Problem: You want to do everything from hamburgers to rockets. Right? Thought so… we all do. Ok, maybe not everything, but still… as much as possible.

Well, sorry to let you know but that’s how you’re gonna take your business to the ground. Really. Why? Here’s a few reasons:

1. Because if you try to do everything, you’re not gonna do anything right.
2. Because people these days need specialists not one-stop shops.
3. ‘Cause it’s better to have a large steak from a small market than tiny bits (or nothing) of multiple markets.

Solution: Pick a niche. Do something really really well. Be the best in your branch. Try to be the leader, not the follower!

A few tips that might help you:

1. So, how do you pick the niche?
Really simple: make a list with every thing that you love doing. Done? Good. Now, which of this hobbies / passions would you like / be able to transform into a business? Well… guess what: that’s your next business, dude!

2. Research.
If one of your passions / hobbies is building rockets, you might want to reconsider. We don’t wanna discourage you or anything… but make sure that the niche you pick actually exists. Or at least make sure people would be interested in it.

Here’s a few tips to help in your research:
a) start with your friends - talk to them about your idea / product / service. Would they be interested? Would they use it? Would they pay for it?
b) publish some polls - on your blog / site or anywhere you get a chance. Business is all about the people. And if they don’t find any value in your service / product… they ain’t gonna use it
c) follow your instinct - if your subconscious tells you it’s gonna work, try it. You’ve got nothing to lose! Except money, of course… but after all… it’s only money

3. Be ready to work 24/7
If you’re a family person and prefer spending more time with family/friends/fun, don’t start a business. We’re not saying that you should be an antisocial freak, or that you shouldn’t go out, have fun or spend quality time with your family, but you should find a balance. The 8hs/day schedule isn’t gonna work, so better find a good solution from the beginning.

So, finally… we believe that in order to have a successful business you need to do ONE thing right from the beginning:

PICK YOUR 1%

Problem: You lock yourself and your company up and try to hide every flaw / problem you might have. Your clients notice that and aren’t happy about it. You’re not happy because your clients aren’t happy and your business has to suffer.

Solution: Be transparent and honest. Tell them your problems, shortcomings and frustrations (regarding the client’s project… of course, not your family problems ).

Why would you do this? Well … there are tons of reasons, but here’s a few:

1. It makes them trust you
By telling them that you’re not gonna meet the deadline, that you don’t have enough resources, bla bla yada yada you’re gonna make them trust you.

Now, how does that help? Simple: they’ll rely on you in the future because of your honesty. In 90% of the cases they’ll understand (after all, we’re all people…) your problems / shortcomings (but… make sure the reason why you didn’t meet the deadline isn’t ’cause you really had to take that trip to Hawaii)

2. You’ll become friends
All great relationships are based on trust. Really. Take our word for it.

And why do you want them to trust and be friends to you? Because you never have enough friends. Because friends always help you when you’re in trouble. Because humans need to communicate, relate and network. Yup, dude! You’ll become friends with your clients. How cool is that, ha?

3. Last but not least, because business is all about networking, dude!
When you do business, you don’t do it with other businesses. You do it with other people that have businesses. And the more people you know, the more business you’ll make. Really!

So, be transparent! Be honest! Be proactive and try to help your clients as much as you can. They’ll do the same for you!

Problem: You’re in a market where the big guys make the rules. In order to survive, you think that the best thing you could do is stay in your row and do your thing. Well, to make a long story short: it’s not going to work.

So, what can you do? Simple: start picking on the big guys. Here’s why:

1. If you don’t, they will
Yup, sooner or later you’ll find yourself kicked out by a product / feature / service improvement they offer. Or, they’ll spend their millions with a marketing strategy that will leave you in the dark. Or, or, or…

So the best thing you could do: Pick on them. Build a better product. You’re in with McDonald’s? Make a better hamburger. Or give two for the price of one. And so on.

