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Success Factors (Recap)

Derek — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 17:35:59 +0000

Why do some people and businesses become extraordinarily successful? Is it luck? Talent? Just what does it take to go from good to great?

Whether you are an entrepreneur or a CEO, you’ve got ideas on how to be successful, but can you list the concrete factors that separate the titans the peons?

The Success Factors blog series will show you how people and companies achieve success. All you need to do is keep an open mind and go through each Success Factors article.

Success Factors: Improve Your Business

This is the Success Factors basics. If you read these 8 articles, you will learn how to improve your business.

Success Factors: Case Studies

Are you looking for more ways to grow your business? why don’t you take a look at these Success Factors case studies? You will learn what other companies have done to improve their business.

Success Factors: Expert Advice

Here is a quick look at some of the most successful people in both business and life. From musicians to billionaires, there is something here for everyone.

Success Factors: Inspiration

Need some inspiration? Why don’t you take a look at these two success factors articles?

Success Factors: Personal Development

A company is only as successful as the people who work for it. So, why don’t you take a look at these great personal development articles?

Do You Like What You See?

How Bloggers Helped Brewdog Increase Sales Substantially

Derek — Sun, 01 Feb 2009 21:43:46 +0000

Have you heard of the Brewdog brewing company? They are a micro Scottish brewery who had a tough time selling locally because people grew up with other lager. So, they connected with American and Swedish beer enthusiasts who appreciated foreign beer. They contacted the top beer bloggers in each country and sent them free samples. As a result, their beer orders took off and now exports account for 80% of their business.

Isn’t this an extraordinary success story? They reached out to bloggers and grew their business substantially. What company would shy away from these results?

Ignorant companies, that’s who, but you’re different. You are reading Prevential.com and our main goal is to show you how you can grow your business. In the remaining part of this article, I will show you what you can learn from Brewdog’s success.

Talk to Your Customers

Brewdog used video to talk to their customers. They filmed the staff arguing about the virtues of different beers and then let them vote on how it would taste. They called it “Beer Rocks” and it was a huge success since it was the world’s first democratically designed beer. Now, do you know the best part? All it cost was a few hours filming and the price of a video camera.

This promotion worked well because it added a personal touch to a distant company. As I mentioned in the Mom & Pop Advantage, customers today yearn for this personal touch and this leads me to my next big point.

Let Your Customers Decide

How many of you remember the origin of the Blue M&M? For those of you that don’t, Mars let their customers vote on either Blue, Pink, or Purple M&Ms by calling 1-800 FUN COLOR and Blue won. The people who voted for blue felt like they made a difference and probably continued eating M&Ms because they had a personal investment in the product.

Brewdog’s “Beer Rocks” campaign was similar. They let their customers vote and to no surprise, it created lots of buzz. So, if you’re looking to introduce or change your product, you should let your customers have some input. It will give your customers a personal investment in your product and it will help you avoid travesties like “New Coke.”

Make Your Customers Feel Special

If you take a look at Brewdog’s website, they say “our beers are in no way commercial or mainstream.” That means, if you’re drinking their beer, you are part of the select few who have the privilege of drinking it. While subtle, it makes their customers feel special — it makes them feel like they’re part of a small Seth Godin-like Tribe. If you want your customers to feel part of a small and elite crew, sometimes you just need to tell them they’re already in it.

What Do You Think?

Now what do you think? Did Brewdog join the conversation the right way? Why don’t more companies take a page from their book and do the same?

Five Timeless Lessons From Warren Buffett

Derek — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 23:25:32 +0000

Do you want to learn how to make your company successful? Join Prevential and follow the Success Factors blog series daily in January 2009.

If you were to use anyone as a hero, there would be no better man than Warren Buffett. He has been one of the richest men in the world for the past 20 years and it should come as no surprise. He doesn’t try to please anyone other than his shareholders and his stock performance proves it. So, without further ado, here are five timeless lessons from the world’s most successful investor.

Play Baseball Without Strikes

In 1999, Warren Buffett compared investing to baseball without strikes. You can wait for the right pitch all day and there is no penalty other than lost opportunity. So, “when the fielders are asleep, step up and hit the pitch.”

What a simple concept, yet many businesses, including myself, make this mistake daily.

When my blog took off, I looked for advertising sales reps. I was tired of low CPMs from ad networks like Google and I wanted direct sales. I did minimal research and went with the first company who made me an offer. I swung at the first pitch.

I was locked into a 12 month agreement, but I didn’t mind. I was set to make a ton of money. Unfortunately, they didn’t pay me anything. I gave them millions of advertising impressions and never received one penny. My home run ended up being a foul.

I learned that it’s easy to swing at sub-par pitches, but when you’re in the business game, those sub-par pitches are what breaks your company. Just take a look at some banks in 2008 and 2009.

