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6 Ways To Develop an Entrepreneurial Mindset Today

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StrategyDriven Entrepreneurship Article |Entrepreneurial Mindset|6 Ways To Develop an Entrepreneurial Mindset TodayAs the world wakes up to another day with terrifying headlines, there will be some who will inevitably be feeling the pull of despondence. We’re entering a new dawn, where everything seems to have changed. The old ways of doing things just won’t cut it anymore and the phrase ‘pivot or fail’ is being whispered in the wings of every virtual board meeting.

This sounds like a recipe for disaster, but what if it’s the first ingredient in a recipe for great success? Followers wait to be told what to do, leaders and entrepreneurs forge ahead with new ways of thinking.

Developing the Entrepreneurial Mindset

How can we change our way of thinking to really build on this idea of seeing things as an opportunity? Developing this mindset takes work, and it’s a skill that needs practicing and honing. It doesn’t come overnight, which is why now might be the best time to start.

Being an entrepreneur means doing things first, being there first, and being in the right place at the right time (or at least making the place and time you’re in the right place and time!).

Here are some ideas on how to practice your entrepreneurial mindset:

  1. Get out of your comfort zone – taking a leap of faith is the cornerstone of an entrepreneurial mind. That doesn’t mean going into things blindly though. If you want to run an event, for example, hire experts like cl-events.com to ensure it goes smoothly, and learn from them as you go.
  2. Learn. Every day – Every day is a school day, that’s the mindset of an entrepreneur. Read books, take classes, do courses. Learn and grow.
  3. Solve problems – If you’re presented with a problem, figure out if you can solve it. Did you know that Richard Branson created Virgin Atlantic because his flight was grounded? He was presented with a problem, and he solved it.
  4. Carve out a vision, and stick to it – Whether it’s Simon Sinek’s Golden Circle or Gary Vee’s enviable passion for his vision, it’s up to each of us to carve out our own why, our own goals, our own vision, and then stick to it, no matter what.
  5. Be positive, even when it’s tough – Famous entrepreneur and YouTube legend Casey Neistat once said: “Failure sucks, but the pain that is failure does not exceed the pain that is not trying at all”. Wise words from someone who has built an empire out of nothing but energy and an unwavering positive mental attitude.
  6. Learn to communicate – This one really is a tough one. Communication doesn’t come naturally to many people, especially entrepreneurs. There can be so many ideas buzzing around in our heads, and we can become so fixated on them that it can be difficult to communicate with those around us, but developing this skill is like the hidden diamond in the rocks. Being able to tell others about our great ideas in a way that gets them enthused and gets them on board means we can effectively make our ideas their passions, meaning we can work with people who have skills in areas we don’t.

6 Ways Technology Can Help Companies Innovate Out of the Coronavirus Downturn

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StrategyDriven Innovation Article |Coronavirus|6 Ways Technology Can Help Companies Innovate Out of the Coronavirus DownturnAs our world deals with the COVID-19 pandemic, business leaders must understand that it’s going to be technology that determines which companies survive and build success from this unprecedented event.

The current COVID-19 pandemic may be the biggest “unfreezing event” that our economy has ever experienced, certainly since World War II. To turn a block of ice into a new shape you must first unfreeze it, pour the water into a mold, and then refreeze it again. Human habits work much the same way. COVID-19 has forced us all to behave differently—To unfreeze. Our habits will mold into new shapes, habits and routines that may endure once the current crisis has passed. Businesses routines will have to change too. We are entering a new fluid state that will lead to an unprecedented period of innovation and transformation.

Before COVID-19, the world was already on a path to widespread change. In my book, “The Innovation Ultimatum: How Six Strategic Technologies Will Reshape Every Business in the 2020s,” I outline the technologies that will drive unprecedented innovation into products and services in the 2020s, creating entirely new business models. The pandemic makes those technologies more relevant now than ever. These technologies are:

  1. Artificial intelligence (AI)
  2. Blockchain
  3. The Internet of things (IoT)
  4. Augmented reality
  5. Autonomous machines
  6. 5G and satellite networks

While some organizations had begun to embrace these technologies before the pandemic, it’s now critical that business leaders keep moving ahead with innovation efforts as we move into a new normal.

With social distancing, we have already seen new behaviors emerge: Increased use of telemedicine, online food delivery services, video conferencing, and home streaming services.

