I’m a big believer in modelling what works.
I also believe innovation—which can’t be modelled—is how you build a lasting business.
Model what works, yes. But don’t forget to innovate on top.
methodology
Choices and trade-offs
One of my absolute favourite books on business strategy is Trade-Off: Why Some Things Catch On, and Others Don’t by Kevin Maney and Jim Collins.
I was re-reading it yesterday and this quote from the intro struck me:
If business leaders fail to make choices—fanatical, obsessive, focused, disciplined choices—to build for the long term, and succumb instead to grasping as much as they can in the short term, they will build mediocre companies.
The reality is, we make trade-offs in our businesses whether we’re intentional about them or not. If we don’t make them, they happen to us.
There’s no right answer for everyone—it just depends on what you want to build and whether you’re willing to make the necessary trade-offs to get there.
The idea disease
I came across this Steve Jobs quote today and thought it was interesting from an advisory perspective:
JOBS: You know, one of the things that really hurt Apple was after I left John Sculley got a very serious disease. It’s the disease of thinking that a really great idea is 90% of the work. And if you just tell all these other people “here’s this great idea,” then of course they can go off and make it happen.
And the problem with that is that there’s just a tremendous amount of craftsmanship in between a great idea and a great product. And as you evolve that great idea, it changes and grows. It never comes out like it starts because you learn a lot more as you get into the subtleties of it. And you also find there are tremendous tradeoffs that you have to make. There are just certain things you can’t make electrons do. There are certain things you can’t make plastic do. Or glass do. Or factories do. Or robots do.
Designing a product is keeping five thousand things in your brain and fitting them all together in new and different ways to get what you want. And every day you discover something new that is a new problem or a new opportunity to fit these things together a little differently.
And it’s that process that is the magic.
One of the biggest criticisms consultants face is that they have ideas, waive their hands, and then leave the execution part for the client to figure out.
To me, that couldn’t be further from the truth. At least, it’s not how I work. And it’s probably not how you work, either.
When I’m consulting, I’m also facilitating the execution.
I bring things like research, examples, partners, training, oversight, and will even execute parts of the strategy with the client on our calls.
Just because we advise, doesn’t mean the follow-through isn’t on us. An idea or strategy is only as good as the execution.
You’re responsible execution, even if you’re not the one actually executing it with your hands.
Time for yourself
Could you take one day off client work per week to work on your business (and yourself)?
I’ve been doing that for the past five weeks and it’s been incredible.
In this Mindshare Radio episode, I talk about how and why it might just be the best thing for you, too.
Listen on the web or subscribe on your favourite podcast player.
Have a great weekend!
Using focus to your advantage
Over time, your business will accrue “things”.
Projects, products, services, clients, team members, domains, subscriptions, commitments, promised deliverables—all kinds of things.
Each “thing” represents some degree of resources and/or mental overhead. And there’s only so much to go around.
Remember to keep stripping out the things in your business that no longer serve you.
Use focus to your advantage.
The smallest possible step
We all get stuck sometimes. We want to do something but for some reason we don’t act on it.
So instead, we dance around it. We procrastinate. We ponder. We ask a few people what they think.
Their positive assurances gives us some relief from the tension. It feels like progress has been made.
But then nothing happens. The idea fades away. We lose interest, and tomorrow it’s something else.
Repeat the process all over again.
What’s really happening?
Fear is happening. Whether you call it that or not, that’s what it is.
And we all experience it—especially with the ideas most dear to our hearts. Which is all the more reason we shouldn’t give into it.
If you want to see if an idea will work, take the smallest possible step.
You don’t know if something will work—or even if you’ll like it—unless you try. Take the smallest possible step.
Fall in love with the process—not your products
It’s okay to fall in love with your products and services.
The details of what you do, how you package and price it, your business model or the delivery mechanism you use, the craftsmanship… everything.
That’s all fine and well.
But if you want to be in business a long time, it’s a lot better to fall in love with the process of finding solutions to the challenges your ideal clients care about solving.
So yes, fall in love with your craft. But stay flexible about how you solve problems until you find what works—and then keep innovating forever.
170. Building around your super-consumers
Super-consumers are the 10% of your customers who account for upwards of 50% of your profit.
All industries have them. All of us are super-consumers of at least something. It’s true. And for very logical reasons.
In this episode, I break down the concept as coined by Eddie Yoon in his book, Superconsumers—and why it matters to your both business and the clients you serve at a strategic level.
Thinking like an agency
There’s a common misconception that marketing advisors don’t execute.
The reality is, we do execute. We just don’t use our hands nor do we manage the day-to-day tasks.
In this episode, I talk about how to think like an agency (even if you’re doing advisory work).
At the end of the day, you’re still responsible for execution. You just do it differently than a typical agency.
Listen in and use this way of thinking in your own business—and during sales conversations when delivering this idea matters most.
Why the best marketing KPI dashboard is a spreadsheet
There are a lot of tools you can use to show your sales and marketing data.
I’ve tried plenty. And while they all have a place, the one I like best is a simple spreadsheet.
Why? Because I can easily see major activities and results over long periods of time—allowing my clients and I to make informed decisions.
With one spreadsheet, I can track inputs (i.e. number of blog posts published) and outcomes (i.e. sales close ratios).
I can combine financial performance with several marketing channel analytics in one view.
I can see how one thing impacts the others at a glance. Like dials on a control board, I can make tweaks to our approach with relative ease.
I even can use mathematical formulas to surface other insightful data, such as repeat purchase rates, marketing efficiency ratios, or payback periods.
I also can quickly add and remove rows depending on what questions we’re asking, making it a fluid and customizable experience.
Most importantly, it’s the place where results can’t hide. It gives total transparency on what’s working or not.
As an advisor, it’s your ethical duty to provide visibility into everything you do. Too much of the industry lives in obfuscation.
If you need a KPI template, I share mine (and many more templates) with members of Mindshare Pro.
Whether you use mine or not, I highly recommend instituting a similar practice.
Your clients will also love it, and that’s just good for business.