Get Blog Updates via RSS
Subscribe to Fresh Tilled Soil Blog by Email

Blog: Fresh Tilled Ideas

SEO and design resources for agencies and studios

Posted On: August 13th 2008
By: Richard Banfield

AgencyTool has launched and it's included a very comprehensive list of web and search resources. It's a little overwhelming but very useful.

Comments (0) Post a Comment Permalink

False Assumptions About Running Your Own Business

Posted On: July 24th 2008
By: Richard Banfield

I really think Paul Graham is smart and I love his writings but I think he is wrong about what owning a business means to the owners. Of course there are some people that will sell their business the first chance they get but it's strange to suggest that's an optimal situation. Here's what he says in a recent article...

One disadvantage of living off the revenues of your company is that you have to keep running it. And as anyone who runs their own business can tell you, that requires your complete attention. You can't just start a business and check out once things are going well, or they stop going well surprisingly fast.

The main economic motives of startup founders seem to be freedom and security. They want enough money that (a) they don't have to worry about running out of money and (b) they can spend their time how they want. Running your own business offers neither. You certainly don't have freedom: no boss is so demanding. Nor do you have security, because if you stop paying attention to the company, its revenues go away, and with them your income.

Both his primary assumptions are clouded by his personal idea of success.

Maybe Mr. Graham is only referring to small businesses only but not every business stops when the owner misses a day of work. If you run out of money you probably don't really own a business, you own a job. You might not work for someone else but if you have to be there to make things happen you are tethered to the day to day like any other job. Single shingle businesses are typically those that suffer from highs and lows that are well explored in the E-Myth.

Running out of money is only a problem if the machine you create money with is broken. By machine, I mean the business and the mentality behind the business. A well designed business can manage the ups and downs of the market. A good business person knows how to make money, in good times and bad. A crap business or business person will not. If a business stops making money the moment you stop paying attention to it then it's not really a business, it's a hobby that happens to pay you from time to time. A truly well constructed and run business must run without the owner's attention.

The other assumption that business owners cannot spend time on the things the want is incorrect. The idea that a business owner would much rather be doing something else is a generalized and subjective opinion. Paul may dislike his business so much he'd rather do something else but I know dozens of entrepreneurs that thrive in their businesses. They love what they do and they don't want to be sitting on a beach wasting daylight when they could be growing a business. I love a vacation as much as the next guy but I'm a business person and that's what I do with my life. I'm really proud of our business and it provides me with a lot more spiritual reward than just making money. Just like a doctor practices medicine business people practice the art of business. Regardless, I still get to travel, surf, play with my kids and hang out with my friends.

I agree that a business is a burden if you don't balance it with the other aspects of life. I also think the term lifestyle business is a crude explanation for why you wouldn't sell for a big payout. It might just be that owning and running a business can be a much more lucrative payout.

I've been through both the 'investment-driven-build-to-sell' situation and the 'slow-growth-highly-profitable' situation. In the slow growth business my aggregate earnings start much slower but can conceivably continue uninterrupted for 20 years. I also own a much bigger share of the business so I didn't need to sacrifice equity for growth to make my company more attractive to an outsider. I'm really not interested in choosing a stranger's interests in my business over my partner's and employee's interests. That's bad for business.

Comments (0) Post a Comment Permalink

Land of opportunity

Posted On: July 16th 2008
By: Richard Banfield

Today is my first day as a bona fide US citizen. The oath ceremony was this morning and apart from being punctuated with crying babies and long wait times it was a moving experience. During the ceremony the official overseeing the event told the story of many immigrants that have come to the US and created great businesses along their way. He remined us that this is probably the only country in the world that allows an immigrant to rise to any position except President (and Vice President). I'm sure there are some that would disagree but there really is a lot of great opportunities in the US. The only really big obstacle to success is hard work and sticking to your dreams. As mushy as that sounds I think it's true. We've always hired people for their work ethics not for their specific skills. Knowledge and skills can be taught but it's very difficult to nuture a powerful responsible work ethic in adults.

When I came to the US eight years ago I had a small amount in savings and absolutley no connections. Since then I have created three startups that have collectively employed dozens of people and generated millions of dollars in revenue. With one or two exceptions there are very few places in the world where you can arrive empty handed, start a new business and create millions in revenues in just a few short years. We have also invested in several of our clients businesses, one of which is Bobby's Best, and have recently launched a new business called Fresh Services (which is operating as Best Student Help this summer). Investing and growing businesses in the US is much easier than anywhere else. I wonder how many entrepreneurs here know how luck they are?

What a great place to be an entrepreneur.

