Copyright 2015 Dennis S. Vogel All rights reserved.
This blog post was transferred from another service.
I've been working on a post about 'Questions & Real Issues' which includes the importance of distinctions.
I know Rich Schefren hasn't been monitoring my actions. (He hasn't been, right?)
Yet at just the right time, I got an email message from Rich about the importance of distinctions.
So, I'm including the URLs for his posts, so you can learn from him, then you can return here.
I hope to finish my post soon, but stuff happens & keeps happening. Though helping you is a high priority, I help my family first.
Here is the first URL -
The Invisible Limit On All Your Strategy by Rich Schefren
http://www.strategicprofits.com/strategy/the-invisible-limit-on-all-your-strategy/
I advise you to read the comments. Those are important, so I've included the current 4 comments here -
Adri "One of the biggest distinction I ever had is the distinction between Tactic and Strategy! Big big distinction that made all the difference for me."
Rich Schefren Mod > Adri "That's a huge distinction Adri. Thanks for sharing"
DavidHH > Rich Schefren "Extend that idea, it's crucial... Strategy: What and Why
Tactics: When and Where
Operations: Who and How.
And, that covers Kipling's' 'Honest serving men'".
Virg Lewis "It is easy to focus too narrowly on the payoff. I was doing that recently and let other things slide. That made me feel overwhelmed.
"I backed off the project, because I could legitimately do so without guilt or angst, and caught up on the other items.
Now I feel creative and 'clear' again to get back into the project."
A Lot Of Wisdom In A Few Words
DavidHH wrote some wisdom that's far bigger than the size of his comment. As he advised extending that idea, I'm expanding the definitions.
To live by design not by chance, you need to develop some forms of strategy, tactics & operations.
Running an optimal business requires developing some forms of strategy, tactics & operations.
This Is "It"
(Note - There are other applicable issues & questions which I haven't included. I'm writing a blog post, not a book here.)
In the next set of statements "it" means your mission, task, plan, actions &/or goal. In military terms, "it" is the Commander's Intent - the main thing to accomplish; the minimum criterion in judging mission success or failure.
Your Strategy is what you should do & the reason for doing it.
Your Tactics involve when & where to do it.
Your Operations involve determining who is the best person or team to do it & how it should be done for optimal effectiveness & efficiency. Performance (How to perform a mission) depends on the actions in the specific conditions (where to do it) & with a set of resources (What to use to get it done).
There's a good explanation about conditions in The Art of War by Sun Tzu http://classics.mit.edu/Tzu/artwar.html.
You can use this wisdom for nonviolent actions also. Compare your situation with Sun Tzu's wisdom & extrapolate.
Operations oriented questions also include - How long should a task be done? How much (to what extent) should a task be done?
These questions can be summed up in the cliche - You've got to know when to hold them & when to fold them.
Do Enough But Not Too Much
Opportunity cost issues are - Some resources will only be available for one task at time. Some resources might be consumed (totally used up).
Your distinctions should include defining optimal amounts of effort. Axiomatic statements related to opportunity cost -
If you do a task more often than necessary, you'll waste resources, which won't be available for other tasks. If you do a task less than necessary, you won't be successful & you'll waste resources you've expended.
If you take too long to do a task, you'll have less energy & time for other tasks. Even if you have enough of every other resource for other tasks, you'll fail if you squander energy & time.
Based on the value of your resources & the importance of your task, you need to recognize distinctions to make good decisions. Example: Is a task worth more than the resources being consumed & opportunity cost of other high priority tasks?
Distinctions are required to determine if a task is necessary, then determining what the task should be. Distinctions are important in prioritizing actions.
For practical purposes, problem recognition & reasons arise before planning what the action will be. If there's no need for an action, there's no reason to plan an action.
Choosing the best person or people for a task should depend on the time, location & other conditions. That's why tactics should be considered while choosing the best person or people.
Example - Your task requires lifting, moving & assembling several big products. Who has the strength & stamina for the task? Among those strong people, who has the knowledge to assemble those products effectively & efficiently?
In marketing, tactics also include the product/service being offered & the niche who should receive the offer. It has to be this way because putting your offer in the right place at the right time is a vital factor in getting the right people to accept it.
Refine A Tactic While Defining A Strategy
Some people advise forming a strategy before a tactic. I disagree with that. You should be sure you have a tactic that's optimal for your situation.
Example - Walmart has a successful strategy, but since its tactics are required to make its strategy work, you shouldn't try to use its strategy. Wal-Mart Stores Inc. uses tactics that work in a big retail logistics format, there are very few businesses that could afford to do the same things.
Successfully fulfilling a business strategy & using a tactic will always require specific resources for a specific situation.
You could have a definitive strategy for climbing directly to the top of retailing, but don't try that climb without the best tactic for fulfilling that superior strategy.
Fulfilling any strategy requires using resources in specific ways - especially energy, money & time.
Don't try the climb, if you don't have the time or the dime. You'd waste your energy. Don't pay the dime unless you have enough time & energy to make the climb. You'd waste your money.
My advice fits the comment posted by Virg Lewis (above) about not neglecting yourself or other responsibilities.
Getting Distinctions In Your Business by Rich Schefren
Here is the URL for Rich's follow-up post -
http://www.strategicprofits.com/strategy/getting-distinctions-in-your-business/
Sources Of More Concepts & Insights
You can get insights & distinctions about strategies, tactics & related subjects from books & articles by Fred Wiersema including "The Discipline of Market Leaders: Choose Your Customers, Narrow Your Focus, Dominate Your Market" by Michael Treacy & Fred Wiersema & "The New Market Leaders" by Fred Wiersema.
Jim Collins has published a lot of wisdom in articles & books - "Built to Last: Successful Habits of Visionary Companies" By Jim Collins & Jerry I. Porras
Some other books written by James C. Collins are - "Good to Great", "How The Mighty Fall" &
"Great by Choice" by Jim Collins & Morten T. Hansen
You need to develop business practices also called systems &/or methods.
Chet Holmes wrote & spoke about policies, plans & procedures. You can check YouTube.
Michael E. Gerber wrote about systems & working on a business, not just in it. "The E-Myth" "The E-Myth Revisited" & "E-Myth Mastery" by Michael E. Gerber.
Clayton M. Christensen & co-authors wrote about innovation, resources, values & processes. Some of Clay Christensen's books are - "The Innovator's Dilemma", "The Innovator's Solution" by Clayton M. Christensen & Michael E. Raynor & "Seeing What's Next" by Clayton M. Christensen, Scott D. Anthony & Erik A. Roth.
"The Innovator's DNA" by Jeff Dyer, Hal Gregersen & Clayton M. Christensen
Books & articles written by Al Ries & Jack Trout have relevant advice about tactics & strategies; some examples are - "Positioning: The Battle for Your Mind"; "The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing"; "Bottom Up Marketing"; & "Marketing Warfare".
"The New Positioning" by Jack Trout and Steve Rivkin & "Focus: The Future Of Your Company Depends On It" by Al Ries.
You can use search engines to find these information resources.
You should learn what you can, then test what you learn, so you'll know what works best for you.
Thank you for using my blog. Please let me know if I should clarify anything.
Copyright 2015 Dennis S. Vogel All rights reserved.
When you compete against big businesses with big budgets you need powerful marketing strategies & tactics. You'll find them here-
https://thriving-small-businesses.blogspot.com/
http://www.voy.com/31049/
Subject: Distinctions For Developing & Choosing Superior Options
Apparently, some business owners think their past success indicates they've been & are still doing everything necessary to maintain long-term success.
Whom or what will they blame when they finally face reality & notice they're falling behind because competitors are moving ahead?
Whom or what will they blame when they finally face reality & notice their market niche has different desires & needs?
Many of those different desires & needs are apt to be in the same categories (some examples are in Abraham Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs).
Did We Really Dress Like That?
At different ages, people tend to choose different clothing styles.
Example - In the 1960s, I was somewhat conservative about what I wore, but I still wouldn't want to wear the same styles now. Other people were less conservative & probably would never again dress like they did in the 1960s.
The baby boomers (I've seen lately) still wear shirts & pants but the clothing styles are very different.
If a store only offered 1960s clothing styles, it'd probably be out of business in a short time. It's an obvious distinction, so I'm using as an example.
People's first homes might be quite different than their current homes. It's also true of the inside furnishings & outside landscaping & paints.
Personal appearance is a common high priority category. For some people, being attractive might include multiple piercings & many big tattoos now.
For the same people later in life, attractiveness might include natural skin.
Demanding Lives
Some differences are goals & priorities (what a person expects & others expect from him/her); time & energy restraints; budgets & other limitations.
Some limitations are recent & cause people to find solutions they didn't need before.
Though in general, people want to be consistent, they realize when they change they can gain benefits & avoid or reduce problems.
Small changes can be part of consistency since improvement should be consistent.
Some changes are incremental, yet significant especially the cumulative effects.
Business owners can quickly fail when they fail to see market niche changes.
Among these questions & issues, I've written below, are some I'm sure many business owners have never seriously considered.
It Seemed To Work, Let's Do It Again. Repeat Repeat Repeat
Doing the same thing, again & again, won't always produce the same result because other things change even if our actions are the same.
In many situations, repetitious actions & inputs lead to diminishing returns. Also, the current right activities could be wrong in future situations.
Distinctions are necessary for developing & choosing superior options. For optimal results, we need to know what the differences are.
By testing, tracking results & studying, we can extrapolate potential & potent results brought on by changes.
Look For Distinctions
By checking as many relevant factors as you can, you can determine how to make your business optimally fit in the value chain.
The value chain is all businesses providing at least one thing necessary to make a product. An optimal fit means becoming as integrated as practical.
Note: When a boat/ship is properly built & maintained, it can be sealed well enough to keep water out. That means it has water tight integrity.
Water tight integrity prevents water from occupying spaces where it shouldn't be. Water, in the wrong places, can be a threat.
Like anything in life, proactivity is necessary since damage could compromise water tight integrity.
Since mishaps will occur, retailers should continually assure their niche members that some problems (especially misfortunes) can be prevented, mitigated or solved.
As much as practical, you should offer what niche members need to establish misfortune tight integrity in at least one aspect of their lives.
To keep your business relevant, you can increase your knowledge & trade skill & improve your reputation & credentials.
As long as you establish & keep improving your specialty, you don't need everything necessary for a consumer's full optimization.
(I've written about modules & interdependencies in other posts. The "Search" link is above the forum title to the right of the page center.)
Products & services are modules & interdependencies.
When you know a consumer well, you may be able to recommend an optimally fitting interdependency that will be stable & fill a gap with little or no adjusting.
Recognize Vital Distinctions
If you don't recognize vital distinctions, you could miss indications that you should adjust your activities.
Hypothetical Example - You close your store at 5:00 PM each day. As you prepare to close, you mentally focus on your daily obligations as you review what you've done & what you'll still do that day.
