He passed on a really great online business idea

It was Something really simple and with potential to make some good dosh online, which got me thinking about the way I have been approaching my career. I’m not about to share his idea with the world to run off and make it irrelevant to me, but after coming across the following post written by Bud Caddell on whatconsumesme.com, I also re-thought whether just any good business idea would do for me.

This Venn diagram gave me some serious food for thought in terms of how to go about sticking to what I do well, what I love doing and still making a decent living out of it. The post is entitled “How to be Happy in Business“. Apart from being a really well designed piece of informaton design, the concepts really hit me hard and also made me think back to my business ideas convo with @naeem. Would it do to get into just any type of business just to make money?

Budd lists the 3 problems highlighted by the diagram:

• We can’t determine how to make enough money from the things we want to do, and do really well.
• We’ve found things we want to do, and can be paid for, but we’re not the best game in town.
• We’ve come across things people want us to do, that we do well (or at least better than the competition) that we really don’t want to do.

I’m the type of person that generally comes up with business ideas connected to a direct need I have, and also most times relating to something which I’m really interested in, which helps me get my head fully inside the whole development process. Ok so I haven’t really succeeded with any of my crazy business ideas yet, LOL, nor have I even progressed to prototyping phase with some of the more serious ones, but this means that something disconnected to what I love doesn’t stand a snowball’s chance of even featuring. Then comes the problem of monetizing what I’m really truely passionate about.

Me gots lots to think about regarding this diagram!

On the same little stroll around the interwebs, I also found a really great way of identifying my own special business model, and applying my efforts in that direction. Gina Trapini, “software and self improvement junkie” wrote a piece on Freelance Switch where she says,

“While I do plan to make money as a freelancer, my ultimate goal is to generate satisfaction.”

(While money is a part of that, so is learning, service, and creativity, so we’ll just use the umbrella term “satisfaction.”)

She shares her personal “business model” in plain & simple terms, What’s important to her is more than just paying the bills while doing what she specializes in.

This particular concept highlights the importance of consantly tracking your activities based on what’s most important to you. Of course knowing what’s most important is step 1, having a plan to engage more in those areas comes next. I found in the last 2 months, tracking my activities in detail has given me huge insight in where the problem areas are. I’ve started taking a few steps in a new direction and these 2 posts/diagrams has helped wrap my head around the way forward.

See more about What VeloCITI is?

We started off at 9 waking up to cups of coffee and a round of congratulating each other for making it onto the program. It was great seeing the familiar faces from the bridging course 2 weeks ago and re-connecting. I feel this year will unlock some really special relationships and it seems it already has.

We were introduced to Judit from PeerPower, our facilitator and mentor for the day who was later joined by Mignon(PeerPower). I think I can speak for all when I say we were rearing to go and eager to find out what the topic of focus for the day would be.

Introducing ourselves

First off we completed a quick introductions/interview exercise in which we each interviewed one of our VeloCITI peers and had to introduce them to the team. We then focused on setting some guidelines going forward in terms of rules of engagement and how we as a group think we would need to work together to produce the best results within the team over the next 7 – 8 months.

We agreed that in order to participate fully we would need to:

• Get to know each other
• Listen
• Question
• Share our experiences & challenges
• Help each other (peer mentoring)
• Honour the diversity of the group
• Focus on our commonalities
• Not be judgemental
• Be open, interactive and curious
• be constructive in our criticism
• sometimes agree to disagree
• be aware
• not be oversensitive and tip toe around each other
• allow ourselves to be challenged

Some of the expectations we had as a group for the program:

• Gaining Valuable business knowledge
• Gaining soft skills
• building business relationships
• Experience Intelligent business growth
• gain a 3rd eye view – hear others’ perspectives on our biz
• Make friends
• Grow personally

Finding our Core values

Next we were given an exercise which interrogated us on our values and what we deem to be important as individuals. As Mignon and Judit pointed out, business exists within the context of the rest of our lives and not the other way around, so our businesses need to align well with our values or we would be bound to experience conflict.

The questionnaire asked questions like:

• What do you value most
• What do we want our lives to look & feel like
• How do you want people to see you

This was coupled with a speech we were asked to write for our own funeral. These exercises were designed to expose those things which make us who we are and are dearest to us, our Core Values. The importance of knowing ones Values in business cannot be overstated. For me specifically it has driven the majority of the decisions I have made over the last few years with relation to my work and relationships I have formed.

