Future of Business
Freedom At 50!
I have a confession to make, sometimes, I just don’t know how to help you. Why? It’s because you don’t know what I know, and you can’t see what I see. It’s not your fault, you have been conditioned, blinded, and even had the wool pulled over your eyes by the industrial age of business. But today, you don’t have anywhere to hide, you already know too much, and that’s why you are afraid.
I was asked why I do what I do, why do I work so hard to help business owners and entrepreneurs that don’t seem to want to be helped? My answer was a little confusing to this person, I said, it’s what I do, I don’t really have a choice. You see, I feel it’s a calling, a voice in my head, my conscience, my deep concern for the business community, and my heart for people. I can’t not do this blog, I can’t stop reaching out to my business community, and I have to continually share what I know and see. You see, it’s not about me, it’s about you.
In my workshops, I do an hour long presentation, a look at what’s happening, and then I share what I see happening, and then I try to teach what to do about what’s happening. I try to help you create new ideas or deliverables for your business, maybe help you find the business you want to start, or one of the many passions fighting like hell to be let out of yourself.
I’m turning 55 this November, not sure how I feel about it but, 5 years ago I found myself suddenly free, yep, freedom at 50! It wasn’t because I was financially independent, it was simply this, the industrial age had spit me out on the curb, it was a blessing, although at the time it didn’t feel like it. I had a choice, pay attention to what was happening and figure out how to adopt it, or…be comfortable in the industrial age cocoon and the lie it is, was, and had told me. The truth was talking to me, and I was fighting against it.
I knew that day was going to come, January 27th, 2007. The harder I ignored what I knew was happening, the direction business was headed, the work situation seemed to get worse and worse, until one day it came to an end. You see, it wasn’t working for them or for me, I just couldn’t tow their party line another day. There was a lot going on behind the scenes I didn’t know about, and that’s fine, on February 1st, 2007, the company I used to work for, was sold. It was a kick in the butt, and seat on the curb. I even felt used, taken advantage of, but that’s not what this story is about.
So why am I sharing my story, its simple, I know many of you have similar stories, and you’re afraid just like I was, but I knew I was going to be OK, I didn’t know why, but I did. I know you will be too. Like you, the call in me was strong, that force was very strong, my passion was screaming at me to let it out, to take a chance and learn how to live with ambiguity. There I said it, ambiguity. That’s what most of us fear, we have this deep need to know what’s going to happen next, where the next meal is going to come from, and worse yet, when is the next payday going to happen. And it needs to happen religiously every two weeks!
The problem wasn’t doing it, the problem was, how do I do it? When you step outside the industrial age system, pay days are a reward for your faith walk, for your commitment to the call you feel inside, there is nothing the industrial age can offer that matches the reward of heeding your call, and the feeling of freedom you possess.
Freedom at 50 is hard when it doesn’t come on your terms, and most of us will have to work at something well past the age of 65 and even 70, what will you do, and what will it be. Will it be what the world and the industrial age tells you it should be, or will you learn to live another way, learn a new business model. Whichever you choose, you will have to work, it’s part of the curse of having the life you want to live.
I am writing this to you because my heart is aching, it’s even breaking, because you are struggling just as I did 5 years ago. You should know, I still struggle, but I am not controlled by it, my call and my passion make the struggle fade away.
So if you find yourself sitting on the side-lines (curb), or you know you have to make a change, don’t let fear control to call inside you, it could be the call is telling what to do and you’re simply ignoring it. If you do anything do this, always seek counsel from someone you trust, someone with perspective, from someone who can teach you how to live in the new age of business, from someone who is doing it, from someone who can show you how to become the passion inside you.
For years I fought against my passions, my desires, and simply did what the education system industrial age told me to do, I was wrong to listen. I teach an open & free business model because it works, it takes commitment, it takes patience, and it takes work….but it works. I’m selling ideas, I’m selling you the truth about what’s happening, and I’m selling a message of freedom. Freedom at 50 wasn’t my choice, but I’m grateful that it happened, it’s like Morpheus pulled me out of the Matrix. Which pill will you take, the industrial age lie, or the open & free business model
I hope sharing bits of my story helps you, will you have freedom at 50? If so, what are you doing, what do you want to do, and do you plan to do it?
Related articles
- The Future Of Business – If I Were A Carpenter (owengreaves.com)
- The industrial age has finally run out of gas (Don Tapscott) (mediafuturist.com)
- The forever recession (and the coming revolution) (sethgodin.typepad.com)
The Future Of Business – The Consumers New Found Power
The Future Of Business – The Consumers New Found Power. It’s been said forever, the customer is always right. So why doesn’t business believe it, why don’t they practice it? Greed? Probably. I as a consumer, more than anything want accurate information, pure uninterrupted support, ease of access, and above all, the freedom to make a decision without being coerced, or sold.
