How Much Does it Cost to Lose 10 Pounds?

Posted on by Jeremy Overton Posted in Business, Personal

Seems like a silly question, right?  I mean, who can quantify that?

How much incrementally better would you feel if you lost 11?

Or worse if you only lost 9?

If you keep asking yourself these questions, it’s hard to start (or continue) a fitness or diet program.

Nope, in order to succeed, you have to learn to be happy with progress.

“Stuck” small business owners often seek financial measurability when it comes to improving their business performance.

If I pay you X, can you prove to me that you’ll grow my business Y?

In fact, this obsession with an immediate financial return is what usually keeps them stuck.

When you consider quality of life, and employee satisfaction, it’s hard to measure growth, let alone put a price on it.

When you start a diet or exercise program, do you pay per pound that you plan to lose?

Better yet, if you’re already fit and you start a program like CrossFit to get a stronger, leaner physique, how much is that worth?

Getting “better” requires time, money, effort and a commitment to ongoing improvement.

Just like exercising, it’s easier to stick with it if you have a partner, a trainer or if you’re part of a group.

 

Starting an Outline

Posted on by Jeremy Overton Posted in College Students, Personal

I had a chance to meet one of my heroes, best selling author AJ Jacobs, in Toronto earlier this year.

I asked him, “How do you get all your ideas together? Do you have a system?”

His answer was simple “You have to start with an outline.”

What??? An outline? I was disappointed to hear that the advice was the same advice I had received from my freshman English teacher in High School. How could this be? I was counting on AJ to give me the ultimate secret… the keys to the kingdom.

The disappointment quickly subsided as I questioned him further.

You see, AJ practices total immersion when he writes. He often spends an entire year on a project, see The Year of Living Biblically, and like many of us, he sometimes has to deal with having too much to write about, rather than too little. His practice of the fundamental rule of writing helps him keep focused and manage his content.

jeremy overton outline AJ Jacobs the overton network

There is no magic bullet when it comes to writing. Sure, text may flow through you easier at some times than others, but when it comes down to it, you have to practice fundamentals and you have to have an outline.

Like most things that are important in life, starting an outline can be difficult. I’ve found that using mind-mapping software is a great way to get started.

Try mindmeister’s trial version, first, to see if mind-mapping is right for you. Mindgenius is also a great software, but you’ll have to pay for a license.

Mind-mapping software gives you the flexibility to develop your ideas in the form of a brainstorm and see them all on one sheet of paper.

You then have total flexibility to change, rearrange or delete your topics until you are comfortable with the flow of the outline. This visual aid can be particularly helpful as you determine which areas of your work need to be developed further.

 

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The Business Development Manager For Startup Entrepreneurs

Posted on by Jeremy Overton Posted in Business, Marketing

Over the past 10 years, I have asked more 150 business owners what position they would add to their company or their small business if they could only add one. Though they’ve never given me a straight answer as far as a position, they have described for me a number of tasks that they would like someone to help them do.

Recently, I’ve taken those tasks and I’ve taken those desires and characteristics and developed a position that fulfills the needs of micro, ultra lean or start-up entrepreneurs’ needs from a business development manager.  If you get lucky (or train yourself to spot one), you’ll find one you can groom.

If you’re one in a million lucky, one will find you.

You may be looking at someone in your office and saying they’re a business development manager, but let me re-define the role to see if it’s not someone that you’d like to either hire or outsource services to.

1. The business development manager knows that the position is fluid and dynamic.  They are comfortable and capable of spending 20-30% of their time doing activities they are overqualified for as you work to grow the organization and find the right people to take over those activities.  They understand that they’ll make more money when they provide more value.

2. The business development manager is the front facing person who is representative of your organization.

3. The business development manager is in charge of relationship management, helping you establish and maintain those relationships and also cultivate new ones.

4. The business development manager is in charge of events that are designed to both thank your customers and also encourage them to refer new prospects.  They are capable of documenting them with video and photographs, then using that content to create more opportunities.

5. The business development manager has to be wise enough that they can understand your overall business, your brand, and what you bring personally to the table.  He or she can talk intelligently when networking with other groups and understands how to raise your profile in the community and among the people that you hope to have as clients.  The business development manager understands positioning.

6. They have to be self driven and project oriented. Your business development person will understand your business goals and / or work with you to help establish them.  They’ll make sure that you keep your pipeline full and that you’re focused on doing the right activities.

7. Your business development manager must have a command of your online and social media presence and be helping you to create value-added content to those sites on a regular basis.   She knows what growth hacking is and is eager to learn more by doing.

In a perfect world, your business development manager will approach you with a package, resume or suite of services that is unlike anything you would have considered and say, “here’s what I can do for you.”

They’ll essentially have a job description that you can tweak to fit your needs, but you’ll find that they largely focus on activities that you know are important but never considered possible.

If you are able to find a great business development manager, you should hire them immediately.

If you’re interested in becoming a business development manager and creating your own unique package, but don’t know where to start, contact us.

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