Keep Score on Your Inner Scorecard

For those of you who read “The Snowball: Warren Buffett and the Business of Life,” you will know what I’m talking about. For those of you who haven’t, Alice Schroeder talks about how Warren Buffett views success. He believes you need to keep score on your inner scorecard as opposed to your outer scorecard. In other words, measure yourself vs your own standards and not against other people.

Yet another mistake I made. I compared my business to others regularly. It was a huge waste of time. So, here are two ways I make my visits to the competition productive:

Action Plans – When I visit the competition, I won’t leave without an action plan that would work for my business. I may not use it, but at least I have it for further reference.

Interesting Stories – Great stories are powerful and rare. When I visit the competition, I look for great stories to log into my moleskin. This has been a huge help with my writing and my presentations.

So, while learning from your competition can be beneficial, comparing yourself to them is a waste of time. Don’t worry about who’s better or who earns more money. Instead, focus on what you can do to earn more money and achieve your business goals.

Be Greedy When Others Are Fearful

During the bottom of the bear market of 1974, Forbes asked Warren Buffett, “How do you feel?” He responded with “Like an oversexed guy in a whorehouse. Now is the time to invest and get rich.” This was the first time he made a public prediction about the stock market. The second time came in late 2008 when he said, “I’m buying American and you should be too.”

These two time periods have one thing in common. Buffett puts his money on the line and lives his quote “be fearful when others are greedy and greedy when others are fearful.” Now we know it worked for Buffett, but what about everyone else?

In the past few months I was able to buy some stocks at extremely cheap prices since blood was in the streets. Now, I’m looking at websites who are in a panic because of plummeting CPMs. I’m waiting for a fair price on great websites and I’m sure it’s going to pay off in the long haul. In short, if you look for opportunities, you can be greedy when others are fearful.

Diversity Protects Ignorance

Many people love to say “you need to diversify” to become successful, but it doesn’t make sense and Warren Buffett agrees. He said, “Diversity is protection against ignorance. It makes very little sense for those who know what they’re doing.”

When I started earning money on the internet, I focused on several websites. I ended up making no money on all of them. Once I focused on one website, it took a few short months and I started earning good money. This strategy worked because I limited my opportunities and focused on one of them.

Buffett was right when he said “it makes very little sense for those who know what they’re doing,” but it was not complete. It also makes very little sense for people who don’t know what they’re doing. Without focus, you will never become world-class. Studies show that you need 10,000 hours of practice and if you diversify, you will never reach that goal.

High Tide Shields the Naked

I know you heard the Warren Buffett quote “It is only when the tide goes out that you know who was swimming naked,” but now I would like you to write it down. When the financial tide went out in 2008, people like Madoff and the highly leveraged investment banks were left naked on the beach. The bull economy hid their mistakes, but the bear economy exposed them.

When I was running my entertainment blog, I rested on my success and watched my advertising CPMS deteriorate in the down market. The high tide was hiding my uncompetitive business model, but now that the tide is out, one of my businesses suffered significant profit loss. I was left standing naked.

So, whether you’re in a good market or a bad market, you need to commit to success. You need to make sure you are always doing everything in your power to stay competitive. The system I adopted to help me get through this was the Kaizen system and thus far it has worked for me.

Tying It All Together

When the majority of the world was hungry for tech stocks earlier this century, Buffett stuck to what he knew and measured himself vs his own goals. Many people thought he was crazy, but when the market crashed, he emerged out on top. Now in 2009, if history repeats itself, who better than Buffett to teach you about success?

Why Einstein Became Immortal (and how your company can join him)

Derek — Sat, 03 Jan 2009 17:55:10 +0000

Do you want to learn how to make your company successful? Join Prevential and follow the Success Factors blog series daily in January 2009.

How can you ensure that people remember your company? How can you prevent your products and innovations from spiraling into a black hole? What can you do to be the 1 out of 10 businesses that become successful?

These are all tough questions with no easily discernible answer. However, we can learn a lot from Einstein and how he joined the immortal ranks of Aristotle, Galileo, and Isaac Newton.

Einstein was a genius. Some claim he was one of the smartest people who have ever lived. But his intelligence did not make him an international celebrity. For example, can you tell me a different physicist who won the Nobel prize?

Einstein was also innovative. He created the micro and macro description of the world (quantum physics and relativity respectively). But his innovation in science did not make people know his name. For example, can you tell me who created Penicillin or the Polio vaccination?

So then, what makes Einstein different? Why does everyone know about Einstein and E=mc2? Is it possible for your company to stand out like Einstein?

Smash Your Company

Let me take you back to the early 1900s. A Coca-Cola executive approached a designer and asked him to create a glass bottle that would be easily identified as a Coca-Cola bottle — even if you smashed the bottle into 100 pieces. This idea went down in history as the “Smash Your Brand” test.

