Doug Wagner @ Sunwapta

The Master Plan - How Money Works Part 4

In the previous post I talked about how to intercept the flow of money. This post addresses investing, borrowing, the master plan and concludes the series.

But What About Investing?

When you invest money you no longer have it in your possession. What you have is either a promise to give you your money plus interest back or you have ownership of shares in a company or other investment vehicles.

Cash investments are loaned to others so the money can be spent on something of value.

When you invest in a company you are either buying the shares (at their perceived value) from someone else or you are giving it to the company itself to invest, or spend to grow the business. Eventually you hope that the company will generate value for customers and thus your value. But they don’t hold onto it either, they invest (spend) on things for future growth or you are buying someone else’s shares.

So again, money is flowing.

You don’t actually have it in your pocket or under your bed. You have the promise of getting your money back or you have shares (or similar) you can sell later to get your money back plus some (if you invested wisely). Essentially you have the ability to tap into the future flow of money.

The money is in motion, now and in the future.

Why Borrowing Is Bad

Borrowing money means that you are trading your future ability to create value for something today.

Not only are you trading the future for today, you are paying a price on top of that called interest.

This works ok for very short-term loans (i.e. paying down your credit card balance each month). It is a very bad approach to acquire long-term debt for today’s pleasures and material goods. Essentially you are trading your future potential to create value for something today.

Borrowing can make sense for two situations:

• The acquisition of a home where rent would be comparable to the cost of the mortgage and the real property is likely to go up or at least not go down in value over the long-term.
• Investments where the costs of borrowing are less than the expected return on the investment… you are creating more value than you are spending.

The problem is that to encourage the flow of money and thus the creation of income for people (interruption of flow) and companies, the government and financial institutions have been making consumer lending very easy to get. This encourages excessive personal spending today but at the price of putting a limit on the future flow of money since you are already pledging the future today; once you are maxed out, you can’t do it again until you pay it all back plus interest.

The problem is even worse in that governments at all levels are borrowing against the future tax base on your behalf. Since the future tax base is essentially your ability to produce value in the future, they are borrowing against the people.

You can only borrow so far into the future before it can all unravel.

 

What Happens in an Economic Slow Down

Some event triggers people and organizations to stop or slow down the flow of money. When this happens, people and companies are not able to interrupt the flow of money at the rates they could before the slowdown.

The flow of money slows down.

This is why the government’s reaction to this is to spend money and lower interest rates. They are trying to kick-start the flow of money which has a cascading effect. Consumer confidence is actually a measure of the stickiness of the flow of money.

However, the government needs to borrow money to do this. And they need to encourage you to borrow money so you will spend it.

It is an insidious cycle.

And it is all artificial.

Money was created by people. The flow is created by people. Borrowing from the future is created by people. People have figured out a way to consume value today and pay for it later; often much later and longer than expected.

The Master Plan for Debt

Don’t worry though. There is a master plan (insert evil laugh) for how it works. It is not pretty but it is the way it is.

Inflation and growth.

The value of money (specifically long-term debt) is devalued over time so it gets easier to pay back. As well, the ability to pay back the debt is mitigated by expectation of the constant growth of total value created (population growth and productivity) product and services.

Oh, and your children will pay for the excesses of today as well since people have been borrowing against the future excessively. Or maybe they won’t.

Sadly, we are already seeing how well this plays out in some of the European nations and even the US.

Conclusion for Smart Business (and People)

You can interrupt as much of the flow as you want without hurting anyone else’s ability to interrupt the flow. This is not dirty or shameful, it is the natural way things work in commerce since the beginning of civilization. Value traded for value. Money just makes the flow easier and faster.

You interrupt the flow by creating value and reaching (influencing) as many customers as you can.

The more value you generate compared to the money you bring in (interrupt) the more resilient you will be to a slowdown in the flow (poor economy) or threats from competition.

