Entrepreneur friend recommended to me a while
back.
19 channels listed right off the top. Then channels itself isn’t so
interesting. I’m sure if you spend some
time googling and brainstorming, you can figure them out. Things such as targeting blogs, SEM/SEO,
e-mail marketing, content marketing, business development, trade shows…etc.
What is really interesting is the methodology to
find these channels and the commentary and insights of what to focus on. I feel like I violated all of these. But had I read this book before I started the
tea venture, I’m not sure I could’ve avoided it. The experience would be more of a déjà vu than
being able to avoid the mistake. Which
kind of sucks. Two of these points stand
out. 1. Test and fail fast, 2. Don’t
scale.
Testing
and Failing Fast
Because of the advancement of technology and all
the fancy quant stuff going on, it seems like the way strategy execution isn’t
as rigid as 20 years ago. In fact, adaptability
probably matters more than stubbornly executing a strategy. Years ago, you mapped out a plan, and
executed carefully. Seems like now a day,
as long as you constantly adapt and adjust, you’ll eventually find where the
traction is and then just follow the money.
Even now I’m still torn between the two schools
of thoughts. Do you have a “core” and a “strategy”? Or you just say yes to everybody and find so
where the most people say yes to? The
other way to look at it, do you want to be stubborn or not have a backbone to
standup for what you believe in?
Currently, I am leaning towards a character in a
manga (Kurogane) I really like. The
translation basically goes something like, “Humans should not be so egotistical
to think how they can win. Instead, just
win first.”
Don’t
Scale
This probably goes against a lot of
business/MBA/entrepreneur training. When
I start modelling out a business idea, there is always some sort of end game in
mind. If this process can be sustainable
and scalable. But the idea here from
Paul Graham’s essay is basically don’t worry about that yet. MJ DeMarco (author) also mentions something
similar – don’t try to pull a Tim Ferris 4-hour-work-week. It got many people fired.
First and foremost, INSOURCE. There are a few reasons for this. Through insourcing, you learn a lot. A lot of situations become real and not work
anymore. Through insourcing, you build a
certain moat (or competitive advantage).
Jack Ma gave a speech once on how technology can be copied so easily
these days. How do you stay ahead? Jack Ma’s response was, “You can copy my
products, but you cannot copy my blood sweat and tears.” Through pushing tough roads, you become
tougher. You’ve figured out how to walk
certain tough paths that others haven’t.
You know how to manage your own (and your team’s) emotions. You’re already a survivor.
Outsourcing and scaling should be viable and you
shouldn’t dismiss this idea right off the top.
But at the beginning, focus on being worthy of needing to scale. I think.
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