The email from my attorney just came in, so I’ll go back to my proposal writing. I can’t help but here my own advice in my head: “Learn to say no more often.”
Friday, March 14, 2014
What Is Your Proposal Writing Plan?
I am taking a break from writing a very long proposal that I really don’t want to write. I don’t want to write it because 90% of it is fluff and nonsense. Some time ago when building my business I went through the “Wants-Don’t Wants” process as it relates to my business. This type of project was on my “Don’t Wants”.
While reading the biography of John Boyd, simply titled “Boyd”, he had a similar complaint about Pentagon work. He called it “gold plating”. He and his team would establish the criteria for a great fighter, and someone would add unnecessary equipment or requirements to curry favor somewhere. “Gold Plating”.
In the tech world, specifically the online world, these big long proposals are a form of gold plating. For instance it, an big proposal justifies the legal department, IT and even public relations charging x hours to look over the Request for Proposal (RFP) along with a host of other jobs.
On the vendor side, it means I too must spend money with Lawyers, Accountants, and Project Managers to get every ones buy in. On both sides a virtual committee is formed.
Committees are by nature – timid. Based on the premise of safety in numbers, content to survive rather than take risks and move independently ahead. - Ferry Porsche
When we are stripped down to our essentials we perform our best. This is true of any endeavor in life whether it is man or machine. The success of Apple has been based on this simple truth until recently. Where they go from here is anyones guess.
Look at a race car. Everything you don’t need is taken out to save weight allowing the car to perform better. Why have insulation when earplugs will work for an hour?
When you know your business, you can write a profitable quote on one page in a few hours. When you get the job, then you create the plan. Much less time consuming for both sides, and therefore less expensive for the client, and likely more profitable for you.
The email from my attorney just came in, so I’ll go back to my proposal writing. I can’t help but here my own advice in my head: “Learn to say no more often.”
The email from my attorney just came in, so I’ll go back to my proposal writing. I can’t help but here my own advice in my head: “Learn to say no more often.”
Thursday, March 13, 2014
So You Want To Start A Business? Get Ready Then!
The spirit of freedom and responsibility that drives many people to start a business, is what drove the founding fathers to break away and start this country. The battle cry of "Taxation without Representation" was a catch phrase that simply asked for freedom and responsibility.
Freedom and responsibility go hand in hand, you can't have one with out the other and have society progress. These days too many people are willing to give up both for security. Security is a myth that can never be achieved completely. The most secure people in the world are locked up in solitary confinement somewhere. I bet those guys would trade for freedom any day. The question is, would that take the responsibility that goes with it?
Benjamin Franklin is attributed to saying that you can't have Liberty and Security at the same time. He is right. They are polar opposites. With responsibility comes a little bit of risk. The key to success for today is understanding that you must manage risk in order to succeed.
Most people live in fear of the risk and responsibility of owning a business and therefore never enjoy the freedoms you can earn as the reward for managing the risk and accepting the responsibility.
The barriers to entry form many businesses also keep people out. Lawyers have to go to law school, pass the bar and still there are hundreds if not thousands of out of work lawyers or lawyers that have a different job. Just because you make it over the barrier doesn't mean you will succeed.
In a previous blog I encouraged you to act like an independent contractor at your job. Take more responsibility and manage more risk in exchange for a bit more freedom. If you could look back through time and watch me when I had a job, I learned to do exactly that from my mentors. I managed to work a 3/36 schedule so I could fly and play more while at one company. The deal was I had to outperform the 40 hour scheduled workers by 10% as well.
The company got 44 hours worth of work and only paid 36. It was a win-win. That mentality gave me the confidence to start my own business.
There are many businesses with very low barriers to entry, such as real estate. You can become a Realtor after a few classes and a test. Your total investment might only be $300 or so. The problem is that with such a low barrier to entry there are a lot of people doing it. This means starting out you will need a lot of patience and persistence to succeed. Or you need a much better way to get the job done by working smarter, not harder.
The best way to prepare yourself for starting a business is to look at all of the places in your life where you have traded liberty for security. Do you use unemployment regularly because you can't manage money? Do you "need" health insurance provided by your boss or the government? Do you work for someone else for the "security" of a paycheck every two weeks?
Can you manage your life if you didn't have any of these things? Stepping out on your own can be a scary thing, and at the same time getting over that fear is one of the greatest accelerators on the road to success. Many of the most successful business owners I know have done the "credit card shuffle" trying to pay bills they didn't have money to cover.
The pain and embarrassment of not making your bills is a defining moment for every entrepreneur. It is at that moment, you push a little harder and make it, or you give up and "go back to work". Like many successful people, I have done both at least once. The difference is that the minute I went back to work, the embarrassment didn't go away. There was no joy or happiness when that first check came in.
The last time I was shuffling money and missing payments, I dug in, and when that next client signed on, and that next check came in, it was a rotating beacon of emotions. First it was relief that turned to joy that turned to ecstasy, and within weeks, more clients, more books started selling, and more work came in.
If I didn't have to scrape to find quarters for the dollar menu, would I be where I am now? I can't say for sure. The biggest mistake you can make is getting locked into a failing method. I will admit when I dug in, I also changed my approach.
Don't get locked in on one idea, try to listen to the clients and figure out why they aren't buying and adjust accordingly. More importantly, in the infamous words of Winston Churchill, "Never, Never, Never, Give Up."
Freedom and responsibility go hand in hand, you can't have one with out the other and have society progress. These days too many people are willing to give up both for security. Security is a myth that can never be achieved completely. The most secure people in the world are locked up in solitary confinement somewhere. I bet those guys would trade for freedom any day. The question is, would that take the responsibility that goes with it?
