One of the metrics I keep in my head is the number of people I have helped. Did I give value to people? Some of this I get paid for. A lot of it I do not. Either way I know things work out well. I enjoy bringing value and I see the connection between helping and how my business grows. A few reasons are:

• Positioning. Everyone is not ready. Yet everyone is somewhere in a process. When urgency does come, being top of mind comes from how much value has been given and perceived.
• Trust. A solid business relationship is based on whether the client feels I have their best interest in mind. It’s sacred. It’s hard work. It happens over many cycles and opportunities. I don’t take this for granted. I invest myself.
• Branding. My clients know I have strategies and answers to help them. That’s reputation. It’s branding. It’s earned over time, proof, thought leadership and helping during specific opportunities.
• Care. We are all trying to solve our problems, however varied or nuanced. We want to associate with people that care about us and our problems and go the extra mile.

I think it is a shame when everyone is walking around trying to figure out how to benefit themselves when the secret to success is plain. Help enough people to get what they want and you will find the indirect benefit of a bigger life and business yourself. It’s proportional. It’s not necessarily a one-to-one correlation. However, I don’t know a better way to live than to think about how many people you have helped.

So how are you doing in this area?

Related posts:

1. Knowing What People Need All around you are opportunities if you can stop to...
2. When You Interrupt Busy People When you initiate a contact without trust, you are setting...
3. Communicate When You Can’t Deliver We live in an imperfect world where problems are always...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

“Be distinct or be extinct” – Tom Peters

Every day, I think about how to become more valuable to my audience. It pushes me forward. I am not sure I am much different from anyone else that truly wants to play in the sweet spot of the new economy. Being relevant translates to frequency and value.

It’s not enough to show up once in a while. Overdo it and we get categorized as spam. I look to make an impact in the venues that I can whether personally or virtually. When I am with clients, there’s always knowledge to share and strategies that work specifically for them. If I am online, there are communities that are looking for answers. In either case, my relevance is based on how I help.

The noise out there can easily drown out what is valuable. There’s something to persistence in trying to serve others and increase in value every day. I am not sure what else is more fulfilling.

Here’s the gist. You may be consumed by the noise out there or marginalized by it. Keep pursuing your brand and be distinct. Keep seeking ways to fill value where it’s needed. Caring enough to make it happen is a large part of making it happen.

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

One of the worst things you can do is underestimate the work and the courage it takes to build something great. Work is the determination and perseverance day in and day out to figure it out. Courage is the decision every day to go forward, push through unknowns and take risks others are reluctant to.

I don’t think it is going to get easier. It may look that way because of all the new economy businesses we see coming forward. Finding what connects and making your idea work is layered with nuance. Cracking that code is about the details and commitment to bringing immense value.

What looks easy is just a start of a vision. Start selling something or doing the work and what I am saying here becomes immediately apparent.

So when are you getting started?

Related posts:

1. Grow My Business – Start! Starting or growing a business today is a great opportunity....
2. Consulting Are You Carrying Buckets? There is a story of a...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

“When you don’t know what you believe, everything becomes an argument. Everything is debatable. But when you stand for something, decisions are obvious.” – Jason Fried, Founder of 37signals

I think good debate is healthy. It helps to flesh out an idea and clarify thinking. I have some great people in my life that help me towards this end.

But then there’s the wasteful debate. The people who aren’t sure of what they believe do tend to argue more. I think it’s important to recognize when this is happening and  avoid the wasteful conversations. There’s too much creating and innovating to do. Everyone’s input is not legitimate or equal.

Having conviction can stand out in a big way today. It’s part of strong brands. Conviction expresses leadership with clarity. Not many people or companies have it. I like it when I see it. It makes me want to know what’s behind the passion.

One way to get above the noise is to get really clear about what you believe. We have enough drones and pseudo-intellectuals out there. They don’t risk or add any value. I choose to ignore them. Better to put my energy into continually testing and reinforcing my convictions.

Who do you need to ignore?

