Flawed Research

In the blog entry, Lessons That Are Wasted On Entrepreneurs I quoted David Storey... and lots of people got upset...

"In spite of volumes of airport lounge books identifying simple recipes for success, the reality is that starting a business is risky. The outcome depends heavily on luck..."
And now there is more support for David's point of view (and the findings from the Magic Million Survey) from The Economist's Which MBA in an article, Flawed research (no longer available), and I quote...

"when measuring what makes for a successful company, one common mistake is to study only those companies that are themselves considered successful...

“When you take a closer look at the companies they study, the accomplishments of the vast majority are just as likely to be due to simple luck. It’s the equivalent of finding someone who flipped a coin seven times and happened to end up with seven heads and asking for her secret.”

RELEVANT LINKS
- Magic Million Survey
- Flawed Research (no longer avaialable)
- Lessons That Are Wasted On Entrepreneurs

Beating The Credit Crunch - Webinar - Part Two

My most recent webinar Beating The Credit Crunch - Part Two is now out. Based on the book of the same name!

Free to listen to as well. 25 minutes - recorded for AVN.

What is a webinar? - a combination of an audio recording (my voice) and slides.



RELEVANT LINKS
- Beating The Credit Crunch - Part Two webinar
- Beating The Credit Crunch - Part One webinar
- Download the Introduction and Contents pages now - download
- The Beating the Credit Crunch webpage - buy it here

Beating The Credit Crunch - Webinar - Part One

My most recent webinar Beating The Credit Crunch - Part One is now out. Based on the book of the same name!

Free to listen to as well. 20 minutes - recorded for AVN.

What is a webinar - a combination of an audio recording (my voice) and slides.



RELEVANT LINKS
- Beating The Credit Crunch - Part One webinar

- Download the Introduction and Contents pages now - download

- The Beating the Credit Crunch webpage - buy it here

What To Do Now?

A quick rant. To all those who enjoy keeping their head in the sand.


In no particular order:

1. Everything is currently entitled 'Credit Crunch' or 'Recession Beating' or 'two for the price of one' etc. This is simply chasing volumes (but not profits). Remember you get known for what you do and will clients want to pay full price when the recession is over?
   
   
2. Everyone says that they can't afford anything - especially marketing, consultancy, seminars!!!!!
   
   
3. People are saying that they don't want to attend a seminar/buy consultancy etc etc because they are tightening their belts.
   
   
4. But attending a seminar/buying consultancy (of any great value/quality) will guarantee to increase sales/profit/cash and reduce costs/pain/stress/discomfort (don't forget the money-back guarantee). [Thought Bubble: Who wouldn't want that?]
   
   
5. It was easy to make money in the good times. It is not so easy now. Now you need to be good if you want to survive. Mediocre is not good enough - you will not survive. Mediocre = death. [Thought Bubble: so what are you going to do about it?]
   
   
6. Question: "Surely now is the time to seek help?"??
   
   
7. Their Answer: "NO..."!!!!!
   
   
8. Go back and repeat Numbers 3/4/5/6/7 ad infinitum...
   

A dumb vicious loop.
This is bonkers.






RELEVANT LINKS
- Let's Talk... workshops for businesses less than 10 employees
- Consultancy, Masterclasses and Business Surgeries from The Directors' Centre
- Beating The Credit Crunch book

Z

Albert Einstein once defined success in this way.

Success=X+Y+Z where “X” equals Work, “Y” equals Play, and “Z” equals “Keep your mouth shut.”


What proportions of X, Y and Z are you using?

'Beating The Credit Crunch' - Mindmap of the Live Event

After the London Connections Networking Event laid on by Business Scene, Andrew Wilcox put together a whole mind-map/website of the event.

It is actually really interesting to see someone else's take on your material!

The 40 minute presentation was based on highlights from the Beating the Credit Crunch book.

RELEVANT LINKS
- Download the book's Introduction and Contents pages now - download

- The Beating the Credit Crunch webpage - buy it here

If you want to catch fish then fish where the fish are!

I was recently told a story by a businessman about fishing (from when he was a lad).

The advice he was given, when failing to catch any fish, was:
“If you aren’t catching fish in this lake then find another lake. If you want to catch fish then fish where the fish are!”

And surely this applies to business:
“If you want to make lots of money then go where the money is.”

Working with the poorest, most needy clients is like creating your own toxic, sub-prime customer base. And you know what happens to people who do that!

The lesson is that you should not keep trying to fish in lousy ponds... in effect, stop trying to seduce naff clients (who don't need/like/want to pay for your product/service) - you are trying to talk to the wrong people... and that is often a waste of time. Go and find the right lake for you...

Find the right lake then charge more and deliver better value to your top-end customers.

Everyone is obsessed with price… but really they are obsessed with value and your job is to prove to them that you can add more value than your competitors (and you shouldn’t be doing this at a low price!).


RELEVANT LINKS
Beating the Credit Crunch - book