Old School vs New School

I know what you are thinking… Here is a guy in his 50s who is going to say how great things were in his day and rip the new way of doing things as a business owner.

Nope… not me. I love the new technology and love all the cool systems you can implement as a business owner. And I absolutely love how you can market online and learn pretty quickly what works and what doesn’t work.

However, if you want me to chose solely between 1 or the other, then I will plead the 5th.?

I kind of equate it to the debate between gas cars and electric cars. Sure electric cars concept sounds awesome but in theory the infrastructure is not there yet to have a fully electric car and be able to go anywhere without worrying about recharging.

What I choose? The hybrid. Both in terms of a car and a choice when operating a business.

I help my business owner clients in 3 main areas… Data, Strategy and Systems. In the data area, I rely HEAVILY on the new tools and technology to collect the data for my clients and the dashboards I create. In the systems area, there are killer software tools that really help business owners run their business with incredible control and consistency. And when it comes to strategy…

This is the area where I fall big time into old school practices.?

To me, strategy is about problem solving. It is about thinking on your feet. It is about finding ways to do things that work for your particular business. Sure, the new tools can help but it all comes down to solving a problem. And I rely on reverse engineering, out of the box thinking, experience and good ol fashion paper, pencil and whiteboards.

So call me Mr Hybrid. If the internet goes down for a day or 2, I can manage (but you better get your act together and fix the darn thing sooner rather than later). And sure I can manage not carrying my whiteboard everywhere and leaving my notebooks at home…but neither is ideal.

I want the hybrid.

What about you?

Speaking about whiteboards… You may notice that a lot of my videos have me sitting in front of my whiteboard. In fact, people have said ‘Boy, you love your whiteboards’. (Yes, I do!) So I am in the process of creating a series called Whiteboard Chats with Dennis. It is a resource page on my website that has business tips to help small business owners. If you want to learn more on how to get this resource page, email me. It is not available to everyone just yet!