Comments (0) Post a Comment Permalink

You won't learn this at business school

Posted On: July 14th 2008
By: Richard Banfield

Over the span of my last few companies I have learnt that managing for success cannot always be learnt from a book. This might seem obvious to some but we all fall back on text book strategies when things get tough. Here are some of the things they don't teach you at business school:

Forgive your enemies: Not every client, employee or vendor is going to love you. Sometimes business relationships don't work out. There is a tendency to carry anger and bitterness about these relationships. My experience is that letting them go and moving on makes more sense.
Let go of clients that drain you: In the same vein, there are some clients that are just so much work you find yourself physically and mentally drained every time you talk to them. In almost all cases it's best to let them go so you can give your best to the clients that really matter.
Focus most of your energy on existing clients: There is a lot of business mythology around the 'new business sale'. Existing clients are generally much more profitable and easier to grow. Don't be distracted by aggressive sales strategies that target strangers. Focus on your existing clients and the referrals will follow very soon.
Build long term plans with your clients: Your clients actually like it when you plan ahead with them. It gives them the confidence that this is a long term partnership. Take a calendar to your meetings and discuss what seasonal work you can do for them throughout the year.
Create learning opportunities for clients: Your clients employ you because you are the expert. Invest time in teaching them what you know and they'll respect you even more. I've heard it said by many a consultant that keeping your clients in the dark is the best way to have them dependent on you. I couldn't disagree more. Sharing knowledge with your clients raises the quality of the relationship and makes it stronger.

Comments (0) Post a Comment Permalink

Asking the right questions for growth

Posted On: July 11th 2008
By: Richard Banfield

If you're trying to grow your business you'll have moments when you don't know all the answers. Obviously it's asking the right questions that makes it easier to find the answers. Here area few questions we have been asking ourselves as we grow to the next level.

which of our products and/or services offers the most value and differentiation?
what are the features of our products and/or services that we can itemize and promote?
is our location good for business? (even as a web business this still has bearing on who our customers are and how we interact with them)
is the image of our business what it should be?
do we have the right mix of people to become a $10million business?
are our fees well considered?
where do we stand with our marketing? what more can we be doing?

Comments (0) Post a Comment Permalink

Best productivity blogs and virtual business success

Posted On: June 27th 2008
By: Richard Banfield

Right now I'm winding down a week long vacation on Cape Cod. The thing that's nagging at me as I contemplate going back to the office is productivity. What has surprised me a little is the level of interaction that's required with my team to ensure things run smoothly. It's comfortingly low. Here are some of the reasons that make it possible for me (or any one of our team members) to take time off and still have the business run effectively:

Small, A+ Team: Even though we complete over 100 projects each year we still have less than 10 full time staff. Small teams communicate more effectively than larger teams and less falls through the cracks. If you have A+ players you get twice, if not more, done than if you have only B players on the team.
Process and Operations: Our entire business process and management system (project management, financial management, etc.) is entirely online. I can log into any one of our systems and get instant access to financial data or project progress without having to be in the office. This might seem obvious to some but ask yourself if you can view every check deposited or every contract signed in the last year from the beach before assuming you are completely organized.
Generalists and Overlapping Responsibilities: Part of having a small team means we can get to know everybody's project status very quickly and thus provide redundancy and support when it's needed. Just because you are a designer doesn't mean you don't know what sales and marketing are doing. Overlapping knowledge gives you and edge over the over specialized teams that crash when their lead designer goes on vacation or leaves the company.

Right now we have team members in seven cities on two continents. It still feels like we are in the same room together.

If you're also trying to figure out how to make your day a little more productive then check out this list of 50 of the best productivity blogs.

Comments (0) Post a Comment Permalink

What's the "Why" in your business?

Posted On: June 16th 2008
By: Richard Banfield

Every business needs a big reason to exist. I'm not talking about being the lowest cost provider or the most convenient brand, I'm talking about a reason to exist. Something that you can get passionate about. Passion drives people to do great things and deliver a much higher level of service or product. Why do you exist? Is it just to make widgets?

For us it's about making entrepreneurial dreams come true. Through our web design services we can take a simple idea and turn it into a business. So instead of just seeing our business as a place that produces pixels we see ourselves as enablers of entrepreneurial dreams. We can change the world by giving entrepreneurs the ability to reach their dreams.

What does your business do? Why is it something you should be passionate about? How are you changing the world?

We do that by creating their websites, marketing those websites and the spreading the stories behind those websites. Our business allows us to influence those entrepreneurs in a profoundly positive way. We can turn their ideas into reality and that has the power to change their lives. Changing their lives obviously affects the people that they work with and in some cases will affect millions and millions of other people.

Can you think of a way to make the "why" of your business more a part of the day to day communication of your business?

