Taking a step back in business – Lessons from my father

As I am writing this it is father’s day in Spain and also my father’s Saint Day. I have been thinking a lot about my father recently, – not in a soppy sentimental father’s day kind of way, – he would have been horrified at that. I have been reflecting the business lessons I learned from him. Even before this week’s lesson I have been thinking for some time how to make my internet business more personal.

That is the funny thing ABOUT Dee’s lesson’s they are over very quickly, it takes no time at all to do them. [Edit – these lessons are at least 30 minutes each] There is a more long-term lasting lesson, my mind keeps constantly going back to where my business is going. That is another reason why I have been reflecting on how my father conducted his business, although those old school lessons in a physical business can be hard to translate to an online business.

Everything was about family and business to my Dad; the two were synergetic and inseparable. My Dad believed in the personal touch. This was something I learned from this week’s online marketing lesson, there is a connection between the old ways of doing business and the now ways. The personal training that Dee offers is personal and branded. He gets across his personal brand, his unique message and perspective. It is unlike any other training available in the market place now.

Dee has considered his brand very, very carefully and I have come to realise that my brand is not fully clear in my head, and until I get that clarity I cannot pass a clear message on. There is nothing fudgy or wobbly about the Online Marketing MBA, and I have to learn to get that clarity in my business whilst developing a more personal touch.

Getting control of our brain is important, and I loved this week’s psychological lesson because I really believe that a lot of things have become innate in humans because it gives us an important Darwinian advantage. Although most behaviour could be described as adaptive, an example of adaptive behaviour would be laughter. Dee’s lessons may seem simple but they are cutting edge technologies.

Why is laughter adaptive?
Imagine primeval man hunting and four men and three women are facing a mammoth. Suddenly one of the people slip and goes down and shock horror, the others are desperate to see if he is ok, but at the same time they can’t take their eyes of the mammoth in case it charges at them individually. So laughter is adaptive because when the fallen person laughs it is the fastest way of expressing the fact that they are not hurt and not in danger, their pride is possibly a bit dented, but they are ok. Very quickly the frightened and horrified spectator’s can back to the task in hand. This is probably how the slipping on a banana skin joke became funny, laughing at someone’s misfortune’s because although they have egg on their faces they are not seriously hurt.

I would like in the next few weeks to work on how to make my business more personal and clear. To develop that I have to make myself more accessible to potential customer’s perhaps even be more open to become a more human face rather than an abstract one.

The second trait I would like to work on is my procrastination. In my case because I operate the time rule as far as possible in my day already and I am already trying to eat more healthily and exercise so that my brain has a chance to be more focused because of the food it’s eaten. However, change will only come about in my case if I can overcome the technical obstacles in my path. In some cases that will mean me paying someone else to do certain things or it may be by getting a JV partner whose IT and technical skills complement my creativity. However that still needs mote though.

~~Mind Mapping~~ Try K-Mapping

One of the delights of this week’s lesson has been my introduction to mind maps. I have been exposed to them for many years in an academic setting and I have hated them. Mind maps and me don’t go for the simple reason that most people’s brains work linearly and I am not a visual person and a mind map tends to confuse me, I can’t interpret them easily, as I have completely nonexistent spatial skills.

Although, I know we don’t have to do absolutely everything on this course I decided to see if I made a mind map would it be any easier for me. It’s not, I spent forty-five minutes making it and realised that the result was in my head anyway. I did however like the idea of the ‘k map’ [technique taught in this lesson] when researching a new subject. That is something I can use and really benefit from and it was something I implemented within fifteen minutes of learning it this week. It will save me hours and hours of research time.

Maybe I am a slow learner in part I am because I am kinesthetic so it takes me longer than the average person to make connections. However, I got that lesson this week lightning fast because that single tip alone has saved me hours this week.