Online schooling is another example. While there has been some investment in online education by various institutions, that’s going to accelerate rapidly as millions of kids are required to learn from home. Educators are installing digital infrastructure, learning how to use it themselves, figuring out best practices on how to get the most out of the medium, training kids on how to use it, and setting expectations for proper use. Once this investment of time, money, and trust is made, a new normal is created. When the current crisis is over, that investment remains, and the barriers to shifting at least some of the curriculum online are already gone. Where it makes sense, digital education may become a common part of all schooling.

This is a clear example of an acceleration. Education’s shift towards digital was already underway. The constraints placed by pandemic only accelerated the inevitable.

The same applies for telemedicine. Here, the issues holding back the shift are not technological; necessary infrastructure is mostly in place. The barrier slowing roll out before the pandemic was that doctors couldn’t bill as much for their time as for in-person visits to a clinic. Expect this challenge to be addressed quickly, and telemedicine to become a more important component of our healthcare systems in the future.

While it’s premature to determine how the world might be different going forward, it’s not too early to take a few educated guesses. Here are some initial thoughts on how things may be different, and how new technology might play a significant role.

  • Robots don’t get sick. All businesses will make moves to improve business continuity and reduce risk. This may accelerate investment in automation technologies, including artificial intelligence, robotics, sensors, autonomous vehicles (e.g. for delivery), and blockchain technology. Self-driving delivery trucks and drones don’t carry disease if properly cleaned. Even governance of operations can be encoded into blockchain networks and artificial intelligence.
  • Better supply chains. As part of a broader risk reduction exercise, we will see companies make moves to build more robust supply chains. Expect many measures here, including requirements for multiple sources across multiple countries, some onshoring (especially for critical components and products) and increased levels of transparency and traceability for goods in the supply chain. New provenance chain technology, based on Blockchain technology, can play a big role here. New automation technologies will make onshoring of manufacturing more attractive.
  • More remote workers. Again, to reduce risk, we may see bigger companies move away from large HQ campuses towards many connected, highly distributed sites. More people will work from home offices. This will constitute a balance between risk mitigation and rapid information flow in organizations. The high-speed connectivity of 5G and satellite networks will be crucial to this shift.
  • Social apps. New apps and services will emerge that help people remain social while keeping their distance. Humans are social creatures. Let’s see which company will be first to capture the world’s imagination with a new social game designed to connect far-flung family members of all ages.
  • A new reality. Virtual and augmented reality (VR and AR) technology will likely get far more use. VR offers a powerful sense of immersion, making you feel like you are transported to another place. At a time when that’s one of the things that we can’t do, people will crave the ability to visit distant places and to feel like they share the same space with family and friends. Avatar technology is improving, as are sensors that capture our movements and even our expressions. As low-cost, high-quality AR headsets become available in the coming few years, there is an incredible opportunity for developers to create new social experiences at a distance. Those could include, for example, an enhanced shopping experience in the home or better collaboration between remote coworkers.
  • A race for broadband. The next several weeks will make the value of a broadband connection crystal clear. Yet, broadband Internet is still not available to half the planet. People in rural areas are particularly disadvantaged. Satellite constellations, built by companies like SpaceX, OneWeb, LeoSAT, Amazon and others, will bring broadband connectivity to every corner of the earth by the end of the decade, much sooner in many locations. This build-out cannot happen quickly enough.

We live in unprecedented times. It’s too early to call how this all plays out, and we should all expect our plans to shift over time as new information becomes available, but every company must begin to think about the new normal and build their business plans accordingly.

The pandemic has proved that in order to survive, every company must become a technology company. Every company must become a data company. Business operations must be retooled using both process automation and worker augmentation.

A construct that I find useful as a futurist is to ask myself several simple questions in the face of a new force of change: What will stop, what will start, what will accelerate, what will decelerate, and what will transform? Think about how answers to these questions will affect your business in the future.

A colleague of mine, former Intel CEO, Craig Barrett, told me back in 2008 that the best way to weather a recession is to invest your way out of it. That way, when the market turns around you can race out of the gate ready to take fullest advantage of the upswing. No company ever saves their way out of a recession. Innovation will be vital to recovery.

