Category: startups

Why I don’t promote Startup blog

Posted on by Steve Sammartino

I get told all the time my blog is quite good. I’m chuffed. It’s nice people get something out of it. And yes, it has grown in the almost 3 years it’s been going. Grown from 10 readers a month to about 30,000. And No.1 on Google for ‘Startupblog’. But I don’t promote it hardly at all, other than a tweet here or there. I’d rather people just find out. And here’s why:

As soon as we start creating stuff for the ‘popularity contest’ we start to compromise what we do. We’re doing it to win, rather than for the love of creation. Our work suffers and we start making it for ‘them’ instead of ‘us’. Slowly we evolve into a qausi-politician trying to please everyone and yet stand for nothing.

This sounds counter intuitive to all the marketers out there…. but, the world has changed. We used to make stuff for them, round the edges and then sell to everyone. But now they’ve already got more stuff than they need – physical and informational. So what we have to do now is create stuff we love and let the people catch up. The people who are in fact ‘us’. Our people, not them.

I’ll be blogging 10 years from now (among other things) and if I stay the course, they’ll keep coming, like they already have. The only promotion this blog will ever get is the Kudos it deserves from those who discovered it… and then spread it. Given I don’t advertise on it, or make a living from it – that’ll suit me just fine. My main goal is to take pride in my content – not my ranking.

Entrepreneurs ought there – create something you’re proud of.

When things are broken…

Posted on by Steve Sammartino

…fix them straight away.

Sure it will cost you more

Sure the budget doesn’t allow

Sure it was unexpected

Sure you can leave it for a while

But the reality is this – when we leave things broken, we leave a part of ourselves broken. it messes with the mind, and it effects our persona, our personal brand and our confidence levels. In short it messes with the mind. Show me a person with a banged up car or an unruly house and I’ll show you someone whose finances are not in order.

Don’t mistake what I am saying here. I’m not talking about wealth, I’m talking about attitude.

The attitude of people who fix stuff – is the same as the attitude of the people who usually find success. Success doesn’t tolerate letting things deteriorate – success always repairs anything which is broken. Success knows that it permeates the right culture and it makes us money in the long run.

Simple maths

Posted on by Steve Sammartino

“…I would have, but I’m not very good at maths”. How many times have we heard that?  I love quadratic equations and differential calculus as much as the next guy…

Good news bulletin: Simple Maths rules the business world.

If you’re familiar with the following symbols you’ve got all the number skills you need.

+         –           x          /           %         <          >

You only need grade school math. But, you’ve got to be quick with your numbers, know which ones matter, understand industry averages and which ratio’s to look for – top of mind. The most important of all these symbols is %.

Everything that matters is represented as a percentage:

Gross margins

Net margins

Rates of interest

Return on investment

Price earnings ratios

Growth rates

Quick ratios

Debt to equity

Get to know your key financial indicators. Simple tools used on the share market are your best friend even for a small start up. Fundamental analysis is always based on ratio analysis.

Your company will only ever be what it earns and remember these two things that entrepreneurs often forget:

– Revenue must exceed expenditure

– The crocodile always gets the biggest piece!

Creator or Consumer?

Posted on by Steve Sammartino

Creation has a mindset. It is instinctive. It is in all of us, and that’s why we live in civilizations. We’ve created new ways, new things.

People often mistake the emotional rewards of consumption with creation. When people are consuming they’re living vicariously. We replace the instinct to create, with consumption. This world rewards creators. Business is about creating, which is why it can be rewarding. Conversely, most people associate success with consumption. Consumption is an illusion we’ve made or done something useful. It’s a shortcut. Hence, conspicuous consumption often exudes a sense emptiness.

Is this why we see so many balanced and satisfied craftsman, farmers and artists? People creating things have a sense of contentment. A sense of self reliance. Even if what they are creating is a simple vegetable patch which feeds their family.

It’s because the true rewards in life come from the act of creation. Consumption is a poor substitute. Create something.

Only the lonely

Posted on by Steve Sammartino

There’s many emotions associated with being an entrepreneur – seldom discussed is the fact that it’s a lonely business.

If we can’t deal with being the guy in photo above, then we’d be better off in the office of conglomerate X.

No one knows, cares or even thinks about what we are doing until we’ve arrived. During the lonely journey we’ve got to stay busy, remain active and get out in the world. We’ve got to get out of the ‘lab’ work mobile and stay social. If we islotate ourselves too much during the ‘lonely’ evolution period, we risk losing the ability to make the cross over to ‘leader’ when our startup gains momentum.

12 seconds

Posted on by Steve Sammartino

I really like the idea of ‘small’ – Making the macro, micro. 12 secondsTV does it: www.12seconds.tv

As far as marketing insights are concerned it proves that categories don’t converge – but split.

We recently used it for rentoid to kill a few birds with one stone:

  • Rewards passionate fans with a bit of fame,
  • Create an important dialogue
  • Generate some ‘realworld’ market research to boot.

The cool thing is that we’ll publish what people think about rentoid good and bad – so then we have to act on any mooted improvements. Check it by clicking here:

So in the spirit of involvement – I’d love to get a 12 seconds.tv spot from the startupblog crew – ‘yes that means you’ with any piece of business / entrepreneurship or life advice you feel approporiate.

Put your 12 seconds link in the comments and I’ll put it up as it’s own post with a link to your blog / startup / business or whatever.

Get on it.