Comments (0) Post a Comment Permalink

Balancing Communication and Uninterrupted Work

Posted On: June 14th 2008
By: Richard Banfield

A recent study referenced in Business Week, this week, suggests that 28% of the U.S. worker's day is made up of interruptions. This is a net loss of $650 billion in lost productivity. As a design company that has completed more than 300 projects in three years we are obviously not big fans of interruptions. We'd like to believe we are a well oiled machine but we've defintely made our share of mistakes in the pursuit of productivity.

We are, however, huge fans of time saving, outsourcing and productivity methods. Books like the 4-Hour Work Week, The World Is Flat and The 80/20 principle are essential reads for any manager or entrepreneur in the 21st century. There is a flip side to reducing your day-to-day involvement in the operations of the business. Service companies don't have the luxury of retreating into extreme remoteness.

Communication cannot be outsourced

Unless you're running a drop-ship website operation you probably have a few other people working alongside you. You'll need to communicate with these people and I'm sorry to tell you that email and IM just doesn't cut it. In this era of outsourced and remote business your team mates might not be on your continent so email and IM are essential but face-time and real telephone conversations are still the best way to build real relationships. It doesn't really matter how much technology there is, people are social animals. You cannot outsource your client or team communication.

Designers face the added challenge of having to communicate a complex set of ideas from client to team and back again. Firms generating over a few hundred thousand in revenues will have the additional challenge of working with several vendors.

Face-time is an economic advantage

We have done analysis on our closure rates on prospects. Clients that we meet with face to face are three times more likely to sign contracts with us than those we only 'meet' via email or phone. There are obvious other factors like location preferences and travel expenses but the results hold true for even for local clients that we just don't get an opportunity to meet.

Local service companies like design firms have a distinct advantage over remote or outsourced companies. This might not be true of service companies like call centers but if Dell's awful experience with Indian outsourced call centers is any indication I could be wrong. Customers of Dell were so turned off by the company's call centers the company was in serious trouble for a while.

Good communication is more about content and less about context

I feel like most people confuse the desire to reduce interruptions with reducing communications. Meetings and interruptions are the enemy, not the desire to communicate. As my wife reminds me often, "remove content from context to get the real story". Reducing meeting time is a great way to add more time to a businesses productivity time but don't throw the baby out with the bath water.

For months we used to have a bi-weekly scrum meeting that was a very short catch-up session with our team members based in Massachusetts, New York, Ottawa, and Iowa. The time was non-negotiable and attendance was strongly suggested. The meetings were helpful but often team members couldn't keep the stringent schedule. Real life just got in the way and as the team grew it became a longer more frustrating event. The result was the meetings fell off the schedule. Losing the meetings felt okay at first but then we started to notice little things going wrong. Team members would miss out on subtle changes in client work which would snowball into bigger issues.

We've learnt our lesson that there needs to be a balance between reducing interruptions and good old fashioned talking. We still don't have more than one big internal meeting a week but anything more or less than that might not be optimal. It's a constant exercise to experiment with what level of meetings or interruptions we can tolerate without losing our edge.

Comments (0) Post a Comment Permalink

Why we use Basecamp to manage our client projects

Posted On: June 10th 2008
By: Richard Banfield

We've get asked dozens of time each year what project management software we use to manage the 100 or so projects we do each year. We've always used Basecamp and we don't see a reason to switch to anything else as we grow. Given the size of some of our design projects and the high quantity of new website we produce each year some people are surprised that we use such a simple tool. Let me explain our motivation:

The complexity of the project management tool is not in direct proportion to the project you are managing. Just because you have a large web design project or a multi-faceted SEO campaign, does not mean you need more complex tools. We like Basecamp because it's the absolute essential of what we need and that forces us to simplify complex issues.
Our clients don't want a learning curve. Most of our clients already have several web apps to help them manage their day. They do not need another complex tool to add to the mess they have to deal with each day. A project management system has to be so simple so even the most stressed clients sees the advantages of using it.
We're cheap. Every overhead in our businessis under scruitany. We don't like spending money on anything that doesn't return something greater in return (except for candy and tickets to see Eddie Izzard live). Our preference is to always look fora web app that's free and does 80% of what the $1,000/month version does.

It's also worth noting that Basecamp does have it's flaws. It's not linked to an accounting system so you have to get creative about how you track time and add that to your accounting system. They do offer several API-type plugins that help solve this problem but it's not a perfect solution if you're already committed to QuickBooks Online like we are. Overall its the best of the breed project management application for web designers like us.

Comments (2) Post a Comment Permalink

Our clients are winners

Posted On: June 9th 2008
By: Richard Banfield

Last week HubSpot and GotVMail Communications, both recent clients of ours, won their respective categories at the annual MITX Technology Awards here in Boston. Congratulations!

