There are a thousand things that a small business needs done every day. Book keeping, sales, marketing, web marketing, building technology, baking, photoshop work, website development, et al.
There are 10,000 books that will help you learn how to do all of these things. How many of these books should you read? Zero. None of them. You should focus on doing what you personally do well. Hire, beg, plead and steal the other things. But don't really steal them.
There are certain ingredients that are core the the recipe of success. I will go into some of these in a later post. For now realize that you can not do it all, and that if it takes you more than X amount of time to accomplish something, you are likely throwing away time and effort by trying to do it yourself.
Exanple:
You are a great event organizer. You want a website, but do not know anything about programming, UI design, HTML, etc.. You should not get books on HTML and website design. You should instead find someone who can do this work for you. Whether it is a friend, acquaintance, or someone on craigslist who agreed to set up a website for a weeks worth of home cooked meals. You should not waste your time learning the skills to do this step because they do not increase your understanding of your business, and they do not increase your ability to organize events. You just need a website. The month it would take you to learn enough to set up a barely functional website is lost time from your event organizing efforts. (or efforts to do your own book keeping, marketing, ,organize marketers, or the 999 other things still on your list).
Now, I am not saying you should not learn anything. The focus is really to set a time limit to learn a new skill. If you try web design and get nowhere in a couple of days, stop wasting time. If on the other hand you find yourself to be an excellent book keeper, then maybe there is no need to pass this responsibility to anyone else.
A complex business (or any web startup) will likely need a few of those key ingredients I mentioned previously. Each of those ingredients is a skill possessed by a person. Some people will be able to do multiple things, while some people will only be able to do a single thing.
Imagine a small company needing the basics of: product creator, marketer, salesperson, technologist, book keeper/lawyer, manager, visionary,and a leader. just to start. That is 8 skills, but sometimes these can be found in only three or four people, if you are lucky.
You need to find out what the next critical thing is for your business and focus on that. Once you know how this is achieved and gears are turning to get it done, look for the next critical thing. One critical thing at a time. In this manner you will find what you are good at, you will find new partners or employees and what they are good at. Always look internally first to see who around you is willing to tackle the next critical thing. But do not let them waste their time (and therefore your business time) beyond a certain point.
Recognize your weaknesses and supplement them from outside. It may sound difficult or even impossible for startups with little or no funding.
Realize that time is money. A balance must be found between learning curves and wasted effort.
Take heart, if it were easy, everyone would be doing it.
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
Regarding Success
This is a brief post as it references a visual aid which is fairly self explanatory. I was inspired one night to illustrate the time and effort that goes into success.
The result can be found here: http://bit.ly/ckbHDr
The result can be found here: http://bit.ly/ckbHDr
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
Which Resources to use for Marketing
I recently had a conversation with someone (Bob) about marketing. Bob said he neglected his twitter account because he had very few followers. I was later inspired to write something about general marketing (not specifically twitter).
If the question is "Which resources should I use for marketing?" the quick answer is "All those you can afford". Which means that a few non web resources such as posters, business cards, full page ads, if that's in your budget. For those on tight budgets the web still offers a lot of options. Websites, Blogs, Social sites (facebook, myspace), Twitter, et al.
These resources are great places to make known to the world that you exist and that you are offering services. But only if you use them. You must keep up on blogging and tweeting and posting in all the mediums to make sure that when someone is looking for you, that you can be found!. I put that in bold because it's important. Do not stop tweeting or posting information on a regular basis (at least weekly) because you have few or no followers. When someone finally does find your posts, you want to seem like you've been around for a while and are established. not that you just started 2 days ago, or that you neglect your marketing for 6 months at a time. In time you will gain more followers and readers. But the value of these mediums is not in the numbers of followers, it is in appearing to be an active member when someone looks for your services.
The other thing to note is that anything you are using as a marketing tool is usually a good tool to gather information as well. Twitter offers great resources about everything from photography to business development. So do not think of these mediums as one way loud speakers. Search them for useful insights and ideas, then link and talk about those ideas and insights yourself! This creates crosslinks, backlinks, retweets and all sorts of things which make you much more visible. This is your goal!
So remember; if it's free, take advantage of it. Anything you are using to broadcast on the web is being used by others and popularity / visibility is affected by the amount of cross-communication between accounts/websites.
In short: Start a blog. Get a twitter account. Open a myspace page. If it's free, do it.
Then tweet about your blog. blog about your tweet, tweet and blog about other blogs and tweets which you find interesting and useful.
Include a link to all of your marketing streams at the bottom of your emails, and on each stream.
the bad:
I have skipped over mentioning websites specifically, but note that if it's free, do it.
I have also neglected a lot of the 'cheap but not free' options which I will go into at a future time when something inspires me to explain it again. :-)
Thank you for reading, and good luck.
If the question is "Which resources should I use for marketing?" the quick answer is "All those you can afford". Which means that a few non web resources such as posters, business cards, full page ads, if that's in your budget. For those on tight budgets the web still offers a lot of options. Websites, Blogs, Social sites (facebook, myspace), Twitter, et al.
These resources are great places to make known to the world that you exist and that you are offering services. But only if you use them. You must keep up on blogging and tweeting and posting in all the mediums to make sure that when someone is looking for you, that you can be found!. I put that in bold because it's important. Do not stop tweeting or posting information on a regular basis (at least weekly) because you have few or no followers. When someone finally does find your posts, you want to seem like you've been around for a while and are established. not that you just started 2 days ago, or that you neglect your marketing for 6 months at a time. In time you will gain more followers and readers. But the value of these mediums is not in the numbers of followers, it is in appearing to be an active member when someone looks for your services.
