When I worked in the robotics industry many years ago, there was this guy named Scott. He just made me laugh one day because I asked him what his role was and he said, “I am the idea guy.”
Why is this funny and how does this apply now?
While ideas are very important and we have to have them, at some point someone has to take the idea and do something with it. There are millions of ideas available right now in the US patent office. Some of them are good, some are bad and some are just plain crazy but all in all they are ideas.
When I hear someone say that they are an idea guy, I always get a bit worried. If you are just an idea guy when did you get the practical and pragmatic experience to know when your idea is a good one?
Face the facts. There is no way to manage time itself. You can't move 2pm to 9am just because you want to. You can't stretch an hour by 5 minutes. Oh, but I wish I could. And I bet that if you had the "magic power" you would manipulate time too. Management means that you can move things around and rearrange things. This is so not the case with time. It is what it is. A minute is a minute and they are whizzing by right now. The video below will give you a framework to think about time in a new way. This is two minutes well spent.
Image via Wikipedia
One of the most important skills to have as a business owner is to know how to set up a simple process, for yourself as well as others.
The first thing to do is get all the pieces and parts required to do the process together in one place, or at the very least listed on a piece of paper.
If I'm looking to figure how to use a new piece of equipment, the first thing I want to know is how to turn it on and off and how to adjust it. Most people don't read instructions or take tutorials, but I find that by taking the instructional tutorial for new software or new equipment I can use the equipment better and get more out of it.
Filed in Purposeful Planning by David Bullock
The most common question that is asked on a daily basis when it comes to business is, "where do I start"? I had an interesting call this morning and that was a question that came up. Too many times we start:
- at the end,
- the middle, or
- somewhere before the beginning.
What I'm getting at is that we often do not start at the right place.
So what is the right place? The right place is with your "thinking" about work.
Creating content is one of the most difficult tasks for online marketers. This is a fantastic post giving several ways to create content for your blog. The information that you need is all out here on the web.
I ran across this post this morning. Use this thinking to create great content for your niche blog or website.
It comes down to finding content and creating value around it.
How To Effectively Create Content For Your Niche Blogs A Brief Introduction And Guide
The amazing thing is that all of the information that you need for all the content that you need is available online. The question is how do you manage all of the data to create content that you can use.
“No time” was the reason that was written in the unsubscribe section of the email notice I got today.
As I looked at the email. I was puzzled. No time. No time for conversation. No time to start a new project. No time for what? Is this someone that I could have helped? Was the door closed to possibility? Yes.
Where there is no communication there is no foundation for conversation. Thus the door is closed. Anyway… More on How To Cure Your "No Time" Problem
Project management is what is required in the industrial world to get things done and to organize people. Marketing project management is just as important. I am working with a client and I am watching dates slip, tasks go unmanaged and basic chaos. Yet the the company is making money in spite of themselves and the lack of knowhow and technical expertise.
Of course I am intrigued by this situation. My question is how can you run a business without understanding the basics of marketing project management.
And I mean the basics:
- Budget
- Task
- Resources Allocation
- Milestones
- Deadlines
Too many times I see that the answer to poor marketing practices is more time and more money. Sometimes a bit of planning works wonders toward the success of a project.
When was the last time that you actually followed a plan for your business and it actually worked?
There are schools and courses that teach project management. It is more than flowcharts and pretty pictures and time lines. It is the day to day management of the unexpected and the allocation of resources to meet a goal by a certain time.
In the real world where time really is money and down time will kill a business. A good project manager is worth his weight in gold. To apply some of these skill to your marketing campaigns may give you the competitive advantage that you are seeking.
How to do test pricing?
This is one of the most common questions that I get.
How do you determine the best price for your product or service?
- Guessing is one way.
- Testing is another.
<Of course, I prefer testing.>
But if you ask a better question you will get a better answer.
So the question becomes “how do I determine the price points to test to get maximum profitability.”
Today I was speaking with a client that has the typical situation.
- Has a website
- Using Pay per click to get traffic to the site
- Making good money
- Wants to make more
- Wants to reduce costs
As the conversation progressed, we came to my favorite questions:
- What part of your marketing campaign is making you the most money?
- What part is losing you the most money?
The conversation that continued is one of the most important conversations that any business owner can have. From this conversation, we found out that he really didn’t know what was working and what wasn’t.
This is by no means is a surprise to me. In fact, I find that sometimes it is a job in itself to get a baseline.
Why?
More on Marketing Troubleshooting: Where To Start – The Baseline
This is a typical conversation:
“I have this website and it is not making as much money as I want…
- “Where do I start?”
- “What do I do next?”
are the questions that I hear most from my students.
Here is the simple 5 question answer:
There are only 5 systems that I can see for every business:
