Great Idea Equals a Great Business
Apparently this is a bit of a myth. Sure some companies were founded on great ideas and become very successful.
I think this feeds into our desire to find the quick fix.
Great idea. Build a great strategy. Start a company. Instant wealth.
In 99.99% of the cases "instant" is actually many years in the making; kind of like the odds of winning the lottery.
In "Built to Last" by Jim Collins, they dispel this myth.
"Why? Because the great-idea approach shifts your attention from seeing the company as the ultimate creation."
Essentially, you focus on the product and not the […]
Who You Are – Consistency
Over the past few months, we've had a few clients approach us that had important work that needed to get done quickly; and they had limited options. You may be thinking…
Ka-Ching!
Wrong.
You may get the business once that way, but people will ultimately remember you hosed them.
That is not how things are done here. Here we value ethics, honesty and long-term relationships.
We believe we are entitled to fair compensation for our work including reasonable profit margins (every business needs this). But we don't believe in "between a rock and a hard place" pricing.
Sure, if costs are higher because of a rush […]
The Ultimate Secret to Everything Revealed
What is the ultimate meaning of life, the universe and everything?
How can I guarantee personal financial success?
What is the magic product or service that will guarantee success?
What is the secret to instant business success?
Where is that magic bullet?
We are all looking for answers in some ways; easy answers preferred. Low risk. There is a book for every subject and they all contradict each other to some degree. Who is right? Many of them are.
42 is an easy answer and the big joke in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. But applying it is the trick.
The ultimate secret? There is […]
Think Positive, Set and Achieve Your Goals
I find it interesting how when you are in a certain frame of mind, you notice (attract) more of the same things that reinforce that frame of mind.
Beware negative thinking. It begets more negativity.
Sometimes my mood is like a bouncing ball being chased by a border collie, up, down, sideways and everywhere in between. Retrieve and repeat.
Lately, I have been pretty positive. Pumped up positive. Eager to take on new things; make things happen.
My last couple of posts were reflecting on how focusing on your strengths (generally a positive thing) builds success.
Why Not Be Great?
It is funny how the closing of a year brings reflection on the past… and a fleeting commitment to fix all the things you weren't happy with.
Sure, getting rid of some destructive bad habits is a good thing. But is spending your time dwelling on your mistakes and trying to fix your non-talents (weaknesses) the way to go?
In "First, Break all the Rules…" by Marcus Buckingham and Curt Coffman, their research basically determined that you should focus on your talents and figure out ways to minimize the impact of your non-talents.
This is based on the science […]
Sales – Greatness Versus Failure
What makes one salesperson great and another fail?
We often think greatness is the opposite of failure. That if we look at why people fail and do the opposite we will succeed. Perhaps this is because it seems logical… the easy solution. Maybe the opposite of greatness (or failure) is merely average. Maybe greatness and failure are merely variations on each other.
This is discussed in "First, Break all the Rules… " by Marcus Buckingham and Curt Coffman.
"By studying the best salespeople, great managers have learned that the best, just like the worst, suffer call reluctance. Apparently the best […]
Twittering in the Social New Year
I have been blogging for the past 18 months and have posted slightly over 200 articles. I also regularly comment on other people’s sites and do trackbacks. Guess that makes me a blogger.
One of my pet peeves is people who accept comments or trackbacks and don’t actually publish them (assuming of course that you aren’t spamming, slashing or flaming).
I recently posted a link to another article on how smart phones are time wasters. Hard to argue too much when you look at how slow and ineffective a medium texting is for anything other then very quick conversations.
I am already a […]
Dance in the New Year
Paula Callihoo, the owner of Dance Through Life, is opening up the 2nd half of her studio (i.e. even more classes) in the New Year.
The New Year always brings out the resolve in people to change something and I can't think of a better time to:
- Get off the couch and get some exercise,
- Do something for yourself and not focus solely on your children (hey even Dr. Phil backs me on this),
- Learn something new,
- Do something fun,
- Follow your dreams.
Hey, I am partial to the step dancing myself being it relates to the Celtic music I like playing and listening to (I am […]
The iPhone is Ruining the Country
A great tongue and cheek review (by John Dvorak) on how cell phones and all of the bells and whistles that come with them are really just time wasters.
Let's face it, goofing off is goofing off. Pretending otherwise is… well goofy.
The funniest part, many of the comments are arguing with him about how they use their iPhones to do things like fly over a friend's house as examples of useful productivity (the killer app).
Don't get me wrong, every tool has a purpose. But if you are goofing off, don't confuse it with productivity. Oh, and get back to work, the […]
Blue Oceans, Red Oceans and Small Ponds
I just recently finished reading Blue Ocean Strategy. I found the book to be quite informative with a lot of good concepts that can be put into practical application. In the book they talked about the convergence of competition in the bloody red oceans and the need to create blue oceans of value innovation to break out of the red ocean into the uncontested markets of the blue ocean (read bigger profits).
One premise of the book is that there a sort of formula (a process and tools) that can be applied to create blue oceans in a low risk fashion; sort […]