Opinions vs Test Results

Opinions are important, they’re needed to spur discussion and inspire people to stretch.
…but it’s test results that are needed to change a consensus.

The world would still be flat if someone first didn’t have an opinion that the status quo needed questioning.
… but the people didn’t believe until that assumption was tested and proven to be false.

Facts, Figures and Pie Charts are what we need more of.

As much as social media is doing a great job of continuing to flatten the world and make it smaller
… it’s given so many people a platform to disguise their opinions as facts.

I am interested in your 140 character opinion, especially if it’s humorous, but the world would much prefer you to put your balls on the line, test that opinion, and then share your case-study and findings in a blog post1.

  1. No I haven’t tested this opinion with a survey I can put in a pie chart. ↩

14. May, 2011 Comments Off

It’s Gonna Be Full Of Buzz Words

13. May, 2011 Comments Off

There’s Something About Oliver Jeffers

http://www.oliverjeffers.com/projects/MACHINES-FOR-THE-FUTUREI’m not quite sure what it is….
For some reason he keeps hitting my windshield1.

If you can figure out his jeni se qua please @Preneur on Twitter .

“The Pictures Define The Words And The Words Define The Pictures”

“What Happens If Someone Eats Books And Gets Smart?”

“Possibly A Writers Jacket”

Oh yeah, the rotten sod also just had his very first iPad App The Heart &The Bottle achieve ‘App of the Week’ on the Apple iTunes store.

P.S. Do you think his mustache is real ?

Do you know what I think it is? He’s entertaining. He hides some very good lessons in the honey pot called entertainment (see: “decide who your book is for” + “each book starts with a pencil” + “write about things that interest you”+ “I do believe eating books is a metaphor for consuming books”)… and he clearly ships.

  1. This is where I first stumbled upon Olver – Great though provoking blog post in it’s own right: http://katiechatfield.wordpress.com/2010/03/10/is-it-the-right-chart/ ↩
10. May, 2011 Comments Off

The Problem With Self Evident Marketing

This post is nothing more than a rant…
… a rant about ethics, a rant about gurus and a rant regarding congruency.

There are a lot of people out there peddling their ‘marketing advice’ and the only real substance they have to their credibility, is the fact they where able to sell you.

“Well you found out about me, so I must be good at lead generation (and marketing) … so buy my shit.”

And as true and self evident of a statement as that is … is it really congruent with the type of expert, advisor or mentor you want (or want to be)?

If you’re an “online marketer” then find someone who has sold real stuff, to real people online.

If you’re a small “real world” business, find someone who marketed (successfully) a “real world business”

If you’re looking for a business coach, make sure they have run multiple businesses (successfully), and not just bought a franchise

Don’t get me wrong, I really do encourage people to do a ‘Marketing Apprenticeship’ 1

Go out and ‘learn by doing” – Find a small business who needs traffic, and work on their Google Places listing /// Help a friend raise some awareness for their new book with some SEO /// Help get donations for the local animal hospital via Facebook or Publicity.

BUT the idea of an Apprenticeship is that

  • Every party involved knows you are still learning
  • Your compensation level is linked with the point above
  • You don’t position yourself as a guru
  • Did I mention an apprentice is still learning and not paid like a pro.

Just don’t start selling your advice, until you’ve got some actual real-world runs on the board.

Just because you’ve made some money in the stock market, doesn’t allow you to become a broker.

Just because you helped your niece with her long division, doesn’t mean you get to teach astro physics.

Just because you’ve built your Ikea TV stand, doesn’t make you a site manager on a Trumps next 80 floor skyscraper.

Just because you put a Wiggle Band-Aid on your 4year olds knee after soccer, doesn’t give you the right to oversee a triple-by-pass.

… all these professions require accreditation before you can educate others.

But when it comes to marketing and general business building advice, it seems everyone and their VA Ghostwriter can bottle something up and charge an arm and a leg.

When my first book was released, my good friend, mentor and best-selling author Steve McKnight gave me a piece of advise that continues to resinate (and drive me)

OK, so you’ve done it for yourself… but you have to do it for others now.

I had to go out and prove that what I’d done was replicable.

Until you get testimonials, case-studies and a track record of others implementing your processes, system and frameworks – you’re just lucky.

And it’s in these third party endorsements and successful “students” that your tribe will be born.

But, there is no congruency or ethics in charging others a fortune, while you get that track record.

Hang on a second

They say1; Teaching is the best way to learn

Does this age-old adage contradict everything I’ve just said ?

