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IMO, business (execution) is 5 things, cashflow, product, process, market and you.
You need to be authentic
The market needs to be the right one and understood
The process needs to be streamlined
The product needs to be well sourced, well designed, and tested
The cashflow needs to give you the right margins
Now most of you won't get what I mean by that, so I'll give examples.
Ok so first of all when you get into business you think venture capital, economics, big brands, easy and quick ways to make money. So you go off trying to sell yourself in a board room like in Mad Men, you try to dress or think like someone on wallstreet and spout "greed is good" like Gordon Gecko, you try to launch the next twitter or facebook, and you scour around for a way to make money now thats easy and you probably gravitate towards marketting.
Well, the YOU that matters in business has nothing to do with these things,
It has to do with how intuitive you are about your market, how well you can streamline and set up processes, how thoroughly you can test products, and how much integrity you have when it comes to managing cash. These are principles of running your business effectively and not being the kind to make stupid decisions and run things into the ground.
Authenticity is about letting go of being one of the mad men, pretending to be gordon, launching facebook2, and (this might be controversial to some but consider it in the context of authenticity) solely building email lists.
It is about changing your focus from, whatever the hell that all is, to stuff that matters here and now right in front of you. To be capable in the here and now, you need to become authentic or you are always going to be chasing some bullsh#t pipedream, like a nutcase.
Now, lets talk about markets.
Markets are probably the single MOST important focus to have, and I'm not talking about the financial markets, I mean "who is the customer". At first this question seems pointless because you don't really want to admit that you do not give a sh#t about anyone other than yourself. But understanding markets is a truly indepth and FUN part of business that can enhance your intuition and make you feel POWERFUL.
In the past, my market was "the people I want to like my product".
But now my market understanding is like a Van Der Graph. I look at every market in existence as having POTENTIAL, but there are parts of each market that are oversaturated or BURIED under rock (because marketting it is insane, or developping the solution is a very costly or time intensive task).
Also, between where markets meet, are usually markets you havent thought of before, like where boating and interior design meet there is a very specific set of things happening in that space you can learn about that is totally different than boating or interior design.
It'll be for wealthy clients, it'll probably be organised through who creates the yatch, you'll have to search through whether they make it themselves and investigate if there is any part of it they might desire to outsource. And they might NOT want to outsource because they are a high margin business with not a lot of clients and want to keep all profits in the company, but if you can provide it for a similar cost as in house, and can give their customers a wider range or charge a premium for extra features etc, then voila.
Within every market mixing point is information, and that information, allows you to assess opportunities in great detail, and if you know particulars of markets in great detail, you can easily PIVOT a business plan to slot into and start work on an opportunity, anywhere at any time.
The process, is something like, you get a brokering assistant from a brokering firm where he was trained to source different materials for a company or companies, and you get to work on sourcing the right materials and finding the right networks for your products.
You then set up your factory/warehouse, employment, packaging and shipping, and website backend, as well as protocols, ways to keep informed, analytics etc.
It may include relationship management, or long term responsibilities, such as project managers, who may require assistants, and budgets for outsourcing tasks etc.
Lets take for example a construction business, I hire 3 project managers because I have three major jobs that need constant handholding and I myself can't be at each site, these guys talk to the clients and the building teams to make sure everything is going as per the agreement, if there is something big to handle he then asks me, if there is something small, he asks his assistant to get him what he needs.
In this way you might need a manager for certain clients in order to carry most of the responsibility.
You want your process however to NOT be overkill.
You start with casual positions, pay people per product they sell/create, go off a commission basis etc, then only as you scale do you consider other positions because, jobs for jobs sake are freaking expensive.
The product should be created RIGHT INFRONT OF PEOPLES EYES. You should really have a lock on peoples body language, verbal and non verbal reactions, so that as you sculpt a product you can tailor their reaction until its just right.
A lot of writers for example, write write write, then POST or PUBLISH. But what is far better, is to discuss as you write. Give someone a sample chapter, with the intent to elicit a certain physical response such as heightened states of excitement and anticipation where they are almost giddy to read the rest. You have to know your reader, or know your user to the point that is optimal for the product.
Toilet paper doesn't need to make people giddy, but you do need to understand the different customers, budget/bulk consumers (public restrooms), guys, girls, people that want the best. While a product like architecture really needs an indepth understanding of exactly who is going to see it, what it is for, and a very indepth understanding of the functions (such as in building hotel rooms, or luxury apartments).
In this way, seeing is believing, and so you really need a prototype or at least models, or examples you can base decisions off of, because there is nothing worse than getting your product wrong, because its just not going to sell, but in the same way, you need to know when enough is enough.
To be able to "call" whether a product is good enough or not, "ready" or not, is a balance of many understandings all combining.
Now, when it comes to cashflow most people are very flippant. They don't know diddly squat about handling budgets and finances and just spend whatever they have on anything that might percievably get them closer. They will buy fancy packaging that is impractical and has to be redone, they'll buy molds for plastic products that will need to be changed, they buy advertising willy nilly, they buy a huge office with amazing interior design even though they have no business, they will start paying for salaries before jobs are even set out... They take cash from the business.
