A Sunday "Coffee with Colm" What have beer reps and hedgehogs got in common? (or, the three things you MUST have to be successful in the long run)

Three competing beer reps meet up in a bar for a bit of industry chat. They represent Miller, Budweiser and Guinness.

Barman asks Miller guy what he's having?

Miller guy replies,

"What time is it?"

Barman smiles. He knows where this is going so decides to play along.

"It's Miller Time!" he shoots back with a smile as he grabs Miller branded glass and begins to pour. Miller man is delighted!

Jerking his head towards the Budweiser rep, he asks, "And you, my friend?"

The Budweiser rep appropriately responds,

"Which is the King of beers?"

"Budweiser!" answers the barman correctly and begins to pull a pint of same. Mr Budweiser appears happy.

"And what can I get you?" the barman asks, looking across the bar at the Guinness rep.

"Eh. I'll have a 7up, thanks" says the Guinness guy.

"7up??? Really?" replies the barman in astonishment.

"Ah yeah." then - gesturing towards the other reps - he continues:

"If the lads aren't drinkin', I'm not drinkin'!"

BOOM!

I assume you are laughing. I have to say I think that's hilarious and it leads perfectly into the topic I want to discuss today, the THREE THINGS YOU MUST HAVE to start and build a successful, sustainable business:

1. Belief
2. Passion
3. Information

All three are discussed in a concept I read about through the years called the Hedgehog Concept of Business. I discuss it in a little more detail in a section of my own book, "Feeding Johnny - How to Build a Business Despite the Roadblocks", and I have repeated that snippet below to help make my point.

Watch/hear me discuss the Hedgehog Concept of Business in this short (4:26) video or read on below...

"Hedgehog for breakfast

It’s early morning and Little Hedgehog is out and about doing what hedgehogs do best, mooching for food. They root through hedges and other undergrowth in search of the small creatures that compose the bulk of their diet—insects, worms, centipedes, snails, mice, frogs, and snakes. As a hedgehog picks its way through the hedges it emits pig-like grunts—thus, their name, hedgehog. Hedgehogs have a unique feature. Hedgehogs have a coat of stiff, sharp spines. If attacked they will curl into a prickly and unappetizing ball that deters most predators. They usually sleep in this position during the day and awaken to search for food at night.

The fox wants hedgehog for breakfast so he gets up early, before it gets light, selects his position to the right of a hole in the hedge…and waits. Little Hedgehog is oblivious and continues mooching; the gap between the two shrinks by the minute.

All of a sudden Little Hedgehog’s hog senses are tingling, something is not right, so he does what has been programmed into his DNA since the dawn of time, he curls up just in time to evade the jaws of the lunging fox. Foxy gets pricked, nose, jaws, gums even, lets out a yelp and shoots off to rethink his strategy for having a hedgehog breakfast tomorrow. Little Hedgehog waits patiently until his hog sense says the coast is clear and continues mooching towards the dawn and bed for the day. Happy life.

You see, the hedgehog is the best in the world at – being a hedgehog. He knows what he’s about. He knows what he’s not about. He doesn’t try to be something he can never be. He’ll never be a fox and no amount of personal development books, tapes and seminars will change that. He’s content with his lot.

What’s this about? I hear you cry – has O’Brien lost the run of himself? No, this is about two things. Knowing what you are about and being the best in the world at it. The corollary equally important, knowing what you are not about.

The story of the hedgehog and the fox serves a far more important lesson in terms of us in our businesses. The Hedgehog Concept* of business asks us to ask ourselves three important questions about what we are doing.

1. Can you be the best in the world at it?

Now, the world, when you begin a business, may simply be the area you live in, your town or county, or perhaps the region of the country, but of course, some businesses today are ‘born global’ i.e. an online business with immediate global reach in terms of delivering its product or service. Regardless, you are being asked can you be the BEST IN THE WORLD at it? Not – can you be as good as yer man down the road who you’re planning to copy? The Hedgehog has high standards.

2. Are you passionate about it?

If you’re not, don’t start. It really will be too much work. Stay as an employee. Regardless of how hard you think you are working for your boss, you will work markedly harder when you are working in your own business.

3. What drives your economic engine?

This subject is for another day, but at some point you will have to identify one piece of information, the measurement of which will satisfy you that your business is in good health."

Let's go back to our three hapless heroes at the beginning, our beer rep friends.

Guinness Guy demonstrated at least the first two of the three necessary elements for building a successful business.

1. Belief: He demonstrated his belief that his brand is superior to all others bar none - best in the world at being a stout!
2. Passion: He is passionate about it. This is it. This is what I do. This is the deal. No compromise. And if I have to compromise, I simply won't play, thank you very much.