You still have more things to do before you get home & hope you'll have enough energy.
A week ago, many customers started walking in at 4:45 & staying until they were served. During those times each of those days, you looked at your front door a few times & noticed more people trying to get in.
You might be focused on what you plan to do when you leave your store. You might only think about how these customers are upsetting your routine.
You're tempted to tell them to return earlier the next day, but you don't want to miss their transactions.
What Could This Mean?
If an employer changed work schedules or an organization changed its meeting times, it could indicate why people are
shopping later.
Though people used to shop in your store in earlier day parts, now they need to change their schedules.
If they didn't buy from you after 5:00 pm, they'd shop somewhere else.
They need later shopping times & you need the money.
Even if this happens only one day per week, your new cash flow could bring more profit as long as you don't let expenses rise too much. If you keep ending your business day at 5:00, your business could end.
From an outside perspective, this seems obvious. From the inside, what's obvious is this: "successful" business routines are being disrupted.
Disruption causes stress & confusion. Disruption interferes with processes that produce necessary results. Reduced results lead to reduced income plus higher expenses at the same time.
Some business owners resist unexpected/unplanned success since it doesn't fit their paradigms.
I don't advocate changing based on a small aberration. I suggest being inquisitive enough to notice variations, so you can proactively respond to problems & opportunities.
When you only have one option or opportunity, you'll get stuck when things interfere with that option or opportunity.
For optimal success, you should have multiple options & opportunities, so you can pick the best.
If employers or organizations change schedules, they'll probably give advanced notice to employees or volunteers.
When you see or hear any indications, you can start to determine how those changes might affect your business. Maybe you can avoid negative effects & produce positive effects.
Changing can be less costly compared to the short-term or long-term problems resulting from not changing.
Costs of changing can be relatively inexpensive compared to the gains from short-term or long-term benefits.
Questions To Help You Add Value
Which small changes can you make to increase the value of transactions for clients & your business?
Which small changes can your clients make to increase the value they receive & retain?
What can you make more convenient for your clients?
What would help your clients justify (to themselves & others) investing more money, time, energy &/or other resources?
Ready To Change When Necessary
Modular processes & business practices can be more efficient, effective, smoother & faster than flexible methods, yet you need to know what should be flexible.
Monitoring distinctions can help you track & determine when to continue with modules & when to introduce & use interdependencies.
Until you're sure about a niche & product/service category, you should have interdependencies ready to use. The reason is because interdependencies are flexible & you need to be adaptable - especially when you test products, services & methods.
Realistically, things can change quickly. When you consistently study marketing & test methods, you're also preparing for changes. Testing can bring you better ideas about what can work well & what might not.
Your interdependencies are methods you've tested but not fully implemented. When you determine what's compatible & tested for effectiveness, you should install these among your current optimal business practices.
You should test linking business practices for optimization: Example - After or during your book keeping/accounting tasks, you can check your budgets like marketing & sub-budgets like specific promotions.
You can check your sales results & compare the sales revenue with your goals & the money you spent to get those results.
Though you won't determine the causes of all effects, when you determine the main effects, you can find some causes.
After you find causes, you can discover ways to avoid negative causes & effects. You can also learn how to produce positive causes & effects.
Thank you for using my blog. Please let me know if I should clarify anything.
Copyright 2015 Dennis S. Vogel All rights reserved.
When you compete against big businesses with big budgets you need powerful marketing strategies & tactics. You'll find them here-
https://thriving-small-businesses.blogspot.com/
http://www.voy.com/31049/
Friday, February 22, 2019
How can I skate to the profits?
Copyright 2015 Dennis S. Vogel All rights reserved.
This blog post was transferred from another service.
I know books by several authors are valuable.
I think I'm just understanding concepts, then more terminology comes up my understanding is gone.
I know Clayton Christensen is a professor, so he expects a lot from people who want to learn.
Since I'm not a student, as a store owner I have different responsibilities & needs.
I think I need a basic explanation, but I wonder if the basics are enough for success.
Do any local retailers need all of the information in these innovation books?
I've tried book summaries & reviews, but those decrease words without simplifying anything.
I know I'm hoping for a lot technical concepts to boiled down. Crude oil is refined & becomes kerosene, gasoline, diesel & lubricant. Can I get only the form I need from the complete, complex content to run my economic engine?
I'm supposed to skate to the profits, but I can't play rough hockey & figure skating wouldn't work.
Subject: Skate To Where The Profits Will Be
In reply to: No skates, just a ski 's message, "How can I skate to the profits?"
It seems you understand some concepts, so I'll help you focus on what's important for you now.
If you need help with specific concepts, please post your questions.
I'll explain things in basic ways. I'm NOT being patronizing, condescending or sarcastic. I think I know what you mean & my explanations are based on what I interpret.
As always, there are other related issues that would take up more space & time. Some of those issues are situation specific, so I'd need a lot of information.
The crude oil analogy can be used well (no pun intended). I'm using something that also fits - fit means being adapted to the prevailing conditions.
It's a like a baseball fits in a baseball glove because the gloves & balls are made to be compatible.
A slightly bigger ball could be used if gloves are coated with oil or adhesive, so a ball could slip in or just stick. The oil or adhesive could be an interdependency or a coated glove could be an interdependent module being tested.
Yes, it's probably incompatible with - doesn't fit - baseball rules.
"Fit" can also mean a medical or emotional negative reaction. If anything is forced into an incompatible system, problems will happen.
Analogy (It's imperfect, but work with me here, OK?):
A human brain can process a lot of things at the same time. Most of this processing is subconscious.
As you learn, parts of your brain are processing input by trying to link input with what you already know.
In this analogy, your brain has 9 conscious points of linking; let's personify those as highly skilled, fast moving baseball players. Each has a specific function & position on the field.
If somebody throws 9 baseballs, each will be caught by your players. Each player has a specific action to do after catching a ball.
In effect, you just linked 9 new facts with your previous knowledge. Those facts fit your knowledge base.
Book authors don't know how much readers have learned, so they put in all they think is necessary to help us. The content in their books are like balls.
In effect, to help various people, each chapter might have 81 balls of different sizes & kinds.
Those balls (symbolizing facts & concepts) are thrown into your stadium - at the same time. Your players can catch one ball at a time, but not 9 balls of different sizes & kinds.
Each player will catch one ball of the 9 thrown to/at him/her. That one ball will probably be a baseball because of his/her skill set.
Their training & equipment are optimized for a specific sport - baseball.
If you tell them to clear the area, they'd probably start with baseballs before processing the other balls.
If one ball is a football & the others are spherical, each player might process footballs last because those are less like baseballs.
Spherical balls fit how players are trained & earn money.
Clayton Christensen & his coauthors have emphasized vital concepts & theories. Products & services (& how they're offered) should fit how consumers live their lives & how marketers' businesses are set up to make money.
Back In Your Store
In addition to all things you focus on each day, you're trying to understand new information. Primarily, your mind is set to run your business.
Successful businesses have routines as part of best practices.
Though you're busy with your business, you have an advantage over students. They're learning things theoretically & might use the information in the future.
You can study & implement what applies to your business now & link new information to what will happen in the near future.
You'll also learn things you can't use yet.
Assuming you're already set up to process baseballs & possibly other spherical balls, avoid footballs while you process balls that are more like baseballs.
In other words, I advise you to examine your current knowledge & link facts & concepts that are similar to facts & concepts you already know.
Eventually, if you find a way to use a football in your situation, then pick it up & use it.
Interdependencies Are Unpredictable Without Rules & Links
You should also being learning how to link concepts & actions. You need some logical rules.
In a game, results would be unpredictable if a short-stop threw a football to a catcher to tag a runner at home plate. It's especially true if the catcher didn't expect a football.
Combining games (baseball team with a football team) would be like combining modules from different processes.
Would a baseball player be told to signal for a fair catch?
Would a runner headed for home plate be tagged out or tackled?
How would a score be tallied?
Without a common set of rules, players wouldn't know what to do.
Best practices can be developed after rules are established.
You don't have to know how to pass a football yet. When you notice a need for a skill or knowledge, you can start learning then. You should apply what you & your business are ready to use.
When you listen to & read information, I advise you to focus on mostly what fits your current situation.
Some of Clayton Christensen's knowledge can help you indirectly when you evaluate inventory orders & suppliers.
Your business probably isn't ready for the majority of what Clayton Christensen & other Harvard professors wrote.
To explain why & to help you understand the concepts more, I'll use the following analogy.
Your Current Business & Knowledge Are Modules
What Clayton M. Christensen & others wrote are modules that fit the premise of innovation. For your business their modules are interdependent (flexible but somewhat unstable) until refined enough to smoothly fit in your business.
You need one or more interdependencies & modules to optimally fill the gaps between your modules & theirs.
When a Student Is Ready a Teacher/Lesson Appears
Teachers/lessons are there now, you won't recognize them until gaps are filled.
You may need somebody to use an outside/more distant perspective to see the whole situation, then make recommendations.
Learning these concepts is/should be part of working on your business. You don't have to work on your business alone.
Whether you use a master mind group, consultant or employee, you need somebody to do that work in addition to recommending things.
This will cost money & time, but will also increase your cash flow & profit enough to more than compensate for the expense. For you to work on your business & in it, you'll need to delegate.
A problem is - How can you pay somebody before you get more profit & cash flow?
Find somebody who is confident enough to work on contingency, because s/he will only get paid after her/his work brings more profit & cash flow.
I realize it can be hard to know when you may soon need a skill or knowledge set.
It can be harder to know which skill or knowledge set will be needed soon.
By researching & using information, maybe you can get as close as you can to the high profit levels & stay as long as you can.
You should keep reading articles, blog posts, book summaries & reviews, because you'll get a basic idea of what's available.
Maybe you won't use every gigabyte of information you accumulate; each byte can be a potential part of a valuable solution.
Thank you for using my blog. Please let me know if I should clarify anything.
Copyright 2015 Dennis S. Vogel All rights reserved.
When you compete against big businesses with big budgets you need powerful marketing strategies & tactics. You'll find them here-
https://thriving-small-businesses.blogspot.com/
http://www.voy.com/31049/
Subject: Helping People With Their Priorities Can Be Profitable
In reply to: No skates, just a ski 's message, "How can I skate to the profits?"
Relevant & Important - It Might Be A Priority
Relevance is another major part of skating to where profits will be. Here are valuable things to learn:
What was recently relevant in your niche members' lives?
What caused its relevance to decline/end?
What's relevant in your niche members' lives?
What do the answers indicate about what will be relevant to your niche members? It's valuable to know why a product, service, feeling, experience, etc. is relevant & a priority. Reasons are distinctions you can use to make more meaningful offers.
It's vital to know what will be relevant to & highly prioritized by niche members because that pertains to where profits will be.
What are your niche members' priorities?
What's relevant - connected/related - to your niche members' priorities?
What will your niche members' priorities be?
What will be relevant to your niche members' priorities?