It’s also been said, that a customers experience with a brand (product or service) is what determines the life span of a business. If it’s good, you get another day. If it’s bad, your days are numbered, it’s really that simple. It’s called Word Of Mouth, people talk, and now they talk to millions at the stroke of the keyboard.
The future of business is like the threat of an avalanche, a business can be wiped out as quickly, and it can grow equally as fast. Why? Word Of Mouth. The Consumer has new found power, many will abuse it, that’s human nature, but many will tell the truth. It’s the truth that’s the problem, it’s harder to deal with, it’s harder to make corrections when the truth is revealed. Those who abuse this new found power will be found out, and then will have to deal with the truth, it goes both ways doesn’t it.
Gerd Leonhard has said it, I have said, and many others have quoted it, we will have to learn how to trust the people formerly known as the consumer. Why? Because they have the new found power. Whether you believe it or not, that’s the truth in a nut shell, they can and will determine the future of your business. They don’t need to qualify, they don’t need permission, they only need an opinion. You and I have absolutely no control on how they will share that opinion. As a business owner, we have the opportunity to ensure it’s a positive opinion, there in lies the rub. We have to work hard for that positive opinion, and most of us don’t want to. We want to do just enough to reach our objectives, then get out before we have to work too hard.
I can only offer this, in order to build a legacy, to build a business that makes the world a better place, you have to plan and work hard to ensure that happens. If it’s just about making money, you’re looking at the wrong metric. Money is merely a means to an end, but the legacy, the world, it wants more from you than just handing over money. The new found power of consumers wants more, and will demand it, it will force you to be accountable, you will comply or pay the price of ignoring the new found power consumers have today. Their opinion matters, and you need to pay attention to it.
And that’s why telling the truth, honesty, sound products and services that deliver, and your integrity matter, it is the foundation that will help you build a legacy, a strong successful business. It sounds corny, and it sounds like hard work, that’s because it is. If it was easy, well you know the answer to that one.
The future of business will be built on this new found power of the consumer, they will determine whether you service or product is any good, they will determine if your recommendations actually solve their problems. Plan, work hard, and deliver. That’s how you will get on the good side of the consumers new found power.
The Future Of Business – Small & Mobile
The future of business – small & mobile, in every sense of the words. many of the big box stores have been shutting down locations, why, too expensive. Even the food industry sees the future, the mobile kiosk style restaurant merely parks on the street and serves up gourmet meals as if you were sitting in a high end restaurant. This trend is not going away, in fact, it’s a huge phenomenon.
Many resist the notion that big box stores are going away, but look at the trends, the Internet, technology, and the business that is small is the new big….you don’t need big boxes, or big anything. Small means many things, but most of all, if your business is small, it can change quickly, adopt and improvise without skipping a beat. Being small also means you are probably mobile, I don’t mean mobile in technology, I mean, you can move to another location and go where the people are at a moments notice. Being mobile technically is the other side of mobile. Technology helps put your business on billions of mobile devices with very little effort.
We used to laugh at the kiosks setup in these big boxes called malls, who’s laughing now? There is almost no overhead with a kiosk, no maintenance to really speak of, it’s like having short hair, low maintenance, wash it and go.
Today we work from virtually anywhere, no pun intended, but mobile is everything these days. Having a bricks & mortar business almost seems like you are breaking the law, why would you build a business like that? I know, I’m getting ahead of our time, but there are some serious realities to building a business the old industrial way. technology won’t tolerate it. You see technology waits for no one. We think we control it, but we don’t, our brains are not wired to control something that big, and with the exponential power & growth it overwhelms us with.
WHAT TO DO
So what do we do? This is the simple question that is more complicated than it’s simplicity. Did that even make sense to you? In my last post I wrote about being a carpenter, as if carpentry was just invented today, what would you build, what do you see that the world needs. The same holds true here, if you were a carpenter, you would probably build a small social, human, mobile business. Not a huge massive big box store with far too many staff, it just doesn’t make sense, does it?
I’m not bashing those who have gone before us a built these big box stores, I’m merely pointing out that those coming after us, the under 20 generation….they aren’t interested. They’re egos are not wired that way, they want less, they are minimalists, they want fast, cheap, NOW! And that’s what they will build, legacy is not as important to them as it is anyone over 30. I’m generalizing of course, but if you have read my blog for any length of time, you know that’s what I do. There are always exceptions, but those numbers are much smaller.
So is your business small & mobile? Can you move quickly, is your business easily accessible via mobile devices, and is small? Small as in a low number of staff, low overhead, but large return on investments, that means profitable.
If you are thinking of starting a business today, think small & mobile.
