Reflections

This post is part of the series on starting a small business.

So far we have talked about getting some ideas together for starting a small business, and about what to do in your first meeting. Now that you have some idea of what you want to do, it’s important to figure out how you are different from what is already out there. What makes what you are bringing to market special? Why should a customer choose your product or service over what someone else already offers, or is planning to offer soon? Thinking about this, or discussing it with your partners, can bring further focus to your offering, and can sometimes prompt a change in strategy.

The statement defining how you are different from everyone else out there, and especially focusing on the value you provide to your customer, is often called the Value Proposition. This often follows from the 3C and 4P analysis standard in marketing (3Cs: Customer, Competitors, Company; 4Ps: Product, Price, Placement, Promotion, to be discussed in more depth in future posts), but is a vital step that can require some thought and further discussion. It can take some time to get to the place where you can focus your product or service on something useful for your customers. Don’t rush! Take some time to discuss it, and then let each partner mull over it for a while before finally landing on something.

Here are some of the questions you are trying to answer in having this discussion with your partners and formulating this statement.

• What makes your product or service better than what’s already available?
• Why would a customer switch to your product or service if they are using those of your competitors?
• If you were “pitching” to an obstinate customer, how would you convince them that they need your product or service?
• What value can you offer that no other company can?

If you really have trouble answering these questions, you may want to reconsider whether you are going to market with the right product or service. Maybe it’s time to adjust the focus of your strategy so you can easily explain how what you are doing is useful to your customers.

Tags: Management, Small Business // Add Comment »

Using “Yes, and…” during brainstorming

One of the cardinal rules of Improv is that you should never say “No” to another performer. “No” is a stop sign. “No” means rejection of an idea or a person. “No” inhibits creativity and innovation, which often rely on comfort and an open mind. While brainstorming, it is vital that each of the participants contributes without second-guessing their contribution. They must trust that the group will take what they have to say and will build on it, or at least will not laugh at it. Using the “Yes, and…” mentality, rather than the “No” mentality while generating ideas, being creative, or solving problems, ensures that everyone can make a contribution to the conversation, no matter how off-the-wall. You never know which random idea will spur another random idea, which will then cause someone to happen upon the best solution. “Yes, and…”

Tags: Management // 2 Comments »

A big mistake business partners can make during their first meeting is trying to accomplish too much in what is just the first of many planning meetings. So what should you try to get done in your first meeting?

1. Discuss what each of the business partners has to offer, what unique skills or experience do they bring to the table?
2. Do these unique skills come together in such a way that you can offer something useful and special to offer?
3. Brainstorm to bring out possible business ideas. Keep your minds open!
4. List some areas for further research and call it a day.

Each of you has unique skills and experience

Each person in this venture brings unique skills and experience to the table. Even if you are twins who have worked side-by-side all of your lives, you have different ways of thinking about things and of approaching problems (maybe not in the case of twins who are attached at the hip, so if this is your situation, you may want to find another business partner). So one of the most important things to do in this first meeting is for each partner to discuss what skills they can bring to the team. This is not an exercise in gloating, rather it leads to the next discussion point.

Once each member of the newly formed team has aired their experience, and maybe even skills they are interested in developing further with this experience, it is time to take the list of skills on offer and try to mix them in a way that will offer something unique to the world. Your team may not be interested in creating something groundbreaking, rather you may simply come up with a better way to mix existing products or services in such a way that adds value for your customers. The key here is to look for a combination of your skills, ideas, and interests; when brought together these combination may lead you to something that’s vitally useful to your customers. Of course, if you have some groundbreaking idea that you want to press, move on to the next steps! But don’t feel like you have to have groundbreaking ideas to form a successful business.

One great way to develop a list of possible combinations of these skills, ideas, and interests is to brainstorm. Ideally, brainstorming should occur at a separate time and maybe even a separate place, so that the ideas flow and you are not constrained by what may have been more constrained idea-generation up to this point. However, assuming you don’t have a great deal of time to spend getting things off the ground, it would probably be nearly as effective for you to just spend 5 minutes thinking of the possible ways you can bring your differences together to form a new business. Your goal should be to have at least 3 different ideas, even if they are variations on the same theme. This will give you something to hone as you move into further research, rather than making you feel like you have only one option available to you.

The last step in your first meeting is to look at all that you have discussed and determine which areas require more research. You will certainly want to look into competitors and analyze how what they offer is different from what you are considering offering. You will probably also want to learn more about the potential customers for your product or service. Make a list of the different areas requiring more research, distribute the work among the different partners, and call it a day!

