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Beach Notes: A lesson about patience and value

May 21, 2017 by Guest Author Leave a Comment

By Suzie Cheel and Des Walsh

 

At this time of the year, this vignette of trucks, boats and fishermen is a regular, sometimes daily sight on our local beaches. They are waiting for schools of mullet. Sometimes they will be waiting there literally for days on end.

Now mullet in these parts is not a highly regarded fish, and many Australians would never order mullet in preference to other fish such as bream or snapper. So it is usually sold at a significantly lower price.

So for a long time we wondered about the economics of all this waiting by the fisherman, not to mention the sunk investment in trucks and boats.

Then we found that the gold is in the mullet roe, apparently a prized – and expensive – delicacy in Japan and Taiwan, and maybe elsewhere.

Sometimes real value is not obvious.

Sometimes we have to wait for the bearers of value to appear.

Boats on a beach

Authors’ Bios: Suzie Cheel is the Heart Whisperer at Suzie Cheel You can find Suzie on Facebook and on Twitter as @suziecheel. She also shares her inspiring Beach Notes here on Sundays.

Des Walsh is a Digital Disruption Navigator at Des Walsh Dot Com You can find Des at LinkedIn and on Twitter as @deswalsh

Filed Under: Inside-Out Thinking Tagged With: patience

Will You Print More Growth Moving Forward?

July 6, 2016 by Thomas 1 Comment

Build up a brand concept: Smiling businessman building the wordMoving your brand forward can sometimes be a challenging task.

For some companies, growing too quickly can actually lead to an early demise. Then again, when some companies grow too slowly, the same result can be equally devastating.

That said it is important as a business owner to know about how much to grow, when to try and start that growth, and when exactly to slow things down.

So, will your business print more growth moving forward?

Growing at Just the Right Pace is Crucial

So that your brand can grow at just about the right pace, print these tips up:

  • Planning – You can’t do anything in the business world (or for much of that matter in other parts of life) without having a solid plan in pace. With a solid plan in place, your business has the ability to not only grow, but sustain that growth over time. Part of that plan means keeping a close eye not only on your specific industry, but also the overall economy. Red flags such as major layoffs across the board, a slowdown in consumer buying etc. are telltale warnings of rough times. Don’t be oblivious to such warnings, heed them;
  • Services – Knowing when to bring on additional staff, when you might need to put in place a few cutbacks etc. can be challenging. Companies such as City Print Design and others in the business of promoting a company’s message through brochures, flyers, pamphlets, business cards etc. are almost always in demand for their services. The same holds true for necessities such as accounting firms, tax preparation services, healthcare services and others. The message being, some industries are almost all but assured of never ceasing to exist. That said make sure your business always works as if today could be the last day. Never take the foot off the gas in providing unparalleled service to customers the world over;
  • Technology – Another important component in growing at just the right pace is mastering technology. As technology continues to expand and play an even more dominant role in the business world, it is critical that your brand properly use it to the fullest extent. Doing so allows you to stay even with or even surpass the competition. Always look for ways to introduce more technology into your business operation, yet without compromising the core values that have made you a successful brand in the first place. Part of that technology is making sure you have a firm grasp of how the Internet can help not only grow your business now, but down the road;
  • Staff – The mention of technology a moment ago also plays into the importance of making sure your workers not only understand how to use the latest technology, but they also embrace it. While some businesses still exist and actually do okay with an old-fashioned approach to doing business (little or no Internet usage, shying away from social media, zero or little interest in mobile marketing etc.), your brand can capture even more business by encouraging your team to use the available technology out there to the fullest extent possible. In doing so, your brand will oftentimes be seen as a trendsetter, not one that is just trying to keep up with the competition;
  • Future – Lastly, while no business owners has a crystal ball to tell him or herself where their company may be 10 or even five years down the road, there should always be a desire to run one’s business as long as it is financially and feasibly possible. While some unforeseen events can certainly alter those plans at different stages, certain brands as mentioned earlier (accounting, printing, taxes, healthcare etc.) are all but guaranteed to be here many decades from now. As a result, always look at the big picture for your business. If it is a family-run company, will it likely be passed down from generation to generation? When it comes to bigger operations such as healthcare, the question oftentimes is how will technology and finances dictate procedures decades from now? No matter what your line of business, have one eye on today’s responsibilities, along with one eye on what the future holds for your growth potential.

Photo credit: BigStockphoto.com

About the Author: Dave Thomas covers business topics on the web.

Filed Under: Business Life, Inside-Out Thinking Tagged With: brand, business, growth

The Business of Earning More Money

March 16, 2016 by Thomas Leave a Comment

Budget ConceptWhat are you doing to earn more money?

