Posts Tagged ‘Future of Business’
Tire Kickers
It amazes me how many business owners and entrepreneurs write off the power of the Internet, the value people in Social Networks can bring to a business, it’s astounding! Too many spend far to much time complicating something that is as simple as the telephone. The GURUS & EXPERTS would have you believe it’s hard and complicated, you better spend thousands to figure it out. I’m not suggesting you should get help, or even pay for that help, but do some diligence before hiring the snake oil salesperson.
Yes there are parts of the Internet that require and investment, you will invest time, you will invest money, but you should invest first in the plan. More importantly, you should have a clear understanding of why. I don’t teach people how to do this badly named thing called Social Media, how to setup an account and so on. I show you why you should pay attention to these networks, why you should investigate the game changer, the Internet. Why is everything. If you knew what I know, if you could see what I see, you would be concerned. Why, because everything you think you know about business and how it’s being done won’t work in the next 5 – 10 years.
Too many spend ten minutes using Twitter or Facebook, then cry foul that it doesn’t work, you / they…are the tire kickers, they don’t respect the digital shift. They don’t know why they are kicking the tires, they got told or sold a bill of goods, or worse yet thought they could figure it out on their own.
Business owners / Entrepreneurs that take their business seriously don’t use Hotmail, Yahoo mail, Google’s Gmail, they are where the hackers and spammers live. Many businesses reject email from these carriers because of attempts of fraud! You are asking for trouble if those are your primary email carriers, especially if you take orders on your site and allow those email addresses. I can speak intelligently on this topic, I get attacks or attempted fraud orders everyday from these email domains.
Many merely poke a stick at the Internet thinking it’s easy and it will make them rich over nite, you’re wrong! It takes time, it takes a plan, it takes a well thoughtout marketing strategy, and then near flawless execution. Anything less means you are probably a tire kicker. Check your pulse, and be even more concerned about who you take your advice from, your business deserves it.
There is a reason why the upper percentile is considered rich or even lucky, they for the most part, respect themselves and their business. Of course I’m talking about legal, legit….not crooked business dealings, businesses with integrity, businesses that understand you the customer is everything. It’s not all one sided, it’s a two-way street, the business owner also counts on you having integrity, and is honest with them.
Unless you are willing to invest properly in using the Internet / Social Networks, don’t waste your time, more importantly, don’t waste the time of those who work hard to teach you, who try to guide you, those who respect their business. Don’t be that person, don’t be a tire kicker in everything you say & do. Don’t waste people’s time, including your own.
The Future Of Business has changed, it’s always in a state of FLUX, are you investing or tire kicking?
What Makes Your Business Unique?
What Makes Your Business Unique?
Some always asks this question, it’s a way of measuring whether that someone should do business with you or not. I was on a Forum this week and someone posted the thread title exactly as this post.
Let’s do this, let’s say you own a business with a saturated market, you and thousands like you sell and support the exact same product & service. You have the same inventory, you have almost identical costs. You can’t just say you have the world’s best support and get away with it. So what is more important, uniqueness, or solving a problem? Do people do business with you because you are different (unique), or because you actually solve a problem?
Is it a chicken & egg thing? I frequent a restaurant here in my community, it’s unique only in that they do something to the food. They have tables, waiters & waitresses, menu’s, alcohol, friendly staff, and good service. How do they make it? I mean there are literally hundreds of restaurants in my community, why should I eat at this location? Because they are unique? I don’t go there because they are different.
They do solve a problem for me, but I can get my problem solved anywhere, so why do I keep going back to this establishment. It’s simple really, and it should be for you. The common denominator for me is not uniqueness or a problem being solved, it’s because of the relationship I have with the owners. Ya, the food they serve is different, it’s an acquired taste for this old man, the food is fabulous. I know we don’t think of hunger as a problem that needs to be solved in this country, but if we were in a 3rd world country with a food shortage, that would be different. They would be solving my problem of hunger…if I could get in, or could afford to eat there.