For companies that heed Barrett’s advice and choose to innovate their way out of recession, new technology will be key. As we reimagine products, services, channels, companies, and the entire economy for the rest of the 21st century, six strategic technologies—artificial intelligence, the internet of things, Blockchain technology, 5G and satellite networks, autonomous machines, and augmented reality—will each play an important part.

Every company needs to gain a deep understanding of these technologies and how they might be deployed to meet rapidly evolving consumer needs, to create new channels (that enable remote interaction), to automate business processes, to boost business continuity, and to deliver innovative new products and services that fuel economic growth.

The best way to get out of recession is to innovate your way out of it. The sooner we start to think that way, the sooner we can slingshot ourselves out of our current situation.

About the Author

StrategyDriven Expert Contributor | Steve BrownSteve Brown is an energetic speaker, author, strategist, and advisor with over 30 years of experience in high tech. He is the former futurist and chief evangelist at Intel Corporation and helps others understand the business and societal impacts of new technologies and how they will shape the future five, 10 and 15 years from now. He is the author of The Innovation Ultimatum: How Six Strategic Technologies will Reshape Every Business in the 2020s. Steve holds Bachelor of Science and Master of Engineering degrees in Micro-Electronic Systems Engineering from Manchester University. He was born in the U.K. and became a U.S. citizen in 2008. He lives with his wife in Portland, OR.

Managing Your Warrior Spirit when Working at Home

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StrategyDriven Practices for Professionals Article |Warrior Spirit|Managing Your Warrior Spirit when Working at HomeI am a results-oriented leader, but I have been labeled “tactless” and “overly direct.” And I lost a job as an executive because of it.

So, believe me when I say I know how it feels to have others call you unflattering names when you believe you’re just trying to do your job or help them. (Isn’t it ironic that those who want you to be more respectful often end up calling you demeaning names?)

I also know that during this pandemic – as you’re forced to work remotely – that your “abrasive” personality may also be causing problems in your home life. Your family members may find your driven behavior less-than-endearing and it’s causing you some concern.

While you certainly don’t want to alienate those you care about and threaten important relationships, I also think you have great value in your home as a leader – as long as you’re willing to make some changes.

I know this because I’ve been in your shoes. I lost my job as a chief operations officer because, as I said earlier, I was seen as tactless and overly direct. That’s when I decided to change and became an executive coach and licensed clinical worker who helps other executives learn to drive results without damaging relationships. I’ve also become a better communicator in my own marriage.

Let me emphasize that I’m not asking you to change who you are or simply become a nicer person. In fact, your can-do attitude is just what is needed right now. You have something truly important, the ethos of the Navy SEALS: a “warrior spirit”. It’s your ability to focus on results in these volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous times that is so critically important right now.

What I am asking is that you become a better warrior.

In simple terms, you cannot continue to bully people, whether it’s in the workplace or at home. Your style must change. You must learn to harness your can-do spirit into something more positive.

The reason? Because people find your personality annoying, and that is damaging your important links to others and making you less effective.

A big piece of this disconnect between you and someone else is about cultural diversity. For example, I was raised in a New York City housing project that was built for World War II veterans. My family was loud, even by New York standards. Today, when I talk to people in New York, they think I’ve lost my edge. On the other hand, people in California think I’m too loud.

The point is that if you’re really annoying to some people because your personality is too loud or too direct, then they’re not going to recognize your value.

If you have a “warrior spirit,” you may also run into a disconnect with others when you don’t see them demonstrating values you find important: serving others, being the best and striving for success. When the people around you don’t perform or behave in ways that are consistent with your values, then you feel personally threatened. In other words, your abrasive behavior is actually a defensive response to feeling attacked.

Relationship rules

If we truly want to be effective leaders in the workplace or in our families, we need to understand that our job is to create connection and to help others take their performance to a higher level. There is a lot of contemporary research that says that work teams perform better when there is trust and people can be themselves. Surely this also applies to families.

With that in mind, here are some tips for managing your “warrior spirit” at home:

1. Understand that with love comes annoyance. When my wife was facing cancer surgery a couple of years ago, we found ourselves snapping at each other. That’s when we realized that we had moved out of the “denial” stage of her diagnosis and into the “anger” stage. We began talking about how we can drive each other nuts at times. We then came to the realization that when you find someone to love, you can make a choice at that time to be alone for the rest of your life – or annoyed for the rest of your life. Once my wife and I accepted that we’re going to annoy each other, our peace with one another grew. I believe this ability to accept annoyance applies to children as well.

