The Snow Lay Round About, Deep and Crisp and Even
Luck is like snow, a certain amount falls on everyone. But unlike snow, you can increase your luck.
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skmurphy
Let Men Their Songs Employ
I have been thinking about different kinds of teams and team work. For example a choir has sheet music (“Let Men Their Songs Employ”) that predefines the content and timing of each person’s contribution. In a different way the script for a play outlines the content and sequence of each actor’s part.
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If Money Doesn’t Change Hands, You Can’t Call a User a Customer
Here is another excerpt from my September interview with Gabriel Weinberg. This one focuses on why payment and testimonials are so important to differentiate users from actual customers.
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Quotes On The Limitations of Cleverness
A couple of quotes for entrepreneurs on the limitations of cleverness. Don’t just be clever, be kind and make things of beauty with care.
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Annie Dillard on the Appreciation of Grace and Beauty
An excerpt from “A Pilgrim at Tinker Creek” by Annie Dillard that offers a meditation on grace and beauty.
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Keeping the Ball Rolling With Prospects
Keeping the ball rolling with prospects requires a mix of empathy for their situation and a project management mindset.
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Quick Thoughts on Selling For Software Engineers
Some quick thoughts on selling for software engineers. Sell results, not method. Land and Expand. Get clarity on the customer’s view of the problem. Listen.
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Fun Getting More Customers Workshop Today
We have a very fun group of entrepreneurs today in the workshop. Every time we give our workshops, I learn so much from our attendees. Today, I learned about a couple of new tools I am planning to check out: Small business CRM http://batchblue.com/ Demandbase http://www.demandbase.com/ I also was given the idea to use twitter
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Orienting, Observing, Doing Homework, and Paying Dues
Paying dues–putting the time in not only to understand but master a problem or situation–is a critical element of success in many circumstances.
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Building and Managing a Learning Process
If you accept the premise that we are living in an age of accelerating change, then you have to build and manage a learning process for your startup.
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Seven Quotes on Learning and Measurement From Marty Neumeier
In July I posted “Ten Design Thinking Quotes From Marty Neumeier. Mr. Neumeier has continued his drip irrigation of brilliant insights on twitter at @MARTYneumeier so here are seven of his recent ones related to learning and measurement.
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Bootstrapper Breakfasts in December 2010
We have added two Holiday Bootstrapper Breakfasts in the week between Christmas and New Year’s Day, continuing a tradition started two years ago of running two breakfasts that week at 9am. Any of these December breakfasts are a great opportunity to take some time to not only recap 2010 but also look forward for 2011.
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What Are You Doing to Obsolete Your Product?
A story from my interview process at Cisco. I asked “what are you doing to obsolete your product?”
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Find Early Customers In Forums
“Communities already exist..think about how one may help a community to do what they want to do.” Mark Zuckerberg As a rule of thumb if you cannot find a forum (broadly defined) that has already collected a chunk of your prospects–a target rich environment–then one of three things is true: You are in a nascent
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Quotes For Entrepreneurs–November 2010
You can follow @skmurphy to get these quotes for entrepreneurs hot off the mojo wire or wait until the end of the month when they are collected on the blog. Enter your E-mail if you would like new blog posts to your inbox.
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Keeping Your Customers’ Trust
Earning and keeping your customers’ trust is essential to your success as a startup. Gerald Weinberg’s “Secrets of Consulting” offers “11 Laws of Trust” as a guideline for establishing and maintaining successful business relationships.
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Advising Entrepreneurs
I spend a fair amount of time advising entrepreneurs, both informally when solicited and formally when I have been retained–and sometimes even when I have not been asked for advice. Here are some key principles I follow.
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“Getting More Customers in 90 Days” Workshop Dec-8-2010
I am pleased to be able to offer our “Getting More Customers” workshop again next month. We will cover a variety of proven marketing techniques for growing your business: attendees will select one or two that fit their style and develop a plan to implement them in their business in the next 90 days. Speaking
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Three Tips for Small Talk and Casual Conversation
Here are three tips for small talk and casual conversation: relax, be genuinely curious, be forthcoming about yourself, don’t just ask questions. Three Tips for Small Talk and Casual Conversation “A good listener is not only popular everywhere, but after a while he knows something.” Wilson Mizner One of the more challenging aspects of entrepreneurship
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