And, do you know what? Most businesses start off like this. Every new business in the world starts passionately and believes it is the next best thing since sliced bread.

So, why then do the anecdotes tell us the graveyard of startups is littered with 4 out of 5 in the first five years and a further 4 out of any remaining 5 in the next five years?

There are clearly myriad answers to that question, but a fundamental answer has got to be lack of information around what drives their economic engines.

If you don't put fuel in your car, it will stop. If you don't put oil in the engine it will seize up and, of course even though we all know this, to help us along, the clever car manufacturers have warning lights, dingers and buzzers to remind us what we need to do if we are getting dangerously low on either.

Business start ups usually have no such warning systems in place and too often, far more often than is necessary in my opinion, die because they were not measuring the (usually) small few key things that puts fuel and oil in to keep the thing running.

New sales is one (not the only one) of those must haves.

Facebook likes are not sales. Blog views are not sales. Fishing around the same fishbowl of prospects hoping eventually one will bite and be your big ticket is one way to run your business but in doing so you are choosing to ignore the fact there is a whole ocean out there.

My dad, Tommy O'Brien, 79 in August this year please God, is happily retired and living with my mother (also 79 in Spetember pG) was an wonderful salesman during his career. His famous line that I quote as often as I can is:

"The more calls you make, the more orders you take."

Dad does not say, the more calls you make to the same fifteen weary people that dread to see your number appear on their phones, the more sales you will make. Clearly we must be persistent and revisit prospects until they eventually tell us yes or no, but while we are waiting for a prospects circumstances that allow him buy align with our need to sell to, eh...eat, we must, must, must talk to more people and, this is the crucial part, we must MEASURE what we are doing.

We must measure what drives our economic engine, the business equivalent of how much fuel we are putting in the tank and how much mileage we are getting, ie, we must measure how many NEW suspects are we talking to to allow them become prospects.

• We must then measure the Yeses (happy days)
• And measure the Nos (happy days! they won;t waste our time)
• And measure the Maybes (this is a dangerous group - the fishbowl group - that can lure the undisciplined into thinking retirement to the Bahamas is just around the corner)

This is a crucial part of the work I do in my day job as Managing Director of Carambola Kidz - School Lunches Sorted.

In Carambola we measure a small number of key items that tell us if we are on track and then I practice MBE, Manage by Exception - in other words, we ONLY spend time discussing what is OFF track each week. This way I can oversee the health of the business in one 60 to 90 minute meeting each Monday. By lunchtime Monday, I know EXACTLY where the business is up to the previous Friday evening.

Oh, and by the way Carambola is the Best in the World at making bespoke school lunches producing 25,000 individually labelled and sealed unique lunches every day.

We are absolutely passionate about what we do! We feed Johnny! Johnny MUST be fed every day. We are blessed with 120 wonderful people who have chosen to work with us to Feed Johnny!

Happy to report too that business is good and getting better. (€7m this year - our year ends with the school calendar at end June - 4 weeks left yay! and heading towards €8,5m next season, happy days)

I also use this same measurement strategy that has served Carambola so well in my work with new SME clients whom I mentor. I help them in the first 90 days figure out what drives their economic engine and we measure those numbers weekly. Sometimes it leads to awkward questions, and fumbling answers but in effect those questions and answers are the warning lights, dingers and buzzers that the SME startup needs to give it the best opportunity to survive from birth through the toddler years.

I'll leave you with three obvious questions:

1. Are you the best in the world at what you do?
2. Are you passionate about it?
3. Do you know what drives your economic engine?

If yes, great, if no (to any) try to figure out why and do something about it. If you're not the best in the world, maybe you need to change to something you can be best at. If you're not passionate about it, please find something you are and do that instead or as well. Life's too short.

And whatever you do, figure out the numbers and stay on track.

If I can help, give me a shout.

Oh, and by the way, the joke at the outset was simply that, a joke, a bit o' craic as we say here in Ireland. I don't want anyone throwing their toys out of the pram, no solicitors letters please - let's meet for a beer (or a coffee) instead? In fact, let's meet regardless?

END.

MORE: If you enjoyed that and would like to read/watch my blog/vlog discussing Managing By Exception, click here

FREE BOOK: If would like a complimentary audio copy of my business book "Feeding Johnny - How to Build a Buisiness Despite the Roadblocks", narrated by yours truly so you get all the nuances, feel free to grab one here

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As I say at the end of Feeding Johnny, I'll sign off as always; thanks for thinking with me.

I wish you well.

Yours truly,

Colm