Tags: Small Business // Add Comment »

Though most people probably think of using negotiation tactics during formal negotiations, the following strategies can be used in any situation where there is a disagreement.

1. Reduce tension with time

If discussions are getting heated, considering separating the parties for a while so that tempers can cool. When both parties return, make sure each party is actually listening to what the other one is saying, and at least acknowledging that the other side has a viewpoint, even if there isn’t agreement on its importance. If one of the parties lets off some steam in the meeting by being aggressive or making personal attacks, sometimes the best response is to just let it go; occasionally, that release of tension is all that’s required for negotiations to progress.

2. Understand the other party’s perspective

Enhancing communication through ensuring that each side understands the other’s perspective can be an effective way to find a negotiated solution. One party can use role-reversal before negotiations begin by assigning a few people in the group to play the part of the other party. This will allow one side to more fully understand the other party’s perspective, and will potentially enable that side to come to the table with a more balanced solution.

3. Limit the number of issues being discussed

There are three ways to limit the number of issues being discussed in a negotiation. First, very contentious issues can be tabled for later discussion, allowing agreements to be reached on the less controversial issues first. Secondly, complex issues can be broken up into smaller pieces, allowing different aspects of the larger issue to be agreed upon separately. Finally, the number of people involved in the negotiations can be reduced, with key stakeholders, or representatives, being selected to develop a solution.

4. Establish common ground

Establishing common ground, or appealing to a common goal, can be a very effective way to ensure that the parties involved keep the negotiations in context. If the parties work for a single organization, they can appeal to the common goal of working for the betterment of the organization, or if a company is negotiating with a vendor, they are likely both interested in creating a high-quality product. This appeal to a higher-cause can help keep negotiations in perspective, helping the parties focus on the goal rather than the conflict.

5. Sweeten the deal

If one of the parties is in a position of power over the other, and negotiations are stalled, it may be time for the party in power to sweeten the deal. Sometimes giving a little bit can go a long way towards showing the other party that the one in power is not trying to take advantage of the situation, and is willing to give up a little to reach a mutually acceptable solution.

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Believe it or not, I have never owned a Mac. I know, it sounds pretty crazy (if you are a mac user it does, anyway), but I have always just ended up using Window’s-based PCs. I have always considered getting a mac, but early on was turned away by having to choose between a mac world, and a PC one. Then, when it became easy to open windows files within a mac, I was turned away by the price. So, when I started the Fully-Employed MBA program at the UCLA Anderson School a little less than a year ago, I decided to buy a Sony Vaio laptop.

This is the second Sony Vaio I have owned, and I was excited to load it with Vista, Office 2007, and all sort of other closed and open-source programs I have become accustomed to using throughout the years. I really was very excited to have a new toy. After using that laptop for a while, I began to discover some of the quirks that come with Vista, and some of the random crashes as I pulled all of my old macros forward into Excel, or just used a sequence of key-strokes or clicks that Vista did not like. But in general, I was pretty happy with the laptop, though I become increasingly nervous that it would just stop working one day, leaving me stuck before a final exam or final paper that was loaded on it.

After I started class, I noticed that a lot of my classmates had MacBooks or PowerBooks. I didn’t think much of it, but slowly noticed that these people really did love their macs. As a long-term, power PC user, you are given to thinking of macs as only good for those “creative” people (it is very sad that we don’t think people in business should be “creative”, but that’s a topic for another post which will be coming soon). These mac users in my class were not necessarily “creatives”, including people who were programmers, lawyers, finance professionals, and many others. After hearing about all the things they loved about their macs, and covering up for the little quirks of my Vista Vaio, I started to get a bit jealous of their ease and confidence in their computer.

And so it was with this all in mind that, still vowing to use that Vaio for the next two years while I am in school, I decided to buy a brilliantly white MacBook to see if I should make the switch to mac, or if I should just keep both running for the near future. I am actually writing this post on my brilliantly white yet-to-be-named MacBook, and even though I have only been using it for only five days, I am quickly able to see why people love their macs.

The niceties I have noticed as a new Mac owner

1. It really doesn’t crash. Sure, I’ve owned it for less than a week, but it really does feel a lot less quirky than my Vista laptop did, even from the first day.

