Conducting Informal Market Research By Asking the Right People
Market research is critical to entrepreneurial success. It is absolutely crucial to understand customer needs in order to successfully launch a new product and this research is a critical component of your business plan. Likewise, market research must be conducted on the industry, competitors, etc., in order to flourish. However, formal market research studies are […]
Are You Delusional Enough?
Great entrepreneurs successfully walk that very fine line between level-headed rationality and… …utter, charming, frustrating, and complete delusion. The most successful entrepreneurs, like Steve Jobs, Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos, are so because of their delusions, not in spite of them. Delusion is defined by Webster as “an idiosyncratic belief that is firmly maintained despite […]
What Your Business Can Learn from Milkshakes
Famed market research firm Nielsen recently evaluated 20,000 new products. From those, it found only 92 with sales of more than $50 million in the launch year and sustained sales thereafter. What do these breakthrough products have in common? And how can they be applied to your business and its change and innovation efforts? Well, […]
What Great Marketing Companies Do
One of the most important business leadership responsibilities is making “the new” happen in the marketing of our companies. As in, the company’s brand – often reflected in its website – has become dated or is no longer in sync with what the business is and aspires to be. Or the company’s products and services […]
Tired of Your “Old” Business? Then Do This
A friend of mine runs a successful 8-figure IT security business, with a clientele consisting primarily of federal government agencies. He has built the business via long term relationships, and via a deep understanding of the government procurement and competitive bidding process. He both loves, and doesn’t love, it. He loves it for the relationships. […]
43 Reasons Why the USA is So Blessed
On this great day when we celebrate America, its freedoms and way of life, please enjoy these 43 reasons why the USA is such a blessed place: #43. World Cup 2026. Summer Olympics 2028. Sports at their highest – happen here. #42. Unemployment at an 18 year low. Consumer confidence at an 18 year high. […]
EXECUTION is Much More Important than Ideas
Amazingly, two of the world’s largest management consulting firms – McKinsey ($8.8 billion annual revenue) and Bain ($3.8 billion annual revenue) – no longer focus on giving their clients new ideas. Where once these firms almost exclusively prided themselves on their “Think Tank” strategy and idea generation expertise, now their fastest-growing practice areas focus on […]
The 10 Best Performing Companies of 2018
Which 10 companies had the best performance in 2018? Why did they perform so well? What can your business learn from them to ensure better results in 2018? While 2018 was an uneven year for for the stock market – with the Dow down 5.6%, the S&P 500 6.2%, and the NASDAQ 28% – these […]
Getting Big Deals Done, Part II
Last week, I wrote about how successful companies are led by entrepreneurs and executives highly skilled at getting big deals done. In it I shared 3 factors you must embody to become a great dealmaker [if you missed that post, you can read it here]. Now, great dealmakers get deals done for companies with “dealable” […]
Two Words from Jeff Bezos that Can Transform Your Business
Last week, Jeff Bezos, in his annual letter to Amazon shareholders, listed many of the company’s incredible successes. Like Amazon Prime signing up its 100 millionth member. Or Amazon Web Services growing to be a $20 billion+ business. Or its acquisition of Whole Foods. Or how last year the company sold and shipped more than five […]
What We All Can Learn from Wayne Huizenga
Under-reported last week was the passing of Wayne Huizenga, one of the truly great entrepreneurs of the last 50 years. Because in his lifetime, he founded and grew not one, not two, but three multi-billion dollar businesses. In three separate industries. With three different business models. Wayne famously started his career in “trash,” driving a […]
7 Growth Mistakes That Make Good Companies Falter
“When you stop growing you start dying.” – William S. Burroughs Businesses need to grow. If they don’t, new and/or existing competitors eventually capture more and more of their market share. And eventually force them out of business. Unfortunately, most companies make mistakes when trying to grow. The 7 most common mistakes, and how to […]
