Jim's Marketing Blog

(Update: I have written a follow-up to this post here)

Does the world really need another service provider, who is just a little less expensive, just a little faster or who offers just a little better customer service?

No: The marketplace is not excited or motivated by yet another pretty average provider.

What causes people to stand in line waiting to become your client or to tell the world how awesome you are, is when they encounter a business or person, doing something that is clearly, extra special.

This is what I call doing work that matters.

Work that matters

So, what am I referring to when I say work that matters?

I first picked up on the term, in an interview I heard a couple of years ago.  Seth Godin was being interviewed by Israel V, who asked him what his secret to success was.  Seth answered:

For 5 years, I was one payment away from bankruptcy.  I then decided to stop doing work that paid and focus on doing work that mattered.  I fired our biggest client, who was responsible for more than half our revenue!  They were making us unhappy and were changing who we were and how we did business.

It was a real watershed for me; having the guts to do that.  I told my team that this might be the end for us, but I think it is the right thing to do.  We stopped working on projects, which could make us money in a week and focused all our attention on doing work that mattered, things we would have worked on for free, if we could have afforded to. 

That shift meant a lot!

Work that pays

Almost every business focuses on working in a predictable way.  They stick within the confines of what their competitors do, because they believe that there is almost a guarantee that if they do, they will at least get a slice of the pie, even if it’s a small slice.  This is why so many businesses offer such a similar range of services to their competitors and end up attracting average clients, who pay them average fees.

Steve Jobs and work that matters

Only a tiny minority of people do work that matters.  They look at what the marketplace needs and they decide to provide it based on their unique approach.  Steve Jobs is a famous example of doing work that matters.  At a time when computer makers were constantly asking themselves, “how can we make this cheaper?” Jobs was asking “how can we make this so awesome that people will go crazy with excitement when they see it?”  The rest is history.

Here’s the challenge with ripping up the predictable model of a business in your industry, to focus exclusively on doing work that matters to you.

You won’t find the model for you and your business in any book!

There’s no for dummies guide.  There’s no turnkey solution.  There’s no manual either!  That’s because it has to be work that matters to YOU and your prospective clients.

It’s based around the way YOU see things:

• Your values
• Your beliefs
• Your insights
• Your experiences
• Your passion
• Your resources
• Your imagination
• Your goals
• Your personality
• Your dreams
• Your faith
• Your end game

Clearly, this approach is not for everyone.  But for those who can see the potential and who have the vision and the courage to make it work, the rewards are life changing.

It’s why I enjoy coaching people how to do work that matters, based on their uniqueness, more than any other work I do.  For my clients and myself, THIS is work that matters!

UPDATE: Here’s a follow-up post, which takes this subject further and answers a key question, on how to start this process in your business!

Photo credit: Nina Matthews Photography and Seth Godin

Whatever problems your business is facing right now, the solution you need is available.

The question is, how committed are you to getting the answers you need?

Failure seldom happens overnight

If you had a broken water pipe, with water gushing out all over your home, ruining everything, you would very quickly call in a plumber.  Broken water pipes are great for getting people to take action, because the damage is obvious and it all happens very quickly.  When a business is in trouble, it usually happens over a longer period of time, often causing small business owners to put off getting help, until it’s too late.

It’s little wonder that most businesses go broke within the first 3 years and many more only exist, because the owner is just about breaking even.

Why do so many small business owners struggle needlessly?

Having worked with thousands of small business owners over the past 16 years, I see a very clear pattern.  Those who succeed are focused on success and those who struggle are focused on security.  Those who succeed have an entrepreneurial mindset, whilst those who struggle tend to have the mindset of an employee.  They want things to improve, they work hard, but they are so fixated on the potential for loss, that they fail to give their business the resources it needs.  These are the people Seth Godin refers to as sheepwalkers.

The paradox of security

Those focused on security, associate investment with risk; so they always under-invest in their business.  Paradoxically, in an effort to be more secure, they starve their business of exactly what it needs in order to secure it’s future!

If you have been looking for the solution to a business problem for some time and had no real success, now is the time for you to look in a better direction.  There are accountants who can get your finances in shape, marketing professionals who can help you get more high-value clients and lawyers, who can help you protect your business from legal issues.

In short:  Do your research.  Find the people with the answers you need and start achieving the results your hard work deserves.

Or don’t.

Thankfully, the choice is always yours!

To fix a problem, you need to start off by acknowledging you actually have a problem.

I was thinking about this earlier, when I decided to stop spending money with a provider, who has  apparently lost a lot of customers recently.  In short, the quality of service went from just above average when they launched it, to way below par, after 6 months.

The reason for this post, is that the owner of that business shared something in common with many low quality service providers: Whenever you brought a problem to his attention, his automatic response was always to deny there was a problem.  He would brush off all negative feedback, ignoring it completely.

The challenge with that approach, is that you can’t fix a problem unless you believe you have one.

The value of feedback

Yes, some customers or clients will voice concerns, that are more to do with them than with you or your service, but all feedback needs to be noted.  For example, if people are telling you that they can’t find something when they visit your website or walk into your store, the solution is not to assume your customers are fools.  The solution is to fix the UI (user interface) or redesign the layout of your store, so that people can find things easily.

It’s always good to keep an open mind, when you receive feedback.  No, you don’t need to act on everything everyone says, but unless you listen to what the marketplace is telling you, you can never be much better than average.

Photo: GammaMan