100% original content from the Boardroom Blog

Fun With Favourtunities

28/1/2015

By Kevin Sheldrake

Next time you’re looking for a favour, take a moment and consider if you can re-frame your request into the form of a favourtunity…

This could be a simple matter of semantics; just making sure you also highlight the benefits to the other party. Or, you may have to go as far as re-constructing the favour entirely, so that it newly includes or creates an opportunity.

Either way, we humans are a lot more amenable to helping each other when the request contains an element of empathy, and the outcome is equitable.

6 things to keep in mind when creating favourtunities..

Rule 1 is to keep your eye on the prize. You have an end outcome in mind; don’t lose sight of it as you negotiate your way through the different scenarios and compomises.
However, do be open minded to some element of compromise… ‘give a little, take a little’.. (but see 1 above).
Focus on keeping a good, sustainable, relationship with the other party. The natural outcome of a favourtunity is that it’s mutually positive. If it’s not, then something has gone off track!
Favourtunity is founded on empathy and insight, so you will need to ask some smart, open questions at the outset, in order to understand the motivations and concerns of the other party. Then you can really push the right buttons with your favourtunity proposal.
The best favouritunities come from each party being able to bring their underutilised, or taken-for-granted, resources to the deal. This could be anything from skills, time, or website visitors, to an underused meeting room or host server capacity...
Beware ‘baby and bathwater’: Favourtunities are not about giving good chargeable stuff away for free (or asking this of others). There has to be mutual benefit; it has to create value rather than erode it. This can be a tricky balance to achieve, and so keep your eye on rule 1 above.

What’s your experience? What favourtunity examples have you generated or come across?

kevin@theboardroom.org.uk

Follow @kevinsheldrake

0 Comments

Keeping The Faith

19/1/2015

2 Comments

By Kevin Sheldrake

As I’ve often said, it’s tough going building and running a business. Not everyone is cut out for it, and not every business idea we have is a guaranteed success – and it can be months or sometimes years into your journey before you start to get real clarity on either of these.

So how do you keep yourself on track, and going, and motivated, and fresh, when sometimes the world around you is… not making it easy? (Clue: Simply being good at what you do isn’t enough!)

This was the subject of discussion at our latest Breakfast Board, and we honed in on five critical plates that you need to keep spinning in order to Keep The Faith...

1. Focus

Get focused. Have a mission – This keeps you disciplined and on track (to avoid just randomly doing whatever occurs to you next).
Set goals, and recognise that there are different phases to building up a business, and not all of them (especially the formative ones) will make money.
Make it easy for yourself – think about your proposition, your products, how you package them and how you make them easily understood and accessible to your targets.

2. Learn

Watch and learn: Both yourself and others, including competitors and peers - Who’s doing it well? Who’s not?
Find new sources of knowledge. Upskill yourself in new (relevant) disciplines - for example marketing, social media, taking on new employees... whatever will make you better and more informed for your journey ahead.
Don’t be afraid of failure – Learn from it. Use it to make you stronger and better.

3. Innovate

Marketing is all about experimentation, so experiment and innovate – with the new and the different.
Plan, Test, Observe and learn. Repeat. Allow yourself to fail (and make sure you reflect and learn from the experience).
And remember to balance your innovation, with consistency (people don’t like to constantly be put on the back foot), and with quality (don’t waste your time with novelty or gimmicks – they won’t last).

4. Keep Pushing!

Momentum is critical. You’ll need to keep constant pressure on your innovation and growth, and at the same time, on your day to day operation and delivery activities…
And careful not to let that momentum drift when you're gloriously busy servicing clients or with a new contract, as when this work ends you will find yourself standing still again.

5. PMA (Stay Positive)

Success can take ages, and you will need a lot of positive mental energy and belief in yourself to keep up this momentum.
And success is about winning, being better. Know your strengths, and draw on them to be different and self-confident.
Conversely, people can smell desperation and resignation, so you have to genuinely believe in yourself. If you don’t, then fix this first - who you are, and what you’re offering the world - before trying to sell to it.
Finally, crucially, take advice, but don’t abandon your instincts. It has to be your call at the end of the day.

All of this is tough work, so perhaps the best reassurance I can leave you with, is that tough is good. Tough means other people will give up. So decide who you are, and make it happen. (Exits to the inspirational Billy Ocean...)

If you've enjoyed this post from The Boardroom Blog then please share it on your preferred social networks, and join The Boardroom mailing list to ensure you never miss out on a future update (plus receive our free e-book with 100 small business tips!).

kevin@theboardroom.org.uk

Follow @kevinsheldrake

2 Comments

Fun With Favourtunities

Keeping The Faith

Follow Us!

Upcoming Events

Join The Mailing List!

Categories

Archives