Comments (0) Post a Comment Permalink

Our Favorite Business Books for Designers

Posted On: June 2nd 2008
By: Richard Banfield

We did a quick poll of our favorite business and design books. These are the books that have most influenced us.

Kristine Jubeck, our senior designer - "How to be a graphic designer without losing your soul" by Adrian Shaughnessy. Another favorite is "Stop Stealing and find out how type works" by Erik Spiekermann.

Phil Percuoco, our web product designer - "The Visual Display of Quantitative Information" by Edward Tufte

Brendan Pich, our social marketing guru - "Freakonomics" by Steven Levitt

Dan Allard, our business development head - "Small is the New Big" by Seth Godin

David Pye, our search marketing head - "The Tipping Point" by Malcolm Gladwell

Kevin Leary, our user interface designer - "Web ReDesign 2.0: Workflow that Works" by Kelly Goto and Emily Cotler

Richard Banfield, our chief - "Good to Great" by Jim Collins

What's your favorite business or design book?

Comments (0) Post a Comment Permalink

Why RFP's Suck

Posted On: May 15th 2008
By: Dan Allard

If you're in the service industry, you've probably been approached by a company with an RFP. When Fresh Tilled Soil first started, we were quite excited about the fact someone found us, read our site and asked us to submit a proposal for a seemingly cool project. More often than not, the company was a real player and we thought that being able to say we had worked in conjunction with them would help prove we were a big time player. It would also be a great way for us to have more visibility and show off our talented design skills. These companies normally find us through search engines and recently we've had a flood of RFP's coming into our email in-boxes. To be perfectly honest, unless these companies fit into our internal potential client lens and other RFP guidelines there is definitely more of a chance of a blind person hitting a hole in one... Of course that happens, but very very rarely.

Even if you complete the RFP to their exact guidelines, there is no guarantee that you will make it to the short list and actually have a chance to show relevant work that has been accomplished by your firm to the potential client.

To be honest, my suggestion when receiving a RFP is to graciously reply that you don't work off of RFP's and send them 3 referrals they can contact to find out more information about your company.

The second option is to run, very fast the other way.

Comments (0) Post a Comment Permalink

You can't create what you want by focusing on what you don't want

Posted On: May 14th 2008
By: Richard Banfield

Most people have the desire to create something positive in their lives. Unfortunately we have a habit of describing what we want through the lens of what we don't want. Whether it's a personal goal or a business strategy we tend to use the antithesis of what we want to describe the objective. For example, you might want to be more productive so you can have more time with your family so you say/write "I don't want so many distractions". This statement resonates with the word distractions so that's really all you think about each time you consider your goal. All goals should be stated in the positive. I've heard it said that Mother Theresa said that you can't stop war by having an anti-war movement, but if you decide to have a peace rally she would gladly attend. Focus on what you want and not what you don't want and you'll be surprised by the results.

Comments (0) Post a Comment Permalink

CEO's need a design education

Posted On: May 13th 2008
By: Richard Banfield

Bob Sutton, the author of The No Asshole Rule has been suggesting that CEO's should be the considering a Masters in Fine Arts and not just an MBA. With design being the big differentiator these days that's hardly surprising. Sutton says, "The program claims that the human-centered, prototype-driven process of design advances managers’ ability to:

Develop deep consumer insights: design’s field observations and ethnographic methods will take managers beyond the limitations of traditional market research
Reduce risk and accelerate learning through rapid prototyping
Drive towards innovation, not just incremental growth
Empower your employees to be innovative: Design thinking can help transform your organizational structure and internal processes towards a more innovative stance

Comments (0) Post a Comment Permalink

Education positively influences entrepreneurship

Posted On: May 8th 2008
By: Richard Banfield

A study released by the world famous Kaufmann Foundation for Entrepreneurship has found correlation between education levels and the propensity to start a new business. Here is a segment from the study...

Our survey shows that education provides an advantage in tech entrepreneurship and that most U.S.-born tech founders of technology and engineering companies are middle-aged with sixteen years of work experience before they launch a startup. The twenty-year-old wunderkind is the exception, not the rule. The education a tech founder receives is important in tech entrepreneurship. But, while elite, Ivy-League schools are over-represented in the ranks of U.S.-born tech entrepreneurs and achieve greater business success than others, 92 percent of the U.S.-born tech founders come from other colleges and universities. The biggest difference in business success is between tech founders with terminal bachelor’s degrees and those with terminal high school diplomas. There also are large differences between Michigan, Texas, and Ohio, which rank above average, and Maryland, Indiana, and New York, which are at the bottom. This research raises policy questions on how regions of the country and the country itself can foster greater tech entrepreneurship to boost economic growth. While we do not know how some of the tech founders would have fared had they not obtained higher degrees, the predominance of degree holders suggests that an advanced education has become critical, at least in the sectors covered in our sample. The majority of higher education and graduate degrees in our respondent body fell within tech founders of thirty-five to forty-four years of age.