2. ‘Cause you’re agile, they’re not
Big companies suck because in order to get things done, they spend half a year on meetings, memos, meetings about memos and so on. You’re small. You can adapt better to the market. And you have one thing that they (really) don’t (although they try to act like they do). For you, it’s easy to have a close relationship with your clients.

3. If you don’t, you’ll feel intimidated by them
Yup, if you don’t start picking on them today, you’re always gonna be intimidated. You’re always gonna be afraid that they’ll come up with a better product / service than you (eg. make better hamburgers, etc).

Why won’t you be intimidated if you pick on them? Simple. It’ll become a game. You do something better, they do something better. You make better hamburgers, they try to do the same. So pick on them! It’s a game!

4. It helps you grow
By picking on them, you constantly need to improve your kick-ass business, to grow / strengthen your product line, or… well, sell more hambugers.

5. It’s fun
Yup, believe it or not, it’s gonna be fun. It’ll help you stress out, relax, drink a lot of caffeine, eat junk food (or hamburgers ), and well… have a really active kick-ass business!

Problem: There are only two types of employees. Those that pick the red pill, commit to the business and put their passion into what they’re doing, and those that pick the blue pill and only work to get their monthly salary.

So, why you shouldn’t keep everyone? Simple. Not everyone understands your extreme kick-ass vision about the business, not everyone is willing to work weekends and spend nights finding solutions to problems. And you know what? If they’re not willing to commit to the business, their work isn’t gonna be outstanding. They won’t build kick-ass products, because they don’t care. Why should you?

Solutions:

1. Share your vision and strategy.
Do it as often as you can. Then observe and evaluate. Do they follow the strategy? Do they embrace the vision? If they do, it’s all great dude. If they don’t, you might consider finding someone else!

2. Do they think they’re rock-stars?
So, you’ve almost finished that kick-ass product and everybody is happy. But, the testing / debugging process begins. If your employees try to get out of it, saying that they could do something more productive with their time? Well, it’s time for some changes. Just tell the HR chick you need other ppl. No problemo, move on!

You don’t need rock-stars. You need people that are commited to the business. That’s it!

3. Make a test
Here’s a test that will give you a really great view about each and every one of your employees: pay the salaries with a few days delay. Not more than 2 or 3. Tell them your cashflow is down and that you’re gonna pay in a few days, not to worry.

The ones that will come to you and say “hey, dude! I work for money! If you want loyalty get a dog” are not commited to the business, they don’t value your strategy, don’t give a *&*#& about your vision and they don’t deserve to work for you!

4. Do you have similar values / interests / ways of thinking?
People flourish when working with people that share their values and interests. It helps them communicate. It helps them grow. It helps them kick serious booty.

Strategy, vision and values. That’s it.

Problem: You’ve got the Sales Pipeline Forecast sorted out for the next 6 months, but no actual cash on hand. What to do, what to do, OMG!

You can be profitable, but if you don’t have any cash on hand, well… you’re gonna have to shut down your business.

Solution: Well, there are multiple solutions but here are a few that are most likely to work:

1. Find the problem(s)
There must be a reason why your business ran out of cash. Maybe a client didn’t pay or the unexpected happened. Or maybe you just couldn’t sell enough / get enough clients to keep your head up. Whatever the reason is, try finding solutions. Clients don’t pay? Maybe there’s a reason. Maybe they’re not satisfied. Maybe. You couldn’t sell enough? Maybe you didn’t market your product to the right audience, and on and on. Make a list. Find the problem(s).

2. Forecast
Do you know when the next client’s gonna pay, or when the next bit of product is gonna get sold? Good. Put it on paper. Do you also know when you need to pay stuff? Good. Put it on paper (the same one, preferably). Now, what do you see? Do you have enough money to keep you floating (and maybe make a margin, also)? You don’t, ha? Well, see? If you wouldn’t have put it on paper you would have never known it.

So, plan it up. Write everything down. It will show you when you need help (find new clients, sell more products), when you don’t. It will show when you can invest money in your kick-ass product, and when it’d be better if you just stay low.

