Reading Time: 2 minToday’s mental model is on the idea of “Division of Labor”. In short, it’s about having a group of people work together who each focus on the areas where they are best, versus having everyone in your group try to excel at everything. One good example of this is a band. While there is some […]
Business
Advantages of Scale
Reading Time: 2 minFirst on our list of mental models is the concept of advantages of scale. In short, it’s the idea that as a company grows and does more of the same type of work, it can do that work more efficiently and lower their costs quite a lot. A great example of this is Amazon. Because […]
How much are you willing to share?
Reading Time: 2 minWe’ve hosted a monthly Meetup for over 10 years now, and it’s been a fascinating experience. Much of what we discuss is around the world of WordPress, the community there is amazing. When asked to describe the Meetup, I tell people “The group is full of our competitors, but we share all of our secrets […]
Try to see the future
Reading Time: 2 minI enjoy looking ahead at the future. I like to think about what advances are coming with the next round of mobile devices, or try to see how life might be in 20 years if electric vehicles keep improving. Some of my guesses are right, some are wrong, but it’s fun to try. When it […]
There’s always a level of indecision
Reading Time: < 1 minDecision making can be a tough thing, particularly when there is a lot on the line. I’ve talked before about how no decision can be 100%, and some quotes I found from Annie Duke (in her book “Thinking In Bets“) helped to reinforce that. First, she goes back to the idea that a decision is […]
If you agree to a lower price, pretend you didn’t
Reading Time: < 1 minIn many industries, including marketing, it’s fairly common to offer discounts or price breaks to help make a deal happen. There’s nothing wrong with that, certainly, but if you’re really giving a “deal”, then the value that you’re offering needs to stay the same. For example, if you have a $1,000 project that you agree […]
Being kind doesn’t mean you’re a pushover
Reading Time: < 1 minWe could all stand to see a bit more kindness in the world but I think it’s often seen as the opposite of “toughness”, even though the two can go hand-in-hand. You can be strong and relentless in all you do, while still being kind while you do it. If you think you need to […]
You’re not really selling time
Reading Time: < 1 minA common way to price your offerings is with an hourly rate, but that’s not generally the best way to go. It can certainly help frame what price point might be appropriate, but even if you charge by the hour, your clients aren’t really just “buying your time”. In a recent post by Jonathan Stark, […]
Saying “no” is intellectually lazy
Reading Time: < 1 minAs you are growing your business, developing the ability to say “no” more frequently is a great thing. No to unnecessary meetings. No to clients that you don’t fit with. No to things that waste your time. In many cases, though, the answer should be a bit more nuanced. It’s easy to say “no”, but […]
If the customer rejects it, it’s a bad car
Reading Time: < 1 minThere have been some products that I’ve loved that just didn’t get as popular as I had hoped. I really thought Google+ was a fantastic product, but it didn’t get enough traction and they killed it. I fear the same is happening with Stadia; it’s an amazing product, but it just isn’t getting enough use. […]