Advice
Critical thinking 101: identifying the real problem
Identifying ‘problem areas’ in your own business is probably quite easy: just ask where your staff are having problems, or find out where your customers are either making complaints, or dropping off the face of the earth.
The bad news is that while identifying ‘work areas’ is pretty easy, coming up with sensible solutions is usually the hard part: both because we very rarely identify the true source of the problem, nor do we absolutely set out to fix it – more often, a quick patch and a smooth over does the trick. Not good.
With a series of critical thinking questions, first mooted by no less than Socrates himself, somewhere prior to 400BC – I can at least help you define your problems with a little more clarity, and begin to rule in and rule out some simple solutions.
Let me explain. No, there is too much. Let me sum up:
The four passwords you need to truly own your website
Ah – it’s becoming more and more common: businesses with web sites that, well, don’t kinda work – and once the owners realise this, it seems like it’s more trouble than it’s worth to move on…
The major barrier to moving is not the plethora of other web designers, web hosting companies or business consultants peddling thier advice (ahem), but rather, the confusion surrounding what username and password allows who to do what, and which key opens which door and… …and… …well I may as well stay where I was.
Fear not!
Let me explain the four places you need to write down your username and password to truly take control of your web site – from both a management point of view AND a legal ownership point of view.
Pencils ready? Commence!
Epoch: the end of one era – the start of the next
This month marks a major shift in my business life: I’m changing from a solo consultant to joining the full-time workforce. Yes, I’ve been seduced by the Dark Side. They have cookies.
Rebusiness, Andrew Ballard, and this blog will still remain, however from here on in, I’ll be a little more selective in the clients and projects I take on out of ‘work’.
I thought that after 11 years of business in this mode, I’d go back through my archives and tease out some revealing insights from my records, to give you a brief glimpse into the life of a solo consultant.
So sit back, relax, and help me unravel some of the deepest and darkest secrets (??) of the solo entrepreneur. I’ll bring the cookies.
Content > SEO > SEM (Content is king)
A fairly striking contrast of events this week prompted this article – earlier this week, I attended the Search Marketing Expo in Melbourne, a two-day program covering all aspects of how to understand search engines (mostly Google!), and ultimately how to get your site to rank higher for your keywords. It’s a pseudo-science, in that the rules change every alternate month, but it is a noble goal – to make your site as ready as it can be to be found by your customers.
In stark contrast, a new client this week needed help with their web site – after paying for ads on some major search engines each month, they found that their visitors to their web site weren’t hanging around, and most certainly weren’t turning into customers.
The short version: the client had been paying for visitors, instead of earning them. Not the best.
Let’s take a look at how to make your web site work *for* you, organically, without throwing cash at the search engines.
Two $100 products that will save your digital life.
I’m not sure if it’s the weather, the power, or the fact that I’ve worn through the metal on my metal-body laptop from using it for 12 hours a day for the last 3 years – but I recently had a fairly major hard drive failure – my first big one for well over a decade.
Did I panic? Of course. What’s not to panic about when 16 years of emails suddenly vanish, not toe mention the client files you were working on just the evening before.
The solution is to double-up your backup. Here’s how.
Mind the gap
I’ve been out and about some local businesses in the past couple of weeks, gathering support for advertising for a cookbook fundraiser for my kids’ school.
Almost all businesses I’ve approached have expressed interest in the project – yet the thing I’ve been struck by is the yawning gulf between those businesses who could instantly identify that a) this was or wasn’t their target market, and b) that the price point was or wasn’t within their marketing budget.
The fact that the majority of businesses couldn’t identify two of their fundamental business metrics (target market/marketing budget) is more than a little scary.
With secure knowledge of these two fundamentals, you can quickly rule in or out the opportunity. In an effort to try to get to this easy-to-decide method of ruling opportunities in or out, let’s take a moment to explore market share, and see if we can close the knowledge gap just a little bit!
Good, fast, cheap: pick any two.
I’m sure it started as an MBA-level diagram at either Harvard or Yale, but I first saw it on a t-shirt of all things – a triangle with the words ‘Good’, ‘Fast’, ‘Cheap’ at the corners, and the phrase ‘Pick any 2′ underneath.
It’s an intriguing proposition that not only holds up pretty darn well under scrutiny, but also gives us in the world of business a chance to pause for a minute, and figure out where we are on the diagram – and where we’d like to be.
Thinking it through, there’s three obvious combinations, and a few other less obvious possibilities. Let me walk you through them, and try to find out where you sit…
Viva le revolution – the future is here (just thought you might like to know)
Not sure if you’re aware of a minor revolution in the world of technology in recent years, but if you’ve ever experienced one of those devices that begins with an ‘i’, then you already know what I’m talking about.
With the advent of the iPhone some 2 years ago, and now with the introduction of the iPhone’s big brother, the iPad, earlier this year, there’s been a significant shift in the way we mere mortals use the internet.
Not only do you see the uptake/market saturation of these button-less devices (iPhones proudly displayed on coffee shop tables), or the ease of use/intuitive controls (young children taking to them like a duck to water!), but there’s now solid proof of the ramifications of their increased usage: new reports show that 1 in 10 searches on Google is now on a mobile device. iPods, iPhones and iPads are both the market leader and the thought leader.
Let’s look into this new revolution a little bit further…
Leet 101 – a guide to what Gen Y are typing
LOL R U a n00b at leet? Don’t panic! If you *are* a noob (newbie/new to the scene), then this little guide may help you translate a little bit of what anyone under the age of about, oh, 35 or so is probably typing right now.
With the rise of instant messaging (IM) programs, text-based chatting, SMS, IRC and in-game virtual world chatting, your fingers sure do get a little weary of typing common phrases over and over again. Yes, yes, you could pick up the phone and *actually talk to someone*, but when you’re stuck in the cyber world with only a keyboard as your means of communication, shortcuts rule.
The following is a short list of the some common Leet words and their plain-English counterparts. Feel free to use them at will in your next SMS, but also feel free to keep on typing your SMSes in full words, with punctuation and grammar. Old school is still cool.
What Happens When You Die?
Don’t panic – I’m not talking medical nor theological here – I’m talking purely about you and your business. If you were looking for the medical or theological aspects, try Wikipedia.org, Google, or even progressbaroflife.com.
The phrase ‘what happens if you die’ is one that I’ve heard a lot in my business. To date, I think every major client has asked me that question at some point in our partnerships. While it’s kinda nice that your clients are enquiring about your long-term health and your ability to cross the road without getting hit by a bus, they actually have a point – what would happen to their business if I dropped off the planet – and what would happen to *my* business, and my family, if I wasn’t around?
Lots of things to talk about, namely: chain of command; systems and processes; and the concepts of proprietary vs open source. Still here? Good. No-one’s getting any younger!