Ain't Talkin', Just Walkin' – Inspiration Comes From Odd Places

Question: Where do you find inspiration for your business development efforts?  

Some people find their motivation from YouTube Videos with soaring music, spacious images and cliches.  And that's fine.

Others find motivation from inspirational case stories such as people who climb mountains with only one leg, recover from tragedy/beat illness, and succeed despite odds that make you embarrassed to complain when the barista puts skim and not soy milk in your latte. And that's fine, too.

Me, many years ago in NYC: "I hate shaving."My roommate: "If you had no hands, you'd be happy to be able to complain about hating shaving." (Even so, I grew a beard.)

For business development, for me, it's a combination of three things:

1) Curiosity.  I meet a new person and I really want to know what they do, how they help others, what sets them and/or their offerings apart, and how they go about letting others know about this stuff.

2) Data.  I kind of get off on listening to folks say "Great work sells itself" and then checking to see the growth of their client base and the number of people they've networked with in the past 90 days, as well as their other business development efforts.  (Hint: doing a good job/having quality products are table stakes, not your business development plan. I have tons of data to prove this.)


Also, I like seeing how opportunities arise - using spreadsheets and forms.  Often, business developers are so sure they know who refers them business and how opportunities appear.  Often their beliefs are anecdotal and the actual metrics do not fully support them, or identify unnoticed veins of opportunity.  This takes effort, but the strategy is about as simple as it gets: Things that work once tend to work again. Things that work twice tend to work over and over again.

When you walk in the gym and suddenly feel tired, how do you steel your heart for the work-out, and even push yourself to do one more rep, one more mile, 100 more calories, ten more pounds?

3) The music in my iPod.  Today, while on the treadmill (since it was too cold for rollerblading), Bob Dylan's "Ain't Talkin', Just Walkin'" came on.  I found this motivational.  Four simple words.  I also like the lines: "Heart burnin', still yearnin'" and "My mule is sick, my horse is blind."  Now the rest of the song isn't very inspiring from a BD perspective, but I do like the idea that Bob Dylan (or the fictional singer of this song) is simply moving forward and not spending time telling people about what he "plans" to do. 

So... from where do you find inspiration for your business development efforts? (Post below if you are so inclined.)  If you don't know, perhaps finding this source would help motivate you to put one foot in front of the other and move forward. 

/talkin'.

WWED? = What Would an Entrepreneur Do?

A number of month's back I wrote "WWED?" on a post-it note to help stimulate discussion with a partner at a law firm. I stuck that note to my bulletin board and find myself pointing to it day after day – as well as using it to help fuel my own decision making.

Many people use the I/U process (Important/Urgent) to help focus their time and effort (as do I), but I am not sure this helps decide what you should do. Or how you should act.

"WWED?" delivers instant clarity.

A few times, I have done nothing more than point to the post-it note to help my client get over the decision-making 'hump.'

So... What would an entrepreneur do?

I doubt there is a comprehensive list or even an action plan for decision-making entrepreneur-style, but I do think there are some ground rules.

1) Make decisions. Stop waiting for others to force your hand. If you need to be nagged to move forward, you are either being guilted into a bad course of action or you are not an entrepreneur.

2) Lead by example. Leave a wake, not a memo. Enough said.

3) Pick up the phone. E-mail is great for sharing details, but not for having decisive and brief discussions, providing solutions or delivering bad news (and eating crow.) Or better still, make a personal appearance.

4) Trust your people. Even if you did not choose them. And even if they are your superiors. Let them know that you don't always expect success, but you always expect sweat, urgency, and immediate heads-up when a problem occurs. And you expect them to learn when they fail.

5) Rise the tide. Too many people think that entrepreneurs are looking to hobble their competitors. Anyone who believes this is not an entrepreneur. So-called competitors are often the best collaborators and, even as adversaries, provide later insights you won't get if you ostracize them.

6) Find time to think. Entrepreneurs are doers, but, even more so, they are thinkers. They carve off time, close their door, walk to lunch instead of taking a cab, draw on napkins, etc. ... all to figure stuff out vs. checking stuff off.

… and the list goes on.

But the point is this:

Regardless of your role at your organization, you can create a mental box of your ownership. You can determine the part of the business you control and from which you can create value for all the boats in the lock, not just your own dingy.

That is, if this were "You LLC," how would you act? What decisions would you make? What would you stop doing?

You would never say, "It's only company money." Or blame others for your failure. Or wait for outside forces to force your hand. Or goof off on Facebook because no one is watching. Or show up at 9:00 am sharp every day since that's when your job starts. Or do value-less things because others assigned them... Etc. ... Etc.

To end:

Next time you are face with a decision, no matter how seemingly small, ask yourself, "WWED?"