2. Have compassion for everyone. When you have the “warrior spirit,” you must cultivate compassion for people whom your brain is telling you don’t deserve it. Compassion means recognizing that, just like you, other people are imperfect. It means recognizing that they are suffering or are in pain and want to do something to alleviate it. Still, compassion does not mean letting people escape the consequences of their behavior. Children raised in families where they were not held accountable do not become upstanding, responsible adults. Executives and managers who do not hold people accountable alienate high performers and lower team performance.

3. Negotiate a family charter. As a results-driven executive who is now working at home because of the pandemic, you are changing a number of often unspoken understandings about family roles and how the family operates. You need to recognize that you are invading the space of your spouse/partner and children. If you start giving directions, you are interfering with how they fulfill their roles and responsibilities. Perhaps more important, you are interfering with how they live their lives. Try holding a family council to define how things will be governed, just as they do in any successful family-owned business. Discuss things like purpose, vision, mission and value, as well as conflict resolution and communication. (Some family businesses require an outside facilitator to help them design and negotiate the charter. Consider you might need help if you can’t reach an agreement as a family.)

Your warrior spirit is especially valuable during these turbulent times, both in business and in your family. But it’s important you make adjustments so that you’re not running over the people you want to help instead of aiding their success and leading the way.

About the Author

StrategyDriven Expert Contributor | Jordan GoldrichJordan Goldrich helps leaders end dysfunction so their teams can do great things. He is a speaker, Chief Operations Officer and Master Corporate Executive Coach (MCEC) who partners with senior executives to drive results while developing their organizations, teams and the next generation of leaders. He specializes in helping valuable executives who are experienced as abrasive to increase their effectiveness while changing their impact. Jordan is a partner in CUSTOMatrix as well as Senior Executive Coach with the Center for Creative Leadership. He is coauthor of the new book, Workplace Warrior: People Skills for the No BS Executive. www.jordangoldrich.com

Ways To Invest In Your Team For Business

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StrategyDriven Managing Your People Article |Invest in your Team|Ways To Invest In Your Team For BusinessYour team is important to your business, and if you’re not making an effort to look after them and to provide everything they need to be successful, then, as a result, your business will suffer. Here are a few ways to invest in your team for business.

Have A Budget For Staff Training

A budget for staff training is useful to have because there are lots of opportunities that you can give your staff to build up their knowledge, the skills that they have, and the experiences that they can receive whilst in your employment. Some businesses have been known to part-fund and even fully fund degrees, whether that’s to the University of Nevada Reno or even overseas. If they can see the benefit that it can have for the company, then any good business owner will take that investment risk and hope that it pays off. Even if you start off small, being able to offer some opportunities for learning can be great to keep your staff happy but to also benefit the business in a variety of ways.

Consider Their Mental Wellbeing

Everyone has mental health, and the way we look after it can influence how well we cope in our day to day lives. Whether it be the stress of a particular campaign that a staff member is working on or issues outside of the workplace, as an employer, you can do your bit. Think about the support you can offer to help your employees look after their mental health. Flexible working could be an option if there are staff members who might need to work home occasionally. Having more one to one meetings can be good with their line managers to discuss how they’re getting on and whether there can be any improvements or issues fixed that they’re concerned about.

Support New Ideas

Everyone can have an influence on a business, and each person can bring something new to the table. When it comes to your team, try to incorporate everyone into any directions that you want to take the business in, no matter big or small. Make team meetings more interactive and engaging for everyone, rather than the few confident colleagues who might like to talk a lot. Give everyone a chance to bring new ideas to the table, and you might find someone in your workforce that’s got something great.

Reward Their Work

Hard work certainly deserves rewards, and whether that’s in a financial form of a bonus or an extra day off, it doesn’t go unnoticed with staff. Make a point of ensuring that all staff will get acknowledged and praised for putting in the hard work. Those extra perks can be essential for staff who need it and want to feel valued within their workplace. It also feels good as an employer to reward hard work, and it inspires others to work harder too.

Your team matters, no matter how big or small they may be. Use these tips to help improve your investment in the company.

Are You Hitting the Right Digital Marketing Targets?

