Studio Non Troppo

Photo: Michael Dunn~!

Success results from a good mix of will and sensitivity.

Edison had the will to invent (from the Latin invenire, meaning “to find”) the incandescent lightbulb. Although thousands of his experiments failed to result in a working lightbulb, he persevered. His will helped him overcome setbacks and non-starters.

Edison also had the sensitivity to learn from setbacks, to adjust what he was trying, rather than repeat the same experiment over and over again.

If you have the will to express yourself, be glad that you possess such an elemental force. You would have little chance of making it through the bracken and bog of false starts and failures along the way to expression if you didn’t have this will.

But to the extent you want to communicate and not just express, untempered will does not work, at least not for a project of any complexity.

This is because you have to be sensitive to the other participants, the other stakeholders. If you were Edison, this sensitivity took the form of noticing how nature worked and how it didn’t work. Some materials simply didn’t work as filaments, and pointing a finger and insisting wouldn’t have made any difference. His goal was a kind of communication: he wanted to play the inventing game together with nature.

If you have an idea you want to get out there, you have the best chances for success if you have the will to express you idea and the sensitivity to observe how other people respond to it. If other people reject your idea and you are listening to them, you are already communicating. Your lightbulb will work eventually.

Here are two resources for you. Steven Pressfield’s The War of Art: Break Through the Blocks and Win Your Inner Creative Battles is a call to arms (or pens, really), providing practical insights to help you employ the will necessary to create.

John Wiley Spiers’ How Small Business Trades Worldwide: Your Guide to Starting or Expanding a Small Business International Trade Company NOW is a primer for starting an import/export business, but more importantly, it lays out a compelling argument why cultivating your sensitivity to other stakeholders (customers, in this case) is the perfect navigational aid.

Please share your feedback and contributions in the comments. What resources have benefited you?

Photo: Ryan Wick

One of the things I teach in my “other life” is a very weird and wonderful problem solving methodology called TRIZ. The letters T-R-I-Z are a Russian acronym for what in English is called the Theory of Inventive Problem Solving.

In TRIZ, we talk about a system’s primary function. What’s the system designed to do? Or: what’s the point?

This is part of the WHY I talked about in the last post. When things get complicated, when people feel under time pressure, or when we stop acting mindfully, it’s easy to lose sight of the WHY.

So here’s the question you must ask yourself: what is the primary function of my (new) business?

If you answered with some version of “to make money,” it’s because you are falling into the auxiliary function trap. An auxiliary function is some function internal to the system, something that is done besides the primary function.

It’s time for an example.

Let’s say the primary function of a jellybean-making machine is to make jellybeans. Beautiful, delicious, marginally-nutritious jellybeans.

Photo: Angie Torres

Pouring the sugar from a container into a mold is an auxiliary function. In this case, it might be something you need to do, but let’s not mistake moving sugar around with actually producing finished jellybeans.

Measuring the jellybeans for appropriate size and shape is also an auxiliary function. If you could measure the jellybeans perfectly but still only produced ugly, terrible-tasting jellybeans, I think you’d have to agree your machine was failing at its job. On the other hand, if your system was designed so as to produce glorious, awesome jellybeans, and if you didn’t need to do any measurements at all, the machine would be succeeding. That’s because measuring the beans isn’t the point; making beans in the point.

“So why,” you might ask, “is the bean-counting approach to my business so wrong? It worked for your jellybean example, didn’t it?”

Selecting “the production of money” might work on some level as a primary function for your business, but there are real limitations and pitfalls that result from this way of looking at things.

Money (think a fistful of dollar bills) doesn’t actually do anything for you. You can’t eat it. You can’t construct a house with it. You can’t nourish your soul with it. And that’s the big clue… Money is only useful for what you do with it. In other words, money is an enabler, not a goal in itself. The production of money is an auxiliary function.

So here’s what you can do.

Remind yourself that money, though quite possibly necessary, performs only an enabling, auxiliary function. Take the time, now and repeatedly, to ask yourself, “what is the primary function for my business?”

Here are some examples of primary functions for a business:

• “Creates free time for me to spend with my family.”
• “Makes me feel productive, energized, and creative.”
• “Creates inner peace.”
• “Makes beautiful things in the world.”
• “Spreads fun contagiously”

Sometimes, you will find that the money-making, or measurement, or marketing, or [insert another auxiliary function here] function may be contributing positively to some piece of the system but is harming the system’s ability to perform its primary function.

You can correct this, or figure out a way for the disruption of the primary function to only be temporary and a positive change in the long run….but only if you’re paying attention.

Photo: kevindooley

As promised in the last post, today I’m going to present a high-altitude view of one type of internet information business. I’ll pick one of the possible business models (the What), I’ll describe what’s appealing about working this way (the Why), and I’ll lay out the three components that are necessary for the business to succeed (the How).

It’s a high-altitude view today because there are many, many details in even a straightforward business model like this one, and a holistic overview will help you decide which aspects you’d like to explore and in what order.

The WHAT

I’ll begin by presenting the components of one particular internet business model: creating and selling digital-delivery products, such as downloadable pdf files or videos (think YouTube). There are many other business models available, ranging from blogging to affiliate marketing, and many of the technologies and approaches relevant to this model can be directly applied to other models. This ability to recycle and repurpose your knowledge and know-how is one of the benefits of developing your information entrepreneur skillset.