Comments (0) Post a Comment Permalink

Apple ITunes Refund

Posted On: May 5th 2008
By: Dan Allard

Recently, I purchased the Book "E-Myth Mastery: The Seven Essential Disciplines for Building a World Class Company. Unfortunately, I didn't notice that the book was only broken into 3 parts each just over 2 hours long. Every other audio book I have purchased in the past breaks the story down into small chapters. This makes it much easier to listen to the story in multiple sittings. It surprised me that ITunes would still have a story only broken down into 3 parts, with each section having a long running time.

After realizing my mistake I was worried that I would not be able to get a refund for the story. Especially after discussing it with my co-workers who made the comment "Good Luck." I would rather load the story into ITunes manually than try and find what part I was listening to after continuing with the story after an extended absence.

Luckily for me, Irene from ITunes replied quickly after I sent my e-mail noting my frustration and asking what could be done. After checking with her supervisors she let me know that I would receive a full refund from ITunes.

Thank you Apple!! You didn't make a little problem a big problem. Another satisfied customer and a job well done.

Comments (1) Post a Comment Permalink

To Take Equity in a Company or Not

Posted On: May 1st 2008
By: Dan Allard

It happens quite often that when I'm having a meeting with a potential client, I am asked if we would be interested in equity in the company. This is a very difficult question to answer because there are many variables involved with making the decision. There are usually many unanswered questions the client has difficulty answering.

1. Have you found out from other people that the problem you're solving is also a problem they encounter?
2. Have you identified anyone who could fund the project?... ie. Venture Capital or Angel funding organizations or family members.
3. Is this a real problem that people would be willing to pay for?

If the potential business answers these questions than there is always the possibility of a joint venture. If not, it's usually back to the drawing board or off to a meeting with the revenue doctor.

Comments (0) Post a Comment Permalink

Taking Pride in Your Work

Posted On: May 1st 2008
By: Alex Fedorov

About an hour ago, I went out for lunch and as I was walking down the street I saw a middle-aged guy trying to tie a dozen baloons onto a standing sign in front of a shop to attract patrons for an art exhibit they were hosting this evening. As he was tieing on the baloons, he accidentally let a few of them go. I thought nothing of it, went into the deli and ordered a sandwich. As I came out five minutes later, I noticed there were more baloons in the air. I looked at the sign and counted 4 tied on. This means 8 of them drifted away due to carelessness. Being analytical, I realized that he had lost 2/3 of the baloons and was only 33% effective in what he was doing.

Obviously, not a big deal, but it made me ask myself: What if everyone took more pride in their work?

Comments (0) Post a Comment Permalink

Ten essentials for designers before they start a project

Posted On: April 29th 2008
By: Richard Banfield

If you're a designer then you probably have had a bad client or two. By bad client I mean someone who doesn't pay on time, or at all, or maybe they pushed the scope out a little each day until the original spec was completely indistinguishable from the mast revision. After a few trial and error experiences we developed a way to filter the good clients from the bad clients even before a project started. We called this filter "The Lens" and we still use it every time we start a new project or have to develop a proposal for a client:

   1. Never start a project until you have received a signed contract and a deposit for at least 25% of the project estimate. In some cases, like projects under $10k or if the client is overseas, a deposit of 50% is acceptable.
   2. Make sure you know who the contact person is at the client company responsible for payments. In larger companies admin and A/P (accounts payable) staff may be in a completely different department or even in a different country.
   3. Ask your contacts at the company how many vendors they have worked with in the past and if they have had any bad experiences. If there is a trend of vendor issues then it's most likely because the client has some internal issues that no vendor will ever be able to solve, no matter how good they are.
   4. Find out if the company's leaders are 'first-timers' or if they have started and built several companies before. Our experience leads us to believe that entrepreneurs with 2 - 3 successes under their belt make better clients.
   5. If a client asks you to revise your proposal more than 3 times they are either never planning on working with you or deliberately wearing you down. Walk away.
   6. Whenever possible work for a flat fee and not on an hourly basis. Provide a detailed spec at the start of the project, get sign off and get signed change orders every time the scope is changed by the client. If you stick to the spec your projects will be more profitable.
   7. Establish if the client values outsourcing to a professional services company like yours. There are some cases where clients are forced to use outsiders but don't value outsider's efforts. They think they can do it all themselves and they won't be proven otherwise no matter how hard you try.
   8. Don't start work on an existing site or application until you have had the chance to do a full audit. Never ever work on a project if you don't know what's 'under the hood' and don't take the client's word for it that everything is in working order.
   9. If a prospect tells you that you are one of several companies that they are considering then either walk away or ask who the other companies are. If the prospect refuses to tell you, then tell them that you cannot provide them with a complete proposal without being able to compare apples to apples. If this doesn't work make the bidding process as short and painless as you can. Long bidding process waste your time and resources.
10. Check your client's references. Ask around your industry about your client and their leadership team. Google them and check out their online profiles. You'll be very surprised with what you sometimes find out.

