Efficiently Ineffective

Efficiently Ineffective

If you’re anything like me, you’ve wanted to be more efficient in your
business. I went through a phase where I was analyzing every little
thing I did to make it more efficient. The trouble was that I didn’t
look at whether the task even mattered before streamlining it. I’ve
since developed the EASE checklist to know whether I should even
continue as action, let alone make it more efficient.

• • Effective
    Is this action effective? Does it get me the results that I want?
    If not, this is not an action to streamline — it is one to STOP
    doing! Now.
    Concentrate on doing the right things before doing things right.
  • Appropriate
    Is this action appropriate? Does it fit with how I want to be
    perceived?
    It doesn’t matter how effective an action is if it doesn’t fit your
    image and your values. No matter how cheap and easy it would be to buy
    200 million email addresses a business will never be the same once
    people label it a “dirty spammer.”
  • Sustainable
    Is this action sustainable? Can I continue doing this indefinitely?
    Every business has a limited amount of resources: time, money, energy,
    etc. If this action takes more time than available and would cost more
    to have a VA do it than will be made in return it is not sustainable.
    Becoming efficient at running a deficit is a recipe for disaster.
  • Efficient
    Now ask how can I make this action more efficient? What can I
    eliminate from this action and get the same results?
    And that is the challenge: maintaining the effectiveness,
    appropriateness, and sustainability as we “trim the fat” from our
    business activities. Because who really wants to be efficiently
    ineffective?

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    Free-Photos / Pixabay

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What Re-invents Your Business?

What are the things that make you add something to your business? Is it a post from Seth Godin? It is a great book you read? It is a session with your Virtual Assistant or Your Business Coach? It is customer service complaints or articles that you find on the web. It is ideas you get from other industries when you read their periodicals? Why do I ask? It all works.

I really want to know, post below!

Random rules for ideas worth spreading by Seth Godin

Random rules for ideas worth spreading
By Seth Godin
with commentary by Dr Wright

If you’ve got an idea worth spreading, I hope you’ll consider this random assortment of rules. Like all rules, some are made to be broken, but still…

You can name your idea anything you like, but a google-friendly name is always better than one that isn’t.

Everyone loves that I have the Wright Place- the flaw? It doesnt tell you what I do, so I use the tag line: Telling Your Entrepreneur Story
Don’t plan on appearing on a reality show as the best way to launch your idea.

You would be surprised how many people plan on using Shark Tank, The Apprentice and anything else to get attention. Use some good old fashion advertising and Publicity to YOUR fan club!
Waiting for inspiration is another way of saying that you’re stalling. You don’t wait for inspiration, you command it to appear.
Don’t poll your friends. It’s your art, not an election.
Never pay a non-lawyer who promises to get you a patent.
Avoid powerful people. Great ideas aren’t anointed, they spread through a groundswell of support.

• The hard part is finishing, so enjoy the starting part. Sometimes you have to add a finisher to your team.
  
• Powerful organizations adore the status quo, so expect no help from them if your idea challenges the very thing they adore.
• Figure out how long your idea will take to spread, and multiply by 4.
• Be prepared for the Dip.
• Seek out apostles, not partners. People who benefit from spreading your idea, not people who need to own it. This is a big idea
• Keep your overhead low and don’t quit your day job until your idea can absorb your time.
• Think big. Bigger than that.
• Are you a serial idea-starting person? If so, what can you change to end that cycle? The goal is to be an idea-shipping person.
• Try not to confuse confidence with delusion. Know how is going to pay for it and why.
• Prefer dry, useful but dull ideas to consumer-friendly ‘I would buy that’ sort of things. A lot less competition and a lot more upside in the long run.
• Pick a budget. Pick a ship date. Honor both. Don’t ignore either. No slippage, no overruns.
• Surround yourself with encouraging voices and incisive critics. It’s okay if they’re not the same people. Ignore both camps on occasion.
• Be grateful. Yes in this economy and with these customers!
• Rise up to the opportunity, and do the idea justice.

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