How To Be Resourceful In A Slow Growth Economy

The question every business leader needs to ask is,  what business am I really in? And you need to keep asking that question periodically, because the answer always changes. The question is dynamic, because, it helps determine where your business is along the value chain, your competitive advantage, your niche and who your target market is. Market Segmentation In this post, I will be discussing market segmentation, which is, who in the market is willing to pay the most for your specialised product/service; that is your target market. If, someone were to answer the first question I posed at the beginning of this post, in light of the discussion, one could say, I'm in the business of putting a smile on people's faces. But, which people are you referring to? Young or old, female or male, black, white, asian or hispanic, high income earner or low income earner, single or married; you need to be specific in your segmentation of the market. Who is your product/service most appe...

In my last post, I hinted on the role of optimisation in business and making business decisions. In order to build a thriving business, you need to optimise; you need to have multiple streams of income. Because you're not in control of the market forces; both micro and macro forces. A new piece of technology, could come on the market, that would render your business inept, if you're only selling one product. That's what the Ipad did to some traditional publication outlets. Or legislators could enact a law, that would increase your cost of production. You need to have multiple legs to stand on. What Is Optimisation? Optimisation is getting the highest and best use/yield from an asset, through multiple test cases. It's extremely difficult to optimise tangible assets, because of their finite nature, except you're a business with deep pockets, but even business executives aren't that naive. The only successful cases are digital products, but it takes a lot of t...

In my last post, I shared about how to develop passion. Now I’ll be answering another plaguing question, How To Be Happy? Happiness is not a permanent fixture, because it’s an emotion; it’s energy in motion. You need to be doing something in order to elicit it. And just like a muscle, you need to keep exercising it to maintain or grow it. So, your question might be, what are the routines needed to elicit happiness on a continuous basis? How To Be Happy Always The answer is in the disciplines you engage in. Happiness is experienced by doing the things needed on the path to success. For more on success, check our series, Being Resourceful Pt 3 - 5.  If you’re not planning to be successful, then you’re planning to be unhappy the rest of your life. But remember, success is relative; to someone else it could be, being a successful homemaker, parent, leader, writer, artist, or business owner. NOTE, don’t confuse happiness with satisfaction. Satisfaction is corruptible (gives y...

In my last post, I ended with the note that business is all about, understanding leverage and optimisation. So let's start by defining leverage, in the context of a business. What Is Leverage? Leverage is measuring the performance of an asset, and if it's under-performing, trying to figure out ways to improve it through conservative market testing. Any asset in a business can be measured in terms of cost reduction or sales increase; that means, their effect on the bottom line. That's why you hear of businesses leasing capital assets, like machines, in order to reduce their operating cost. It's based on the understanding of leverage. But, the effect on the bottom line, is small compared to leveraging intangible assets. Moreover, except you're a business with multiple capital assets or an equivalent, you can't apply optimisation, which leads to wasted potential back-end profit. Case In Point Every notable business success applied leverage. Consider, Bill Gat...