“All business is personal…make your friends before you need them.” – Robert L. Johnson
Viewing entries tagged
Business
“Not all ideas are businesses. Not all passions are businesses.” – Cher Jones
“The right time to start a business is when you solve a problem.” – Nick F. Nelson (Brandprenuer)
“There are two ways to extend a business. Take inventory of what you’re good at and extend out from your skills. Or determine what your customers need and work backward, even if it requires learning new skills.”
“It’s not a question of whether being in a meeting is a good use of an individual’s time; it’s a question of whether it is a good use of the company’s time.” – Rick Jackson
“Markets generally figure out how to deal with problems of supply and demand.” – Levitt and Dubner
“Working on the business recognizes that the business is a thing unto itself. The business is a product that results from our purposeful creative, or alternatively, it is the default result of our subconscious neglect. Like the engine of a car, the business is a mechanism that exists to solve a problem, provide a service, and do a job. And like an engine, if it is not serviced, maintained, and improved, it will fail and become obsolete.” – Shane Jackson
I recently saw a professional form Intuit’s innovation practice sit down with two start-up companies to offer mentoring and strategy counseling. Instead of focusing on the answers and the discussions, I noted the questions he was asking and thought they might be an interesting playbook for others to run. Ask yourself these questions, honestly and at a level that anyone from any industry could understand, and you will go a long way to clarify and refine your strategy for success.
- What is the most important issue facing your business today?
- For the audience you are targeting, what is their pain?
- When you talk to customers what was unexpected?
- Have you found anyone who has the pain you are looking to solve?
- How big is the problem and how are customers solving it today?
- Can you solve the problem once, get paid, and validate that it is a need?
- Have you heard any red (or possibly yellow) flags from customers about their need for the product, their willingness to pay, etc?
- Who can be a lighthouse account for you?
- If the business didn’t work, what would be the reasons why?
In the States there is a class of attorneys known as “ambulance chasers.” They follow accident victims to the hospital and offer their services to get justice or payment for their injuries. I am not diminishing the role of personal injury cases and the legitimate rights of those victims, but those attorneys are looking for pain and suffering. In fact, it fuels their business.
All of us in business have a similar need to look for the pain. The most successful companies, and the products and services that they offer, address an unmet pain and solve it in a unique way.
As innovators and business strategists we should always be in the hunt for the pain.
- What costs too much?
- What takes too long?
- What ends too soon?
- What can we not get enough of?
- What do we have too much of?
These kind of questions, can lead to the insights that create new customers, new business models, new products, and fuel the enterprise into the future.
Joshua Kauffman, principle at Wisdom Capital Partners, is a well-respected global consultant who regularly talks about the confluence of global spaces, cultures and commerce. He often uses the example of the city of Buffalo, New York, which has never been the same since Bethlehem Steel pulled out, taking 100,000 jobs out of the local economy. He advises that cities, like ecosystems of other types, require diversity to survive over time. When a city is a “one tricky pony,” there is a real risk in the case of a downturn in one business or industry. Putting thousands of people directly at risk and hundreds of thousands indirectly at risk as newly unemployed people spend less on services and goods in the community.
Think about your own town or city. Look up the list of top employers. Is it diverse enough to weather a storm? In Portland, Oregon, there is a big sports and outdoor apparel segment, a growing technology sector, and a number of thriving healthcare systems. It might be more recession proof than other cities, but is not necessarily bringing new investment into the region as it tends to flux with demographics like population and age.
We know the role that governments can play in building diversity in our communities. But what about the role of the individual? Here are six ways you can build the resiliency and diversity of your city’s ecosystem:
- We can all shop local. Not just the day after Black Friday, but every day. I am guilty of purchasing online for its convenience and sometimes cost savings. However, I’d like to see those big online stores make it easier for consumers like me to shop local using their vast networks. I’d like to be able to filter search results for products that are produced (or even warehoused) locally. I like how UberEats is enabling local restaurants to add a service delivery element, employing local drivers. I’d like to see the same from Amazon, Etsy, and other companies who have the infrastructure and brand awareness to help us invest in our local communities.
- Entrepreneurs play a role in diversifying the business landscape with investments in new segments. This includes spin-outs of other business. My company, Planar, was a spin-off from Tektronix over 30 years ago and we have gone on to spin off other companies, like InFocus. We were recently acquired, bringing foreign investment to our region. Many companies that are now employing people in our area have spun out of Intel, Tek, Nike, and some of the larger employers in the region.
- As employees, we all can work within our own companies to add diversity across different industries and verticals to give resiliency to our own businesses. Are there new ways we can attract new customers, utilize resources and vendors in our local area, innovate for new market or product segments, or think bigger to ensure that we are bolstering our own communities?
