Brian
There have been some high-profile cyber attacks in the news lately. The pipeline problem from a few weeks ago kicked off gas shortages across the Eastern US and ended with a $4.4 million payout to the hackers. A couple more hit the news this week with the biggest being one of the largest meat suppliers … Read more
Having a system in place to help you manage technology is critical for you to be able to grow your business in an effective and efficient manner. Technology in today’s business environment is as important as ever. Technology provides so many benefits and advantages in today’s world that it is becoming more and more difficult … Read more
Last week we talked about the key attributes that make up your core activities. Remember, your core activities are the main things you do in your business and the key attributes are the inputs, process steps, outputs, desired outcomes, and metrics of each core activity. Inputs are the things that go into your process steps. … Read more
At this point, you should be thinking about your business in terms of core activities (systems) that your business performs to build and deliver valuable products and services to your Customers. For a refresher on thinking about the core activities of your business, read our article here. The next important piece of optimizing your business … Read more
A concept that has been made popular by Amazon is to use a press release and frequently asked questions, known as a PRFAQ, as a tool to help you in new product development. Typically, the company would not write a product press release until the product was finished. Amazon, however, has used writing a press … Read more
One of the things I see many entrepreneurs struggling with is how to fix or improve the outcomes from their business. The main reason why I see this happening is because entrepreneurs think of their business as one thing. In reality, every business is a collection of smaller components that make up the business. It’s … Read more
I went to my mother-in-law’s cabin this weekend to help her chop and move some wood. She had to take down a large tree recently that was about 3 feet in diameter and 70 feet tall. The tree was cut up into discs about a foot thick. Along with a few others, I spent eight … Read more
Before I started focusing on optimizing for outcomes, I had started a YouTube channel producing how-to videos related to automation and efficiency improvements in business. As I shifted my focus, the time needed to produce the videos was consumed by other activities. Having gotten many things in order in the last couple of months I … Read more
When working with different businesses, I’ve seen a lot of confusion around the difference between outcomes and outputs. The short answer to the question, “is there a difference that matters?” is that yes, there is a big difference, and if you don’t get it right, you risk wasting time focusing on the wrong things when … Read more
Not too long ago I started to get back into exercising after a long hiatus. When I initially started out I had the goal in my head to get back to “high school glory”. That meant 210 pounds with a 34-inch waist. I was very focused on this weight and inch goal so much so … Read more