Related posts:

1. Being Direct As A Strategy Candor is a key leadership attribute.  This is especially true...
2. Posing Versus Passion The problem with trends is that the posers ruin a...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Here’s a different way to start and grow your business to consider:

• Work backwards. Figure out how much revenue you desire.
• Establish a price. Ask a simple question. What could you sell for $5,000? $10,000? If you ask what you can sell for $99, you are in a different game with different customers.
• Double your value. Build the components so that the value of your offering is double the price point. Delight. Overwhelm. Be indispensable.
• Look for the few. Establish how many customers it will take to make your desired revenue. If you want to make $100K at a $5,000 price point. You need 20 customers for the year.
• Approach the few. Double your customers. In the $100K example, let’s assume you will approach 40 customers. Identify the likely candidates.
• Bring overwhelming value to the few. Don’t sell like every other unthinking person. Design a system which ensures that your small pool of identified candidates will meet with you. If you are not seeing it, you need a strategy and process.
• Make doing business easy. Ensure every step is thought through and you have a process for doing business. The easier, the better.

There is a lot of strategy and thought up front for this type of approach to work with the many. You see a lot of thoughtless, highly tactical types out there because they are not strategic. They don’t mind interrupting people and playing a numbers game.

I like working with fewer, higher quality customers. It’s less headaches, more value and more fulfilling. You can manage the distribution. Your focus is on value.

It’s a lot of work, but if you have the right system, the process is repeatable. Want to learn more or can’t decipher what I am laying out? Schedule a time to talk and we can discuss.

Today’s entrepreneurship has to be strategic in a noisy world. Think it through.

Related posts:

1. Markets Speak If You Will Listen "No plan survives first contact with customers." - Steve Blank...
2. When You Find A Market I enjoy working with entrepreneurs from many different markets.  The...
3. Betting On Facebook Is A Poor Strategy I caught the article on Zynga’s IPO (Facebook: Zynga’s Number...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

A lot of the work I do with clients revolves around change. They call me because things are different than what they were. Or there are unknowns that they can sense but need to deal with.

I look at change as an opportunity. Something better can replace what used to work. Innovation has an opportunity to blossom.

Of course it takes commitment and a willingness to look at the world and ourselves differently.

The world is not slowing down for anybody anytime soon. Your industry may be slowly eroding or rapidly declining. Choose to pivot. It’s a strategy which will help you to avoid irrelevance otherwise.

What’s changing in your world?

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Taking a dive without testing first is unnecessarily risky. From Flickr photostream of Ali Puckett.

You may be thinking about building something. Perhaps you have dreams of building a business with employees, square footage and equipment. Or you might see an opportunity in a market and want to automate it with software.

I have been a part of many ventures and can see the allure and draw for an entrepreneur to dive off the deep end. Perhaps the story playing in all of our heads entices us to push forward with grit, determination and blind faith. While romantic, it’s misleading and outdated.

In the old economy, many pursuits did require capital investments and a commitment to be all in. Then again, things were more stable. You could depend on a market behaving more predictably and staying unchanged for some time to allow your ideas to make an impact.

It is a different game today. Your new idea has to break through the attention barrier we have all put up. Furthermore, asking for any type of change from anyone has a lot of unknowns involved. What if we don’t want one more login? What if there are too many social media platforms? What if we think your offer is odd?

A better strategy is to commit to testing and learning. Play in the shallow end for a while. This mitigates the risk associated with the unknown in your entrepreneurial pursuit. Here’s what playing in the shallow end looks like:

• Think minimum. What is the least expensive, easily built prototype you can create to test the concept you are thinking of? It has to avoid tainting the user experience to give you feedback on whether your idea is a good one. You need to get to the core without compromising accurate feedback.
• Value learning over revenue. The goal is to test against unknowns. In the early stages act like an experimenter. Know what you are testing for. If users or potential customers have a valid concern then listen to ensure you understand the root issue.
• Pivot. If reality doesn’t match your initial expectations and vision, then change. Make modifications and retest with your audience to see what you learn next. It is an iterative process.
• Serve a small group. When you do have something working, refine it thoroughly with a small group. This may take some time, but it gives you opportunity to get candid feedback. I would even suggest charging a discount for the product or service you are offering to this small group in exchange for lower expectations and heavy engagement from you and your team.
• Launch. When you have reduced the unknowns seek to launch on a small scale to continue testing. See how your systems perform. Look for more market feedback. When you are confident that all the biggest variables have been addressed, push your launch further.