The Future Of Business – If I Were A Carpenter
If I were a carpenter, what would I build? I think of carpenter’s a builder’s, in fact, I think of entrepreneur’s the same way. Business owner’s used to be builder’s, but something happened, they were lulled into management mode. Carpenter’s are also builder’s from the industrial age, the art of carpentry is a dieing art, well at least the way we think of it. But that’s the point, how we think.
I have said many times, over and over again, it’s the tag on this blog, Mindset trumps skillset everytime. How we think about building, how we think about our business, how we think about everything really, it’s all changing and we are not. I was sharing with Chris Brogan on Kitchen Table Talks last week about how the this area has yet to embrace a new way of doing business. The new way? Becoming a social business, a human business. What are we so afraid of?
If I were a carpenter, I would build a business that opens your mind, that shares this new concept, this new open & free business model….wait….I have built it, but is it done? There’s another problem, we think in terms of being finished, social businesses, human businesses are never done. Do you think your relationships with people and businesses are ever finished, no. So why do we think, just because we are building a business, it will be finished someday? If you think you are finished, you will be. Think about that for a moment, let it settle for a moment.
You see, my business, I hope it is never done, I hope it draws you in, I hope it causes you to question the status quo….always. My prayer is that you will want to learn new ways of adopting the new way of doing business, if you don’t, someone else will, and your business will be finished.
There are some incredible people out here on the Internet sharing, (far too many too mention here) all the time, teaching you to see business differently, you want to but….you seem to fall back to what you’ve always done. It happens everytime you get into management mode, new ways are too hard to implement and maintain in your head, so you do what you’ve always done. Push back as hard as you try, time gets you everytime.
Imagine if you, just for a moment, what if being a carpenter was just invented today, what would you build? You build something that no longer works, or would you invent something new?
I challenge you, ask yourself the question based as if being a carpenter was invented today. If you were a carpenter, what would you build? A traditional business? probably, but I would suggest a different model. I would build a very open and free business model, a social business, a human business. What say you?
Related articles
- Future Scratches (chrisbrogan.com)
- Owen Greaves On Kitchen Table Talks With Chris Brogan (owengreaves.com)
- Do you have a people strategy? (sethgodin.typepad.com)
The Future Of Business – Pay Attention
The future of business is really quite simple, pay attention. I’ve been writing and talking about this secret sauce for a few years now, and it seems that most businesses are missing the point. We will spend thousands, no, millions on traditional advertising, because there is a perception that it works. It some cases it still does, but the world has gone into a state of flux, it’s not paying attention to traditional ways of advertising like it used to. Today, you have to pay attention, but not in a the way you think.
For years, OK the last 300 years it seems, we could merely hang a shingle, yell from a soap box, run an ad on Radio or Newspaper, and get the kind of attention we wanted. That’s true, but something has changed hasn’t it? We are no longer within ear shot of those types of ads anymore, we’ve been driven indoors by technology, we don’t get out much like we used to.
Social Networks have become the new place to hangout, it’s where everyone is spending their time, their money, and it’s where they share almost everything their lives. The new advertising model is sharing, and we don’t have to pay for it! So how does one get found, get the attention one needs to generate revenue, or a living. It’s simple, you have to pay attention. You have to pay attention to what is being shared, what is being said.
There’s only one way to do this, grow bigger ears! Learn how to listen, pay attention and look for the buying signals. It’s what we do in traditional sales, why are you looking for something different? The process is the same, it’s the tools that have changed. Because the tools have changed, the world is suddenly confused, and isn’t sure what to do.
Money is being left on the table because most have yet to learn the new tools, haven’t taken the time to use them, and or taken the time to harness the power of growing bigger ears. Many business owners still haven’t bought into the power of listening in Social Networks, there is a huge misunderstanding of what’s happening in these networks. But if you pay attention long enough, and are looking for the right signals (keywords), you can add thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of dollars to your bottom line. So far, it hasn’t happened, at least not in my area, the world is still waiting for something, waiting for something to happen so business owners don’y have to do anything. They are looking for the next radio & Television, the next newspaper, well…..it’s not coming, you will have to do something to find the fore mention dollars that are waiting for you.
THE LESSON
I shared an example of what I meant a couple blog post’s ago, the example is me, with 20 thousand in hand, no one was paying attention to me as I shared on social networks. I shared what I was looking for, I am doing improvements to my home, bought a new fridge, and I’m still not done…but no one, not one business was listening, so they missed out on making that money. In fact, 5 other people in my circle of friends are doing the same thing, imagine, 100k at your finger tips and you missed it, you weren’t paying attention.
This is the new way of finding customers, you must be paying attention by growing bigger ears, by listening. This is where the people are, online, waiting, searching, and buying products and services, every hour of the day. Business owners, the future of business is…..pay attention.
Related articles
- Is Your Business Community Listening? (owengreaves.com)
- Brands Built Without Advertising (owengreaves.com)