Focus on the future and long-term sustainability and growth. Don’t go for the short-term quick gains at the price of the future. Invest in the future. Live within your means today but realize that doing so means your future is wide open, unlike those who have borrowed heavily against it. You’ll sleep better too.

The amount of value that can be created is nearly unlimited. So is the potential for each person to create value. As wealth is created the flow increases and more wealth can be created (more interruptions are possible).

Slowdowns are created by the perception of shortage and excessive borrowing against the future.

So there is no shortage of money, only a shortage of understanding and people creating the value needed to intercept it.

Final Note: This is my take on what they all mean when they say there is no shortage of money. In reality "abundance" is a good way to look at things because it means we can work together and not entirely against each other. Of course the real world is more complex.

What is your take on money?

The Right Way to Prospect (Intercepting the Flow - Money Part 3)

I ended the previous post on how money really works with a quote. A very important quote to be sure. But it doesn't tell the full story. It doesn't say how to intercept the flow of money.

How money works was not in and of itself why I choose to discuss the topic at this time.

So what is the right way to prospect or sell to maximize your income? When should you give your killer elevator speech? How should you get the conversation focused on you?

Don't.

Stop doing it from a me perspective.

It is all about the person you are interacting with and not you.

Create value for that person without the expectation of anything in return. "All things being equal, people buy from people they know and trust." (Bob Burg)

Call it Karma. But what goes around comes around. Give first. Be genuinely interested in the other person. Build relationships. Do something of value for that person without any expectations. Everyone is not a potential customer, but they are people and a potential friend.

The way to get noticed by the flow is to insert value into the world. The flow is really about value for people. Insert enough value and the money will eventually divert to you.

You don't really control who will be your customer. It is their choice not yours. And you never know who will know who and how the rewards will flow back to you.

This happened with our own business. Our biggest customer noticed us 11 years ago not because of our sales, but because one of our partners was active in giving back in the community.

It is real. It works. And it is the better way to do business and love your job and business.

How Money Really Works - Part 2 Business Income

In the first part of this larger topic, I talked about how some people think of money and how it works at a personal level.

In Part 2 I cover how it works at a business level and how you can get as much as you need and why there is no real shortage of money.

The Big Picture – The Big Flow

Picture the entire Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of a nation or the world. This is a measure of the flow of value that is changing hands. It the cumulative value created by everyone in the economy measured in money. Actually it is not the total value it is the compensated portion of the value.

No one actually has this money in their possession. In fact, there does not even need to be that much physical money in circulation because money is only needed for the exchange and then is in flow again. Most of the exchange occurs electronically these days.

The economy is a giant flow. The giant flow is made up of countless smaller and larger flows.

Every person and every organization intercepts a piece of that flow and returns it back into the flow one way or another.

How Do You Get More Money?

People create value by working. Companies create value through products and services. Some value is quasi-real (tied to the physical world) and some is perceived or soft value. For instance, real estate is tied to the physical world and some perceived value. Watching a movie has mostly perceived value and does not deplete the physical world significantly.

(We won’t consider the criminal activities of theft or fraud where the flow is interrupted for no exchange of value.)

So if you are running a business, you need to access the flow of money by intercepting it. There is no limit to the number of times the flow of money can intercepted as long as it stays in motion.

You do this by creating a product or service that has value. If what you do has value you can get paid for it. People will buy your value as long as the price is less than the cost. The more value you generate for that person, the more flow of money you can intercept.

So one customer, one transaction transfers value to your customer and in return you get money. If you have repeat business, the one customer will periodically get value and give you money.

To increase your share of the flow, you can either create more value for each customer or you can increase the number of customers you have (or both). The number of customers you have is your reach. The more people and customers you reach, the more value you are creating in the world and the more money you can intercept in the flow.

But you don’t keep that money. You have staff to pay. You have other expenses. You have pay taxes.

The money flows out to others who provide value and intercept the flow.

