I was talking to a good friend yesterday who is a CEO. He said something very valuable to me that I want to pass along. "One of the trickiest things about business is the fact that there are always lots of good ideas floating around but the key is finding the one you can really monetize."
This is something that's been coming up a lot lately. You may have all your marketing tools in place, but you may not necessarily be making money if you don't have a sound business model. One of the first questions I ask clients is "how will you make money from this idea?" A unique business model can be a strong point of differentiation!
Last week I went to a panel discussion called "The Spirit of Entrepreneurship" at George Brown College. The panelists were a group of successful entrepreneurs. One of the questions asked was "What is the most important piece of advice you can give to an entrepreneur." The answer was to have an advisory board that includes a banker, an accountant and a mentor.
I thought this was a great piece of advice. My accountant and I get together regularly. She's actually much more than accountant - she's more like a strategic advisor. I'm about to launch my book in the next month and working on the business model. I haven't gone the conventional publishing route so how am I going to get this book out into the world?
This is something that's been coming up a lot lately. You may have all your marketing tools in place, but you may not necessarily be making money if you don't have a sound business model. One of the first questions I ask clients is "how will you make money from this idea?" A unique business model can be a strong point of differentiation!
Last week I went to a panel discussion called "The Spirit of Entrepreneurship" at George Brown College. The panelists were a group of successful entrepreneurs. One of the questions asked was "What is the most important piece of advice you can give to an entrepreneur." The answer was to have an advisory board that includes a banker, an accountant and a mentor.
I thought this was a great piece of advice. My accountant and I get together regularly. She's actually much more than accountant - she's more like a strategic advisor. I'm about to launch my book in the next month and working on the business model. I haven't gone the conventional publishing route so how am I going to get this book out into the world?
How much do I need to invest in marketing? What's the best way to get it to a lot of people. (Books don't really make money being in a book store) All questions I need to answer. Bring on the finance people. I've gone through this scenario a few times with my business. I have a big idea, my accountant comes in and asks me to add up my expenses to execute this idea. Then I realize oops - spending more than I'm making - back to the drawing board.
This process has led me on a number of occasions to a state of overwhelm and thinking I should just throw in the towel. Then I walk away from the problem for a day or two and when I least expect it the answer comes. Something even better than before!
If you're trying to figure out how to monetize your idea, two very good books that I recommend are the E Myth, by Michael Gerber (Why Most Small Businesses Don't work and What to do about it.) and Business Model Generation, (A handbook for visionaries, and game changers) by Alexander Osterwalder & Yves Pigneur.
One last word of advice, the worst thing you can do is try too hard to sort it out. Take in the info, talk to successful people and then wait for the answer to come to you when you least expect it. In the end follow your heart.
This process has led me on a number of occasions to a state of overwhelm and thinking I should just throw in the towel. Then I walk away from the problem for a day or two and when I least expect it the answer comes. Something even better than before!
If you're trying to figure out how to monetize your idea, two very good books that I recommend are the E Myth, by Michael Gerber (Why Most Small Businesses Don't work and What to do about it.) and Business Model Generation, (A handbook for visionaries, and game changers) by Alexander Osterwalder & Yves Pigneur.
One last word of advice, the worst thing you can do is try too hard to sort it out. Take in the info, talk to successful people and then wait for the answer to come to you when you least expect it. In the end follow your heart.