Business Strategy

22 Mar 2012

Marketing Your Product is Your Real World

By |2017-04-03T11:39:42-06:00March 22nd, 2012|Categories: Business Strategy, Doug's Blog, Marketing, Sales|

12 years ago when we started our company, I thought that branding, marketing and selling were something that someone else would handle. Sure as the president of the company I needed to set direction, but the icky parts were going to be done by someone else and I could focus on the project work for clients; you know, "delegate".

Today I know deep down in my heart that branding, marketing and selling are your business. Building a business means dealing with those subjects head-on. You can delegate the work, but you should not ever delegate the strategy (or the […]

16 Mar 2012

An Entrepreneurs Fable

By |2017-04-03T11:39:50-06:00March 16th, 2012|Categories: Business Strategy, Doug's Blog|

Once upon a time three inspired information technology technicians working for a large consulting company decided to start a business. One was an architect, one was a project manager and one was a developer. One became the CEO, one became the salesman and one became the lead technician.

This was a time of plenty. Everyone was starting a technology business and overnight success was coming to companies that had nothing to show… no products, no customers and no revenue… the gold rush of the Internet. Companies were spending money like there was no end of it… other people’s money (OPM (rhymes […]

23 Feb 2012

How Much Effort Does It Take To Move From Good to Great?

By |2017-04-03T11:40:00-06:00February 23rd, 2012|Categories: Business Strategy, Doug's Blog, Leadership|

I was asked a question today. It was about our Manifast product which is aimed at allowing businesses to bring strategy, working on the business and developing your people to the same level of importance as working in the business; serving customers and fighting fires.

Roughly the question went like "How much effort is required to setup the tool and maintain the information in it? Is the benefit of doing all that stuff worth it?"

Aside from the context of the tool the question is really more fundamental:

"Is the effort of documenting, planning and executing your strategy, building your business and developing your […]

9 Feb 2012

The Paradox of Referral Fees

By |2017-04-03T11:40:07-06:00February 9th, 2012|Categories: Business Strategy, Doug's Blog, Marketing, Sales|

Offering referral fees to others to send business your way is a two edged sword at times:

  • On one hand you can really increase your customers,
  • On the other hand you might not get the customers you really want or need.

Therein lies the paradox.

On The Positive Side

On the positive side you are offering a financial incentive to others to refer business your way. Your customers and "agents" can earn some cold hard cash sending business your way.

You hope that the person doing the referring is looking out for both your and the potential client's best interest in making the connection.

But There Is […]

8 Feb 2012

Are You Too Busy To Add Big Dollars To Your Bottom Line?

By |2017-04-03T11:40:22-06:00February 8th, 2012|Categories: Business Strategy, Doug's Blog, Leadership|

  • Do you have a company culture of continuous improvement?
  • Are you dedicating 10% or more of your time to working on your business?
  • Do you delegate parts of your business and have a methodology for holding people accountable for performance?

If you are not, you are impacting your profitability in a big way.

As a business owner this is coming right off your bottom line. If you are losing $10,000 in costs (i.e. profit) and you have margins of 5%, you would have to earn another $200,000 in revenue to make that back.

Business advisors like Jeff Pallister can come into many businesses […]

20 Jan 2012

Are You On Auto-Pilot?

By |2017-04-03T11:40:33-06:00January 20th, 2012|Categories: Business Strategy, Doug's Blog, Mindset and Motivation|

You know that feeling you get when you drive home along a familiar route and afterwards you don't remember any of the drive?

That is what running on auto-pilot is like.

Your brain is amazing. If you've done things repeatedly the same in the past before, you can do them again with little thought or effort required.

The same is true if you are doing something simple or low risk. You don't need to fully engage.

In both cases you can run on auto-pilot and safely get to your destination.

Until something changes suddenly. Or until a danger suddenly appears.

Then you will be present again.

But it […]

31 Dec 2011

Resolutions for 2012 – Dream Big

By |2017-04-03T11:40:46-06:00December 31st, 2011|Categories: Business Strategy, Doug's Blog, Mindset and Motivation|

Assuming I set New Year's resolutions I would have the following and more:

  • Get more sleep on a regular basis,
  • Exercise more,
  • Eat better,
  • Lose 10 pounds,
  • Achieve more business and financial success,
  • Balance my time over all areas of my life,
  • Have a neater and more organized work space,
  • Waste less time on distractions,
  • Deal with stress better,
  • Travel to Mars.

But if I haven't done those things consistently in the past, what makes me think I will do them in early 2012? Why am I making a big list of things I will likely fail at?

The problem with resolutions is that we tend to focus on the things we aren't happy with… […]

29 Dec 2011

The Master Plan – How Money Works Part 4

By |2017-04-04T15:00:47-06:00December 29th, 2011|Categories: Business Strategy, Doug's Blog, Mindset and Motivation|

In the previous post I talked about how to intercept the flow of money. This post addresses investing, borrowing, the master plan and concludes the series.

But What About Investing?

When you invest money you no longer have it in your possession. What you have is either a promise to give you your money plus interest back or you have ownership of shares in a company or other investment vehicles.

Cash investments are loaned to others so the money can be spent on something of value.

When you invest in a company you are either buying the shares (at their perceived value) […]

19 Dec 2011

How Money Really Works – Part 1

By |2017-04-04T15:08:50-06:00December 19th, 2011|Categories: Business Strategy, Doug's Blog, Mindset and Motivation|

Have you ever heard someone say that there is no shortage of money, in fact there is an abundance of it? This is what the rich understand and the poor do not.

I’ve heard it quite a few times, several times in the last week alone.

What does this really mean? I had to really think about it too.

The following is my take on what they mean about how money really works. Like most things, there is a reason it is important and some important lessons to be learned that go with it. So I encourage you to stick with […]

15 Dec 2011

New Fables in Biz – Tortoise and the Hare

By |2017-04-03T11:41:59-06:00December 15th, 2011|Categories: Business Strategy, Doug's Blog|

The classic tale written as a business case study.

The tortoise and the hare were the two main direct competitors in their industry. They were focused intensely on one-upping each other and acting invincible to smaller players.

The tortoise was slow and steady. He was adverse to risk and sought to keep competitors away by putting a wall around his products and services. It was hard to move fast with all the baggage he was carrying with him. He was really good at copying the innovations of others.

The hare was fast and willing to take risks. Unfortunately, the hare was missing focus […]