Twitter automation at its worst
I am annoyed! Very annoyed! And I have been brewing in relative silence for months! Oh well… I have been venting in private (friends and family) but never in public! Seriously, I do not understand why so many people automate their twitter accounts. Most of them have only a few hundred followers anyway. Instead of connecting with them, as this is the person of social media, they preferring spamming them with irrelevant messages and littering their inbox. I have unfollowed such accounts many times. I think I may be allergic to spam (not the food)! So, I decided to put together a list of NoNos. 1. Do not send an automated message when someone follows you for the first time. Some accounts either send DM messages or messages on the stream of the follower. Whoever makes contact with you for […]
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Driverless businesses in the UK by 2015
I have been going through recent news to find out what is happening in the world, when I bumped into a very interesting article in the Washington Post ‘Driverless cars are coming to roads in Britain in 2015”. According to the article transformational technology will allow to such vehicles to hit the road in less than six months! In fact ‘startups and car companies are also working on plans to retrofit existing cars with driverless technology. The cars are thought to be safer—guided by dozens of tiny sensors surrounding the vehicle and software that predicts movement of other objects on the road. Their proponents believe they eliminate worries about distracted driving, tiredness, and road rage. These groups are investing in the hope that consumers will get over their initial jitters and come around to their way of thinking that cars are better at this […]
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Biz mistake no. 8: Do more!
The past few decades we have been caught in a constant struggle to do more, produce more, work more, stay at the office longer hours, write longer reports, create more workload for the people around us. This tendency is part of a new work ethic that justifies the basic principles of capitalist societies in western Europe and in the States. And we try to indoctrinate our kids also to this ethic. How many times did you compliment your son or daughter for working hard and long hour on a project at school or at home? Despite the moral grounding for such behaviour, productivity does is not always achieved. Longer hours at the office does not mean that more work will be done. You will probably be able to complete the same jobs as before, while you will feel more tired […]
Read MoreBiz mistake no. 7: Social Media in a Soup
Several years after social media entered our lives, the hype is still there! I have never seen so many workshops on how to use social media for your businesses! I have never listened to how many lectures on ways to convert Facebook Likes into customers! In principle, I am a big fan of social media. When I started blogging all these years ago, I also dedicated a large piece of my precious time in facebook and twitter. And I never looked back! There is no doubt that Facebook Likes and Twitter Followers can be converted into paying customers! It is wrong, though, to assume that social media is always an integral component of every marketing campaign. Or worse! To consider that social media is the only way to market our products or services. At this point I would like to […]
Read MoreHow to bluff your way through Lean Startup
Lean methodology and customer development are essential for the building of a scalable and repeatable business model. Many entrepreneurs, though, find the process burdensome, time consuming, incomprehensible, counterintuitive, impossible to complete, tiresome, too personal. So, they use their entrepreneurial skills in order to avoid it altogether. So, I decided to dedicate this blog post to those entrepreneurs who are willing to cut corners without avoiding customer development altogether. Since the majority clearly understands the essential role of lean methodology in business building, even though they do not want to do the work, I thought of putting together the Bluffer’s Basic Rules to Lean Startup. 1. Do not share your idea! Obviously, what you came up with is unique and extremely valuable. If you start spreading it before you create the product, someone will most likely steal it. So, safeguard it with […]
Read MoreBiz Mistake No. 6: Abuse the Powers of Linkedin
Linkedin is nothing like other social media. It is addressing the needs of professionals and businesses for networking and contacts. It is not a tool for enhancing your personal relationships, as it happens with facebook and even twitter. As a business consultant I use it regularly to keep up with the professionals I know, follow their progress, keep in touch, announce my work-related ventures etc. Nevertheless, many people do not realise that Linkedin is bound by a different set of rules. Unlike other social platforms, you cannot invite just anyone you want to connect with you. Well, technically you can but, if they decline or complain, you risk been banned from Linkedin altogether. For some reason, trying to connect with people you have never met is considered equal to spamming. The reason may be that Linkedin keeps the number of […]
Read MoreBusiness mistake no. 5: Design an inflexible strategy
So, you are about to start your new business or launch your new product. To be on the safe side, you decided to draw very detailed plans around your marketing, your organisation… your future as a business person! Don’t get me wrong, I am a big fan of processes. They make me feel safe. They allow me to fall into an anticipated routine that has something familiar about it. People who do not like surprises or changes prefer the known rather than the unexpected. And yet, everything about entrepreneurship is unexpected. You never know where the next sale is going to come from. You can never tell who your next customer will be. Especially, when you start with a new venture, it is impossible to know your business model. It feels as if you stand behind a closed door that […]
Read MoreBiz mistake No. 4: Lower the price of your product
Have you ever played with the idea of slashing the prices in order to gain more customers? Have you ever thought of undermining the competition by offering your products at better prices? I know I have! This is one of the biggest mistakes a startup makes, unless of course s/he found a way to cut the overall cost of the business. The consequences of such an action are the following: A) The perceived value of the product is reduced. In effect, if the product is cheap, the assumption is that its value is less. B) The profit margin is reduced and may endanger the viability of the business. C) If the price is lowered, then more products should be sold or more customers should be found. Both of these actions, though, may bear a substantial cost. D) Slashing the prices […]
Read MoreBiz mistake No. 3: Rely on feedback forms for market research
I cannot think of anything more useless in the first stages of customer development than issuing feedback forms and asking your ‘customers’ to fill them up. Many-a-time startups approached me to ask. How do I make a feedback form? How many questions should it include? What should I ask? Should I attach it to my blog? My answer is always the same: Drop the idea altogether! I have a series of reasons behind the seemingly abrupt answer and I would like to share it with you. Forms are one of the most impersonal ‘forms’ of communication I can think of. You will not be able to convey your warm personality, lovely smile and caring attitude. 2) The majority of such forms usually end up in the bin. It takes time and effort to fill them, both of which are precious […]
Read MoreBiz Mistake No.2: Ask your customers how to price your products
This is a classic mistake and, unfortunately, I encounter it over and over again. When an entrepreneur creates a new product or service, they become worried about the price and they turn to the customers for answers. The reason for their concern is that: If they price it too low, the customers may consider it of lower value. If they price it too high, they may place themselves out of the market. In an attempt to choose the Right Pricing Strategy they tend to misinterpret one of the most basic lean principles: get feedback from the customer. They get out of the building to ask their prospects how much they would be willing to pay! Nevertheless, there is a crucial problem here. The customer will most likely lie to you about what they intend to pay. In some cases, the […]
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