This is not a flawless system but it's pretty good at weeding out the bad clients from the good ones.

Comments (0) Post a Comment Permalink

The most valuable investment you can make in people

Posted On: April 14th 2008
By: Richard Banfield

If the most important invest you can make is not either trust or recognition then I'll be a donut without a hole. Its not money or private bathrooms in the executive suite that attracts and motivates people. It's letting them know your trust them to do the best thing for the company and for your clients. We've always been able to attract wonderfully motivated, energetic and smart people to Fresh Tilled Soil because we trust our employees to make great decisions.

My current favorite business author is Ricardo Semler. His book Maverick describes how he and his executives have slowly removed themselevs from the decision making process by increasing their trust in their staff. Combined with the appropriate recognition the people at Semco have resisted adding layers of management red tape and HR driven divisions in ordinary trust...

"We simply do not believe our employees have an interest in coming in late, leaving early, and doing as little as possible for as much money as their union can wheedle out of us. After all, these are the same people that raise children, join the PTA, elect mayors, governors, senators, and presidents. They are adults. At Semco, we treat them like adults. We trust them. We don’t make our employees ask permission to go to the bathroom, nor have security guards search them as they leave for the day. We get out of their way and let them do their jobs."

Comments (0) Post a Comment Permalink

The Myth About Working Hard vs. Working Smart

Posted On: March 8th 2008
By: Richard Banfield

There is a lot of life-hack discussion in the book and blog world. It's not surprising. We're all looking for ways to get more from our efforts and still have time to stop and smell the roses. Anyone who's read The 4-Hour Work Week has been filled with the knowledge that Tim Ferriss has won a battle all of us face each day. There is however, an often overlooked part of the sitting-on-a-beach-while-money-pours-in success story.

To get to only working 4 hours a week you have to start with 80 hours a week.

Make no mistake, I love the idea of working 4 hours a week and still making a lot of money. Our business uses all the time-saving techniques we can. As a team we actually work less hours than anyone we know. We take ample vacations, work very reasonable hours and generally manage to even take off a day each week. Many of the ideas out there actually do help to reduce email, meetings and distractions so you can focus on what does produce rewards. There are definitely life-hacks that work but there is not short-cut to the hard work that creates entrepreneurial success. The truth is, if you want to build a great business that throws off cash each day you will need to put in the hours up front.

I've been fortunate enough to have been part of 4 startups in the last 12 years. Two of them have been a great success (by both financial and reputation standards) and two of them flopped. The common thread in the two successes has been hard smart work. Not just hard work, but focused, disciplined hard work. Working hard and working smart are not two ends of a spectrum. They need to co-exist. They need your equal attention.

So what is it that requires hard work vs. working smarter? In spite of all the myths, building software does not require your developers to sit chained to their desks for months on end punching out millions of lines of code. Great software can be produced in simple ways and without having to drag a futon into the office. If you're just a middle-man drop shipping merchandise, like many of the web businesses we read about, then producing product isn't even on your to-do list. In many of the businesses we see and work with we hardly ever see the product or service eating up time. What requires unadulterated hard work and long hours is sales - at least initially.

At least once a week I get asked how Fresh Tilled Soil manages to produce so many new leads each week with no apparent effort. The answer is in Jim Collins flywheel metaphor. We produce a solid pipeline of sales without breaking our backs because we broke our backs for the first two years setting a flywheel in motion. That flywheel is the referral mechanism that only works if you have it spinning at a solid rate. The only way to get it spinning is to work bloody hard making calls, networking and executing excellent work. There is no life-hack to get around this one. The good news is that once the sales flywheel is in motion it's very easy to just keep it moving forward each day. The initial effort to get that heavy flywheel moving translates into an inertia that sustains itself with only a small amount of daily effort.

The way we see it is that working hard is a bare minimum to success. Applying "working smart" ideas from the beginning helps make that hard work turn into something even better. If you work hard and work smart, success comes a lot quicker than just doing one of those things.

Comments (0) Post a Comment Permalink

"How do they survive?"