All businesses should do one thing extremely well, and that is to make sure, no matter what the cost, your customers don’t have a reason to speak poorly about you and your business. How are you doing with that, and how do you measure your success & failure, better yet, how quickly do you fix the brokenness?
While sifting through the Forums posts on this topic, someone posted a funny, in reference to the question of uniqueness. They said, we’ve got a dragon : ) that is kinda cool isn’t it. I would probably come see you if you had a dragon.
So, is it more important to be different, does being different bring you business? It might if you solve a problem in a cool unique way, in a way no one has ever done before. But it still has to solve a problem, it can’t just be a novelty, or an amusing thing.
I do believe it’s a combination of being unique, solving a problem, while maintaining and or building on the relationship with your clients. It’s a small town rule thing, everyone wants to be treated special, with respect, and most of all, they want to know you care before they do. So which is it, uniqueness, solving a problem, or is it the relationship? By today’s standards, not yesterdays. And just what are those standards anyway?
What do you think is more important, uniqueness or solving a problem?
The Future Of Business – One Thing You Must Eliminate
The Future Of Business – One Thing You Must Eliminate. I was working with a client this week, and a common problem almost every business suffers from arises. It’s human nature of course, but it inevitably shows up on some level. It’s the one thing you must eliminate if you plan to survive the future of business, the business world of tomorrow. There’s very little room for it.
Most of us move forward by feeling, we tend to allow our emotions to make decisions for us, not really a good idea. I’m not suggesting you eliminate it completely, intuition is important. Gut feeling saves us from our selves sometimes too, we need to have that instinctive sense. But that’s not the thing, it’s bigger than intuition or instincts.
Almost everyone I know suffers from fear, that’s easy peasy, it’s not the fear that’s the problem, it’s the worry that something bad might happen. It never does, well, 90% of the time it doesn’t.
No, the thing to eliminate is the fear attached to risk, the word risk is a bigger issue. It’s a double-edged sword isn’t it, damned if you do, and damned if you don’t. There is always going to be some level of risk in business, it’s the engine that drives success really. We all make decisions based on this fear, big and small, the fear of things not working out and so on. Calculated risk is the best place to be, as long as you have good perspective, all the information you need, and everything has been well thought out. Then everything comes down to one question:
Can I survive the worst case scenario?
The hidden question is, What’s the level of risk?
You see, the price of doing nothing is much higher than doing something, there is always going to be risk, so embrace it. There is always going to be failure, so embrace it, it’s how we learn.
Eliminate risk, risk tends to mean there will be a winner and a loser, don’t do that, fear will handle that for you….move forward always, don’t look back.
The reason most people don’t do something significant in their lives, is because they won’t pay the price of taking a chance, taking a risk. It feels painful, and we tend to stay away from anything that makes us feel bad. These people don’t learn, and they don’t tend to change the world, and we all want a better world.
Risk is good, but it’s only good if you have done the hard work to assess it, so make it a calculated risk. Once you have done the hard work, execute! You must eliminate the fear of taking risks, your businesses future depends on your taking risks to move forward, in order to make it more profitable.
The Future Of Business – Homeplus Virtual Subway Store
Progress is being made in shopping virtually, shopping using your smartphone is the future for sure, here is a short video showing you how it is being done in Korea:
The Future Of Business – The World Population
The Future Of Business – The World Population. As each hour, day, month, and year passes, the world population continues to grow at an exponential rate. That rate is made even more alarming when you consider the amount of land used to grow food for this growing population. It is even more alarming when you consider the amount of water needed to sustain the population in the next 20 years.
This illustration should also make you think about your business community, how do you become part of the solution, how do stop consuming and start providing. Your personal survival and your businesses survival will look the same in many ways. We should be helping each other, rather than trying to get as much as we can from each other.
Here is an interesting video to help you see the population growing before your eyes:
