Never Get a ”Real„ Job (15 page)

Maintain strong self-discipline to avoid getting sidetracked. Should you find your mind wandering or your actions scattered, stop and ask yourself these four questions:

If you continuously find yourself getting easily distracted or jumping into other projects, you may be subconsciously trying to tell yourself something about your original concept.

“I can’t” and “No” are lazy answers
. Never accept “that’s just the way it is,” “that’s the way you have to do it,” or “that’s the only way it can be done,” as acceptable answers to
anything
. And don’t waste your time with anyone that believes these are real answers. Unlike the corporate world, wherein your every move is predefined by a script, entrepreneurs need only keep two core principles in mind: survival and ingenuity.

Whenever you face resistance of any kind, consider each of these three options to determine the best course of action:

You must operate in the world as it is meant to exist to you: without boundaries or borders. Don’t just spew clichés such as, “I think outside of the box”—execute and make things happen. Do anything except business as usual and never let anyone or anything stand in your way. Rid your mind of preconceived barriers, and know that every problem can be solved and every obstacle can be conquered with a little thought and good sense.

It’s
never
good enough
. As a start-up, you must always strive to get the most out of each component of your business, especially when it comes to your revenue-generation efforts.

I once consulted for a local fast-food restaurant that used a branded costumed character to hand out promotional flyers outside of its location. While the owners seemed thrilled with the character’s results, I was hardly impressed. After adding up the total campaign cost of the costume, flyers, and hourly manpower, I concluded that these “results” were actually bringing a loss to the business. Though the gimmick was garnering attention, it wasn’t driving traffic into the store to generate immediate revenue.

To remedy the situation, we added a few interactive components to the marketing tactic. Rather than simply handing out flyers, we put a sign around the character’s neck that said, “Text my pic to your friend and get free fries!” Each time someone snapped a photo of the character from their mobile device and texted it to a buddy, they received a coupon for free fries with the purchase of a large soft drink. This seemingly small modification produced substantial results.

We found that the average person who redeemed the coupon did so within a few minutes of receiving the voucher—not to mention the fact that they typically ended up buying more than large fries. We doubled the mascot’s lead generation potential and built buzz organically by banking on the randomness of the text message with the character’s photo to fuel conversations.

Always get the most out of every component of your business. Review each aspect of your company to determine how you can get better results.

Ask yourself “why.”
Ever have a little kid “why” you to death?

“It’s hot out today.”

“Why?”

“Because it’s 101 degrees.”

“Why?”

“Because there isn’t a cloud in the sky, we’re standing on asphalt, and the sun is out!”

“Why?”

This game can go on for hours, or until you finally can’t take it anymore and just cover the kid’s mouth. However, although the “why game” can be a mind-numbing and irritating activity, it can also be the difference between making a good decision and a bad decision. Ask yourself
why
you plan to engage in an activity or why something went wrong until you no longer have the ability to do so.

“Why am I behind schedule on a project?”

“Because my freelance Web designer quit mid-project.”

“Why did my freelance Web designer quit?”

“Because he said the project management was in total disarray.”

“Why was the project management in total disarray?”

“Because I never told my client the proper ways to send me feedback—and everything is scattered and unprioritized.”

Answer to the why exercise: “Next time, I need to properly communicate how the feedback and change order process will work with my clients before the start of the project.”

Think backward to move forward. Asking yourself “why” will help you better formulate hypotheses for your One-Paragraph Start-Up Plan, tighten up your Guess and Checklists, strengthen your ability to forecast a decision’s rock bottom, and get to the real root causes of problems facing your business.

Surprise, you’re on my team!
Whether you realize it or not, every part of your surroundings was created with a purpose for a specific reason supported by a calculated series of thoughts, actions, ideas, and decisions. Learning how to interpret your environment and decode these hidden messages will lead you to build a smarter, better-informed, more strategic start-up.

Everything is done by design. There is a reason certain things are on a store’s top shelf while others are on the bottom; a reason a company chooses one color palette over another for their packaging; and millions of other reasons that lead to countless other decisions. The question is—what decisions will lead others to the outcomes you’re seeking?

You’d be surprised by the sheer volumes of people you have access to who can help you figure it out. Even though you don’t realize it yet, you actually have access to the minds and insights of thousands of multimillion-dollar marketing gurus, top creative thinkers, and brilliant operational tacticians. And, the best part is, you don’t need to pay them! In fact, they don’t even know they’re working for you—granted, neither did you until a few seconds ago.

In all likelihood, there are tens of thousands of similar companies and entrepreneurial minds who have traveled your path before and you have the ability to examine their actions, decisions, and outcomes to find many answers to your questions. How did a similar company go about winning market share? How can you follow similar logic to garner comparable results on a smaller scale? What led a company that targets the same demographic to develop their branding? What decisions and economic factors led a competitor to bankruptcy?

Your “team” spent lots of time and money doing research and testing the market to give you access to the information. Now use this material to your advantage. Utilize top-dog brainpower to help you formulate your daily action steps. You’ve bought into them long enough; it’s time for them to return the favor.