The Joy Killers - A business murder Mystery.

Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance, you must keep moving. At this stage of our business cycle, you are profitable and growing organically. Maybe this is the end game for you, you are earning a nice living for you and your family. But many entrepreneurs want to continue to see their businesses grow. And to stand still means to go backwards in this every changing world. You do not n...

Twitter, YouTube, Instagram, and Facebook can take away your business at any time by changing the algorithms, shutting down your account, or making you pay to turn up. Social media is a great place to gain distribution you are building on rented land. Once you have social media followers, start building an email list. Email is a peer-to-peer network giving you a direct line to your customers. This...

Selling to strangers is hard, it’s much easier if you have a connection with your potential client. In this episode we will hear what Sahil Lavingia tells us on developing your audience. Congratulations, by following steps outlined in last week’s show which was part manifesto and part roadmap. you have built a community, a product and one hundred customers. You have achieved product market fit. No...

Episode 40 Getting Ready for Launch – Your first 100 Customers Constraints lead to Creativity. If you are a minimalist entrepreneur the early stages of launching your business is all about constraints. You need to focus on doing one thing well and avoiding the temptation to try to do everything at once. Scope creep where a project or product launch becomes unwieldy due adding just one more feature...

Episode 39 Don’t let self-doubt set in; build as little as possible.   Writers are told, “Write what you know” for entrepreneurs it’s not quite that simple. When you are starting a business you are imaging something that has not been done before, or at least not in the way you are contemplating your business vision. This applies even if you are considering a consulting or coaching business, there...

Episode 38 Start with Community Sahil Lavinga starts this chapter with a story about entrepreneur Sol Orwell who, in 2009, was overweight and unhappy. He decided he needed to learn more about fitness and nutrition. He joined a Reddit community and the more he learned about the subject, the more he shared, he answered questions and posted about his personal journey of losing sixty pounds (27KG). Wo...

Episode 37 Are you a Minimalist Entrepreneur? Introduction: Sahil Lavingia started his career chasing unicorns. He joined Pinterest as employee number two but left before his stock invested to build his own billion company: Gumroad. A tool to help creators sell their products online. Simplicity was key, no complicated setup, no elaborate storefront. Just a link for customers to pay and you are in...

Episode 36 Continually reinvent yourself – Think in Waves. That you cannot do it all at once is obvious, nor should you try if you are playing the long game. But do not fall into a trap that many professionals fall into. Which is finding an activity you are good at, and simply keep doing that forever. This leads to frustration as you begin to feel you have plateaued. Often this is because they hav...

Episode 35 Taking the Long Game View – Making the impossible, possible When setting objectives for our careers whether entrepreneurial or corporate we often default to monetary objectives. That’s why business degrees are so popular, they appear to offer a more direct route to well-paid employment. But one of the best aspects of being an entrepreneur is that you can focus your activities on what in...

Episode 34 To find success, learn the power of no. When Nancy Reagan, wife of then President Ronald Reagan was visiting a primary school in California she told the kids “Just say no” to drugs. This was later used as a slogan in the campaign against drugs in the US during the early 1980s. But as we know many people have difficulty saying no to drugs, and many entrepreneurs have difficulty saying no...

Episode 33 Are you too busy to be successful? Rejection is part of every entrepreneur’s life. The proposal that is not accepted, the call that is not returned, the blog does not instantly go viral, the client who terminates a contract. But if you believe social media, stories in the press, courses that offer instant income, you could feel that everyone else has the secret to success figured out an...

Episode 32 What skills are needed for an innovative entrepreneur? Part 2 5 Strategic Thinking Strategic thinking encompasses any skills that enable you to use critical thinking to solve complex problems and plan for the future. These skills are essential to accomplish business objectives, overcome obstacles, and address challenges—particularly if they’re projected to take weeks, months, or even ye...

Episode 31 What skills are needed for an innovative entrepreneur? Part 1 1. Basic Financial Skills Financial skills, such as budgeting and financial statement analysis, are necessary for running a business. Creating a reasonable budget and sticking to it can be the difference between your venture’s success and failure. By learning this skill, you can avoid overspending and appropriately allocate y...

