How to start, add, or renew a business: KISS it

Great article by Geoff Kelly 

Keep It simple. And don’t be Stupid.

Most people seriously overcomplicate it, and that is very stupid. They also do a lot of guessing, and that is even more stupid.

Here’s the simplest plan to set up a new business, recover an existing business, or add a new product or service — whether you’re selling flowers by the bunch or high value business to business services.

1. Check out the Market 

First, look at the dimensions and quality of the market, and how you can reach prospects. Is it huge, or small? Do they already spend money on what you want to offer? Are they local or far flung? Is it feasible to reach them on the internet, or by various media, or personally?

Get a rough idea for how many potential prospects are in your desired market.

2.  Check out the Media 

Then, check for media to reach them. Are there digital or physical magazines popular with the group? Are they members of specific associations? Where do they show up? What do they often do?

If you believe there are enough good prospects and it is practical to reach them, go deeper. Ask others closer to the market. Check Government and other statistics. Go look and do your own sniff test.

3. Check out the Competition 

And then: How big and strong is the competition – including the option that they can do it for themselves (so many don’t consider this do-it-yourself option that is such a barrier to many business and retail services). Are you facing sharks or goldfish? How good are the outcomes they are getting for clients?

How do these competitors get clients? How are they attracting, selling and winning clients in different parts of the market? The best will use simple approaches – map their prospect to client funnels.

4. Check out  Price Points 

And then: What are the prevailing price points in the market?

What does the bulk of the market consider a fair price for normal service? What do they see as a premium price for a top shelf service? Or for a specialist service? What is it that they will pay more for?

5. Find  Prospects Pain and how are you going to solve it ?

Next: What do prospects need most? What frustrates them, stops them from doing what they most want? What stops them from getting more out of the products and services already in the market?

How can you fill these gaps? This will be the source of your compelling offer.

Line up all the benefits you can offer, and how clients will experience them. 

5. Prepare your Pitch 

From this, create your appeals and reality test them on real prospects. Your mother or your partner will be too kind to you – genuine prospects won’t be.

That’s your sales message.

6. Create a product or service that people want to buy and can do it easily 

And then: Make sure your product or service is:

•   simple to create and describe

•   easy to offer and fulfil

•   offers obvious value in terms of outcomes to price

•   gets satisfaction and/or outcomes fast (use milestones in longer term outcomes)

•   is easy to buy

  
  

7. Over- deliver - and do it fast 

So when you get new clients, you can deliver fast. And simply.

And last: Start fast and build on early progress and learning with massive action. Do more of what works, and stop or change what doesn’t.

8. Keep your Customers and make them advocates 

Standout business thinker Peter Drucker kept it simple when he said that business is about creating and keeping a customer. And that the two most important things to do are innovation and marketing. Everything else is a cost.

Of course we need other stuff too – technology, staff, legal compliance, funding and so on. 

But Drucker’s advice is not to allow these things to divert focus from the main game. 

If we don’t get and keep clients, we don’t have a business.

So start simple. Take ONE existing service or product that needs resurrection, or a new one. And run the above process to create the business. Then rinse and repeat with another, and another as long as you want for the growth you choose.

No need to complicate – just KISS it.

Geoff Kelly is an experienced business mentor and coach working mostly with business to business services clients. He works with people who want to make real improvement, and he shows them how to make the few changes that make the most difference to the results they want. He hates complicated, and loves simple.

His other practice is also simple, but high impact. Geoff helps professionals matter to decision-makers. Whatever you need - more clients, peer recognition, getting a strategy or idea adopted – your ultimate competitive advantage is having specific people know and value you and your ideas.

You can phone Geoff for more information like this on 0421 112 112 or email gkelly@kellystrategicinfluence.com.au

The future of work - the gig executive

Written by - Dexter Cousins is Managing Director of Tier One People, a unique search company advising small businesses on how to transform into enterprises.

 

What is a Gig Executive?

The Gig Economy is a term being used to reflect the rapidly evolving nature of what we used to call ‘temping’ or 'freelance' work. I have coined term Gig Executive to describe, a possible future career path for c-suite.

