Some Emotions Just Can't Be Transferred to an Ad

I really, really wanted to let this one go but it has seriously been bothering me for more than 2 days now.

I was driving in my car the other day and this ad comes on the radio. I believe it was an ad for action.gc.ca where they had new regulations for credit card fine print and terms and conditions changes.

The radio ad had one man pleading for the credit card holder to give him another chance, much like when a husband is found guilty of something by his wife. Amongst his pleas there were lines such as "I will really change this time, please give me another chance" etc. I wish I had a copy of the ad but this radio ad wanted to leverage off an emotional connection that credit card holders usually DO NOT have for their credit cards.

How can you transfer feelings of a husband/wife relationship to a user/credit card relationship? Plus, there is a negative connotation to the whole ad, since when a husband (I only use husband here because they used a male voice in the ad, it could very well be the wife pleading for forgiveness as well) does something wrong and they say things like this, the person on the receiving end knows that:

1. You say those things because you know that's what we want to hear
2. You promise that you will change but you really aren't sure if you can; again, it's something you know we want to hear
3. We forgive you because we love you, not because you gave us the facts.

The third reason above, is precisely why an ad like this is not going to work; rarely do we experience the same emotions with a credit card. 

Enough of me blasting this ad - I will provide an example of what works well. Have you seen Ally ads on TV? The theme is that fine print in credit cards' terms and conditions are a silly thing to have, and they illustrate it with children wanting to do certain activities and the salesperson saying no, the fine print says you can't. 

Now this is an emotion/feeling we can ALL relate to, because at one point or another, we have all been screwed by credit cards and their fine print. 

What?! I didn't know they changed to charging a 30% annual rate!

What?! I didn't know international usage would cost me 6% of my purchase!

What?! I didn't know that this offer is only valid for new customers that have never had this credit card and live in Shanghai.

You get the idea. We've all been there. Point is, when you are trying to arouse emotions to associate with your brand, make sure that it does transfer, in the right way.

A Customer Experience Story (Part 2)

So I got the new Macbook Air - the totally decked out version. This was half a functional decision and the other half totally irrational (as with all of our purchases).

Following up on my last post, where my supposedly "fixed" macbook air decided to black out on me again after I replaced its hard drive for two hundred dollars plus, I called and left a message where I worked hard to repress my frustration.

I got a call early in the morning, before their store opened at Richmond Centre, from their business manager. I am going to mention her name here because I am going to give her props here for handling my anger so well. She told me that she had received my message, was sorry about my "loss", and understood that I needed to get my computer fixed right away. She booked me in for the first appointment time available at the genius bar and I told her I would be there.

I was down with a cold that morning so I had to groggily pull myself out of bed, get dressed, put on my glasses (which I rarely ever wear in public), and dragged myself over to Richmond Centre. 

I was like a woman on a mission beelining into the store and headed straight for the genius bar at the back. "I am here to see Christine, she booked in me in for an appointment." 

The helper with an iPad called for her via iPad (at least that's what I think happened) and she showed up, we shook hands, and I proceeded with throwing a fit. It went something like me wanting to throw my computer against the wall when it shut down on me again after I was told that it was fixed. OK, that was the only "angry" comment that I made and then having someone immediately attend to my broken computer and saying they understood my pain suddenly made me feel better. Let's face it, as customers, we all just want a little genuine lovin' from these companies.

I told Brody (who was the genius who was going to fix my computer) and Christine that I did need another new computer given that I can't go into meetings with a computer that may die on me any second. We went around and I got to take a look at the new Macbook Air models (11" and 13") and even the new Macbook Pros. Considering that I needed my computer to handle mostly web surfing, word processing and simple photo rendering tasks, the Macbook Air would be more than sufficient. Seriously, with 4GB ram and 280 GB storage I think I am good to go.

Of course they also credited me for the amount that I spent the day before trying to fix my old computer. That made me feel better because I felt that they were fair with me. That's all it takes to satisfy a customer, don't try to rip us off. A lot of you might ask why I decided to buy another Mac, and I will tell you the reasoning is threefold.

