Lessons Learned Blogging: 1400 Posts in 8 years
This post is a retrospective look at my inaugural post in 2006 and lessons learned blogging 1400 posts over the 8 years since.
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Rules of Thumb
Diving In Over Your Head
One of the hallmarks of the entrepreneurial journey is diving in over your head. At some point you have to commit fully to a new venture and at a later point you realize that, despite all of your careful preparation, you are testing the depth of water with both feet–or perhaps even head first. This
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Guidelines For An Online Community of Entrepreneurs
Here are some suggestion guidelines that help set newcomers expectations for what constitute valuable content and comments in an online community.
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Nine Tips For Expert Public Speaking
Conor Neill has a great post up today on “a 9 Step Cheatsheet for Becoming a Public Speaking Expert” courtesy of the London Speakers Bureau. I am not usually a fan of infographics but this is is exceptionally well done. Expert public speaking requires deliberate practice the same as any other skill. Here are some
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Five Mistakes To Avoid In a Nurturing E-Mail
I signed up for a free trial of a lean project management tool (I have changed the name of the tool to <LeanTool>). A few days later I got the following nurturing E-Mail. Subject: Are you afraid to manage your project in a lean way? We’ve noticed that you haven’t been signing into <LeanTool> for a
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Customer Interviews: Spend an Hour to Save a Minute
For customer interviews we have a rule of thumb that if an hour or research saves a minute early in the conversation it’s a good investment. When you look at the list of questions you have prepared to learn about the prospect’s business and their needs, it’s easy to say to yourself, “I am really
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Q: Side Payment Requested In Negotiation
Q: We have been in customer discovery for a few months and have a situation in a negotiation that I am not sure how to deal with. A decision maker at a potential customer says he believes that our product can help but it’s not addressing a burning problem. The wrinkle that I have not
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Arun Kumar: 9 Lessons Learned Bootstrapping Kerika
I interviewed Arun Kumar in 2012 on his experiences bootstrapping Kerika. It’s a long interview but really gives you a sense of his journey as an entrepreneur, his insights into the future of global teams and how they will collaborate, and a candid list of lessons learned. Here are nine key take-aways that he offered
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Ten Mistakes Early Stage Bootstrappers Often Make
In the last eight years I have moderated several hundred Bootstrappers Breakfasts. After doing a hundred or so and working with many clients who were bootstrapping I came up with a checklist for common mistakes bootstrappers and bootstrapping teams make in their first year or so.
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Matt Wensing On Making the Transition to Growth
Matt Wensing On Making the Transition to Growth Stormpulse has gone from an idea bootstrapped on founder savings and credit cards, to a project funded by friends and family rounds, to a small business strengthened by angel money, to a company that’s raised “meaningful” capital (our last round was just over $2 million). Here’s what
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Brad Pierce: Preserve Context in Writing to Manage Interruptions
Manage interruptions by writing down enough context to continue later: organized notes must detail status and next steps. Brad Pierce: Preserve Context in Writing to Manage Interruptions On longer time scales, when you must drop something for a while, it’s important, before doing so, to leave behind enough context for yourself to swap it back
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Tony Schwartz: Notice the Good, Cultivate Good Habits, Slow Down, and Do the Right Thing
Tony Schwartz wrote a great post on “Turning 60: The Twelve Most Important Lessons I’ve Learned So Far.” Here are my top four from his list (original numbering preserved).
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Q: Pricing Professional Services
Q: I am starting a service business that will help clients with advertising and search engine marketing but I am not sure how to price my services. Do you have any suggestions for how to look at pricing professional services?
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Jerome K. Jerome’s View on Groundhog Day (Replaying Your Life)
Jerome K. Jerome’s “On The Disadvantage Of Not Getting What One Wants” offers a somewhat grim view the wish for replaying your life. On The Disadvantage Of Not Getting What One Wants “Ah, me!” said the good old gentleman, “if only I could live my life again in the light of experience.” Now as he
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Don’t Waste Time Painting Tom Sawyer’s Fence: Proving Someone Wrong Is A Poor Motivator
Don’t waste time painting Tom Sawyer’s fence: proving someone wrong is actually a poor source of motivation. It’s OK to ignore conventional wisdom, but don’t get trapped into doing someone else’s work (or building their platform) just to prove them wrong. Build something instead of trying to win an argument.
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Ten Principles for Trust and Integrity from Adventures in Missions
Shared trust and integrity form the basis for the key resource in a bootstrapping startup: morale. Founders must foster actions and behaviors that build trust in the early days if they hope to create a startup with a culture that will enable it to prosper.
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Four Principles From Jonathan Wang’s “Start-Up Black Ops Creed”
Start-Up Black Ops Jonathan Wang penned the Start-Up Black Ops creed, a website started on the belief: “Every entrepreneur will, at some point along their journey, find themselves at the bottom of a big, dark pit–seemingly alone, surrounded by nothing, and without a way out. That is the unavoidable norm when it comes to starting and running
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Bootstrappers Turn Time Into Resources and Possibilities For Customers
In “Our ‘For Impact’ Culture Code,” Possible Health outlined a number of operating principles and cultural values that are also very appropriate for bootstrappers.
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Reflections on Startup Conference 2014 in Redwood City
Some reflections on the Startup Conference May 2014 in Redwood City. The informal conversations were far better than any of the presentations I sat through. I offer some suggestions for informal networking at events.
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Corinne Roosevelt Robinson: Focus for Effect But Look Beyond Your Own Special Interests
Focus For Effect “Nothing is as difficult as to achieve results in this world if one is filled full of great tolerance and the milk of human kindness. The person who achieves must generally be a one-idea individual, concentrated entirely on that one idea, and ruthless in his aspect toward other men and other ideas.”
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