’re not the partner
for me.

Because it means
they don’t think of others
and they won’t volunteer
to do anything extra.
Ever.

Feeding people
is the most basic level
of kindness
and generosity.

Ensure you surround yourself
with kind, giving people.

Administer the
“I’m So Hungry” test.