This happens over and over and is the basis of the giant flow.

Money is in motion.

Why There Is No Shortage

Some physical things in the world actually do have a physical shortage. For example, there is only so much real estate along the coast of California. If you want a private home on the beach you have to convince someone else to sell it to you. However, this is only valuable if people want it.

For much of the stuff we consume, there is no physical limit (at least that we have to worry about right now). There is no limit to how many people can watch a TV show. There is no limit to the amount of massages that can be given. The pace of the creation of these types of goods and services is increasing as is the perceived value.

In the case of money, there is no limit to the number of times it can be intercepted or the amount that can be intercepted. How many times has that twenty dollar bill in your pocket been exchanged? It is a simple formula: create value, get customers, and intercept the flow.

The rich don’t sit on hoards of money like some crazy scrooge. They spend it and invest it. The investing of money means more spending and the creation of more jobs and more flow. The rich have the added benefit of being able to tap into the flow in more ways, in greater quantities.

Both of these activities increase the flow of money and the number of opportunities to intercept it. Since money is an artificial creation and no longer tied to the real world, there is no limit to how it can flow.

There is no shortage of money, only a shortage of flow.

And most times, the shortage of flow is only an attitude.

As long as you can generate more value (real and perceived) for people than you take out in money, there is no real limit on how you can tap into. Similarly tapping into the flow does not really take away someone else’s ability to tap into the flow as long as they are generating more value than they are taking out.

“Your income is determined by the value you create for each person and how many people you impact or touch with that value.” Bob Burg

(Continued in Part 3)

How Money Really Works - Part 1

Have you ever heard someone say that there is no shortage of money, in fact there is an abundance of it? This is what the rich understand and the poor do not.

I’ve heard it quite a few times, several times in the last week alone.

What does this really mean? I had to really think about it too.

The following is my take on what they mean about how money really works. Like most things, there is a reason it is important and some important lessons to be learned that go with it. So I encourage you to stick with all the parts.

How Many People Think Money Works

There is a giant pot of money which is divided between all of the people. Rich people get a lot. Poor people don’t get much.

The attitude that results from this is that money is greed. The thinking goes that if I have a lot of money someone else can’t have as much. There is a finite amount and it is divided between haves and have nots.

 
Exactly how many pots of money do YOU have tucked away under your bed?
If you are like most, not much. Some change in a jar. Some cash in your wallet. Maybe a little tucked away at home on your dresser. You certainly don’t keep your entire earnings or wealth at home.

Money is Really About Value and Flow

Money is an artificial man-made construct to aid the exchange of goods and services… or the exchange of value. It only has value because we as a society have set up rules and given it value. It is a means of exchanging value without having to resort to direct bartering (a visit to the dentist for a cow).

Money is in constant flow.

You work to create some value for your employer. In exchange for this value you get paid money. The value you create for your employer should be larger than you get paid otherwise it would not make sense to keep you around.

The government takes a percentage of this as taxes and uses it to purchase goods and services (things of value) effectively redistributing your money.

You then need to buy things (of value) to live and survive:

• Shelter (mortgage, rent, utilities, more taxes, etc.)
• Food
• Clothing
• Etc.

This is your non-discretionary income. What is left over is your discretionary income.

You have two choices for dealing with your discretionary income.

• Option 1: You can spend your money on things you perceive to have value to you (entertainment, physical goods, services, etc.).
• Option 2: You can save or invest your money.

So money comes in and money goes out. This is the flow of money.

In reality money also flows in bursts as you get paid and spend it. It also flows in cycles over the year.

You do something of value (unless you are a thief or fraudster), get paid a fair amount for that work, product or service and then you in turn purchase things of value.

 (Continued in Part 2)

New Fables in Biz - Tortoise and the Hare

The classic tale written as a business case study.

The tortoise and the hare were the two main direct competitors in their industry. They were focused intensely on one-upping each other and acting invincible to smaller players.