Platforms such as Uber are growing because they can easily access a flexible workforce. In the USA, data suggests that 1 in 3 workers are currently employed in Gig Economy jobs (although not all by choice.)

In Australia, platforms such as Airtasker, Freelancer.com, Workible (think Linkedin but for the retail and hospitality industry) and Expert 360 (management consulting) are changing the way in which the workforce engages. In a 2016 report by Upwork, the largest category for freelancers was web, mobile and software development (44 percent). Design and creative (14 percent), customer and admin support (13 percent), sales and marketing (10 percent) and writing (8 percent) make up the rest.

Based on the data, the Gig Economy way of working does not appear to apply to executive positions. Interim appointments have always existed, but these are fixed term appointments, usually to act in a caretaker role.

With the business world moving at such a rapid pace, should we expect the emergence of the Gig Executive?

Future trends that are impacting the executive workforce.

In an MIT report on the future of work, some of the predictions include:

• By 2022 more than 8% of the US workforce will be aged 65 or over.
• In 500 years, only 10% of the global population will be employed in paid work.
• In the next 5-10 years, companies will use data science and genetics to assess an executives suitability and job performance.

Estimates suggest that by 2020, the Gig Economy will account for 40% of the US workforce. What impact will this have on executive positions?

Closer to home, Australia’s joblook.gov.au predicts

“Over the five years to November 2019, the number of job openings for Chief Executives and Managing Directors is expected to be below average (between 5,001 and 10,000). Job openings count both employment growth and turnover (defined as workers leaving their occupation for other employment or leaving the workforce).” 

The data collated in 2015, reports there were 58,900 people in Australia employed as an Chief Executive or Managing Director.

The graph below shows some interesting stats.

Look at the yellow and red bars, what do they tell us?

The data seems to conflict. Future growth prospects to 2019 are high, and the prediction for future job openings is low, in comparison to other occupations.

Roy Morgan research estimates that the current unemployment figure in Australia is actually 9.2%. An additional 9.9% of the workforce are underemployed.

19.1% of Australia's workforce is currently underemployed.

Could the data be pointing to a future in which executives are under-employed? 

Are boards comfortable outsourcing decision making?

On a micro level, I am seeing a trend, outsourced Executive Services to small business. The concept is simple, instead of paying for a permanent, full-time, executive you can rent a CFO, CME, CEO, CTO, etc. as and when you need them.

Over the last 18 months, several executives in my network have branched out to offer such services. I have heard of one person being successful; everyone else has been back in touch this year about permanent opportunities. I did question if the difficulty in winning work was due to a lack of sales and marketing skills. In part this is true.

I decided to seek the feedback of boards and business owners on such services. They confessed to feeling uneasy giving authority to someone who isn’t part of the organisation. And potential investors tend not to look favourably on a business with a virtual executive team. 

An example of the Gig Executive.

Earlier this year, I won a brief to assemble an interim executive team. The client was looking to launch a new business, and the assignment resembled a Hollywood blockbuster movie, in which we had to assemble an all-star cast to complete a top-secret mission. Each member of the executive team was hand-picked for their specialist skills and ability to execute under pressure.

The usual approach in this scenario is to hire management consultants to develop the strategy. Then as the project gains momentum, additional hires made where needed. There is often a lack of cohesion which results in the project blowing the budget.

The benefits of hiring a Gig Executive.

The 'Hollywood Blockbuster' approach I mentioned earlier seems to avoid the common challenges, especially in the strategy phase. It enabled the team to execute ideas with stealth, and there was an immediate chemistry between everybody. For a business to go from a concept to launch in six months (in a heavily regulated environment) is a rare outcome. The assembled team have now handed the running of the new business to the current executives. It is too early to tell if the new business will be a success. However, the client has benefitted from significant cost and time saved over previous methods used.

Does this isolated example hold enough evidence to herald the emergence of the Gig Executive? If the Gig Economy continues to disrupt the workforce, it is inevitable that executives will see some impact. I am confident that any changes will present new opportunities for c-suite and senior management

. The key challenge will lie in winning the assignments as it requires a focus on networking, customer service, branding, marketing, and pricing.

