The thing on resolutions
Doing new year’s resolutions can feel motivating. Here, fellow daily writer Shweta, from Superlista shows that temporal landmarks are important events to start afresh. However, the thing with resolutions is not the resolution itself, but making it realistic and actionable enough for you to keep at it. Because otherwise resolutions end up being wishful thinking. And wishful thinking, when assessed from the future into the past, brings judgement, resentment, overanalyzing and remorse. This is…
Times to pause
Enjoy your holidays. Unplug. Be with your fam. Make a pause. Recharge. That’s what you could use this time at the end of the year for. Whatever you do, you got this. Now and next year.
Product-Market Fit
Stop looking for it. Because if you fit in, you can’t stand out. And when you don’t stand out, all they compare you on… is (the lowest) price.
Prospects goals
You should not know your prospects’ goals. But understand them. And know how to get them closer to those goals. Sometimes, the goals that are on the surface are just intuitive responses to symptoms. And most times, this self-diagnose is not the right one.
When is it good enough?
Having high-complexity projects means you’re assuming that 1. You need to budget for a longer timeframe. 2. Things will usually take longer when not everything is under your full control. So, what do you do there? Do you wait till everything is done and ready to implement? Or do you start shipping at certain milestones/stages? Both have trade-offs. Choosing which one is the right one comes with a deep understanding of what you’re trying to achieve at the end. And that’s the first thing to…
Dumping New Year’s Resolutions
The thing about resolutions is that they usually stay behind at some point in the year. You can do commitments. You can do promises. You can do goals setting. But to start the new year, make things simple for you. Star with ONE thing. This one thing can take 2 forms: One with the big picture in mind. Or One to be a high actionable thing to implement asap (and keep at it). Either way you go, you can give it a try with this: Grab a piece of paper, write down your desires/thoughts/wishes/goals…
A new year is coming
And while most do “resolutions”, you could take another road. Nevertheless, it’s about, first, thinking of your goals for the next year. And picking a strategy to get them. Which, also brings us to the default of strategic planning. However, is a strategy a plan —as most people and “gurus” say? Because if it is… What in the hell would strategic planning be? A planning plan????? It all starts with know what each thing is. It all starts with clarity.
Rates and scope
The first reply to “What are your rates?”is NOT “It depends on the scope and time involved”. Neither is “What’s your budget?” Rates A rate is a factor to multiply or measure with another.”My rate is X. I’ll need Y time. The bill should be around X.Y” (Which is always more) It guesses on how much (time) it will need to get done. It transfers the risk onto the client. Which brings us to say”I miscalculated how long it would take. I should have estimated 3X. Well, dear client, now YOU have to…
Bringing problems to your clients
I’ve never heard of a business that says “We bring problems to our clients”. Have you? In that same spirit, it feels obvious to say “We bring solutions to our clients”. Assuming you’re reaching out to them, you’d want to find out if they have challenges they can overcome. And that transformation… would it be a problem? Assuming they reach out to you, they come for you to help them with something. So… would that also be framed as a problem? If you’re using “solutions” in your business,…
Tracking time = Focusing on the wrong thing
When most prospects ask you about what’s your hourly rate, the focus is on the wrong thing —either to measure AND to use as a metric. Because time is not a resource. Because a rate is not a price, but a variable. Because it doesn’t focus on value, but on an arbitrary “cost”. Here’s what Tim Williams says about it in “The Unnecessary Cost Of Tracking Time”. Even the most ardent adherents to the time-based billing system will acknowledge that time logged on a timesheet does not equal value…