Tag: Dan Meyer

Making You Business More Prominent On The Web

https://www.linkedin.com/today/post/article/20140713020324-277926763-the-biggest-dilemma-for-entrepreneurial-minds?trk=tod-home-art-list-large_0

I came across this blog post on LinkedIn that shares some insights on how an entrepreneur can get their product/service to stand out in the crowded landscape of bright ideas, innovative solutions and be the next big thing.

Here’s what the blogger think needs to happen to make business ideas prominent on the web:

1. People need to understand that their ideas aren’t going to get stolen. People who notice your ideas are either going to a). Simply tell you what they think, b). Want to go into business with you, or c). Become an early adopter of your product. Win/win. The truth is very few people would take the risk necessary to implement your ideas. The few who do become investors, business partners, and employees.

I am a big proponent of this. In fact is other people want to get out there and set up analytics focused companies in the Philippines that do any combination of training, consulting and outsourcing, that’s a good thing. The pie is far bigger then I can eat alone. And competition makes us all better.

2. People need an online platform to publish and collaborate on business ideas. Kind of like open source sites, but for business ideas and plans. This platform would help entrepreneurs reach people with similar business goals and ideas, and connect and collaborate with them.

I use WordPress for this or a number of reasons. It’s easy to use and its free. It allows me to blog about a range of topics like outsourcing, analytics, the Philippines, decision-making and setting up a small business all in one place. WordPress can also be set up to deliver your content to Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter (among others) automatically. So My 2000 blog followers, 5000 LinkedIn connections and 1500 Facebook friends all get my content beamed right to them.

3. Lastly, people need to be able to reach professionals through this platform.

I make a point of cutting and pasting my blog post links into groups on LinkedIn and Facebook. I add just about anyone on LinkedIn who views my profile (aside from the less 1% who are obvious scammers). I send a reply to everyone I connect with (sometimes I do have to have interns send the initial message) and I follow-up personally on every business lead, student question or well-wisher.

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If you are looking to launch a new business, thinking about outsourcing some analytics functions or wondering how to set up a business in the Philippines, DMAI can help!

Looking For A Job? Treat Your Job Search Like A Job And You Will Find One

On a daily basis, I get approached by people asking if I can either give them a job or help them find a job.

My response is usually do you have a resume? How many jobs have you submitted your resume to today?

When I get back negative remarks to those questions, I do my best to create an educational moment.
Going back a few posts I talked about teaching a man to fish and my last post was hard work and persistence allow you to create your own luck.

In my almost 30 years of working, I applied for more jobs then I can even imagine. But in that 30 years, I think the longest I have ever gone without working is about three months.

I am a firm believer, that even in extreme situations, the best way to find a job is to treat your job search like a job. To be focused and have a plan to help you create opportunities so you don’t just sit around waiting to get lucky and have a job fall in your lap.

With that in mind, I did a quick Google search on some tips to bring focus and discipline to a job search. Here are some of the high points:

1. Set Goals. Provide yourself with targets and track your progress towards meeting them.
2. Network. Make a list of people who have jobs like the one you want. Interact with them.
3. Be Polished. Spend the extra time to make your resume flawless. Dress up. Be Early.
4. Practice. Volunteer your time. Look for free training. Do practice interviews.
5. Be Selective. Resist the temptation to apply for everything. Focus on what you are good at.
6. Positive Surroundings. Look for people who can inspire, empower and motivate you to keep on the hunt.
7. Use Technology. If you are reading this, then you most likely on LinkedIn or Facebook. You have a natural network right there and the most powerful communication tool around. Don’t waste them.

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Finding a job is one of the hardest and most challenging jobs around. If you treat it as such, you are much more likely to find a good job quickly then someone who doesn’t.

To People Like Me Luck Is Anything But Being Lucky

I’ve seen a couple of blog posts and online articles lately from entrepreneurs talking about how they don’t like it when people say that they are so lucky to be successful. Given the hard work and sacrifices that go into being successful, their stories are never ones of just being lucky.

Being at the right place at the right time is another one that downplays the preparation and open-mindedness needed to capitalize on opportunities. You can only be lucky, if you have set yourself up to identify, evaluate and execute a strategy when the timing is right.

Over the past two years as I have built my company from the ground up, I am told at least a few times a week by people that I am so lucky to have the life I do. And my immediate response is always, it has little to do with luck and is due to my hard work and my persistence in chasing my dreams.

Being an American, being white, and being male… they do not guarantee success. I’ll admit they can be advantages at times, but only when I’m able to able to use those advantages. I’m from a middle-class, blue collar family. Forsaking the traditional Meyer man route of serving in the military, I was the first one in my family to go to college. I received scholarships based on merit and worked all through college and grad school. Not much luck involved there.

