I love Neville Medhora’s tips. It means being reflective, strategic and sensical. It’s valid for wherever you are at. Sometimes, we can fool ourselves or walk around in a fog. The 9 pieces of advice are pithy and his explanations are compelling: Do lots of “experiments.” You’re gonna die. Plan life backwards. Start a blog.Continue reading “Direct Clear Advice”
Category Archives: Entrepreneurship
What to Do
For anyone trying to discern what to do with their life: PAY ATTENTION TO WHAT YOU PAY ATTENTION TO. That’s pretty much all the info you need. – Amy Krouse Rosenthal With over 20 million unemployed from the COVID-19 crisis, the decks have been shuffling hard for both employers and employees. The last thing youContinue reading “What to Do”
Clarity Comes from Engagement
Spending time designing a system, message or business requires getting clear about how something should work, flow or connect. I have not found that this can be done in isolation. I need to bounce ideas off of others and work to get insights to integrate into the design. Socially, we understand this. We have friendsContinue reading “Clarity Comes from Engagement”
Get Rid of the One-off Projects
A simple way to think about whether you are growing a business, in addition to productizing your services, is to stay focused on repeatability. There is no end to one-off projects you can likely get involved with and provide solutions for. However, there’s a lot of cost when you work on one-offs: Energy. You haveContinue reading “Get Rid of the One-off Projects”
Productize Your Services so You Can Scale
When you are starting a venture, and you don’t know what people will buy, it is a great strategy to say, “Yes,” to everything. I consider this part of research and development. The cost is that you get spread out and may have to work on projects that extend your energy or cost you inContinue reading “Productize Your Services so You Can Scale”
Optionality
When you have so much uncertainty in your projects, relationships and dealmaking, the fear of loss or desire for perfection can be inhibiting. I find it best to create optionality. Pick the path with the most options and keeping your choices open. This is especially true when it comes to creating opportunities. Choose projects thatContinue reading “Optionality”
You Only Have to be Right Once
Most things don’t work out. And that is the raw reality of business and entrepreneurship. All those people who were excited and did not call you back are just part of the flow of dealmaking. All those promising projects that did not materialize or play out could have been affected by factors outside your control.Continue reading “You Only Have to be Right Once”
Get Your Business Out of Your Head and Into a System
When your business is you, operating it is a cinch. How you do things is simply in your head. You can develop and rely on your habits to get customers and deliver your service. Make calls with your friendly approach, send a proposal the way you are used to, and work the projects with yourContinue reading “Get Your Business Out of Your Head and Into a System”
Start and Grow a Low Risk Business
I heard from a friend that their big corporation just laid off hundreds of people. It could be from mismanagement, market downturns or simply another industrial age company ending their cash cow ride. It’s easy to lose sight of the bigger picture. If people don’t want what you offer, then your business is going toContinue reading “Start and Grow a Low Risk Business”
Find Businesses That Already Have Demand
It’s far easier to meet demand than create demand. I have been in businesses that are innovative and the proof of concept, go-to-market strategy and target customer all have to be identified. This approach takes a lot of commitment to discovery and gathering feedback. You have to see what sticks and makes sense to aContinue reading “Find Businesses That Already Have Demand”