Is AI good or bad for humanity?

Published by Loic Le Meur

Founder of Leade.rs http://leade.rs/Loicnewsletter

Everything is getting smarter. Basic AI is already here. It flies our planes on autopilot, plays video games and beats humans at chess and Go.

Better yet, AI can now teach itself to play a video game. How long will it take until it teaches itself to take over the world? Remember, AI already produced a brief financial crash.

AI is accelerating at an incredible pace, so quickly it’s said that AI should exceed our own intelligence between 2040 and 2060. Yes, even if “the brain is the most complex object in the known universe” (Nick Bostrom). “In our world, smart means a 130 IQ and stupid means an 85 IQ — we don’t have a word for an IQ of 12,952.” (Tim Urban in his must read AI story)

source: waitbutwhy

How bad could it be?

The train won’t stop when it exceeds our intelligence. Who knows what will happen when machines exceed our brains. There is no way to predict what the consequences will be for us.

Stephen Hawking says the development of AI “could spell the end of the human race”

Yes, that bad. But wait, it could be good.

Experts believe there is a 52% chance that it’s going to be good. Experts are people who know more and more about less and less, so let’s trust them for a minute.

Okay how good?

“Artificial Super Intelligence (ASI) could solve every problem in humanity” says Tim Urban. It could “halt CO2 emissions by coming up with much better ways to generate energy that had nothing to do with fossil fuels. Then it could create some innovative way to begin to remove excess CO2 from the atmosphere. Cancer and other diseases? No problem for ASI — health and medicine would be revolutionized beyond imagination. World hunger? ASI could use things like nanotech to build meat from scratch that would be molecularly identical to real meat — in other words, it would be real meat. Nanotech could turn a pile of garbage into a huge vat of fresh meat or other food. Better yet, Artificial Super Intelligence could allow us to conquer our mortality”

People think the chances of AI taking over the world are high enough that there is even a consortium between Apple, Amazon, Facebook and Microsoft. Reid Hoffman and Pierre Omidyar have invested $27m to fund Ethics and Government of AI research.

There’s been a lot of money raised and many companies acquired in AI space in the last 12 months. Self driving seems to be where most of the funding is going.

If you have some time, you should read The AI Revolution: The Road to Superintelligence part 1 and part 2. Watching the TED Talks on AI is great to.

Life after Jobs

Rapid automation is taking place in restaurants, airports, supermarkets and warehouses.

45,000 robots installed by Amazon.

Motor manufacturing becoming almost totally automated.

An insurance company that laid off 90% of its employees and replaced them with an artificial intelligence system that can calculate payouts to policyholders, which produced an increase productivity of 30% and they will see a return on its investment in less than two years . 

A Chinese factory just replaced 90% of its human workforce with automated machines, it experienced a 250% increase in productivity and an 80% drop in defects.  It is hard to argue against automation when statistics are clearly illustrating its potential.

The  factory used to need 650 human workers to produce mobile phones. Now, the factory is run by 60 robot arms that work around the clock across 10 production lines. The number of people employed drops to just 20, and given the level of efficiency achieved by automation, it won’t be long before other factories follow in their footsteps.  Three people  are assigned to check and monitor the production line, and the others are tasked with monitoring computer control systems. Any remaining work not handled by humans is left in the capable hands of machines.

 This is just the tip of the iceberg and the replacement of people by AI continues that acceleration.

This efficiency of automation comes at a price, though: our jobs. 

Last year, McKinsey showed that currently demonstrated technologies could automate 45 percent of the activities people are paid to perform and that about 60 percent of all occupations could see a minimum of 30 percent or more of their constituent activities automated, again with technologies available today.  Within 5 to 10 years we could see unemployment up to 60% of the available workforce.

