Posted on 19th October 2009 by Dave Wellman in Entrepreneurialism | Innovation
business choices, business planning, Innovation, perfect business
When I think about innovation, I regularly ask myself, “What would perfect look like?” The reason that I ask this question often is because the picture of “perfect” changes with the times, circumstance, and who I have become as a person. So, I am always on the look out for the things that must be tweeked in order to make my business stay on the cutting edge.
As you consider what is perfect to you, you then have decide what changes have to be made for that picture to become the very nature of your business. This kind of thinking can’t be done in minutes. It takes time to create the right picture and then create plan adjustments that will keep you on line for creating the picture.
I want to leave you with five thoughts about what perfect might look like:
- Perfect should be the cause in which your whole life is centered. Ideally your business should be the overflow of who you are and what your life is all about. Choosing a business simply because of the financial possibilities will never provide you with anything that resembles “perfect.”
- Perfect should be something you create for you and your family to be a part of. Successful businesses all around the world cause people to abandon family to gain and maintain success. Family will never be sacrificed in a perfect business.
- Perfect should cause you to see yourself as a benefit to your world rather than a shark looking for its next meal. When profits become more important than people and sales volume than those who are your customers, you cannot know “perfect.”
- Perfect should wake you up in the morning with a head full of new ideas that have to be filtered through before you can sleep at night. When your business is merely an extension of a much fuller life, you will never run out of innovative ideas about how to make things better for now and for the future.
- Perfect should always reach out. Too many business owners never really give back to their society in any meaningful way. If successful business owners would choose to care for people more and look for powerful ways to bring change to the lives of those less fortunate, the world would not struggle as it does today.
I guess, as I close out this post, that this is what perfect looks like to me. You are going to have to make your own choices and will be responsible for the consequences of those choices. But whatever you decide, keep working and keep thinking until you see perfection in your business.
Posted on 19th June 2009 by Dave Wellman in Innovation
Branding, Marketing, Niche, Niche Marketing, Personal branding
First of all I want to apologize for being gone for so long. I have been working on a new business and it has taken all my time for the past couple months. It launched just last week and while any new start-up is an uphill battle, things are looking good so far!
As I worked on this new venture, the concept of personal branding came up time and time again and so I thought that I would talk a little about what I have learned over the past few months of planning and launching this new business.
- Branding is about creating a perception of you and the business you operate as being of value to your potential clients.
- Branding puts you at the top of people’s thinking when they consider buying your product/service within your chosen niche.
- Branding makes you stand out from the crowd when people are choosing who they will buy from or work with.
So … how do you begin the process of branding yourself to your niche?
First of all take some time and decide what kind of business you want to build. You cannot brand yourself as an expert in a particular niche if you do not like working in that niche or with the people who populate that niche. When you have no desire to work in a particular area, you will not do your best for either yourself or your clients. You need to only consider niches that wake you up in the morning and keep you up at night!
Next, you need to decide how your skills can benefit those who work/play in the niche that you have chosen. Think about what they might want and need. Find out their likes and dislikes. Then design your business and your brand around what will cause them to take notice of you.
Then, establish a marketing campaign that will do two critical things: generate leads and convert the leads into customers/clients. This is where most people fall short in their branding efforts. They spend lots of time designing logos and developing their slogans, but when those things are done the campaign to get all of that out to potential customers/clients just doesn’t happen.
You should always keep the whole picture in view while building your personal brand. That “whole picture” requires lots of innovative thinking that will not only give you place as an expert in your chosen niche, but will also create a system that will market your expertise to that niche.
Just my thoughts ….
Posted on 31st March 2009 by Dave Wellman in Entrepreneurialism
Creativity, Dave Wellman, Innovative Thinking
In order to be an innovative entrepreneur, you have to be willing to think. That thought process has to be one in which you look at what is being done or being sold and decide if there is a better way, a new concept, or a product improvement that is more than just superficial.
Critical thinking allows the mind to look beyond the obvious, that which is on the surface, as see what could be better. I remember an ad on television several years ago in which the company claimed to not have made this or that but they made those things better, more colorful, lighter, or more effective. That’s critical thinking and the source for real innovation.
Another necessity for innovation to take place is cooperation between people of like minds. It is important to get input from people who want you to succeed and to let that input help you innovate. Professional athletes have coaches, successful musicians have teachers, and successful entrepreneurs have like minded thinkers.
So … here is my proposition: Let’s talk! I don’t know what your business is and at this point you don’t know mine. But, I am looking for like minded entrepreneurs who want to think through their choice in businesses looking for innovative ways to make them better. Join me! My twitter account is @davewellman.
We can help make our businesses better. Let’s change our worlds!