Some business owners (and regular consumers for that matter) will try and come up with myriad of ways to bring in some extra income, especially in a day and age when media incomes are stagnant for many people.

With that in mind, have you been toying with ideas in 2016 as to how to make your wallet or purse a little fatter in terms of the green stuff?

Be Innovative

So that you can increase your income this year and moving forward, have you thought about some of these ideas?

  • Selling products on the side – From Avon to jewelry and much more, selling a product or products on the side from your full-time job is a good means to earn extra money. In fact, some individuals sell such products as their regular jobs. This allows them in essence to be their own bosses, work from home, set the hours best suited to them and more. If this might sound of interest to you, going online is a good place to start. Doing a Google search of such items will get you going in the right direction. You may also have a friend or friends that sell such items on the side or full-time, so they would be great reference points;
  • Overtime hours – While some companies have strict rules on working overtime, many others will allow employees some overtime opportunities from time to time. Get with your boss to see if you in fact are eligible for some bonus hours at work. This is great because you do not have to (unless you so choose) find a part-time job or two on the side. Working extra hours at your full-time job also allows you to build up more experience in your current position, something which could help you with a possible promotion and raise down the road. One thing to avoid, however, is working too many hours to the point where you essentially suffer burnout at some point;
  • Consulting – It is not uncommon to see older workers turn to consulting, something which can lead to less stress and still provide a decent stream of revenue. This is especially a good option if you have years and/or decades in a chosen field. Go online and do some Google searches for consulting in your field of expertise;
  • Leasing your land – Not everything revolves around your resume when it comes to making some extra money. If you own a sizable amount of land, you could lease it out on occasion for a variety of purposes. Hunting on leased land has become more popular in recent years, especially given the fact that more and more land is being consumed by developers, those same developers that are looking to build office spaces, shopping facilities and more. If you are willing to rent out some of your property for hunting, fishing or other such outdoor activities, be sure to draw up a contract each time, making it clear what the rules and regulations are for anyone spending time on your property. You might also consider renting out space on your property if it is large enough for someone to run a small business from there. With rents oftentimes sky-high in cities and towns, small business owners on a shoestring budget wouldn’t mind saving some money. Having them renting a portion of your property to get or keep their businesses up-and-running until they have more resources to expand one day makes sense. Still another idea is renting out extra parking spaces if you have them on your premises. Neighbors may be willing to pay you on a monthly or yearly basis to use such spots, especially if they are limited where they can currently park and/or have multiple vehicles. While your land is your pride and joy, there could be cash-flow opportunities sitting right under your nose;
  • Helping those in your community – From family and friends to neighbors, there are probably a number of extra income opportunities you have not thought of before. Some of these involve helping those closest to you. From babysitting to working on people’s properties, get creative and see how you can pad your wallet or purse. Sometimes knowing you are helping others, all the while adding a little extra to your income reservoirs, is a great feeling.

No matter what you do full-time for a living, are you interested in earning more money?

If the answer is yes (you might be hard-pressed to find those who would say no), then put your thinking cap on and get to work at it.

Being savvy when it comes to earning more money and just improving your overall life is something you should always be thinking about.

What are you doing in today’s challenging economy (business or personal) to make more money?

Photo credit: BigStockPhoto.com

About the Author: Dave Thomas covers business and marketing topics on the web.

Filed Under: Business Life, Inside-Out Thinking Tagged With: business, finances, growth, income, opportunities

Turn Your Weaknesses into Strengths: Five Jiu-Jitsu Principles that can benefit an Entrepreneur

January 2, 2014 by Rosemary 3 Comments

By Andrew Filev

For more than five years I’ve been training in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. I’d say it’s not just a self-defense system, but a whole art that is based on the concept that even a smaller, weaker person can defeat a stronger opponent if he uses the right technique. For me, Jiu-Jitsu is much more than physical training; it’s a philosophy. It teaches you things that can be applied not only on the mat but in your personal and professional life as well. Here are just a few of the lessons it can teach you in business:

1. The size is irrelevant if you master the technique

‘If size mattered, the elephant would be the king of the jungle,’ Rickson Gracie, black belt in JJ and heir of BJJ founders, justly noted. Likewise, in business, nimble start-ups manage to disrupt markets dominated by ‘elephants’ or even create a market of their own. All such start-ups have one thing in common– the ability to act creatively. You can’t win by simply replicating a big company’s game that’s already been polished. A small company needs to use its own advantages, like agility, being closer to customers, and, of course, being different in some aspect that is important to customers.

For instance, there’s an interesting case study about how Bulldog, a small UK company producing male grooming products, found a way to compete against giants like L’Oreal and Nivea. First, instead of using generic skincare product formulas Bulldog developed its own recipes using all natural ingredients. They also decided to use an unorthodox marketing strategy and teamed up with comedian David Mitchell to sponsor a series of comedy monologues. These videos collected more than 8 million views and grew Bulldog’s retail sales in UK by 65.4%.

