New Business Development – Page 73

New Vs The Established

A friend lamented to me
that most streaming apps were terrible.
He admired Netflix more
having experienced these other apps.

The issue is…
my friend would think
Netflix was garbage
if it continued to offer
the same version
it first launched.

Netflix has been finetuning
their streaming app
for years.
They tweak and test constantly
and years of doing that
should create a great product.

New streaming apps
will never replicate Netflix.
They will always be
X years behind on the tweaks.

What they CAN do
is provide a DIFFERENT experience.
They can bring something unique
to the industry.

Me too products
will never be as good
as a constantly refined original.
Consider providing a different product.

Starting Over And The Opportunity To Simplify

Recently, I changed the template
here at client k.
The result is
a super clean, super simple look.

The old template was cluttered.
Over the years
I had added more and more stuff
to it.

As Seth Godin
shares

“Over time,
every system becomes
increasingly complex.
That’s because
in order to make it better,
we tweak it.
We add exceptions.
We do things that are urgent,
essential or smart
for a particular use case.
We learn from what’s broken
and we fix that broken spot.”

New will always be
simpler, cleaner.

When you get the opportunity
to start over,
start with as simple as possible.

Keep A Diary

A loved one has issues
completing projects.
He told me
he didn’t know why.

So I asked him
to write me a weekly letter,
talking about
his projects
and what he’s done on them.

I reminded him
about these letters
for a year.
I saved each one.

Then I gave them back
to him
and told him to read them.

It was an eye-opener for him.
Habits that didn’t seem
too bad
in the moment
were obviously a big problem
over time.

When I’m trying to make
a change,
I keep a diary on the topic.

Writing down the steps I’ve taken
is powerful.
It ensures I’m doing things
consciously.

Reading what I’ve done
allows me to see more clearly
errors I repetitively make.
I can then make corrections.

If you want to make a change
in a certain area,
consider keeping a diary
of it.

Quick Responders And Leadership

In an emergency,
the key first steps
are
1) someone recognizing
it IS an emergency
and
2) someone taking ACTION
to minimize the damage
caused by the emergency.

A carnival ride filled with people
was tipping over.
Hundreds of people saw this,
knew what would happen.

Only one person acted.

Once he acted,
however,
many of the people watching
joined in
and helped him.

THIS is why
we need to hire
or partner with people
who have the ability
to act during an emergency.

Preferably these quick responders
will be in leadership positions.

If there isn’t someone on the team
with the ability to respond quickly,
no one will take action
and small emergencies will become
huge disasters.

Look for this ability
during the hiring process,
especially for leadership positions.

Everyone will say they respond quickly
in emergencies.
Ask for examples.
Verify those examples if you can.
When checking references,
ask if the candidate responds well
in emergencies.

Ensure you have someone
who responds quickly
in emergencies
on your team.

You WILL need her/her eventually.
That’s a certainty.

Softening Words

For the longest time,
I would never state facts or opinions
with absolute certainty.

I wouldn’t say,
for example,
“The use of fossil fuels
IS making climate change worse.”
I would say
“The use of fossil fuels
MIGHT be making climate change worse.”

And this meant
men would immediately discount
or dismiss my contributions.

Many women moderate their statements.

Why?

Because many women
have dealt with violent men.

And violent men
don’t like it
when we use absolutes.
They will pound the sh*t out of us
for using them
in ANY context.

So we don’t use them.

And then we have to train ourselves
to use absolutes
in a business setting.

But if the woman is still living
with her abuser,
she has to remember
to stop using absolutes
in private
or she might die.

Remember this
the next time you are tempted
to dismiss or discount
a woman’s opinion
because she didn’t state it
with 100% certainty.

She has dealt with violence.
If you punish her for that,
you’re a f*cking jacka$$
and
you are also contributing
to that violence.

What Is Done In Public

I’m a child of abuse.
My dad was an absolute monster.

He would moderate his behavior greatly
while in public.
He would do his best to hide
the violence.
He held a high level job
(one level below C-suite),
was highly intelligent,
knew how to do this.

But there were always tells.
There were clenching of jaws,
of fists,
stiffening of his body.

And sometimes he would get physically violent
in public.
He always had a socially acceptable excuse
like someone was ridiculing
my Mom
or one of us
and other people would tolerate his behavior.

But that was all it was
– an excuse.
He wanted to hit someone,
anyone.

Assume if someone is physically violent
in public,
they are physically violent
in private
and usually one hundred times worse.

If a person responds
to upsetting words
with physical violence
in public,
assume they ALWAYS respond
to upsetting words
with physical violence
in private.

This applies
to interviews, business meetings,
holiday parties.

My dad would use alcohol a lot
as an excuse to get violent.
It didn’t cause his violence.
It allowed others
to forgive him for being violent.

Know if you tolerate the violence,
it WILL continue
and will eventually escalate.

Provide An Alternative

People who take action
tend to continue taking action.

We want people to take
positive actions.

So what should we do
when we see people
we care about
taking not-as-positive actions?

I suggest a more positive
alternative action.

If they are thinking about
promoting with X company
and X company are staffed by
some shady motherf*ckers,
I suggest they promote with
the more ethical Y company.

Action is still being taken.
Momentum hasn’t been quashed.
I’ve merely redirected it.

Don’t stop anyone
from taking action.
Suggest an alternative.

Make Today Count

The past few years
have shown many of us
that every day is precious.

TODAY is precious.
Today, we have the opportunity
to create something marvelous,
to cause someone’s world
to be a bit nicer,
to make a small difference.

This could be as easy
as waving to a neighbor,
as choosing the colors
for your new product,
as telling the tired cashier
at the grocery store
she’s doing a good job.

Do something wonderful.
Make today count.

Omitting Necessary Information

Amazon sent me an email this morning.
They said they shipped order # X
worth Y dollars
and that it would arrive
by Z date.

They didn’t say what they’d shipped.
To figure that out,
I have to log into my account.

This omission of key information
is done deliberately.
It drives customers to their site.
Once customers are there,
Amazon has additional opportunities
to sell them more product.

Amazon can do this,
without explanation,
because they’re the dominant player.
People assume the omission is deliberate,
isn’t merely a mistake
or sloppiness
or trickery.
Customers might justify it
as a privacy issue.

A smaller business has to be
more careful about doing this.
Perhaps there’s a statement
in the email
saying the items ordered could be viewed
via a specific link.
Or some other indication
is used.

Omission of key information
CAN be a powerful strategy
but wield it carefully.

Envision The Ending

I love writing Romance Novels.
I suspect I’ll always write them.

But I also suspect
there will come a day
when I don’t publish them,
when I don’t engage
in the business side of writing,
when I ‘retire’.

I knew this from the start.

Which is
(one of the many reasons)
why I publish
under a pen name
(brand name).

I can sell that pen name
if I want to do that.
I can transfer it
and all my backlist (products)
to another writer or entity.

Will I do that?
That is doubtful.
I find that a bit
ethically challenged.

But by planning
for the end of my career
at the beginning of it,
I have given myself options.

Before starting your business,
think about all the possible ways
you could wrap up your business.
Build those possibilities
into your plans.