bwagy, the blog of Ben Young

Let me get my regular meal but also let me try something new without risk.

It’s the opportunity cost, at the cost of getting my regular tasty meal I could risk it (to get something better) BUT lose out on a guaranteed (or at least I feel guaranteed) meal.

It’s the same process that anyone goes through when swapping suppliers.

So how do you overcome it? Offer a taster menu, your regular meal with a taste of a new one.

A little bite, a snippet, enough to get a gist of it.

Check out the most viewed videos on YouTube.

Do you think you could do better?

Probably. Actually most likely.

It surprises me (it really does) that more people don’t take advantage of this. Especially super high value content. Extra tid bits for tv shows, behind the scenes for upcoming movies, studio sessions for bands, product demos. Give it a go now.

(after I wrote this the Jesters popped up, an Australian tv show sharing full episodes online, for free – now I want more!)

When overwhelmed looked at what creates the waterfall, what one problem when solved will solve all the others.

As a startup this is usually just sales, if you have sales, everything else tends to fall into place.

I was reminded of this as we met with an augmented reality company, who said users tended to just focus on the software and lose focus on their surroundings.  Which actually meant they performed much better, as they focused on one thing, and everything else fell into place.

It’s like playing a racing game, you can focus on trying to beat your competitors, watch the clock, avoid obstacles, use boost and upgrades to win OR you can focus on great driving and just that.  It’s great driving which wins the race and everything else falls to the wayside.

Focus on the one issue which drives success of everything else. Finding this issue or problem, which in solving, solves all your others.

If there’s enough people doing it, you will find what you’re looking for. It’s a self-fulfilling prophecy as people will want that attention and try to monetise it.

It’s the same with interest in any area, you can probably find people/books/ideas to re-inforce it…

That’s why knowing and keeping an internal scorecard is so important, what is of value to you, what do you or your organisation stand for, identifying where you do/don’t stand and sticking to them.

Just because there are enough people doing it, making money (or look to be successful), doesn’t mean it’s for you.

From Alan Webber’s 52 Rules of Thumb:

“Change happens when the cost of the status quo is greater than the risk of change C(SQ)>R(C)

It’s that second part that sounds out to me, really looking at and investigating – what is the true cost of the status quo.  What happens if you don’t move forward?  Can you really live with that? Will your organisation survive if you don’t?

What do you do?

1) Pick yourself back up

2) Review/reflect on what went wrong

3) The most crucial part: make changes

4) Try something new

A Christmas email which actually genuinely bought a smile to it’s receivers.  From Kiva:

Twas the Night before Christmas……and all across the map,
Not an entrepreneur was resting,
Not even a quick nap.

They have work to be done,
Opportunities never sleep.
With visions of better lives,
Their commitment runs deep.

This holiday season,
Kiva simply wishes to say:
Of you, our lenders and borrowers,
We are proud every day.

Kiva wishes you Happy Holidays, and a safe and healthy New Year.

—

A christmas email any entrepreneur is likely to forward on (which should always be the aim right).

Not your friends…

But their friends.

The related products.. the products that make your existing purchase better.

It’s amazing the effect that it creates, you buy one, then you buy another. Soon you have the whole family. Kind of like Barbie, and Ken, or iPhone and Macbooks or ….

So best to think ahead, make a mental note anytime you meet someone, could you work with them? what would they be good at?

It might be 3 months, 2 years or 20 years and when the situation arises you already have someone to solve the problem!

It’s a knack I learned in some book but has been tremendously helpful at Young & Shand.

This habit has helped us immensely, there’s no harm in doing it, it’s all win/win.

doing things, doing things consistently, doing things that once packaged are worth more than their individual parts.

Doing things that exceed customers expectations, everytime.

Doing things that change the status quo, shift our customers forward.

Get customers from one house to another, help grow a business, increase their status, create an enjoyable and memorable experience….

Pop Up stores are a neat concept, stores that pop up at a retail location for a set period of time then close.

I talked about them on KiwiFm earlier in the week, have  a watch/listen:

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8GtK9Iumrvg

With a whole new generation of people living and breathing the digital world, the novelty & exclusivity of pop up stores (and thus experiences) are only going to increase.  Especially when people can (and will) share that exclusivity to their networks through services like Facebook Places & FourSquare.

Fred Wilson the venture capitalist shares this picture of step function growth.

This is the same exact curve you get with any idea.  You will bump into it again and again; user growth, idea propagation, growing your company.

Just realise when you’re at that flat area before a curve, this is usually where you need to tip an idea over, get it approved, get the right amount of support.  It’s at this point where stress is the highest, presssure amounts and you want to quit.  But it’s exactly where you should push through.

Then you wake up one morning and suddenly everythings changed.  Get used to it.

You see it’s super easy to get started, it’s also just as easy to leave something to the wayside (quitting without acknowledging your quitting) which is what most people do.

It is hard to say “I quit” and consciously end something.  Yet it’s very refreshing. If you can do this – excellent.

However the value is in finishing, going along the journey and achieving the idea.  It may not be what you originally thought but it’s what you learn along the way.

Also developing a habit of doing what you say means you end up in all sorts of places, promotes credibility and makes you second guess what you’re going to say.

If you’d like to read an excellent little book on this, it’s called The Dip, it’s excellent.

What do people hunger for?

What do they really thirst for?

Imagine their current state is desperation, your product is the answer, what do are they desperate for?

—

[Note: Written whilst hungry]

It’s the tagline of the Freakonomics Podcast (which is excellent).

And it’s a great mantra to have, ‘to discover the hidden side of everything’.