Time is often the missing component, it’s something none of us have but we all use.
Surprisingly it’s often left out of planning, what is the real cost (or value) of the time that passes? Does it work to our advantage or against it?
It’s also what our customers give us, their time, their attention, we should reward them for that.
Through using up less of it or creating more enjoyment with it. Either or.
That is, a place where you keep your ideas.
Ideas that are neat, novel but not quite right. Even the ideas you do execute.
This is standard practice for Creatives, people whose careers live and die by their ideas. But you don’t have to be one to do it.
It’s like a photo album, helps you see where your ideas have come from, where they’re going but most importantly act as a way of inspiring yourself when you need fresh ideas.
Whether it’s an actual bottom drawer, a notebook or Evernote. Start it.
Once people understand they can get something last minute, they will.
Decisions will be more impulsive, as less commitment is required, average spend will go up.
I wonder what industries aren’t last minute, that could be.
Managers are having difficulty managing Gen Y.
There are tonnes of reasons why, one that’s no so obvious though is the need for high feedback loops.
Everything around Gen Y has instant feedback, Google, Taking a photo, Playstation. The one place that isn’t prevalent is the workplace.
It’s actually amazing that here’s a generation that actively seeks and wants feedback so that they can improve!
Don’t get frustrated, work with it and you’ll reap the rewards.
It’s often a great way to achieve the result you desire faster, especially when the result requires input from external parties.
Such as raising money.
Pitching ideas.
Building distribution.
You learn as you go, maintains momentum and inevitably should lead to a conclusion sooner than later.
can make the sale on the spot.
I was reminded of that on a recent trip to Beijing when the classic opening line was “Is this your first time here?”. A simple question with an obvious answer but it creates a dialog and that’s all they’re keen to do initially. The sale of course comes later.
I’ve seen the same in many developing countries, they’re good as they can’t afford the procrastination most of us tolerate. If you ever need some business inspiration, go to one to find how people that have to think (and live) on their feet everyday do it. You’ll be amazed at what you learn.
And what your organisation adds massive value in.
It’s always a call you have to inevitably make.
A refreshing one though.
Get behind what you’re doing.
No one else is going to back you, if you don’t back yourself.
And if you can’t back yourself you’re not doing the right thing. Change.
No one will think less of you for it.
Is often hard.
Start with where you were, the initial problem or objective you were trying to achieve
List what you tried.
What failed miserably.
What worked a dream.
And then the end result.
Just start doing that, even if it’s bullet points, then you can tidy it up later.
I get a lot of ideas pitched to me, most are good, they get somewhere.
There’s a category that flounders.
It’s those that aren’t generous enough.
The idea is pitched to give most of the value to the the pitcher.
A great pitch communicates the value both parties will get out of it. That’s what you have to offer. You have something novel which will deliver your partner excess value. And that’s why people buy.
A coke doesn’t cost the $2 or $3 you pay, yet it seems great value, that’s because they’ve communicated that it’s worth much more than that. Would you buy cokes for $10?
Most likely not!
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Although but what scenarios would you?
Great video by Tom Peters in his Little Big Things Video series (an absolute must watch).
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ygT8FBVhu0
In essence curating your context, so that you’re in a place where you’re surrounded by people pushing themselves & pushing you.
Great analogy & a little change which can be very defining.
There are thousands of broken systems around the world.
Find situations where:
And come up with a novel idea to solve it.
Get an agreement for fixing it and negotiate to get paid an annuity based on how much would have been lost had it not been fixed.
Some ideas:
Often it’s not worth the individual cost but the cumulative cost. That is one last mail address could cost the overall system $50 over 3 years. Worth trying to fix that up. A water leak could cost tens of thousands over the next 20 years…
It’s often outside points of view which bring the fresh thinking to solve them. So no reason why you or I can’t have a stab.
I want you to think of computers, how you buy upgrades to a game, new upgrades to your computer. Things that make it perform much better.
Now think of a service you can plug into a business. A service that once plugged in will upgrade the overall system.
Some ideas bouncing around:
Retail Sales Training – plug this technology into your retail chain and watch your average revenue per customer rise.
A catering company that provides healthy food in the workplace, watch overall health & wellbeing increase (maybe less staff downtime / sick leave).
Financial management (often a place it actually does exist).
That is a series of steps to share your logical thinking.
Teach your logical methodologies. What’s logical to you in your specialist field of knowledge is not logical to everyone else . They don’t know your tricks & tips.
Even if it’s absolutely simplistic – it’ll help other people make consistent exceptional decisions.
You won’t get it right initially but if you can get it 80% right, then you greatly reduce what’s coming over to you.
To get great ideas, you need to have great input.
Great input, is information that is reasonably filtered & qualified.
The better quality information you process, the better your ideas.