The third reason your business is failing (3/4)

Yes, we both know for a fact, that your business is most probably failing. You don't want it to be and you really truly hope it wouldn't. You do work ever so hard for it NOT to fail... But the odds are simply stacked against you, as we established a couple of weeks ago.

Now, if you know me by now, you've picked up on the tongue in cheek. I jest. It's true. A little sense of humor can certainly help make these entrepreneurial fiascos a little bit more bearable. I do like to make fun of what you and I face and what we must tackle. But you also know that as much as we can laugh here... together... you are still facing some pretty serious issues.

Failure might be one of the very best teachers you'll ever have... at one of the very best schools, but you still want to graduate.

Your business does run a very real risk of consuming a whole lot of resources for not much output, in the end. And there is a cost of opportunity to factor in there. So if you still think you're the exception, let's flip a few rocks and see what kind of bugs crawl under there...

You may certainly feel like you have a great product. As you should. So do your first clients and even maybe your investors. That's just great. But one of the problems that you and I have is that very few people know how to really test a product for market fit. And by that, I mean throughout the design process, by validating with customers, from the very beginning. It's quite hard to never lose sight of the frontline, all the way through, as we really should.

I'm therefore sorry to be the bearer of bad new but unless you're Stewart Butterfield and have his uncanny talent for pivoting, it will most probably do you in.

(Don’t worry, you can learn to achieve proper market fit if you are so inclined. The good people at Strategyzer built a splendid framework with their Value Proposition Canvas and their Business Model Generation. If you're not already familiar with it, I highly recommend you dig in. It will certainly help. But it's still a rare skill, nonetheless.)

Because one of the things, you see, is that if you're an awesome pitch guy or gal (as I suspect you just might be...), you're also your very own worst enemy. Especially when it comes to the art of the spin. Let's just face it, you are an inspiring story teller. That's awesome! As long as you're telling the real story...

You know the one that keeps you up sometimes at night... when you just can't shake it...yes! That one :) Oh yeah, that's the one... :)

Hey, don't get me wrong: kudos on getting here so far. No, really, good job! Well done... But your initial momentum may be nothing more than a well-crafted illusion. And that great storytelling can last you 2-3 years, or even more, but remains an illusion, nonetheless. Unless you can transcend faking it into really making it...

Oh! Wow! Look at that balloon! It's going soooo fast!!

We both know that as impressive as your revenues and your initial growth might be, the simple truth is that most businesses can't handle scaling. Are you really the exception?? It's even worse if you have to scale fast. Most eventually buckle under the pressure of this rocket-fast market. Part of the reason for that is that we have good ideas, but we are, as a rule, not very good at building good business models. Our models are too static. And we also don't validate with the customers enough, as I mentioned earlier.

As your business grows from just you (or a bunch of yous) to a small team and a bigger team, you also run the risk of losing your identity. It's insidious and subtle. But we've all been there at some point.

I hate to say it, but you will also end up transgressing your core values. Just a little here and there at first. For the sake of time, as an emergency, cause you had to... Small exceptions that creep up and start seeping through... over time.

And like most, you will also start losing sight of the fundamentals. The real stuff, not the vanity KPIs. I'm talking about what really matters, the real health of your business. And when that happens, chances are you will somehow be forced to get sloppy. And eventually, lose traction as a result.

You can already feel it. Not all the time. But sometimes, you feel it lurking in the shadows... Of course, you can choose to deny it. You often do. But in the end, you can't really shake it off...

You know these things tend to add up, and at some bend of the road, you too might run the risk of running out of funds. Just like the others. Or, even worse, you may charm your way into bringing down a bunch of fairly negligent investors with you. We do have a pretty bad habit, in this economy, of throwing money at money problems.

But more water in a bucket full of holes doesn't do much. You really want to make sure to plug the holes first.

Ouch! Yep, I knoooow, they're called growing pains for a reason. They hurt. As in your pride, your livelihood, and your bank account. Don't you love being an entrepreneur? Yay! :)

Now, as only Bill Kilgore could have put it (if he was in the business of killing it rather than the killer business...) as he stood in the face of Armageddon... don't you love the smell of burned cash in the morning?.. lol!

As scary as 1-2-3?

