Category: New Business Development

Tennessee’s leaders have made it
more difficult
for minors
to be vaccinated
against ALL diseases
– COVID, polio, measles, mumps, etc.

I predict
these diseases will resurge
within a decade
in that US State.

If preventative actions work,
we have a tendency
to believe they are no longer necessary.

We make this bad decision
again and again,
which is why we’ll continue
to fight the same battles
again and again,
wasting time and money
and, in this case,
causing deaths.

We do this
in many aspects of our lives.

We think we don’t need
that malware program
because we haven’t suffered
from a malware infection
in a while.

We think we no longer need
to hedge against inflation
because inflation hasn’t impacted
our businesses in years.

Preventative measures,
if they work,
appear to be unnecessary.

The key word is
‘appear.’

They ARE often needed.
Think hard
before eliminating preventative actions.

I am fortunate to have
thousands of loyal readers.

Readers might think,
as one person,
they have little influence
over what I write.

They’re wrong.

I receive about 100 emails
from readers
after sending out a newsletter.
I read every email
and they DO influence me.

Especially since
I believe the views of that reader
represents the views
of many other readers.

Using another example,
I live in a city
with millions of residents.
The Mayor posts
on social media
and is fortunate to get 50 comments.

If I post a comment,
it is being read
and it will likely help shape
thinking.

You are more influential
than you believe.

If you want to change
the world
or policies
or priorities,
speak up!

After every book release,
some readers send me
messages
with the errors
they’ve found
in the book.

I expect this.
I know the book isn’t perfect.

Perfect is impossible
to achieve
and trying to do that
is a time suck.

Sometimes,
in the case of writing,
achieving grammatical perfection
destroys the emotion
in the scene.

Perfect isn’t my goal.
Making the readers feel
is my mission.

Seth Godin
shares

“Holding back for too long
because it could be
somehow better
than spec,
though,
is a way to avoid
contributing.
And using power or privilege
to insist that others
meet our ever-increasing
but ever-less-useful
standards
is unhelpful.

Better?
Sure. Work for that.

But perfectionism
is a defect.”

Perfect should never
be your goal.

A mentor once told me,
“When you reach
a certain point,
money merely becomes
a scoreboard.”

I was dirt poor
at the time
and I didn’t fully
understand that.

But now
that I have enough money
to live comfortably on,
I understand.
Money becomes less of
a motivator
and more of a status symbol,
a reflection of
how much my work is valued.

That status,
that appreciation
can be shown in other ways.

As Seth Godin
shares

“Money, cash money,
is a blunt instrument
used by
organizations and individuals
to short circuit
much of the hierarchy
of enrollment.
The idea is that
it’s a multi-purpose signifier,
an easy way to say,
“whatever you seek,
whether it’s money for food
or money to build
a hospital wing,
do this
and you’ll get some.””

There are other ways
to recognize people
than cash.
If you don’t have much
money
(as many business builders don’t),
investigate these other ways.

When I evaluate
one of my covers,
I first look at it
sized 200 pixels x 300 pixels.

Because that is how
most readers
will first see
the cover
– that size
or smaller.

That is how Amazon
and other booksellers
will display it on lists.
That is how
readers will view it
on their phones.

Does the cover stand out
in that size?
Does it still
convey my branding?
Is the title
and my pen name
readable?

As Seth Godin
shares

“If you’re designing
a package, a cover,
a fashion or even a meme…

The goal is
to have it be
recognizable
from across the room.

That doesn’t mean
it has to be loud
or interruptive.
But when we’re looking
for it,
we should be able
to pick it out
of a crowd.”

If you are happy
with it
across the room,
you’ll likely
be happy with it online.

View your product’s packaging
small
if you want to create
a big impact.

We’re human.
We get angry,
sometimes at the world.

Often, we can predict
when we’re most likely
to get angry.

As a female business builder,
for me,
that’s likely during
a certain week of the month.
Or on anniversaries
of certain terrible events.
Or when my section
of the world
has been on pandemic lockdown
for four months straight.

I plan for these angry days.

On angry days,
there are things I avoid doing,
like dealing with customers,
but there are also tasks
I save
for exactly that moment,
like revising or critiquing
my own work.

There ARE tasks
that are better accomplished
when we’re angry.
Tasks that benefit
from our lack of filters,
from our ruthlessness,
from our aggression.

Plan for angry days.
Benefit from them.

I gave all of my cover business
to one cover designer.
For years, that worked very well.
She had more work
and I had awesome covers.

Then she started missing deadlines
and not responding to emails.
Her heart was no longer
in the cover design.

But she also didn’t want
to admit that.

Covers, for Indie writers,
are essential inputs.
We can’t publish stories
without covers.

I only had one source
for this essential input.
I had to scramble
for a replacement cover designer
and, because I couldn’t afford
a delay,
I had to spend more money
and time
contacting and working with
multiple cover designers,
hoping one of them
was professional enough
to finish the task.
(Not completing a cover
is, unfortunately, common
for cover designers.)

I will never work
solely with one cover designer
again.

If the input is essential,
ensure you have
several sources for it.
Don’t depend on one supplier.

A writer announced
on social media
she was writing a heroine
who came from a different culture
than she did.

Several people asked her
if SHE should be writing
that heroine.

She interpreted those questions
as saying
she SHOULDN’T be writing
that heroine.
So she canned the story.

I write edgy romances
and I receive pushback (criticism)
on ALL my ideas.
If I canned every story
that had pushback,
I would never publish another story.

Pushback isn’t a no.
Pushback means
pausing and thinking
about the situation.
Pushback is a call to
take concerns into consideration
while doing the task
or crafting the product.

Expect pushback.
Listen to that criticism.
Incorporate the concerns
if you can.
But don’t ever view it
as a no.

We’re all super busy.
We’re all also
completing tasks
that don’t add value,
that don’t get us
closer to where
we want to be.

Every so often,
I look at the tasks
I’m completing.
I ask myself
if they still add value.

If I’m unsure,
I stop doing that task
for a while.
I pay attention to
what happens.

If my goal is sales
and my sales decrease,
I resume doing that task.

If nothing bad happens,
I consider dropping that task.

Skye Warren
shares
“The truth is that
if you tested every
lever, button, or dial
in your business,
some of them would have
no impact on sales.
So why do we do those things?

Habit, somewhat.
Fear, mostly.

Let’s not make
our decisions
out of fear.
Let’s make
decisions
with data.

So turn off the ads.
Turn down the Facebook parties.
Say no
to the collaborative thing…
for now.
Not because they’re wrong,
but because giving yourself
that space is necessary.”

If a task isn’t adding value
to you,
stop doing it.

The world today
is significantly different
than the world
we knew
2 years ago.

The things we viewed
as being certainties
have shifted.

And they will continue
to shift.
There are changes
(like climate change)
coming
that will completely modify
the way we live.

When I give advice,
I preface that advice
with
“This works for me
today”
because it might not
work
for me tomorrow
and it might not work
for anyone else
ever.

Insisting we’re certain
is no longer a strength.
It is a weakness.

As Seth Godin
shares

“The need to prove
strength and consistency
often ties us
into knots,
particularly in a world
with new information
and insight
arriving so often.”

None of us
can be certain
about anything.
Assume everything
can and will
change.

Get into the habit
of questioning
our views
and our assumptions.
Ensure they reflect
the reality today
and not our beliefs
from yesterday.