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Essays On Business On Leadership

Maintaining Vision

500,000 visitors, wow. It’s been a journey. Thank you!

When it comes to building a business or starting a venture, what is vision? What does it mean to maintain vision? Is vision important? How does one grow their business in a changing landscape, with wavering demands, all while maintaining their vision?

These are among the questions I’ve been asking myself the past couple months.

I enjoy learning from others and I believe it’s a privilege to live in an age where so much information is given freely. So when I have a question I find myself digging into the archives of Youtube, listening to podcasts and audio books, and turning the pages of well read classics.

But when it comes to these questions on vision, I’m finding, or not finding, any concentrated material on the subject.

Is vision even important?

If you follow the excellent advice of Steve Blank or the Lean Startup, or other go-to-market tools, one may begin to question the need. For example, a truly customer lead company pitches ideas to the market, gathers feedback and insight, and makes adjustments accordingly. With enough feedback you will have a product with high demand and a model to grow your business. No vision required.

But what happens when competition shows up or you have a major setback?

Do you continue with your current strategy, do you pivot and reapply the lean startup process, or do you throw in the towel?

Visit any major city in the US and you will see a Starbucks on every corner. Coffee shops is a competitive market, but it took over 3 decades for Starbucks to saturate their market in the US. Starbucks opened their first store in 1982. And coffee houses have existed since the arrival of coffee in Europe, the Middle East and North America – with the first shop opening up in Damascus in 1530.

In Bob Dylan’s famous words, “Times they are a changing,” and it seems they are changing at a faster rate than ever before.

Any outsider will likely recognize that startups are the new gold rush. With tens of thousands starting every week and only a few striking it big. You may have a bold new idea, raise capital, launch to market and find yourself in hyper competitive marketplace within just 6 to 12 months. The problem with emerging markets is that while they may be growing, the competition is there too. So I ask you, what’s the difference between a growing startup and the graveyard of belly-ups?

Sure some businesses have promise but run out of money, others die from “board-em”, or get distracted by new ideas and jump ship. Yet, I believe only one thing separates a thriving startup from the rest. It’s called vision.

Steve Jobs once said, “You have to have a lot of passion for what you are doing because it is so hard… if you don’t, any rational person would give up.” But where does passion comes from?

I was sitting across the table from a friend at a local cafe. The cafe has a really neat vibe, with bikes hanging on the wall donated by loyal customers. My friend is sharing his concern about his kids. They will be graduating soon and he wants them to take their school more seriously so they get into the right colleges.

He had more passion about his children’s education than they did. Why? Because he had a clear vision of where they could end up. He saw them graduating from a well respected university, getting a job at a reputable company, and starting off life with a promising career. As a result he was more invested then they were.

Now there is a famous psychologist who would argue that he has made a common mistake, and taken on his children’s problem of their future as his problem. As a result they don’t need to take it seriously, why would they? Their dad has taken it seriously enough. I digress.

He has a vision for his children, and as a result he has a natural passion to see it fulfilled. When a founder loses passion, they likely lost their vision and their sense of purpose. Possibly, they never had a sense of purpose. Instead we often set a target such as money, or accomplishments, or prestige as our purpose. But they don’t last. Instead having a motivation beyond any reward does.

Just yesterday I was watching an interview between Richard Branson and David Rubenstein. Richard quietly mentioned, “I never go into a venture with the idea of making a profit. If you can create the best in its field generally you will find that you can pay the bills.” When you look at all great business leaders, they seem to have the ability to ride things out for the long haul. Why? Because despite all the hurdles, set backs and competition that can come their way, they have a vision that’s greater than the discomfort and hardships they may experience along the way.