Posted on 6th March 2009 by Dave Wellman in Entrepreneurialism | Innovation
Creativity, Dave Wellman, Economic Turnaround, Fast Company, Innovative Thinking, Robert Safian
I was just reading Fast Company’s, March 2009 issue. The cover article is “The World’s 50 Most Innovative Companies.”
In the Letter from the Editor section, Robert Safian, made some observations that I thought were worth getting out to those who follow this blog.
Mr. Safian said, “The one incontrovertible truth about is era: Only creativity and aggressive innovation – in the face of hardship and layoffs and seriously tough choices – will fuel a turnaround.”
In other words, YOU and I are the real hope for any lasting economic turnaround. We, the innovative thinkers, are the ones who have to pay attention to what is happening around us and communicate our thoughts to each other that new ideas, technologies, and business practices can emerge.
Mr. Safian also said of the United States, ” We as a country are paying the price for an era when financial engineering counted more than breakthrough products and services.”
It is now time to get back to what made us great in the first place. We need to re-establish ourselves as brilliant thinkers. People whose primary goal is to solve problems. We need to see what needs to be done and do that thing. Then we can see if there is money to be made from the thinking and innovating that we do! While math and science skills are emphasized in school, thinking has sort of taken a back seat.
At the end of his article, Mr. Safian made this observation, “In the midst of our troubles, remarkable things have happened, and they will continue to happen – if we prune the unproductive and broken, and nurture those enterprises that point to a more positive future.”
We cannot be afraid anymore to work hard to make our enterprises productive, to make them lean, and to allow new and sometimes unconventional thoughts drive major changes in our economy as well as our lives. This country has been great for a long time and for a variety of reasons. But amidst them all thoughtfulness and innovation have their positions at or near the top.
Let’s take the challenge laid down by Mr. Safian and choose early in this year that we are going to become the innovators that bring real, lasting, and beneficial changes to this country and the world at large.
Just my thoughts ….
Posted on 5th March 2009 by Dave Wellman in Entrepreneurialism | Innovation
Dave Wellman, Innovation
I have a question for you this morning:
“Are you tired of all the noise?”
I for one am! I mean, I get anywhere from 75-150 emails a day from people who want to “let me in on the secret” that will make me a millionaire overnight (or something like that). Every tweet is someone trying to sell me something, every post on facebook is about a new “something” that will revolutionize your life and your business.
What isn’t in any of those emails, tweets, or posts is anything about what will work for me (or anyone else) based on my skills, talents, or personality. Nearly all of this “noise” is a one-size-fits-all plan that promise results and then disclaims in mouse print that the stated results are in any way guaranteed.
I would love to find a group of 10-12 people who would enjoy spending time together looking for ways to create a truly customized plan of success for everyone in the group. Innovation is the result of conversation and people thinking out loud.
I am looking for a group of friends who want to help each other innovate, even if there is no monetary gain for doing so! (I certainly wouldn’t be opposed to making money together either.)
So …. if you want to turn off the noise and work with some people who really care about you, then drop me a line and we will work to get something going.
Posted on 27th February 2009 by Dave Wellman in Innovation
Dave Wellman, Innovation, Thinkers
Innovation requires people to think! However thinking is one of the practices that seems to be lacking in so many ways in this world today.
People hear, but they don’t really listen. When someone who makes movies for a living, or is a famous sports figure, or a funny stand-up comic says something about life, politics, business, or how the world should work, many people accept their position without any thought. But, when thinking people express a view contrary to the common thought, they are laughed at and even considered mentally imbalanced.
Thomas Jefferson said that America would remain free as long as it remained educated, but that when it ceased to be educated it would cease to be free. Real education makes people into thinkers and thinkers are the real driving force for a free society.
I am looking to associate with real thinkers. I will not always agree with your thoughts and you will not always agree with mine, but real thinkers are still who I want to meet. Will you join me? Will you make my day and ask questions that I cannot answer? Will you stir my imagination and make me think?
If you will let’s get the part started! I will do my best to consider any question, but I will not argue just for the sake of arguing.
Let’s have fun ….
Posted on 5th February 2009 by Dave Wellman in Entrepreneurialism | Innovation
Dave Wellman, Entrepreneurialism, Innovation
I have been fooling around a lot with blogging lately and in doing so I have experimented with several of my favorite topics. After some moderate success (at least in my view) I had to ask myself that all important parental question, “What do you want to be when you grow up?”
This blog is my answer to myself. I have been focused on some very specific things in my first blog efforts. While I enjoyed writing in those specific areas, I much prefer conversation with thinking people than just spewing my opinions with little or no response.
I am going to try to entice every reader of this blog to comment on the topics that they have an opinion or knowledge about. My hope is that when thinking, innovative people get into real and thoughtful conversations that we can all benefit and can make the world a better place! (I know that I am still an idealist and a dreamer.)
So …. subscribe, comment, and help us to make this blog a haven for the truly innovative. It ought to be a lot of fun!