Posted On: March 7th 2008
By: Richard Banfield

If you're like me, I always look at those small run-down retailers that seem to just be surviving, and wonder, how do these guys survive? There are thousands of those little stores that don't seem to have any foot traffic going in and out. Down the street from me is a small shopping center with the usual suspects - a gift store, a post office, an Indian grocery store, a video store and a bagel shop. Apart from the post office and the Indian grocery store there are never any people in these stores, but year after year they are still there.

Clearly these stores have rent to pay, inventory to hold, salaries to pay but yet I never see any customers going in to these stores. How do they survive? I can understand that the Indian grocery store survives. It's a focused niche store with a captive audience in the form of a large Indian population in the neighboring town. Focus seems to always be the correct answer to strategy. By contrast the gift store sells everything from cards to toys to bumper stickers. It's crammed with crap from floor to ceiling. I've been in there a few time to look for things like envelopes and wrapping paper but i always leave feeling overwhelmed and dissatisfied.

I think these companies that are bordering on survival are doomed to a certain death. Survival cannot be enough to want to go to work each day. These people don't own a business, they own a job. Their stores will slowly fade away or bore them to death. Only to be replaced by another business satisfied just to be a survivor.

Comments (1) Post a Comment Permalink

How to Save a Waterlogged BlackBerry Pearl

Posted On: February 19th 2008
By: Dan Allard

Last week I made an idiotic mistake and dropped my BlackBerry Pearl in the vicious slush and rain of our Boston winter. I didn’t notice I had dropped it and proceed to leave it there for the next 3 hours. It had slipped out of my pocket when I made the mad dash through freezing rain and snow to the safety of my apartment. I didn't use the phone that night and when I was ready to go to bed, realized that I didn't know where it was. I grabbed my umbrella and scampered out to my car in the rain. On my way there I noticed a shiny object on the ground next to the car door. My heart sank. Sure enough the phone was off and dripping with water. I figured I would have to wake up the next morning and buy a new phone (probably the iPhone, even though I love the Pearl), but on the suggestion from a friend took it apart and put it in a bowl of uncooked rice. The next morning, after brushing off the rice, I was amazed to find that the phone came back to life. The best part is that it's not dropping e-mail, text and phone records from its memory like it had before its frigid swim. Remember, when in doubt, put your water logged BlackBerry in dried rice after getting it wet. You have a chance of saving it.

Comments (0) Post a Comment Permalink

Simple is not a Strategy

Posted On: February 18th 2008
By: Richard Banfield

Simplicity has always been the cornerstone of successful design. Who can argue with the genius of E=mc2 or the architecture of Mies van der Rohe? The problem with the word simplicity is that is sounds like a really good idea for a strategy - and it's not. Often I hear from the entrepreneurs we work with that their goal is to simplify the industry they are entering. To be clear, simplifying a previously complex or time consuming process is a good thing. Simplicity is the end goal not the strategy. You cannot be simple. Simplicity creates other things.

For example, if Walgreens strategy is to be the most convenient drug store then access to their stores needs to be simple. If Apple wants to be the most attractive consumer computer and device company they will need simple-to-use-products. A strategy is a plan, not a statement of where you are heading.

Beware of saying, "our goal is to simplify [this or that]". Instead say, "our product reduces the number of steps to register for [x] and thus makes it simple to [y]. We do this by [insert strategy]". In order to make something simple you need a strategy that will get you to that point. Of course, your strategy might be simple to understand but that's another story altogether.

Comments (0) Post a Comment Permalink

No competition is a lie or at very least a bad sign

Posted On: February 10th 2008
By: Richard Banfield

It is a counter intuitive position to think of a healthy company as one with good competitors. In any entrepreneurial dream is the desire to create something where no competition exists and thus offers limitless opportunity to dominate the demand. My challenge to this view is that without competition the business has little or no chance of survival. Any business leader who claims to own the entire demand for a product or service is either lying, misguided or doing something illegal. For we all know what happens when you build a monopoly in a free economy. In the many years that I have been interviewing CEO, entrepreneurs and executives I have heard those words "we have no competition" far too often. It is an illusion of grandeur that no leader need boast about or believe. For starters having no competition could very well mean there is a poor demand for the product or service in question.

Comments (0) Post a Comment Permalink

Apple AirBook arrives

Posted On: February 10th 2008
By: Richard Banfield

I nearly hugged the FedEx guy when he arrived with my new AirBook last week. Based on the number of tatoos he had it's a good thing I decided not to.

Let's start with the sleek black packaging. It might only be a $1,800 laptop but the packaging makes you feel like you just ordered a diamond encrusted necklace for your wife. The box is a weighted matt black package with cleverly designed compartments for each of the accessories and booklets. There is a lot to be said for a company that leads design through all of its elements, not just the product.

