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Articles filed in: Entrepreneurship
Worrying About The Competition
filed in Entrepreneurship, Strategy
Rachael showed up for her trial as a part-time dishwasher in a local cafe, donned her apron and was sent into battle alongside Lolita. Lolita who was a fairly recent addition to the staff was worried, the manager had already had a word with her about picking up the pace at busy times. As she showed Rachael the ropes she tried her best to put her off, asking her why she didn’t look for a better, more glamorous job.
The poor girl then spent the rest of the afternoon accidentally dropping and breaking things.
If you care more about protecting what you’ve got than being generous, you’ve already lost.
If you spend your time looking over your shoulder, how will you find time to make a difference?
If you think someone can do your job better than you, they probably can.
If you believe that someone can replace you, they probably should.
If you don’t think you’ll be missed when you’re gone, then why are you staying?
If you work at being the best you can be, you won’t have to worry about the competition.
Image by CIMMYT
Seth Godin On What We Need To Do Now
filed in Entrepreneurship, Worldview
Seth and I got together yesterday and made this for you. He teaches me something every day and I know you’ll learn something from the insights he shares here.
Seth Godin : What we need to do now from Bernadette Jiwa on Vimeo.
“We’re living in a moment of time, the first moment of time when a billion people are connected, when your work is judged (more than ever before) based on what you do rather than who you are, and when credentials, access to capital, and raw power have been dwarfed by the question
“Do I care about what you do?”
We built this world for you. Not so you could watch more online videos, keep up on your feeds, and LOL with your high school friends. We built it so you could do what you’re capable of. Without apology and without excuse. Go.”
—From Seth’s latest book The Icarus Deception
Image by C.C. Chapman.
2 Questions To Answer Before Bringing An Idea To Market
filed in Entrepreneurship, Strategy
1. How does your customer want to feel after she’s bought your product or experienced your service?
2. How are you going to get her there?
Image by Renato Targa.
The Business Buzzword Of 2013 ‘Platform’
filed in Entrepreneurship, Marketing, Strategy
Everywhere I look online these days I see people being urged to build a ‘platform’. The modern day platform is a digital connection to potential customers, contacts, followers or fans.
A platform then is a tool and a tactic.
There are plenty of consultants willing to help you with the ‘how to’ of building one and whole books devoted to the tactics (the knowing part).
Knowing is a far cry from doing though.
If you are to succeed at building a platform you need to be consistent at ‘the doing’ part. And to be consistent at ‘the doing’ you need to have a reason to build the platform that intersects your needs with those of your audience. Building a ‘platform’ is a far cry from building a tribe. ‘Tribes’ begin with the reason for building (doing) the thing in the first place.
Successful businesses like Airbnb and Zen Habits were born from having a reason to create the platform that served the needs of the audience. The success didn’t simply come from the platform itself.
Go ahead and build your platform so that the people who need you can find you, just remember to work out the reason you’re building it first.
Image by Peter Durand.
Something To Lose
filed in Entrepreneurship, Strategy
The solitary guy who sets up shop in his garage or carves out a space at the local cafe to use as an office has nothing to lose. He can tell his friends that he’s following his passion, that it might not work but he’s giving it a go anyway. Not so easy to be blasé when he has something to lose. When his little garage venture becomes a success and he can now afford an office in town.
The trick once you start succeeding (even a little) is to convince yourself that you still have nothing to lose and to build that mindset into your strategy for growth.
Because once you start thinking you’ve got something to lose. You’re killing the strategy that made you successful while no one was watching.
Image by Sanjay Parekh.
On Being Noticed
filed in Entrepreneurship, Strategy
You want your brand, your business or your cause to be noticed, but have you considered what you’d actually do with the attention if it came flooding in?
What would you do if Oprah called? What would happen if you were featured in that publication of your wildest dreams? What then?
How would you prepare to capture that attention for more than just five minutes?
