Winning In The Difference Economy

I’m not sure what department stores look like on a Tuesday afternoon in your neighbourhood, but in mine they are like ghost towns. Whole floors full of stock that changes with the seasons waiting to be bought by someone (they don’t know who), who happens to stop by. We all know the stories of the…

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The Limitations Of Knowing ‘How To’

For years we’ve been rewarded for knowing the right answer. All of those gummed gold stars licked and stuck in copybooks next to neatly spaced handwriting, served their purpose. We can’t help wanting to know the answer. Knowing ‘how to’ is barely an advantage to the twenty first century business owner or entrepreneur, because there…

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The Most Dangerous Thing About Your Competition

….is your obsession with them. Yes, we live in a giant digital goldfish bowl. This makes it possible to get stuck watching and worrying about what our competitors are doing. Almost every move they make, every accolade, acquisition and award is there for the world to see. It’s far more productive and more profitable to…

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5 Things Your Brand Name Must Do

Brand naming is tough. There are so many variables to consider and the finality of saying ‘that’s it’, feels like a huge decision. Your name is probably the first encounter a potential customer will have with your business. A brand name has to stand the test of time and wear a lot of hats. 5…

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It’s Here—The Book That Will Reinvent Your Marketing

It’s incredible to think about the changes that have happened to our lives and businesses in the last decade. Now instead of guessing what our customers are thinking we can actually listen to what they want. We can see what they are doing all of the time, in real time. And yet, we’re still using…

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Was Everything Okay?

The table was clean. The waitress arrived to take coffee orders within a couple of minutes. We tried to ignore the peeling corners of the laminated menu. The food and the coffee were fine. The waitress polite in a ‘going through the motions’ kind of way. Her parting question as we paid the bill….. “Was…

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30 Questions Every Startup And Entrepreneur Should Answer

We’ve become really good at looking for answers. So good in fact, that we get close to asking a billion questions every day in Google search. And yet as busy business owners and idea creators, we struggle to find time to ask really important questions of ourselves. Here then, are questions worth taking the time…

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Success Is How Your Customers Feel

You’ve just had a great launch. You made your monthly sales targets. Your stock sold out in one day. There are a hundred and one reasons to celebrate, and one thing to remember. Success is not just a data point that you hit on the sales chart, or a dollar figure that makes your accountant…

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Two Golden Rules For Choosing Clients

I have a couple of simple rules that I live by when making the decision about which clients to work with. First—if I’m not jumping out of my skin to work with someone and excited by the difference (big or small) their business creates then we’re probably not a good fit. You have to care…

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