1. Functionality wise I have tried out many different laptop brands, including Fujitsu, Acer, HP, Toshiba and Mac. My Mac never got the blue screen of death and didn't have constant crashes happening. Plus, the system is just so user friendly. Even small things like searching for a file on my computer is 100 times faster. Have you tried searching for a file on a PC? WOW, it really seems like there is somebody inside the computer slowly going through the folders.
2. They have been SO good with servicing broken stuff on my Macbook Air. Last time the little piece that held my laptop screen and the keyboard together broke off a little bit and they replaced my ENTIRE SCREEN for FREE - I was not under applecare and they helped me simply out of the goodness of their heart (at least this is how it appeared to me). Even when they replaced my hard drive they reduced their labor charge down to $39 from $159. 
3. Again, totally irrational. This is what customer purchases are like. We buy things that makes us feel good. I know I bought the Macbook Air because it is the thinnest laptop in the world - which really makes me feel quite awesome. My feet will also thank me because I am not lugging around a 10-pound IBM.

I would say that Mac has redeemed itself in this customer experience story. Wouldn't you?

A Customer Service Experience Story

It happened this morning when I woke up.

My Macbook Air had mysteriously put itself to sleep, or rather, turned itself off entirely, refusing to start.

I did not freak out because of a data loss, since everything important had already been backed up, but I needed my computer to work on things, and not being able to work on things when I want to drives me insane. I booked an appointment to bring my laptop in to the Apple store to get it checked out.

I show up on time, and a 'genius' diagnoses my laptop and tells me that the hard drive is fried. I ask whether I could fix it and the genius states that it can be done and it will last me another 2 years (looking back at the conversation now I really, really should have recorded it). Since I trusted the brand, the technical expertise of their geniuses, I agreed to replace my hard drive for two hundred dollars.

I was more than overjoyed when they called me later in the day to tell me that it had already been done - I seriously thought this was impressive, considering how all other electronics dealers would take days to fix something. I happily paid for and retrieved my laptop, carrying it back home and tried it out. I left my computer on and idle for half an hour while I had something to eat.

Seating myself back at my work desk after dinner, I fiddled with the keyboard and found that my computer had fallen asleep again. I shut it down and tried to restart it but to my horror, it failed to boot again.

This meant that the 'genius' had made a recommendation, made me spend two hundred dollars, gave me false hope that my computer is going to last me another two years, and very frustrated that I am still dealing with a problem that should have been resolved.

Despite having a great brand, strong customer following and supposedly a technical team that is extremely qualified to handle issues like mine, I am disappointed this time. I hope Apple will show me tomorrow, when I bring my computer back in, that they can treat me right as a customer, because this really hurt the trust I had in their brand. It really did.

Winners Don't Quit (Part 2)

Since my post on Winners Don't Quit a couple days ago I've gotten quite a few emails asking whether I'm OK and what's going on. 

My only response at this time is that I"m handling the change in the business quite well and actually love the fact that we'll be able to reconnect with our roots and original goals of Changing Exchanging for the better.  I'm really living the entrepreneurial life, with things changing constantly.  After a few years doing this you no longer worry too much about tomorrow, because you never know what's going to happen tomorrow!  It's great to have an idea of what you would LIKE to see, but 100% of the time it turns out to be not what you expected...which is PERFECT because it means every day you're creating something on the fly.

That being said - we're in the midst of switching gears...so stay tuned.

So I say...bring it on industry!

We're not about to be stopped yet...not. just. yet.

PS.  For those of you that cared enough to send me an email, phone call of encouragement - this is another reason why I continue to fight to make things happen - because of my great support network!

Dear Employer, I am a fantastic candidate for this job...

How?

1) ...you are sending in generic cover letters?

Blows me away how most if not all of the applicants to our PR and Brand Management position send in cover letters that sound like they just changed the name of the company. 

I tuned out immediately after I read the first line.  "Dear Employer/who it may concern/hiring manager, I am a fantastic candidate for this job (because I have this degree). 

Guess what?  Another 10,000 people have this degree as well!  What have YOU done that makes YOU stand out as an individual?  Did you exceed sales quotas by 100%?  200%?  Did you drive tons of additional traffic to your company's website?  Did you get your company President on the cover of prominent business magazines? 

Be specific.  Identify yourself. 

OR....are you a fantastic candidate because...