So, two weeks ago, if you chose to grace me with 13 min of your downtime (thank you for that...), we already established how to build your people up so they can truly engage. It's really hard, but it will give your team a fighting chance.

And last week, we also explored how to keep up with this ever-changing crazy-fast world. It's exhausting and demanding but it's also exhilarating and incredibly rewarding. And when you do, just like Darwin's finches, you may ultimately snatch the ultimate prize... of evolution and survival.

So, what is it now? What am I possibly going to ruin your day with today? Seriously?

(I don't know. What do you think? How's everything else? Everything good with the business? Suzy and John getting along in sales and marketing, yes?

Finances are good, Bob is happy, no problem there with cash flow? Product is killing it, for the most part? Clients are pretty happy? What could possibly go wrong then? hmmm....)

What could possibly be the third reason your business is failing? Ok, here we go, 3 more words to keep ruining your hopes and dreams, drum roll please...: execution is everything!

Execution. Is everything. Yes. Everything.

Euhhh… that’s it?? How lame!

Wait, what? That's so dumb. You've heard that a thousand times. Of course, execution is everything. As in for a business to be successful, it needs to operate successfully? Is that what I'm actually saying? What a platitude! That doesn't even really mean anything... womp-womp-womp....

No, but seriously. What's the deal here? Are we really going to talk execution?

Oh yes, you bet we are.

Why?

Because if execution was already everything 20 years ago, believe me when I say that it's even MORE crucial now, more than ever, and by an order of magnitude.

Yep, sorry, that's exponential innovation for ya’. And if you were never whacked in the head with the baseball bat of digital transformation before, things are about to go Louisville Slugger around here...

Still here? Ok, you asked for it then. :)

The people. And the stuff. Mostly the people. But yes, also the stuff.

A lot of very smart people don't like the expression digital transformation. They make a good case that anything with the word digital next to it probably misses the point. Because it's mostly about people. It's not about technology.

I agree.

They're right. After close to 8 years of being knee deep into it, I finally came to realize, sometime last year, around Xmas, what digital transformation is really simply about. I always knew, just like you. But it somehow, at some point, hit me harder.

It's about information. And it's about people. That’s it.

Simply because, as I'm sure you've noticed, we, the people, don't consume information the way we used to. A lot of it is now digital. So, we, the businesses, have to make sure to find ways to get our information to "we, the people". And that is all.

I repeat. That's it. Get your message to people. That's what the digital transformation is about. It's pretty much essentially all about your message, your story, and your content. Yes, it's that simple. I assure you.

Man, I don’t know… I think I liked the other article better… This is like the sequel. Sequels are always bad. Should have known… Sigh!

I mean don’t get me wrong, of course, there are businesses all around us incorporating new technologies into their processes, all the time, at an industrial level. Yes, it’s a business transformation. And yes it has to do with computers and zeroes and ones. So, it’s also digital. But that is something else. And it's NOT the core of what’s been killing businesses for the last 15 years or so. It's just not.

What's been killing businesses left, right, and center is that people won't hear your message anymore. You have some good stuff for them but they will never find out about it. They are too consumed by these addictive little screens we engage with at every moment, without skipping a beat.

There we are. All of us. All the time. For 5-6 hours or more a day,(!?!), we crave for the delivery of the next little endorphin hit, the next piece of validation, the next giggle or the next smile.

So, to survive as a business nowadays, around these parts of the world at least, you do have to transform how you spread your content. You need your message to adapt to a multitude of platforms, more outlets than you could possibly care for, and a bunch of different formats. And through that chaos, yes, absolutely, you need to deliver it well and to the right people. At the right time. In the right context.

And IF you figure it out. You then have to keep up with it... And that is NOT an easy task...

It was always hard to be in business. You might think that it's never been easier. And to some extent, it's true. What's easier, however, is actually mostly to START a business. But starting one won't keep your lights on.

It's never been harder to survive as a business. Never. You have more chances to succeed at climbing the Everest than to make it with your business. Seriously, just look up the odds.

(- Gulp - Yes, scary I know. But don't worry. It's gonna be all right. Just take 3 deep breaths... Center. Smile. Stretch even maybe a little. Ok. There. We'll be just fine.

You'll probably still fail. But it's all part of the learning process. Don't worry...)

