Trusting the Entrepreneurial Gut…

Posted on January 27, 2012 by Finola Howard

It’s our compass. It tells us when something feels right or when there are flags or niggly warning signs. We ignore it at our peril.

Every Entrepreneur knows that feeling. That feeling that you didn’t listen when you should have. That person we tried to go into business with, that brand name that just wasn’t quite right, that deal that smelled too sweet, that employee that promised more than they could deliver – we should have listened but we didn’t. Our impatience to move forward made us ignore what our trusted gut was trying to tell us. Until finally we get it…

Therein lies the next challenge however… to place it in context. We’ve got to remember that it’s our compass and it’s our guide. It isn’t however a replacement for our plan or our strategy.

Too often, entrepreneurs fall into the trap of thinking they can feel their way through a commercial venture. They’ll invest in new machinery, new product lines and often even new markets… just on gut alone.

And yes, don’t get me wrong it often works. What’s worth considering however is how much better it would have worked had the homework been done. If the market had been assessed and quantified…  If the existing offerings in the market had been analysed so that a real leverage point could be discovered… If you knew the customer so well that when you spoke they always heard you, simply because you spoke in their language about what they wanted…

If you just spent a little more time could the return on that investment be five fold more… in my experience and in those of our clients… every time…

Trusting your gut alone will keep you small. It will keep you busy but add a little brain and the combination is unbeatable.

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Are you Killing Your Brand?

Posted on December 15, 2011 by Finola Howard

So you spend all this time figuring out what’s different about what you do. You know who your customers are and you’ve finally figured out the language you need to use to get them to finally listen to you and ultimately engage with you…  And then you get your logo designed/redesigned and you love it… You finally have a true representation of you and your business! Phew! Job Done… and that’s where most people leave the branding journey… what a waste…

Think of it as showing someone the trailer to the best movie ever made. Then you keep showing them the trailer and never release the film. Or you decide to release a different film… Doesn’t make sense does it?

There are a couple of danger points at this stage in the branding process:

  1. Brand Death by a Thousand Cuts…
    You go to print with for example your letterhead / stationery and the printer doesn’t get the colours quite right. You’re busy. You compromise. You let it slide. You think – it’s not a big deal. Who’s going to know the difference – it’s only a shade or two off and I’ve spent all this money I’ve got to use this stuff up. And it happens every time you get something else printed… and you lose the brand.
  2. Brand Death by Boredom
    So you got the logo right. Now all you have to do is lay it consistently onto every marketing piece you do. That’s on brand isn’t it? It’s the same colour. It’s in the same place. They’ll know it’s me every time. Yawn… You’ve effectively blocked your message from evolving, gathering depth and building a deeper relationship with your customer.

    You’ve embraced the average. And you’ve set it up that each and every marketing piece you create will be glanced over by your customers. They won’t be read because they don’t bring something new about you to your customer. All they’ll do is bore them.

The trick is to ensure that every marketing piece whether it’s a website, a facebook page, a folder, a piece of stationery etc can stand on it’s own and that it delivers on the purpose for which it is intended. Further that it is unique to every other piece. That it adds something to the story you want to tell. That your customer will want to read everything and see everything because the more they see, the more they know about you and want to know about you.

Think of it like dating. You wouldn’t take someone to the same restaurant, eat the same food, tell the same jokes, have the same conversations every time you meet them – would you? You’d soon bore them and never see them again.

So think of your brand as a story that gets to unfold for your customers every time they come in contact with it. They look forward to the next chapter and they want to keep turning the pages. That’s an engaged customer and one you want to keep. And isn’t that ultimately what you want?

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An Entrepreneurs Thank You

Posted on December 8, 2011 by Finola Howard

The journey of the entrepreneur is one that is filled with highs and lows and ups and downs. The risks are high and the rewards are many fold. It is a roller coaster ride and one that many never finish. Many stop, get off and leave the fairground… maybe to return another day.