There are so many mistakes people make, and make no mistake, the average business owner is suffering out of their own sheer stupidity and sh#thouse spending habits, assumptions, and fears.
To understand cashflow is to understand how to MAINTAIN and keep TRACK OF all movements of money and investments so that the ship doesn't have holes and so you can make calculated investments.
If you are marketting a new product you want to look at expences compared to previous successes, what standard deviation is that you will accept, when you'll pull the plug, where else you will go. Most people don't consider this, they are just throwing hail mary's and never work for each yard, they never figure out the difference between healthy risks and wasting money.
To understand how to keep your business in the positive, is so freaking essential, especially when considering new projects.
I was looking at prices to create a new product, and if I were to have listened to people around me or people I was going to, prices would have been high, solutions costly, and I would have been pulling my hair out before long. What did I do? I went directly to the source, I reshaped the product so it could be made simpler and reduced costs by 1000%, giving the business amazing 80% margins, which gives me room to breathe.
Anyways, my point is this.
Business is about authenticity, understanding, streamlining, testing, and financial integrity.
It isn't about this inflated bullcr#p of fancy sh#t.
Most people are stressed because they can't figure this out, they think its about perfect product, magical/no process, and they sherk ALL business responsibilities in pursuit of some cheap and quick solution that wins them their victory.
But you have to stop thinking that way, you have to start saying "I can be a good runner of a business" and take on that responsibility. And if you do, and you do it right, you'll find peace in the fact that you KNOW you can succeed, and the only limitation is your own ability.
If you are a writer or coder or artist or whatever, thats cool, but BUILD a business backbone, so that if ever the day comes where you want to pivot, your strength as a business person can garuntee you opportunity.
I do write, but its NOT all I do. What I really do, is BUSINESS.
And the difference between just creating product, and creating a business is NOT that different, you just need to widen your vision, and slip on your shoulders the belief that you can be responsible for
YOURSELF
MARKET INTUITION
PROCESS
PRODUCT
CASHFLOW
If you just pay attention to these things through time, and drill into them and soak up knowledge, I hope you will feel prepared when the day comes that you are serious about business.
If you know these basics, you can just outsource the rest.
So come on, get your head screwed on
You need to be authentic
The market needs to be the right one and understood
The process needs to be streamlined
The product needs to be well sourced, well designed, and tested
The cashflow needs to give you the right margins
These things are where the fun of business is.
And where you build a sense of confidence that is unquestionable.
I really hope you guys all the best, but I see so many of you struggling on the fringes, not able to DIG into the core, I hope this helps.
You need to be authentic
The market needs to be the right one and understood
The process needs to be streamlined
The product needs to be well sourced, well designed, and tested
The cashflow needs to give you the right margins
Now most of you won't get what I mean by that, so I'll give examples.
Ok so first of all when you get into business you think venture capital, economics, big brands, easy and quick ways to make money. So you go off trying to sell yourself in a board room like in Mad Men, you try to dress or think like someone on wallstreet and spout "greed is good" like Gordon Gecko, you try to launch the next twitter or facebook, and you scour around for a way to make money now thats easy and you probably gravitate towards marketting.
Well, the YOU that matters in business has nothing to do with these things,
It has to do with how intuitive you are about your market, how well you can streamline and set up processes, how thoroughly you can test products, and how much integrity you have when it comes to managing cash. These are principles of running your business effectively and not being the kind to make stupid decisions and run things into the ground.
Authenticity is about letting go of being one of the mad men, pretending to be gordon, launching facebook2, and (this might be controversial to some but consider it in the context of authenticity) solely building email lists.
It is about changing your focus from, whatever the hell that all is, to stuff that matters here and now right in front of you. To be capable in the here and now, you need to become authentic or you are always going to be chasing some bullsh#t pipedream, like a nutcase.
Now, lets talk about markets.
Markets are probably the single MOST important focus to have, and I'm not talking about the financial markets, I mean "who is the customer". At first this question seems pointless because you don't really want to admit that you do not give a sh#t about anyone other than yourself. But understanding markets is a truly indepth and FUN part of business that can enhance your intuition and make you feel POWERFUL.
In the past, my market was "the people I want to like my product".
But now my market understanding is like a Van Der Graph. I look at every market in existence as having POTENTIAL, but there are parts of each market that are oversaturated or BURIED under rock (because marketting it is insane, or developping the solution is a very costly or time intensive task).
Also, between where markets meet, are usually markets you havent thought of before, like where boating and interior design meet there is a very specific set of things happening in that space you can learn about that is totally different than boating or interior design.
It'll be for wealthy clients, it'll probably be organised through who creates the yatch, you'll have to search through whether they make it themselves and investigate if there is any part of it they might desire to outsource. And they might NOT want to outsource because they are a high margin business with not a lot of clients and want to keep all profits in the company, but if you can provide it for a similar cost as in house, and can give their customers a wider range or charge a premium for extra features etc, then voila.
Within every market mixing point is information, and that information, allows you to assess opportunities in great detail, and if you know particulars of markets in great detail, you can easily PIVOT a business plan to slot into and start work on an opportunity, anywhere at any time.