Episode 30 Deciding to pursue entrepreneurship 1. Is Now the Right Time to Start a Business? Your idea may never take off if you try to start your business at an inopportune time. Are you currently in a position to pursue entrepreneurship? Consider your relationships, financial well-being, and physical health. On the flip side, perhaps you’ve recently been laid off from your role in corporate fina...

Episode 29 Characteristics of Successful Entrepreneurs. Last week in episodes 25 to 28 we learned how your personality type will impact on the way you grow your business. The who drives the how. We talked about four personalities that can be found in entrepreneurs. The Driver, The Explorer, The Crusader, The Captain The Driver is product focused. Identifies his own self with the products success T...

Episode 26 The Driver, The Explorer, The Crusader, The Captain The Driver is product focused. Identifies his own self with the products success The archetypical driver, the driver’s driver Steve Jobs. Obsessed on product design. Capable of seeing how a market was developing and identify product solutions that the market would want, even before the market knew it wanted them, iPod, not only revolut...

Episode 27 Cofounder Dynamics What works and what does not? Choosing a co-founder. the potential and pitfalls. Three issues to be addressed: Choosing Collaboration Potential Conflicts How well do you know your potential co-founder? Have you worked together in high stress situations? Pursuit of a common goal Share capabilities and values, your skills should be complementary rather than conflicting...

Episode 25 Who shapes how. Successful businesses are based on growth. Five growth dynamics can transform business value. The scale dynamic The solution dynamic The team dynamic The customer dynamic The sponsor dynamic Your personality is the leading driver of how you will grow your business. The interplay between these dynamics and your personality is where value is created, transformed or destroy...

Episode 14 Can you start a business with no money? Of course! The noble art of bootstrapping. Part 2 ​ In the episode 13 we looked at why entrepreneurs chose to start their business without external investments. Some of these reasons such as not wanting to share the profits with others, and willing to spend time chasing investors are solid reasons of going the bootstrap approach. Others such as no...

Episode 13 Can you start a business with no money? Of course! The noble art of bootstrapping. Part 1 The noble art of bootstrapping. Taking an idea, using your talent and knowledge, and building a worthwhile business without the backing from investors and having little or no startup capital. Unless your fortuitously find yourself in the right place at the right time bootstrapping takes dedication,...

Episode 12 Customers expect rapid answers. Brands who do this well will gain a competitive advantage. We live and work in a time when people expect to ask questions and get rapid answers. Customers today expect more than just a transaction with suppliers, they want to be sure that the supplier’s values match their own. The range of questions customers ask is expanding, as are the channels availabl...

Episode 11 Bring your breakthrough ideas to life. Learn from successful innovators ​ In 2003 the Indian environmental researcher Narayana Peesapaty spotted an alarming trend: Groundwater levels in the region of Hyderabad were falling precipitously. He examined rainfall records but found nothing to explain the drop. Looking deeper, he discovered that the culprit was a change in agricultural practic...

Episode 10 Innovation is different in Startups. Frameworks for finding business opportunities. How can you find good, innovative ideas that lead to business opportunities? Three exploration frameworks— changing what doesn’t work, making things easier for customers, and making things more affordable—can reduce the risk and uncertainty associated with new projects. Start-up is a temporary status—a t...

Episode 9 Reid Hoffman on the New World of Work. – Innovating for an uncertain future. ​ At the start of 2022 Reid Hoffman a co-founder of LinkedIn and now a partner at venture capital firm Greylock Partners talked with HBR to share his thoughts about the opportunities for innovators in these times of uncertainty and turbulence, Hoffman believes these are this is new normal. I enjoyed listening to...

Episode 8 The end of abundance thinking – how to operate in a time of scarcity. ​ Most of us run our businesses in a time of abundance. It was relatively easy to get the materials we needed to produce the goods we offered. Workers were plentiful, energy was cheap. That has all changed. Companies all around the world are facing a supply crisis. Notwithstanding the supply chain challenges your custo...