Category: entrepreneurship

Planning media is not as hard as as it sounds, so long as we think about it in human terms. So here’s my 3 step media planning process:

1. Who do I want to talk to and why?
2. Where can I find them?
3. What do I want to say?

If these questions are hard to answer, then we probably need to re-think what we are trying to sell. If these people don’t want to hear from us, then we need to re-think what we are trying to sell. The honest assessment of this process tells us a lot about our current plans chance of success.

Most goals revolve around some form of high ground. And if we are honest with ourselves we usually know what drives us. It could be moral high ground, intellectual high ground, financial high ground, relationship high ground, attention high ground, power high ground, community high ground and hedonistic high ground…. the list is endless.

Just be reviewing the list, it’s easy to see that some have a high probability of conflicting with each other. Personally, I’d rather be a poor nice guy than a rich jerk. While other people might prefer enough money to buy new friends after they burn their old ones! Who knows? Everyone has their muse, their reason and their own burning desires.

What really matters is knowing the high ground we are aiming for. Once we have this philosophy in place, our tactics and decisions tend to make themselves.

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I don’t enjoy working in a constricted corporate environment. I care not for politics and I much prefer to keep real customers happy than internal ones. It’s super hard to do that working for a company.  The core customer usually becomes the people we work for.

A big reason to go down the entrepreneurial track isn’t about finance but freedom. So I’m wondering why so many aspiring entrepreneurs believe this is the modern day formula for entrepreneurship:

1. Have an idea.
2. Build an MVP.
3. Get traction and attention.
4. Get funded.

If we take step 4 then we might as well be back at work again. All of a sudden we have a boss. We lose the freedom that goes with the risk we’ve taken. We outsource our financial risk to others, and in turn we lose control. It feels a bit like a core reason for going out on our own is lost. It’s one lesson from Silicon Valley we could do without.

Here’s a better model.

1. Have an idea.
2. Build an MVP.
3. Get traction and attention.
4. Make profit.

Sure, external funding is sometimes a requirement for long lead opportunities, but profit is always a requirement for long term freedom.

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A day doesn’t pass without someone we trust telling us to buy, download, acquire or update our browser to include this time saving, life saving, gaming changing tech tool. And sure I get it, there are a lot of cool new tools out there. But here’s something worth thinking about: The carpenter still employs a number of tools which are literally thousands of years old. Their most important tool is probably still a hammer. Sure they’ve taken on some new tech advances like nail guns, but mostly, they make sure a tool earns its place on their tool belt. It needs to make their work and life simpler.

The problem with modern day tools is that they weigh nothing and often cost nothing to acquire. There is no adoption tax.  We end up with more tools than we need, which can fragment our attention.

I’m sure lots of these new tools are better, but unless we are actively seeking a solution, we should probably continue using the hammer.

We worry so much about the test, we sometimes forget why it exists. We forget the test can never replace what it’s meant to prepare us for. Here’s a great quote from John Green on the test.

“Yeah, about the test…

The test will measure whether you are an informed, engaged, and productive citizen of the world, and it will take place in schools and bars and hospitals and dorm rooms and in places of worship. You will be tested on first dates, in job interviews, while watching football, and while scrolling through your Twitter feed. The test will judge your ability to think about things other than celebrity marriages, whether you’ll be easily persuaded by empty political rhetoric, and whether you’ll be able to place your life and your community in a broader context. The test will last your entire life, and it will be comprised of the millions of decisions that, when taken together, will make your life yours. And everything, everything, will be on it.

…I know, right?”

While walking down the street I was approached by two people organising a community event. They stopped and said “Hey, do you live here? (yes), Well, we are organising this community event for this Friday, if you’d like to come it would be great. Here’s a flyer with details.”

I told them I’d be out of town that day and I couldn’t make it, and handed back the flyer to them and I said – “Here, take this back and save this flyer for someone else.”  They insisted I take it anyway.

Obviously they’ve decided meeting local people walking around might be a good way to introduce people to the event. And I agree, an old school walk among the locals could be the ideal way. They’ve then decided that flyers would help with details for those who want to come, and again I agree. Problem is, during the execution their objective shifted from getting people to come, to distributing flyers. They didn’t listen to their audience, and in doing so wasted a limited resource (the flyer) on a dead end.

A simple reminder that we should never let ‘the thing’ supersede why it actually exists.

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