When Wrike came to the project management space seven years ago, most of the solutions were built for industrial business models. Instead of entering the market as ‘just another company’, we decided to develop our own market: we specialize in helping creative workers collaborate online. Wrike brought something new ‘real-time collaboration’ and, thanks to delivering the solution via cloud, made it considerably cheaper. This made Wrike one of the fastest growing companies in the project management and collaboration space.

2. “A black belt is a white belt that never quits”

Renzo Gracie, a world famous Jiu-Jitsu coach, phrased the secret of jiu-jitsu champions pretty cleverly in the quote above. They train harder, day after day, year after year. They find ways to organize their life around this tough schedule, and think about improving their skill even when they’re not training.

It may look like Silicon Valley is built on stories of ‘overnight success.’ However, it is determination and persistence that make this success happen. Of course, luck helps, too. But it’s the luck of being persistent enough to find numerous opportunities, and being smart and disciplined enough to make those opportunities work.

3. Dojo is a place to learn

In jiu-jitsu a dojo is a training place where you can share knowledge and try new moves without risk and fear. Often it’s something you’re not supposed to do in competition, where you go with a well-developed game.

In business, the same can be achieved by ‘inducing learning.’ Instead of making a big ‘all in’ move right away, you can run a test project and study the results. If it works well, you can quickly scale it. Prototyping, A/B tests, crowd funded pre-orders in consumer space, you name it. The toolset of techniques grows quickly and becomes more and more sophisticated; all you need to do is to integrate them into your company’s daily processes.

4. Never stop moving

In Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu once you stop moving you get caught in a submission hold. In business, no matter how big you are, once you stop moving forward the competition will pass you. Andy Grove, famous ex-CEO of Intel, and Clayton Christensen, who came up with the concept of disruptive innovation, developed this point in their books Only the Paranoid Survive and The Innovator’s Dilemma.

There are many examples of successful companies which became complacent and then when disruptive innovation happened turned into dinosaurs, such as Blockbuster and Kodak. Apple, on the other hand, is a testimony of a ‘paranoid mentality.’ When developing the iPhone, the company expected its sales of iPod to decline; and in developing the iPad, its Mac computer line to be negatively affected. But Apple chooses to constantly one-up itself. In fact, Steve Jobs famously said: ‘If you don’t cannibalize yourself, someone else will.’ It is exactly this mentality that allows the company to beat the ‘innovators’ dilemma.’

5. If you want to be a blue belt, make Jiu-jitsu your hobby. If you want to be a black belt, make it your life

Both in Jiu-Jitsu training and in business, genuine love for what you do and what you want to accomplish is, at the end of the day, what keeps you going. There are, of course rough patches, but when someone says that they have no idea how they would function day-to-day without your company (as our customer recently did), you know you must be doing something right. As Steve Jobs once stated, ‘Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do.’ So, savor good moments, keep your eye on the goals you want to achieve, and enjoy the ride.

Are there any lessons that you can take from your hobby into your professional life?

———————————————–

Author’s Bio: Andrew Filev is the founder and CEO of Wrike, a leading provider of task management software. He is a seasoned software entrepreneur, project and product manager with 10+ years of experience and advisor to several fast-growing ventures. Apart from business, Andrew is interested in human and artificial intelligence – from cognitive psychology to neuroscience to machine learning. He also trains in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. You can find Andrew on Twitter as @andrewsthoughts or @wrike (Wrike).

Filed Under: Business Life, Inside-Out Thinking, Strategy/Analysis, Successful Blog Tagged With: bc, strategy, strengths

I Meant To Do That! How To Turn A Mistake Into Success

December 20, 2013 by Rosemary Leave a Comment

By Jon Norwood

I’ve started four businesses and successfully sold three. The common factor in all of them is that I made at least one serious error right out of the gate. When you’re faced with a fixed and immovable object, caused by either a mistake or due to matters outside of your control, if you cannot change it stop fighting it. But simply embracing it is not enough however. Adapt your plan and make this obstacle part of your intentional offering.

Military strategists, as well as every mother of little children, have learned how to roll with the punches. Adapt to the environment and its challenges. If you want to guarantee your failure, approach your business (and life in general) with a stiff neck and refuse to be flexible. If you don’t believe me, just picture all those poor suckers that collapse while standing at attention with their knees locked!

Real World Example

A businessman opened a “ropes” course for corporations. After he founded the company, spent the revenue building the course and marketing the opening of his new venture, he was informed that he could not sell alcohol. He didn’t think it would be a major problem, but as the months went on, he discovered just the opposite.

