How To Grow, Profit & Organize Your Business » Getting Things Done

5 Steps To Invetability Thinking (E.g. How To Make It Inevitable That You’ll Generate $20K Per Mo. In Ad Revs)

Rob Kelly — Sun, 25 Jul 2010 21:19:29 +0000

I remember when my friend Eben Pagan shared the concept of Inevitability Thinking with me — it’s such a simple yet powerful approach to achieving your an objective…damn, why didn’t I think of that!? The easiest way for me to share Inevitability Thinking is to give an example (I’m going to use a hypothetical example of an Internet business I want to build). To do this exercise on your own you would need: A Calculator Google Your Brain A half-hour or so of time But, if you want, you can just read my version of this exercise first. Ok, so here are the steps: 5 Steps To Invetability Thinking 1) Articulate Your Objective First step is to articulate your objective. For this exercise, let’s assume your objective is to build a content-based Web site that generates $20,000 per month in advertising revenue. Sound good? 2) Identify Your Time Frame? Easy next step: let’s pick a time period to meet your objective of $20,000 in ad revenue per month. We all want to reach our goals immediately…but let’s be realistic: how does one year sound? After all, most things that matter in life take time. One year it is! 3) List [...]

Remote Workers: Check Out Your New Virtual Colleague!

Rob Kelly — Thu, 01 Jul 2010 17:33:34 +0000

Here’s a cool robot that can cruise around your home or office with a 5 mega-pixel HD camera with zoom due out this Fall from AnyBots. Not bad for $15,000. Applications/Features? If you work from home, this robot can cruise to your front door and show you who’s ringing your bell This robot can be your eyes and ears at another location (while you stay put) Check out these videos. This one is a corporate video from AnyBots.com (but it shows the robot in action): Here’s an example of AnyBot checking out a White Board session (so that you don’t have to be there to collaborate): Here’s a separate story on AnyBots from Network World:

SWOT Analysis Examples: Google, Coke, Walmart & More

Rob Kelly — Sat, 09 Jan 2010 23:14:49 +0000

Bunch of people checked out my article on SWOT Analysis and asked me for more examples of this powerful strategic planning tool.

It turns out that it's not easy to find free SWOT Analysis examples (many are listed on the Web but cost money (anywhere from $10 to $500 apiece!).

I found over a dozen examples of SWOT that are free to review...and listed them below.

Enjoy!

Put Your Eggs In One Basket

Rob Kelly — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 03:47:49 +0000

You can put all your eggs in one basket (just watch the basket!) We’ve all heard the saying that you shouldn’t put all your eggs in one basket. While sometimes wise, I think there are many exceptions. Mark Twain wrote that you should “put all your eggs in one basket and watch that basket.” I agree in many circumstances, including for business. If you are super-selective and focus on one business (whether as investor or founder or employee) at a time, you can reap huge rewards. Look at Bill Gates of Microsoft (who loves using the word “super” by the way) — he invested purely in Microsoft for 30 years. I had the good fortune of meeting Bill Gates a few times and I recall how reporters and other people were highly critical of the fact that he was reinvesting his Microsoft profits in Microsoft and not, for instance, in Philanthropic endeavors. He told me that he believed his most valuable contribution at that time was focusing on Microsoft and that he would later focus on investing his money elsewhere. Well, in 2000 Bill and his wife Melinda French (who I also had the pleasure of meeting once) created what [...]

5 Simple Steps On How To Do A Gap Analysis

Rob Kelly — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 17:34:53 +0000

Gap Analysis is a strategic planning tool to help you understand where you are, where you want to be and how you’re going to get there. Here’s a simple Gap analysis chart: Here’s the Gap Analysis process: Step 1: Decide the topic you’re going to do the Gap Analysis on? This is the challenge you’re trying to tackle. Gap Analysis sample topics include: Revenue Profit Market Share Product Functionality/Features Step 2: Identify where you are right now based on metrics or attributes. Examples: Revenue — We’re at $10 million in annual sales right now Profit — We’re at $1.5 million in annual profit right now Market Share — We have 7% of the market share right now Product Functionality/Features — Our product has was just launched so it has limited features Step 3: Identify where you’d like to be over a specific time frame? Examples: Revenue — We’d like revenue to grow to $35 million in annual sales by 2012 Profit — We’d like profits to grow to $12 million per year by 2012 Market Share — We’d like to own 15% of a particular market by 2012 Product Functionality/Features — We’d like our product to have industry leading features [...]

