Lately, I’ve been spending a good deal of time thinking about what makes the biggest difference between “A” players (successful people) and “B” players (generally less successful). I used to think it was knowledge or ability. However, I’m becoming more convinced that it’s simply one thing – execution. B players can’t get stuff done. They […]
If you’ve followed any of my professional work over at Analytive over the past few weeks, you’ve undoubtedly seen my recent posts showing how little value most businesses get out of social media. It’s also made me wonder – how much value do people get out of social media? Are we really building deeper relationships? Or […]
There’s a difference between teaching tools and teaching skills. Skills are focused on the outcome. Tools are focused on the process. In some fields, learning the tools is extremely valuable. Trades like electrical, engineering, plumbing, automotive, and other fields require a deep knowledge of tools. But tools change. If you want to be really good, you […]
In order to be noticed, you have to be the best in the world. Let me rephrase that – you have to be the best in your world. That means, if you build websites, you have to figure out how to be the best that: Your customer knows Your customer can afford Your customer wants to […]
Half the battle in anything worth doing is just showing up. Show up day after day. Month after month. Decide to make a difference at all times. If it’s worth pursuing, keep showing up. Sure, change your strategy. Adjust your course. But if you want it to work, just keep showing up.
If you’re a little lost by the title, there’s a classic business idea of the “blue ocean”. If you’re in a competitive industry (read: sharks), you’re in a red ocean. There’s blood in the water. If you’re in an industry with no competition, you’re in a blue ocean. There’s lots of space. And no blood. […]
It’s easy to lose the main thing. When you are giving a talk, do you have a main thing you’d like to communicate? Does your business have a main goal? Do you have one big thing you want to accomplish each day? We miss the main thing because it’s hard to focus on the main thing. […]
The difference between a business and a freelancer is: Who does the work? In a business, you build systems and processes to use the lowest talent possible (not to say you don’t want talented people, but you don’t want to need them to function). With a business, you create systems and processes to help make […]
Many job postings today require a good bit of experience. 8 years here. 10 years there. And rightly so, they want hires who know what they are doing. What you need to make sure however, is that experience doesn’t replace hard work and innovation. What happens when things change so fast your experience isn’t relevant anymore? That’s […]
Have you ever had a big dream (start a non-profit, run a business, change something in culture) and someone offers you some free advice like “you’re more likely to get hit by lightning than for [that thing] to happen”? Besides being annoying, there’s one problem with this idea. Yes, it’s fairly unlikely you’ll get hit […]