2) ..you are not researching the company or reading the job description?

You know...we include certain tasks and responsibilities in the job description because its part of the job.  It doesn't say: "well, it would be great if you could do this, but it's ok if you don't."

So if you don't have all that we're looking for in that job, your time is better spent applying for jobs that actually fit your skill set.  That's where you can make a positive impact with your skills; not in a job where you can't shoulder the responsibilities required.   

Some people do manage to get past the first screening and we give them a call.  We usually ask them so...why PeerFX?  Amazingly we get awkward silence on the other side of the line or the attempt to make it sound like they went to the website.

"Umm...I went to your website, you guys do currency exchange right?"

YOU SERIOUS?!

Please. Please. PUH-lease.  My mom has always told me that opportunities come to those who are prepared to capture them; how are you going to capture any opportunities if you don't put any effort in up front?

Think about it.  Come more prepared and then you can stop wondering why you are unemployed.  

This is a Test

Earlier this week when I just got back from LA I was faced with some Monday morning crisis. I say crisis because it was unexpected news that was delivered to me with one week's notice to do something about it.  Usually getting your entire operations set up again takes more than a week.

If I didn't find an alternative solution this crisis could put me out of business.

This is a TEST.

Did it ever make me efficient.  I basically set up an alternative within the same day, sought out several other options to work on and took care of my best customers so service to them wouldn't be interrupted. 

Situations like this test your ability to think clearly in times of crises and I was actually quite happy that I didn't fall into panic mode.  Building the business over the past 2 years I realize that I am a person that freaks over the minute details and thinks clearly when "stuff" hits the fan.

What was my thought process when I got the news?

1. Can something still be done to maintain the business relationship? Is there someone above this person I'm talking to that can change the decision?   [It's not over until it's over!]
2. What are my alternatives?
3. Which one is the easiest, fastest to implement to take care of the short term? Use this to buy time to set up the long-term option.
4. What options exist in the long-term?

Decide on it then figure out who to call, what steps are required to set up and the time to finishing the set up (getting fully up and running).

I have to say, I was asked how I felt about this test, and frankly at that moment I wanted to say it was fun.  Seriously.  It was something out of the blue and got my blood pumping.

Of course, too much of that leads to heart attacks but once in a while - I can handle it :)

No Other Business Does What I Do - BS!

Complete BS.

If you seriously think whatever you're doing has not been done or is not being done by someone else right now - let me tell you, it WILL be done by someone else SOON, really soon.

Or for those that say other businesses can't do what they do - again - BS.
Have you thought about the number of substitutes out there that do exactly what you do?

Example:  Need: Quench Thirst

Substitutes: Coke, Water, Tea, Icetea, Nestea, Sprite, 7-UP, Beer(sssssssssss), Lemonade, the list goes on for about 5 million other choices

Coke Bombs

Example 2: Need: Foreign Exchange

Substitutes for PFX: Banks, Foreign exchange houses, online brokerages, online banking platforms, foreign exchange booths at airports, MoneyMart, Western Union, etc. the list goes on for another 5 million other choices.

Example 3: Want/need: Staying connected with friends

Facebook Logo

Substitutes: Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Blogger, Wordpress, Typepad, Blackberry Messenger, Whatsapp, MSN Messenger, Skype, etc.  This list also goes on for another 5 million choices.

SO....if you still think you are the ONLY ONE satisfying a consumer need/want, then you seriously must be from another planet.  Unless you've discovered a new need/want that we don't know about yet - which I must ask that you kindly share with us what it is and why it's so "new".

DELETE THE WORD SHOULD

...because it limits your creativity for what you can do with your business.

IMO, and this is similar to one of those theories that Dilbert makes up, the word should was not in our dictionary when we came into this world (yeah yeah, neither were the other 10 billion words we would soon learn). 

As soon as we learned the word should, here's what happened.

...you should eat your vegetables.
...you should not try to fly - somebody gonna hurt real bad.
...you should not stay up late.
...you should word hard at your academics.
...you should this, that, you get the idea.

Same goes for business.

...you should build your business this way because it's been proven.
...you should cater to this group of customers because according to research this group has the most money.
...you should hire so and so.
...you should fire so and so.
...you should get senior people on the team.
...you should not badmouth the banks.
...you should not take a stand early in your business to be "under the radar".

