Strategic Glimpses

Things have been very successful to date, partly because of experience, part strategy, part extraordinary effort working both ends of the metaphorical candle, and perhaps the largest part goodwill and relationships developed over the years (thank you to everyone who has helped me). The results have been phenomenal, creating a good beginning. Start-ups are a marathon, not a race.

While I am reticent to reveal full strategy, here are some glimpses. If you are willing to do the work and read these materials referenced, apply years of learning and effort, then you deserve the knowledge.

Experience: Dating back to my days at CommunicationsNOW, this is my 5^th start-up, albeit the first-one at the helm. There have been a lot of examples of what to do, and what not to do, and the resulting blend of knowledge allows me to execute tactics with confidence. Now rather than offering suggestions on how to grow a business, I can simply apply and execute my methods.

Strategy: For a long time I thought my MA degree from Georgetown University’s Communications, Culture and Technology program had yielded a nice feather in the cap, and some application to the business world. Now I am seeing a full application to business, particularly with my Masters thesis, which centered around Diffusion of Innovation theory as applied to wireless Internet technologies.

Applied to my agency, Diffusion theory recognizes that initial clients are in the innovator and early adoption phase. I am systematically reducing their risks by dramatically undercutting my competition’s pricing (see Chinese telecom equipment manufacturer Huawei for a great example of this strategy), and by offering trial periods. With strong fulfillment, they are converting to long-term clients.

Hard work is self evident, and relationships go back through time. Of the five clients, the youngest relationship for the referring party is two and a half years. Today’s existing strong leads are referral and reputation-based with the exception of one, which came through one of my outreach mechanisms.

For most, this will be Tuesday, but it’s still the first day of the week. Here are some positive quotes to get you going.

“Dignity consists not in possessing honors, but in the consciousness that we deserve them.”
-Aristotle

“One’s dignity may be assaulted, vandalized and cruelly mocked, but cannot be taken away unless it is surrendered.”
- Michael J. Fox, in “Saving Milly” by Morgan Kondrake

“Daring ideas are like chessmen moved forward. They may be beaten, but they may start a winning game.”
-Goethe