Now, lets apply this to Einstein. Can you smash Einstein into 100 pieces and identify him as Einstein? What if I were to show you a picture of wild crazy gray hair that is standing on edge? I’m willing to bet you would be reminded of Einstein.

From a physics perspective, Einstein’s work is obviously Einstein’s work. Scientists can identify Einstein’s ideas just by looking at the scope of the ideas. This is similar to how many people can identify Van Gogh’s art just by looking at it.

Whatever business you are in you need to make sure you can smash it. You need to make sure people will recognize what you do by focusing on seemingly insignificant details like your hair style. Or, in Chris Pearson’s case, a nifty options panel for a wordpress theme.

Differentiate Your Company

What happens when you want to break into an elitist genre of old dogs and proclaimed experts? You will battle resistance, but it isn’t impossible to overcome it.

When Einstein started out in his career, he consistently encountered resistance. As Walter Isaacson pointed out in “Einstein,” Einstein was unable to get a job in academia or admitted into a doctoral program. However, it didn’t stop him. He worked on his theories while he worked at a patent office and his dedication and uniqueness paid off.

Now if his theories were similar to what was being discussed in academia, he would have probably stayed in that patent office for the rest of his life. After all, who would notice a no-name unqualified scientist in some silly patent office?

So, if you are thinking about starting a blog about blogging, think again. It’s been done and Darren Rowse already owns it. However, if you plan to add a unique spin or twist to the genre, do it to your heart’s content. Michael Martine of Remarkablogger is doing this perfectly. He’s not as big as Darren, but he offers much easier and practical advice than other blogs.

Or, if you’re looking to break into a a snobbish niche with snobbish followers, you should take a look at what Gary Vaynerchuk did to the wine industry. He focused on describing wine to regular people. He would say things like, “this wine has some of that raspberry slim jim action going on” instead of “esters,” “vintage,” and other words I can’t define. Oh, and he last I heard, Gary did over $50 million in sales.

The Success Factors Prescription

You have been introduced to the Success Factors Spotlight in “Why You Should Put All Your Eggs in One Basket.” Now you can see the “Success Factors Prescription,” which is where you can learn how to implement what we talked about into your company.

So, how do you differentiate your company? How can you help your company stand out?

Make People Feel Great: Many companies claim that their customers are their biggest asset. However, when we call Bank of America’s help line, it takes us more than 30 minutes to talk to a representative. So, make sure you say what you mean and focus on making people feel great. Maybe you should give them a restaurant mint?

Same Niche, Different Angle: You don’t need to come up with a unique idea. You need to find an idea and improve it slightly. For example, Facebook crushed Myspace by targeting college students. They made a slight change and emphasized it. So, if you enter a crowded niche, make sure you make your differences your main marketing tactics.

Keep Moving Forward: Einstein’s famous quote “Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance you must keep moving” applies to business. If you want to maintain or develop your competitive advantage, you need to continuosly improve upon what you have. If you don’t, you’re likely to fall over and crash into the concrete.

Do Something Quirky: In college I remember a kid we called shades. Nobody knew him, but he always wore sunglasses and a vest 365 days a year. I still remember him to this day because of his quirkiness and I realized you can do this in business. For example, one of Sam Walton’s store managers created the largest display of laundry detergent. It garnered a ton of attention and sales.

Be Trustworthy: We live in a world where different is no longer different. We have thousands of products and companies to choose from. So, if you want to stand out, make sure you are the most trustworthy person on earth. Don’t do anything you would be ashamed of and people will respect you for it.

What Did I Miss?

Do you have anything to add to this list? Do you have any other great ways to differentiate yourself in the marketplace? Why don’t you write a follow-up blog post or leave a comment?

How to Be a Novice and Join the Newly Successful

Derek — Sun, 14 Dec 2008 17:14:58 +0000

Photo Courtesy of Mike Baird

Almost the entire world relies on experts. We listen to experts talking about our economy, our health, our businesses, and everything else. They say what can or can’t be done and why. They give their “expert” opinion and many people change their life because of it. We blindly follow these opinionated experts and I’m here to say it makes no sense.

We cherish the “wisdom” and “insight” of the experts, yet they are usually wrong. Do you remember when the mainstream media experts considered blogging a joke? They considered it unprofessional, biased, and just plain amateur. Now, they’re tripping over themselves to participate in what the novices started.

Novices are changing the world and the old-school experts don’t know what to do about it. So, are you ready to join us on the fringes?

Novices and New Success

Novices are becoming more successful and have more influence. They are going to further change traditional business and there is nothing people can do about it. The internet and blogging gives everyone a voice and if you’re not participating, good! They don’t want to use your success for their gain anyway.

