PhD Essential for Business Success
After well over 12 years in business I have noticed that one key ingredient is absolutely essential to business success.
In fact, every single time we've run into problems (and I assure you we are not perfect either) I can trace it back to this cause.
Focusing your business on the things that matter most does not happen by accident.
Ensuring that your company stays on course to execute on its vision is not a once a year event.
Ensuring adherence to your core values and culture is not a part-time job.
Delivering your value promise to your customers each and every time is not […]
Hatching Dragons (and Businesses)
What if you could figure out how to hatch a dragon?
It would be a cool and magical moment.
As soon as you create, the real challenges begin.
- How do you feed a dragon?
- How big will it get?
- Where do you keep it?
- What about the breathing fire part?
Dragons are dragons by nature. They are notoriously independent. And hungry.
The Strategic View
So the most important questions?
- How do you ensure it doesn't cook or eat you?
- Or your friends?
- Or other people?
Why did you hatch a dragon?
Might be good to have a plan for this BEFORE you […]
Trust is the Real Success Accelerator
“All things being equal, people will do business with and refer business to those people they know like and trust.” Bob Burg and John David Mann – The Go-Giver
At first glance the Go-Giver is a book about sales.
I agree. Following The 5 Laws will help you sell more.
The Laws apply to life and business as well.
Because they are largely about being human, building relationships and putting the interests of others first while being open to receiving.
We are focused on Joe and how […]
Focus on What Matters Most
Too many businesses get distracted and lose focus from what is important.
I am currently reading "Be The Best At What Matters Most" by Joe Calloway.
Great book. Well worth the read. Buy it.
But reading the book won't help you.
Applying the ideas to your business will help you immensely.
Manifast Your Dream Business
I started by asking two questions about our own Manifast brand:
- What matters most to our customers […]
Forget What You Know: It Is Really All about the Client
What if we take this literally?
After thinking about “Endless Referrals” by Bob Burg a
couple of thoughts popped into my head.
Could I train an effective marketing and sales team
to generate leads and conduct initial sales calls with just a vague sense of
what our products and services do?Would this be effective at breaking the “it’s all about us”
cycle of client abuse?
I was actually surprised by the answer.
Yes, I could.
And it just might be.
[…]
Be Different, But Not Too Much!
Sometimes even the experts have a hard time with embracing good business wisdom and instead go with the herd by default.
Be Different, But Not Too Much
We are told to differentiate ourselves from our competitors. Be different from them in some discernible way.
Yet when you are too different some interesting things start to happen.
The experts tell you to be more like your competitors. And "everyone" becomes an expert.
See the problem is that our brains want to match new patterns with what […]
Blow Up The Walls That Hold You Back
We all have them, the thoughts and beliefs that limit our
potential to achieve our dreams. These are the bricks that we use to build
walls in our mind; the ones that limit what we can and can’t do.
The thing is most of them were put there by ourselves.
Yes Sergeant!
Back when I was just out of high school and in basic officer
training (Canadian Air Force) I was quite shy and introverted. I jumped into an
environment that requires anything but. Besides the nightmares the biggest
things I learned is that I am capable of a lot more I than I thought and I don’t
quit. […]
Scheme or a Viable Business
The key attributes of a viable long-term business are:
- Deliver more in value than you take in payment from each client,
- Serve enough clients to sustain the business vision and need, and
- Keep more money than you spend delivering the value to clients.
If all three of these are not true you don't have a viable business. If you can sustain it indefinitely you have a long-term viable business.
If point 1 is not true you are running a scheme. Tricking your […]
Human Emotions Are A Key Part Of Business
Your strongest memories are tied to your strongest emotional experiences. How you will initially respond to events in the present is tied to those memories.
This is not just about your childhood. These memories are being formed today.
At work. In your business. By everyone on your team.
The Strap
Back when I was going to school in rural Manitoba they still used "the strap". I got the strap 3 times from grade 1 until grade 4.
By today's standards, what I did to get the strap would seem trivial. Kids do those things all the time now. Back then, kids that finished their […]
The Business Owner’s Dilemma
Your business is a tool to get your products and services in the hands of clients or customers in exchange for payment.
Hopefully you've also tied it to a great mission or purpose.
You need to have all of the following in place:
- A great product or service
- Cash Management
- Marketing
- Sales
- Customers
- Client fulfillment
- People
- Processes and Systems
- Strategy
The dilemma for every business owner is allocating scarce resources in the proper balance.
Get it right and your business can take off. If the balance is off…
You and everyone else will be drawn to what you like to do. Or the problems (if you don't avoid them). Or where you get the […]