I think I've hit a spot where I am seriously sick and tired of the word should and how I have been running my business by it.  SO. Everything needs to get put back in its place. 

Who cares if that customer group has the most money?!  If they don't love what we have to offer, then they're not going to pay us!

Who cares if so and so is a superstar in the industry?!  If they don't love selling what we have to offer, they're not going to generate results!

Who cares if we upset some people out there by positioning ourselves as an anti-something?!  If we don't upset some people then we're neutral to everybody and the business might as well be dead.  I take a stand for what I believe in. It's time I let my business do that too.

So how is the word should screwing over your business or even your life?  Delete it from your vocabulary.  One book I recently read suggests replacing it with the word want.  Works if it's something that you need to get done.

For example:

I want to hire so and so.
I want to spend on marketing.
I want the company to be positioned like this. 

YOU. YOU. YOU.  You own and run the business.  Once you start using the word 'should' you are letting other things that exist determine what you should do.  That ties your hands, and feet, from doing and creating whatever awesomeness will come out of your business. 

We Humans are Social Animals

Image by Boris Veldhuijzen van Zanten via Flickr

According to the new book titled "Herd" that I've picked up and just started the first few pages.  It'll have to wait until I finish "Rework" today :)
Caught this excerpt from one of the blogs that I follow Inc.com by Max Chafkin.

Social networking? Feels kinda like falling in love. Over at Fast Company, Adam Penenberg talks to neuroeconomist Paul Zak who discovered that social networking--much like falling in love--triggers our brains to release of a "generosity-trust" chemical. Says Penenberg, "That should be a wake-up call for every company." In Zak's lab, Penenberg subjects himself to various experiments to find out why humans are "compelled to be social animals online and off" and what that could mean for brands, companies, and marketers.

This is a similar concept that I'm reading about in the book "Herd" and it is interesting that though we all insist on being individuals and having our own style, values, opinions...often times we see crowds of people sharing the same interest, activities, values, opinions.  Kind of makes sense, since if we were true "individuals", and no one shared our opinions and activities, etc. we would have no one to talk to about them - pretty boring I would say.

I'll give an update on my thoughts on this after finishing "Herd".  Stay tuned.

Planning Extremes - ZERO or 5 years out?

Image by adria.richards via Flickr

I started reading "Rework" by Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson.  I picked it up because on its front cover it said "Ignore this book at your own peril." - Seth Godin.

Just kidding.  I flipped through and it did appear to be written by founders of businesses and not some businessperson who has never built a business before themselves lecturing us on theories and what not.  Looked like it was in plain English :)

I started it yesterday and noticed that they basically said "Screw Planning Anything!" (at least that was the feeling I got) and I think to myself, well, I agree that for a start up you do have to do things differently as you go...I think we can all agree that the so-called business plan in the initial phases is like what the authors call business "guesses".  Sure. Since we all know that it definitely never goes according to plan with these things.  I also agree that it's silly to plan ahead for 5 years because you can't account for all the extraneous factors that will effect your business outcomes.

Here's the other side of the coin.

The business plan should be considered as business thoughts.  I use it as a place where I put down my thoughts on the who, what, when, where, how given the current situation.  It also makes you think about what you would do if sh*t hit the fan.  That's the key word - THINK.  If you stick to going through your day-to-day operations without ever THINKING about this how do you figure out your end game and how to get there?

Planning is almost a dirty word for entrepreneurs/starters/doers whatever you want to call start up business founders.  Why?  We want to be creative, innovative, whatever, that planning gives us the perception it inhibits our creativity.  This is why business plans are a pain - because of how we think of planning.

What if I told you that business planning as just taking a piece of paper out and jotting your thoughts down on how to get things done towards a specific goal?  Not so hard now is it?

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The G20 - Ground Level Woes?