- We can make personal investments in education in our communities and our homes, with a focus on the next generation of employees for our respective cities. To this end, I volunteer for and financially support Marathon Scholars, which grows talent starting with fourth graders, seeing them through their college graduation, which helps grow our local economy for the long-term. Similarly, the university systems play a key role in building the job market in the future. Helping to partner on research that fuels local corporate innovation and educating tomorrow’s business leaders, scientists, and industry disrupters.
- We can work with lawmakers to encourage government funding in the region. People might forget that today’s Silicon Valley was incubated in its early days with investments in aerospace by the U.S. government and universities like Stanford. What other impactful “epicenters” can be derived from government funding and local entrepreneurship?
- And finally, we all play a role in promoting our cities as a good place for business investment and tourism. We are all part of the chamber of commerce and the economic development commission. What makes your town a great place to live? What makes your city great for business? How can you let your circle of influence, outside your city, know about the brand of your town to ignite the ultimate word of mouth campaign? For many years the only thing people knew of Oregon was the Tanya Harding ice skating scandal. Luckily, we have transcended this reputation (helped in no small part by the popularity of TV shows like Portlandia and it’s over the top depiction of the city’s quirks). People know us for our abundant rain. They know that it is beautiful here. But do they know world-class sports companies like Nike, Adidas and Columbia Sportswear are headquartered here? Do they know that international brands Leyard and Intel have huge presences here? They know we drink a lot of coffee and are snobs about it, but do they know we are like this about all beverages ranging from tea to whiskey, natural soda and handcrafted beers, each of which have local crafters that have built a thriving business here? Do they know about the innovations happening at OHSU, OSU, UO, PSU, Warner Pacific, Concordia, and other higher education institutions in the region? Do they know why you choose to live and work here? It’s our job to tell them.
It’s true: it takes diligent focus to grow a diverse and financially stable local city ecosystem. There are a lot of variables, but I’m optimistic about the ideals in today’s consumers and businesses to “think local” for the benefit of community members and the business sector. It’s not a fleeting expression: I believe it is here to stay and will benefit us all. Shop local, encourage your company to source local vendors and materials, allow local spinoff companies in your city to thrive, engage your local government officials to bring monies to support your businesses, nurture education opportunities for the next generation of workers, and finally, spread the word about your city’s unique attributes to encourage more growth, investment and prosperity.
This article was originally published in Business2Community.
"If you want to build a big business, solve a big problem." - Scott Cook, Intuit
It used to be when someone asked for your address, they meant your street address. I know, it sounds funny now, because it is much more likely that we exchange email addresses today, or perhaps our social handles. And sometimes we are in the same place, without sharing addresses at all. I have “friends” (or are they “followers”?) on Pinterest because they were suggested based on our affinity for ridiculous shoes or fabric art (or at least that is what I assume about the algorithms that brought us together). We are now residents of the digital landscape and we might not know our own address.
This got me thinking of the implications of this to other elements of our work. If co-workers in far-flung parts of the globe use the same ERP system, website, salesforce automation tools, and data warehouse, is it like we are co-located in a single office? How does our citizenship in the digital landscape affect who we consider our “first team” (to use the language of Patrick Lencioni)? The people we might be interacting with the most (in terms of pushing and pulling information or internal customers of our work product) might be people we don’t know personally, but interact in a brokered matter through these systems.
So, both in our personal and work life it might become increasingly difficult to know our neighbors. It could be that software designers, using human design principles, might be responsible for how human and how humane, we are to each other in the future.
Named after the public officials in “It’s a wonderful Life”, the Sesame Street characters, Bert and Ernie, are a staple of childhood mythology. Ernie represents enthusiasm and wonder. Bert represents practicality and order. The “odd couple” certainly.
In our organizations, we divide up into Bert and Ernie camps. Some of us ideate, have a sense of urgency, and can be easily distracted. Others of us can have singular focus (even if our obsessions are misplaced on pigeons and stamp collecting), are skeptical, and risk adverse. Our organizations need both.
Josh Goldblum from Blue Cadet spoke at a conference and said he is the Ernie to his business partner’s Bert. Who are you?
"Staying relevant means being willing to run a different business every few years" - Katherine Power
If you are a start-up, how do you talk about your business? Are you building a company? Hatching a company? Founding a company? Planting a business? Disrupting an industry? What does this say about where you are focusing your time and energy?
If you are in a more established company, what language do you use? Are you growing a company? Managing a company? Leading a company? Transforming a company? Leading a turn-around? Scaling a company? Leading a team? Building a sustainable business? Are you creating wealth for shareholders?
If you are exiting a company or business, how do you describe that? Are you divesting? Are you stepping back? Are you stepping away? Are you implanting an exit plan? Are you just not showing up anymore?
The words you use matter. Think about how you describe your business and what that says about you.
I know it’s true. And you can join me in blaming the internet. I am nearly 100% sure you have never actually read the Terms and Conditions to which you just agreed.