Benjamin Franklin is attributed to saying that you can't have Liberty and Security at the same time. He is right. They are polar opposites. With responsibility comes a little bit of risk. The key to success for today is understanding that you must manage risk in order to succeed.
Most people live in fear of the risk and responsibility of owning a business and therefore never enjoy the freedoms you can earn as the reward for managing the risk and accepting the responsibility.
The barriers to entry form many businesses also keep people out. Lawyers have to go to law school, pass the bar and still there are hundreds if not thousands of out of work lawyers or lawyers that have a different job. Just because you make it over the barrier doesn't mean you will succeed.
In a previous blog I encouraged you to act like an independent contractor at your job. Take more responsibility and manage more risk in exchange for a bit more freedom. If you could look back through time and watch me when I had a job, I learned to do exactly that from my mentors. I managed to work a 3/36 schedule so I could fly and play more while at one company. The deal was I had to outperform the 40 hour scheduled workers by 10% as well.
The company got 44 hours worth of work and only paid 36. It was a win-win. That mentality gave me the confidence to start my own business.
There are many businesses with very low barriers to entry, such as real estate. You can become a Realtor after a few classes and a test. Your total investment might only be $300 or so. The problem is that with such a low barrier to entry there are a lot of people doing it. This means starting out you will need a lot of patience and persistence to succeed. Or you need a much better way to get the job done by working smarter, not harder.
The best way to prepare yourself for starting a business is to look at all of the places in your life where you have traded liberty for security. Do you use unemployment regularly because you can't manage money? Do you "need" health insurance provided by your boss or the government? Do you work for someone else for the "security" of a paycheck every two weeks?
Can you manage your life if you didn't have any of these things? Stepping out on your own can be a scary thing, and at the same time getting over that fear is one of the greatest accelerators on the road to success. Many of the most successful business owners I know have done the "credit card shuffle" trying to pay bills they didn't have money to cover.
The pain and embarrassment of not making your bills is a defining moment for every entrepreneur. It is at that moment, you push a little harder and make it, or you give up and "go back to work". Like many successful people, I have done both at least once. The difference is that the minute I went back to work, the embarrassment didn't go away. There was no joy or happiness when that first check came in.
The last time I was shuffling money and missing payments, I dug in, and when that next client signed on, and that next check came in, it was a rotating beacon of emotions. First it was relief that turned to joy that turned to ecstasy, and within weeks, more clients, more books started selling, and more work came in.
If I didn't have to scrape to find quarters for the dollar menu, would I be where I am now? I can't say for sure. The biggest mistake you can make is getting locked into a failing method. I will admit when I dug in, I also changed my approach.
Don't get locked in on one idea, try to listen to the clients and figure out why they aren't buying and adjust accordingly. More importantly, in the infamous words of Winston Churchill, "Never, Never, Never, Give Up."
Monday, March 3, 2014
Want a Raise - Think Supply and Demand!
The laws of supply and demand can be applied to just about any situation that involves the exchange of money. Right now the pilot shortage is in the news and the GAO says the cause is simple. Pilots aren't paid enough to make it worth taking the job. On that point they are right.
A decade ago it was radiologists and anesthesiologists. Insurance companies agreed to pay more, hospitals started paying more and in a few years the problem was solved.
So how does this apply to you?
In simple terms you have two choices, you can either find a very high demand job that has low supply and go do it. Unfortunately it isn't that easy. Becoming a pilot for instance can cost upwards of $100,000 if you aren't lucky enough to get a military position first, and starting pay is just $20,000 per year.
Any questions why there is a pilot shortage? At some point the pay will increase or the pilots will be replaced by computers. Are you willing to make a $100,000 bet on the outcome? Most aren't, and a few believe the pilotless plane is coming. Winning as a pilot might be a short term bet.
The second choice is to make yourself so valuable at the job you have now that they can't afford for you not to be there. This is the easy way to get ahead without having to pay for it. I know people who never graduated high school and are millionaires from owning McDonalds. The supply of those people is very very scarce, but they exist.
So how do you do that? Think like a subcontractor. Instead of asking for more benefits and pay, start by asking for more responsibility and better work. Think of what your boss wants now and what he might want tomorrow and deliver it before he asks.
If you aren't ready to break out yet and start your own business or become an independent contractor, you can still use the laws of supply and demand to make sure your skills and work ethic are so far above the crown that you are a scarce commodity in your office. Soon enough the pay, work schedule and benefits will come your way.
A decade ago it was radiologists and anesthesiologists. Insurance companies agreed to pay more, hospitals started paying more and in a few years the problem was solved.
So how does this apply to you?
In simple terms you have two choices, you can either find a very high demand job that has low supply and go do it. Unfortunately it isn't that easy. Becoming a pilot for instance can cost upwards of $100,000 if you aren't lucky enough to get a military position first, and starting pay is just $20,000 per year.
Any questions why there is a pilot shortage? At some point the pay will increase or the pilots will be replaced by computers. Are you willing to make a $100,000 bet on the outcome? Most aren't, and a few believe the pilotless plane is coming. Winning as a pilot might be a short term bet.
The second choice is to make yourself so valuable at the job you have now that they can't afford for you not to be there. This is the easy way to get ahead without having to pay for it. I know people who never graduated high school and are millionaires from owning McDonalds. The supply of those people is very very scarce, but they exist.
So how do you do that? Think like a subcontractor. Instead of asking for more benefits and pay, start by asking for more responsibility and better work. Think of what your boss wants now and what he might want tomorrow and deliver it before he asks.
If you aren't ready to break out yet and start your own business or become an independent contractor, you can still use the laws of supply and demand to make sure your skills and work ethic are so far above the crown that you are a scarce commodity in your office. Soon enough the pay, work schedule and benefits will come your way.
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