Image by roch lasalle (farinn veiða) via Flickr

I've just returned from Toronto and luckily avoided the G20 that's happening starting this weekend. 
There hasn't been a lot of positive press for the G20 happening in Toronto, especially on the point where many are criticizing us for the large sums we've spent on the event to date.  Here's what The Economist had to say about it in their online feed:

LEADERS of the G8 group of rich countries gather in Muskoka, a Canadian holiday resort, for a two-day summit starting on Friday June 25th. The meeting overlaps with the two-day G20 summit that begins the next day in Toronto. Both get-togethers will give the opportunity to world leaders to discuss global financial regulation, reforming international financial institutions and responses to the crisis in the euro zone. The Canadian hosts have been criticised at home for the vast cost of the summit, in particular on the creation of a huge artificial lake for the media centre in a country with more real lakes than anywhere else in the world.

 What about the people that are actually in the middle of all this?   Residents of Toronto downtown that are discovering that the G20, which is supposed to boost the economy and bring in additional revenues, is transforming the downtown core into a tourist town, but ironically with no restaurants or services open?  Here are a couple things I heard at the ground level speaking to people around town.

• Waiter was saying if he knew that his restaurant would be closing during the G20 period, he would have taken more shifts outside of the downtown core.
• Person working at CIBC said that her company is transferring a lot of employees to either work from home or work from Mississauga - definitely increased expenses for the company since they have to pay for transport; also takes a toll on the employees, who now have to wake up extra early to get out of the downtown core
• Restaurants have said that they will be closed for fear that they will incur damages to their property due to expected protests in the downtown area
• Residents down by Queen's Quay, which is pretty much center of the G20 action (and road closures) are renting out their apartments for $1500 a day 

So what we have are companies that are cutting back/relocating their services and an influx of tourists that would need services.  Great.  Would like to see how it plays out in over the next couple weeks for those living in Toronto.

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Positive "Networking" = GIVING FIRST

I think within over the past 2 days I've had this same conversation with 4 different people.  How do you network?  How do you build your network?

I have to say that I rarely think about how I'm expanding my network, because I think what I do is build relationships instead.  Some people still like to tie it to the word networking, hence the term positive networking. 

The way to do it is just find out about the other person's business, what they are involved in, and how you can help them with your services or connect them to other people within your own network.  GIVE something first and don't expect that they will or can reciprocate right away.  Just know that when they do come across something that relates to your business, they will think of your first.  The power of building business relationships instead of just having a network of acquaintances is so, so, SO important in business.

I found all of my advisors, employees and investors through this type of relationship.  If you don't genuinely care about the other person's business, why should they care about yours and want to help you?

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Writing Your Business Plan - Make it Modern?

Many of us learned how to write our first business plan in business school.  My first business plan, was a whopping 120 pages of...fluff, diagrams, thousands of pages of projections, etc.  Read like a textbook - BORING.

How does yours look like?  The longer I've been running PeerFX, the more I find that everybody is constrained on time, and usually a 20 slides slide deck or an exec summary is sufficient for an investor to decide if they want to see you.  Then it's your performance during your meeting that gets you the money.

What is a business plan for anyway?  As Seth Godin puts it - for us to think through the actual implementation.  Write it so that after reading it, YOU would be convinced to put money into it.  Seriously, if you can't communicate how your business is going to make a gazillion dollars in less than 20 pages (including appendixes!) then I question whether you've nailed down your business details enough.

I say that the business plan components have to be continually revisited - anyone that has gone beyond just writing the plan would know that it never happens just like it.  If it does, please go buy a lottery ticket because you're seriously super lucky.

So what components are in a Modern Business Plan?  5 things

1. The TRUTH - look all around you, how does the environment affect your business - be realistic - you have competitors, existing alternatives, the economy...
2. Assertions - How do you propose to change the way things are done?
3. Alternatives - like I said, never happens like you want it - so what do you do for plan B, C and D?
4. MONEY - money, money, money - without money either in the form of revenue or investment, you don't have a business.  Figure out your finances!

Read more about Seth's push for writing a modern business plan here.  THEN WRITE ONE.  Reading without doing you learn nothing.

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American Express Accepted Everywhere

Over the years I grew up with American Express being positioned as a prestigious, high status credit card brand.  They worked so hard on it that they made sure their cards were accepted only at places of high status - luxury restaurants, hotels, etc.

Then I saw this at Eaton's Centre in Toronto the other day.  Made me think: "Burger and American Express?  Really?" 

