Tuesday, July 8, 2014

What risk will you take today?

I had this phrase put to me recently, and I have to say I like it. I have been spreading this as a meme, and I thought I’d share a few ideas with you all on ways of taking on risks.

1)      Ring a supplier and ask for a better deal.

You are probably paying too much for electricity, internet, phone plans, cloud software services, etc. Try ringing up and seeing what they can do for you.

I did this yesterday with my internet provider and they ended up apologising for slow data speeds lately and recalibrated their connection overnight – meaning that I don’t need to upgrade plans.

2)      Contact a customer you were always afraid of contacting.

We all have a major customer that we are afraid of making a mistake with, so we never call them.

This is also known as ‘No one asks out the pretty girl’. I used this analogy with a smart job-seeker a few years ago, and instead of using it to find work, he took it on himself to ask out only the prettiest women, to great success. He even had one lady sobbing as she said he was the first person to ask her out in four years – but she told him no anyway. Over the course of six months he kept me up to date with exactly how accurate the saying is (which I really didn’t need to know as I was still married at the time.)

I see this kind of thinking all the time. Smart people who want to work for a multinational but are afraid of rejection so apply to smaller companies instead and keep the multinational as a dream.

We all do it, and in business we often do it in our marketing efforts, ignoring alliances, and in winning new business. Go out and contact someone when you are afraid of rejection.

3)      Ask someone for suggestions

Whether we are talking about employees, co-workers, customers, suppliers, your wife or husband, or even your kids: find a way to ask them what you could be doing better, or what they would like more of in your relationship. We leave too many things left unsaid.

4)      Ask for a referral

Cold calling is hard and mostly doesn’t work. So how about asking somebody you know for a referral to a new customer. Conversely, think about someone you could introduce to one of your contacts.

5)      Take a day off

We all work too many hours, all too often sitting at our desks. Take some time off. It could be a simple as a walk around the block, eating lunch in a scenic park, or just going to work late after a nice sleep in.

Or you could completely take a day off. Spend some time with your family, go see a movie, drive to the beach, play golf, go shopping… whatever… take some time out.

By doing this you are directly challenging your own stress and anxiety level by proving that the world won’t come to an end by taking a day off.

Also, by relaxing, we can reduce our fixation on some areas of our business and are better placed to see things as a whole.

6)      Have a difficult conversation

Speaking from painful personal experience, I know that stress comes from your personal life as much as it does from co-workers, managers, employees, suppliers and customers.

We are all taught to be professional no matter what the circumstance, but this doesn’t change the fact that some relationships are just bad.

If you notice a growing distance in any relationships, an increase in snarkiness in responses, growing cynicism, delays in response to communication, or any unresolved tension, then you probably have miscommunication.

We can all avoid conflict at times, but often the solution is far less stressful than you think.

Go talk to someone, and go with an open mind and drop the defensiveness. Be prepared to talk about feelings.

Also, sometimes it is better to have no relationship than a permanently shitty relationship.

7)      Put yourself out of business

This isn’t a new idea. Drucker has been raving on about this for years.

Look at new ways to do things that reduce the time and effort to perform your business.

Look at disruptive technologies.

Look at competitors – figure out what is actually succeeding for them and ‘be inspired.’

Go look at a few competitor’s websites today.

Read some industry literature.

Ask contacts in other industries how they deal with the same problem.

8)      Do something at random

Many business owners are control freaks of one variety or another. It is good to learn to let go.

Start simply by changing preferences and routines.
  • For example, try a new brand of deodorant or breakfast cereal every time you buy some.
  • Try a new store to buy clothes, or a new place to get your haircut.
  • Drive to a different shopping centre this week.
  • Drink tea instead of coffee, or vice versa.
  • Try different restaurants, cafes or takeaways to your normal fare.
  • To practice this even further try going somewhere on the weekend by choosing which way to go at an intersection by flipping a coin.

This was taken to its peak by Dice Man who advocated making decisions by rolling a dice.

This is all about letting go of things you don’t need to control, busting out of a rut, and reducing fixation on your business.

9)      Take out a line of credit

We need money to grow. Most small businesses use personal loans and credit cards to fund their working capital.

Once you have been in business for a while, you will find the banks amenable to providing working capital loans.

Is it time to have a few conversations with bankers about options.

10)   Hire a new employee

The old saying is that the best time to hire a new employee is when it hurts the most.

To grow you need more people.

Look at hiring some help today. Even if it is just for a day or a week, having an extra set of hands about might really help.

Deliberately plan a risk or two every day. They don’t have to be big, just risks that you normally don’t take.

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