You should help clients connect with what they need to fulfill priorities.
A Bird In The Hand
Often, loss avoidance is a higher priority than gaining benefits.
This fits what Clayton Christensen & Michael Raynor wrote (in The Innovator's Solution) about presenting an issue as a threat to get cooperation & resources. Later, presenting that issue as an opportunity might motivate people to achieve it.
A big paradox is: Some ruin their health (lose good health & their lives) & neglect what is/used to valuable to them.
We can apply the 4 quadrants of Stephen R. Covey's book, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People.
Compared to anything that would be in Quadrants 3 & 4, profits might be higher in products & services that fit into Quadrant 2 - Important, Not Urgent.
The highest profit levels could be in marketing products & services that fit into Quadrant 1 - Urgent & Important.
Unfortunately, some people prioritize many unimportant things, but to them those things are relevant.
No matter how high of a priority people put on things in Quadrants 1 & 2, avoiding risk will probably feel more relevant & be a higher urgent & important priority.
Yes, the possibility of loss may seem more likely & more serious than gaining a prized possession.
I want to be sure you're aware of these issues, but I don't have enough time now to explain each point.
For any particular relevant, high priority issue, determine how much emotion is involved in an actual or potential loss.
How strong are the emotions people connect to opportunities?
Opportunities can be the possibilities of gaining benefits &/or potentially avoiding or mitigating losses.
Sometimes, successful selling involves the awareness of loss that is occurring or has occurred.
People might buy things to urgently avoid potential losses.
Though opportunities aren't tangible benefits, people don't want to lose opportunities.
Some life insurance policies have built in annuities. Annuities help clients gain money & insurance mitigates losses.
Positive & Negative Stuff Happens
To help yourself focus on what's relevant, you should think of the word as 'real event'. In this context, an event is stuff that has/will cause important positive &/or negative results.
For your business to be relevant (part of niche members' lives), help make their wishes, dreams, goals/objectives become real events. Relevance also includes helping people avoid negative events or mitigating the results.
Meaningful - What Fulfills Their Need For Meaning?
What is "meaning" to/for them? What gives & expands meaning in their lives & specific events?
The meaning of a word can be a conation (how a person defines a word) &/or denotation (a universal definition). It's similar with objects.
An object might have a similar meaning to people in general, but yet evoke additional different thoughts & feelings in individuals.
A synonym can help you understand & use a word as part of your vocabulary. As part of your vocabulary, a word is relevant to you.
There may be other ways to correctly use a word (conations &/or denotations), but if you don't know those, they won't help you. A thesaurus can help add dimension & make a word is more useful.
People can find/create more purpose in their lives by learning & adding more options. Relevant businesses offer valuable options for learning & experiencing.
The Meaning Of A Life
The meaning of a person's life is the meaning s/he assigns to it. To add more meaning, people can add more dimension(s).
You can help them add dimensional meaning.
Is a consumer's life too eventful?
What can you offer to reduce negative effects?
What do consumers need to add positive effects & factors?
What can you do to help with these preventions & improvements?
What do your niche members want/need relief from?
What kinds of relief do your niche members use by default?
What's an affordable & better option than their default methods?
Where do your niche members go for temporary or (perceived) permanent relief?
When do they seek relief?
What are their priorities & preferences when they plan & get relief?
What did they do for relief before? What do they want to repeat & avoid?
Please post your insights about adding more meaning, distinctions & dimensions to consumers' lives.
Thank you for using my blog. Please let me know if I should clarify anything.
Copyright 2015 Dennis S. Vogel All rights reserved.
When you compete against big businesses with big budgets you need powerful marketing strategies & tactics. You'll find them here-
https://thriving-small-businesses.blogspot.com/
http://www.voy.com/31049/
This blog post was transferred from another service.
I know books by several authors are valuable.
I think I'm just understanding concepts, then more terminology comes up my understanding is gone.
I know Clayton Christensen is a professor, so he expects a lot from people who want to learn.
Since I'm not a student, as a store owner I have different responsibilities & needs.
I think I need a basic explanation, but I wonder if the basics are enough for success.
Do any local retailers need all of the information in these innovation books?
I've tried book summaries & reviews, but those decrease words without simplifying anything.
I know I'm hoping for a lot technical concepts to boiled down. Crude oil is refined & becomes kerosene, gasoline, diesel & lubricant. Can I get only the form I need from the complete, complex content to run my economic engine?
I'm supposed to skate to the profits, but I can't play rough hockey & figure skating wouldn't work.
Subject: Skate To Where The Profits Will Be
In reply to: No skates, just a ski 's message, "How can I skate to the profits?"
It seems you understand some concepts, so I'll help you focus on what's important for you now.
If you need help with specific concepts, please post your questions.
I'll explain things in basic ways. I'm NOT being patronizing, condescending or sarcastic. I think I know what you mean & my explanations are based on what I interpret.
As always, there are other related issues that would take up more space & time. Some of those issues are situation specific, so I'd need a lot of information.
The crude oil analogy can be used well (no pun intended). I'm using something that also fits - fit means being adapted to the prevailing conditions.
It's a like a baseball fits in a baseball glove because the gloves & balls are made to be compatible.
A slightly bigger ball could be used if gloves are coated with oil or adhesive, so a ball could slip in or just stick. The oil or adhesive could be an interdependency or a coated glove could be an interdependent module being tested.
Yes, it's probably incompatible with - doesn't fit - baseball rules.
"Fit" can also mean a medical or emotional negative reaction. If anything is forced into an incompatible system, problems will happen.
Analogy (It's imperfect, but work with me here, OK?):
A human brain can process a lot of things at the same time. Most of this processing is subconscious.
As you learn, parts of your brain are processing input by trying to link input with what you already know.
In this analogy, your brain has 9 conscious points of linking; let's personify those as highly skilled, fast moving baseball players. Each has a specific function & position on the field.
If somebody throws 9 baseballs, each will be caught by your players. Each player has a specific action to do after catching a ball.
In effect, you just linked 9 new facts with your previous knowledge. Those facts fit your knowledge base.
Book authors don't know how much readers have learned, so they put in all they think is necessary to help us. The content in their books are like balls.
In effect, to help various people, each chapter might have 81 balls of different sizes & kinds.
Those balls (symbolizing facts & concepts) are thrown into your stadium - at the same time. Your players can catch one ball at a time, but not 9 balls of different sizes & kinds.
Each player will catch one ball of the 9 thrown to/at him/her. That one ball will probably be a baseball because of his/her skill set.
Their training & equipment are optimized for a specific sport - baseball.
If you tell them to clear the area, they'd probably start with baseballs before processing the other balls.
If one ball is a football & the others are spherical, each player might process footballs last because those are less like baseballs.
Spherical balls fit how players are trained & earn money.
Clayton Christensen & his coauthors have emphasized vital concepts & theories. Products & services (& how they're offered) should fit how consumers live their lives & how marketers' businesses are set up to make money.
Back In Your Store
In addition to all things you focus on each day, you're trying to understand new information. Primarily, your mind is set to run your business.
Successful businesses have routines as part of best practices.
Though you're busy with your business, you have an advantage over students. They're learning things theoretically & might use the information in the future.
You can study & implement what applies to your business now & link new information to what will happen in the near future.
You'll also learn things you can't use yet.
Assuming you're already set up to process baseballs & possibly other spherical balls, avoid footballs while you process balls that are more like baseballs.
In other words, I advise you to examine your current knowledge & link facts & concepts that are similar to facts & concepts you already know.
Eventually, if you find a way to use a football in your situation, then pick it up & use it.
Interdependencies Are Unpredictable Without Rules & Links
You should also being learning how to link concepts & actions. You need some logical rules.
In a game, results would be unpredictable if a short-stop threw a football to a catcher to tag a runner at home plate. It's especially true if the catcher didn't expect a football.
Combining games (baseball team with a football team) would be like combining modules from different processes.
Would a baseball player be told to signal for a fair catch?
Would a runner headed for home plate be tagged out or tackled?
How would a score be tallied?
Without a common set of rules, players wouldn't know what to do.
Best practices can be developed after rules are established.
You don't have to know how to pass a football yet. When you notice a need for a skill or knowledge, you can start learning then. You should apply what you & your business are ready to use.
When you listen to & read information, I advise you to focus on mostly what fits your current situation.
Some of Clayton Christensen's knowledge can help you indirectly when you evaluate inventory orders & suppliers.
Your business probably isn't ready for the majority of what Clayton Christensen & other Harvard professors wrote.
To explain why & to help you understand the concepts more, I'll use the following analogy.
Your Current Business & Knowledge Are Modules
What Clayton M. Christensen & others wrote are modules that fit the premise of innovation. For your business their modules are interdependent (flexible but somewhat unstable) until refined enough to smoothly fit in your business.
You need one or more interdependencies & modules to optimally fill the gaps between your modules & theirs.
When a Student Is Ready a Teacher/Lesson Appears
Teachers/lessons are there now, you won't recognize them until gaps are filled.
You may need somebody to use an outside/more distant perspective to see the whole situation, then make recommendations.
Learning these concepts is/should be part of working on your business. You don't have to work on your business alone.
Whether you use a master mind group, consultant or employee, you need somebody to do that work in addition to recommending things.
This will cost money & time, but will also increase your cash flow & profit enough to more than compensate for the expense. For you to work on your business & in it, you'll need to delegate.
A problem is - How can you pay somebody before you get more profit & cash flow?
Find somebody who is confident enough to work on contingency, because s/he will only get paid after her/his work brings more profit & cash flow.
I realize it can be hard to know when you may soon need a skill or knowledge set.
It can be harder to know which skill or knowledge set will be needed soon.
By researching & using information, maybe you can get as close as you can to the high profit levels & stay as long as you can.
You should keep reading articles, blog posts, book summaries & reviews, because you'll get a basic idea of what's available.
Maybe you won't use every gigabyte of information you accumulate; each byte can be a potential part of a valuable solution.
Thank you for using my blog. Please let me know if I should clarify anything.
Copyright 2015 Dennis S. Vogel All rights reserved.
When you compete against big businesses with big budgets you need powerful marketing strategies & tactics. You'll find them here-
https://thriving-small-businesses.blogspot.com/
http://www.voy.com/31049/
Subject: Helping People With Their Priorities Can Be Profitable
In reply to: No skates, just a ski 's message, "How can I skate to the profits?"
Relevant & Important - It Might Be A Priority
Relevance is another major part of skating to where profits will be. Here are valuable things to learn:
What was recently relevant in your niche members' lives?
What caused its relevance to decline/end?
What's relevant in your niche members' lives?
What do the answers indicate about what will be relevant to your niche members? It's valuable to know why a product, service, feeling, experience, etc. is relevant & a priority. Reasons are distinctions you can use to make more meaningful offers.
It's vital to know what will be relevant to & highly prioritized by niche members because that pertains to where profits will be.
What are your niche members' priorities?
What's relevant - connected/related - to your niche members' priorities?