The tortoise was slow and steady. He was adverse to risk and sought to keep competitors away by putting a wall around his products and services. It was hard to move fast with all the baggage he was carrying with him. He was really good at copying the innovations of others.

The hare was fast and willing to take risks. Unfortunately, the hare was missing focus and got distracted by new things easily. She quickly built new products but would often lose interest in them if they didn't take off right away, allowing the tortoise to steal market share over time.

The tortoise and hare decided to have a race to decide who would be the winner once and for all. Just before the race started, a fox gave the hare and the tortoise each a cool new gadget. It was a cutting edge smart phone with a GPS, camera, and music player built-in.

The race started and the two were off and running. The hare of course burst way ahead of the tortoise and in 30 minutes was 2/3rds complete the race.

The hare thought she had lots of time since the tortoise was miles behind so she decided to stop and play with the new smart phone and finish the race later.

The tortoise was moving slow because he had to carry his shell with him so he started playing with the new smart phone as he plodded along. He saw the value of the new product and was wondering how his company could copy it and maybe something even better. He was so focussed on this task he accidentally missed the turn and ended up on the longer path. He was still plodding along with belief he had all the time in the world.

The fox was smart, fast and hungry. He used the built-in GPS tracking to find the hare where she was sitting and playing with her new toy. The hare had her earbuds in and didn't hear the fox until it was too late. All the speed in the world can't help if you don't see or hear the warnings.

The fox ate the hare for lunch.

The fox knew he couldn't take on the shell of the tortoise directly so he helped keep the tortoise distracted so he would think he had all the time in the world and could continue trying to win the old race.

The fox created a new market with new demand seemingly out of thin air. It was an entirely different race.

The hare was easily distracted and disappeared from the market entirely.

The tortoise is still there trying to win the old race, far too late to market and protecting his old world.

The world is wide open to the hungry fox.

Lesson:

What brought you success in the past, is not guaranteed bring you success in the future. Innovation must be continous and timely.

Which character is your business?

Proof that Values, Purpose and Culture Are Important

Lisa Petrilli offers real proof that successful companies consider their values, purpose and culture to be extremely important. Not only that they live and breath it.

What CEOs Really Think About Values and Culture

This is something I have believed in strongly for quite a while and have even been building into our new product; because it is important.

What is your experience and thoughts on this?

Buying Attention In Social Media - Does It Work?

As soon as something becomes popular, someone tries to figure out how to make money on it. Nothing wrong with that... that is a free market in action.

Social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc. are essentially free for the end user. The companies building and running them can't afford to do so forever without a revenue stream. So free means harvesting the data and selling it in some way, shape or form; and some advertising.

Businesses in general are experimenting with how to interact with customers and potential customers via these platforms. Some have been remarkably successful which is causing other businesses to take note and try and mimic their success.

This is tricky in social media as people use it to interact and connect with other people. It mimics and enhances people desire to connect with others, positively or negatively. Too much of the wrong thing can backfire.

One mechanism companies are using is to essentially buy, at least temporarily, attention from people. Giveaways, contests and discounts if you like a page on Facebook, Tweet or Retweet on Twitter, blog etc. Let's face it, we love free stuff or a good chance to win free stuff, even if we would never buy it normally.

Jeff Nelson (a savvy SEO and social media guy) from Anduro Marketing is running a campaign for one of his clients to show them the power of social media. (He asked us to help him out so I am doing a little case study on it as part of my blog because there is something to learn for any business owner.) In my opinion, this client is an excellent example of a company that can be successful on social media because it meets three key criteria:

1. It is consumer focused,
2. It is a high touch, relationship based business,
3. It is the type of business that people come back to regularly.

The idea is to build and maintain the relationship on social media, not to ram advertising down your followers throats; or they will un "like" you faster than you can blink.