3. Raise working-capital
So what’s the best way to have a backup for cashflow problems? Raise working capital. You got money on your hands? Lock them in a bank account, and forget about them. They’ll come in very handy when you’ll have problems. And YOU WILL have problems. Try to have working capital for at least 3 months ahead.

4. Prioritize
So, you’re low on cash, huh? Been there, done that. What you could do is prioritize your expenses. What comes first, what doesn’t? You might be able to delay payrolls or rent. You might not be able to delay internet connection or phone. But with proper planning, you’ll get the hang of it

5. OMG, I have no solution. I’m dead!
Well, I think it’s time. If you’ve built a great relationship with ur awesome customers, they will be happy to help you. Really. Been there, done that. If that doesn’t work, then you should start calling your parents / friends / colleagues and everyone-else-you-know-and-has-money.

Cash flow management and forecasting is the most stressful procedure for any small business, but once you get it rolling, it’s gonna save your kick-ass biz.

Problem: It’s Saturday evening and you’re in the freaking office, working on the super-freaking-important project that needs to be done by Monday.

Why is this a problem? Well, nothing big, it’s just that you’re gonna die young, dude! And if you ain’t gonna die, well… you’re gonna get crazy anyway.

Solution: Take your intelligent butt off that chair and go have some fun. See a movie. Have a walk in the park. Play some soccer (or whatever it is you’re good at). Relax, it’s not gonna be the end of the world.

Questions you might have:

1. Everybody’s depending on me!
Really? Then… where is everybody? How come only you are working this weekend? Have a break, dude. Unless you have a brain surgery to operate (or some other critical mambo-jumbo), just take a break…

2. I’ve worked all week. Why should I stop?
Well, you just said the answer. Because you worked all week. Hey, God created the world in 6 days and rested in the 7th, did you know that? Are you God? No? Thought so. Go have some fun.

3. What if I love working this weekend?
Well, if you love it dude, by all means, work this weekend! Just make sure you don’t make this a routine. Once you get on the wrong path, well, you’re gonna die. Or at least get crazy .

Conclusion: Life should be fun, so make it that way.

Chris Johnson from The Name Inspector wrote a really interesting article about the pros and cons of product naming, splitting everything up in the following categories:

1. Real words
2. Compounds
3. Phrases
4. Blends
5. Tweaked words
6. Affixed words
7. Made up or obscure origin
8. Puns
9. People’s names (real or fictitious)
10. Initials and Acronyms

Must read!

I don’t even remember when was the last time I rented a DVD. Why? It just doesn’t seem logical to do it. You need to search, order, pay, go get it or be home to receive it, take it back, and so on. What’s the point?

If I want to watch a movie, I want it now. If not, I’ll just go to the cinema. The solution? On-demand, downloadable dvd-quality movies. There are some services going in that direction, and I can’t wait to see it really happen.

The biggest challenge for web designers is the unthinkably huge number of possible ways to solve any given problem. Do this, do that, make it web 2.0-ish, use vivid colors, don’t use vivid colors, and so on.

Patterns enable users to create strategically, knowing exactly what goes where, and why. Our friends at 37signals have written a really nice article called “An Introduction to Using Patterns in Web Design“.

Nice!

How far can you push a widget? YouTube video embeds, quite possibly the most successful widgets of all time, are seriously failing these days. Click on most any embedded clip, it seems, and you’ll get a “This video is no longer available� warning. Perhaps this is a fatal flaw of widgets; maybe they are best used for delivery of information that is time-sensitive and forgettable, like the weather or the stocks (more on newteevee)

I believe it’s a two sided story:

1. the widgets that have great functionality embedded in them and limit the amount of information required from a server have very much chances to be the next big thing.
2. the information-based widget that simply pull data from a database / website are going to die if no-one comes up with a smart idea to solve this…

meanwhile, I’m having a lot of fun with new and interesting widgets from all over the web