Category: New Business Development

The company imploded
because of one bad decision,
one unlucky break.

We hear that story
quite a bit
as business builders.
In the past,
that would scare the sh*t out of me.
I was petrified
I’d make one bad decision
and destroy everything.

Until I realized
it wasn’t truly one bad decision
that blew up that other company.
Companies can recover
from one bad decision.

The destruction was caused
by a series of bad decisions.
That is far more fatal.

Seth Godin
shares

“We focus on the thing
that happened
just before the end.
And that’s almost always
an unimportant moment.

Things went wrong
(or things went right)
because of a long series
of decisions and implementations.
A misguided strategy,
a bad hire,
a brilliant insight
about network effects
–these are the acts
with leverage,
not the obvious thing
that all the pundits
would like to talk about.”

One bad decision
is unlikely to destroy
everything you’ve built.
We can relax about that.

Multiple bad decisions
is what
we have to watch out for.

Writers (and other new business development folks)
are known for this
– they are hit by a shiny new story idea
and they are tempted
to abandon their current project,
their brand building,
their existing readership
and follow it.

This happens to almost ALL writers.
Those writers who stick to one niche?
They are cursed with shiny new story ideas also.
They have merely figured out
how to deal with them.

One of the tricks
is to have a friend
whose primary job
is to keep us on track.

My spouse plays this role for me.
I tell him during planning sessions
that I will be tempted to stray
from the plan,
to abandon my readers (customers)
and venture into another niche.
His job is to keep me on track.
That is our best plan
for success.
I need him to help me follow it.

And he does that.
I go to him
when the bright and shiny
is calling my name.
He redirects my attention
to the plan,
to the stories I should be writing.

That has been a big component
of our success.

You WILL be tempted
by bright and shiny new ideas.
Put in a system
to help you deal with that temptation.

Stick to your plan.

Humans are lazy.
I’m lazy.
I suspect you’re lazy also.

Most of us
use the default settings.
We use the ringtone
that came with the phone.
We use the font
that our email providers give us.
We use the setting
that came with our TVs.

And because most of us
use these,
they become the expected,
the new standard.

Seth Godin
shares
(about type)

“Memes and the rest,
built on a flimsy foundation of
Comic Sans and Arial
and Impact.
Whatever’s handy.
And then what was handy
became popular,
and what was popular
became the new standard.

And this is always the way.
When the public gets tools,
they use them,
without regard for the rules
that might have come before.”

Your defaults will become standards.
Choose them wisely.

I was dragging my a$$
with the writing
(product development).
I had no interest
in doing anything.

Then I took a webinar
from one of the best writers
in my niche.
I learned a few new tricks
but, best of all,
I got my excitement back.

I left the webinar
and I wrote words,
wonderful words.
Those words continue to flow.

I talk about continuous learning
quite often
here on client k.
It gives us a strategic advantage,
especially over time.

But it can also revive
our enthusiasm for our projects.
That can be as or more important.

Consider taking a workshop
or webinar
or engaging in other forms of learning
today.

One of my buddies
had her third book
break out.
The sales were HUGE.
Those readers stuck with her.
Sales on following books
were healthy also.

She decided to offer a course
for a fee
but before she did that,
she wanted to confirm
the tips she relayed
actually worked.

So she set up a new pen name,
kept it secret
and launched it
using those tips.

The sales on that new pen name
suck great hairy donkey balls.

She scrapped her course
and now has more gratitude
for the luck
she experienced.

If you can’t reproduce
the experience,
luck likely had a role
to play in your success.

Accept that.
Don’t assume others
will have that same good luck.

The best book I’ve ever read,
the romance novel
I use as a benchmark
for my own,
has been reprinted numerous times
yet still has at least one typo in it.

There’s no such thing
as perfect,
not for everyone,
and often perfection
isn’t necessary
or even wanted.
Perfect is often too sterile.
There’s no soul in the product.

But if you seek perfection,
build a system around it.

Seth Godin
shares

“If you’ve decided that
errors are too expensive
for your project,
then build a system
that doesn’t
depend on heroics
to avoid errors.
Sure, that costs more than
just trying harder,
but if trying harder
was going to
reduce errors,
it would have worked already.”

There’s a cost
for perfection.
And one of those costs
requires building systems
to prevent errors.

Decide now
how much you want to pay
to be error-free.

The publishing industry is in a panic.
There are severe supply chain issues
with print books
in the U.S.
and there WILL be shortages
at American bookstores
now and during the all important holiday season.

Why?

Mostly because
officially 1 in 500 Americans
have died of COVID.
(Unofficially that rate is much worse.)
As many or more Americans
are suffering from Long COVID.

The lack of workers
impacts almost every step
of production
from paper manufacturing
to printing
to shipping
to, hell, cardboard box supplies.

Importing isn’t a great solution
to this
as there are severe labor shortages
at dockyards.

This won’t merely be
a book industry issue.
It will impact everyone.

Look at where and how
you source supplies
and products
for your business.
Manage your supply chain closely.
Plan for disruptions.

Genuine feedback is precious.
It takes time
and effort
and risking harsh pushback
and it is rarer
than we believe.

I will offer it
once.
If the feedback isn’t appreciated,
I won’t offer it again.

Seth Godin
shares

“…shutting down feedback
with an argument
or by appearing
ungrateful
makes it less likely
you’ll be offered it again.

And if you’re getting feedback
from a customer or a prospect,
shutting it down
makes it likely that
they’ll walk away
and take their attention
and their trust
somewhere else.”

The bare minimum response
to feedback
is ‘Thank you.’

If you want more feedback,
appreciate the feedback
you receive.

I recently read a post
in which the writer bemoaned
the money spent on entertainment
when there are ‘serious’ issues
to tackle
in this world.

Humans need entertainment.
We have ALWAYS needed it.
Entertainment imparts lessons,
lowers stress levels,
changes moods.

As a romance writer,
for example,
I write about love, hope and optimism.
These are necessary ingredients
when one is trying to build businesses
and/or to change the world.

‘Serious’ news programs
aren’t relaying them.
Entertainment is filling
that gap.

I also write about tolerance.
That’s my overall theme.
If we read about tolerance
over and over,
we become more tolerant.

And that is good
for the world.

Entertainment has great value.
And this isn’t an either/or
situation.
We can have our entertainment
AND
tackle the ‘serious’ issues.