An Amex black card may even have been a goal for some aspiring businesspeople out there, but now that they can use the Amex card at the local burger joint, what does this do to the brand?

I wonder why Amex made the decision to go mainstream and compete for the same customers that are currently catered to by Visa and MasterCard.  They had a nice little niche - is it because the high status, high spending group is shrinking?  Or they feel like they've saturated that market?

What do you think is the reason for this switch in brand positioning?

Can Superb Service Exist with Scale?

I am sitting here in Timothy's World Coffee at the corner of Bay St and College St. The service is one of the best out of all the coffee shops I've been to, in many different countries including Japan, Hong Kong, Korea, Canada and the US.

The service was friendly, and it looked like the owner was manning the cashier today. They also heated up my sandwich and brought it out for me. I saw other customers come in and the owner recognized them by name and remembered their usual drinks with a side of yogurt. I have to say that my sandwich was just OK but the superb service has definitely made me a repeat customer.  Their offer was $5.99 for the sandwich and it also came with a drink - usually I pay extra for the drink. So I would say this coffee shop also wants to offer their customers good deals (low prices).

Is it possible for companies with hundreds, even thousands or millions of customers to do this on a large scale?  To provide superb service and low prices at the same time?

If I think of companies that are attempting to do this, Flight Centre comes to mind with their travel manager services for small businesses, and I wonder how profitable that is.

As for other larger companies like Dell, their low price offer is based on the fact that there is low to no customer service (they do have Dell Kiosks in some places but limited number) and customers are expected to take care of themselves.  This makes sense, since deliverables should also be adjusted as your revenues go down, you deliver less - in this case, it's lower levels of customer service.

What would happen if one day out of the blue that Timothy's World Coffee generated so much goodwill and word of mouth that their lineup wrapped around the corner?  Will the owner still recognize everybody by name?  Will the staff be bringing out the customers' orders to their tables each and every time?  Will the coffee and blended drinks still taste as good given that they must increase the speed of their operations to decrease wait times?

Most start ups start out focusing on getting great word of mouth going for their businesses by totally babying their customers and I think PeerFX is doing this to a good extent as well - we want our customers to spread the word about our service.  What happens when we suddenly hit a point where word of mouth brings in tons of customers and we can't treat them all the same way we treated our initial group of early adopting customers?  The same way that this coffee shop is running itself based on great customer service and low prices, PeerFX aims to provide a 24/7 service at the best exchange rates for small to medium sized businesses.

Time to start planning ahead!

Just Do It

Every moment spent whining, worrying, talking about a problem is one extra moment that you are NOT DOING ANYTHING. So just get off your behind and make things happen!

Rant of the day.

Are You Guilty?

Judge Says I'm GuiltyImage via Wikipedia

For not doing things you said you would for your business?  For not being your best self everyday?

Here are some key points that would tell you if you are guilty:

1. You list out your agenda items for the day, don't end up completing them and push some items to next day (huge backlog)
2. You are busy putting out fires and make up some excuse for not calling a customer/sales lead/advisor/investor/your mom back.  Guess what?  You're not too busy to take a few moments to read this now right?  So you have a few moments to call them back.
3. You identify the problem and think GREAT! We're halfway there already.  Well, GREAT, you're ONLY halfway there, so get on it!
4. You offload all the tasks that you don't want to do to your employees.  Hey, I'm not saying that's wrong, because if you're not good at something, I don't want you working in that job either.  Try setting an example though, and try the task yourself - this small thing you do will win the respect of your employees.
5. You don't put your foot down when you say you would.  You have mistaken the part of being "nice" with your contractors and employees and are now getting pushed around by them. I have to admit it's an art to being firm with and respected by your employees and people you work with.  Or you might be on the other end of the spectrum where people call you nasty names for being bonehead aggressive.

I'm sure that there are many other items that you would come up with upon reflection - now write those down and tell yourself you'll NEVER do that again or else...make sure there's a consequence too or else without a downside you likely won't enforce this on yourself.


Here's my kick in the derriere for myself - I am too involved in the day-to-day of the business and not prioritizing correctly.  Ever had that feeling that you worked 100% but only accomplished 50% of what you intended?  Yup - that's what I feel right now.