This approach reduces risk and requires agility. You have to be able to change quickly when new information comes in. The benefit is that you are not guessing. You are honing in on the target and avoiding the classic mistakes of entrepreneurs that dive off of the deep end prematurely.

Smaller investments and risks with continual change matches our reality today. It is a strategy which allows you to examine what markets will do with your offering on a small scale and make tweaks accordingly.

How can this approach work in your world?

Related posts:

1. Recognizing And Respecting Feedback Feedback is critical for success. We have ideas all the...
2. Finding The Use Case The shear volume of options available to us today is...
3. Grow My Business – Start! Starting or growing a business today is a great opportunity....

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

For me, the foundational pieces don’t change. I have to be reading, writing and connecting with people. That is what changes me and helps me to be valuable to others. Stop those activities and get distracted by the hoopla of busy work, social media or socializing and I can feel the effects.

I have found consistency over a long period of time has its rewards. A sort of ritual in the midst of the chaos keeps me grounded and focused.

How about you? How are you continually growing?

Related posts:

1. Beyond Likes, +1′s And Retweets You can find me on Twitter and Google+. Hanging out...
2. Why I Am Not On LinkedIn Anymore I agree with David Meerman Scott’s classic blog post, “Why...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

• Check out
• Disengage
• Attack the problems
• Hand off

I don’t necessarily like being out of control, but I come to expect it as part of playing in the information age. Work gets pushed on me just as I push work on others. Every communication requiring a response is work. It takes thinking, effort and moving the ball forward.

While it may be tempting to check out, I can’t. Too many years of built-up habits and my own need to keep the conversations moving are part of my DNA.

I like to make lists of what I need to get done intentionally and create urgency within a time frame. I like to also push to the next step. Input or help from others is often required. This means doing the hard work of clarifying requirements, communications and decision frameworks to make it easy to get an input or action.

I think we are mainly tired because we are asked to think all the time. We have to continually work to get clarity within the ambiguity. When you have a lot of choices, try doing this one thing – decide. Make a decision in fifteen seconds and go with that for every item. It clears the decks quickly, and your gut is usually right. It creates immense freedom.

You won’t get every decision right, but you are developing the habit of decision making, which I find lacking in the world to a large extent. It’s a key differentiator for those that are driving new opportunities and getting things done.

Every day is a new and exciting day. Don’t bottleneck yourself by procrastinating. Do the mental work with conviction. Let me know how it goes for you in the coming week.

Related posts:

1. A Great Trash Can Staying clear and ready are the most important productivity mindsets...
2. Client Login Please login below to keep track of your consulting project(s)...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

I expect to walk into a branded establishment and have a consistency of experience regardless of geography. It’s why I choose and pay and why millions of others do as well. It takes out the risk.

Many of the clients I work with strive for the same goal. Often, getting to the next level is elusive because of a lack of predictability. Getting systems, processes and people aligned to a cadence and culture is difficult. There is a high price to pay. It means getting out of the hero business of troubleshooting and getting into a systematic approach to sales, service and operations.

At the end of the day, your customers buy you because of an expectation. They are hoping or have come to trust a promise. That is what your brand represents. The more predictable you can make your business, the more doors open up for opportunity.

It doesn’t have to be a complete overhaul of your operations. Starting small in getting wins in specific areas is a great strategy for driving predictability.

What is one area your business can start to become more systematic?

Related posts:

1. 3 Design Strategies To Increase Service Value Design delight into your customer experience. Service starts and end...
2. Marketing Strategy: Endear Me We want to be endeared.  It’s a rarity today.  In...
3. Bleeding For Your Work “The older I get, the more I see how much...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.