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StrategyDriven Online Marketing and Website Development Article |Target Market|Are You Hitting the Right Digital Marketing Targets?When it comes to digital marketing and growing your brand over the internet, many companies tend to focus on website design–and for good reason. They might also invest in social media marketing strategies such as getting influencers on board or even growing an online brand persona. There are plenty of ways to get your product out there these days, but how do you know if you’re hitting the right targets?

In this post, we’ll be taking a look at a couple of ways to ensure that you’re not wasting your marketing budget by aiming at the wrong targets. We’ll walk you through a couple of simple steps that will help you ensure that your marketing budget is used in the most cost-effective way possible.

Understanding your audience

One of the first things to ask yourself is if you understand your audience or not. A lot of businesses will create an ideal customer profile and try to target them with their products, services and advertisements. However, there’s always a small chance that this ideal customer doesn’t actually exist.

Customer profiles can be used to help you start your business and develop products, but you ultimately need to listen to customer feedback and use real data to determine where you need to take your business. As such, make sure you listen to your audience and determine the type of customer that your products and services actually appeal to instead of trying to chase a fictional customer that might not even exist.

Make use of demographic targeting

Once you understand the type of customer you should be aiming for, it’s time to use targeted marketing to aim your marketing at the right people. Most social media services have some kind of targeted marketing settings where you can choose the demographics who your advertising will appear to. Platforms such as Facebook offer a fantastic number of demographic targeting settings to tweak in order to raise the quality of your leads.

There are also demand-side platforms that can help you save time and money when advertising your products and services. A DSP allows you to quickly set up a campaign with granular demographic targeting that fits your needs, and then the DSP does all the work to figure out how the ads should run. It saves you from having to buy digital ad space from publishers and it offers more predictable pricing.

Find the right platforms and channels to reach your audience

One of the most popular but misunderstood ways to reach your audience is to use social media advertising. By breaking into the right communities, you can go straight to your audience and start improving the quality of your leads. However, it’s important that you try to reach them on the right platforms and channels if you want to get the most out of your budget.

Demographic targeting is great, but you also need to think about the platforms you’re targeting them on. For instance, targeting seniors on a platform such as Twitter might not be as effective as traditional media such as newspapers, magazines and even TV. However, aiming your fashion-oriented products at users on Instagram is far more likely to work given the types of people that use the platform. In short, make sure you’re investing your advertising budget wisely by aiming at the right audiences.

StrategyDriven Online Marketing and Website Development Article |Target Market|Are You Hitting the Right Digital Marketing Targets?Working on your company’s reputation

Reputation is everything when it comes to today’s business landscape. We live in a connected world where everyone has a say in anything, and that includes your business’s reputation. Annoy one customer and they could spark a chain of boycotting if they have a sizable following on social media. Make one small mistake and your business’s reputation could get dragged through the mud by an angry and ill-informed mob. This is just the world we live in, hence why it’s vital that you need to focus on your company’s reputation if you want to reach your target audience.

Here are a couple of suggestions for improving your reputation to ensure your company reaches the right people:

  • Be transparent when it comes to issues that could cause trouble for your reputation
  • Don’t make promises that you can’t keep and ensure that you stick to them if you’ve made any–there’s nothing worse for a company’s reputation than false promises
  • If you’re facing a problem with your business and your audience, make sure you act quickly instead of letting the problem stew and get progressively worse by staying quiet
  • Always respond to criticism and questions from your audience if possible
  • Be a caring and ethical employer to show that your business can be trusted
  • Work with your audience and its communities to show that you care about their opinions

It can be difficult to maintain a good reputation for your business. However, if you’re an honest and trustworthy company that doesn’t engage in shady dealings, you’ll find that this can be surprisingly easy.

Speak the same language as your audience

Whether it’s jargon, idioms or technical terms, make sure that you’re speaking the same language as your audience. This will greatly improve your chances of reaching out to them on social media and will greatly improve customer relationships.

This can be made much easier if you have a community manager available to assist you. A dedicated role that is focused on communicating with your audience means that you’ll have a much easier time listening to them and understanding them. You can respond to their questions, take on their feedback and create a much better relationship with your audience.

It can be difficult to hit the right marketing targets especially if you haven’t already defined them yet. Having the right business strategy can greatly improve your chances of targeting the right audience and growing your company. With a limited marketing budget, it’s important that not a single penny goes to waste. With the correct marketing strategies and aiming at the right audiences, it can be much easier than you’d think.