What would you do to make people want to stick around not just for today, but for a week, a month, a year?
The flip side is that once you understand what really matters to your audience and how to start building something that lasts beyond those first five minutes, the loyalty and success you crave will follow.
You’re building your brand to last, not just to be noticed.
Image by Micea Turcan.
Loved
filed in Entrepreneurship, Marketing, Storytelling
I finally fell out of love with my favourite little cafe. 18 months ago I went there almost every day, not just for the coffee but because of how it made me feel to be there in amongst the noise, the life and the friendly faces with the smell of the ocean wafting through the open windows. It was such a great place, everything was made right there on the premises and the owners were in the thick of it… caring, and that showed.
Last week I decided I’m never going back. Their success has killed everything they once stood for, it’s crushed the soul out of their business (the thing that made them brilliant in the first place). The cafe had been busy to the point of bursting for a long time. The great coffee (every cup), homemade food and the posture of the owners and the staff meant that people loved telling their friends about it. Customers didn’t mind waiting for a table or paying a dollar extra for a delicious fresh brownie and the story they could tell themselves. Then everything changed.
The business expanded. They extended their premises. The owners started working ‘on’ the business not ‘in’ the business. Their new systems and processes changed the whole feel of the place and wiped the smiles off the faces of the staff. It became obvious even to customers that the goal posts had shifted and that the first focus was maximising profit and capitalising on their growing numbers with cynical pricing.
It seems to me that their values shifted along with their metrics. They forgot what made them successful in the first place….. perhaps they never really knew.
This is not to say that you can’t go from starting small to building a hugely profitable business. I’m not implying that you should not aim to turn a good profit. It’s perfectly okay to have a change in strategy as long as you don’t have a change in values.
In a recent study Millward Brown discovered that the success of the 50 best businesses in the world is driven by their ideals, not simply by their product innovation or service provision.
In every category the brands that stand out, the ones that succeed wildly, like Red Bull, Zappos, Apple, Amazon, Lindt and Innocent Drinks are the ones that people love. Go ahead and be the most profitable cafe, consultancy or app developer in town but don’t forget to give people a reason to love you. Then remember the story you gave your customers to tell.
The future of your business is actually built on a lot more than what you hand over at the end of the transaction.
Image by Craig Belamy.
5 Questions You Need To Ask About Your Ideal Client
filed in Entrepreneurship, Marketing, Strategy
1. Who is she?
What’s her backstory? What makes her who she is?
(Hint…she may not be you).
2. What does her typical day look like?
How does she spend her time and where (both online and offline)?
3. What does she care about?
What inspires and informs her? What motivates her to act?
4. What problem(s) does she need to have solved?
Is it a physical pain or obstacle, or is there a want she needs to have fulfilled?
5. How are you solving that problem better than the competition?
Why are you the business that changes how she feels, the one she can trust above everyone else?
If you don’t know how her story starts how can you be a part of it?
Image by Marianne Janssens.
The Secret To Spreading Ideas
filed in Entrepreneurship, Marketing, Strategy
I recently had the opportunity to share an idea I care about thanks to the team at TEDx Perth.
The talk went live online two days ago. I hope it helps you to spread the ideas that you care about.
Image by Sally Jarvis at TEDxPerth
More Than Words
filed in Entrepreneurship, Storytelling, Worldview
The school public speaking competition was in full swing. One after another the young and accomplished speakers stepped up to the lectern. Their opinions, convincing arguments and confidence just blew us away.
The evening was drawing to a close and the audience began to fidget as the second last speaker took the stage. Before he said a word he got hold of both sides of the heavy wooden lectern and pointedly moved it to the side of the stage. He paused, then stepped forward to make eye contact with the audience.
Before he had even opened his mouth or his argument this kid was a winner.
It’s true what Annette Simmons says….whoever tells the best story does win. It’s important to remember though that your story is more than the most convincing argument you can make, or the eloquent words that you write.
Image By Tommi Komulainen.