business advice

24 Apr 2017

Small Potatoes, Time, and Inbound Marketing

By |2017-04-27T18:48:22-06:00April 24th, 2017|Categories: Doug's Blog, Marketing, Working on the Business|Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , |

Small Potatoes, Time, and Inbound Marketing

When you make mistakes, it is best to learn the lessons they teach you. Sometimes the lessons are about something else entirely – like time management and inbound marketing.

Counting Potatoes

It all started when I was making my supper. I was a bit hungry and grabbed some baby potatoes to roast. I would usually eat one large potato or two medium ones. Baby potatoes are much smaller. Obviously, one large potato is the equivalent of about 50 baby potatoes.

Having made this mistake before, and being considerate of […]

20 Apr 2017

Show Your Humanity to Engage More on Social Media

By |2017-04-20T17:30:44-06:00April 20th, 2017|Categories: Branding, Current Events, Doug's Blog, Marketing|Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |

Connecting With People for Social Media Engagement - Guitar on Black Background

There are two main camps in online marketing: business is business and business is personal. The first camp paints itself as impersonal, professional, and aloof. The second acknowledges that people do business with people. When done right, letting your humanity shine through your marketing messages increases social media engagement – without losing the professional touch.

3 Examples

Virgin is Human

If you are considering any of the companies in the Virgin Group, you will probably find the personality of […]

12 Apr 2017

5 Powerful Exercises to Rehab Your Business

By |2017-04-12T16:44:29-06:00April 12th, 2017|Categories: Business Strategy, Doug's Blog, Oilfield Pulse, Working on the Business|Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , |

5 Exercises to Rehab Your- Business Think Outside Box

In rehab, you engage with experts and specialists to get through the first few stages of recovery. You can also speed it along by outsourcing to clinics outside of the public health care system.

At some point, you have to do some of the work on your own. If the exercises are too complicated or time-consuming, most people won’t do them.

So here are some simple but powerful exercises you can do to rehab your business. You will get stronger faster, by pushing the exercises […]

27 Jun 2016

Who is the Hero In Your Story?

By |2017-04-03T11:09:16-06:00June 27th, 2016|Categories: Business Strategy, Doug's Blog, Marketing, Sales, The Good Men Project|Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |

Who Is The Hero in Your Story

Great leaders and businesses have a story to tell. The best understand who the hero should be.

Many men have lost their place in the bigger story. We bought into one narrative that has not worked out and are now struggling to find a new one as the world rapidly shifts underneath us. Some are looking for a hero, and some are seeking to become one again. We […]

24 May 2016

How Having Momentum Behind Money and Ego Can Suck Out Your Life

By |2017-04-03T11:10:13-06:00May 24th, 2016|Categories: Business Strategy, Doug's Blog, Leadership, Mindset and Motivation, The Good Men Project|Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |

Man At Airport

Sometimes you can take a path in your business that isn’t right for you. Your choices matter.

I know more than a few men who’ve started what they thought was the perfect business for themselves. Once momentum kicks in it can get hard to change direction. The biggest trap ends up being the one we make in our heads.

One example is the expert industry. There are variations, but the formula is pretty straight forward. You start […]

11 Apr 2016

Being Self-Aware Enough to Know Your Value is the Path to Creating Exceptional Value

By |2017-04-03T11:11:02-06:00April 11th, 2016|Categories: Business Strategy, Doug's Blog, Leadership, Mindset and Motivation, The Good Men Project|Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |

Team of Self Aware Business People - Startup

With people walking the Earth claiming to be the “greatest” at everything, it is easy to lose sight of your personal potential for greatness.

When I think of personal greatness, I don’t mean the narcissistic “look at me, look how great I am” of an adult child clamoring for constant approval. A little limelight is good for the soul. Tying your sense of self-worth to the […]

6 Jun 2013

12 Success Attributes for an Ideal Coaching Client

By |2017-06-07T21:12:45-06:00June 6th, 2013|Categories: Doug's Blog, Go-Giver Coach, Leadership, Mindset and Motivation|Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |

Ideal Coaching Client Success Attributes

Are you a business coach wanting to find better clients or working with a coach and want to get more from the deal?

I was thinking about what an ideal coaching client would look like. Then I realized that the attributes of the ideal coaching client are that exact same attributes for:

  • Personal Success
  • Career Success
  • Sales Success
  • Leadership Success
  • Business Success

Yes, coaches want to work with clients who REALLY want to win, take action and apply what […]

24 Oct 2011

Start Your Engine of Growth

By |2017-05-31T12:26:32-06:00October 24th, 2011|Categories: Business Strategy, Doug's Blog, Manifast, Working on the Business|Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |

Start Your Engine of Growth - Man on Starting Line

We are in the midst of launching our new Manifast product. In fact we are committing to launching our MVP in November 2011. This has gotten me to thinking about marketing, sales and most importantly our revenue model. Do we have our engine of growth defined?

In “The Lean Startup” Eric Ries talks about three engines of growth for startups:

  • The Sticky Engine of Growth (customer retention (churn) is key)
  • The Viral […]
19 Jul 2011

Are You Working on the Business?

By |2017-05-24T13:03:07-06:00July 19th, 2011|Categories: Business Strategy, Doug's Blog, Working on the Business|Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , |

Man On Roof - Working on the Business

What does working on the business really mean?

As a business owner (or entrepreneur) you spend a lot of time working to build your business. You are:

  • Finding new customers,
  • Keeping existing customers happy,
  • Providing your product or service to customers,
  • Hiring good people,
  • Retaining your employees,
  • Keeping on top of the finances,
  • Putting out fires,
  • And generally growing your business.

And many business owners can generate a lot of revenue and even profit doing the above. They may even significantly grow their businesses.

So isn’t that […]

27 Jul 2009

Marketing Budget Allocation For Results

By |2017-06-06T16:06:43-06:00July 27th, 2009|Categories: Business Strategy, Doug's Blog, Marketing, Sales|Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |

Marketing Budget Allocation - Make Money

As per the last two posts (The Value of a New Customer and Marketing Budget 101) I talked about one way of determining your marketing/sales budget.

If you want a simpler method, allocate a percentage of total revenue.

Now the question is where to spend your money for maximum effect.

There are basically four sources of future sales:

  • Existing customers,
  • Referrals (word of mouth),
  • Prospecting, cold calling and networking, and
  • New leads from marketing.

You will want to allocate funding (or effort) to […]