In case you are curious, the company being promoted is Oasis Spa and you can check out their Facebook page to understand their offer. I don't know the company myself and I am not a spa person. But if you or your business likes to give these things away, their promotion is for nice package "gift certificates" at three different levels. If nothing else you can see a campaign in the making and learn from it.

So does buying attention in social media work? It can if you structure it right and figure out how to connect longer term.

Does it work for you? Let me know in the comments.

Losing Focus On Your Goals - Those Pesky Little Distractions

The other night I woke up with a burning sensation in my left eye. It felt like something major was in there and my eye started watering like crazy. I spent 30 minutes flushing out my eye to no avail.

I was starting to think I would be heading off to emergency. My eyes seem to attract problems for some strange reason. I was also thinking there go my business plans for the next few days.

From past lessons I knew that rubbing is very bad. Scratched corneas take a while to heal and are quite painful.

I decided to have another go at finding what was in there. A small flashlight in one hand and trying to grab my eyelid (not trivial as you know) with the other I finally found the culprit... a tiny piece of dirt. The only problem was, I needed a third hand to remove it.

In the end I memorized the location of the particle and put the flashlight down. A small moist piece of kleenex and a few blind attempts and I immediately knew I had gotten it. Instant relief.

Losing Focus From Your Goals

This little incident reminded me that the smallest things can cause you to lose sight of your dream, vision and goals. A little irritant and we are off totally focused on solving that problem instead of doing the things necessary to move us forward on the big things.

This happens all the time in business.

Solving the little things is immediately satisfying. Instant relief from the irritation.

Working on your goals and vision is longer-term and the pay off is further out.

I am reading Grant Cardone's "The 10x Rule" right now. He recommends:

• Setting your goals 10x bigger than you think you need them. This keeps you motivated and even underachieving is satisfying.
• Massive effort (10x what is normal or what you think is reasonable). This will help blast you through the distractions and difficulties ahead.

It is also important to build fun and rewards into the entire process of achieving your goals and vision.

Doing these things will keep you motivated and focused along the way and help ensure the those goals are not just wishes.

What are some of the pesky little things holding you back and how are you staying focused?

You Can't Do That!

I received my copies of "The 10x Rule" and "If You're Not First, You're Last" by Grant Cardone. I randomly flipped open a few pages in each (what I normally do when I get a new book) and stumbled on something worth sharing. I haven't read the books yet but based on my last post, I feel compelled to share this message from Grant.

Be Deaf when Someone Says You Can't
Grant Cardone

Be deaf when someone says you cannot do it!
Be deaf when someone says it is impossible!
Be deaf when anyone tries to put limits on you!
For these people who make efforts to limit you and suggest that you cannot fulfill your dreams are dangerous people.
These people have given up on their dreams and seek to convince you to do the same.
And do not be confused by them when they suggest that they are only trying to help you!
Help is not what they offer.
What they really seek to do is have you join the ranks of slaves, the apathetic, and the hopeless.
Be deaf to all of them!

Perhaps a little a little harsh on the critics, but the message is clear. Follow your path.

And for the would be critic, support the people around you following their paths. It is also the path to reaching your own goals for you will also gain the support of those around you.

Giving (Negative) Advice: You Could Be Wrong

Lately I have been thinking a lot about the influence of criticism and negative thinking on yourself and others. I have two major motivations:

1. I want to grow as a person,
2. I want to support our companies mission (To help people achieve their full potential).

Have you ever met someone who is perpetually positive about everything? How about the opposite?

Yet the reality is most people, myself included, are usually somewhere in the middle. We go through highs and lows emotionally and express those feelings externally in how we deal with others.

Our frame of reference, beliefs, other feelings and a host of other things come into play as well.

How Do You React?

When someone shares their idea, goal or dream with you how do you react?

Are you a realist who feels compelled to point out why they most likely won't succeed? Why they are better off playing it safe or doing what you would do? Are you implying or stating "you are not good enough to do that"?

How Could You React?

What if you flipped it and gave that person your support?