Execution. Execuiton. Execution. ;)

So yes, execute that part of your business well (your content) and you truly already have a fighting chance. The comforting thing is you might not even need to do it yourself. You can totally delegate that, or at least part of it. There are now very good ways of doing that very well for you, for not a lot of money. – But just that is a whole other topic. We'll get to that some other day. Back to the rest of your execution.

(Yes, yes, I know, I sort of got ahead of myself there talking about marketing your product. First, you actually have to build your product. And you especially have to build your business model too.)

Ok, so, what do I even mean here by execution then? Make a quality product? Deliver good services? Create a great customer experience? Did I just write a whoooole article about you essentially not running a moronic business?

No. - Well, yes a little bit, to some extent, but no. Mostly, no. :)

It's so much more than that. Executing well starts from the very second you perform the very first task when it comes to building and running your business. And it never stops, ever. It's relentless. As soon as you let your guard down, it starts punching you in the face. Oh yes, you know what I'm talking about, you've felt the punch before. POW! right in the kisser..!

And it just keeps a' punchin’. And you just keep a' rollin’…

That unwavering, relentless need to execute well does follow you around for every single task that ever occurs in your business.

That's right, let's use a Shatner comma here: every, single, task, in, your, business!!!

(I have to admit I got that one from Mike Elgan... I knooow, a Shatner comma, lmao. Good one Mike…)

But seriously. Every time you or someone does something in your business, that's a mini equation in the grand algorithm of your business. Think about the effort and resources that go in. Think about the efficiency by which the input is transformed into the output. Also factor in the speed of it all. And especially do not forget the synergy with all the other moving parts in your system. Picture all that, all going on at the same time, all the time.

Now that is a small glimpse of what execution is about.

You think you're pretty good at it? Newsflash. You're not. How do I know? Because most entrepreneurs are not. They can't possibly be. YOU are most probably not. Why? Because you're really good at something else called discovery. (we'll get back to that...)

Wanna' get a quick measure of it? Ok, let me ask you this: how much do you work "in" your business as opposed to "on" your business? Does the question even make sense? If it doesn't make sense, you can't possibly execute really well.

And if it does make sense, how much of your time does go into working on the business? If you're human and struggling with limited resources, as we mostly are in small or medium businesses, the answer is probably not as much as you should...

You can try and outrun the math but it will catch up to you. You are probably just not as good as you think at execution and delivery. And yes, it will catch up...

Let that sink in for a second...

Do you feel a little ping of anxiety? Yes? Perfect! There is hope for you. That is fuel for success. Let's make something out of it.

The third brother. Yes, him! Yes, the really nerdy one.

If you did follow my advice from last week and dug into the e-myth (or were already familiar with the splendid work of Michael Gerber), yes, we are here indeed referring to orchestrating: the third brother in the "innovate, quantify, orchestrate" family.

You need to orchestrate flawlessly. That's just a fancy way of saying create a consistent template for what you do. And then make sure it's done EXACTLY the same way, all the time. No matter who does it. Always done just as well. Always the same way. Find a way to deliver excellence first and THEN find a way to reproduce it, consistently.

And no, am not just talking about the big things here. Am talking about all the little things too. Every single thing. All of it.

No, no just some of it. ALL OF IT. yes...

Think of how many things people do in your business, every day. What if you could find the best way to do one of those things? And then make sure everyone does it like that, all the time. It could be anything: exactly how you reach out and what you say to a potential customer, what happens in the most minute details when following up on a sales call, what series of events precisely unfolds when a client seems unhappy, etc.. And once you figure out the very best way to do it, make sure it's always done like that and make sure that it endures over time, even if some people come and go, no matter the circumstances.

And once you've done that well for one thing, find a way to do it for ten more things, a hundred more, a thousand more... and if, sadly, you're stuck with a Tayloresque corporate disaster on your hands, then yes, that’s right, about a million more things, literally.

(And by the way. Yes, you, the corporate guy, stop reading this article! Don't you have a whole mess of silos and countless layers of management you need to worry about? I don't know, go have a meeting with a lot of people or something… :) )

Ok, now we're talking. Well, it's a start, at least. Gentlemen, start your engine!