Now, change every “they” above to “we” because we are going to fuel this change and become the new success.

We change the way people think because we have innovative / non-conventional ideas. While we don’t have years of experience, we don’t have what Chip and Dan Heath call the “curse of knowledge.” We are not stuck in our ways and we are dying to find new ways of doing business.

But what can we do to become successful novices? How can we join the revolution?

Challenge the Experts

If you are looking to become successful, you need to do exactly what the experts say can’t be done. Just find out what they think is impossible and do it.

Seth Godin, Chris Sharma, and Rock Climbing

When I was reading Seth Godin’s Tribes, he talked about rock climbing. The right way to climb rocks was by keeping two limbs on the wall at anytime. It was safe, accepted, and supposedly the right way to do it.

At least that’s what all the experts said.

Then, a man named Chris Sharma changed the way people climbed rocks. Instead of holding onto the wall, he jumps. Impossible rock formations became possible. Just imagine if he listened to the experts.

Comic Books and Business Plans

One of my friends had to write a business plan for a college class. He chose to write one for a comic shop and presented it to a panel of experts. They said it would never work.

Take a guess what happened.

He used the business plan, started the comic book shop, and has ran it for the past 15 years. Just imagine if he listened to the experts.

Blogging and My Success

When I started blogging, I came across opposition from many family members. They didn’t understand the internet or blogging and pushed for me to “get a real job.” They thought I was avoiding reality, but let me tell you that they sure are kicking themselves right now.

Almost everything I have right now I attribute to blogging. I bought a nice co-op with blogging money, I pay my bills with blogging money, and pretty much everything I own is a result of blogging money. Just imagine if I listened to the experts. I would have nothing.

The point is that once you get used to challenging the experts, there is nothing that can stop you. It does not matter what you do because you will be looking at the impossible and trying to solve it. You may fail along the way, but at least you’re trying and if you keep trying, you will join the newly successful.

Accept Novice Fear

Doing something new can be frightening, but it is essential to join the newly successful.

Worst Case Scenario

Just think about the worst case scenario. What would happen if you challenge what people believe to be true? What would happen if you take a stance and hold your ground? Do you really risk anything other than being guilty of expressing what you believe?

Absolutely not.

You can only wear another man’s costume for so long before you want to break free and express yourself. So, why torture yourself?

Best Case Scenario

Now, just think about the best case scenario. How would you feel if you change the world? How would you deal with the success associated with proving the impossible possible?

In a world where we have billions of people there are others who feel the same way you do. Luckily, we have the internet and you can find these people. If you are putting yourself out there and working to change the accepted norms, you will build a following. This applies to business owners, large corporations, and people since it does not matter if you’re writing a blog, selling cars, or drudging away in an office because if you are doing what you feel, you will be happy and other people will find you.

So, what I am trying to say is, you have nothing to be scared of. There are people out there just like you, or, who think the same way you do and will absolutely love what you have to say, sell, or do.

Do Something (anything)

If you aren’t doing anything, you might as well be doing nothing. If you’re not looking for a way to change or differentiate, you are sitting on a growth plateau and you will remain there forever. If you want to join the new success you need to be doing something new and making it your life.

Don’t get me wrong. You can keep a corporate job and still do something new. There are 24 hours in a day and you really don’t have to watch the news or American Idol. You need to use your time wisely and accomplish something. You need to stop being busy and start being productive.

But what can you start doing?

You can start a blog
You can start recording videos to Youtube
You can start reading books
You can start writing books
You can start reading blogs
You can start commenting on blogs
You can start selling your junk on eBay
You can start tutoring people
You can start teaching people
You can start learning to do your job better
You can start reading Prevential.com regularly
You can e-mail your favorite writers

The bottom line is you can do anything. Just start doing it, commit yourself to it, and adapt along the way because your big ideas are meaningless without action.

Start Today

You are extremely lucky to be reading this article because that means you are part of the minority. You are here looking up how to join the newly successful, which means you’re 100 steps ahead of the rest of the population. As a matter of fact, I am so happy that you are here reading this that you should e-mail me right now because I will help you get started today.

Just remember, you can’t start Step 2 until you complete Step 1. So, get to it.

Four Ways to Take Advantage of Your Competition’s Success

Derek — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 01:58:30 +0000

Photo Courtesy of Exfordy

Have you read Chris Brogan’s “You’re Racing – I’m Improving” blog post yet? He admits that he keeps score against a few other blogs, but he emphasizes that his main goal is to improve himself and his business. Unfortunately, if you’re not keeping score, you will miss crucial growth opportunities.

However, you can’t obsess over your competition and their success. You need to keep score for a reason. You need to find out why your competition is becoming successful and look for ways to duplicate that success in your business.