DOS Exercise

Rob Kelly — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 01:30:13 +0000

A lot of people have checked out my article on SWOT Analysis: Strengths Weaknesses Opportunities Threats (amazingly, an estimated 300,000 people Google “SWOT Analysis” each month, according to Google’s own Keyword Tool). If you want a variation on an exercise for strengths, opportunities, etc., there’s another simpler one called D.O.S. DOS stands for Dangers, Opportunities and Strengths. DOS Exercise It’s very simple to learn DOS. Here are the steps: 1) Pick a new that you’re considering taking on. 2) List out the dangers of taking on such a project. 3) List out the opportunities of taking on such a project. 4) List out the strengths of taking on such a project. I’ve been using DOS for a few years and I’ve learned it’s important you go in the order of danger, opportunity, strength because psychologically it’s best to end on a positive — this is one advantage the DOS model has over the SWOT model (in SWOT analysis you START positive with strengths and END on a negative with threats). Here’s a DOS example on a new challenge a friend of mine’s business is having with fundraising (she needs to raise some money to fund her new startup). Dangers (of [...]

OODA Loop

Rob Kelly — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 03:04:10 +0000

I’m a big fan of using Colonel John Boyd’s OODA Loop strategy for reacting to events in business. I’m so into the OODA Loop theory that I once chanted “OODA, OODA” (like “Toga, Toga”) at a strategy session! OODA stands for: Observe — As in collect the inputs/data of the situation. Orient — Analyze the inputs/data to determine your position. Decide — Determine your course of action. Act — Execute your decision. It’s called an OODA Loop (or OODA Cycle) because the event/situation taking place may be changing and so you may have to change your decisions as new data/inputs are gathered. While Col. John Boyd’s OODA Loops were created in military situations, he made recommendations on their use in business (and OODA Loop Theory is widely used in business today). For example, Boyd recommended that decisions/actions be distributed throughout a business organization so that decisions and actions are made by the people who are directly observing and oriented to a situation (as opposed to an isolated commander/CEO who is only indirectly involved). Colonel John R. Boyd is no relation to famous businessman John Boyd Dunlop who founded Dunlop the tire company or peace nobelist Lord John Boyd (United Nations, [...]

PEST Analysis

Rob Kelly — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 02:45:33 +0000

I’ve been receiving a lot of attention to my articles on strategic planning tools such as SWOT Analysis, Fishbone Analysis and DACI To Get Things Done. Here’s another one: PEST Analysis (by the way, there are many variations of PEST Analysis and so I’ve listed all of the ones at the bottom of this article with their definitions). What is a PEST Analysis? PEST is an acronym that stands for the following four Macro-Economic factors: Political — These include factors related to how a government intervenes in your business. It may include taxes, law, political stability, regulation and de-regulation. Economic — These include factors such as interest rates, inflation rates, unemployment rates, income rates/distribution and tariff rates. Social — These include cultural aspects such as population growth, age distribution, career trends (attitudes towards work), lifestyle trends, etc. Technological — These include trends such as remote working (see my article called A Virtual Workplace), mobile computing, the Internet and other research and development innovation. PEST analyses are best used to measure a market situation (this differs from SWOT Analysis as SWOT is best used to measure a company or business unit situation). A good time to do a PEST Analysis is [...]

Fishbone Analysis

Rob Kelly — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 03:32:17 +0000

My friend Ralph taught me how to do a Fishbone Analysis recently. It was invented by Dr. Kaoru Ishikawa. You can use the Fishbone process to help you figure out how to best achieve an objective, including how to prioritize the individual items which together are needed to meet your objective. Fishbone Analysis Example Let’s say that you determine that you need to grow the number of visits to a Web site/page from 500 per month to 20,000 per month. First, you go through the six things that prevent you from getting that objective done. These are called the six “M’s” because each starts with the letter “M” to make it easier to remember. The six “M’s” that prevent you from getting anything done are: Manpower — The people resources you need. Methods — The processes you need. Metrics — The measurements you need. Machines — The automation or technology you need. Materials — The material items (such as physical goods or marketing collateral) you need. Minutes — The time you need. Now, it’s called a fishbone because you draw a line (the fish’s spine) with three diagonal lines on each side (which look like bones) and it looks like [...]

SWOT Analysis

Rob Kelly — Sun, 26 Jul 2009 16:02:33 +0000

I’ve been using SWOT Analysis for strategic planning lately and I thought I’d share the basics of it. What is a SWOT Analysis SWOT is a strategic planning tool. The acronym SWOT stands for: S= Strengths W = Weaknesses O = Opportunities T = Threats The importance of a SWOT Analysis A SWOT Analysis is a great exercise to help determine your tactics or execution of an objective. The more you can prepare before you jump into your tactics (or execution), the better off your results will be. How to do a SWOT Analysis First, pick your topic (e.g. your topic might be broad such as on your business/company overall (a “Company SWOT Analysis” or something more specific such as a department in your business (e.g. a “Marketing SWOT Analysis) or it could be for yourself as an individual (a “Personal SWOT Analysis”). Next you pick your objective. For example, if you’re doing a Company SWOT Analysis your objective may be to double the business within the next three years. Now do the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats related to that topic or objective: Strengths — These are attributes that you or your company possess that would be helpful in [...]