The AirBook is even thinner than I thought it would be. This was a delightful surprise and a huge change from my current door-stop Dell. Having already had the new iMac and Leopard OS for several months there isn't much about the guts of the AirBook that surprised me. The touchpad, however, is another wonderful innovation that has been borrowed from the iPhone. Using your fingers only, you can rotate, expand and contract images as if you were working on that cool screen we all fell in love with on Minority Report.

The lack of a CD/DVD drive is also an exciting improvement. In a wireless world you won't miss this. Just like you never miss your old floppy drive. Installing software via another machine's disc drive (Mac or PC) is as easy as copying files from a flash drive. If you're already an iTunes user you've probably copied all your old CD's a long time ago.

The smaller screen and overall tiny size reminded me of my old Sony Vaio slimline. I haven't been able to find a small laptop that that until now. Small laptops aren't for everyone though. If you're traveling a lot then the AirBook is the perfect machine. If you're working on intense graphics or large format design files you might want to stick to the PowerBook range. With all the hassles of traveling with a laptop as big as my Dell I often ended up leaving it at home when I traveled to conferences and vacations. I doubt I'll ever leave my AirBook at home again.

Overall, I'm very happy with the AirBook but I still like having my big 24" iMac screen in my home office for my design work. If you can afford both, they make a truely perfect pair.

Comments (1) Post a Comment Permalink

Recession myths

Posted On: February 8th 2008
By: Richard Banfield

In our Designer's How To Guides we talk about excuses and myths that business development people use to justify not making the sale. Over the last few months we have heard much of the impending recession. If you a salesperson one of the most common excuses for failure is "the economy is in a slump". Other versions of this are, “our industry is going through a slump”, or “the macro economics of our space have affected performance”. We hear these excuses all the time but there is little truth beneath them. Why is it that Warren Buffett can consistently make money investing in companies across diverse industries even during a depression? Simple, he invests in people not sectors or trends. Smart managers consistently return results and even capitalize on competitors losses when the economy slumps. It is a red flag that your underlying strategy is broken if your business falters every time the market adjusts or slows down.

Comments (0) Post a Comment Permalink

Greatest Art Rules

Posted On: February 5th 2008
By: Richard Banfield

If you are an artist or designer these are the rules to live by (watch out though, new one rules will be created soon).

Comments (0) Post a Comment Permalink

SEED Conference review

Posted On: January 30th 2008
By: Richard Banfield

In mid January I attended the SEED Conference in Chicago hosted by Jason Fried, Carlos Segura and Jim Coudal from 37Signals, Segura, Inc., and Coudal Partners respectfully. Apart from the chilling weather it was well worth the long airport delays and sticker price. About 4 years ago I attended one of the first Building Basecamp seminars held at the offices shared by Coudal and Fried. What I liked about that event was it's small size. SEED felt a little like an expo where the people you want to speak to are always just a little too pressed for time and speakers are mobbed after each session. It would be fun for these guys to host a smaller, and maybe premium priced, session where one-on-one opportunities are possible. Overall it was a good opportuity to be reminded of the things that separate good design from bad.

If you are considering going make time to check out the amazing IIT campus designed by Mies van der Rohe and Rem Koolhaus. These photos of the campus and conference taken by Sandy Weisz provide a glance at the architecture and space.

Comments (0) Post a Comment Permalink

Cobbler's children have no shoes

Posted On: January 28th 2008
By: Richard Banfield

This old story relates to the fact that a busy cobbler will be so busy making shoes for his customers that he has no time to make some for his own children. We decided that we needed a little of our own medicine and upgraded our blog. We recently moved our blog from TypePad to the main site. This has a few advantages, mostly related to SEO. For those of you wondering how a blog helps your search marketing efforts here are a few tips on blog marketing:

Pick an interesting battle others care about. A blog is not a news feed - it's a conversation. Express your likes and dislikes in the public forum of your website and let your audience participate in the dialogue. Not every topic can be interesting but there are some topics that deserve more passionate discussion.
Frequency is your friend. Don't start a blog unless you intend on getting a regular schedule of postings. Your audience has the equivalent of ADD and will expect your post to provide new insights each week. There are no rules as to how often you should post but three to four times a week is ideal.
You are not your audience, or are you?. Marketers love to remind their clients that they are not their target audience. I think it's interestign to be your audience and discuss the things that affect them in an empathetic way. Trying too hard to be a fly on the wall reduces your credibiltiy. Your audience will grow out of shared interests not just interestign topics.
Create a presonality to go with the story. You can make a stronger connection to your audience by making yourself part of the story. People prefer reading stories from others that are going through similar ups and downs. Share a little background.
Don't be an island. You can create additional interest in your blog by pointing to other blogs discussing the same topics you are. The web works best when you participate in the network effect.

Comments (0) Post a Comment Permalink