Keeping it Simple and Fast

[Rob]

I was talking to a business owner last week and he sumed up his business philosophy as 'I keep it simple and fast'.

What a great way to run your business - simple and fast. What more do customers want than that - not much I would say.

So I'm wondering in what areas could you simplify your business and make it faster?

1. Do you have too many product lines which makes your sales material or website too cluttered? Could you simplify?

2. Do you have confusing tariffs or a variety of complex offers and packages? Could you simplify?

3. Is your order or fulfillment process unnecessarily complex. Could you simplify and make it faster.

Just asking yourself this simple question could prompt a number of interesting answers.

Where could you simplify in 2009?

[Raja C Hireker]

Hi Rob,

It's an interesting line - keeping things simple.

Personally, I've been involved in personal development coaching and speaking marketing consulting and copywriting and quite frankly, I had a number of websites shooting off all over the place to take all this activity into account.

Now, it's all being streamlined into ONE website.

And it takes all the elements of all the other services I used to do, and it's now going under the umbrella of Coaching By Writing.

Life and business really is all about keeping it simple. And clean. And uncluttered. And dynamic.

So, great question Rob.


Warm thanks,


Raja Hireker
Creating Personal Change Through Transformational Writing
www.CoachingByWriting.com

P.S As part of the KEEPING IT SIMPLE drive, I've completely redone my office space and there's nothing on my table apart from a laptop, printer, notebook and a couple of photographs of family. Everything else I THOUGHT I needed that had residential status on my desk, well all that has been filed away in a visible place, so when I need to access it, I know where it all is. Though, should tell you that I dumped around 15k's worth of informational products and materials and all that, down the local skip the other day. There's simplicity all around me!!

[Rob]

Raja,

You combining a host of websites into one is a great example of keeping things simple. Other than SBS I have 3 other websites which barely get any attention from me, so scaling down your up keep is a good idea.

I also agree on the clutter free desk ... I try my best!!

[Julia]

sounds interesting , what is the nature of that person's business?

[phillips]

# Focus on cash flow, not profitability. The theory is that profits are the key to survival. If you could pay the bills with theories, this would be fine. The reality is that you pay bills with cash, so focus on cash flow: a small upfront capital requirement, short sales cycles, short payment terms and recurring revenue--and pass up the big sale that takes a year to close and collect. Cash is not only king—it’s queen and prince, too.
# Forecast from the bottom up. Most entrepreneurs forecast top-down: “If 1 percent of U.S. car owners install our satellite radio systems, that’s 1.5 million systems.” The bottom-up forecast: “We can open 10 facilities that each install 10 systems a day.” Guess which forecast is more likely to happen?
# Ship, then test. How can I recommend shipping stuff that isn’t perfect? “Perfect” is the enemy of “good enough.” When your product is “good enough,” get it out, because cash flows when you start shipping. By shipping, you also learn what customers truly want you to fix.
# Forget the “proven” team. They’re overrated. Hire young, inexpensive, hun-gry people with fast chips, but not necessarily a fully functional instruction set.
# Start as a service business. Say you want to build a software company: Provide consulting and services based on your work-in-progress software. This has two advantages: immediate revenue and true customer testing. Once the software is field-tested, flip the switch and become a product company.

[Shivi]

hello.

thank you ..very nice posting here.

[KADY19]

Hello. Rob.

WELCOME TO THE FORUM,

thank you for sharing . really this have a very good info here.