But, if like me you’re still here… think to stop…. when you can… to say thanks and look how far you’ve come… you will be able to appreciate the journey and not miss each and every destination that you achieved. As entrepreneurs we focus on vision to keep us alive… but remember each and every milestone is like a mini vision that has been accomplished along the way.

So take time to stop for a moment… look around… smile at what’s been achieved and thank those that helped you along the way… then hop on for the next round of adventures on your very own roller coaster ride.

So this morning I’m stopping and taking a breath. It’s important to say thank you. So thank you to my wonderful partner and son who believe in me, to my family who built a strong foundation for me, to a great team I have around me, to my clients who keep me in business, to my friends that cheer me on and to those that have inspired me over the years and taught me so much about myself and about business. Thank you !

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I’ve got Leukemia but other than that I’m very healthy…

Posted on November 10, 2011 by Finola Howard

I worked with this great woman earlier today. We were talking brand, brand positioning, accessing markets, the power of social media and developing her business to suit the restrictions of a current health issue earlier today. What a woman… She was calm, a hard worker and just someone you knew was going to get on with it.

And then I couldn’t help but laugh as she said so matter of factly; Finola… I’m great, i’ve got Leukemia, Emphesema, Heart issues and a few other bits and pieces wrong with me… but other than that I’m really very healthy…

And it makes you think… what have we got to worry about… Let’s just get on with it… Thank you BC for your inspiration today.

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Don’t Underestimate Vision…

Posted on October 27, 2011 by Finola Howard

Nine times out of ten when I meet businesses whether they are start ups or long established companies I end up having a conversation about vision. I am greeted with furrowed brow and sometimes even skepticism. Vision is often, in reality cornered off into that special place that people hold for that “airy fairy stuff” so should be avoided at all costs…  The other scenario is the larger organisations that have read all the management theory and can, by rote, tell me why it’s important. And I ask – so why haven’t you got one?

Vision defines you and it defines the business. It sets the scene for carving the path to a future that is embraced, striven for and ultimately achieved. If you study those we term successful then without exception every one of them knew where they were going, what they wanted to achieve and what it would feel like when they got there. They may not always have had a clear path but they did know what the end game would look like.

A great question is raised in Dan Sullivan’s “How the Best get Better”. Ask the question of people you want to do business with or even the people you hire -

“If we were meeting three years from today – and you were to look back over those three years today – what has to have happened during that period, both personally and professionally for you to feel happy about your progress?”

Whatever answer you get – very quickly you can see how a person looks to the future and decide if that person is someone you want to work with. You’ll know if they have an idea for the future or if they are focused on where they came from.

For ourselves we need to write Vision down, draw it or express it in some way that it can be recorded. It helps when things get tough but most importantly it brings a consciousness to our work, our businesses and ultimately life. It is too easy to fall into a passive approach to the business and therefore be at the whim of every outside influence. With consciousness we can create change and we can create opportunity. Add vision and we bring focus to that consciousness and all things are possible.

My recommendation? Write it down, what do you want to achieve in the business? What does it look like? Whats the Turnover and the Profitability? Who are your happiest customers? How many of them do you have? What did they buy from you? Where are you positioned in the marketplace? What’s your role in the business now? And most importantly of all; what date is it?

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We need a players uprising…

Posted on July 6, 2011 by Finola Howard

One man’s attempt (Steve Keil) to start a revolution to foster innovation and creativity in Bulgaria – Some lessons that could be learned and embraced in Ireland too I feel… Where are the play initiatives when we talk creativity… When did creativity get so serious? We need to broaden horizons and approaches to change and ultimately our approach to innovation.  We need to start playing…

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How a Disused Railway Line became a Park…

Posted on July 5, 2011 by Finola Howard

My dad was a train driver and his dad before him and even I for a brief spell worked (in a marketing capacity) for a rail authority (Sydney, Australia) so I have a love for trains and anything rail oriented. And that’s what brings me to this story…

The High Line was an old railway line based in NYC  that was going to be torn down until two guys (Robert Hammond being one of them) intervened and converted it into this beautiful space. It shows what a little thought and a new way of looking at something can convert something about to be torn down into something beautiful and dare I say profitable – the park cost $150 Million and will yield $0.5 Billion over 20 years.  Good math I’d say!