The WHY

First, here are some of the guiding principles that might lead you to consider this kind of business. This model might be good for you, if:

1. You want to devote only a few hours per week to the tasks of running a business. You’d rather spend the majority of your time doing other things, such as starting new projects, creating content, or doing something completely non-work-related.
2. You like the idea of your product being out there on its own, marketing itself, sending you some income whether you’re paying attention to it or not.
3. You’re not interested in leaving your day job (right now, at least), but you wouldn’t mind some extra income each month.

Downloadable products can be sold to internet customers (almost) anywhere, and there is very low overhead and little maintenance in selling this way.  It’s exciting to imagine being able to connect people who really need particular, specfic information, know-how, and experience with the people who have that information, know-how, and experience.  The goal is mutual benefit: value for the customer, compensation for the provider, and good will generated between them.

OK, time for a little thought experiment.

Imagine a downloadable, pdf-format text-and-images resource, such as a how-to manual for Vespa owners who want to repaint their scooter.

Photo: antmoose

Now consider some of the ramifications:

• The manual might sell online for $20. If 10 people (worldwide!) purchase the manual each month… [math left as an exercise for the reader].
• It can be delivered (i.e. downloaded) without paying for postage.
• You don’t need a warehouse or even a garage for inventory of your product. The manual is a file on a computer server.
• Customers don’t have to wait to get it delivered in the mail.  They can download it and read it right away or print it out to read wherever they’d like.
• If you want to change something in the manual, you don’t have to reprint it; you just change the file, and the new version is ready immediately.  There’s no necessary, intrinsic cost to change the product.

The HOW

Here are the components you would need to make this work (high-altitude overview only, today):

1. The product itself
2. A website set up to deliver the product and perform financial transactions (accepting credit card payments, handling refund requests, crediting your bank account)
3. A marketing system that helps potential customers find your site

Depending on your personality and your skills and inclinations, you may feel that at least one of these three components seems extraordinarily difficult. I’m here to tell you that all three components are really, truly manageable, and you don’t have to be a Rhodes-scholar-who-spends-all-her-free-time-between-high-powered-sales-meetings-in-the-computer-lab to get them all to work together.

Does this sound doable? Do you run a business like this? If this sounds reasonable and intriguing, but you’re not doing it, why not? Where are you stuck? I welcome your feedback and questions.

 Today, I’m going to look at three reasons people use to avoid starting an online, information-based business. If any or all of these reasons sound familiar to you, I hope to show you why this might be the time to jettison them and go ahead in spite of your earlier concerns.

1. “I don’t like business.”

I understand, and I believe you. I’ve experienced this feeling and used it as a reason to avoid getting involved in business before.

Then I discovered I was stereotyping. I was “profiling” (as in “racial profiling,” only in this case I was guilty of “activity profiling.”) The business world is not monolithic, and not only are there different types of businesses in the world; there are also different ways to think about business.

Don’t like unethical, pushy, greedy, dehumanizing, soul-draining, just plain evil businesses? Great! (Neither do I.) The good news is that it’s actually possible to be involved in an ethical, courteous, generous, empowering, soul-reinvigorating, just plain good business. Heck, you could even start one yourself.

2. “Business doesn’t like me.”

Ah, the flipside of #1. Do you worry that maybe you’re not cut out to be a businessperson, that you don’t have something worthwhile to offer, or that other people wouldn’t be willing to compensate you for what you do have to offer?

Whether you’re “cut out” to be a businessperson is really a trick question (or is it a trick worry?) There’s no one type of business, and if or when you find the really right business to be in, it will feel more like play than work, and how can you not be cut out for that?

It’s true that to be in business, it’s essential to be able to provide value to others. Many entrepreneurs are outstandingly proficient at discovering ways to create and provide value. This doesn’t come easily to everyone, but fortunately it’s a skill that can be learned and practiced. Whether or not you are in business now, the ability to see the parts of yourself that create value in the world is a crucial life skill. And once you start practicing “self value awareness,” you’ll find yourself feeling increasingly energized and motivated.

And as far as compensation goes, you don’t need everyone to compensate you. If only a tiny fraction of people finds your folding instructions for a remote-controlled origami banjo even remotely interesting…no problem! Enter the world of the internet, where you can reach (as of the last count) over a billion people. Even if it’s only a fraction of the internet world that finds your information valuable, a tiny fraction of an immense number can be a substantial number. The internet has changed all the ground rules of the information matchmaking game, and even if you didn’t think it was worth playing the game of business before, you owe it to yourself to take another look.

3. Go into business now? In this economy? That can’t make sense!

One of the key benefits of being an online information purveyor is the extremely low startup cost. You have to put in some time, and the learning curve can be daunting at first, but the initial investment is pretty small. Certainly no more than a few hundred dollars, and that includes web hosting costs, getting your first webpage designed, and paying for some online advertising to test whether there is real-world demand for what you have to offer.

Worst case, if your ebook or quickstart guide (or remote-controlled origami banjo instructional video) doesn’t work at all, you’ve had fun putting it together anyway and can move on to your next idea which may well work. Failing quickly and repeatedly is the best way to learn and get better. The key is to set your process up correctly, so you can start small, without taking unnecessary risks. I’ll have a lot more to write about this shortly. It’s a very important point, probably the critical point when going into business.

What’s next?

In coming posts, I’ll be describing the big picture, the information entrepreneur business model as seen from 35,000 feet. Then, I’ll dip down some to show the largest components of the model and how they interact with each other, and I’ll start getting into the learning curves involved with each one.

I’ll also start pointing out various landmarks to help you find your way around this new country, including key websites, tools, people, and ideas.

Thank you for reading this far. Please share your feedback in the comments. For a little more information about where I’m coming from and going to with Studio Non Troppo, you can visit the About page for this blog.