The corporations discovered that they had a hard time getting “buy in” from their employees and volunteers that were asked to spend an entire day that far out in the country, and not be able to have a happy hour after the event. In fact, the promise of a happy hour was a major selling point for his competition!

After 2 years of struggling, he was considering closing the doors. Then he had the idea that he could embrace the problem. In other words, he could look for organizations that would choose him over his competition BECAUSE he CHOSE to not serve alcohol.

Religious and conservative organizations found this marketing enticing. To his surprise, many organizations began to choose his course because they would no longer be vulnerable to law suits due to alcohol abuse and driving under the influence! His limitation became a powerful selling point.

Embrace your limitations and find a way to position them as strengths.

Bad location? Say it was on purpose and adjust your offering.
Spent a ton of money on a typewriter when everyone else is buying a computer? Learn to research for the next time. Say you love the quality and send out letters from that typewriter with marketing about your dedication to quality!

There is always an angle! You just have to stop freaking out to see it. It’s not a matter of being misleading in any way, it’s a choice of looking at the situation from a positive mindset and marketing from that perspective.

Author’s Bio: Jon Norwood writes about business and technology at http://communities.washingtontimes.com/neighborhood/tech-talk/. He is also the author of internet providers by zip code. You can find him on Twitter as @mobileinformers.

Filed Under: Idea Bank, Inside-Out Thinking, Successful Blog Tagged With: bc, marketing, strategy, strengths

4 Fear Busters To Jumpstart Your Business

November 15, 2013 by Rosemary Leave a Comment

By Kevin Kelly

In my latest book, DO! The Pursuit of Xceptional Execution, I interviewed entrepreneurs from around the world. They lead some of the world’s most compelling brands and companies, ranging from one to 3,000 employees, with turnovers from $100,000 to $130 million. I call them the Xceptionalists. They hail from Buenos Aires, Argentina to Bologna, Italy; from Des Moines, Iowa to Galway, Ireland. They run app companies, consultancies, clinics and sprawling technology corporations.

Given that half of all new business fail in the first five years, how did they deal with fear and survive their early failures?

1. Stop fearing feedback

Xceptionalists treat failures as feedback and a prelude to future success. Ben Milne of Dwolla said, “… I have failed in making adaptations to the product… I have failed at selecting business partners. I nearly went out of business three times in my career. When you are failing the key point is to just admit it. … The longer you drag it out the less chance you have.”

According to Peldi from Balsamiq. “Mistakes don’t really matter that much as long as you fix them straight away and put your hand up. … It is very much the lean start-up way: throw it out there and listen.”

Why fear feedback? Why stigmatize failure in the workplace when it’s bringing you closer to achieving your organizational goals. If you want to find the next big success, failure comes with the territory.

2. Face and floor it

In the early 1970’s, during the height of the political turmoil that rocked Northern Ireland, Agnes McCourt, owner of Unislim had a very frightening encounter with an armed and masked gunman, Agnes’s husband wanted to cease all business links in Northern Ireland and relocate to Southern Ireland. Agnes agreed to the house move but continued to develop the her business. Why? “In business, one has to be fearless and do what one’s inner voice tells you is the right thing,” she told me.

Devon Brooks co-founder of the unique women’s personal care business Blo Blow Dry Bars, was sexually assaulted and went through the ensuing harrowing judicial process. She made a personal commitment that she would never let her past get in the way of taking action. Devon told me, “Sometimes you live life, and sometimes life happens to you. But you always get to choose what you do about it.”

3. Find the source of the fear

Like many Xceptionalists, when fear raises its head, Patrick McKeown of Asthmacare had a strategy that works for him. He asks three questions:

  • What is the best possible outcome?
  • What is the worst possible outcome?
  • What outcome falls between the above two?

McKeown says entrepreneurs who survive in the long term take calculated risks, and tend not to take monumental courses of action with their head stuck in the sand. So the fear has no gone away, they just understand it a little better.

4. Flow floors fear

For our Xceptionalists from Brazil, WeDemand.com, fear was never an issue. They have been so immersed in an industry they love, they haven’t had the time or the inclination to be afraid. “I would tell entrepreneurs not to be afraid. If you sit around and just wish about your idea, nothing will happen. All you can lose is money and there is no shame in trying,” said cofounder Bruno Natal.

So in essence, there is nothing to fear. The challenge for you the entrepreneur is to find your passion and make fear history.

See more extracts from Kevin Kelly’s new book “Do! The pursuit of Xceptional Execution”

Author’s Bio: Kevin is an internationally acclaimed leadership and motivational speaker and best selling author. For more information: http://www.kevinkellyunlimited.com.

Filed Under: Inside-Out Thinking, Strategy/Analysis, Successful Blog Tagged With: bc, business, entrepreneurship, fear

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