A couple weeks ago I noticed to my surprise that this blog has received over 500,000 views. What makes this amazing is that the odds of getting any traffic hasn’t been in its favour. When I started writing here I didn’t write for anyone else. This may sound strange or selfish or unusual, but really all that I wanted was a place where I could record my thoughts and share some of them along the way. Also, I have interests that don’t create a nice content niche. If you read advice on writing for a blog they say to pick a topic and stick to it. But my vision was different. I wanted a place where I could catalogue learnings on any subject. So I did. This site consists of posts about car maintenance, cycling, computer programming, leadership, startups – you name it. Finally, this site was hacked. So until I could fix it, it was literally banned from all search engines for 2 years. But again, I wasn’t writing for anyone else. So while that was annoying, I recreated the blog and kept writing.

500000 views on machiine

 

Vision doesn’t need to be grandiose, or even compelling to others. It doesn’t need to fit a market or break the rules. It just needs to be a picture of what you want to see exist. It’s not your mission and it’s not a destination.

Instead, vision is simple. When I launched Saint clothing in 2005 my idea was to see if it were possible to create a successful business around your interests. That was my vision. It grew over time to help others who also had a sense of purpose and a desire to do something that was outside the norm. But it was a truly simple idea.

If you were to ask Steve Jobs his vision for the world, I doubt he would say, “I want an iPhone in everyone’s pocket.” That’s a mission, not a vision. I doubt it would have anything to do with an iPhone. His vision was likely more simple. To give the creators, the innovators, the outcasts the tools they need to change the world.

When a vision is clear the product can change, marketing can change, competition can change but the course never changes.

Categories
Essays On Business On Culture

Is a good life and a successful one compatible?

Have you noticed all this focus on the perfect habits of successful people as if the cause for their success can be summed up as a daily 8 hr sleep, 30 min exercise, and 30 min reflection time? But it’s not real.

New Years Eve, Christmas Day, birthdays… we’re pretty good at celebrating important occasions. In between these holidays our days can often be forgotten as the pace of life demands our time for work, errands, exercise, etc.

As a person I’ve gotten pretty good at forgoing fun to reach a goal. Often knowing that a holiday is coming is all I need to keep the sacrifice going.

When a goal is achieved it’s rewarding. It makes the sacrifice worthwhile. Inspirational speakers talk about the impact people can make if they choose growth over comfort and work over fun.

It’s hard not to praise people like Steve Jobs, who epitomized what it looks like to die for your company and dreams. At his end he remarked that it may have been the strain of working as the CEOs of both Pixar and Apple that brought about his cancer.

When you achieve your goals or hit the jackpot it’s easy to look back at that sacrifice and feel it was worth it. Yet, what if the road is longer than you anticipated and you’ve fallen short of your quarterly goals. Even though you are made of the stuff of champions – character and perseverance – the years go by and the goal remains aloof.

Is the sacrifice worth it if the reward is the end?

Sacrificing fun over work makes for a purpose-driven life, but not a good one.

Nelson Mandela is quoted as saying that, “There is no passion to be found playing small – in settling for a life less than the one you are capable of living.”

I see two important parts to what he said. Firstly, passion is found when you live up to your potential. And secondly, you are capable of living a larger life.

It’s easy for personalities like my own to miss the nuance of his point. Because I’m oriented towards action, when I read Mandela’s words I know them to be true and am motivated to work even harder.

But working harder isn’t living larger. It isn’t really living at all. It’s might even be playing small.

I’ve heard it said that we get to choose our habits and our habits choose our future. I agree with that. I’ve also learned from others that there is a difference between good trade-offs and bad ones.

Living a life that you are capable of requires trade-offs. Each person is unique and their trade-offs will be different. Perhaps it means giving up security for an opportunity. Or giving up the 80 hour work week for time to invest in your family.

As 2014 has come to a close here’s what I’ve learned and will be taking with me in 2015. Good luck this year as you pursue the large life that you are capable of living.

