Business Strategy Archives – Page 23 of 38

19 May 2010

Getting the Results You Want in Business

By Doug Wagner|2017-04-03T11:54:40-06:00May 19th, 2010|Categories: Business Strategy, Doug's Blog, Mindset and Motivation|

Most people think they deserve something big for working hard. But is this just desire or is it really an entitlement?

More and more people are being judged by the results of what they produce; not the effort they put into it.

Sure there are still jobs where you put in your time and you get paid. You put in extra effort and you get paid more. The relationship is pretty linear… and finite.

When you are an entrepreneur or business owner the relationship is not linear.

The market doesn't owe you anything for hard work. There are no labor laws to hide behind. […]

11 May 2010

Business Optimization Process

By Doug Wagner|2017-04-03T11:55:05-06:00May 11th, 2010|Categories: Business Strategy, Doug's Blog, Leadership|

I have been spending some time recently looking at how you can improve your business's performance. There are essentially two major categories:

Business optimization (or continuous improvement)
Major innovations (totally changing what you do and/or how you do it)

Major innovation is not always easy, especially for established industries and businesses. And even when you introduce a major innovation that shakes up your industry or leaps you in front of the competition (i.e. creates a blue ocean); there is usually a follow-on phase of business optimization.

One thing common across all types of business improvement, no action = no results. To manifest your vision […]

29 Apr 2010

Nearly Skunked

By Doug Wagner|2017-04-03T11:55:33-06:00April 29th, 2010|Categories: Business Strategy, Current Events, Doug's Blog, Mindset and Motivation|

Tuesday night I decided to take the dogs for a walk. I stepped out the door and froze. The smell of skunk was very strong. The dogs were sniffing the air but fortunately didn’t see anything.

After pausing for what seemed like several minutes, but was likely a few seconds, I quietly turned on my flashlight and looked around. Sure enough, there were eyes looking back at me about 50 feet out, beside a bush.

I don’t actually know what the range of a skunk is but I assumed it was less than 50 feet so I took the dogs out along a route that would […]

23 Apr 2010

Using Social Media for Business

By Doug Wagner|2017-04-03T11:55:45-06:00April 23rd, 2010|Categories: Business Strategy, Doug's Blog, Marketing, Sales|

Over the past few weeks, I've read a couple of books on how to market your business or product using social media. I am not discounting the power of social media by any stretch, after all, I am blogging.

However, there seems to be an overtone of "using" social media in the books and consulting around this subject. Start a blog, write amazing content, promote yourself and company in LinkedIn, Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, etc. Follow people who have lots of followers and tag along on their success. Post comments on popular blogs, etc. Get better ranking in Google by getting quality inbound links. You […]

12 Apr 2010

“They” Are Right

By Doug Wagner|2017-04-03T11:55:59-06:00April 12th, 2010|Categories: Business Strategy, Doug's Blog, Marketing, Sales, Technology|

They are the people who can be used to explain everything or cinch any argument.

"They say you should eat right and exercise."

"They say you should look out for yourself because everyone is out to get you."

"They say you should look out for others, especially those who are less fortunate."

They are not always right. They are just a convenient way to prove a point. The best part is that no further proof is required if you use "they".

"They say we need to refresh our corporate website."

On the last point, THEY are quite right this time.

And it is time to do […]

29 Mar 2010

Using the Last Roll of Toilet Paper

By Doug Wagner|2017-04-03T11:56:43-06:00March 29th, 2010|Categories: Business Strategy, Doug's Blog, Software Development|

Have you ever gone into the washroom to do your business and been surprised at the end to find out someone used the last of the toilet paper (and there are no extras in the washroom)?

Surely someone must of noticed that the roll was at the end. Why didn't they go get more (reactionary)?

Even better, why didn't someone notice that they were loading the last roll and go get more (proactive) before it was all gone?

How many areas of your business are like this?

Do you wait until the customer notices something or do you deal with it just before the […]

24 Mar 2010

“Do What I Did and Get Rich” Books

By Doug Wagner|2017-04-03T11:56:57-06:00March 24th, 2010|Categories: Books and Courses, Business Strategy, Doug's Blog, Mindset and Motivation|

I picked up a book recently about how now is the time to cash in on your passion; how to use social media to promote your personal brand.

Essentially the premise of the book is:

Pretty much everyone should quit their job,
Discover your passion and blog (text, video or audio) about it, no matter what the passion is,
Build your personal brand through social networking site,
Work hard and hustle,
Opportunities and cash will start rolling in due to the magic of the Internet, and
If I did it, so can you, "I guarantee it".

Everyone can make a great living doing this? Guaranteed? What a […]

20 Mar 2010

Spring Is In The Air?

By Doug Wagner|2017-04-03T11:57:08-06:00March 20th, 2010|Categories: Business Strategy, Current Events, Doug's Blog|

Today, Saturday the 20th of March was the first day of spring. It was a beautiful sunny day; warm with a light breeze; just what you picture when you think of spring.

When you are living in Calgary (or most of Canada), winter is usually cold and dark with the sun much lower on the horizon. Some people suffer from depression in winter caused by the reduced sunlight. However, I suspect much of the depression is actually caused by realizing your favourite hockey team might not make the playoffs.

So spring brings optimism. (Football will be starting up soon; maybe they will do […]

17 Mar 2010

Jogger Killed by Plane

By Doug Wagner|2017-04-03T11:57:12-06:00March 17th, 2010|Categories: Business Strategy, Current Events, Doug's Blog, Mindset and Motivation|

I read in the paper today that a jogger listening to an iPod while jogging on a beach was hit from behind and killed by a small plane making an emergency landing.

What are the odds of that happening?

A year ago I read about someone jogging with an iPod and getting hit by lightning through the ear buds.

Obviously iPods attract danger and we should all stop jogging just to be safe.

(Or maybe safety is an illusion and we should all listen to iPods while jogging on the beach during a thunderstorm.)

8 Mar 2010

Who is Keeping Score?

By Doug Wagner|2017-04-03T11:57:27-06:00March 8th, 2010|Categories: Business Strategy, Doug's Blog, Dream Teams|

In order for you to hire the right (A) people, you need to build a scorecard defining their mission, expected outcomes and key competencies (reference is Who). This serves two benefits:

It allows you to objectively compare candidates,
It makes it clear to the new hire, what you want them to do.

This flows from your corporate strategy which when compared to your current staffing levels will determine who you need to hire to achieve your vision.

So really, you should have a scorecard for all of your key employees. For us and the way we are set up, all our employees are […]