The process, is something like, you get a brokering assistant from a brokering firm where he was trained to source different materials for a company or companies, and you get to work on sourcing the right materials and finding the right networks for your products.
You then set up your factory/warehouse, employment, packaging and shipping, and website backend, as well as protocols, ways to keep informed, analytics etc.
It may include relationship management, or long term responsibilities, such as project managers, who may require assistants, and budgets for outsourcing tasks etc.
Lets take for example a construction business, I hire 3 project managers because I have three major jobs that need constant handholding and I myself can't be at each site, these guys talk to the clients and the building teams to make sure everything is going as per the agreement, if there is something big to handle he then asks me, if there is something small, he asks his assistant to get him what he needs.
In this way you might need a manager for certain clients in order to carry most of the responsibility.
You want your process however to NOT be overkill.
You start with casual positions, pay people per product they sell/create, go off a commission basis etc, then only as you scale do you consider other positions because, jobs for jobs sake are freaking expensive.
The product should be created RIGHT INFRONT OF PEOPLES EYES. You should really have a lock on peoples body language, verbal and non verbal reactions, so that as you sculpt a product you can tailor their reaction until its just right.
A lot of writers for example, write write write, then POST or PUBLISH. But what is far better, is to discuss as you write. Give someone a sample chapter, with the intent to elicit a certain physical response such as heightened states of excitement and anticipation where they are almost giddy to read the rest. You have to know your reader, or know your user to the point that is optimal for the product.
Toilet paper doesn't need to make people giddy, but you do need to understand the different customers, budget/bulk consumers (public restrooms), guys, girls, people that want the best. While a product like architecture really needs an indepth understanding of exactly who is going to see it, what it is for, and a very indepth understanding of the functions (such as in building hotel rooms, or luxury apartments).
In this way, seeing is believing, and so you really need a prototype or at least models, or examples you can base decisions off of, because there is nothing worse than getting your product wrong, because its just not going to sell, but in the same way, you need to know when enough is enough.
To be able to "call" whether a product is good enough or not, "ready" or not, is a balance of many understandings all combining.
Now, when it comes to cashflow most people are very flippant. They don't know diddly squat about handling budgets and finances and just spend whatever they have on anything that might percievably get them closer. They will buy fancy packaging that is impractical and has to be redone, they'll buy molds for plastic products that will need to be changed, they buy advertising willy nilly, they buy a huge office with amazing interior design even though they have no business, they will start paying for salaries before jobs are even set out... They take cash from the business.
There are so many mistakes people make, and make no mistake, the average business owner is suffering out of their own sheer stupidity and sh#thouse spending habits, assumptions, and fears.
To understand cashflow is to understand how to MAINTAIN and keep TRACK OF all movements of money and investments so that the ship doesn't have holes and so you can make calculated investments.
If you are marketting a new product you want to look at expences compared to previous successes, what standard deviation is that you will accept, when you'll pull the plug, where else you will go. Most people don't consider this, they are just throwing hail mary's and never work for each yard, they never figure out the difference between healthy risks and wasting money.
To understand how to keep your business in the positive, is so freaking essential, especially when considering new projects.
I was looking at prices to create a new product, and if I were to have listened to people around me or people I was going to, prices would have been high, solutions costly, and I would have been pulling my hair out before long. What did I do? I went directly to the source, I reshaped the product so it could be made simpler and reduced costs by 1000%, giving the business amazing 80% margins, which gives me room to breathe.
Anyways, my point is this.
Business is about authenticity, understanding, streamlining, testing, and financial integrity.
It isn't about this inflated bullcr#p of fancy sh#t.
Most people are stressed because they can't figure this out, they think its about perfect product, magical/no process, and they sherk ALL business responsibilities in pursuit of some cheap and quick solution that wins them their victory.
But you have to stop thinking that way, you have to start saying "I can be a good runner of a business" and take on that responsibility. And if you do, and you do it right, you'll find peace in the fact that you KNOW you can succeed, and the only limitation is your own ability.
If you are a writer or coder or artist or whatever, thats cool, but BUILD a business backbone, so that if ever the day comes where you want to pivot, your strength as a business person can garuntee you opportunity.
I do write, but its NOT all I do. What I really do, is BUSINESS.
And the difference between just creating product, and creating a business is NOT that different, you just need to widen your vision, and slip on your shoulders the belief that you can be responsible for
YOURSELF
MARKET INTUITION
PROCESS
PRODUCT
CASHFLOW
If you just pay attention to these things through time, and drill into them and soak up knowledge, I hope you will feel prepared when the day comes that you are serious about business.
If you know these basics, you can just outsource the rest.
So come on, get your head screwed on
You need to be authentic
The market needs to be the right one and understood
The process needs to be streamlined
The product needs to be well sourced, well designed, and tested
The cashflow needs to give you the right margins
These things are where the fun of business is.
And where you build a sense of confidence that is unquestionable.
I really hope you guys all the best, but I see so many of you struggling on the fringes, not able to DIG into the core, I hope this helps.
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