What will your niche members' priorities be?
What will be relevant to your niche members' priorities?
You should help clients connect with what they need to fulfill priorities.
A Bird In The Hand
Often, loss avoidance is a higher priority than gaining benefits.
This fits what Clayton Christensen & Michael Raynor wrote (in The Innovator's Solution) about presenting an issue as a threat to get cooperation & resources. Later, presenting that issue as an opportunity might motivate people to achieve it.
A big paradox is: Some ruin their health (lose good health & their lives) & neglect what is/used to valuable to them.
We can apply the 4 quadrants of Stephen R. Covey's book, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People.
Compared to anything that would be in Quadrants 3 & 4, profits might be higher in products & services that fit into Quadrant 2 - Important, Not Urgent.
The highest profit levels could be in marketing products & services that fit into Quadrant 1 - Urgent & Important.
Unfortunately, some people prioritize many unimportant things, but to them those things are relevant.
No matter how high of a priority people put on things in Quadrants 1 & 2, avoiding risk will probably feel more relevant & be a higher urgent & important priority.
Yes, the possibility of loss may seem more likely & more serious than gaining a prized possession.
I want to be sure you're aware of these issues, but I don't have enough time now to explain each point.
For any particular relevant, high priority issue, determine how much emotion is involved in an actual or potential loss.
How strong are the emotions people connect to opportunities?
Opportunities can be the possibilities of gaining benefits &/or potentially avoiding or mitigating losses.
Sometimes, successful selling involves the awareness of loss that is occurring or has occurred.
People might buy things to urgently avoid potential losses.
Though opportunities aren't tangible benefits, people don't want to lose opportunities.
Some life insurance policies have built in annuities. Annuities help clients gain money & insurance mitigates losses.
Positive & Negative Stuff Happens
To help yourself focus on what's relevant, you should think of the word as 'real event'. In this context, an event is stuff that has/will cause important positive &/or negative results.
For your business to be relevant (part of niche members' lives), help make their wishes, dreams, goals/objectives become real events. Relevance also includes helping people avoid negative events or mitigating the results.
Meaningful - What Fulfills Their Need For Meaning?
What is "meaning" to/for them? What gives & expands meaning in their lives & specific events?
The meaning of a word can be a conation (how a person defines a word) &/or denotation (a universal definition). It's similar with objects.
An object might have a similar meaning to people in general, but yet evoke additional different thoughts & feelings in individuals.
A synonym can help you understand & use a word as part of your vocabulary. As part of your vocabulary, a word is relevant to you.
There may be other ways to correctly use a word (conations &/or denotations), but if you don't know those, they won't help you. A thesaurus can help add dimension & make a word is more useful.
People can find/create more purpose in their lives by learning & adding more options. Relevant businesses offer valuable options for learning & experiencing.
The Meaning Of A Life
The meaning of a person's life is the meaning s/he assigns to it. To add more meaning, people can add more dimension(s).
You can help them add dimensional meaning.
Is a consumer's life too eventful?
What can you offer to reduce negative effects?
What do consumers need to add positive effects & factors?
What can you do to help with these preventions & improvements?
What do your niche members want/need relief from?
What kinds of relief do your niche members use by default?
What's an affordable & better option than their default methods?
Where do your niche members go for temporary or (perceived) permanent relief?
When do they seek relief?
What are their priorities & preferences when they plan & get relief?
What did they do for relief before? What do they want to repeat & avoid?
Please post your insights about adding more meaning, distinctions & dimensions to consumers' lives.
Thank you for using my blog. Please let me know if I should clarify anything.
Copyright 2015 Dennis S. Vogel All rights reserved.
When you compete against big businesses with big budgets you need powerful marketing strategies & tactics. You'll find them here-
https://thriving-small-businesses.blogspot.com/
http://www.voy.com/31049/
Work Life Balance? It Must Be Possible
Copyright 2015 Dennis S. Vogel All rights reserved.
This blog post was transferred from another service.
It'll always be an individual matter that will affect others.
Hospice staff members acknowledge how care givers feel overwhelmed. It's especially true for care givers who help dying family members directly & also are responsible for making legal, financial & medical decisions for dying family members. Lately, it's been in/on my mind continuously.
Like the preflight instructions on airliners, care givers should put oxygen masks on themselves so they can focus on helping people who need help.
How much of our time & energy should we dedicate to caring for ourselves? While we care for ourselves, who will fulfill our other responsibilities?
Even if we don't have definite answers, we should seriously think about these issues & not push beyond our limits when we're very vulnerable.
I need to pace myself & do enough for family members but not too much.
I need to have enough energy to do what I'm committed to do. I've pushed myself too much too far for too long before.
I've made this message very short because I have many nonbusiness things to manage.
Please, don't push yourself beyond your limits when you're vulnerable because you'll be apt to make serious mistakes.
Please don't hurt yourself or ruin your health.
Be good to yourself, so you can be good to others.
Thank you for using my blog. Please let me know if I should clarify anything.
Copyright 2015 Dennis S. Vogel All rights reserved.
When you compete against big businesses with big budgets you need powerful marketing strategies & tactics. You'll find them here-
https://thriving-small-businesses.blogspot.com/
http://www.voy.com/31049/
This blog post was transferred from another service.
It'll always be an individual matter that will affect others.
Hospice staff members acknowledge how care givers feel overwhelmed. It's especially true for care givers who help dying family members directly & also are responsible for making legal, financial & medical decisions for dying family members. Lately, it's been in/on my mind continuously.
Like the preflight instructions on airliners, care givers should put oxygen masks on themselves so they can focus on helping people who need help.
How much of our time & energy should we dedicate to caring for ourselves? While we care for ourselves, who will fulfill our other responsibilities?
Even if we don't have definite answers, we should seriously think about these issues & not push beyond our limits when we're very vulnerable.
I need to pace myself & do enough for family members but not too much.
I need to have enough energy to do what I'm committed to do. I've pushed myself too much too far for too long before.
I've made this message very short because I have many nonbusiness things to manage.
Please, don't push yourself beyond your limits when you're vulnerable because you'll be apt to make serious mistakes.
Please don't hurt yourself or ruin your health.
Be good to yourself, so you can be good to others.
Thank you for using my blog. Please let me know if I should clarify anything.
Copyright 2015 Dennis S. Vogel All rights reserved.
When you compete against big businesses with big budgets you need powerful marketing strategies & tactics. You'll find them here-
https://thriving-small-businesses.blogspot.com/
http://www.voy.com/31049/
Organized Processes Make Improvement More Effective & Efficient
Copyright 2015 Dennis S. Vogel All rights reserved.
This blog post was transferred from another service.
Work & Life Balance
In times of high stress, you can use business & personal life routines to be productive while you deal with stress.
Humor can help ease stress for a little while. The story below isn't hilarious. Writing what I think is funny helps me cope while I make almost all decisions for terminally ill parents.
I hope this message helps you also as part of a business lesson.
Without routines, I'd feel even more off balance.
Predictability can be reassuring. Though basically, I know what will happen, I don't know when or how. I'm somewhat prepared & I'm trying to maintain some level of normalcy.
Testing Methods & Passing
Here's another blog post to help you prioritize, develop, test & improve activities: aka - methods, processes, procedures, systems.
It's easier & more productive to test/change any kind of business method when other factors are controlled.
Except for multivariate testing, it's important to test one factor while keeping other factors as unchanged as practical. Any results that are different than before can be attributed mainly to the tested factor influence.
Benefits Of Organization
To preserve "anonymity" of Jacob Cobb, a former "friend", (aka Jay Cobb), let's refer to him as Jay. I admit this story is CORNy.
I'm sorry if this story offends you. It isn't blatant & probably would be rated as PG-13. I'm just using it as a humorous way to emphasize how some opportunities seem to be too good to pass up.
This story has been approved by somebody special who knows it doesn't indicate my personal desire.
Many details in this story are fictionalized to preserve "privacy".
Jay "earns" some money as a hand & arm model. In show business, when somebody needs to feature manly arms & hands, Jay is on their short list. (They don't want to show the rest of him.)
He got a call about doing a scene in a movie with Sandra Bullock. They wanted a pair of arms & hands to hold her for about a minute. He missed out on being an arm & hand model in "All About Steve" because he was unorganized. The scene he missed isn't what he thinks it was.
It shows the importance of understanding opportunities, which is hard for stressed out people.
Now he's always organized & less stressed.
He asked, "How much?" The director said, "$2,000". The director wanted an immediate answer.
As usual, he had to pay about $1,000 for his travel, lodging & meals while he was away from his business.
Since Jay's life & business are organized, he can afford to make quick decisions & be sure about getting good results.
He regularly, carefully considers his SWOT - strengths, weaknesses, opportunities & threats. He uses his strengths optimally to profit from opportunities without being tripped up by threats or his weaknesses.
So Many Opportunities, So Little Time
Though people have many opportunities, one person can use only a few opportunities optimally. Jay uses his priorities to determine which opportunities to act on.
Jay wisely established processes in his store, so his staff of two can temporarily run his business successfully without him. His processes also made it easier for him to focus on testing & improving his business.
Jay & his staff get consistent results, so they know what to expect. It works both ways. Consistent, positive results are easy to produce by people who know what to expect.
Knowing what to expect makes it easier to deal with unexpected events.
From a marketing perspective, you can have more time & energy for planning & implementation. You can bring in more clients because you can serve more people faster & better.
You can decrease wasting & spending energy, time & money while you increase your total work & goal achievement.
Avoid Dysfunction With Functional Commitment
Business success depends on many things, including commitment. To consumers, dysfunction, conflicts & disorganization will seem to indicate a lack of commitment to serving them.
People, who are committed to causes/missions, are dedicated enough to produce the best possible results. Consistent, positive results are created by design, not by accident.
Operational Excellence is one of the 3 Disciplines Of Market Leaders identified by Michael Treacy & Fred Wiersema. As a business discipline, it's vital whether it's your primary, secondary or tertiary discipline.
Operational Excellence is how to reduce total costs for you & clients. When you have excellent operations, business will be less of a chore.
NOTE: Jay's primary discipline is Customer Intimacy, which can also be expressed as Customer Centricity.
How can anybody trust a disorganized business? Chaos is normal unless people effectively prevent it. Chaos is distracting, because people pay less attention to other issues.
Chaos grows when people ignore stable matters. Stable situations can be simple (fewer activities to organize); though there are complexities.
Stability makes things easier (lower stress) because often less energy is required to maintain stability compared to eliminating chaos.
Work - Life Balance
Jay can enjoy show business because his business is solid even while he's away.
Business owners are often exhausted because they don't have smooth systems to produce consistent, positive results.
Organized business owners can relax more because they can clear their minds. After a few days or longer vacations, they go back to work & they focus effectively because their minds are reset.
At times, minds should be reset/rebooted like computers to clear out "software conflicts".