For example, while I absolutely hate the AWEBER pop-up subscription boxes, many people helped their bottom line substantially with this tactic. If they weren’t keeping score, they would have missed this chance.

Additionally, the now deceased billionaire Sam Walton visited variety stores competing with Wal-Mart regularly. He would walk around his competition and find best-practices that he could immediately implement to help his bottom line and I’m sure you know how successful he turned out.

But how can you use the competition to improve your business?

1. Look for Explanations

Did you stumble across one of your competitors that experienced a surge in growth, whereas you didn’t? Well, the absolute worst thing you can become is envious. Instead, you need to learn from their success. You need to find out what caused their growth and try to implement that best-practice in your business.

Oh, and guess what, if you’re a blogger and your competition is a blogger, you don’t need to look for an explanation. You could probably ask and they would tell you.

2. Ride Their Wave

One of the best things about a competitor who experiences a surge in growth is that you can use it to your advantage. You can actually take out your surfboard and ride their wave to the top.

I remember when some major news broke and a blogger I knew ranked #1 in Google for it. They were receiving around 3,000,000 hits per day for a week. Do you know what the best part was? They were still selling Blogads for $45 dollars a week. So, I bought a few and received millions of impressions for practically nothing.

3. Be The Antagonist

Did one of your competitors see a surge in growth because they nailed their colors to the flag pole? Well, you should nail a different color to the flagpole and claim yours is better. Even if you don’t build a huge following, you will find some supporters to support you simply because you’re the antagonist.

4. Build Off Their Success

If one of your competitors launched a successful new product, you should launch a peripheral product that builds off their success. While your sales may be limited to their niche, it is a great way to get exposure

Want a perfect example of this? Think about iPhone peripherals. There are tons of people making a ton of money off of iPhone apps, iPhone cases, iPhone headphones, and the like. These companies use a successful product to launch their products and it works.

The Bottom Line

Time spent in admiration is time wasted. So, if you’re going to look at your competitors success, make sure you’re doing it for a specific reason that will help your business. Make sure you’re looking for specific action plans that you can immediately implement today so you don’t miss any opportunities.

When Companies Stop Growing, What Do They Do?

Derek — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 14:52:28 +0000

Photo Courtesy of Wolfgangstaudt

Have you reached a growth plateau? A place where everything you do no longer yields results? A place where your hard work goes unrewarded and unrecognized?

From fitness enthusiasts trying to break their bench-press record to bloggers looking to grow their website traffic, a plateau means they achieved some level of success, but can’t seem to take it to the next level.

You may feel like you reached your limit, but you refuse to accept stagnant growth.

A plateau is a temporary challenge — one more way for you to prove that you will remain incredible. So, here is how you can conquer your plateau and ensure long-term success.

Plateaus and Long-term Success

While growing your business, you will encounter several growth plateaus. They indicate that times are changing and its time for your business to follow. You could ignore them, but you need to overcome them for long-term success.

Just think how many businesses encounter a plateau and remain there for years. They ignore them because they convince themselves “what worked in the past will work in the future.” In reality, these companies are sitting in an open field while their competitors take effortless shots at their company.

So, ask yourself, has your business reached a plateau? If so, are you ready to try something new to break free?

The Plateau Energizes Growth

Some companies know that they need to conquer a plateau to achieve long-term success. So, they make growth their number one initiative and do everything in their power to sustain it. Now let me share a quick story of a company who executed this perfectly.

Two entrepreneurs, Stewart and Lynda Rae Resnick, bought farmland in 1987 that came with a 100-acre Pomegranate grove. Despite experts suggesting they chop down the Pomegranate trees and replace them with pistachios, they decided to “just see what happens.” They saw the plateau of opportunity.

POM Wonderful is what happened. They confronted the stagnant Pomegranate market with marketing prowess and innovation. They funded research that showed the health benefits of pomegranate juice, created original double bubble Pomegranate juice bottles, and found celebrity enthusiasts. Their plateau started to look much more like exponential growth.

In short, Stewart and Lynda Rae Resnick broke through the Pomegranate plateau by selling Pomegranate juice. It was a huge success (Newsweek reported that their sales rose from $12 million in 2003 to $91 million in 2006). They now enjoy significant market dominance and a bright international future.

We know that POM Wonderful is a great success story, but what are you doing to revolutionize your business? What are you doing to differentiate?

The Plateau Assassinates Business

Do you believe the old way is the only way? Do you ignore the tell-tale signs of the fast-approaching cliff because you are blinded by arrogance and your past success? Well, I’m here to tell you that as you approach this cliff, your protective ego and pride will fade as Chapter 11 hits you upside the head.

Let me tell you a quick story about a company who has remained on the growth plateau.

