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Today’s guest post comes from Nicholas Basbanes, who comments on the interesting and creative choice of paper used to print a book.
Little things mean a lot – the article explains it well, but don’t be distracted by it.
Instead, allow it to fertilize thoughts like “How can I create a context like this for my products and services?”
If you just think a little, what makes “pretty good” into “amazing”?
What makes people beg to show you this cool thing they have?
Being amazing is what does that. Being inspiring is what does that.
Read about it here.
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Today’s guest post is from Bud Caddell, where he’s taking something that is so pervasive that it has become a cliche – and turned it into a visual that is far more meaningful.
While I might not insist upon doing what you love, I would say you’d better have an interest in it for sure, otherwise someone is likely to come along and spank you at your own game.
Regardless, I thought you might enjoy it.
See it here: http://whatconsumesme.com/2009/what-im-writing/how-to-be-happy-in-business-venn-diagram/
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Many people have had their mom, a grandma or someone put their hand on your forehead to detect a fever.
Despite “Doctor Mom” having no digital measuring device in her hand, she can still tell if you’re running a fever.
Maybe she can’t say that the fever is 102.372 Fahrenheit, but that doesn’t mean you aren’t sick.
Measurement matters
Many times we’ve talked here about the importance of measuring results, whether they are marketing, operational, people or otherwise. I’ve told you NOT to guess about the results of testing an ad’s (or a media’s) performance.
That’s all well and good when it works.
When the ad doesn’t work, no measurement is needed.
The phone doesn’t ring. The email doesn’t fill up. The website e-commerce store doesn’t jingle with new orders. In the case of mom and the feverish forehead, her hand never gets close enough the feel the heat.
Trouble is, you’re still sick.
Feedback works the same way
The same goes when you aren’t getting feedback from your customers. If you aren’t, or if it’s all the same – you really need to look hard at the reasons for that.
Have you ignored their feedback in the past?
If so, the lack of quality feedback (or *any* feedback) at this time might not be the good sign for your products and services. It might mean that they just don’t think there’s any reason to bother telling you anything.
Or it might mean they don’t care anymore.
Often it can mean that there is an operational or logical problem in your feedback gathering, response *and* (this is the critical one) follow-up processes.
Taking a pulse
If I went down through your customer list, could you and your staff recall your last interaction with a reasonable number of them? Could they tell me which ones are difficult / challenging and which ones are lovely or fun to work with?
Could they relate with any accuracy the last communication they had with them?
Is there a pulse? You’d better know, without putting your fingers on your business’ carotid.
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Yes, me. I am a slacker. I admit it.
A year ago, I was planning to release my first book, “Business is Personal”.
You probably don’t remember me doing a launch promotion on it. That’s cuz I didn’t launch it.
As you might suspect, stuff happened and pushed it out of my immediate view and soon enough, a year went by.
Bet that never happened to you.
It’s still sitting in my authoring software, laughing at me: “You can’t finish me today, bwa-ha-ha-ha-ha-haaaaaa” (yeah, that’s supposed to sound like an insane creepy laugh).
Enterrrrrr theeee excuuuuuuuuusee zoooooooonnnnnne (you can figure out how that is supposed to sound).
The Excuse Zone
See if any of this sounds familiar, even if you have to adjust the facts.
- Before first light today, I headed out to Melita Island to help teach the 2nd part of Boy Scout Wood Badge. WB is an adult leadership course for Scout leaders and I am part of the instructor team.
- The morning after I get back from Melita, I leave for Scout camp for a week.
- The next week is 4th of July week and I have to go to a swim meet that will be a lot about remembering a dear friend who in her last 18 months of life literally willed a small town into getting a new swimming pool suitable for swim meets – all while battling pancreatic cancer.
- Meanwhile I have client work, coaching sessions, blogging, writing my newspaper column, working on my own product development work, doing family stuff, visiting with that awfully cute granddaughter you see in that photo on the blog, a week in Missouri with the in-laws and such right after the 4th, out of town swim meets every weekend till August, then (not 100% sure on this one) 10 days in the backcountry on a wilderness pack trip.
- That gets me to August 16 and doesn’t count other troop activities, Rotary (yes, I’m still club president), a few other volunteer gigs here in town and again, more of that client work stuff.
All the while… it sits there and taunts me. The book, I mean. You can probably hear it giggling.
Choice
You probably think “Heck, no wonder you didn’t get it done, with all THAT stuff going on.”
And you would be completely missing the point.
It has nothing to do with how much other stuff I have to do. It has to do with making a choice about the stuff I AM doing.
Each day since the Spring of 2008 when I started “Business is Personal” (the book), I’ve made a choice – several times a day.
These choices were made to do something else other than chip away at the book, even if I chose to do something that might have seemed important at the time.
No one else made these choices. Just me.
A few of my favorite Jim Rohn quotes come to mind:
- “When you say ‘No’, you say ‘Yes’ to something more important.”
- “Learn to say ‘No’. Don’t let your mouth overload your back.”
- “We can no more afford to spend major time on minor things than we can to spend minor time on major things.”
What did you not get done today that you should have gotten done, if only it wasn’t for that “really important” thing you did instead?
Say “No” to the not-so-important so that you can say “Yes” to the really important.
PS: Stay tuned for the book. If you’d like to help with it, take one minute to slide on over to http://www.businessispersonalbook.com and enter a question (someone will win a pair of free consultations, may as well be you).
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