Well yes and no…

I agree that as I’ve (sporadically) written this blog and given numerous public presentations at no charge I’ve been able to refine my own thinking, mould my frameworks and improve on my ideas.

So with a resounding yes, the best way to learn is to teach.

.. but this “learning disguised teaching” shouldn’t have a price tag.

It should be given away in the form of stories, opinions, case-studies, test results, podcasts, presentation and blog posts.

Let these disguised teachings, build an audience, develop testimonials and third-party endorsements.

… and from that you can build a proven platform you can sell.

Have I personally been consistent with this philosophy ?

I hope so, but in hindsight properly not… like everyone I’ve slipped off the apple cart a few times. (and that’s just part of learning too)

I do know marketing, lead generation and conversion though. I’ve sold millions in everything; from sports memorabilia, to B2B products, to a range of tangible consumer goods and a full gamut of service offerings.

… and the latest intangible? AIR2.

And that’s where I attempt to focus my “advice” & teaching” (read: sharing of experience)

I do my best to try and limit my writing + speaking on topics such as financial management, HR and the legalities of business – because I haven’t come close to mastering those things yet.

… and when/if I do, I try as best I can to frame those as opinion pieces; just like this post you’re reading now….

Because I know and admit, I’m still in my apprenticeship in those areas of business

  1. Who are this ‘they’ that everyone talks about? “They” say you can’t do this… “They” say you can’t do that… ↩

  2. Yonderr.com.au Do you want to feel less like a climate criminal and more like a planet saving super hero? Of course you do. And that’s why Yonderr is coming. Yonder is a happy place where you can reduce your environmental footprint through buying carbon credits. No guilt trip, no confusing jargon. Just carbon credits that are accredited and squeaky clean. ↩

06. May, 2011 Comments Off

John Warillow’s Built To Sell [A Review]

It seems like a lot of people are talking about the re-release of John Warillows book Built To Sell.

I only heard about the orignal about 6 weeks ago from my good buddy Mike Rhodes during a mastermind meet-up a few Melbourne marketing nerds and I do every few weeks… as it turned out John was in the process of re-releasing the book and everywhere I looked the book seemed to be.

It was probably just good marketing, but I put it down to serendipity and tracked down a copy of the original book that Mike had recommended; as I couldn’t wait for the new one to be released on Amazon.

John’s borrowed from the great parable or fable style of business books, such as The Richest Man in Babylon, Fish! and The Goal.- which makes it such an enjoyable and easy read.

In Built To Sell, he tells the story of a hypothetical business owner, Alex Stapleton, owner of the Stapleton Marketing Agency – a graphics design house.

Alex is just like most service based business, struggling for leverage, passive income (in the corporate sense) and a potential buyer; because the business can’t run without him.

For guidance, Alex turns to an entrepreneur and old family friend, Ted, who through a series of quasi-coaching sessions, lays out an easy-to-follow plan that enables Alex to transform his business.

The three lessons or take-aways that Warillow teaches through Ted and Alex are that any sellable business needs to be:

1. Teachable: A built-to-sell business offers products and services that you can teach employees to do, or program technology to deliver, while you sleep
And it’s hear that you, the business owner, get’s leverage – and why I personally, am such as advocate of structuring, implementing and outsourcing a lot of the process as soon as possible.

2.Valuable: A built-to-sell business avoids price wars by specializing in doing one thing better than anyone else.
It’s all about specialization and positioning. Think about some of the best businesses of today (and history) – they stand for one thing… or at least their foundation was one clear focus; that staff and customers to identify and evangelise.

3.Repeatable: A built-to-sell business creates a stream of recurring revenue where customers have to re-purchase often
It’s all about residual income baby… and John does a fantastic job of clearly raming the point home that businesses that have an annuity stream sell for much higher multiples.

Even if you don’t want to sell you business, don’t get mislead by the title.

“Built To Sell” is about creating business value, whether you’re going to sell or not.

The 3 key principles above, if taken onboard and applied, will help you build a business that is bigger then you.

There are a tonne of other points that I highlighted and noted while reading including; the importance of tracking your conversion rate and stats; language matters1; you need to show that your business can be a system for growth (read: leveragable system); people love to buy-into systems (whether they are a customer or acquirer)

So do yourself a favour, no matter where you are in your business cycle; you really should head over to Amazon and grab a copy of Built To Sell

  1. “Service firms refer to their customers as clients and product businesses refer to them as customers … Using words like clients subtly communicated to a potential buyer that you still think of yourself as a service business … and an acquiring company will be trying to put you in a box … and they have a corresponding process for acquiring each type of business.” ↩

01. May, 2011 Comments Off
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