Waterford Suir Valley Railway is trying to do something like this for Waterford and so far it’s a great success. But how much more could it be if we thought outside the box?

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Leadership and Followership

Posted on June 13, 2011 by Finola Howard

Over the years I’ve been reading a lot about leadership and watching businesses and leaders around me to find commonalities.

I’ve seen great businesses grow fast and fall by the way side because of a lack of vision and sometimes because of an inbuilt fear of defining that vision… any vision.

Because of course, if you define it and you don’t reach it you will have failed… and nobody wants to fail do they?

I’ve tried a lot of formulas over the years in my own entrepreneurial journey and have observed quite a few also. The upshot is “Horses for Courses”.

I’ve seen the great “involver” as a strategy where staff are involved in the direction of the business. And I’ve seen the “dictator” strategy and yep, contrary to popular belief that works too.  I’ve also seen it fail of course.

The one thing I discovered though is that whatever the style, there has to be a “leader”. There has to be someone who is charged with holding the vision and further with inspiring those in the organisation to follow that vision. When there isn’t clarity, when that vision is not communicated clearly, easily and succinctly then it is rarely followed. And without clearly communicated vision in that Leadership there is never followership.

People “buy” certainty…
They “buy” belief…
And they “smell” it when you don’t believe…
And if you don’t believe, why should they?

So the first test as a Leader of a successful enterprise is in answering yes to the questions: Do you believe in your vision? Do you have one? Do you feel it in your gut? Do the people around you feel it too? Do they all tell the same story?

And of course, are you willing to do what it takes to achieve that vision? And then how long will it take to get there?

Test No. 2 is finding the people that are in sync with that vision and inspiring them to come on board. And that’s a blog post for another day…

Note: Images courtesy of www.rypple.com and weluvmu.wordpress.com

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The Marketing Table gives back…

Posted on April 15, 2011 by Finola Howard

Over the last while, we have been monitoring how businesses are doing locally and what the key challenges are. We know that financial constraints are the worst so much so that many business owners are not paying themselves a wage any more.

We know also, that when a business is in this “space” it’s hard to think how to move out of it. It’s hard to think strategically or look at where they will be in the long term.

We want to help, so we’ve decided to offer our 12 week, Make it Bitesized breakfast programme for free to businesses. Existing registrants on the programme will have the option of being refunded or using the investment they’ve already made for “75 minutes to success” advisory sessions with us.

You’ll probably have to be in the South East of Ireland to be able to avail of the programme as there’s an 8.30am start at our location in Arclabs Research & Innovation Centre, in Carriganore, Waterford, Ireland – but we are providing breakfast so maybe that will take the travel edge off.

In order for this to help as many businesses as possible, we are asking that businesses sign up for only 3 of the 12 programmes to give others a chance. If you need help deciding which ones are most important for you, just call us at The Marketing Table and we can help you choose. Places are limited so do sign up sooner rather than later.

For more information on the programme check out www.makeitbitesized.eventbrite.com and book yourself in or call us on 051 302155 and we can do it for you.

If you know of someone that this could help please let them know. The next session is on Thursday, the 21st at 8.30am and is about Creating Strategy within your business and is entitled “Success – You’ve defined, it now Plan for it”.

Looking forward to seeing you all there. Finola…

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Anything is Possible…

Posted on April 15, 2011 by Finola Howard

Yes, I know it’s a TED video again… and yet again I have found it inspiring. This one is interesting though. It’s Dave Meslin’s talk on the andtidote to apathy. It’s a short 7 minute talk about how we can all change the world we live. We can get people involved, we can change the nature of politics, how people are treated and so on. He identifies 7 barriers that keep us from taking part in our communities, even when we truly care.

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