The other thing to note is that anything you are using as a marketing tool is usually a good tool to gather information as well. Twitter offers great resources about everything from photography to business development. So do not think of these mediums as one way loud speakers. Search them for useful insights and ideas, then link and talk about those ideas and insights yourself! This creates crosslinks, backlinks, retweets and all sorts of things which make you much more visible. This is your goal!
So remember; if it's free, take advantage of it. Anything you are using to broadcast on the web is being used by others and popularity / visibility is affected by the amount of cross-communication between accounts/websites.
In short: Start a blog. Get a twitter account. Open a myspace page. If it's free, do it.
Then tweet about your blog. blog about your tweet, tweet and blog about other blogs and tweets which you find interesting and useful.
Include a link to all of your marketing streams at the bottom of your emails, and on each stream.
the bad:
I have skipped over mentioning websites specifically, but note that if it's free, do it.
I have also neglected a lot of the 'cheap but not free' options which I will go into at a future time when something inspires me to explain it again. :-)
Thank you for reading, and good luck.
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
Product Idea
Background:
There is a golden ratio that is used which, without getting into specifics, we will say 'magically' makes things look good. Whether used in photography, painting, architecture, humans, flowers, and nature in general. it's really a fascinating thing. Here is the wikipedia link for those interested in knowing more: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_ratio.
The Idea:
Print and sell (cheaply) clear plastic overlays with the golden ratio spiral on them. For use on digital cameras and mobile phones. The plastic should be easy to stick on/off and not hurt the screen. if the sticky side wears out, there may be several plastic sheets in a pack.(also several sizes for large/small screens)
The spiral: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Fibonacci_spiral_34.svg
The average person would use this to help line up camera angles which will follow the golden ratio resulting in a much better picture than straight forward photos.
examples: http://jakegarn.com/the-rule-of-thirds/
Bonus:
Although there is software for computers, an overlay sized for PC screens can also be used, allowing the user to line up the photo behind the overlay instead of using 'extra' software to edit their pictures.
negative: some day camera manufacturers might add this overlay as a camera feature and have the overlay right on the camera display. but they have not done this yet, and it always take them ages to implement things well. This idea is simple, cheap, works for everyone.
There is a golden ratio that is used which, without getting into specifics, we will say 'magically' makes things look good. Whether used in photography, painting, architecture, humans, flowers, and nature in general. it's really a fascinating thing. Here is the wikipedia link for those interested in knowing more: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_ratio.
The Idea:
Print and sell (cheaply) clear plastic overlays with the golden ratio spiral on them. For use on digital cameras and mobile phones. The plastic should be easy to stick on/off and not hurt the screen. if the sticky side wears out, there may be several plastic sheets in a pack.(also several sizes for large/small screens)
The spiral: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Fibonacci_spiral_34.svg
The average person would use this to help line up camera angles which will follow the golden ratio resulting in a much better picture than straight forward photos.
examples: http://jakegarn.com/the-rule-of-thirds/
Bonus:
Although there is software for computers, an overlay sized for PC screens can also be used, allowing the user to line up the photo behind the overlay instead of using 'extra' software to edit their pictures.
negative: some day camera manufacturers might add this overlay as a camera feature and have the overlay right on the camera display. but they have not done this yet, and it always take them ages to implement things well. This idea is simple, cheap, works for everyone.
Thoughts on success.
Recently I talked with someone, whom I will refer to as Bob, who was very frustrated that people they worked on projects with did not seem to put in as much effort as Bob did. In other circumstance, Bob saw highly motivated and successful people working well together without running into these less motivated people.
The advice I ended up giving is that the successful people did not stumble into their success. they got there by motivating those around them, riding them on projects and making sure everyone else got their things done too. It is a process of dragging people kicking and screaming to the land of accomplished tasks. This ability to motivate, follow up and forcing success onto those you work with that creates the great entrepreneurs of our time.
For those that assume others will be as motivated, driven, organized, and on the ball as you might be will be sorely disappointed. Don't despair! everyone has skills that they are good at. if the marketing genius needs a cup of coffee and a reminder every morning to get stuff done, enable him! if the programming genius making your web app needs a meeting twice a week to focus on the plan instead of creating their own scope creep, make the effort to focus her!
If you help keep people on track you will, in the end, have great marketing and a great application. And this is your goal! don't let the idea that others aren't working as hard slow you down. find what needs to be done (whether it's planning, motivation, or making coffee) and make sure it's getting done.
That, my friends, is the only secret to success.
The advice I ended up giving is that the successful people did not stumble into their success. they got there by motivating those around them, riding them on projects and making sure everyone else got their things done too. It is a process of dragging people kicking and screaming to the land of accomplished tasks. This ability to motivate, follow up and forcing success onto those you work with that creates the great entrepreneurs of our time.
For those that assume others will be as motivated, driven, organized, and on the ball as you might be will be sorely disappointed. Don't despair! everyone has skills that they are good at. if the marketing genius needs a cup of coffee and a reminder every morning to get stuff done, enable him! if the programming genius making your web app needs a meeting twice a week to focus on the plan instead of creating their own scope creep, make the effort to focus her!
If you help keep people on track you will, in the end, have great marketing and a great application. And this is your goal! don't let the idea that others aren't working as hard slow you down. find what needs to be done (whether it's planning, motivation, or making coffee) and make sure it's getting done.
That, my friends, is the only secret to success.
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