  • To attract people to your cause you need a mission and a vision that’s easy to articulate.
  • Find fulfilment in your vision because it will become real.
  • Focusing your attention on growth and development rather than on goals makes the journey worthwhile.
  • It’s hard to control outcomes but it’s easy to control activities.
  • Measuring activities make outcomes more predictable
  • People are motivated and/or held back by fear, security, and fun.
  • Make fun an intentional part of your day.
  • Celebrate everything.
  • Working smarter is better than working harder, combining the two will get you further than either.
  • Working with others who also understand this will multiply everyones efforts.
  • If you are motivated you will be more likely to continue.
  • If you continue you will be more likely to reach your goals.
  • If your attention is on growth you will have achieved success on the entire journey.

All of us have bad luck and good luck. The man who persists through the bad luck – who keeps right on going – is the man who is there when the good luck comes – and is ready to receive it.
Robert Collier

  • Successful people attract success.
  • Life’s a long journey – make time for fun. It’s not a trade worth making.

There is no passion to be found playing small - Nelson Mandela

“There is no passion to be found playing small – in settling for a life that is less than the one you are capable of living.”
Nelson Mandela

Categories
Essays On Business

You have everything you need to be successful

Muhammad AliIn part 1 of this series I posed the question, are you building something bigger than yourself? “A company needs a core vision, a rally cry, that everyone on staff can come behind.” Today, I want to focus on the second half of the question, “What does it mean to actually believe that you have everything you need to build something way bigger than yourself?”

Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great ones make you feel that you, too, can become great.
Mark Twain

Categories
Essays On Business

Achieve great things

To achieve great things, two things are needed: a plan, and not quite enough time. – Leonard Bernstein

Motivational Quote - challenge your limits

Struck by the response I received from last weeks post, Why Motivated People are Waaay More Productive, I asked myself this question, “What does it mean to actually believe that you have everything you need to build something way bigger than yourself?” If you are an entrepreneur who wants to build something great then you need to ask yourself this question as well. This is part one of this series.

Categories
Essays On Business On Companies

5 slides from Steve Blank’s course on building a startup worth your time

Last week I finished a course on building a Startup by Steve Blank. The guy is a genius. Here’s 5 slides worth your time.Steve Blank

Categories
Essays On Business

How not to get market traction in your startup?

Airplane taking off

Almost everyone has it wrong about how to get market traction in a startup. It doesn’t matter if you are bootstrapping your company or have raised 35 million dollars. A lot of companies hire a sales team right away. They are looking to scale their business and jump on the sales wagon. WRONG. Don’t hire a sales team, don’t hire a VP of sales, the only people who should be making sales are the founders. I’ll explain why in the next few paragraphs.

Categories
Essays On Business

How to maintain your focus

Mountain Climbing - Focus Goal

It is no secret that keeping ones focus in business is challenging. I’ve found this especially true in a startup. That uncertain phase after you’ve got a few early adopters and now are going after the early majority. It can be tough crossing that chasm. Customers went from liking your product because it was new, to now being a bit skeptical and reluctant because… it’s new. V973KE5R5TCC

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Essays On Business

Innovation is a necessary ingredient for success

InnovationHave you ever experienced creative block? You need a good idea and you can’t seem to think of one? I used to run a small clothing company out of my house. I was doing everything from designing t-shirts to manning events and following up with sales. Then my creative juices stopped. I was having a really tough time coming up with new creative designs. My friend Jaron is chatting to me one day and says, “Why don’t you go out find clothing styles you like, and then ask yourself, ‘How can I make this even better?'”

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On Business

3 simple steps to test the validity of your new tech idea

Web app Idea validationWithout practical business experience, going to conferences and reading books on starting and running a tech business can give people the wrong impression. Starting a new venture appears to be really easy. Have an idea, go through a tough grind, come out the other end prosperous and successful. Best case scenario, you start a new idea get bought by Google or Facebook and don’t even need to go through the grind. Listening to the self-promoters, I mean teachers, can leave someone with this impression. I mean they got me.

Categories
On Business

Most new startups fail because of this

Build it they will comeYou’ve heard the expression, “If you build it they will come”? It’s a myth and it’s a dangerous one at that. Too many startups and blogs are created believing (or hoping) it to be true. And some would say it is the reason most new startups fail.