New Business Development – Page 81

Sacrificing Satisfying A Need For Cost Savings

I recently took a Carnival cruise.
Carnival has replaced almost all paper
– paper menus, paper schedules, etc –
with digital.

Which seems like a great idea
except…

Guests have to bring their phones
with them everywhere,
phones many of us associate
with work,
devices that we link
with the every day.
with our real lives.

The ship’s fancy dining rooms
were filled with people
staring down at their phones.

It was stressful as hell,
not at all relaxing,
not a ‘vacation’,
which was what we were all
paying money
and devoting time
to achieve.

Solving a customer’s need
comes first.
Don’t sabotage that
for convenience or cost savings.

Lack Of Interest From Family Members

As we head into the holiday season,
some of us will be gathering
with friends, family and other loved ones.

Very few of our loved ones
will have any interest
in our businesses,
the focus of so much
of our time.

That can hurt.
Our businesses can be
the embodiment of
our hopes and dreams.
They are so important to us.

But that loved one
likely has something else
they’re focused on,
something just as important
to them.
They have their own sh*t
to think about,
to talk about.

And, over these last couple years,
especially,
they likely have other worries,
worries they are trying their best
not to burden you with.

Their lack of interest
does not equate to
lack of love.

Focus on the wonderful fact
that your loved ones are physically there.
And save the business chats
for business associates.

If They Don’t Use The Products…

A loved one was asked
to bring vodka to a party.
He doesn’t drink alcohol.
The asker knew that
yet still assigned him this important task.

There are hundreds of types of vodka.
They are all different,
will taste different in mixed drinks.
The loved one picked one bottle at random.

Is it a good brand/type?
He doesn’t know.

The asker won’t know that either
until the loved one
arrives at the party.

You might be shaking your head
right now,
thinking how the asker
should have clearly asked someone else
to buy the vodka.

Yet we do this ALL the time.

We talk about our business ideas
to people
who would never use those products/services
and then we VALUE
their completely random feedback.

Don’t ask someone who doesn’t drink alcohol
to bring alcohol to a party.

And don’t ask someone
who would never use your products/services
their opinions
on those products/services.

There’s Always A Downside

There’s always a downside
to every decision,
even the smallest ones.

If I have toast for breakfast,
for example,
I have one less slice of bread
for future sandwiches.

We can try to decrease
the downside
(in this case,
perhaps buying more bread)
but we will never eliminate it.

Seth Godin
shares

“We don’t try something
simply because
there’s no downside.
Instead,
we intelligently choose projects
where the downside is understood
and the work is worth doing.”

Know the downsides of your decisions.
Try to minimize them,
prepare for them.
Then take action.

There are no risk-free choices.

When Should Tasks Be Completed?

Cover creation can be done
at any time
in the book production process.

I assign that task
to my cover designer
as soon as I have a title
and a basic concept
of the story.

She works on the cover
as I write the story.

Cover design
adds no time
to the product timeline.

Editing can only be done
when the story is written.

I have to wait
until I’ve written the story
to assign that task
to my editor.

Editing adds time
to the product timeline.
I have to factor that task in
when I’m deciding on
a launch date.

A key part of product management
is deciding
which tasks can be done
at the same time
and
which tasks have to be done
in a specific order.

Survey your tasks.

Divide them into
those two large buckets.

Assign the tasks
that can be done
at the same time
as soon as possible.

Using Your Time Wisely

It is easy for me
to spend my entire day
on social media.
It is marketing.
Every post
sells at least one book.
And it is fun.

But doing that
would stop me from creating,
from producing
more books to sell,
from doing the ‘hard part’
of filling the production pipeline.

I prevent social media overload
by crafting to do lists.
To do lists force me
to do other things,
harder things.

Seth Godin
asks

“How are you
spending your time?

If we took a look
at your calendar,
how much time is spent
reacting
or responding to incoming,
how much is under your control,
and how much is focused
on the hard part?”

Ensure your day is spent
on all the tasks
you need to do,
not merely the fun
or the reactionary tasks.

There’s Still Time

Every year,
at the beginning of December,
I revisit my goals for the year.

Some goals I’ve achieved.
Some goals are no longer relevant.
Some goals I haven’t yet tackled.

It is tempting to push
the not-yet-started goals
to the next year.

But if I do that,
they compete with
next year’s goals.
I might never complete them.

And there’s no reason to do that.
There are 31 days left in this year.
That’s enough time
to complete or start
a few of my remaining goals.

Look at your goals
for the year.
Attempt to complete
or start some of them.

Focus On The Smallest Viable Target Group

I’m a big believer
in focusing on niches,
reaching out to small, passionate groups
of people/other entities.

That’s manageable for those of us
without deep marketing pockets.
It delivers faster results.
It is a base
we can build upon.

And it is easier
to change a small group’s collective mind
than a large group’s.

As Seth Godin
shares

“If you’re the kind
of person
who believes in
what’s all around us
(which is most of us),
then you won’t change
your beliefs
until the people around you
change as well.

That’s why
the smallest viable audience
is so important.
Focusing on a specific
group of people,
understanding their beliefs,
engaging with empathy,
creating new social norms
and then,
peer-to-peer,
spreading the new normal.”

Focus on a niche first,
then build out from there.

Writer’s Block Is Real

People who have never had
writer’s block
believe it is due to
a lack of ideas
or
a need for perfection
or
some other trivial cause.

I wrote professionally
for over a decade full time
before I experienced my first bout
of writer’s block.

It was one of the scariest things
I’ve encountered
as a writer.

I knew what I wanted to write,
had a fully developed premise.
I looked in my brain
and there was nothing.
There were no words.

THAT is what professional writers mean
when they say they ‘have nothing.’
All that is in their brain
is a dark void.

This happens eventually
to all writers.
It also happens eventually
to other creative people
like new business development folks.

It is scary
and it is real
and people who haven’t experienced it
will make it sound
like an affliction
that is easy to fix.

It isn’t easy to fix.

Writer’s block (or creator’s block)
CAN be cured
but it will take effort,
usually a variety of different techniques,
and often some time away
from creating.

If you’re fortunate
to have a long career in creating,
writer’s block will likely happen
to you.

It is normal
and to be expected.

Plan for that time off.
Gather coping techniques.

You and your career or business
will survive this.

Pushback On New Ideas

Whenever I share an upcoming story premise
(a new idea)
with others,
I almost always get pushback on it.

The more original the idea,
the more pushback I receive.

The argument usually is
if readers (prospects) wanted
that type of story
(that type of product),
those stories (products) would have already been
written (developed).

Which is ridiculous
because SOMEONE has to go first.

Seth Godin
shares

“If you wait
until the market is telling you
exactly what it wants,
you’re almost certainly
too late.”

Expect pushback
when you share new ideas.

Develop those new ideas
anyway.