What if you genuinely got interested in what they were doing and cheered them on?

What if you spent your effort helping them succeed instead of quit.

They might still not succeed.

Then again they just might.

What Drives Success?

The market is filled with successful businesses and people that were told they would not succeed by some or many people. Yet they achieved success regardless.

They probably had enough inner confidence to see it through on their own. Or maybe they had enough of the right people believing in them to drive up their confidence.

Success is first a frame of mind. If you believe you can succeed, you are 10x plus more likely to succeed and stick it through the hard part of execution; especially when things get tough.

Friends don't let friends drive drunk. This is because the consequence of doing so can kill other innocent people and destroy lives. The risks are no longer things you can bounce back from and others had no say.

Friends should let friends risk failure. Because when you risk failure you also risk success. More importantly you grow as a person from the journey.

So let's create more success by encouraging it.

Personally, when someone tells me I won't succeed at something I really want to do, I just dig in and try harder... prove them wrong. But I would rather have your help and support as that is a positive motivator.

I am not saying blindly agree with everything someone says or does. Sometimes the best thing we can receive is the right advice. Just be aware of the effect of the advice, how it is delivered and whether the person is open. Most importantly look at your motivation; do you really want them to succeed?

Don't be fake. Be authentic.

Afterall, Your Advice Could Be Wrong

And remember you don't know everything. Wisdom must be tempered by the fact that it is greatly influenced by the past. The future is inherently different and knowledge and wisdom must be applied carefully.

Your advice just might be wrong: for that person or situation.

What have you accomplished that others thought you couldn't? Do you support others in what they do? What motivates your behaviour on this?

I know I have some practicing and learning to do on this score myself; especially when I am on a down cycle.

Taking Critcism Well?

This post is my comment in response to Bob Burg's post "Consider the Source". Since it ended up being one of those "epic" responses I thought I would put it up as a post myself.

Taking criticism well is one of the hardest things we need to master in business and life in general. It hurts and we are wired to react to hurt.

The thing is, the degree of hurt is often of our own making. By that I mean we let ourselves react as if our physical being is threatened and therefore some defense mechanism needs to be triggered (fight or flight).

So the trick is to subdue our inclination to react right away. Look at the source is a good first step but take it further. What is the motivation of the person offering the criticism? Most often the worst criticism is really about them and not really about you (sounds like a good theme for a book).

I don’t agree with the approach of not respecting anyone who disagrees with you and dismissing the criticism because of that. I think the nobler approach is to show respect to all other people whether or not they seem to deserve it. Hey, I’ve probably annoyed someone with my criticism too; we are all human.

Grow from the criticism in one of two ways: look to see if it is valid or a wise alternative and learn/improve, or learn how to deal with the criticism in a positive way (not getting walked over either).

I think Seth Godin might have said something like “if everyone likes you and agrees with you, you are not making much of an impact… take a side”. So dealing with criticism is something you need to deal with to make a difference in the world.

In any event, I fully admit I am not there yet and need to work on my reactions. In the meantime if I offended you with my criticisms, I am man enough to be genuinely sorry for how it made you feel.

Where are you on the spectrum of dealing with criticism postively?

P.S. The worst critic most people have long term is themselves.

Agile is Out, Lean is In... Work Management Options

In business, there are two main types of work:

• Ad hoc ongoing work, and
• Project based work where a bunch of work is lumped together to achieve a bigger objective.

Of course the lines blur a lot: large ongoing work versus small projects.

Ad hoc ongoing work tends to be mostly queue based for most people. How this work gets managed (or not) varies wildly.

For project based work I see that you have 4 main options for managing it:

• Schedule based - The standard planned up-front Gantt chart type project. A variation would be to plan/schedule only as far out as you need to until you get closer to the actual dates.
• Simple queue - A big list of what needs to get done. The list can be prioritized if that makes sense and items taken off the top.
• Agile - Use cycles (iterations or sprints) and pull work into each cycle based on priorities and necessity just before each cycle. Use what you learn during a cycle to improve the next.
• Lean - Use kanban style queue management and limit work in progress at each step. Works quite well for ad hoc ongoing work.