Microsoft has been on a growth plateau since the release of Windows XP. They face rigorous competition from Apple and continue to lose computer market share. Their repeated copy-cat attempts have failed them and Apple continues to gain more computer market share.

Overall, Microsoft coasted by on their market dominance and now it is being challenged. I’m not saying Microsoft will fall because they won’t. They are just heading down the wrong path and they need to fix it.

Do you currently enjoy a decent sized market share in your niche? What are you doing different than your competitors to maintain this? Are you still innovating your way out of your growth plateaus?

The Skill of Conquering Plateaus

Conquering a plateau is a skill. It can be learned, taught, and repeated. The more plateaus you conquer, the faster and more efficient you can conquer additional plateaus.

Your ability to conquer plateaus improves with experience because you learn how to think the right way. For example, have you noticed that with every new Olympics, the old world records fail to hold up? It’s not a coincidence. These old records were plateaus and athletes found ways to overcome them.

Or, from a blogging standpoint,many top bloggers keep getting bigger. While their brand equity plays a huge role in their continued success, they also continue to launch new features and new programs that help them maintain this success. They speak at conferences, launch new blogs, and leverage their connections to grow their reach.

So, if you find yourself on a plateau for an extend period of time, you need to list specific action plans that will help you break through it. For example, if you’re a blogger, do you plan on writing more? Guest posting? Or if you’re a businessman, do you plan on making additional sales calls? Building a website?

Why Do Companies Remain on The Plateau?

If conquering plateaus is a skill, you may be wondering why successful companies seemingly ignore the overwhelming evidence of failure and success. Well, join the club because it is perplexing. However, I do have four theories why companies fail to break out of their plateau.

Some large companies view the plateau as temporary. They blame the external environment for their lack-luster growth and use prior performance as reassurance for future growth. Or, to put this more simply, these companies don’t take accountability for their situation and assume its out of their control. (Take a look at almost every large company)

Other companies embrace new technology and new ways to do business, but they still reach a growth plateau. They most likely understand the problem and know they need to fix it, but they don’t know how to kick-start their break-away growth. (The Myspace giant is falling fast. They have the technology, but they are doing nothing).

Some companies believe they have no reason to change because of their past success. They reject new ideas and innovation because they assume they know best and continue doing their business model their way. (who feels bad for the recording industry? Not me!)

Finally, there are some companies with multiple product lines and multiple businesses on a plateau. Since each product and business is unique, they can’t use the same plan to spark exponential growth. Additionally, they can’t focus on all of their product lines because resources are limited. So, these companies sit there frozen and do nothing. (Hello, Yahoo).

Whatever the reasons, many companies rationalize their situation and shirk the responsibility. They fail to confront the plateau with full-force and they remain stranded in an open field while their competitors take shots at their company.

Are you guilty? Now is the time to figure out why and fix it.

How Do You Overcome The Growth Plateau?

Now there are the select few companies who “get it.” They are led by success-driven people, like me and you, and they’re looking to revolutionize their industry every single year. They may hate the sound of “plateau,” but they welcome it. They know that within every plateau lies hidden opportunity and they look for it.

But how do you overcome a plateau? How can you start improving your business so you can experience break-away growth?

There is no sure-fire formula, but here are some things to consider:

Seek Outside Consultation

Raise your hand if you are familiar with the “Curse of Knowledge.”

For those of you who kept their hand down, Chip and Dan Heath talk about the “Curse of Knowledge” in “Made to Stick.” Extensive research shows that when people know something, it is impossible for them to imagine not knowing it. In short, this phenomenon makes communication difficult.

Unfortunately, this adversely affects companies seeking growth as well.

Many companies are accustomed to the way they do business, which makes it hard for them to imagine doing it any other way.

Luckily, outside consultants solve this problem. They may not be experts at running your company your way, but they do provide valuable opinions on how you can take your company to the next level.

Implement a Process

Variable work schedules are hard to maintain and improve. Without process, it could take years to find out what you’re doing wrong. With a process, it can take less than an hour.

When I started blogging on the internet, I would spend hours on the computer and always feel like I got nothing done. To solve this, I did a 7 day study where I logged everything in an excel worksheet. It was tedious writing “7:30 a.m: washed my face and 8:15am: tied my shoe,” but it provided me some data and I was able to find out where I wasted most of my time.

In business, you want to capture all the things you need to do on a “To-Do” list and create a process for each one of them. It’s going to be tedious and boring, but are you going to turn down the chance to improve your business?

Find an Expert

Use this tip sparingly and with caution.

Experts know a great deal about their respective field, but I would never ask them for specific action plans to improve your company. Instead, you should use them as a resource to find out what other companies are doing right and then decide for yourself if it applies to your business.