2. This is a really power-conscious laptop. I am comfortable going for 4 hours without batteries, and could probably eek out quite a bit more if I really needed to. My Vista Vaio laptop, even with the extended battery that wreaks havoc on the once-sexy form factor, I am lucky if I can get much past 3 hours. And, again, that is with the rather expensive extended battery.

3. Though it takes about the same time to go to sleep, the mac log-in dialog box appears almost immediately after I open the screen back up. It really is rather amazing, especially compared to my Vista Vaio, which has seen me trying to look busy doing something else as a mac user sits next to me, staring at my laptop, wondering why it is taking so long to wake up.

4. When it is asleep, it doesn’t eat through all the charge the batteries have to offer. True, the mac does go through about 1% each hour or two while sleeping, but my vaio would go through at least double that, and would be sluggish when first waking up from a 6+ hour slumber (which means it’s pretty much sluggish every morning).

5. They thought of all the little things. The magnetic plug that detaches if someone trips over it, saving you from having to scrape the pieces of your laptop off the dirty floor, is sheer genius. I mean really, brilliant simplicity. The fan’s intake and exhaust in the back of the laptop, leaving the bottom sealed so that you don’t suck crumbs and dust into the bottom of the machine and don’t melt your legs when, god forbid, you put your laptop on your lap; another act of design brilliance.

6. Thought I don’t like the somewhat plastic look of the white one as much as I like the black one, it really is quite striking. Apple really does know how to make things look nice. You pay for it, but you also make a statement in the process.

The Summary

So those are my inital thoughts on my MacBook. At five days in, I really couldn’t be much happier with it. I will post again in a couple of week and let you know what I think then, but for right now, I might just be turning into a hybrid Mac-PC user. I don’t think I can really say that I’m just PC anymore.

If you have never owned one, check out a Mac. You may just end up loving yours as much as I am beginning to love mine.

Tags: Technology // 1 Comment »

The following poor decision-making practices were identified by the authors of Hard Facts, Dangerous Half-Truths, and Total Nonsense.

Casual Benchmarking

Often companies will benchmark against practices at their competitors, and will imitate the activities that seem successful at another corporation. However, before imitating other’s practices, or comparing one’s own company to another, management should ask if what is being compared to is actually driving the success of the competitor. Before benchmarking against, or attempting to imitate, a specific practice, management should ask itself whether it is logical that the practice in question has contributed to the desired results. Sometimes you can’t just imitate how your competitor works, but actually have to think they way they do to achieve the same results..

Doing What (Seems to Have) Worked Before

Even though a particular strategy may have worked in the past, or in another company, it does not mean the strategy is appropriate for the current situation in this company. Before implementing something that worked at a different company, management needs to consider whether that strategy will fit with the current situation and the corporate culture.

Following Deeply Held (Unexamined) Beliefs

There are many deeply held beliefs in corporations that have simply become standard practice, but may not actually be contributing to the company’s success. For example, it is often assumed that issuing stock options to employees engenders a sense of responsibility for the company in those employees. However, some research has shown that the issuance of stock options provides incentives for executives to focus on short-term earnings reports, and does not appreciably increase employee accountability. Management must always question why certain things are being done to ensure that there is no wasted effort on activities that make no positive contribution. In some cases, the company is doing well despite these activities, not because of them!

Tags: Management, Uncategorized // 1 Comment »

I’ve now been using SugarSync’s multi-computer sync software for about three days now, and, after spending some time playing with it, I have to say I love it! There are some things I recommend they improve upon, but all-in-all after you start using it you’ll wonder how you ever got along before SugarSync.

What it does

As previously mentioned, SugarSync works in the background to sync folders you select (generally your My Documents folder, but it’s up to you) to their server. These files can then be synced to other PC or Mac systems running the local sync software. You can download the local software onto different machines and easily decide what gets uploaded to the server from that machine, and what to download from other machines on to this one. If you are only interested in files getting backed-up on the server, but don’t want to download specific files to a given computer, you can easily decide what to exclude, and what to include, on each machine. You can also run in Lite sync mode, the default, which will index files that are on the server and allow you to view the folder structure and files within each folder, but will only download them on demand through the client software. But you can easily decide to just run a constant sync, and each time you save a file you are working on, the SugarSync software will update the copy on their servers.