Lean is getting a lot of attention (Lean Startup, Lean Manufacturing, Lean Development, Lean Marketing) these days as the newest and greatest thing.

I like how lean (kanban) forces an important concept; FOCUS.

If you can only work on 1 or 2 things at a time until they are done, you gain the ability to focus all of your attention on that one thing and avoid the distractions and lost productivity of switching focus. To me this is really the beauty of lean. Sure there is a lot of stuff around the math of productivity and small batches, but it really comes down to losses due to focus and queuing.

Some of the examples of effective agile teams are actually using the power of focus (small work in progress) and short iterations to achieve small batch sizes without calling it lean.

Similarly a well run scheduled project or simple queue could achieve the same results.

Every project manager (managers and team members as well) should really learn all they can about the different methodologies. Every project and situation is different and you will likely need to use aspects of each sometime in your career.

I find it ridiculous to state that some methods of work management are more focused on continuous learning and improvement than others. This implies there is no room for those things in other methodologies.

Sorry, it is the people who are focused on those things. The people adapting agile (and now lean) successfully are by their very nature, more inclined to be learners and improvers.

Some processes if they are done well will help people focus on those things and even expose inefficiencies. However, it is the people who make it work. I have read between the lines in some of the books on Kanban; the manager (and team) made all the difference in the successful adoption and when they left, things reverted in many cases.

As the masses go lean, many will mess things up just like the pseudo agile shops out there. This is good news for those with the skills to make things work.

Don't be ashamed to use what process will work best for each situation; even if it not currently hip. Use what you can from each to make your work and projects as effecient as possible. If you have to use a schedule based methodology, use some agile and lean where you can.

Measure, learn and improve.

If you don't your competitors will.

Lean is great. But so are the practices from the other methodologies.

Lean and agile are about using what works best; not being rigid. Keep an open mind and use what works for your team. Deliver as much value as you can.

What methodologies are you using for managing your work?

How to Create a Marketing Persona - Make it Personal

Whether you are talking about product (or service) development or your marketing strategy or sales tactics it is important to understand who your customer is.

This is where personas can help you.

You start by creating a specific and detailed profile of the people you want to reach. Then create characters (or personas) to represent those people. I really like the idea of treating them as real people as long as you can remember they aren't.

Harry Potter is a character in a popular series of books and movies. When you mention his name, you can immediately bring up a picture of him, what he is like, what issues he has (Lord Voldemort is trying to kill him) and therefore what solutions you could sell him (a better wand).

In the case of our forthcoming product we are going through this exercise. We've identified two main categories of people who would be interested in our product:

• Those who already get it and would like a tool to help them increase efficiencies,
• Those who are in a business (or personal) crisis and now open to changing their mindset, coaching and tools.

If we were to focus on the business owner in some crisis our profile might look like:

• Small business owner,
• In business for 2-5 years,
• Grown to 5-10 employees and hit wall,
• Owner is spending all their time working in the business,
• They are working 60-70 hours per week,
• Quality and customer satisfaction are starting to slip,
• Without them there, key functions like sales will come to a halt.
• Etc.

Let's now make it personal and name the persona and apply some demographics.

Judy Calson

Background - Judy worked for 15 years for a company doing accounting and bookkeeping. She was laid off during a merger and decided to start her own business. Things went well for a while and then Judy started hiring additional staff. Customers were impressed with Judy's quality work when she could oversee everything. Now, 3 years into it she just doesn't have time to check everything and employees are not living up to her standards. Customers are starting to be unhappy.

Then you create personas for several of your other types of potential customers.

You get the added bonus of being able to talk about Judy Calson by name which adds some reality to the profile. Protip: Don't use a real person as your persona name.

