Sometimes it's about the journey

I'll admit it. I'm an impatient person. I like to get to where I'm going as quickly as possible. That's true for my Vision, my goals, and typically - even my road trips. So I was not initially excited when my wife "kidnapped" me this past week and told me we were going on a road trip.

Work has been stressful for awhile, and I've probably been less jovial than usual. Our 27th wedding anniversary is coming up, and she told me that we were going to escape life for a few days and head out to Gatlinburg, TN. I couldn't imagine what could be in Gatlinburg that was more important than what I was facing at work, but she persisted and we went.

My first reaction was to pull up Google Maps and determine the most direct route to get there. But along the way she insisted that we leave the Interstate and just drive through the countryside. Despite my discomfort in doing this, I went along with her request. And after awhile, it occurred to me that it was the journey that was important in this case. The experience of getting there. We stopped at a winery, toured a distillery and even ate at the birthplace of KFC.

Unlike most things I do in life, there was no agenda, no start or finish time and no due dates. It was just a time to be together and to take in the scenery. Why is it that this type of experience is so rare in our time-stressed culture? I have European friends that regularly take the entire month of August to just explore a new country or region. But we're so busy being busy that it seldom occurs to us.

We work with consumers all the time. They all complain that there is not enough time in the day to get everything done. Products that make them more efficient are highly desired, as they imagine gaining more free time through the use of them. In reality, if we could free up 30% of a person's time, how long would it stay unstructured?

Maybe the biggest unmet need people have is not simply a new product, but a change in perspective. Maybe we should focus on helping more people just enjoy the journey...

What is your account balance?

It's an interesting time to be a small business owner. The economy remains slow, spending is tight, paying clients are few and far between. And yet, it's times like these where you involuntarily begin to reap what you've sown. You see the investment that you've made in relationships coming back to you (either positively or negatively).

I had a tough conversation with our landlord this morning. I explained that cash flow is tight, and while we've done all the belt-tightening we can we're still looking at a couple of very lean months in the immediate future. I wasn't sure how he was going to take it, but he was more than willing to work out a win-win solution that helps us in the near term, while protecting his interest in the long term. He is a small-business man himself, appreciates the nature of our business and understands the value in keeping us both afloat.

Not surprisingly, I had a similar conversation with my staff. They tell me that they buy into our direction and are willing to make near term sacrifices for the long-term good of both themselves and the company. I am blessed to have a staff that is willing to reduce their pay now, while trying to drum up business for the future. In talking with other small business owners, I realize this is not the norm.

Even some of our clients have gone above and beyond to find opportunities to pay us, strictly to keep us in business. They realize it is in their best interest to have us around when the economy recovers, so they're helping us now.

My takeaway from this is simple - a tough economy really challenges more than your retirement fund. The "return" you get now is dependent on the investment in relationships that you made during the good times. Those whom you invested in are there for you now. Those that you didn't, have already either vanished, or are now calling in their chips.

You can't wait until you are in crisis mode to inspire your employees. You can't suddenly call on a client to help you out, if you've been only a vendor in their eyes. You can't expect a landlord to delay a few months of rent payment if he doesn't even know you by name. The time to do these things are when business is going smoothly.

If life is like a giant bank account, I'm certainly making a lot of withdrawals these days. Thank God I focused on deposits when things were better...

Consumer Transparency

Social Networks are changing the way we present ourselves and the way that we interact with others. It was not that long ago that we "presented" the image that we wanted to portray in a given situation. We had our "work-self", our "family-self", our "church-self, our "country-club-self", etc. Because each of these contexts were relatively self-contained, the persona that we conveyed could be (in some cases) quite different.

In the 1990's team-building became a big drive in corporate cultures. The thinking was that if you could get to know a person outside of a work setting, you would have a new appreciation for that person. In other words, if you came to see your co-worker as a devoted parent, a loving spouse or a community volunteer you could come to appreciate that person in a more holistic way. In fact, you might even detect skills that are not currently utilized in the work place and be able to put them to good use.

But today, more and more people are putting their entire lives on display for all to see. Rather than separating and projecting multiple images, people are becoming comfortable being who they are and not trying to be who people expect them to be.