How to Scrum & Sprint

Rob Kelly — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 23:28:10 +0000

I’m sitting here talking with Jane Newcomb, a firm believer in Agile Project Management, including the Scrum approach, to getting things done. Jane works on product development for BabyCenter.com, the dominant Internet baby company. I thought I’d share her perspective with you through a question and answer session. Why do you use Agile Project Management with Scrum? BabyCenter applies the Agile Scrum Methodology to our new product and software development because we found through trial and error (including trying the Waterfall methodology) that Scrum was the most efficient project/product management tool. Talk about Agile Methology versus Waterfall Methodology? At the core, Waterfall Methodology assumes all aspects of a project, all features, all the funtionality — it’s all completely mapped out upfront…and then four months later the finished product is rolled out to the business owners. The business owners don’t see any code or software until the entire feature/product is delivered. And then it’s often not the deliverable that the business owners were expected. Whereas Agile Methodoliges are more flexible and allows business owners to see working code rolled out every two to four weeks…that allows for change in direction, alterations based on business need changes, marketplace changes. What’s An Agile [...]

How to Write A Purpose Statement

Rob Kelly — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 15:10:35 +0000

In late 2007 I was introduced to “Coach Terry,” a phone-based life coach. I was dubious about the phone-only part but I gave it a shot for a few months and learned a ton. The most important thing I learned from Terry was the importance of having a statement of purpose for anything substantial in my life (you can find a sample statement of purpose below). I began writing a statement of purpose for my life, my business, my role in business, a holiday trip, my romantic relationship or even just my plan for a day. I’ve found it useful to constantly be asking myself what the purpose of something I’m doing is, or when people ask me to do something or say they are doing something, I ask them: “What is the purpose of that?” Be purposeful about all things in your life…and you’ll find that the outcome is more favorable. So, here’s how to write a statement of purpose along with some purpose statement tips: 1) List Your Expectations Write down all the expectations you have about your purpose related to a certain topic (e.g. your life, job, relationship with someone, etc.) on the left-hand side of the [...]

How The Ritz Carlton & I Run Our Meetings: The Daily Huddle

Rob Kelly — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 23:50:47 +0000

The Daily Huddle has arguably been one of the greatest productivity and efficiency boosters I've personally experienced. Since I started using it, I've run into numerous industry leaders (such as the Ritz Carlton and Johnson & Johnson) who benefit from the Daily Huddle. Duhh, why didn't I begin this 20 years ago! I first read about the concept of the Daily Huddle in Mastering the Rockefeller Habits, which may be the best how-to book for small businesses that I've read. Its author Verne Harnish was inspired by the habits of business tycoon John D. Rockefeller and translates those for you to apply to business today. I know, I sound pretty excited about this stuff -- that's cuz I am! So, what is the Daily Huddle? Well, for starters, I use the term "Daily

How to Be an Early Riser

Rob Kelly — Sun, 26 Apr 2009 15:21:23 +0000

The smartest move I’ve made in years was when I began waking up early (around 5:45am now). So, here’s how you can wake up early: Get Control of Your Alarm Clock You’ll need to use an alarm clock at first (though you won’t need it two weeks from now!). What time should you pick? Be gentle with yourself at first -- start with just a half-hour earlier than you’re currently waking up. I recommend you set your alarm to an unusually exact time (I picked 6:07am because I was born in 1967)…it’s been proven that you will be more responsive to unusual times (rather than on-the-hour or half-hour times (e.g. 6:00am or 6:30am) (see The Daily Huddle about starting meetings at odd times). And try

DACI To Get Things Done

Rob Kelly — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 00:53:56 +0000

Know thy role! My good friend Jane turned me on to a framework that she learned at Johnson & Johnson's BabyCenter...it's called DACI and it stands for: D = Driver, A = Approver, C = Consulted and I = Informed. The DACI model has helped me execute numerous projects more efficiently! Here's how it works. When you are trying to get something done, ask yourself: "Who can serve in the following roles?" Driver = This is the most important role. It's the person who drives a project from start to completion -- it's their neck on the line to get this thing done! This is typically one person but you can be two "co-drivers." For larger projects, I highly recommend that you pick a highly organized and detail-oriented person to be the Driver. A less-organized

Reverse-Engineering The End Result

Rob Kelly — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 01:06:51 +0000

A few of us sat down in the Palm Springs hotel suite of Harv Eker, best-selling author of Secrets of The Millionaire Mind...and he shared a powerful framework on getting results.

His philosophy is to reverse engineer the process of bottom-line results

The gist of what Harv said was:

Ok, so you want results first, right? Well, what leads to results?...that would be Action (as in taking an action).

Next step is to ask: What leads to Action?...well, that would be having a Feeling about something (i.e. you feel strongly enough to take action).

Now, what leads to Feeling something?...that would be Thinking about something.

Finally, what leads to thinking about something?...well, that would be what Harv calls Programming (what you were taught as a child, the