Month: August 2015

Recognize that innovation is innate

The bedrock of innovation is improvement, improvement is something we all do automatically. Even my dog, Pax, knows how to improve. We go through countless treat toys, toys that have a treat pouch or other means to embed or lock away a treat, something that makes getting the treat a bit harder than snapping it out of my hand. No…

Don’t specialize

Specializing means you’re focused on what you can do. The problem with this is a specialized focus often narrows your vision so you no longer see what your customer needs and instead only see what you can do. Often times that means you might be an expert at something nobody wants to buy. I’ve always disliked the question: “What do…

Innovation revolves around customer need

Without customers, a business wouldn’t exist. The purpose of a business is to create value for customers. It’s a creative capacity, not a consumptive capacity. Therefore, the right goals are goals that contribute something that the customer ultimately buys. Something that satisfies the customer. To make this tangible, imagine you were a part of a team that assembled a chair.…

Creating something from nothing

Jonathan found $7 while walking Pax a few days ago. Later that night, we passed a homeless couple near our house that I’ve routinely passed and never had any money to give to because I don’t keep it on me most of the time. I suggested we give the $7 to the homeless couple, we did. We felt good in…

Read a book during 9 to 5

When’s the last time you read a book, during 9 to 5? And not in a situation where you were searching for an explicit answer to something pressing at the moment. Also, not in a situation where someone else assigned the reading to you. When was the last time you decided to read a book to improve? Is it something…

Project by project to salary?

Someone asked recently “how do we shift from a project-by-project cash flow mentality and process to being able to pay a recurring salary”? That’s a common occurrence for many small firms. Here are two things that immediately came to mind: #1 – One thing to think about, if you want to switch your mentality – is to imagine what your…