When it comes to understanding consumers in the marketplace, we need to take this perspective into consideration. It is great to understand a person's opinion about a given concept or idea. It's even better to watch how they interact with a product to surface their unspoken needs. But how well will that predict their buying habits? What role do their political views play in their day to day lives? How about their spiritual nature? How much better could we do in developing new products if we understood the "whole person" that we were targeting?

It appears that people are putting their entire lives on display through twitter, facebook, myspace and other networks, depicting themselves as a "total person" with many aspects and attributes. That's the perspective that product & service suppliers must begin to consider when developing new offerings.

Business is like a kidney stone...

I woke up yesterday with back pain. While I've had a sore back before, this was different. I assumed I had "slept wrong" and that was the culprit. But as the day progressed I began to wonder if it was actually something else. I've watched my wife endure several bouts of kidney stones, and based on the pain she experienced, it was clear to me that this was not something that I wanted to emulate. So, I searched the internet to see if my condition is in fact kidney-stone based. I found the following image:

Granted, the body in this illustration is shaped differently than my own (thank goodness) and the marked pain is on the opposite side than I am experiencing. However, this (along with the accompanying text) was sufficient to convince me what I am in for. A quick call to my Dr. and I learned that there is nothing they can do to help me; I just have to drink lots of water and let it pass. They did write me a prescription for Vicadin (which probably makes me think this blog entry is much more clever than it really is), which was very helpful. They also asked me to "capture" the stone if at all possible, so they can see what caused it. That should be no problem, since the same web site that helped me to self diagnose, shows me how to capture the stone...

Once again, I can see where I will have to use some imagination to develop the tactics specific to my situation.

I woke up this morning feeling much better. I foolishly assumed that I must have passed the thing last night and I was over the hurdle. Guess what, mid-morning and the pain was completely back...

And that really does make me think of the current state of many businesses.

• There's much pain to be endured at the moment, but there's hope in sight.
• If we can survive the present the future holds great promise.
• There have been some false moments of hope, only to find that we still had a ways to go.

As my mother always used to say, "this too shall pass". In the meantime, pass the Vicadin.

A new world of insight

I've spent my career trying to understand consumers, their lifestyles, their needs and their passions. I've watched people play paintball, take showers, plant gardens and cook gourmet meals. I've traveled the world to understand how consumers in different cultures differ in their desires and preferences.

But last week, I had a brand new experience. I spent 8 days in northern Haiti. Our charge was to capture video that could be used by a mission group to promote their ministry, solicit donations and encourage child sponsorships. Unlike past international trips, I didn't stay in a 5 star hotel and venture from my air conditioned cab into a recruited home.

This was immersion. We worked side by side with locals, conducted interviews with people that had no clothing in villages that had neither electricity nor running water. We traveled in a taptap, essentially an open bed truck with a steel insert for passengers to hang onto.

Haiti is the poorest nation in the Western Hemisphere. Having spent a lot of time in India, I've seen poverty before, but never in such a beautiful setting. Haiti reminded me a lot of Hawaii, or of many of the other Caribbean islands, but with poverty spread all across it.

In spite of the poverty, I've never encountered a culture so warm and friendly as what the Haitians were. As we walked or rode around, children would run out to wave yelling "Hey Blanc, Hey Blanc" - translating to Hello White.

It was both sad and beautiful at the same time. Seeing children with nothing that could laugh, smile and play with stones made me realize how spoiled our culture truly is. Our nation is in a panic because our 401k's have dropped in value. In Haiti, people wonder when they will eat again.

I spoke with a couple of civic leaders about the state of their nation. They made a comment to me that they truly appreciate what America has done for Haiti, and that the generosity of money has been considerable. However, if Haiti is to ever rise out of it's current state, it's time to do more than send money. It's time to send "teachers". People that can teach people how to farm, how to run a city, how to teach children, how to run a small business.

It will only be through education that the economy will be able to turn around and begin to grow from it's current third-world status.

I know in my own life it's often easier to open the checkbook and write a check to a good cause than it is to commit my personal time and energy to something. But checks alone are not going to improve our world. This was my first trip of this nature. I've got a feeling, it won't be my last.