You can also access your files from anywhere through a website assigned to you by SugarSync, which allows you to show your friend those pictures you forgot to upload to flickr, or to print that document you forgot to bring with you from any computer with internet access. Currently the client software is available for Mac and PC, but not for Linux. Although it would be great to have a client that would also run on Linux, in the meanwhile you can simply use a browser to get to all of your files, though you will have to upload any modified versions so that they sync back to your other computers. I tested working with a file on my personal laptop, and then opening it on my work laptop, making a quick change there, and then reopening it on my personal laptop. The updated versions were synced in a matter of moments; rather impressive.

You can also load client software onto your mobile phone (I ran mine on a Moto Q with Windows Mobile 6 software). I found the mobile software a little quirky, but it worked with a little coaxing and I could quickly view the pictures I took on my phone from any of my synced computers, or from any browser window. You do have to initiate the sync on your phones manually, but this likely saves power on our power-hungry phones, so I was fine with the trade-off.

And now for the drawbacks

I have fallen in love with this tool, but there are some drawbacks that are worth mentioning. I ended up removing the mobile software from my phone because you could simply open the software and it would take you to the browser on your mobile phone and directly into the website with all of your files. I tried logging out of the site on my phone to see if it would prompt me for my password, and it still logged me directly into my files from the mobile sync software. This made me particularly nervous because if someone steals my phone, they will not only have access to all of the e-mail, contacts, and pictures stored on my phone, but could also manage to gain access to all of the files from My Documents if they figure out what the software is before I have time to change my password. A major security risk, and a major concern.

Additionally, I could not locate a place to force a password prompt within the preference screens on the local sync software, nor could I locate this within the site itself. As I mentioned above, I installed the sync software on my work computer, but don’t necessarily want anyone who can access that computer to be able to access all of my files. I still have to log-in with the IT administrator password to see if they would be able to do this successfully, but it would be nice to specify different levels of security on each machine, including forcing a password prompt. It is certainly the case that one has to log into the machine to be able to gain access to SugarSync, but I would appreciate the peace of mind that would come along with a password prompt on machines of my choosing.

Should you try it out?

Definitely! I plan to keep using it, and suspect that they will make some upgrades to their software to take device-level security into account. They advertise a free 45 day trail with 10GB, so I recommend you try it out so you can fall in love with it for yourself!

Tags: Business and Technology, Uncategorized // Add Comment »

As mobility and seamless communications become part of our every day work lives, we will begin to notice that there are a lot of empty cubes and offices in our office buildings. While I was working at Accenture many years ago, they implemented a system by which we would simply reserve space for those days that we were going to be in the office. They even had mobile file cabinets, that you could lock, and that would show up in your space when you were in the office. For a company filled with consultants in client-facing roles, it was a brilliant move, reducing the office space requirements dramatically while increasing satisfaction as people felt like they had a little more freedom.

As other companies begin to see that the office spaces that take up expensive real-estate are not being used a certain percentage of the time because their workers are now mobile (and more effective, of course) and can still easily be reached, they will begin to realize that the hotelling, or hotspacing option is one that could work for a subset of the workforces.

Hotelling, also called hotspacing, allows what I describe above: workers go through a reservation system to hold office space for the days they are going to be in the office. It’s easy to reserve the same space over many days, though you can’t leave anything in the shared space over night. You can, however, put things in your mobile file cabinet which will magically appear in whichever room you have reserved for the day.

I would expect this trend to only slowly lead to changes in large offices, though we could see further changes within smaller companies; many have already made this switch, or have eschewed offices altogether in favor of reduced overhead and increased worker freedom. There are also certainly instances when it won’t make sense for companies to make this change. For those groups that deal with physical documentation, or need to be present to interact with each other constantly throughout the day, the move to distributed workers might not make much sense. But for those groups or companies with a preponderance of technologically savvy information workers, there has likely already been a push towards increased freedom. It might, then, be time to make to move to hotspacing.

What do you need to do to make hotspacing effective?

1. Develop a simple system for people to reserve space and forward their phones to that space (doing this automatically can win extra points).
2. Make sure facilities staff is available to prepare these spaces at the beginning of the day, moving the traveling cabinets, docking stations, larger monitors (potentially available upon request), etc. to reserved spaces before the worker arrives.
3. Create some general guidelines, and some policies, so that people develop good habits in reserving spaces. These should include: no squatting rules, calling to cancel if you don’t need a reserved space, etc.
4. Smaller break-out spaces, and random outcroppings of comfortable chairs, should also be provided so workers can easily hold ad-hoc meetings without having to reserve full conference rooms. This would also provide space to workers who are only planning to be in the office for a few hours on a given day.
5. If it makes sense for teams to be within physical proximity at some point during the week, allow them to reserve blocks of space every week on specific days, or between specific hours on certain days.