I think there could be more structure to my day - it's great that everyday I'm challenged with a new problem and meeting new people, so what I mean is structuring my day so that there are specific time slots for each of these activities.  It seriously does enhance productivity.

I'm starting to understand why people need gatekeepers.  I run a small business and get tons of calls not only from customers, people seeking advice, people wanting to sell me stuff, that it's hard to take all of these calls personally.  Apologies but this is the truth - I still give out my direct contact but chances of me picking up on the first try is slim because I'm either in a meeting, on another call or concentrating on doing what I should be doing - running the business.

Let's face it, there are things I love doing and things I hate doing (I am quite extreme like that).  I tend to push things I hate doing, like endless hours of market research and reviewing 500 pages of our patent to the end of my day, and sometimes I push it to next day - GUILTY.  I'm going to stop doing that.  I'm going to stick to the schedule down to the minute and make sure I leave some time at the end of my day to put out fires - deal?  Yes, deal.

This is my shortlist of things I do that is hindering my productivity right now and that I am promising myself to change.  What are yours?

What People THINK They Want

I find it funny - that most people perceive an office with tons of people bustling around to be a sign of stability, efficiency and hard work. 

Contrary to this belief, most of the time these offices are overstaffed, people are looking busy on Facebook and expensing their friend's dinner gathering on the company's tab :)

What's the problem with having a small staff base if things are functioning fine?  Do I really need a CTO, CFO, CMO, CXO, etc. to make it look like we are a credible company?  Sure, I can add an admin person and more salespeople to generate more sales...but then you want me to maintain a store front and incur additional fixed expenses when that isn't your real objection to not signing up - you actually want better prices, faster turnarounds, freebies, insurance, blah blah blah.  Yes. What you are telling us with words really don't match your actions.  If I gave you what you really wanted (if you were kind enough to let us know) then you would buy the service/product; but why throw false objections our way when it doesn't solve the problem? 

Which brings us to how good is traditional market research?  Where we ask people what they want?  Are they really telling us the truth or telling us some BS reason that they know isn't the real reason why they're not putting money where their mouth is. 

I did some work in traditional market research before and now after having run my own business for a 2 years I think these methods need to be modified to reveal the real truth.  Just take for example when we did our initial primary survey, all these students and travelers told us they would buy the service; when we launched we got small businesses and self employed individuals swarming us.  I would say almost zero correlation between the results we got through primary research and actual purchase behavior.

Frustrating. 

Are you an Expense or an Income Stream?

When a business is in its early stages of growth, I say that we should spend our resources focusing on generating MORE money inflow for the business. 

What this means is we shouldn't be spending money on things that are an expense not directly related to generating more sales. Expenses related to generating more sales are salespeople, client lists, marketing efforts, etc.

Expenses that add no value right now include: redesigning your business cards just because, adding/fixing minor details on your system/software that you can do without and are nice to haves, hiring on more developers than you need, hiring more of anything that you don't need...the list goes on.

So when we have consultants or other service providers approaching us to sell us stuff, the first thing I ask is whether they are an expense or an income stream for my business.  Usually its the former, and I send them on their way. 

I'm also constantly surprised by the quality of work provided by tech developers and designers.  I say I'm surprised because sometimes a really good one goes for cheap (ie.$40 or $50 an hour) and then you find one that really sucks and they are charging $80 an hour.  Yet there's still a market for them.  Totally got sidetracked there.

Point is, in an early growth phase I am only interested in growing sales.  What things do you worry about as a start up owner?

The Leader Who Had No Title Book Review

I did promise that I would summarize the book by Robin Sharma, but I also found myself literally 3/4 of the way through the book and despite my commitment to finishing the book, I didn't.  I wasn't about to put myself through another 1/4 of the same theme and message which Robin already made blindingly clear in the first 3/4 of the book. 


Here's my 2 cents on what I think the book wanted me to take away: Don't mind the title, just concentrate on being the best in the world for your position, and your life will change drastically with this minor change in your mindset.  Set a good example to show others that greatness can be achieved in every role in this world, no role is too small to make a difference. 

I know 2 sentences makes it seem like I'm downplaying a lot of the content in the book, and maybe some of you have already read and the book and can contribute to this post by adding your thoughts in the comments section. 

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