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The world is changing at light speed, still.  It’s been 5 months since the stock market crashed because of Covid.  

Topics: Business Growth

Pandemic! Riots! Fear! Panic!

Topics: Business Growth, elaunchers, Customer Retention, lead generation, Marketing education, customer journey

 

In the Renegade Millionaire System*, I dispense this advice: #1: BE the Wizard, #2:BEWARE the Wizard. Wizards are very powerful, so it is better to be one than to be
influenced by one.

Everybody welcomes the convincing Mystic. People so desperately wish to Believe that there is a long lost, ancient or a revolutionary new Something. A cure, an elixir, a formula for easy riches or happy relationships or better sex or well behaved children  or growing 12 foot high tomato plants; a gizmo that turns garbage into fuel or tree bark into gold doubloons; an Answer Man, Seer, Keeper of Secrets. And in dark times, this desire intensifies. In dark times even kings subjugate themselves to the Mystics - which you know if you've studied history. People really don't want rational explanations for how you do what you do, they prefer Believing that you possess Mystical Powers and Magical Secrets that you will use for their benefit. To underestimate the power of secrets and secret powers is to ignore how humanity has been manipulated, controlled and ruled since its beginnings.

Topics: Business Growth, elaunchers, No BS, authority marketing

Why does so much panic spread so quickly and easily through so many people whenever tough times occur in a given industry or profession, or the national economy?

 

Without deep roots, a tree topples in the storm. What are 'deep roots' for the business owner, entrepreneur or sales professional?

 

One: a system of selling and conducting business that has proven reliable and profitable, from which he can draw confidence, and which he can stick to with reasoned persistence. If he is advertising and marketing to attract customers, selling to them, retaining and multiplying them without a system, by random and erratic and even impulsive acts, with unplanned and disorganized effort, he'll be blown off course by a stiff breeze.

Topics: Business Growth, Systems and Processes, elaunchers, Business Plan, Marketing education, mentor, mentorship

One of my earliest mentors had his office walls adorned top to bottom, side to side, with big, handwritten signs intended as cautions to others as well as reminders for himself. If you've ever been in a direct sales environment, you've probably seen such a place. Two of the biggest signs read "Thumb-Suckers Not Welcome Here" and "You Can Hire Spellers For Minimum Wage".

Topics: Business Kamasutra, Business Growth, Magnetic Marketing, Marketing education

Success Needs Sufficient Capital Resources
To succeed in business, you need sufficient capital resources. In fact, it is said that the number one source of failure for small business is running out of money.

If you do not have a realistic assessment of the money that is needed to implement your business plan, you run the risk of running out of money. If you run out of money, your business may likely fail. Failure to have a realistic understanding of the amount of money that is required for the business overall and to implement certain new ventures, particularly, can lead to ruin.

Failing to have adequate money for the business can be a mistake.

Topics: Business Growth, Business inelligence, success, Business Plan, entrepreneurship, mentorship

30 Retaining the Wrong Professional Advisor

From time to time companies and senior executives inevitably are involved in circumstances that are not familiar to them. In those circumstances, it is a good idea to retain a professional advisor. But it can be disastrous if the wrong advisor is retained.

Often the decision about the advisor who is retained is much more controlling in determining the outcome that is achieved than are the merits of the strategy pursued, the potential of the new business opportunity, what diligence is employed, or how much resources are expended. If you retain the wrong advisor, you may end up with an unfortunate outcome.

Retaining the wrong advisor is a mistake.

Topics: Business Growth, Business inelligence, Strategic Coach, entrepreneurship, mentorship

11 Promoting Traffic at the Expense of Profitability 

Seeking to establish themselves in a new market, some companies may emphasize customer traffic—to the exclusion of whether they make any money on those so-called customers.

As Peter Drucker has observed, it is a fundamental business truth that the purpose of business is to create and retain a customer. But if you do not make any money on your customers, you do not have a business. Generating traffic without revenue and profitable customer transactions is a sure way to financial ruin. This lesson was relearned by many dot-com technology companies in the 1990s, who promoted traffic to their websites but failed to establish a viable business model. Numerous dot-com companies that failed did not sufficiently understand that, at the end of the day, maximizing hits is much less important than generating revenues in amounts more than the expenses incurred in
achieving those revenues, so that the business can make a profit and sustain itself.

Promoting customer traffic at the expense of good business is a mistake. 

Topics: Business Growth, Systems and Processes, success, Strategic Coach, Financial Education, entrepreneurship, business planning

1 Strategic Incongruency

Strategy, to be effective, must be congruent.

If balance and consistency between different parts of the business strategy are lacking, the resulting incongruence compromises the prospects of business success. Strategy congruency means that there is a reasonable connection between one part of a strategy and another part of a strategy. The purposes of one part of the enterprise are complementary to those of another part of the enterprise. The goals of one division are supportive of, and in parallel with, the goals of another division. 

Topics: Business Growth, success, Business Plan, Strategic Coach, entrepreneurship, mentorship

1 No Plan

A surprising number of companies operate with no plan.

If you operate with no plan, you are proceeding in reliance on spontaneous, reactive, and even impromptu action—rather than on the basis of deliberate, considered approaches to the business. If what is to be done is not much thought about in advance, the opportunity for reflection, consideration and choosing the best way is quite limited. Without a plan, the benefits of plans—focus on priorities, assignment of responsibilities, accountability for results—cannot be realized. Enterprises with plans achieve greater and more frequent success than those that lack them. For as it has insightfully been said, failing to plan is planning to fail.

Not having a plan is a mistake.

Topics: Business Growth, concepts and strategy, Strategic Coach, entrepreneurship, business planning