How To Stay Afloat: Lessons In Business Survival

Over the last two months I’ve been talking to business owners about how they are surviving in a tough marketplace. From a manufacturing business in Essex to a web-based apps business in Chicago, I’ve been hearing stories about staying authentic, about reinvention and busting a few business myths to survive. These stories appear in my column this month for the ‘Owners Only’ pages at BNET.com. 


Here are links to the 4 columns:

1.  “The 37signals Secret to Success: Sell Your By-Products” – lessons from 37signals’ David Heinemeier Hansson in acknowledging your business by-products

2.  “How to Survive a Market Collapse: Reinvent Your Business” – lessons from Splice TV on beating market challenges

3.  “How to Set Your Sights High — and Still Pay the Bills” – how start-up Karrot Entertainment is developing essential revenues whilst building intellectual properties

4.  "Does Your Business Really Have to Grow to Survive?" – how Excalibur Screwbolts is beating the competition by sticking to its core strengths.

I hope you find them useful.

Ten Things You Need To Know from Rework

I really enjoyed ‘Rework’ by Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson, the founders of 37signals. I found some similarities in my own book ‘Juggle!’ in the theme of rethinking work and business. I have already evangelised about ‘Rework’ on my Unplan Your Business blog so to give you some value, here are my Ten Things You Need To Know from Rework:

1. Ignore people who say you’re wrong.
2. Forget business planning, forget about the details early on. Scribble ideas with a marker pen not a fine pen!
3. Rethink success. You don’t have to build a big business, why not build a profitable, sustainable and comfortable business instead?
4. Scratch your own itch: design a product or a solution for something you need yourself.
5. Put everyone in your organisation on the front line from time to time. Don’t let people remain in their departmental silos.
6. Lo-fi works. You don’t need comlex gadgets or over-engineered solutions. look at the success of the Flipcam – very basic, does what it needs to with ‘no bells or whistles’.
7. What are the by-products of what your business does? Sell those by-products.
8. Meetings can be toxic. A one hour meeting with 10 people is not one hour lost, its ten hours. Have shorter more focused meetings. If it only takes 7 minutes, don’t waste 30 or 60 minutes.
9. Long lists don’t get done – focus on attainable goals for better productivity and morale.
10. Inspiration is perishable – if you want to do something, do it now (later, you won’t be pumped): so if you’re inspired on a Friday, do it on a weekend. When you’re high on inspiration you can do two weeks work in 24 hours.

 I really think Jason and David are on to something, seeking to redefine ‘business’ and ‘entrepreneurs’: 

“You don’t need an MBA, a fancy suit; just an idea, a touch of confidence and a push to get started”.