Don’t break what’s working
“See how much you can raise your prices without losing customers.Raise your prices, slowly, safe and sound.See how far up you can go.Don’t break what’s working.” How many times have you heard that? However… If you have shit clients, you’ll keep them. Only now with a few (more) cons. They’ll: Argue the price raise Try to squeeze more scope in Complain more Look at how much time you’re putting in Feel scammed Feel you’re squeezing them dry (because you’re “greedy”). Look at every tiny, stupid…
Where you at?
Knowing your context. Now that you have a base to make comparisons, between you and your customers, it’s time to see the playground —and how you could find the gaps. Start with these questions: What’s already there? What does the playground look like? Is it leveled? Is it inclined towards someone/something? Is there someone too big? Is it atomized? Is it crowded? What’s my access here? What’s my reputation here? Who’s playing in it? Who are my direct competitors? Who are my indirect…
Who are you?
To see and find gaps in your market begins with setting a baseline. To know yourself, ask questions to give yourself an articulate idea of who you are and what you do and being able to do the Before & After. Can you answer this questions and find yourself being different? What do I offer? Who’s the specific group of people I’m trying to serve? What makes me different from the others? What do they buy instead of what I sell? Do they know who I am? Do they know what I do? What drives their…
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…
Scale up
That’s all you hear: “You need to scale up” as the way to grow your business. What do they even mean by that? That you “must grow”. You can scale up and grow and still… Have high revenue and high costs Be near bankruptcy Be unprofitable Get thin, almost inexistent margins Be in the midst of a price war Get commoditized Be ignorable Get (more) shit clients Increase revenue (and hidden, sunk costs right with it) Surpass your capacity Destroy value Keep your clients unsatisfied Growth is not…
Secret Hacks to Increase Traction (part 2)
Here are the last 14 of 28 Secret Hacks to Increase Traction (SHIT) to fit right in and get quick market share: [You can read the first 14 here] 15. Build a love mark. Because you need to be loved by everyone. And can manufacture love. 16. Build a personal brand. Because that way you’ll show up authentic. And brands aren’t artificial. 17. Find your brand’s purpose. Because every business needs a purpose. 18. Marketing is storytelling. Because it’s about creating compelling content to earn…
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…
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….
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…