According to a joint study conducted by Oxford University and the Oxford Martin School, “47 percent of jobs in the US are ‘at risk’ of being automated.”  And these won’t just be factory jobs, either. At the rate that robotics and artificial intelligence (AI) are advancing, machines will soon be able to take over tasks in a variety of industries and do them just as well as, if not better than, humans. We already have robot lawyers capable of defending a range of violations, an AI that can deliver a medical diagnosis more accurately than a human doctor, robot journalists, and even therapists that can outperform their human counterparts.

The uncertainty surrounding the future of human employment in the age of automation is already apparent, and machines are poised to keep getting better and better at what they do. 

So what's the solution? How will we make ourselves useful? 

Governments and private organizations are putting some serious thought into this subject and are come up with some potential solutions to address widespread employee displacement.

Among those is universal basic income (UBI), a system in which all citizens of a country receive an unconditional amount of money on top of income they generate through other means. Pilot studies in countries like the United States, India, Canada, and Finland have already begun, and thus far, they’ve delivered promising results. It’s too early to say if UBI could address widespread job loss due to automation head on, but it could ultimately prove to be an empowering economic move as we make the transition.

The times they are a changing . . . and extremely rapidly.

Tim Cook thinks augmented reality is a 'big idea like the smartphone'

RAYMOND WONGFeb 11, 2017 in Mashable https://cdn.ampproject.org/c/mashable.com/2017/02/10/tim-cook-augmented-reality-opportunity-apple.amp

Apple's CEO Tim Cook told "the independent" that augmented reality (AR)  has the ability to change the world even going as far to say it's a "big idea like the smartphone."

"The smartphone is for everyone, we don't have to think the iPhone is about a certain demographic, or country or vertical market: it’s for everyone," Cook said. "I think AR is that big, it’s huge. I get excited because of the things that could be done that could improve a lot of lives. And be entertaining."

Cook said he thinks of AR as a "core technology" and not a single product -- which, depending on how you want to interpret it, could mean the company's not looking to launch a pair of AR smart glasses, contrary to a claim from AR/VR evangelist Robert Scoble.

"AR allows individuals to be present in the world but hopefully allows an improvement on what's happening presently."

As a "core technology" Apple could implement AR more broadly across its products rather than tie it down to a single device.

But despite his excitement for it, Cook thinks existing AR technology isn't ready yet, saying "there are things to discover before that technology is good enough for the mainstream."

Cook also dissed VR again. "I’m excited about augmented reality because unlike virtual reality which closes the world out, AR allows individuals to be present in the world but hopefully allows an improvement on what’s happening presently."

"Most people don’t want to lock themselves out from the world for a long period of time and today you can’t do that because you get sick from it. With AR you can, not be engrossed in something, but have it be a part of your world, of your conversation. That has resonance." Ouch. I guess Mark Zuckerberg won't be inviting Cook to try out the latest Oculus Rift VR tech anytime soon.

How to Make Practical Innovation Sustainable

 

When Richard Branson told a group of startups who met to “thrash out” inspiring visions for the next three decades of business, that “small businesses are nimble and bold and can often teach much larger companies a thing or two about innovations that can change entire industries,” he knew what he was talking about. 

Whether they’re coming up with new products that meet their customers’ needs, joining forces with their competition to gain economies of scale and make significant breakthroughs, or approaching uncharted marketplaces, SMEs are the very cornerstones of innovation in today’s business world. 

The good news is that Innovation doesn’t have to break the bank nor does it require unlimited human resources to happen, nor do  have to come up with a revolutionary invention to be innovative. 

Many innovations coming out of today’s organizations are just small wins that slowly help the company make incremental moves toward achieving its overall mission. In other words, don’t assume you have to spend millions of dollars and allocate hundreds of hours of manpower to creating the “next best thing” that will knock everyone’s socks off, only to watch that dream take a backseat (much like an overly ambitious New Year’s resolution) as everyone refocuses on their day-to-day responsibilities.

BREAKING THROUGH THE GRIDLOCK

So how can companies break through this innovation gridlock and come out winners? The key is to leverage your firm’s “nimble and bold” qualities to always be innovating. And don’t assume you have to come up with the next iPhone, medical miracle, or manufacturing breakthrough to be innovative. A fairly nebulous term defined at its simplest as “the introduction of something new,” innovation assumes different shapes depending on the organization, people, and processes involved.