My time with Wells Fargo honed my analytics skills and prepared me for being a executive, but I was rarely lucky when I got promoted, earned a bonus or was given special projects. Again it was a solid work ethic, good role models and mentors and a can do attitude that made me successful.

Now that I have built a modest success of a company and able to really enjoy my lifestyle of being an international business man and analytics expert, I too find it frustrating when someone says , “You are so lucky”. I use these moments to educate and hopefully empower that person by telling my story and praying it gives them the spark they need to stop waiting to get lucky and start making their own luck!

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My Primary Professional Dream > Give A TED Talk!

I came across this awesome TED talk about a big data analysis project to determine what country does the most good in the world.

I imagine this is the process that Simon went through to go from a general curiosity to giving an enchanting TED talk.

I have a question. What country does the most good in the world?

I identify the data I need and then I look for that data.
Some of it already is being gathered and is easy to find. Some data I even have to create through surveys and research projects.

I pull together all the data and start to inventory it. To put it into smaller chunk for both analysis and story telling.

As I analyze the data I see many things I expected to see, but I make also lots of discoveries I didn’t expect.

I share the data with other experts to fine tune the story I want the data to tell.

I then am ready to share the data with the intended audience, in this case the world!

Some day soon, that is my dream. To share some amazing data and use it to tell a story worthy of a global audience!

By the way, his web site is http://goodcountry.org/

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Very, very cool stuff!

Is Better Possible? This Question Drives Great Minds, Great Ideas and Great Companies!

http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2014/07/is-better-possible.html

Wanted to share another of my blogger hero Seth Godin’s recent blog posts as it relates to a couple of things I talk about a lot in my training and with my staff. Don’t settle for good, demand great!

“Is better possible? The answer to this is so obvious to me that it took me a while to realize that many people are far more comfortable with ‘no’.

The easiest and safest thing to do is accept what you’ve been ‘given’, to assume that you are unchangeable, and the cards you’ve been dealt are all that are available. When you assume this, all the responsibility for outcomes disappears, and you can relax.”

You see this all the time, people just don’t want to cause a scene. When faced with a policy that makes no sense they just abide instead of question. When asked if anyone has any questions, and they do, but they chose not to ask it out of fear of being embarrassed they keep in to themselves.

“Mostly, though, I’m surprised because there’s just so much evidence to the contrary. Fear, once again fear, is the driving force here. If you accept the results you’ve gotten before, if you hold on to them tightly, then you never have to face the fear of the void, of losing what you’ve got, of trading in your success for your failure.

And if you want to do this to yourself, well, I guess this is your choice.

But don’t do it to others. Don’t do it to your kids, or your students, or your co-workers. Don’t do it to the people in underprivileged neighborhoods or entire countries. Better might be difficult, better might involve overcoming unfair barriers, but better is definitely possible. And the belief that it’s possible is a gift.”

And this is at the core of why my training is so impact full and so many of my employees feel high levels of job satisfaction… because empowering people to believe better is possible goes hand in hand with empowering them to use data to make decisions. To be a great analyst you need to always ask yourself is there better data available, can I find a better way to analyze it and can I find a better way to communicate the findings.

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Teaching A Person To Fish – The BPO Way

“Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.” This in one of the most famous quotes used when it comes to empowering others to become independent and self-sufficient.

The primary reason why I left my career at Wells Fargo and moved to the Philippines to set up a business was the opportunity I saw to be a once in a lifetime kind of thing. My goal to empower Filipinos with basic analytics and decision-making skills that they could use in careers in the BPO Industry plays to both my strengths and my passions.

I see the BPO Industry as the biggest pool to fish in for fresh graduates. They are young and healthy enough to survive the working at night lifestyle, they are fresh out of very structured work environments which most BPOs are and in general they have a least a basic level of English.

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I see analytics and decision-making methodology as the pole they use to fish. By learning some basic terms, getting their hands dirty with some entry-level BI tools and by having an introduction to things like process improvement, they have head start over many other fresh grads and undergrads.

They can improve their fishing pole by mastering certain software and programming languages, but improving their English and by being mentored to look at a BPO job as the first step in a career not just a job they do for a while.

As time goes by, I hope more of my brethren in the BPO Industry took more time to think about how to teach their employees to fish and not just throw them on the phones and hope they sink or swim. Our recruitment and retention would be so much better if we were seen as a place to learn how to fish for a lifetime and not just feed their family for the day.

The Dark Side of BPOs… It Doesn’t Have To Be This Way

Let me start by saying I am a big proponent of the BPO Industry in the Philippines.

I’ve worked in the industry for over 10 years and have spent countless hours involved in sharing information about the growth and success we have enjoyed.

I speak at schools on a regular basis explaining to student the huge opportunities a call center career can have.
Overall, I think the positives far outweigh the negatives in the industries impact on the economy of my adopted home country.

