As a startup or early stage small business it is better to rock your niche, before going big.
This relates to a number of proven principles and concepts, such as :
The importance of crafting your Value Proposition and deeply understanding and convincing customers needs as presented by early adopters and visionaries. Even if the early majority represents a vastly larger total available market, the first 2 groups are not to be skipped.
The theory of good and bad capital. While you are figuring out product/market fit and business model for your business, keep your wallet closed. Good capital should be patient for growth and eager for proof of profitability in this stage.
Use the characteristics of a niche strategy to your advantage: 1. deeply invested community 2. focused product development 3. killer messages 4. affordable early growth 5. less competition.
Despite the heavy focus on profitability or sales and marketing, managing your time properly is by far the most important ingredient of success for your business.
And yet you’re likely wasting it by not committing to a time management system.
Start with evaluating the most important tactical rule of time management*: setting and managing priorities.
Managing priorities is about juggling your glass vs rubber balls…🤹🏻♂️
If all the tasks you have to accomplish are balls, you are the juggler.
You have your glass balls (high priority, tasks you cannot drop), and your rubber ones (lower priority, tasks you can drop). Drop the wrong ones, and they break. The rubber ones bounce back up and you keep juggling.
You may want to prioritise your tasks and take good care of your glass balls. Start thinking about how to improve you time management…and give it the highest priority. 🔝
*more on time management systems soon.
Remember that Improvement starts with “I”. Start now 🚀
Every morning I spend about 45 minutes on the following small business activities: working ON the business and monitoring. It has helped me and our business greatly to make consistent progress. No quick fixes or magic bullet. Rather continuous development or kaizen.
My Morning “Working ON the Business Activities” about 30 minutes before “chaos takes over”: I Pick ONE of the following activities and alternate during the week
Business Development: Stuff we are working on that grows the business. What new products or solutions with big potential are in the works? What strategic partnerships are we working on that can really bring a part of our business forward?
Offer Development: This is about using existing resources in a new way. Can I create a sale, a launch event, a new offer or bring best practices from one person/market to another to generate attention of our customers and income?
Fixing long-standing problems (big and small): This is about problems/friction we have started to work around instead of solving directly. Instead of ignoring or accepting these things, I use these 30 minutes to deal with the root of the problem. “fixing a 100 small problems” (and maybe a few big ones) needs “free brain time”. Kaizen.
Margin review: Where do we need to review pricing and margins upwards. Were can we up-sell, cross-sell or find new income generating offers.
Partner communication: This is not answering emails and messages, but about initiatingcommunication with partners by giving updates or asking questions (social, email, messages, partnerzone updates, newsletters,…).
My Morning Dashboard Monitoring activities: max 10 minutes to get a grasp of the “cruise speed” of the business – this is looking back of course. Activity is what drives success.
PartnerZone (=our digital workplace with partners) visitors – more than 40/day is a “good day”
PartnerZone projects (including drafts) – more than 10 projects and a total value of over 100K is a “good day”. Sometimes I also have a quick “deep dive” into projects per salesperson to see the dynamic of different “markets” (we have 6 right now but growing).
PartnerZone “Accepted”+”In Process” projects = our confirmed pipeline – more than 1 month sales is “good”
Xero – YTD Sales compared with last 2 years to get perspective and compensate for daily rush of good&bad news.
And then it is 9.00 AM and the day starts…time to make WOW the standard. Together.
Every single day I have invested these early morning 45 minutes for more than 10 years now. I believe it has helped to build Genesis Home Technology Architects into what it is today.
Maybe some of these elements of my morning business routine can help you too.
Change brings about change. But how so and to what degree.
The way we look at change defines the type of transformation we can apply.
Here is my framework types of change we are facing in the years to come.
It also clarifies why I firmly believe a #NewBalance and a #betterworld are ahead of us if we choose it to be so.
1st order change – #newhabits are born
Change that is fairly predictable and brought about by new habits when it comes to work, consumption, entertainment, education, … sometimes called “new normal”. Often underestimated by “creatures of habit” or called a temporary fad.
2nd order change – #newmodels are born
Organizational change at the level of businesses, governments and society as these adapt to first order changes, #newhabits or “new normal”. Predicted by “visionaries” that see the future based on applying existing patters to new first order changes around them. Often these people were already “living in the future”.
3rd order change – #newbalance is born
Systematic change at a holistic level. Hybrid and more philosophical by definition. New equilibriums at a foundational level for individuals, organizations and societies. Impossible to “predict” because they belong to a more utopian goal-oriented realm. 1st and 2nd order changes and choices made define where the 3rd order change or #newbalance will end up. Looking at this from where we stand today this an n-dimensional matrix inhabited by people connected through changing networks.
And by looking at change in the above framework we can start to define what types of transformation we want to apply to the different facets of our lives and our worlds…
Small decisions with a BIG impact 💥.
Late evening brain dump after mixing ideas on the above from #caroldweck #andygrove #jocaudron #danielpink #kevinkelly.
Peace out 👊🏼
Note: I firmly believe people feel they either dive, bounce forward, slide or get pushed into the New Future depending on where they are positioned on the growth/fixed mindset axis as defined by C. Dweck.
and the day starts…time to make WOW the standard. Together.