Clif Bar is a good example of how innovation doesn’t require big-company resources or even a physical location. It does, however, require devoted inventors, a true customer need, and a willingness to put the time and effort into making a product that people will actually like. Starting in their own kitchen back in 1990, the company’s founders began baking their own protein bars because they didn’t like what was on the market at the time. Needing fuel for their long bike rides, they originally marketed their creations to fellow athletes. Fast-forward to 2017 and Clif Bars (and its since-extended product line) graces the shelves of Target, Walmart, and many other mainstream online and offline retailers (not just those targeting athletes).

So how do you do practical innovation regardless of company shape or size? 

You can kick off the process with this 3-step exercise:

Start thinking out of the box. Yes, we know you’ve probably heard this one before, but it’s important when you talk about innovation — an area where the words “But we’ve always done it this way and it has worked,” can quickly derail even the most innovative ideas. When you think out of the box you invite new ideas, brainstorming, and collaboration, all of which support innovation. By keeping an open mind and exploring options that you’ve never considered before, you can start the innovation train rolling in the right direction.

Come up with your own definition of innovation. Go beyond “the introduction of something new,” and figure out what innovation really means to your organization.

Is it:

• Implementing new ideas?
• Creating dynamic products?
• Responding to customers’ changing wants and needs?
• Improving existing services?
• Finding new avenues for business growth?
• Adapting in a challenging marketplace (or to changes in your environment)?
• Changing your current business model?
• Developing a culture that’s focused on continuous innovation?
• Finding business partners to collaborate with to come up with new products and/or services?
• Some other measure?

These are just a few ways that you can define innovation, but you get the idea. The important point here is to come up with your own picture of what innovation looks like within your organization and then start taking the necessary steps to put it into action.

Go beyond lip service and put innovation into action. Have SMART innovation goals (specific, measurable achievable realistic and within a set time frame )

Talking about innovation doesn’t make it happen. Brainstorming new ideas don’t make them come to life. And hashing out the details of a “future” plan doesn’t mean it’s ever going to come to fruition. To create the greatest impact, you need to actually put the innovation into action by addressing these questions:

• How do I design my customer interactions?
• How do I design my new service or product?
• Who can I work with (both internally and externally) to help make this a reality?
• What internal and external resources do I have at my avail?
• Who is going to pioneer this innovation and see it through to the end?
• And finally, how will I quantify the success of this innovation?

REMEMBER, INNOVATION HAS NO END POINT

Innovation isn’t just about coming up with the next, cool product. It has no end point, and it includes everything from how you take your product to market to how you serve your customer to how you come up with effective pricing solutions. All of these activities fall under the broader contexts of innovation and go well beyond the very narrow “cocktail napkin” approach to innovation.

By adopting this mindset, organizations not only become more competitive and customer-friendly, but they can also become more profitable. The latter is a particularly important point in today’s business world, where thinner and thinner margins — and the need to do more with less — are challenging companies to find more innovative ways to generate revenues.

Pretty much every business that’s surviving today — and that will survive for the long haul — will have to be competitive and innovative across all segments of their workflows. From hiring and compensation to selling to market strategy, positioning, and branding; all of these elements are part and parcel of innovation. In fact, as I survey the business landscape right now, I can tell you that all companies that are “surviving” are leveraging innovation in some way — whether they know it or not.

For some companies, of course, the urge to innovate comes quite naturally. A maker of highly-engineered products, for example, is always on the lookout for the next best product introduction and spends much time and money honing its existing offerings. This commitment to continuous innovation can be applied in pretty much any setting. All companies have the same opportunities to innovate, and particularly when they are pushed to do so by forward-thinking personalities, leaders, and/or owners. Those that are succeeding in competitive markets (e.g., those that are commodity-driven, for example, and that have been hit hard by online sellers on both the business-to-consumer and business-to-business segments), tend to follow some basic principles, which are:

Tight focus on purpose. In other words, why are you here and what purpose does your company serve? The purpose-driven organization has a much better chance of succeeding than the one that’s just selling something to people. Apple and Google are two good examples of firms that are well known for their innovative and creative strategies — not all of which are focused on product development.

