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Episode 136 – Businesses Must Take Better Aim If They Want An Improved Shot (You’ve Got To Answer Some Tough Questions About Yourself)

Entrepreneurship, Personal Development, Podcast / By

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Businesses have to take better aim if they want an improved shot.

Business building for the solopreneur or entrepreneur begins with answering some personal questions! If you’re going to have a business that hits the mark, then you must answer some tough questions about yourself. It’s all about you!

If it is to be, it’s up to me.

If the shooter looking through this scope is going to hit his target…he’s got to take responsibility for the shot. He’s holding the rifle. He’s taking the aim. He’s pulling the trigger. If he misses, he’s got only himself to blame.

You have to take responsibility for your business. No excuses!

Jack Welch was noted for this saying during his days with General Electric…

Control your own destiny or somebody else will.

Today’s show focuses on three steps you must go through so you can improve your aim in business. In your business.

I probably begin where you wouldn’t expect. It’s not a traditional approach to figuring out the most important things, but in my experience – it’s among the most profitable ways to start this process.

Step One – The Negative

What are the things you absolutely don’t want to do?
Who are the people you don’t want to associate with?
What are the things you’re unwilling to devote yourself to?
What are the identities you don’t want to assume? These are the things you don’t want to be.

Step Two – The Positive

What are the things you’ve been interested in for a long time?
Who do you most want to spend time with?
What are the things you are willing to devote yourself to?
Be specific. Very specific.

Step Three – The One Thing

Pick one (1) thing. Just one.
Right now, what do you most want to do?
Who do you most want to be?
What do you most want to be known for?
Soar with your strengths. Follow your natural aptitude.

You don’t have to be world-class, but you need to be competent.

It’s important that you avoid aiming at some things so you can improve your aim at one thing. Do you want to hit a business target or not? If so, you have to aim at only one thing. Else, you won’t hit anything!

Next time we’ll start making some application of these things to your business.

Leave me a review over at iTunes, please!

Episode 136 – Businesses Must Take Better Aim If They Want An Improved Shot (You’ve Got To Answer Some Tough Questions About Yourself) Read More »

Building A Successful Business Starts In Your Head

Entrepreneurship, Personal Development, Video / By

Successful Business Building Begins In Your Head.
Unfortunately, so does UNsuccessful business building.

 Signal to noise ratio. I learned about how that applied to hi-fi gear before I learned to drive. Today, you likely have heard that phrase used to describe how much noise is in the world – and in our heads – compared to the signal, or good stuff. Simply put, it’s the difference between the sounds you want to hear compared to the sounds you don’t want to hear. It’s hard to hear the music when there’s too much static or noise.

Head trash. Noise. Distractions. Self-defeating thoughts. It’s all synonymous with some degree of discouragement. And we all have to fight against it.

I don’t think anybody ever completely conquers it. The most confident people have been humbled.

The most resilient have learned to get up and press on!

I hope that’s you.

 

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The Bula Network New Media Niche Project (Join Me And We’ll Learn Together)

Entrepreneurship, Inside The Yellow Studio, Video / By

We’re all interested in seeing what other don’t see. Bands often sell VIP packages at premium rates to give well-healed fans an opportunity to go back stage. Authors will often invite rabid reading fans to a high priced luncheon where they can interact, ask questions, hear the author speak and get a signed copy of the latest book. We crave greater access.

Equally compelling are the stories people share of their struggle. We watch the Biography channel and see how our favorite stars rose from obscurity to fame. It’s all very intriguing.

In business – especially online business – we’re all drawn in by people willing to share how they went from an idea to launching a website that gained thousands of daily faithful readers. We hear people talk about starting with an email list of only family members, but growing it to hundreds of thousands. How did they do that? It’s the question we all ask. It’s the question we all want answered.

Our assumption is, if they did it, then maybe I can do it, too.

Maybe.

Maybe not.

Still, the lessons are worthwhile. Whether we can ever replicate their success or not, there’s surely something valuable in seeing how they did it. If nothing else, it’s fun to hear the stories and to learn a thing or two along the way.

No, I’m not indifferent about learning. Or teaching. I’m quite ready to get on with it. So brace yourself.

Today, I begin a project that you can be part of. Wait, wait, wait. Don’t get too excited because I don’t know enough about all this online stuff to teach you much of anything – other than what doesn’t work!

I’m going to invite you to join me on my journey as a student. I’ll be studying some things. Investing in some things. I’ll tell you what I’m doing and why. I won’t promise you that I’m going to get it right. Shoot, I don’t even know if I’ll be approaching it correctly, but I’ll share with you anyway.

The project is quite simple:

to launch a successful website in a targeted niche and have that site serve as a lead generator for a client

My overall plan is to launch a WordPress site consisting of a blog, podcast and videos.

The content will be aimed squarely at people and companies who need a particular problem solved. It’s a targeted niche.

