I don’t read books
in a series
in order.
I usually start
with book 3
and then go backward.
I am NOT my average reader.
Most of my readers
read my books in order.
They expect the series
to build.
I design my books
and my series
to do that.
You are NOT your customer.
Don’t assume
your preferences
are their preferences.
Ask your customers.
Research them.
I watched
The Creator recently
(and LOVED it).
One of the many things
I enjoyed about this movie
is…
it quietly showed
that creations are a reflection
of their creator.
If we have different creators
working on similar projects,
we’ll end up with
different creations or products.
This is why one hundred writers
can receive the same writing prompt
and write one hundred very different stories.
And this is also why
I don’t worry excessively
about my ideas being stolen.
Others might take my ideas
but they can’t take my unique way
of approaching those ideas.
Creations are a reflection
of their creators.
We’re unique.
Our products will be unique
also.
Last night,
as I was waiting for sleep,
I had a brilliant idea
for today’s blog post.
I was too lazy to get out
of my warm bed.
I didn’t have a notebook or pen
beside the bed
(that is strange for me).
I didn’t write the idea
down.
You can guess
what happened.
I woke up
with the knowledge
I had that great idea
but no memory
as to what that great idea was.
Write it down.
You’re a busy business builder.
You likely won’t remember it
if you don’t write it down.
A common piece of advice
that is given to many writers
and to many other business builders
is
Write/produce what you want
to write/produce.
That advice is incomplete
because if we wrote/produced
what we wanted to write/produce,
we likely wouldn’t sell
that story/object/service.
Our readers/customers
aren’t usually ready for
our latest big idea.
They are often ready
for ONE of our big ideas, however.
Merely not the most recent one.
The complete piece of advice
is
Write/produce what you want
to write/produce
but ensure other people want it also.
Business builders usually have
quite a few products/services
they’re interested in offering.
I, for example,
have a list of over 100 story ideas
I would like to write
and ideas get added or drop off
that list all the time.
I pick story ideas (product ideas)
off that list
I think readers (customers) are interested
in buying.
I’m happy.
Readers (customers) are happy.
My business’ bank account is happy.
Produce what you want
to produce
but ensure other people
want that product/service also.
And keep a list
of product/service ideas
you’re interested
in exploring.
Did something irritate
the f*ck out of you
today?
Are you not alone
regarding that irritation?
If the answer to
both these questions is
yes,
that’s AWESOME news.
Eliminating that irritation
could be
a great idea
for a business.
My most successful
and bestselling stories
have been the stories
that fill a gap
that bothers me.
Maybe a certain type
of character’s story
is missing.
Or a concept isn’t explained.
I ‘solve’ that problem
for myself
and others.
And I get paid
to do that.
Use the things
that irritate you
as inspiration
for your next product or service.
Yesterday, I posted
about an agent
who believes
writers don’t need money
because they have a passion
for writing.
We should ALL have
passion for our jobs.
I am passionate
about starting businesses.
I am passionate
about new business development.
I am passionate
about blogging here on client k.
Is every day and every task
all cuddly kittens and beautiful rainbows?
Of course not.
There are tasks I hate to do.
Failures also happen
and those are never fun.
But we should find some joy
in our chosen jobs,
whether
that’s the business we starting
or
the sales job
at the Fortune 500 company
we currently hold
or
our job as a writer.
Be passionate
about what you do.
After I’ve transplanted
a tomato seedling
from the grow station
to the backyard garden,
there’s a week following
where I’m not certain
the seedling will survive.
The leaves look stressed.
It doesn’t grow.
This is called transplant shock.
And it is a very stressful time
for the plant
and for me, the gardener.
When we ship our products
for the first time,
there’s a duration
that has a similar feel
to transplant shock.
We haven’t yet received
any customer feedback
on our product
and we’re not certain
it will be a success.
This is a stressful time
for many entrepreneurs.
Plan something
to keep your mind off
your ‘transplanted’ product.
And know this is normal.
Shipping shock
is a thing.
It happens to many of us
and is part of
the new business development process.
If you took some time off
yesterday,
you likely woke up
this morning,
overflowing with ideas.
WRITE THAT SH*T DOWN.
Immediately!
Once you reconnect
with your business
and with the rest of the world,
you’ll be flooded
with other stuff
– problems,
opportunities,
other people’s good ideas.
You’ll likely forget
about your own brilliant
thoughts.
And that would be a tragedy.
You had those thoughts
for a reason.
Write your great ideas
down somewhere.
NOW.
One of my buddies
buys first versions
of games.
She knows
the games will have bugs
in them.
They won’t be perfect.
But she is willing
to tolerate those faults
to have the games first.
I have a weakness
for products
with small imperfections
in them.
Every object
in my house
has something wrong with it.
We are often told
we should perfect
our new products/services
as much as possible
before releasing them.
But there’s a market
for imperfect products/services.
And,
as Seth Godin
shares,
“If you want to leap forward,
you’ll need to ship things
before they’re perfect,
mostly to people
who want to buy them
before they are.”
Our products/services
don’t have to be perfect
to be viable.
New business development
consists of trial and error.
Very few people
develop the best product or service
for their target market
the first time.
We develop a product.
We test it.
It fails.
We revise the product.
We test it.
It fails a little less.
We repeat the process
again and again
until we get it right.
Seth Godin
shares
“Failure is a way
of discovering
one more thing
that customers didn’t want,
and perhaps,
learning a bit about
what they might want.
By iterating
without tears or fears,
organizations are able
to discover things
about their future customers.”
Expect the first few tries
at new business development
to fail.
Don’t become emotionally attached
to those products/services
and
don’t become discouraged.
It is part of the process.
Failure is supposed to occur.