Since his staff is well-trained, Jay can justify focusing on other matters instead of splitting his attention between business & other life matters. Because he's a dedicated model, he was focused on his next job - especially on a specific "co-worker".
Process Of Establishing Processes
Some processes can be formed by habit with little or no conscious thoughts. Optimizing processes usually requires conscious thinking. After methods are optimized, they require less conscious focus.
Thinking about processes can start with evaluating results when something goes well or badly, then determining reasons. Some reasons can be accepted at face value, but less obvious reasons should be tested.
When each step of a process is established - modularized - a process can be consistently smooth. After establishing consistency, testing can be focused on improving results by adjusting one aspect of a step at a time.
You have options to form &/or improve processes.
You can start with the desired result & reverse engineer by determining the last step that finishes that result.
You can work from the beginning & go forward considering what logically follows (connects with, completes or at least adds to progress), so you can develop the next step.
If you know you have only a few resources to do a task, you could start in the middle of a planned process to determine which other resources you need to work beyond the middle &/or reverse engineer toward the beginning.
Thinking Requires Energy
Establishing processes can save you time & energy in the future. When you use optimal processes you can save a lot more resources than you expend in action creation & refinement.
Conscious thinking consumes more energy than subconscious processing of routines.
Even if you need to consciously think about some of your actions during processes, some steps still should be subconscious routines.
Dealing with stress is easier when you reserve your energy for problems instead of things that should be habitual tasks.
Using your conscious mind for almost everything is like a talented inventor becoming exhausted by mundane cleaning.
Somebody else should do mundane things so inventors can be productive by specializing.
As for Jay, his scene with Sandra Bullock was edited out, but at least he had a worthwhile experience. It was well worth the $1,000 of travel, lodging & meals. It was also well worth the #2,000 he paid to be in that scene.
Without organization, who knows whom or what he would hold. Without an organized profitable business, he couldn't afford to pay a total of $3,000 for a minute long great experience.
Without chaotic distractions, Jay could quickly evaluate opportunities so he chooses only the best for his situation.
He would've gladly paid even more to be in a scene with Sandra Bullock in "All About Steve". He doesn't know that scene isn't what was available.
The morale of the story is: You should be as organized as possible so you don't miss opportunities.
Copyright 2015 Dennis S. Vogel All rights reserved.
When you compete against big businesses with big budgets you need powerful marketing strategies & tactics. You'll find them here-
https://thriving-small-businesses.blogspot.com/
http://www.voy.com/31049/
This blog post was transferred from another service.
Work & Life Balance
In times of high stress, you can use business & personal life routines to be productive while you deal with stress.
Humor can help ease stress for a little while. The story below isn't hilarious. Writing what I think is funny helps me cope while I make almost all decisions for terminally ill parents.
I hope this message helps you also as part of a business lesson.
Without routines, I'd feel even more off balance.
Predictability can be reassuring. Though basically, I know what will happen, I don't know when or how. I'm somewhat prepared & I'm trying to maintain some level of normalcy.
Testing Methods & Passing
Here's another blog post to help you prioritize, develop, test & improve activities: aka - methods, processes, procedures, systems.
It's easier & more productive to test/change any kind of business method when other factors are controlled.
Except for multivariate testing, it's important to test one factor while keeping other factors as unchanged as practical. Any results that are different than before can be attributed mainly to the tested factor influence.
Benefits Of Organization
To preserve "anonymity" of Jacob Cobb, a former "friend", (aka Jay Cobb), let's refer to him as Jay. I admit this story is CORNy.
I'm sorry if this story offends you. It isn't blatant & probably would be rated as PG-13. I'm just using it as a humorous way to emphasize how some opportunities seem to be too good to pass up.
This story has been approved by somebody special who knows it doesn't indicate my personal desire.
Many details in this story are fictionalized to preserve "privacy".
Jay "earns" some money as a hand & arm model. In show business, when somebody needs to feature manly arms & hands, Jay is on their short list. (They don't want to show the rest of him.)
He got a call about doing a scene in a movie with Sandra Bullock. They wanted a pair of arms & hands to hold her for about a minute. He missed out on being an arm & hand model in "All About Steve" because he was unorganized. The scene he missed isn't what he thinks it was.
It shows the importance of understanding opportunities, which is hard for stressed out people.
Now he's always organized & less stressed.
He asked, "How much?" The director said, "$2,000". The director wanted an immediate answer.
As usual, he had to pay about $1,000 for his travel, lodging & meals while he was away from his business.
Since Jay's life & business are organized, he can afford to make quick decisions & be sure about getting good results.
He regularly, carefully considers his SWOT - strengths, weaknesses, opportunities & threats. He uses his strengths optimally to profit from opportunities without being tripped up by threats or his weaknesses.
So Many Opportunities, So Little Time
Though people have many opportunities, one person can use only a few opportunities optimally. Jay uses his priorities to determine which opportunities to act on.
Jay wisely established processes in his store, so his staff of two can temporarily run his business successfully without him. His processes also made it easier for him to focus on testing & improving his business.
Jay & his staff get consistent results, so they know what to expect. It works both ways. Consistent, positive results are easy to produce by people who know what to expect.
Knowing what to expect makes it easier to deal with unexpected events.
From a marketing perspective, you can have more time & energy for planning & implementation. You can bring in more clients because you can serve more people faster & better.
You can decrease wasting & spending energy, time & money while you increase your total work & goal achievement.
Avoid Dysfunction With Functional Commitment
Business success depends on many things, including commitment. To consumers, dysfunction, conflicts & disorganization will seem to indicate a lack of commitment to serving them.
People, who are committed to causes/missions, are dedicated enough to produce the best possible results. Consistent, positive results are created by design, not by accident.
Operational Excellence is one of the 3 Disciplines Of Market Leaders identified by Michael Treacy & Fred Wiersema. As a business discipline, it's vital whether it's your primary, secondary or tertiary discipline.
Operational Excellence is how to reduce total costs for you & clients. When you have excellent operations, business will be less of a chore.
NOTE: Jay's primary discipline is Customer Intimacy, which can also be expressed as Customer Centricity.
How can anybody trust a disorganized business? Chaos is normal unless people effectively prevent it. Chaos is distracting, because people pay less attention to other issues.
Chaos grows when people ignore stable matters. Stable situations can be simple (fewer activities to organize); though there are complexities.
Stability makes things easier (lower stress) because often less energy is required to maintain stability compared to eliminating chaos.
Work - Life Balance
Jay can enjoy show business because his business is solid even while he's away.
Business owners are often exhausted because they don't have smooth systems to produce consistent, positive results.
Organized business owners can relax more because they can clear their minds. After a few days or longer vacations, they go back to work & they focus effectively because their minds are reset.
At times, minds should be reset/rebooted like computers to clear out "software conflicts".
Since his staff is well-trained, Jay can justify focusing on other matters instead of splitting his attention between business & other life matters. Because he's a dedicated model, he was focused on his next job - especially on a specific "co-worker".
Process Of Establishing Processes
Some processes can be formed by habit with little or no conscious thoughts. Optimizing processes usually requires conscious thinking. After methods are optimized, they require less conscious focus.
Thinking about processes can start with evaluating results when something goes well or badly, then determining reasons. Some reasons can be accepted at face value, but less obvious reasons should be tested.
When each step of a process is established - modularized - a process can be consistently smooth. After establishing consistency, testing can be focused on improving results by adjusting one aspect of a step at a time.
You have options to form &/or improve processes.
You can start with the desired result & reverse engineer by determining the last step that finishes that result.
You can work from the beginning & go forward considering what logically follows (connects with, completes or at least adds to progress), so you can develop the next step.
If you know you have only a few resources to do a task, you could start in the middle of a planned process to determine which other resources you need to work beyond the middle &/or reverse engineer toward the beginning.
Thinking Requires Energy
Establishing processes can save you time & energy in the future. When you use optimal processes you can save a lot more resources than you expend in action creation & refinement.
Conscious thinking consumes more energy than subconscious processing of routines.
Even if you need to consciously think about some of your actions during processes, some steps still should be subconscious routines.
Dealing with stress is easier when you reserve your energy for problems instead of things that should be habitual tasks.
Using your conscious mind for almost everything is like a talented inventor becoming exhausted by mundane cleaning.
Somebody else should do mundane things so inventors can be productive by specializing.
As for Jay, his scene with Sandra Bullock was edited out, but at least he had a worthwhile experience. It was well worth the $1,000 of travel, lodging & meals. It was also well worth the #2,000 he paid to be in that scene.
Without organization, who knows whom or what he would hold. Without an organized profitable business, he couldn't afford to pay a total of $3,000 for a minute long great experience.
Without chaotic distractions, Jay could quickly evaluate opportunities so he chooses only the best for his situation.
He would've gladly paid even more to be in a scene with Sandra Bullock in "All About Steve". He doesn't know that scene isn't what was available.
The morale of the story is: You should be as organized as possible so you don't miss opportunities.
Copyright 2015 Dennis S. Vogel All rights reserved.
When you compete against big businesses with big budgets you need powerful marketing strategies & tactics. You'll find them here-
https://thriving-small-businesses.blogspot.com/
http://www.voy.com/31049/
Discovering New Points of Differentiation
Copyright 2016 Dennis S. Vogel All rights reserved.
This blog post was transferred from another service.
I'm posting what other authors have written since I have family, financial & legal issues to handle since my father died & my mother is declining.
This is almost a guest post because the content was written by Ian MacMillan & Rita McGrath & published in the Harvard Business Review.
I won't post their whole article because I won't violate the copyright.
"Discovering New Points of Differentiation" by Ian MacMillan & Rita McGrath
From the Harvard Business Review July-August 1997 Issue -
This article is longer than some of my posts. There's a lot of vital advice in it.
You should seriously consider your commitment to sustained success if it seems like too much hassle to use the advice in this article or what I've written before.
Victory in many situations is achieved by doing what competitors can't/won't do.
If you only do what competitors do, you'll lose a contest or just have a stalemate at best.
If you only do what you've always done before, you'll lose progress.
Ian MacMillan & Rita McGrath have designed a 2-part approach to help companies identify points of differentiation & generate successful differentiation strategies.
The 1st part, "Mapping the Consumption Chain," captures the customer's total experience with a product/service.
The 2nd, "Analyzing Your Customer's Experience," covers directed brainstorming about each step in the consumption chain.
Even the most mundane product/service can be differentiated.
Businesses can differentiate at each point of contact with customers - A: when consumers realize a need for a product or service; until B: disposing of it.
Ian MacMillan & Rita McGrath call it the Consumption Chain.
Business owners should be aware of customers' whole experience with a product or service even if it was purchased from a competitor.
Optimal success is possible because product or service offers can be positioned in new, relevant ways than would otherwise be possible.
Some examples apply to manufacturers more than retailers. You should use these examples as a guide to choosing suppliers.
