The problem with winning business
Winning business. Sets the language and actions as a finite game. You win, I lose. In a competition, so to not lose, you need to crush the other players. That’s your only way to get your bite of the cake. A limited cake. → Sets the client as the prize to be won. You need to win the client. They’re the most precious thing (because they have the money). So you set yourself as a vendor amongst many. → Makes you believe that “If you want it hard enough you’ll get it.” And that’s not how life…
Choices
It’s a choice. Everything. You get to decide. It’s your business. Nobody else can put a vision to it. Nobody else is (truly) risking things for it. You get presented with options and it’s for you to choose. There are no shoulds. It also means you take responsibility and ownership. When you’re told what to do (or the lovely “you should do this”), making that choice carries judgement —which might slow you down. But what’s the Anti- to being told what to do? Being able to decide. To have agency….
The Anti-How-To Guide
Most guides are to tell you How-To do things. Step-by-step processes that are great to do the actionable thing. Of great help when you’re stuck or trying something new. They help you DO the thing. You get to train your hands skills. An Anti-How-To Guide? To train your head skills. To train your judgement. To help you see the bigger picture. To make your own guides. What if instead of being told what to do, you get see what’s behind it? That’s what an Anti-How-To Guide’s for. And you only get…
The other What if
It usually goes like this: What if… I fail I’m seen as a fake They call me out Turns out I’m not good at what I do This idea is stupid I ignore the red flags Tripp Lanier has a very technical term for this: Get over yourself. The thing is, when you’re using this first What If, you’re taking things from a lens of fear and threats. John Hagel calls this (Personal) Narratives*, and this type is what he refers to as based on threats. While they might move you forward, you can only get so far…
Secret Hacks to Increase Traction
Stuck? Try these proven formulas. Here are 28 Secret Hacks to Increase Traction (SHIT) to fit right into your market and get quick market share (part 1): The best product wins. Because great products don’t need marketing. Build it right and they will come. Because you know better than your customers. The best marketing wins. Because marketing is about communicating and storytelling. You need to enter the market with low prices. Because that’s a bulletproof way to capture market share. Work…
Creativity and Productivity
As creatives, entrepreneurs or soloists, there’s this mix up to believe that creativity and productivity are opposites. They’re not. Creativity. The ability to see opportunity. Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi. Productivity. Ratio between the maximum output and the smallest effort. Peter Drucker. They’re different playgrounds, not ends of the same spectrum.
If you’re not being productive, you’re losing money.
When thinking of productivity, the usual way to go is about quantity. How much of X you could produce. Or, as an indie consultant, a creator or expertise-based business, what you can do of something. However, productivity measures the relation between the maximum output and the smallest effort to do so. It’s not only about the quantity (or amount), but about the ratio. It takes in consideration efficiency AND efficacy. Being productive, on the other hand, focuses on what you can get done in a…
Ideas without execution
They say they’re worthless. That without execution, ideas are pointless. That they’re just a thought. Actually… “Ideas are shit, execution is the game.” Gary Vaynerchuk And that’s why most indie consultants and creators do: Ideation Strategy Roadmapping Diagnostics Brains Work for free. Because of the (mis)belief that without doing the execution, they (the ideas, the person) don’t have value. That might be true IF the execution was tied to the thinking. Which is not how life and reality…
You don’t *need* to execute.
But if you’ll have to, your clients have to go through the thinking work first. Make that a policy. Unless you want to only sell your hands work. Which is fine too. Just know you’ll be leaving money on the table. David C. Baker explains this in his book “The Business of Expertise”. (bolding mine) Strategy & Execution. The Business Of Expertise. David C. Baker. 2017 “I actually prefer to think of what I’m calling strategy here as research and insights.[…] So the first room on the left could…
Ideas for free.
Why pitching (and elevator pitches) hurts you and your expertise: Because you’re presenting instead of having open, honest conversations. Because you’re operating without diagnosing. Because you go in convince-mode. Because you’re not listening to understand, but to reply. Because you’re shoving down their throats what you think you know, without considering context. Because you’re not considering walking away and recommend others to do that work. Because you’re focusing on implementation….