The Main Blog

I've been busy writing a book and it's called, Starting a Business - With Facts, Not Faith, and while the reviewers are doing their thing, I thought I'd make available a sample. The book is my attempt to demystify the business of starting a business. It's fine to have passion, ideas, and energy, ..., and a pulse, etc., but I see too many people starting businesses that are simply doomed to fail. I'm an advocate of giving it a go, but unless you do it right, as in you follow a process based on...

The Essence of Business What is the essence of business? What do people mean when they refer to heart, mind, and spirit when writing and speaking about aspects of business such as marketing? For example, “we need to appeal to the customers’ heart ...” Well, the last time I checked, the heart was a pump comprised of a hollow muscle that contracts rhythmically to circulate blood and along with other essential organs, keeps us alive. It surprised me to find, or should that be not-find, that even...

There seems to be a growing interest in The Customer Experience, but it shouldn’t be surprising to learn that the concept is not uniformly understood or applied. So what is this thing called The Customer Experience? A Customer Experience is an interaction [a touchpoint] between an organization and a Customer as perceived through a Customer’s conscious and unconscious mind, Unlocking The Hidden Customer Experience, Colin Shaw. Since we’re going to have a Customer Experience whether we like it...

Business is all about selling to consumers what they want and need, in the form of a bundle of products, services, and inevitable experiences, that is a Solution, for more than it costs to produce that Solution. If you can’t do that, then either you haven’t got a business, or you won’t have one for long. Starting A Business – The Basics Before you get carried away by your ‘obviously brilliant’ idea/invention and start spending lots of time and money trying to make it a reality, remove your...

Start a business in 1 step.

I met with a client partnership recently. The partnership comprised of John and Jim (names changed to protect the guilty), and I asked how they felt the process we were following, one based on Lean Startup principles, was going. Whereas John thought the process was fine and could see the value in it, Jim said “that it was tedious going through all the steps.” We discussed Jim’s observations, and from a certain perspective, Jim is correct. If you, and beyond all doubt, have a solution that will...

There is pressure on businesses to grow, especially those businesses on the share market as increased profits drive dividend distributions and increases in share price. But is all growth good? Do all businesses, for example, the corner dairy, need to grow? If the corner dairy does not need to grow, then that surely suggests there must be more nuance to the mantra for business growth than the growth disciples are letting on. I am reminded of the presentation by Sir David Attenborough, speaking...

Here's a great article, a bit long maybe, but here's a quote to get you started, "Quietly, without fanfare, the advice business has been hijacked. New gurus armed with nothing more than pens, podiums, and a tremendous shamelessness have co-opted what used to be a nice, wholesome calling: dishing out sound advice to business men and women." In Search of Suckers - A growing army of Tom Peters wannbes are making millions peddling advice to managers. By Alan Farnham, Amy Kover, October 14 1996....