Category: New Business Development

If you are like me,
a happy workaholic,
you have likely
been telling yourself
you’ll take a break
when the pandemic crisis
is over,
when we can travel again,
when the world is ‘normal.’

It hasn’t been ‘normal’
(if there is such a thing)
in over a year.
There will always
be another crisis.

We need rest.
We need to unwind.
We need to do nothing
for a day or two,
to escape the pressures
weighing down on us.

If you can,
take a break.
Walk in the park.
Sit in the backyard.
Read a fiction book.
Have a refreshing beverage.
Take a day or longer
for yourself.

We all need to
re-energize.

In one of the Romance Novel niches
I write in,
the readers want the new
and the shiny
but
they also want long series.

These two wants
conflict.

At the moment,
the appeal of the new and the shiny
is winning.
Readers drop writers
who have written in the niche
for a while,
refusing to buy
the next story
in longer series,
and
they chase the new.

Which means writers
abandon series
if they don’t sell right away
and
they write shorter series.

Because that is what
readers are expressing they want
through their purchases.

Seth Godin
shares

“Why is there
so much short-term hustle?
Because that’s what we buy.

Why is there
so much negative campaigning?
Because that’s what changes our actions.

Why is social media
filled with manipulation and vanity?
Because that’s what we click on.”

If you don’t like
what you’re getting,
change what you reward.

I know. I know.
With the rapid pace of change
hitting us,
the thought of learning
something new
is…tiring.

But it is needed
if we wish for our businesses
to survive this transition.

The world
is changing.
We have to change
with it.

Right now,
I can guarantee
you
(and every other business builder
reading this)
lack knowledge
in at least one area
that would make your life,
your business building
easier.

A 1 page article
could supply this knowledge.
Or a 15 minute podcast.
Or an audiobook we can listen to
in installments
while sitting on the toilet.
Or an email exchange
with someone in that field.

Invest now
to make your life easier later.

Learn something new
today.

A few years ago,
I was bellyaching
about there not being
enough releases
in a certain Romance niche.

A friend told me
I was a writer.
I had the power to change that.
I should write stories
in that niche.

I did exactly that.
I stopped complaining,
took that energy
and put it into the writing
and that became
my best selling niche.

If you find yourself
complaining about something
over and over again,
consider taking that energy
and redirecting it
to changing that something.

We are business builders,
doers.
Do it.

There is a discussion
in literary circles
about changing copyright
from the lifetime of the writer
plus 50 or 70 years
(depending on the country)
to
30 years.

This would significantly
impact
the works that are created.

There would be no incentive,
for example,
to create elaborate worlds.

I’ve been writing
in one of my worlds
for 12 years.
I have merely started.

The long fantasy sagas
and interconnected romance series
would all go away.

Changing the rules
changes what is created.

As a business builder,
watch for these changes.
Look for new opportunities.
Evaluate if your current products/services
are still relevant
after the rule changes.

If you are pushing
for changes in the rules,
look at ALL the impacts
of that rule change.
And there WILL be impacts,
likely ones you haven’t considered.

Most of the businesses
that survived
the Great Pause
had one thing in common
– they could adapt quickly.

Their retail businesses
became pick up
and shipping depots
during lockdowns.
Their customer interactions
switched from
walk in face-to-face encounters
to email.

Their restaurants
delivered food.
Their chefs taught
via Zoom
patrons how to cook at home.

They had options.
They could switch
from one tactic
to another
fairly quickly.
They had THOUGHT
about the possibilities.

The pandemic might
soon be over
but I suspect change will continue.

As we build our businesses,
we should make our systems
as flexible as possible.

We should consider
what we will do
if our preferred strategy
is no longer available.

We should think about this
BEFORE this happens.

There is big drama
in the entertainment world
because some Dr. Seuss books
are being pulled from publication.

These books are
50, 60, 70 years old.

If my books are still relevant
50 years from now,
I’ll be very disappointed.

I would hope
we would have progressed
as a species
enough to make them
irrelevant.

(I suspect my love
of eating meat
will be enough
to make me irrelevant.)

Old books,
TV shows,
products
being ‘cancelled’
is an act to be celebrated,
not resisted.

It means we’ve advanced
as a species.

We can be both.

We can be one of many
in some ways
AND
also be unique
in other ways.

When I’m struggling
with a problem,
I initially take a one of many
or forest view of it.

If I need help increasing
my sales
in a romance niche,
for example,
I will gather advice
from writers
in ALL niches
regarding increasing sales.

I gain those insights.

Then I tweak them
for the tree
or unique level.

I modify their insights
to work in my specific niche.

It isn’t an
either/or
scenario.

We can be one of many
AND
unique
at the same time.

As soon as a story
has been edited,
I load that story
(that product)
to the booksellers
(the retailers),
placing it in the system
for release
on the designated date.

I usually have over a month
between that loading date
and the release date.

Many writers aren’t in a rush
at this point.
They have a month.
They can wait for a bit.

I rush because
I’m a seasoned product developer
and I KNOW
sh*t happens.

The closer I can get
a product to completion,
the less likely
that sh*t f*cks up its release.

Don’t wait to finish
the project,
thinking you have time.
Finish it NOW.

If a Romance Novel Writer
wrote a story
merely for herself,
to satisfy her muse,
that story is unlikely
to attract readers.
There wouldn’t be a market
for it.
It wouldn’t sell.

On the flipside,
if a Romance Novel Writer
wrote a story
purely to satisfy the market,
that story will likely sell.
It will have a healthy market.
But that turns an artform,
a career,
into a making-widgets-type job.
It kills creativity
and joy.

Most professional
Romance Novel Writers
find a balance between
these two extremes.
When they don’t care
about a story decision,
they’ll choose
the most marketable option.

If vampires are hot,
for example,
and making the hero a vampire
won’t impact the core story
the writer wants to tell,
she will make him a vampire.

Seth Godin
shares

“1. Honor the noise
in your head.
Make the work
you believe
you were born to make.
Create things you can visualize
but haven’t seen yet.
Do it
without regard for critics,
the market
or the math of it all.
It’s your handiwork.

2. Embrace your market.
Make what it needs.
Earn a seat at the table
by developing an asset,
and leverage it
to create real value
for those you serve.
Price it accordingly.

3. Stay busy.
Make slightly better
than average work,
for less than average pricing.

It’s difficult to see
how you can do
all three
at the same time
for the same kind of client.
All three choices are valid,
any could work for you,
but it’s worth choosing.”

You CAN straddle
creating for yourself
and
creating for the market.

Compromise
on the aspects
you don’t care about.
Keep firm
on the aspects
you are passionate about.