There Are Some Things You've Got To Do To Succeed
My motivational message to you is similar to this partial quote from Sylvester Stallone's movie "Rocky Balboa". You should read the whole quote, you can get to it with this link - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0479143/quotes
"It's about how hard you can get hit & keep moving forward. How much you can take & keep moving forward. That's how winning is done!
"Now if you know what you're worth then go out & get what you're worth. But you gotta be willing to take the hits, & not pointing fingers saying you ain't where you wanna be because of him, or her, or anybody!"
My paraphrased version is - What counts most is what you do now & in the future.
You've gotten to where you are by doing what you did before, but that's all over now.
To win, you need to do what may feel uncomfortable.
When something works imperfectly, refine it & move on.
If you do what doesn't work, move on. Do something else.
Be willing to take the hits & setbacks. Don't blame others for what you fail to do.
Find somebody who knows how to apply these concepts in "Discovering New Points of Differentiation".
Pay him/her a percentage of the sales revenue generated from his/her implementation.
Thank you for using my blog. Please let me know if I should clarify anything.
Copyright 2016 Dennis S. Vogel All rights reserved.
When you compete against big businesses with big budgets you need powerful marketing strategies & tactics. You'll find them here-
https://thriving-small-businesses.blogspot.com/
http://www.voy.com/31049/
This blog post was transferred from another service.
I'm posting what other authors have written since I have family, financial & legal issues to handle since my father died & my mother is declining.
This is almost a guest post because the content was written by Ian MacMillan & Rita McGrath & published in the Harvard Business Review.
I won't post their whole article because I won't violate the copyright.
"Discovering New Points of Differentiation" by Ian MacMillan & Rita McGrath
From the Harvard Business Review July-August 1997 Issue -
This article is longer than some of my posts. There's a lot of vital advice in it.
You should seriously consider your commitment to sustained success if it seems like too much hassle to use the advice in this article or what I've written before.
Victory in many situations is achieved by doing what competitors can't/won't do.
If you only do what competitors do, you'll lose a contest or just have a stalemate at best.
If you only do what you've always done before, you'll lose progress.
Ian MacMillan & Rita McGrath have designed a 2-part approach to help companies identify points of differentiation & generate successful differentiation strategies.
The 1st part, "Mapping the Consumption Chain," captures the customer's total experience with a product/service.
The 2nd, "Analyzing Your Customer's Experience," covers directed brainstorming about each step in the consumption chain.
Even the most mundane product/service can be differentiated.
Businesses can differentiate at each point of contact with customers - A: when consumers realize a need for a product or service; until B: disposing of it.
Ian MacMillan & Rita McGrath call it the Consumption Chain.
Business owners should be aware of customers' whole experience with a product or service even if it was purchased from a competitor.
Optimal success is possible because product or service offers can be positioned in new, relevant ways than would otherwise be possible.
Some examples apply to manufacturers more than retailers. You should use these examples as a guide to choosing suppliers.
There Are Some Things You've Got To Do To Succeed
My motivational message to you is similar to this partial quote from Sylvester Stallone's movie "Rocky Balboa". You should read the whole quote, you can get to it with this link - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0479143/quotes
"It's about how hard you can get hit & keep moving forward. How much you can take & keep moving forward. That's how winning is done!
"Now if you know what you're worth then go out & get what you're worth. But you gotta be willing to take the hits, & not pointing fingers saying you ain't where you wanna be because of him, or her, or anybody!"
My paraphrased version is - What counts most is what you do now & in the future.
You've gotten to where you are by doing what you did before, but that's all over now.
To win, you need to do what may feel uncomfortable.
When something works imperfectly, refine it & move on.
If you do what doesn't work, move on. Do something else.
Be willing to take the hits & setbacks. Don't blame others for what you fail to do.
Find somebody who knows how to apply these concepts in "Discovering New Points of Differentiation".
Pay him/her a percentage of the sales revenue generated from his/her implementation.
Thank you for using my blog. Please let me know if I should clarify anything.
Copyright 2016 Dennis S. Vogel All rights reserved.
When you compete against big businesses with big budgets you need powerful marketing strategies & tactics. You'll find them here-
https://thriving-small-businesses.blogspot.com/
http://www.voy.com/31049/
Treat People As They Can Be & They'll What???
Copyright 2016 Dennis S. Vogel All rights reserved.
This blog post was transferred from another service.
During the last few years, I've prioritized family issues & left other things undone. It increased when somebody returned to cause more conflict.
Benefit Of A Doubt
Up to a point, it's good to want to believe the best about imperfect people. In some cases, maybe they made a mistake &/or we misunderstood them.
We're still apt to be vulnerable if we figure they didn't mean to hurt us. Yet, manipulators use vulnerability against us. They hurt us more.
When we're burned after giving a benefit of a doubt, we might doubt ourselves. Self-doubt leaves us open to more problems.
If we perceive enemies as friends, enemies will hurt us even if we don't realize it or refuse to believe.
If we overreact by perceiving friends as enemies, enemies win again. Enemies don't want us to have friends & allies.
Undermined By An Enemy - - & Myself?!
Years ago, I set a goal of posting at least one blog message per month. I was doing it until 2 months ago. I didn't post anything in February & March 2016.
I'm not asking for sympathy. Many people have expressed condolences about my parents having died.
It's another case of I could have, should have, would have, but I just didn't have enough presence of mind.
I was using my time & energy on my parents' issues & accepted what I thought was help.
Let That Be A Lesson To Me & You
I've been learning some lessons the hard way. I want to help you avoid or mitigate similar troubles.
If you notice anything like what I've described below, you should correct your situation as quickly as you can.
It's easy to be in denial, but in denial, we make ourselves even more vulnerable to trouble.
I've thought of the least offensive way to describe the circumstances (below) while still conveying some value.
Everything I've revealed about this problem below is already known by others.
I've shared private information only in private.
Part of my problem was sharing too much private information because I trusted the wrong person.
Those, who know the details, already realize what happened.
Admit Mistakes & Learn Lessons
We won't learn vital lessons if we deny our mistakes.
Though it's apt to hurt our pride, we need to acknowledge we were fooled.
As Doctor Phil MacGraw Ph.D & others tell us, we can't change what we don't/won't acknowledge.
We can't solve problems by refusing to acknowledge them.
What I've written below is an example of admitting more than just "Ok, so I made a mistake".
After acknowledging details, I can focus on what I should've done to avoid or mitigate being vulnerable to a manipulator.
Not Perfect Or Innocent
This message doesn't reveal any private details. The only highly personal & embarrassing details are about mistakes I've made.
I'm not claiming to be perfect or an innocent victim.
Blaming a victim is unjustified because nobody should victimize anybody.
We can change ourselves & our actions but we can't change victimizers.
By studying what was done, we might learn to avoid some victimizers by being aware of how we became vulnerable.
We can be safer, though we may never be totally safe from all trouble makers.
Was I A Willing Victim?
I was making excuses for somebody, who recently returned after years of an unexplained bitter absence.
Why did she pick this time to return? Did she just want to grab some money & other things? Or did she want more?
She helped for a little while, though she lives 20 miles away.
She helped to reduce the clutter my parents accumulated. She hauled away only what she wanted.
She added more problems than she removed.
I wanted to believe she was being helpful this time, but I wasn't cautious enough, so I trusted too easily.
By making excuses for her, I was also making excuses for why I trusted her despite my inner wisdom.
When People Reveal Their True Natures, Don't Try To Prove Them Wrong
Did I really believe she changed? Or did I only want to believe this new 'loyalty'?
Relatives warned me about this trouble maker - including my brother, who lives more than 900 miles away!
My brother "saw" the problem, why didn't I "see" it?
Because I didn't want it to be true.
I knew what the situation was.
I noticed the indications but I wanted to believe things aren't always what they seem.
She didn't help with legal, financial, hospice or death issues, she just wants to criticize me without knowing enough details.
Instead of helping, she's causing more trouble.
People reveal things about themselves, even if they try to avoid it.
Sometimes, people recognize liars & start to doubt lies.
Eventually, people's doubt decreases a liar's "credibility" until it's gone.
We often can't afford to wait for people recognize liars because by then, distrust & confusion increase.
That effect decreases or eliminates our effectiveness. It interferes with our ability to be productive.
Treat People As They Can Be & They'll What???
In this next quote from "The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: Powerful Lessons in Personal Change", Stephen R. Covey expressed what's true about some people.
"Treat a man as he is & he will remain as he is. Treat a man as he can & should be & he will become as he can & should be.�
If somebody wants to hurt you, s/he will hurt you no matter how you treat her/him.
Anybody, who refuses to change, is immune to favorable treatment.
Without external incentives or internal reasons, people are unlikely to make positive changes.
Causing any kind of pain for another is a sadistic reward (incentive) for anybody who's crooked enough to enjoy hurting people.
Good & bad habits are established, eliminated or replaced by repeated actions or resisting current habits.
Lazy Critics Don't Improve Anything
I've often offered this "family" member the chance to be involved or take charge.
She has enough time & energy to criticize & complain to others, so how could she not have enough time & energy to do what's right?
To cause more conflict, she told my parents some exaggerations & total lies. They were dying (in hospice care) & she was causing them more stress & pain!
She tried to get them to distrust me though they didn't know whom else to trust. She refused to manage their affairs, so she didn't help them at all.
I had a hard time in diagnosing the problem because she wasn't trying to replace me. She just wanted to hurt us.
Sometimes we might notice a change, but have no idea what the change is or why it happened.
To protect ourselves & others involved, we need to get their help to find the problems & do our best to fix those problems.
Yet my parents couldn't help me or themselves enough. The trouble maker knew that was the case.
Destructive Criticism
I want constructive criticism (advice), but in this situation, there was only destructive criticism.
Supposedly, critics know how to do what's right, yet they refuse to do anything positive.
They spout destructive criticism because they have no intention to do anything worthwhile.
A few critics will push people to do the wrong things! If we'd do what these critics demand, we'd make things worse.
They'll claim we did things the wrong way or deny telling us what to do.
They often strike when we're distracted & exhausted.
It's hard to make decisions when we're exhausted & that's the worst time to make decisions, but we have responsibilities.
Responsibilities include making decisions.
Meddlers make our responsibilities even harder, though they won't admit it.
Why Are These Jerks Here? - What Are They Doing Now?
People can set us back, especially if we choose to not notice & stop them.
We might be disappointed or betrayed by doctors, lawyers or accountants.
We could be sabotaged by clients, employees, partners &/or other members of organizations.
We might contribute to their sabotage by trusting them &/or not disrupting their negative efforts.
We don't have to be paranoid, just observant. Pay attention to what people say about themselves & others.
Notice what people do. Statements & actions have contextual meanings whether somebody is joking, sarcastic or serious.
You might notice inconsistencies among their statements, actions & what they don't do.
Respect & loyalty should be earned. Courtesy should be automatic unless it'd obviously be wasted on somebody.
We should be perceptive enough to know what's affecting us but avoid being overly sensitive (easily hurt).