Now you can ask and answer specific questions like:

• How do I find Judy Calson?
  • Targeted marketing,
  • Search engine optimization,
  • Networking,
• What pain point could I solve for Judy that would be an easy sell and of immediate benefit to her?
• How do I get that message in front of Judy?
• How do I make my product even better for the Judy's in the world?
• Etc.

This is just a sample of the power of personas and how they can be used.

Keep in mind that you have to treat each real person as an individual, not a generality. Everyone and every situation is unique. However, by using personas you make your market segments real and are less likely to treat them like a revenue target and more like real people (yes, treat your customers as real people).

We are just getting into this ourselves and it seems like a great approach. Is anyone using personas effectively in product development, marketing, sales or customer service?

Employees: Getting Them Thinking Like an Owner

Are you a business owner wondering how you can engage your employees and get them to think like you would when making decisions?

I recently read "Ownership Thinking: How to End Entitlement and Create a Culture of Accountability, Purpose, and Profit" by Brad Hams.

Brad talks a lot about entitlement and how it is "destroying companies, our economy, and crushing potential". Entitlement is basically the idea that you should get paid just for showing up at work; no matter what your actual impact is.

Brad's personal mission is "to eradicate entitlement".

Basically it starts with the idea that given a choice, people actually want their work to be meaningful and productive. People also want to learn and grow to their full potential.

Companies can achieve this by focusing on several things:

• Educating employees: teach them the fundamentals of of business and finance and how what they do affects the company.
• Measurement: identify Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) and start measuring them and making those numbers available. You can go as far as you are comfortable; top level numbers or right down to something resembling open book management (though that is not key in his view).
• Incentives: Skin in the game. Should be self-funding, significant and based on actions that are key for the business strategy. Keep them at the company level if possible to avoid silos of self-interest.
• Employee Stock Ownership (ESOPs): Are an option for some companies but it depends on your business strategy, situation, etc... it is not necessary to achieve the result and they can be complex. If you have an ESOP Ownership Thinking is required to benefit.
• Rapid Implementation Plans: Short projects to achieve improvements in the KPIs and thus your bottom line. These should be short-term; three months or less if possible to maintain interest and get results.

Overall, I found a lot of good stuff in this book. Brad and Ownership Thinking are in good company too. If you have read "The Great Game of Business" or "A Stake in the Outcome" you will recognize many of these very topics.

What I liked about this specific book is that it was not focused solely on one company or industry and he gives lots of real examples of KPIs and improvements you can implement.

Of course, understanding the theory is just the beginning. The harder part is implementation. But the rewards are worth it.

It turns out that Brad's mission to eradicate entitlement and our mission "To help people achieve their full potential." dovetail nicely. The reason is that we've decided to focus on the impact that a great company has on the entire realm of owners, employees, families, customers, vendors and community.

By improving businesses, we both seek to improve everyone on the team to their full potential.

Zumba Party with a Cause

This event has been cancelled due unforeseen circumstances. I encourage everyone to consider a donation to the Food Bank anyways.

'cause it is good for you and helps the Calgary Inter-faith Food Bank help others.

Have you been feasting on leftover Halloween candies and want to wear off some of those calories? Want to try Zumba? Don't know what Zumba is but want to have fun?

Bring some of your excess food and donate it to the Calgary Food Bank; join Dance Through Life and instructors Deborah Mandzuk and Paula Callihoo for a FREE Zumba For A Cause party on Saturday at the Tryzub Ukrainian Dance Studio at 3953 - 112 Avenue SE, Calgary, Alberta.

Don't forget to bring your food donations. Let's make Paula regret not getting a BIG car!!!

Why I Am Promoting This

Our company mission is to "Help (ensure) you (live to) reach your full potential (by staying fit)".

In support of this event our company (Sunwapta Solutions) is making a donation to the Food Bank as part of our giving back.