The point here is providing flexibility. As it becomes increasingly easy to stay connected to the cloud, we have the opportunity to derive benefits from improvements in technology. Though the management challenges partially addressed in some of my other Information Worker of the Future articles will certainly be present as some companies change to hotspacing or hotelling, the potential gains are worth the experimentation.

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Those of us who frequently switch between different laptops (you know you’re one of us!) have always had to make sure that the files we need for that day are on the laptop we are bringing with us. Well, we finally have a solution that will work for us! I just got a message from one of the many mailing lists I am on at the Anderson School at UCLA, and they sent us a trial offer to SugarSync, which actively syncs selected folders across multiple computers. I recommend checking out the demo to see it in action, and you can try out the free trial offer to see if it is right for you. I just signed up for the free trial, so I’ll post my thoughts on how it’s working out after I have been using it for a while.

Kudos on the marketing!

As a separate point, whoever had the brilliant idea of coming up with a special offer for MBA students deserves a raise. Those of us who are in school (in a part-time program while also working full-time, in my case), could certainly use a tool like this. And, since we tend to spread news of useful software, we’re a good group to target. Kudos, SugarSync. Now let’s see if I like how it works!

Clearing the way to Ultralight Notebooks?

It will also be very interesting to see the affect this type of sync software has on Ultralight Notebooks, especially those that rely on steady state drives and, at least for now, offer less local storage. One of my concerns while considering the Eee PC and some of the other Ultralight Notebooks now reaching the market is that I wouldn’t either have to carry around an additional thumb-drive so I could access my files and enjoy the benefits of a solid state disk, or I would have to add significantly to the cost and heat-exhaust by getting a hard disk. SugarSync, and similar solutions which are likely on the way or already available, may clear the way to enjoying the portability of these very portable machines, allowing us to access our files through a browser when needed.

Tags: Business and Technology // 1 Comment »

From the Blackberry to seamless and intelligent communications

One specific change that will affect the information worker of the future, and which was alluded to in my last IWF post about mobility, is the rise in seamless, and increasingly intelligent, communications. Most of us who are constantly “plugged in” are familiar with the short buzz or beep that pulls us away from whatever we are currently doing and into the world that is our phones. Whether you are using a Blackberry, Windows Mobile Device, iPhone, or just a normal (”classic?”) cell-phone, you are likely to receive text messages and/or e-mails, if only occasionally. Many of us have even picked up a ringing phone, or viewed a message on our little windows to the internet, and been angry at the person initiating contact for contacting us at such an inopportune time. We know that it’s ridiculous because there is no way this person could have known where we are and if we’re busy (that’s probably what they’re calling to find out, in fact), but we let our frustration at having forgotten to silence our phones drift across the line and become focused on our poor friend.

So what is to be done? We have seen the beginnings of what is turning into more “sensitive” communication devices. Since I also pull my calendar onto my phone, I can set the ringer to automatic, which will change my ring setting to vibrate when my calendar shows that I am busy. A great start! Grand Central and Ribbit are both focused on allowing us to decide where our phones will ring, and when we would even like to receive calls. Though many of us still anxiously await their release from the wonderful world of beta, they are likely just the start of a great trend.

Here’s the basic functionality:

• Control where your calls go, specifying individuals to go to certain phones and identifying different times to receive calls at certain numbers.
• Look at your voicemail on the web, rather than just from your phone. You can keep these files for as long as you want, and will eventually just be able to view transcripts of them instead of having to just listen to the message.
• Give people just one number that you can keep forever (or until they start charging you too much and you have to try to switch to another service), which you can then use to ring whatever numbers you want.

We can also expect more sensitivity in our communications devices. Phones that will be able to sense when we are busy, and will send calls straight to voice mail. Computers that will be able to tell when we are finally being productive, and will put a hold on our new message notifications, and maybe even our IM conversations, until we start to lose focus and can use the break from what we’re doing.

So what do all of this mean for the information worker of the future?

It means that much more freedom will be available to information workers, but also that they’ll be able to control when they pull the plug on their connectivity by sending people directly to voice-mail or by preventing anything but the most urgent message from getting through. We’ll also increase our productivity, but will have that many more “Preferences” and options to configure when we receive a new device or software solution. Increased productivity, more control over our work and home lives, and portability? What more can you ask for?

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