bwagy, the blog of Ben Young

#20 Get clarity around your model
Decide early on, is this going to be a business I grow? or all about me? (ie this business is only ever going to be me). That reflects your company direction, decisions, operating model… future planning. Note you can change your mind about this, but at least have a direction initially.

#21 Build a board of directors
Build a board of directors, family, friends, clients, those who have an intrinsic interest in your business. Report to them cashflow, sales, metrics. Just having to report to someone will remind you of what you’re doing.

#22 Diversify revenue
Diversify your revenue streams, never have all your eggs in one basket, ebooks, retainers, speaking, courses, hourly work.

Starting without fanfare is a bit daunting and quite scary.

Shouldn’t I be shouting from the rooftops about what I’m doing?

Yes and no.

Shout from the rooftops once you’ve tested your product with paying customers AND they think it’s awesome.

However who starts off like that? Starting without fanfare lets you operate under the radar, quietly refine and build your business.

It also means you have market potential rather than converting a market that is fatigued by your shouting.

A good analogy is the franchise, do you think they rolled out hundreds of McDonalds then figured out how to make a convenient meal?

Have been fatigued with mainstream media for quite some time.

I can’t watch one hour of the news without pointing out an inaccuracy.

The common ones are:

• Distortion of statistics, establishing causation or correlation in statistics where there is no link.  (My #1 gripe). (Does no news network ever have a statistician validate numbers?!?!!)
• Misquoting, taking a 5 second sound bite out of a larger conversation.  Using this you can slur a story anyway you want.
• Hearsay reported as fact.
• Blatant delivering a press release as news (ie human interest story solved by a new product).

Media should be fined for misrepresentation, I am happy for them to say their ‘may’ be a link between these or to say rumour has it.  But be honest, say what it is.  Otherwise you should get fined for it.

And lets be honest they’re never going to report news saying it’s based on hearsay.  As you will realise it’s rubbish – or is that just the definition of mainstream media in the 21st century?

What do you think?

Everyone has an opinion but….BUT it is only as valid as you let it be.

The past few weeks I’ve had the pleasure of partaking in the RadioWammo show on KiwiFM.

It’s been a lot of fun and we are going to to continue doing it.  But I just wanted to let you know you can:

• Listen on the radio (if in NZ). Visit KiwiFM for the local frequency.
• You can watch via ustream (available globally).
• You can even listen online (available globally).
• Then afterwards it goes up on YouTube – so here’s a playlist where you can get the latest ones.

Tune in 0910 NZT (watch my twitter Monday mornings).

Once we have the time I will organise a centralised website to collate all the media so you can subscribe in one place – but please listen, love to hear your comments.

I have embedded the past three weeks below:

Ben Young on TEDx & Unconferencing 5-10-09 Radio Wammo Show, Kiwi FM

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=07yqgy-fg4w

Ben Young on Tipping Buses drivers & Free Broadband 28-9-09 Radio Wammo Show, Kiwi FM

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_dd6eiZ23D4

Ben Young Ideas Primer 21-9-09 Radio Wammo Show, Kiwi FM

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4hddMLdgvXk

The past weekend I attending my third unconference.

It was a real blast, instead of the normal conference where you are there to listen, at an unconference you are there to engage.

And it’s through the engagement that REAL learning can evolve, it’s that experience, discussion back and forth.  In contrast at a normal conference you go to listen then apply.

So what is an unconference? Simple there is no agenda, you turn up and the attendees just add their own topics.

A session is more a discussion than a speech, the topic is set, a discussion point is created and you go from there.

Hang on does it actually work? Yes.  Amazingly it does.  Topics are self selected, so by definition only something someone really wants to talk about and you get to pick which sessions you attend (versus sit through a boring session awaiting the next good one).

What I suggest is that you set up your own unconference, for your industry, company or network.  Invite internal/external people from right across the board and let them go.  The less agenda the better 😉

I attended a small rural high school so often there weren’t enough teaching resources for us, we had to self teach some topics with support once a week or fortnight.

In particular I struggled with calculus, it would make my brain spin, give me headaches. You see I was developing new knowledge (in probably the most inefficient way).

This is what change is about, by definition it is all new, and that’s where the pain lies.

So what can you do about it? Well to ease the pain you can get someone experienced to coach or lead you through it.

A tutor, a consultant, a mentor.

People learn up to four times faster with a teacher than without.

So that’s what I did, got a tutor, who helped me understand calculus, naturally my learning accelerated.

Acknowledge that change is painful, keep taking the steps to the end goal (perseverance is genius) and get help to make the process much easier.

There is never any shame in asking for help….