It may seem less troublesome to avoid confronting trouble makers. Trouble makers may want us to avoid confronting them.
Deal With Jerks & Still Do Our Best
We need to realistic about what we demand of ourselves & what we let people demand from us.
Even if we won't admit it, we might hurt ourselves by trying to do too much or what we're not ready to do.
People, who love us, might give us constructive criticism & advice. Even if we think they don't understand, we should realize they have perspectives we wouldn't have without their help.
People, who know us, will probably notice what we deny about ourselves & our other inconsistencies.
Authenticity reduces our inconsistencies. [Please read the "Authenticity Side Bar". The link is below the title & link of this message.]
Whatever your issues may be, other people might notice the issues (potential & actual problems).
People know things about us, even if we don't know or deny those things.
To learn about how people know things about us, you can do an Internet search for "Johari Window".
Copyright 2016 Dennis S. Vogel All rights reserved.
When you compete against big businesses with big budgets you need powerful marketing strategies & tactics. You'll find them here-
https://thriving-small-businesses.blogspot.com/
http://www.voy.com/31049/
Subject: Authenticity Side Bar
This side bar can help you, your staff & family. This insight can help you understand what bothers some people & why.
"Self Matters Creating Your Life From The Inside Out" by Phillip C. McGraw Ph.D. (aka Dr. Phil) Chapter 2.
Anybody, who isn't authentic, is very likely to be insecure. Insecurity can be like building without a foundation or faulty foundation.
A building like that can be moved or knocked over by a relatively weak force (wind or flood) that would have less effect on a sturdy building.
People, who are unauthentic, endure a lot of stress because they're insecure to some degree (consciously &/or subconsciously).
In effect, they're trying to be who & what they are not. Being a fake is being insecure.
People, who are unauthentic, may've been like that so long, it's familiar. It's familiar enough to feel natural.
Even a comfort zone can be stressful. Trying to maintain a false personality often requires more energy than being authentic.
Being inauthentic is a negative combination of suppressing the real personality/identity & propping up the false identity.
Insults & perceived rejection hurt them a lot because they don't have a solid self-esteem or sense of self.
Secure people don't use a substitute ego. This is how I define/describe a "substitute ego".
Some people, who have weak egos, use somebody or something outside of themselves.
Analogy: (It's corny, but has a good point.) A platypus (aka duckbill) could try socializing with ducks because it has bill & webbed feet plus lays eggs.
A platypus could try socializing with beavers because they're mammals with similar tails.
If a platypus could try to be a duck or beaver, it would be unauthentic & less apt to be accepted by ducks or beavers.
If somebody asked, "Hey platypus, what are you today? Maybe you're a turtle."
That insecure platypus would have a problem.
To feel better that insecure platypus might say, "You'll never swim in this water. It's best water in the world!"
Having a perceived connection to "best water in the world" would be the platypus's substitute ego. S/he would feel deeply insulted if anybody made a negative comment about that water.
A secure platypus would realize that jerk has a problem in an addition to being a problem.
Copyright 2016 Dennis S. Vogel All rights reserved.
When you compete against big businesses with big budgets you need powerful marketing strategies & tactics. You'll find them here-
https://thriving-small-businesses.blogspot.com/
http://www.voy.com/31049/
This blog post was transferred from another service.
During the last few years, I've prioritized family issues & left other things undone. It increased when somebody returned to cause more conflict.
Benefit Of A Doubt
Up to a point, it's good to want to believe the best about imperfect people. In some cases, maybe they made a mistake &/or we misunderstood them.
We're still apt to be vulnerable if we figure they didn't mean to hurt us. Yet, manipulators use vulnerability against us. They hurt us more.
When we're burned after giving a benefit of a doubt, we might doubt ourselves. Self-doubt leaves us open to more problems.
If we perceive enemies as friends, enemies will hurt us even if we don't realize it or refuse to believe.
If we overreact by perceiving friends as enemies, enemies win again. Enemies don't want us to have friends & allies.
Undermined By An Enemy - - & Myself?!
Years ago, I set a goal of posting at least one blog message per month. I was doing it until 2 months ago. I didn't post anything in February & March 2016.
I'm not asking for sympathy. Many people have expressed condolences about my parents having died.
It's another case of I could have, should have, would have, but I just didn't have enough presence of mind.
I was using my time & energy on my parents' issues & accepted what I thought was help.
Let That Be A Lesson To Me & You
I've been learning some lessons the hard way. I want to help you avoid or mitigate similar troubles.
If you notice anything like what I've described below, you should correct your situation as quickly as you can.
It's easy to be in denial, but in denial, we make ourselves even more vulnerable to trouble.
I've thought of the least offensive way to describe the circumstances (below) while still conveying some value.
Everything I've revealed about this problem below is already known by others.
I've shared private information only in private.
Part of my problem was sharing too much private information because I trusted the wrong person.
Those, who know the details, already realize what happened.
Admit Mistakes & Learn Lessons
We won't learn vital lessons if we deny our mistakes.
Though it's apt to hurt our pride, we need to acknowledge we were fooled.
As Doctor Phil MacGraw Ph.D & others tell us, we can't change what we don't/won't acknowledge.
We can't solve problems by refusing to acknowledge them.
What I've written below is an example of admitting more than just "Ok, so I made a mistake".
After acknowledging details, I can focus on what I should've done to avoid or mitigate being vulnerable to a manipulator.
Not Perfect Or Innocent
This message doesn't reveal any private details. The only highly personal & embarrassing details are about mistakes I've made.
I'm not claiming to be perfect or an innocent victim.
Blaming a victim is unjustified because nobody should victimize anybody.
We can change ourselves & our actions but we can't change victimizers.
By studying what was done, we might learn to avoid some victimizers by being aware of how we became vulnerable.
We can be safer, though we may never be totally safe from all trouble makers.
Was I A Willing Victim?
I was making excuses for somebody, who recently returned after years of an unexplained bitter absence.
Why did she pick this time to return? Did she just want to grab some money & other things? Or did she want more?
She helped for a little while, though she lives 20 miles away.
She helped to reduce the clutter my parents accumulated. She hauled away only what she wanted.
She added more problems than she removed.
I wanted to believe she was being helpful this time, but I wasn't cautious enough, so I trusted too easily.
By making excuses for her, I was also making excuses for why I trusted her despite my inner wisdom.
When People Reveal Their True Natures, Don't Try To Prove Them Wrong
Did I really believe she changed? Or did I only want to believe this new 'loyalty'?
Relatives warned me about this trouble maker - including my brother, who lives more than 900 miles away!
My brother "saw" the problem, why didn't I "see" it?
Because I didn't want it to be true.
I knew what the situation was.
I noticed the indications but I wanted to believe things aren't always what they seem.
She didn't help with legal, financial, hospice or death issues, she just wants to criticize me without knowing enough details.
Instead of helping, she's causing more trouble.
People reveal things about themselves, even if they try to avoid it.
Sometimes, people recognize liars & start to doubt lies.
Eventually, people's doubt decreases a liar's "credibility" until it's gone.
We often can't afford to wait for people recognize liars because by then, distrust & confusion increase.
That effect decreases or eliminates our effectiveness. It interferes with our ability to be productive.
Treat People As They Can Be & They'll What???
In this next quote from "The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: Powerful Lessons in Personal Change", Stephen R. Covey expressed what's true about some people.
"Treat a man as he is & he will remain as he is. Treat a man as he can & should be & he will become as he can & should be.�
If somebody wants to hurt you, s/he will hurt you no matter how you treat her/him.
Anybody, who refuses to change, is immune to favorable treatment.
Without external incentives or internal reasons, people are unlikely to make positive changes.
Causing any kind of pain for another is a sadistic reward (incentive) for anybody who's crooked enough to enjoy hurting people.
Good & bad habits are established, eliminated or replaced by repeated actions or resisting current habits.
Lazy Critics Don't Improve Anything
I've often offered this "family" member the chance to be involved or take charge.
She has enough time & energy to criticize & complain to others, so how could she not have enough time & energy to do what's right?
To cause more conflict, she told my parents some exaggerations & total lies. They were dying (in hospice care) & she was causing them more stress & pain!
She tried to get them to distrust me though they didn't know whom else to trust. She refused to manage their affairs, so she didn't help them at all.
I had a hard time in diagnosing the problem because she wasn't trying to replace me. She just wanted to hurt us.
Sometimes we might notice a change, but have no idea what the change is or why it happened.
To protect ourselves & others involved, we need to get their help to find the problems & do our best to fix those problems.
Yet my parents couldn't help me or themselves enough. The trouble maker knew that was the case.
Destructive Criticism
I want constructive criticism (advice), but in this situation, there was only destructive criticism.
Supposedly, critics know how to do what's right, yet they refuse to do anything positive.
They spout destructive criticism because they have no intention to do anything worthwhile.
A few critics will push people to do the wrong things! If we'd do what these critics demand, we'd make things worse.
They'll claim we did things the wrong way or deny telling us what to do.
They often strike when we're distracted & exhausted.
It's hard to make decisions when we're exhausted & that's the worst time to make decisions, but we have responsibilities.
Responsibilities include making decisions.
Meddlers make our responsibilities even harder, though they won't admit it.
Why Are These Jerks Here? - What Are They Doing Now?
People can set us back, especially if we choose to not notice & stop them.
We might be disappointed or betrayed by doctors, lawyers or accountants.
We could be sabotaged by clients, employees, partners &/or other members of organizations.
We might contribute to their sabotage by trusting them &/or not disrupting their negative efforts.
We don't have to be paranoid, just observant. Pay attention to what people say about themselves & others.
Notice what people do. Statements & actions have contextual meanings whether somebody is joking, sarcastic or serious.
You might notice inconsistencies among their statements, actions & what they don't do.
Respect & loyalty should be earned. Courtesy should be automatic unless it'd obviously be wasted on somebody.
We should be perceptive enough to know what's affecting us but avoid being overly sensitive (easily hurt).
It may seem less troublesome to avoid confronting trouble makers. Trouble makers may want us to avoid confronting them.
Deal With Jerks & Still Do Our Best
We need to realistic about what we demand of ourselves & what we let people demand from us.
Even if we won't admit it, we might hurt ourselves by trying to do too much or what we're not ready to do.
People, who love us, might give us constructive criticism & advice. Even if we think they don't understand, we should realize they have perspectives we wouldn't have without their help.
People, who know us, will probably notice what we deny about ourselves & our other inconsistencies.
Authenticity reduces our inconsistencies. [Please read the "Authenticity Side Bar". The link is below the title & link of this message.]
Whatever your issues may be, other people might notice the issues (potential & actual problems).
People know things about us, even if we don't know or deny those things.
To learn about how people know things about us, you can do an Internet search for "Johari Window".
Copyright 2016 Dennis S. Vogel All rights reserved.