Willingness to go beyond the basics. Think beyond just creating a product to your intrinsic value proposition, be it to serve your customers better, save the planet, or some other core value. Through this exercise you’ll be able to create an identity and a true purpose that, in turn, dictates your firm’s position in its industry.

Solid value propositions. Having a value proposition in place also helps organizations answer questions like “How am I going to serve my customer?” “How am I going to price my products and services?” and “How can we create a better execution model for success?”

Vision of a profitable model. Companies must also consider their core competencies, and then turn those advantages into capabilities or differentiations that will be used to build out a platform for innovation. You may have a great vision and terrific partners, but if you can’t create a service platform then you’re not going to be able to develop a profitable model.

Nurturing ecosystem. Last but definitely not least, innovation requires a support group that includes suppliers, customers, and other business partners. This is particularly important in today’s business environment, where companies rely on suppliers to deliver quality products; their employees to sell, deliver, and support the products being sold; and their customers to put the products to work out in the field. By continually nurturing that ecosystem, companies can innovate effectively on a regular basis.

This combination of purpose, platform, and ecosystem can be leveraged effectively across all innovation models, and by companies of all shapes and sizes. Build out innovation based on these guiding principles and use it to develop customer-centric innovation that truly differentiates your organization and helps it stand out in the marketplace. You’ll be glad you did.

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Copyright (c) 2017 by Faisal Hoque. All rights reserved.

Business and tech trends in 2017

The new year looks to bring with it a whole new range of business and technology trends. At Brennan IT we have close partnerships and relationships with both our clients and vendors and we keep a close ear to the ground. So without further ado, we bring you the business and technology trends that we will see the most of in 2017. 

1. Focus on training remote employees and mobility set to dominate

Startups and technology companies are leading the way in terms of hiring staff remotely, using platforms such as Skype and Zoom to interview prospective candidates. This extends to enabling successful candidates to work remotely once they are hired, as well as do on-the-job training, needing nothing more than an Internet connection and a secure, connected device.

2. Leveraging the sharing economy style of working/ adapting to digital transformation

Customer expectations are driving digital transformation. Customers now expect the same level of interaction from every company they engage with, not only the sharing economy giants like Uber and Airbnb. The new sharing economy will be increasingly customer-centric and businesses need to adapt, or risk losing their customer to another provider that shows customer-centricity.  

3. Cybersecurity and cloud infrastructure must keep pace

Security issues are rating as a higher business concern across all industries. Customers are also becoming more aware of the importance of choosing a trusted business provider who will keep their personal information safe and secure. This will prove to be a key differentiator, so organisations will face increased pressure to ensure they are equipped to deal with the latest cyber threats.

4. Increased organisational change management as part of technology adoption

As businesses continue their transformative paths through the addition of new technology, the role of organisational change management becomes more intrinsic. It will be of paramount importance that staff are ready and fully equipped with the necessary knowledge and skills to take advantage of the new technological developments within their organisation, in order to maximize the value of those investments.

5. Customer journey mapping as a way to understand and anticipate customer needs and emotions.

Companies are waking up to the fact that getting the customer experience right is a critical component for the success of their business. Customer journey mapping can be a powerful way to improve customer experience and gain real insight into what customers want and to stay ahead of the curve.

6. Acceleration of the cloud market and hybrid cloud operations

The economies of scale that cloud infrastructure can offer to enterprises, will enable them to better provide for customers. We will also see the cloud market continue to accelerate, with more businesses moving their core applications to the cloud.

7. Growth of mesh app and service architecture and adaptive security architecture

The set of endpoints people use to access applications and information or interact with people, social communities, governments and businesses need to be managed, integrated and secured, and the market for bringing these various endpoints together and having them talk to each other is set to increase dramatically.

 

8. Destroying silos in business operations

Organisational silos will continue to be broken down, as the climate of collaboration and the technology to support it continues to flourish. This will be complemented by collaborative social tools, such as Facebook for Business.