So yes, IF this superbly well-orchestrated execution we just described (yes, the one that sounds so daunting and near impossible to achieve because things move so god-d**n-fast now and are so overwhelmingly complex these days)...

IF that is also aligned with your true talent and with the true talent of your people; IF you also all deeply care about the mission; and finally, IF the mission delivers real genuine value to your customer on the receiving end, every single time... now you might have proper execution on your hands.

So, have you guessed by now why execution is everything? Of course, you have.

Yes, because it's a multiplier in the equation. You can have the greatest people and embrace change all day long. You can have the best ideas and the most inspiring mission. You can do it all and do it superbly well. But if on top of it, you don't ALSO execute well, and incredibly consistently, it will all go south.

Not as fast as you'd think. An avalanche doesn't build all that fast, let me tell ya. But it does come down pretty fast. And it's pretty hard to outrun too...

The doing and the stuff that needs the doing.

Now, here's a bit of a break for you. You may not be very good at execution. And you might never get to be. It's very possible that you're not even hardwired for it. And that's actually ok.

If you're a great entrepreneur and you've been pretty successful with thinking up your business, building your product and getting a whole lot of awesome people to care about it, chances are that you excel at discovery. What you're really good at, more than most people is observing, questioning, associating, experimenting and networking (or some combination of it). Discovery, you see, is delivery's awesome fun brother in the big happy skills family.

If that’s the case and if you haven't already done so, go get yourself a partner that excels at delivery and turn 'em loose. You might just punch through. Jeff Dyer, Hal Gregersen, and Clayton Christensen make a pretty awesome case of why that is in the Innovator's DNA (if you haven't already read it).

If on the other hand, you are, quite surprisingly, already a master of delivery (it's fairly rare for the entrepreneurial type like you and me) you might just be top notch at execution. You're a natural. Wouhou! No sweat there...

What you might need then, is just someone to complement your skills. If you have been struggling a bit with asking the right questions, testing your product over and over, reaching out to a bunch of people all the time, observing what goes on and coming up with new ideas every day, then go get yourself a real innovator. You'll even out your chances a bit.

If you're not sure how you truly rank for either of those skillsets, there's even a test in the book. Dig in. Find out.

That was some courageous stuff, staying around for the Backpfeifengesicht. Well done.

Execution is a team thing. You need exceptional discovery and delivery throughout. Make sure you have the talent and culture for both. It’s a delicate balance, I know, but hey, give it your best shot... and let me know how that all works out.

(Find me here.)

So where do we go from here? You should know the drill by now... Pick one thing in your business. And start making it better right now, right this minute. Consider it a break. Indulge. (You have to break the inertia and get the ball rolling. Don't procrastinate. 10 minutes now is better than an hour tomorrow...)

Take one way of doing things and map it out. Draw a little workflow on a napkin. It'll take just a couple minutes. And then think of a way to make it better. Try it out.

If it is better, now think of a bunch of efficient, engaging, connecting ways to make sure everyone does it like that every single time. Start there, with just one thing. Work on that. Make that one little thing, that one little process excellent. Nothing short of. Shoot for the stars on this one. And let me know how that goes.

To master the "Innovate, Quantify, Orchestrate" mindset, discover (or re-discover) the classic work of Michael Gerber.

• The E-Myth Revisited: Why Most Small Businesses Don't Work and What to Do About It
• E-Myth Mastery: The Seven Essential Disciplines for Building a World Class Company

Also, treat yourself and check out the splendid work of Alexandre Osterwalder and Yves Pigneur that led to the groundbreaking series:

(And if you read it already, be a pal and send someone the book... tickle their brain. I give out books now. It's a lot of fun! You'll love it too.)

• Business Model Generation: A Handbook for Visionaries, Game Changers, and Challengers
• Value Proposition Design: How to Create Products and Services Customers Want

Let me know if you find or don't find a way to wrangle all the moving parts.

Sometimes, I like to compare it to building a plane, while flying way up in the sky, after it just caught on fire….lol! Yeah!

Some people can’t stand it. But then again, some of us wouldn't have it any other way... :)

In case you missed...

• The First Reason your Business is failing (1/4)
• The Second Reason your Business is failing (2/4)
• The Fourth Reason your Business is failing (4/4)