When you compete against big businesses with big budgets you need powerful marketing strategies & tactics. You'll find them here-
https://thriving-small-businesses.blogspot.com/
http://www.voy.com/31049/
Subject: Authenticity Side Bar
This side bar can help you, your staff & family. This insight can help you understand what bothers some people & why.
"Self Matters Creating Your Life From The Inside Out" by Phillip C. McGraw Ph.D. (aka Dr. Phil) Chapter 2.
Anybody, who isn't authentic, is very likely to be insecure. Insecurity can be like building without a foundation or faulty foundation.
A building like that can be moved or knocked over by a relatively weak force (wind or flood) that would have less effect on a sturdy building.
People, who are unauthentic, endure a lot of stress because they're insecure to some degree (consciously &/or subconsciously).
In effect, they're trying to be who & what they are not. Being a fake is being insecure.
People, who are unauthentic, may've been like that so long, it's familiar. It's familiar enough to feel natural.
Even a comfort zone can be stressful. Trying to maintain a false personality often requires more energy than being authentic.
Being inauthentic is a negative combination of suppressing the real personality/identity & propping up the false identity.
Insults & perceived rejection hurt them a lot because they don't have a solid self-esteem or sense of self.
Secure people don't use a substitute ego. This is how I define/describe a "substitute ego".
Some people, who have weak egos, use somebody or something outside of themselves.
Analogy: (It's corny, but has a good point.) A platypus (aka duckbill) could try socializing with ducks because it has bill & webbed feet plus lays eggs.
A platypus could try socializing with beavers because they're mammals with similar tails.
If a platypus could try to be a duck or beaver, it would be unauthentic & less apt to be accepted by ducks or beavers.
If somebody asked, "Hey platypus, what are you today? Maybe you're a turtle."
That insecure platypus would have a problem.
To feel better that insecure platypus might say, "You'll never swim in this water. It's best water in the world!"
Having a perceived connection to "best water in the world" would be the platypus's substitute ego. S/he would feel deeply insulted if anybody made a negative comment about that water.
A secure platypus would realize that jerk has a problem in an addition to being a problem.
Copyright 2016 Dennis S. Vogel All rights reserved.
When you compete against big businesses with big budgets you need powerful marketing strategies & tactics. You'll find them here-
https://thriving-small-businesses.blogspot.com/
http://www.voy.com/31049/
Hierarchy of Needs; Attention, Interest, Desire, Action Plus Related Criteria
Copyright 2016 Dennis S. Vogel All rights reserved.
This blog post was transferred from another service.
As much as you can, you should determine your business's role in helping people improve their lives.
You won't know every detail as I've listed below, yet you should have one or more composites (aggregated models). Based on those composites, you can determine how to best serve your clientele.
Founder of The Limited (clothing retail chains), Leslie Wexner used the public image of Cybil Shepard as a guide for determining needs & desires of women served by some of his stores. He didn't know much about Cybil Shepard, just what she was like in public.
For brevity, I didn't go deeply into any of factors. I just want to introduce these & possibly add more details in the future.
These factors are in a hierarchy.
Abraham Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs
Here are my interpretations of this Hierarchy of Needs related to marketing.
Fulfillment of each level above #1 requires a modicum of maintenance of the lower levels. It's hard to be fulfilled without optimum health & safety.
1. Biological & Physiological needs - People need to maintain a comfortable level of health or, if necessary, regain that level.
The most basic of these needs are breathing, drinking & eating.
2. Safety needs - People need protection from environmental & weather related hazards plus personal security based law & order, limits, stability, etc. The urges of fight or flight strongly apply at this level.
This is self-preservation, maintaining homeostasis & protecting what one considers to be important to herself/himself.
Note: Some are comfortable with risky behaviors &/or being self-destructive.
3. Belongingness & Love needs - These involve being cared about (somebody is personally concerned about me & I'm personally concerned about somebody) & many times being actively cared for by somebody. These are outer directed but also focused on how they affect somebody personally.
Light hearted example - I know there are people who are glad I'm alive - people in a life insurance company. That isn't an example of personal concern.
4. Esteem needs - These involve feeling valuable to oneself & to others at varying degrees. These are inner directed.
5. Self-Actualization needs - These urge people create & sustain value for others & oneself.
Personal Case Study
For brevity, I didn't go deeply into any of factors. I just want to introduce these & possibly add more details in the future.
These factors are in a hierarchy. How much emphasis to put into any of these depends on niche members' quality of life & responsiveness to marketing messages.
I'm violating some personal privacy to show how to apply this marketing wisdom.
Awareness - I know healing is more than dealing only with symptoms. After losing confidence in medical doctors, I reconsidered the validity of Chiropractic care. I studied it more & determined it's true - consistent nerve impulses are better for optimum health.
Priorities - I needed to improve my health, so I could improve my life & fulfill my responsibilities.
Value - I needed & wanted a better life, not just an existence.
Relevance - I know I needed to do more than just to address this problem. This problem has prevented progress in other aspects of my life. My problem was more than physical pain, I was declining.
Trust - Chiropractors are dedicated to the same goal; we agree about the importance of remedying & avoiding subluxations.
AIDA - When I heard about foot scans & inserts, I decided to get some.
Attention - I heard about foot trouble causing &/or aggravating other problems. It resonated (rang true). I recognized the validity.
Interest - After my parents went into an assisted living facility (& especially after they died), I was the only person willing & able to be in charge of their affairs. We couldn't afford to pay anybody to do what I did. I wasn't ready for the physical demands of dealing with their possessions. To inventory, sort & clean, I had more bending, squatting & reaching to do. My knees were getting far worse despite self administered adjustments.
Desire - I needed, wanted & deserved a better quality of life - vitality sums it up in one word. (This is a quick way to define the main issue.)
Action - By myself, the most I could do is maintain my current condition, but instead of maintaining, I was only decreasing my rate of decline.
Satisfaction - To a limited extent, I was improving with spinal self-adjustments, but I knew I'd need professional service soon. Yet, by doing what was necessary for my parents' estate, I was neglecting my personal needs. For full satisfaction, I needed Chiropractic care.
Another way to express the meaning of Abraham Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs:
Here are some stereotypical (slightly exaggerated) cat & dog traits. These are not necessarily true in every case.
Self-Actualization doesn't matter to animals, the other four levels are important. Cats are OK with self-actualization as long as it doesn't interfere with a person's cat centered duties.
As long as a human provides suitable food & water plus toys, physical affection & comfort (clean litter box) - including a warm lap, a cat will tolerate that person.
Dogs will risk death or injury to help people because belonging & love are important to them.
Cats realize the importance of risking death or injury, so they expect that from people.
Copyright 2016 Dennis S. Vogel All rights reserved.
When you compete against big businesses with big budgets you need powerful marketing strategies & tactics. You'll find them here-
https://thriving-small-businesses.blogspot.com/
http://www.voy.com/31049/
This blog post was transferred from another service.
As much as you can, you should determine your business's role in helping people improve their lives.
You won't know every detail as I've listed below, yet you should have one or more composites (aggregated models). Based on those composites, you can determine how to best serve your clientele.
Founder of The Limited (clothing retail chains), Leslie Wexner used the public image of Cybil Shepard as a guide for determining needs & desires of women served by some of his stores. He didn't know much about Cybil Shepard, just what she was like in public.
For brevity, I didn't go deeply into any of factors. I just want to introduce these & possibly add more details in the future.
These factors are in a hierarchy.
Abraham Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs
Here are my interpretations of this Hierarchy of Needs related to marketing.
Fulfillment of each level above #1 requires a modicum of maintenance of the lower levels. It's hard to be fulfilled without optimum health & safety.
1. Biological & Physiological needs - People need to maintain a comfortable level of health or, if necessary, regain that level.
The most basic of these needs are breathing, drinking & eating.
2. Safety needs - People need protection from environmental & weather related hazards plus personal security based law & order, limits, stability, etc. The urges of fight or flight strongly apply at this level.
This is self-preservation, maintaining homeostasis & protecting what one considers to be important to herself/himself.
Note: Some are comfortable with risky behaviors &/or being self-destructive.
3. Belongingness & Love needs - These involve being cared about (somebody is personally concerned about me & I'm personally concerned about somebody) & many times being actively cared for by somebody. These are outer directed but also focused on how they affect somebody personally.
Light hearted example - I know there are people who are glad I'm alive - people in a life insurance company. That isn't an example of personal concern.
4. Esteem needs - These involve feeling valuable to oneself & to others at varying degrees. These are inner directed.
5. Self-Actualization needs - These urge people create & sustain value for others & oneself.
Personal Case Study
For brevity, I didn't go deeply into any of factors. I just want to introduce these & possibly add more details in the future.
These factors are in a hierarchy. How much emphasis to put into any of these depends on niche members' quality of life & responsiveness to marketing messages.
I'm violating some personal privacy to show how to apply this marketing wisdom.
Awareness - I know healing is more than dealing only with symptoms. After losing confidence in medical doctors, I reconsidered the validity of Chiropractic care. I studied it more & determined it's true - consistent nerve impulses are better for optimum health.
Priorities - I needed to improve my health, so I could improve my life & fulfill my responsibilities.
Value - I needed & wanted a better life, not just an existence.
Relevance - I know I needed to do more than just to address this problem. This problem has prevented progress in other aspects of my life. My problem was more than physical pain, I was declining.
Trust - Chiropractors are dedicated to the same goal; we agree about the importance of remedying & avoiding subluxations.
AIDA - When I heard about foot scans & inserts, I decided to get some.
Attention - I heard about foot trouble causing &/or aggravating other problems. It resonated (rang true). I recognized the validity.
Interest - After my parents went into an assisted living facility (& especially after they died), I was the only person willing & able to be in charge of their affairs. We couldn't afford to pay anybody to do what I did. I wasn't ready for the physical demands of dealing with their possessions. To inventory, sort & clean, I had more bending, squatting & reaching to do. My knees were getting far worse despite self administered adjustments.
Desire - I needed, wanted & deserved a better quality of life - vitality sums it up in one word. (This is a quick way to define the main issue.)
Action - By myself, the most I could do is maintain my current condition, but instead of maintaining, I was only decreasing my rate of decline.
Satisfaction - To a limited extent, I was improving with spinal self-adjustments, but I knew I'd need professional service soon. Yet, by doing what was necessary for my parents' estate, I was neglecting my personal needs. For full satisfaction, I needed Chiropractic care.
Another way to express the meaning of Abraham Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs:
Here are some stereotypical (slightly exaggerated) cat & dog traits. These are not necessarily true in every case.
Self-Actualization doesn't matter to animals, the other four levels are important. Cats are OK with self-actualization as long as it doesn't interfere with a person's cat centered duties.
As long as a human provides suitable food & water plus toys, physical affection & comfort (clean litter box) - including a warm lap, a cat will tolerate that person.
Dogs will risk death or injury to help people because belonging & love are important to them.
Cats realize the importance of risking death or injury, so they expect that from people.
Copyright 2016 Dennis S. Vogel All rights reserved.
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