Although we like to think of starting a business as an intentional practice, for many founders, it’s quite the opposite. Often times, founders fall into a new business idea and excitedly plow ahead with it, taking on business partners or key employees and verbally agreeing to sort out the legal and financial partnership components somewhere down the line. Unfortunately, these types of loose business agreements often wreak havoc on partnerships. Why? Because, as a wise business advisor once told me, “money makes people do crazy shit.” Learn from my mistakes... get your business and partnership structure documented - in writing.

I launched my first business, OTX, in June of 2000. As it turns out, nearly the worst time to start a business, as in 2001 the “dot com” bubble burst. Fortunately, we had a diverse client base and a technology platform that was literally revolutionizing the way movie studios and CPG firms conducted research, and we not only survived the recession, we thrived. In 2003, OTX was ranked the fastest growing research company in the world. But it wasn’t just a strong product and good fortune.

So it’s been said that marketing is like sex… everyone thinks they’re good at it. I can assure you, at least when it comes to marketing, everyone is not.

A recent MIT Sloan School survey of more than 4,000 managers found that only 28% could correctly list three of their firm's top strategic priorities. Only 28%! Given that, it’s no wonder that even the best laid strategic plans fall flat mid-year and victim to a strategy-execution gap.

I’ve read a fair number of articles on growth over the course of my career and I can tell you, firsthand, how easy it is to get distracted by the newest, shiniest bauble of advice. Just like the latest tech device or a cool new app, it’s easy to grab on to new ideas and hope for the best— without really having an understanding of how impactful a new strategy or tip or trick might truly be.

In a previous post, I outlined the importance for executives to stop working “IN” the business more than they work “ON” it. The challenge for most executives, of course, is that in order to back out of day to day tactical work, they need to have a trusted team in place to handle the “IN” work. This is where it gets tricky because the hardest part of delegating “IN” work is trusting that it will be done well. Often times, delegation happens in the thick of stressful time crunched situations where, without proper training, employees will likely fail. And that’s where our mindset needs to change... Because delegation is a short game strategy. Teaching is a long game.

I’ve wagered a bet with my marketing crew that this is going to be my most read post of 2018 simply because it has the word “porn” in the title. The fact that you’ve clicked and made it this far, means you haven’t let me down… so read on, perverts!

One of the core tenets of scaling a business is to spend more time working ON it (meaning focusing on strategic activities that drive growth) and less time IN it. This can be incredibly challenging for execs that are really competent and may feel more comfortable with tactical work, or for those of us (and I’ll raise my hand here) who are type-A control freaks and figure it’s just faster and easier to do everything yourself. Unfortunately, both of these behaviors can present significant barriers to growth.

Looking for some tips and tricks you can use to increase your professional impact? Check out this podcast with my MR industry pals Dave McCaughan and Kevin Gray as we talk about the evolution of the market research industry and the new skills you need to drive real business impact.

So... you feel like you have a new business idea, product or service you want to pursue. Now what? You need a framework so you’re not going at a reinvention or pivot willy-nilly.