However, some days I just shake my head. One of my former employees was just telling me about her recent experience with her new employer and the challenges she is facing really leaves me feeling blue about the BPO Industry in the Philippines.

Still under a new hire training period she, she is not technically entitled to any paid time off even when she is sick or there is an emergency. So when she recently had an illness and had a doctor’s note prescribing time off, she expected that her employer would allow her at least unpaid off until she recovered from a pretty nasty infection. Because it’s the right thing to do.

However, her request was denied and on top of not being allowed even unpaid time off she was instructed to work an 11 hour shift because of business needs. Wow.

Being the top of her training batch and having zero absences to date have zero impact. The fact that she is one of the most dedicated and hardest working employees I have ever worked with has zero impact. She had to go to work sick and put in 11 hours.

The short sighted lack of compassion demonstrated by the low level manager of the business unit of the huge multinational corporation that makes billions makes me sad.
But it also reminds me that this is why I set up my own company, because being part of something so big and so focused on profit is not something I want to be part of anymore.

So to all my friends and connections who are BPO executives, managers and leaders… lets not allow this to happen in our businesses. We have to change this mentality for the simple fact is that there are not enough qualified workers for our industry. The answer to being short staffed and metric driven cannot be just the bottom line when it makes us push our best workers to the point of making unhealthy life choices. We lose out of so many talented contributors to this industry because we treat them like a piece of machinery and just look to replace then when they breakdown.

Communicating Strategy From the Bottom

http://blogs.hbr.org/2014/06/strategy-isnt-what-you-say-its-what-you-do/

Came across the log post about strategy implementation and I think it’s a good one for consultants working with senior management teams. It goes along the lines of walking the talk.

“Strategic choice-making cascades down the entire organization, from top to bottom. This means that every person in the company has a key role to play in making strategy. Performing that role well means thinking hard about four things:

1) What is the strategic intent of the leaders of the level above mine?
2) What are the key choices that I make in my jurisdiction?
3) With what strategic logic can I align those choices with those above me?
4) How can I communicate the logic of my strategy choices to those who report to me?

If you as a manager can do the first three of these four, then you will own your choices and own your strategy. If you do the fourth, you will set up your subordinates to repeat these four things and thereby own their choices and their strategy, and pass on the task to the next layer of the company. If each successive layer assumes this level of ownership, the organization can make its bosses’ statement a real strategy rather than an empty slogan.”

I can personally say that these points are all very important to infuse into the culture of your company. Both from my Wells Fargo experience where these are deeply ingrained in the corporate culture to the smaller scale of my own company, clearly communicated strategy is the key.
When not only your direct reports, but your two downs are spreading the gospel, you will be successful.

If you need help getting your team to walk the talk, I’m happy to help.

Business Strategy with Analytics – Aligning a business strategy to drive an organization forward requires a robust analytics solution. Businesses who have good analytics tend to be much more profitable and efficient then ones that do not. DMAIPH has helped dozens of companies in both the U.S. and the Philippines with adding more data analysis in their business strategy. Contact DMAIPH now at analytics@dmaiph.com or connect with me directly to find out what we can do to help you align your business strategy with analytics.

 

I Was Just Talking About This, Now I Know What To Call It > Sisu

http://www.businessinsider.com/quality-that-successful-leaders-have-2014-6

I was just talking with a friend about one of the qualities I have that I think separates me and other successful businessmen from those who aren’t successful. I came across this article just a few hours later. Active coping or what’s called Sisu.

“Active coping is being ready and able to adapt creatively and effectively to challenges and change,” she says in a statement. “Active copers continually strive to achieve personal aims and overcome difficulties, rather than passively retreat from or be overwhelmed by frustration.”

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But this isn’t so much a skill as an outlook. Rather than viewing change as a threat, Patch says that active copers view it as opportunity. This requires two traits: stability and openness, all in one.

Put another way, active copers have what positive psychologists call “sisu”: an orientation to the world where difficulty is seen as opportunity, where you lean into a problem, try to understand it, and push yourself and the situation to shape the best possible outcome.

Pretty cool stuff. I’ve got more than game, I’ve got sisu! 🙂

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/quality-that-successful-leaders-have-2014-6#ixzz35J8C8ztn

What People Want

Like any entrepreneur, I have my strengths and my weaknesses. Generally my strengths are were I focus more of my time.

But occasionally I need to try and mitigate my weaknesses as well. One of them is that I tend to be verbose.

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What I love most about marketing guru and blogging king Set Godin, is most of his blog posts are simple, yet extremely powerful.

Today’s being a perfect example.

“Fast, easy guaranteed. …pick none.

That’s the work that’s worth doing.”

What people want is not what is usually worthwhile, nor want the truly need.

http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2014/06/fast-easy-guaranteed.html