Take Some Risks

Companies end up on the never-ending plateau because they stop taking risks. They do what’s safe, or what they call a “sure-thing.” Unfortunately, the only thing about a “sure-thing” is that you can guarantee yourself mediocre or below average results.

I’m not telling you to take risks to the extreme, but instead, you need to implement a process that manages some risk. You need to be doing something risky if you want to break out of your plateau.

Find Growth Opportunities

You know the importance of planning, but you don’t know how to find growth opportunities. Well, one of the easiest ways to do this is by creating Competitor Swipe Files.

Find 10 of your biggest competitors and create a one page summary about their business and their features. I don’t suggest you copy their features, but I do expect you to use them as a starting point for innovation.

Scale Business Down

Do you currently operate in too many businesses? If so, this may be your chance to scale it down and become specialized. This is your chance to focus on the 20% of your business that produces 80% of your sales. This is your chance to focus on your strengths.

When Steve Jobs took the CEO reigns at Apple again he came into a complete mess. Apple operated in too many businesses and they weren’t the market leaders in any of them. So, Steve Jobs started cutting products until they were left with the bare minimum. Then, he made Apple known for media and the iPod was a huge success.

Just remember, sometimes you need to minimize to maximize.

The Growth Plateau

I developed a love-hate relationship with the growth plateau. On the one hand, I’m frustrated that I stalled on my journey towards achieving my goals, but on the other hand, I’m glad to receive early warning signs of potential failure.

When you hit the growth plateau, you know exactly what you need to do and that is change. You need to change or innovate your way out of it or you might end up with a company with dwindling profit and sales.

So if you take away anything from this huge article I want you to realize that you need to treat every growth plateau as an opportunity. You need to treat every growth plateau as one more chance to differentiate yourself from the competition. Or, just one more way to completely overthrow your competition.

If only everything else could be so clear…

What Do You Think?

I want to know what you think. I also want you to tell me what you did to overcome any of your growth plateaus. Send me an e-mail or leave a comment.

The Two Most Important Things For New Bloggers

Derek — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 02:38:39 +0000

Photo courtesy of Bootbearwdc

Many entrepreneurs see people like John Chow and Shoemoney making tons of money on the internet, so they assume they can too. They write blogs and form consulting companies. They try to improve their SEO, buy the best logo, and spam comment on every blog they see. Additionally, they submit their articles to Digg and Stumbleupon and hope for the best.

Unfortunately for them, most of them fail and I’m going to tell you why.

Search Engine Optimization is GREAT when you have over 500 pages in your archive worth indexing.
Commenting is GREAT when you have something to leave other than your homepage link.

In short, they are doing the right things at the wrong time. So, lets review the right things for new bloggers.

Same Niche, Different Day

You could spend hours looking for the perfect niche, but by now, every niche is taken. So, you need to pick the same niche, and absolutely destroy it with incredible content. Your content has to be so awesome that you would be willing to tattoo it on your face.

Tip: For each one of your articles, ask yourself, would I be willing to etch this into my body and live with it the rest of my life? If you answered anything other than “heck yes,” you need to rewrite your article.

Focus on the Product

Just imagine how awesome your computer would be if it automatically updated with the latest hardware and software every single day. It would be fast and have all the latest features of all your favorite programs. It would be great, but unrealistic.

However, with blogging, you can distribute new features and functionality daily to your die-hard readers. You can start delivering the only product in the world that updates every single day of the week. It’s cheap (free) and worthwhile (valuable).

Tip: Have you heard the traditional saying that “your blog is your brand?” Well, scrap it. Instead, you need to realize that your blog is your product and you can release new features daily.

The Bottom Line

You may notice this list is short, but this short little list is complete. You could focus on the the 40 Ways to Deliver Killer Blog Content, but without my two important things, it just won’t matter. So, what are you going to do about it?

Learn Exactly How Restaurant Mints Will Impress Your Readers and Everybody Else Too

Derek — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 00:08:15 +0000

Have you ever noticed that when you leave a restaurant there is always a bowl of mints near the exit? From low-class diners, to high-end eateries, restaurant owners are giving away free mints. They give their patrons decent meals and send them off with a little something extra for the road.

It feels great. That just-brushed clean feeling puts a huge smile on your face as you leave the restaurant, and there my fellow friends and professionals, lies the rub.

The food may not have been amazing, but you left feeling great. You might even go back to that restaurant to try to duplicate that feeling. The restaurant owner knows this, so he will continue to give out free mints for the road.

Well, blogging and consulting is no different. Your success is directly dependent on how you make people feel.

Feeling Great

When I started blogging back in 2005, I scoured the internet for resources on how to make money online. I came across ebooks like The Rich Jerk (a complete scam), Digital Point, and Problogger. I fell in love with Problogger because every one of his articles gave me a specific action to implement on my blog. And, within six months, I was earning good money on the internet.

