9 Secrets Most Small Business Owners Overlook – Even the Pros

October 02, 2009 2:04 PM

1. Advance the conversation. Stop the bloodsucking and start the billing. Otherwise move on. Your time is too expensive. Are people picking your brain or renting it?

2. Assault the minute. Optimize your time. Ask yourself, “What are you wasting your time and energy on that isn’t making you any money?” That’ll change your agenda pretty quickly. Is what you’re doing right now consistent with your #1 goal?

3. Ban the bland. Fact: Nobody notices normal, nobody buys boring and nobody pays for average. So, stop waiting for permission to be remarkable and start becoming a living brochure of your own awesomeness. Are you the echo or the origin?

4. Buy the domain. The word “domain” comes from the Latin dominium, which means “property.” Thus: Owning the domain = Own the idea. How many million-dollar ideas are you sacrificing by not registering domains?

5. Discard the irrelevancies. If you assume people care about you, you lose. But, if you deliver your message with meaningful concrete immediacy, people will listen. And you will win. Are you willing to explore the negative space around your idea?

6. Dispel the stereotype. Prove to people that you’re the exact opposite OF, and the one exception TO, everyone else who does what you do. They’ll never work with anyone else again. How much money are you losing by perpetuating people’s prejudices?

7. Gain the nod. As in, “I like it, I get it and I’d like to try it.” As in, “This guy is good.” As in, “We should hire him.” Otherwise, the alternative is for customers to yell, “Next!” Are you unnextable?

8. Lose the fads. Anchor your expertise in that which is timeless. Your Thought Leadership position will be stronger, more relevant, more credible and more sustainable. Will your intellectual asset become an endangered species?

9. Spend the money. Don’t cheap out. It will be worth the cost when people start to call it beautiful. Is your teenage daughter (really) the best person to be redesigning your website?

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Scott Ginsberg
That Guy with the Nametag
Author, Speaker, Coach, Entrepreneur
[email protected]

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