Business Lessons from the Garden

I've planted a garden this year in my back yard. It's the first year I've had a garden at this house, and the first I've attempted in years. As I work in the garden each evening, my mind thinks about the parallels between this patch of earth, and business... Sort of like "Garden Musings". The following are some of the connections that I've been making. I'm sure I will add more as the season goes along.

"Don't expect too much, it's very hard to get a first year garden to grow."

I've heard this from many people, and I'm finding there is much wisdom in their words. The soil is not cultivated or fertile. It takes a lot of time and energy to work the soil and add the ingredients to make it garden ready. They say that next year, once it's been established, it will be infinitely easier...

This is no different than going into a brand new market with a business or new product line. It takes a lot of money and effort to "prepare" the market for your offering. It is much easier to go into an established market with a product and differentiate yourself than to try to build a market where one did not exist.

"I planted a lot more seeds that what actually came up"

I'm sure this ties to my first point, but I was surprised at how many seeds never emerged. It took as much energy to plant the dormant seeds as it did to plant the ones that have sprung up. There was no way of knowing which would be which when I put them into the ground...

That sounds a lot like prospecting. You never know which appointment, or which phone call will culminate in a contracted job. It takes as much time and nerve to make a call that goes no where, as it does to make a highly successful call. As with the garden, a more established plot will yield a higher percentage of crop. However, it is safe to assume you will always have to plant more seeds than you can possibly hope to grow.

"My sweet corn didn't come up at all, so I replanted it. This time it's growing".

I love sweet corn. And I was horribly disappointed when several weeks went by with no sign of growth... So, I started over, bought more seed and planted it all again.

In business, there are times when you want it bad enough you just won't take no for an answer. If you are met with rejection, you start again (and again if necessary) until you see success.

"It takes a lot of time and effort before you see any produce from the crop"

I'm probably 60 days away from eating much from my garden. And yet I find myself spending at least an hour/day weeding, feeding and watering my young plants.

Prospects are no different. They seldom spring up overnight and bear fruit. They show some level of interest, but require nurturing and guidance before you gain the benefit from them.

The Cart before the Horse?

I've been watching a new series on the Discovery Channel called Pitchmen . In this show, self-proclaimed informercial superstars Billy Mays & Anthony Sullivan speak with aspiring entrepreneurs each week whose sole goal is to get a shot at a national infomercial and the resulting overnight riches. The show does a good job of showing both high-potential ideas as well as ridiculous ones.

Last week's show had a product being pitched called the "Spin-Gym". The inventor was Forbes Riley, a woman who is a QVC celebrity in her own right. She developed a fitness product that will "fit in your purse" and yet provide you with "total upper body fitness". She was understandably passionate about the product and is promoting it across every channel imaginable.

The problem is two-fold. First, the product is hardly unique. I had a toy as a child that does essentially the same thing (except that my toy made a cool sound when you spun it really fast). I'm not sure how she patented the thing, but evidently she did. But more importantly, this seems to be the classic solution looking for a problem. On the show she had huge body-builders using this product as if to imply their shape somehow came from this tiny product. Yes fitness is a growing trend across America. However, the form of any new product must suggest its intended use in a manner that is believable. Be honest, can you believe in a fitness product that you hold only with your thumbs? You really got the opinion that the "research" they did consisted of putting the Spin Gym into people's hands with the question of "Isn't this the greatest?" or "Can't you feel the muscle burn?". On the show the product was tested in two markets at different price points. Almost no interest was generated in either market.

Having this unique opportunity to see this real-life, time-compressed example was fascinating. This same thing happens across our country everyday, both with entrepreneurs as well as with established corporations. Somebody falls in love with an idea, and becomes blind and deaf to feedback. They are determined to muscle their way into the market, regardless of what they hear.

How much time, money and energy could be saved if they sought the feedback early in the process, at a time when they could still make modifications (to the product or the messaging)? Let's be outrageous here... What if they actually spent the time to understand the needs of their targeted consumer, then designed a product to satisfy it?

It sounds so simple. But it seems to fly in the face of the way so many do business.