Now, do you want to know the morale of the story?

Here I am, nearly three years later, talking about those action items Darren gave me. I don’t remember his writing, I don’t remember his analogies, and I don’t remember his action items, but I remember he helped me succeed and it felt great.

Tip: Focus on giving your readers something they can take home with them (a mint maybe?)

Feeling Frustrated

The new growing trend in the internet marketing world is pop-up subscription boxes. Sure, they convert great, but are they really the people you want subscribing to your site?

Probably not.

The people who subscribe are probably looking for free stuff and moving on to the next website that will offer them more free stuff. This isn’t true “Permission Marketing,” a la Seth Godin. It’s tricking people who wouldn’t ordinarily subscribe into subscribing to your website.

Do you know what also happens? People like me and Leo Babauta are immediately turned off by these subscription boxes because it ruins the user-experience. It gives us an upset stomach before we eat our meal.

Tip: Make us feel great, and we’ll remember you forever. Make us feel terrible and you’ll have to work extremely hard to get us back. After all, you wouldn’t ask one of your restaurant patrons to lick a bar of soap on the way out.

The Bottom line

Your content may be mediocre, your analogies may be below par, and your sentence structure may need work, but if you give your readers or clients a mint to make them feel great, they will come back for more and consistently talk about you, your blog, and your company.

Bonus: Have you seen the main characteristic of successful bloggers? Well, it’s not happiness. It’s discontent.

How to Improve Your Consulting Business by 327%

Derek — Sun, 30 Nov 2008 17:18:23 +0000

Do you know why H&R Block became so successful? They took an arcane service like Taxes and turned it into a product. They packaged the services into different products with increasing price and created accounting software to streamline the process. In short, H&R Block productized their service.

You should “productize” too.

Many people hesitate buying services on the internet because they don’t know what they’ll get. They’re dealing with something new and they have no way to assess its value. Marketers overcome this by productizing their service. They take the necessary steps to turn their intangible service into a tangible product.

Yet, there are thousands of bloggers selling their services the wrong way. They charge hourly, fail to specify benefits, and keep their service or consultation as arcane as possible.

But, do bloggers keep their service arcane to hide what they do?

No, not always. There are several great bloggers offering great services. They write great blogs and offer great value. Unfortunately, they are limiting their success because they are not selling their service the right way. They are leaving good, profitable clients on the table and losing them to people with lower pricing, and lower quality.

Now lets help you grab those extra clients.

Service Product Packages

Don’t offer “blog coaching.” Instead, offer specific “blog coaching” product packages. For example, “Crafting Killer Headlines,” “Working Social Media,” or “Increasing Blog Traffic in 30 Days.” Not only will this keep people more interested, they will know exactly what they’re paying for and exactly what they’ll get.

(Bonus: Many large corporations demand product packages so know they know they’re paying for).

Create Tangible Products

Don’t expect clients to take notes throughout your consulting session. Instead, give them key takeaways. For example, send them a PDF of “Next Action items,” or “Things to Remember,” or a “consultation summary.” While you run the risk of people sharing it without your permission, you will create several happy customers who will be willing to use your consulting services again.

Offer Free Samples

The internet shareware industry used this to the max. They offered 30-day free trials so people became accustomed to using their software and then asked them to buy it. This increased sales substantially.

So, once you create your service product packages, create a bare-minimum free product package to get people interested. Please note, a regularly updated blog can be considered a free sample and so is a free e-book.

Don’t Charge Hourly

Personally, I hate hourly charges. I always think, “are they padding their hours” – even with reputable companies. This means I go into a sales call on the defensive and the salesman needs to break through my defenses before I’m willing to buy. It is just plain uncomfortable and is a huge waste of time.

You are the expert. You are selling the consulting services. Once you productize your service, you will know how long each project will take since you will be using the same process. This allows you to charge per project instead of per hour.

Offer Testimonials and User Feedback

One of the reasons eBay became the largest online auction website is because they used user-feedback to determine the credibility and trust of buyers and sellers. When you’re packaging your service, you can do the same exact thing.

You should create a forum where you encourage your clients to write honest reviews of your service. Additionally, encourage them to write what they didn’t like about your service. Remember, the world of selling is changing since everything is transparent, so you might as well be the person offering the transparency. This will show you have nothing to hide and immediately build trust with potential clients.

Offer Specific Promises

If you’re not willing to “productize” your service, you need to offer specific promises because people need to know what to expect. For example, while SEO masters can’t guarantee #1 rankings, they can guarantee some number of links or exposure.

The Open Challenge

Are any of you making a living off of services like consulting or coaching? I dare you to justify the way you are currently running your consulting or service business if it doesn’t conform to these best-practices.