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business

A Business (And Life) Lesson

by Dr.Mani on August 2, 2010

RE-TWEET IT!

“If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings”

- Rudyard Kipling, ‘IF…

Imagine this:

You spend 15 years building an online business and fund raising process.

You work within constraints that are seriously limiting, even crippling – but forge a way through it all, to set up a tenuous (but working) system.

You wake up one morning to an email which notifies you that the hinge on which the enterprise swings has come undone – and everything is in ‘free float’.

  • No order buttons work.

  • No donations can be accepted.
  • No subscriptions will be paid.

In short, everything that had been automated, systematized and organized was suddenly gone!

How would you feel? What would you do? Where would you turn?

This was my dilemma last Wednesday.

But telling a Type A personality something cannot be done is the surest way to bring out all his latent energy, drive and determination to the forefront!

I went into over-drive.

Five days later,

  • I have an alternative payment processor set up, and am taking orders in my business again.

  • I have completely re-designed my non-profit website from the ground up – with a revised strategy that will bring in three times more in contributions to charity.
  • I have started working on a new business plan to double (or maybe triple, or better) my business profits – of which a portion goes to charity, again.

In other words, by staying focused on what really matters – little children getting life-saving heart operations – I was able to look beyond a disaster that threatened the very existence of my online business and fund raising, and create a functional alternative… in less than a week!

Today morning, I was reading Seth Godin’s LINCHPIN, and came across this passage:

What does it take to lead?

“The key-distinction is the ability to forge your own path, to discover a route from one place to another that hasn’t been paved, measured, and quantified. So many times we want someone to tell us exactly what to do, and so many times that’s exactly the wrong approach.

“Diamond cutters have an intrinsic understanding of the stone in their hands. They can touch and see exactly where the best lines are, they know. The greatest artists do just that. They see and understand the challenges before them, without carrying the baggage of expectations or attachment. The diamond-cutter doesn’t imagine the diamond he wants. Instead, he sees the diamond that is possible.

Long ago, I stopped imagining the business and non-profit I want. I’ve focused on the one that is possible. So, when something shifts, I shift with it – to reach my goal.

Do you?

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In Cricket, As Business

by Dr.Mani on June 4, 2010

RE-TWEET IT!

Like all Indian boys, I grew up “cricket crazy”.

The 1970’s was an exciting era of intense and hard-fought battles on the cricket field between the West Indies and India. Five test matches. Five days each.

Pitted against the might of cricket’s all-time great fast bowlers – Andy Roberts, Michael Holding, Joel Garner, Malcolm Marshall and many more…

West Indies Pace Quartet

…was India’s supremely gifted opening batsman, ‘Little Master’ Sunil Gavaskar.

Gavaskar

His presence at the crease gave Indian supporters a serene confidence that one end, at least, was safe and secure. The torrid pace attack left the master craftsman unperturbed and calm. No helmet necessary.

There were times he carried his bat through an innings, watching helplessly as wickets tumbled like nine-pins on the opposite end. But he himself held fast, like a rock of Gibraltar.

Those were glorious days of test cricket, marked by an emphasis on style and sportsmanship, technique and temperament. Then, gradually, the game got bastardized into the faster-moving one-day version, and from there into the parody called T-20/20 that it is today.

A more swash-buckling, daring and unconventional form of stroke-play became the order of the day, as batsmen sacrificed technique at the altar of quick runs. And if they got out, well, there was always another match around the corner to make up… and anyway the game was too brief for one early wicket to really matter!

Cricket had changed in a very fundamental way.

How uncannily similar to my own business building and marketing, I said to myself as I woke up this morning.

Many things have been influenced by the shift. Including my thinking. And not just about the game – but about other things, including business!

Once upon a long time ago, I built my information business with a clear focus on strategy, and the long-term future goal. I was content to plod along doing the unattractive, boring, but vitally important tasks that it takes to start and build anything worthwhile. No one noticed, no one cared, but I did it – because those things mattered.

And then, the slow creep of inertia began. Things that were exciting, new and flashy caught my fancy. I went fishing “outside the off stump” at every tantalizing new idea that was thrown my way. Not surprisingly, that behavior came at a price.

I think back to the powerful lessons Sunny Gavaskar taught, as he put his head down, played copy-book shots, and patiently waited for that weak delivery to slam to the boundary.

No, it wasn’t because he didn’t know to play the ‘other way’ (as he so grandly proved towards the end of his career, as he matched the dashing Krish Srikkanth stroke for stroke, and repeatedly slammed Malcolm Marshall, then the fastest bowler in the world, to the fence on his opening delivery!).

No, he did it because he knew that’s what his team needed. And because he had the discipline, temperament and focus to stick with what mattered most.

Ignoring the transient thrill of swinging his bat at everything that went by, and the appreciative roar of a fickle audience who quickly moved on to the next day’s sensation, the ‘Little Master’ did what he had to do.

I need to find that focus again. And take guard to begin a new innings in my business growth. This time, I’m not playing to make the fastest fifty, or hit the most sixers.

I’m in it to score a century. Or a double century. Maybe a triple!

Off and middle, please!

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My Tactical Plan

I’ve been reviewing some things in my business, non-profit and other online work, found areas that needed modification, and came up with this set of tactical steps to take – starting right now!
1. Focus on offline fundraising, rather than devoting all my time to online efforts.
2. Take a break from all active social [...]

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Is Turbo Farewell Right For YOU?

As kids, we’ve read fairytales where a pauper becomes fabulously wealthy overnight – when the princess picks him as her consort. He goes on to govern a country, wielding enormous power instantly.
And we wish… “Ah! If only I were that pauper!”
Like Cinderella, we often long for a fairy Godmother to come, wave her [...]

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Integrating Twitter Into Everything Else

When it comes to using Twitter, the micro-blogging phenomenon of the year, I’m ahead of the curve. That’s because I’ve been using it since around June 2007.
Many people are talking about Twitter, excited about the potential, lecturing others on the best or most effective way to use it – and it reminds me of [...]

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