Many niches have a decent retention rate. That is, people are interested in something and their interest remains or grows over time. Every niche has folks who fall away, but hopefully we pick niches that grow.

For instance, people who are interested in classic pickup trucks enter that niche and continue to remain interested in classic pickup trucks.

The niche I’m going to dive into isn’t like that.

One, it’s a business to business niche. Specifically, it’s a high-end software solution whose target market are companies with annual revenues of $3M and up.

Two, it’s a niche that addresses a specific problem.

Three, when the proper solution is found and the problem is solved, the prospect has no further need for information about this niche.

So I strongly suspect the people who visit the site or listen to the podcast will consume the content as they’re trying to figure out a solution to their problem…but they’ll leave once they find that solution. That’s fine. Expected.

I could be wrong about that, but given the nature of the niche it just seems logical. The plan is to create as much useful content as possible for FREE. Along the way I want to attract as much traffic as I can, but I need that traffic to have high interest in the niche. It will be especially useful if the traffic needs a solution. It will be even more helpful if my client’s solution fills that need. But no matter, greater exposure for my client will benefit their business.

In conjunction with this, I’m going to launch another website with another blog, podcast and videos talking all about this niche project (we’ll call it the Bula Network Niche Project for now). This will be my behind-the-scenes, VIP project where I share with you what I’m doing to make this niche project successful.

What do YOU think? Send me a Tweet.

P.S. Insert your name and email address in the upper right hand corner. I’d like to send you exclusive stuff from Inside The Yellow Studio. Thanks!

 

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Episode 133 – Take Responsibility For How Your Customers Feel: Communication

Entrepreneurship, Podcast, Randy Cantrell / By

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Your customer has many faces. Here are just three.

“Let me tell you what this $#@! just said.”

He was telling me about a customer who was complaining. The complaint, according to the business owner, was unfounded and unfair.

I listened. He explained – from his point of view – the circumstances leading up to the complaint. He was fuming about it.

As he read the email from the customer he said, “Here, I’m sending it to you right now.”

I got it while we were still on the phone. Now, I’m reading along as he’s continuing his tale. He’s as angry as I’ve ever heard him. It’s compounded, I suspect, because he’s got two major projects he’s trying to complete and this interruption was unexpected. Life can be pleasant like that…sometimes!

These are common conversations for me as I try to help business owners solve problems. They lament how inconsiderate customers are. Irritated that customers are abusive, mean and too demanding. Anybody who serves customers is subject to the temptation.

Now back to the conversation.

I said, “It appears to me you’ve stepped in it.”

“What?” he said.

“It looks to me like you’ve messed up and now you’re mad about it,” I replied.

“Are you kidding me?” he barked.

“Wait a minute,” I continued. “Let’s step back and look at this a bit more closely.”

We then walked through the real events leading up to what this owner perceived as a “nasty” email. Turns out the email really wasn’t that nasty. Nor was it mean-spirited. The email was an expression of extreme, ongoing frustration. After 10 minutes of walking through the events the owner paused and said, “I’m such an idiot.”

“No,” I said. “You’re just stuck inside your business with your problems, worries and fears. Meanwhile, your customer is stuck with his own worries, frustrations, problems and fears. He’s worried you’re not going to complete this deal on time and that he’ll have egg on his face. Your job right now is to call him – not email him – and reassure him that you understand how he’s feeling. Apologize for whatever you must and guarantee him he’ll be happy.”

For over 35 years I’ve given that same advice because it’s in my fabric. Customer service is a major priority for me. Nothing has mattered more. Nothing.

Some years ago, while leading a retail company I had a sign constructed and hung in the store that simply said,

“Extraordinary Service. No Excuses!”

It caused near mutiny among the troop who wrongfully thought that I was setting them up for a no-win situation.

“How can we possibly live up to that?” they objected.

I explained it to them. I’ll explain it to you in today’s show. This is the first in a series on customer service. We’ll start with what I believe is foundational to superior customer service. Communication.

Leave me a review over at iTunes, please!

P.S. Read this post by Ron Burley. It appeared a few hours after I recorded this episode. Then, a few hours later…I noticed this post by Mikal E. Belicove, entitled “What a Trip to LAX Taught Me About Customer Service.” Proving once again that great minds do indeed think alike, and often at the same time (well, at least on the same day).

 

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Chasing And Catching Entrepreneurship: How Can You Solve It? (Part 4 of 4)

Entrepreneurship, Video / By

This is the follow up question to #3, “What’s your biggest frustration?”

Mentioned in today’s video:

• New York Times blog post by David Pogue
• Arriva headphones for the ipod Shuffle
• Twisted Wave – audio recording software aimed for those of us dealing in spoken word
• Mixergy.com – Andrew Warner interviewed a founder of Weebly
• Don’t let today be the day that you quit.

Will you do me a big favor?
Insert your name and email address in the sign-up box in the upper right hand corner. I’ll make it worthwhile for you.

Thank you!

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