Grombles

Most of us lead pretty complicated lives. We juggle work, social, play, relaxation and panic as best we can to achieve successes ranging from survival (ideally) to ecstatic amazement at our achievements – and all points between. Rarely does everything neatly fall into place precisely when it’s meant to. My life is no different from most, a chaotic combination of serendipity and attempts at using structures and disciplines to prevent me becoming overwhelmed. I muddle through. When I had a proper job, I had tasks assigned to me, I developed To-Do lists and I adopted the Urgent/Important prioritisation matrix to decide which tasks to tackle first: … which you can read more about here . But there was a catch. My lists and prioritisation techniques were defined by time . When should I do what? And in order to do most of the stuff in my lists, I needed information… and a lot of that information was in handwritten notes, recorded in the most haphazard way possible – sequentially. ...

Have you realised how excessive almost everything has become? Today we are literally overwhelmed by choices and by stuff. What to watch Which app to use Phone to buy Tweets to follow and read News Transport Clothes Food Education Holidays, flights, hotels Careers Sports Friends Choice choice choice Reading, buying, watching, doing, meeting, exploring, finding etc etc. So much more to do, to own, to use, or to waste our money on than any generation has ever experienced - and it's relentlessly getting worse (or better if you relish excess). The global marketplace has only just begun to assail us with all its offerings, and it's limitless. So how do we control this overload of decision making? And it's not just individuals who need to become better organised to manage this deluge. Organisations are called this for a reason too. We assign values to each and every element trying to impinge on our lives. Will it resolve a problem? Will it look good on me? Can...

Having created a handful of successful start-ups over the years, and mentored dozens more, I've evolved a simple 3-point checklist to help new businesses beat the odds (the majority of businesses fail within their first year). There are three considerations - Need, Awareness and Trust:- NEED Does your target market really need what you're thinking about selling to them? It's not about like or even want . Neither of these emotions may be strong enough to relieve them of money. I developed this graphic to demonstrate this gradient of sales potential: The key is to really understand your market. Just hoping or guessing that people NEED your product or service, is not enough. You must know. And you can only begin to do that by researching your market. And that means meeting them, as many as possible, and with as much cynicism as you can muster that what you're showing them is probably NOT what they need. Let them tell you, not the other way around. Of cour...