Aligning your businesses values with your personal values makes for a sustainable relationship. A misalignment would ultimately result in conflicted directions between ones personal and business objectives.

For the 15 participants, values were varied and ranged from freedom, independence, balanced lifestyle, collaboration, religion, ethics, the need to make money or to be of benefit to others. We identified CORE VALUES which did not change or at least rarely changed, and aspirational values, which are negotiable and could change depending on the need. The core values are those which will cause us to walk away from something like a business deal, a partnership, a relationship etc.

The Bigger Picture – Defining your PURPOSE

Next we split into groups and discussed what we understood by the word purpose. There were a few angles which came out of the group and we explored the difference in meaning between reason, aim and Purpose, but ultimately we agreed that Purpose was a much more profound concept which related to our reason for existence. Purpose is the motive or driving force and our Purpose is informed by our Values.

The next exercise had quite an effect on me and got us all thinking really deeply about what we do and why we do it. We were asked to define in one sentence what our businesses do.

I said my business unlocks and communicates the real value which companies & organisations offer their markets.

We then had to reply to to this with another question, Why does that matter. and repeating the same question another 4 or 5 times until we reached a point where we uncovered the Purpose behind all of this which was informing our behaviour. My answers became increasing deep and reached quite a profound point reaching deep into the core of why I do what I do.

At this point in the session it was clear that quite a few participants were already focusing on the deeper meaning and purpose behind what their businesses were doing.

Some research which Mignon shared with us from a book called Built to Last by Jim Collins, Author of Good to Great, showed us that companies which were driven by more than just profitability and had purpose informing their actions were thousands of percentage points more successful than their profit only focused counterparts.

Also see – Make Meaning in Your Company – Guy Kawasaki

Dr Jonathan Foster Pedley of the GSB posted with You Tube video his students developed to explain “What Strategy Is …”. Inspiring & Insightful.

I also “stumble” across this article(Tapping into the power of strategy) written by Antoinette Tyrrell, strategy director at the Switch Group in which she says:

Strategy means planning, doing, checking and replanning – while keeping your staff engaged in this process. To ensure it’s the most successful it can be it needs to cross disciplines; linking the silos in your organisation. This will ensure that each and every person in your organisation, no matter their department, is working towards a common goal.

A business plan should be one of the key tools driving your strategy. I’m not talking about those dead never to be opened business plans developed merely to apply for funding, I’m talking about something which is dynamic and changes with the needs and growth of your company.

The business plan covers the bigger picture and many times this is something we neglect to take a look at in the daily running of our businesses, what is the overall mission we are trying to achieve, and do our daily activities contribute towards that.

Sometimes it’s good to get the help of an outside party who is detached from emotional involvement and can give you an outsider’s perspective.

Antionette goes on to say:

a strategy expert doesn’t have to come with an intimidating price tag. Look for a company that offers you someone who will immerse themselves in your business; someone who will go down the mineshaft, wear a hard hat, and get into the thick of things to find the answers you need. Great strategies are not developed behind closed doors or in ivory towers.

Taking the concept of immersion deeper, it takes conscious immersion to pin point areas of focus. Many times immersion of the wrong kind, like that of the micro-manager hovering over everyone’s shoulders produces negative results. the type of immersion needed should allow for weaknesses to be uncovered. inviting a strategist on board and then trying to plug the gaps before he/she arrives might save some perceived embarrassment but won’t produce the results you are in need of.

If you’re not willing to take advice from an outsider on your weaknesses, then you’re probably more likely to get stuck into certain static patterns which eventually reach deadlocks and don’t produce results.

The term strategy has it’s roots in war, and was used to define the plan needed to win the battle. It’s a war zone out there when you think about how tight competition is and having an edge over your competitors means having a differential strategy.

Strategy is also not about plans being passed down from the top through the hierarchical chain. It’s more about conversation and insight into what goes on on the ground. It goes without saying that all parties must be willing to talk and listen and to be transparent in their conversation.

It’s the leader who is willing to employ someone more knowledgeable than himself that understands this.