The terms "startup" and "small business" are often used interchangeably, but they actually refer to two very different types of companies - both types of businesses share similarities, yet there are distinct differences between them. At Strategic Collisions, we mentor entrepreneurs from both, so let’s dive a little deeper.
Sustaining yourself financially while starting a new business is essential for your success. It provides you with the stability and extended runway you need to develop your product and critical infrastructure for your business to launch, grow, and thrive. Starting a new venture while also working full time can be challenging. But, with careful planning and discipline, it is possible to successfully balance a day job and efforts to grow a startup or side hustle. By following these tips and techniques, you can increase your chances of success and build a promising enterprise that will provide you with financial stability and personal fulfillment for years to come.
In this blog post, we will discuss the rationale for building an online course, why we chose Thinkific as our platform, and the steps we took to build our course.
Successful entrepreneurship combines many factors, including passion, dedication, creativity, and a willingness to take risks. By following SCI’s seven secrets of successful entrepreneurship, you can increase your chances of building a successful business that solves real problems and makes people's lives better.
When I coach entrepreneurs or teach classes on entrepreneurship, we do a strange exercise. We generate terrible ideas as a way to lead to good ideas is the "worst possible solution" brainstorming technique.
Coming up with terrible ideas can be a helpful way to stimulate creativity and encourage out-of-the-box thinking. By generating ridiculous, impractical, or absurd ideas, you can push the boundaries of what is considered a "good" solution and open your mind to new and innovative approaches.
One method that I have found to be (oddly) helpful is coming up with the worst possible solutions to a problem or challenge. After generating a list of terrible ideas, you can then work to turn each idea into a more practical solution.
This exercise can be a fun and engaging way to encourage innovation and risk-taking. It can be beneficial when you are stuck in a rut and need to break out of your usual thought patterns. It can also help create a sense of collaboration and teamwork with a partner or team, as everyone works together to develop creative solutions.
Trust me. I've done this many times. So put your 'bad idea' thinking cap on and keep going!
PHILADELPHIA, JANUARY 27, 2022 – Two of the leading experts in high-performance leadership have announced the launch of the new eBook, Hardwired to be a Great Leader. In the wake of the ‘Great Resignation’ and with so many employees feeling disenfranchised, unengaged, and downright exhausted from two years of dealing with Covid-19, there has never been a better time for this new approach to leadership based on more than 100 years of psychological research into the nature of inherent natural abilities, applied to inspiring and energizing the post-pandemic workforce.
“If you want to be a Great Leader, then you have to know yourself - your natural abilities are your Superpower, and pairing these inherent strengths with cutting-edge leadership techniques and skills will give you an edge, no matter what field you are in”, said co-author John H. Wilson about what it will take to be an effective leader in the post-pandemic workplace. The eBook breaks down five key aspects of effective leadership, connected with innate personality traits and abilities that offer unique insights for you as leader about how to craft your own personal leadership style and approach.
Entrepreneurial leadership expert, Dr. John H. Wilson and peak-performance executive coach and psychologist, Dr. Thomas N. Tavantzis, have produced this practical guide to becoming an exceptional leader based on insights from decades of experiences as entrepreneurial leaders and advising executive leaders and innovators that can be applied to any level of leadership in an organizational or team setting. This includes practical exercises and examples that demonstrate how you, as a leader, can come to a deeper understanding of who you are and how to connect this self-knowledge with powerful leadership techniques and skills that can propel you to new heights in terms of your career and impact on the world.
There is more information about Hardwired to be a Great Leader here: https://www.strategiccollisions.com/ebook-hardwired-to-be-a-greatleader
About Dr. John H. Wilson – Founder, Strategic Collisions International, LLC
Dr. Wilson is an entrepreneur, intrapreneur (corporate entrepreneur), and scholar with more than twenty-five years of experience as a business leader in the software & services industries. He brings a multi-dimensional perspective on market dynamics and a lean, iterative approach to building thriving, profitable businesses. Currently, he is a teaching professor on the faculty of Drexel University's Charles D. Close School of Entrepreneurship. Dr. Wilson has done extensive research and has published numerous studies, articles, and books on the topics of entrepreneurship, intrapreneurship, organization design/leadership, employee empowerment, and emerging educational technologies. He is in demand as a public speaker, executive coach/trainer, and board advisor for companies actively seeking to infuse entrepreneurial practices into their organizations in order to be more agile and adaptive in an increasingly complex business environment. Prior to joining the Drexel faculty, Dr. Wilson served as Director, Global at Vertex, Inc. He is also the Founder of Strategic Collisions International, LLC.
About Dr. Thomas N. Tavantzis – Founder, Innovative Management Development, LLC
Tom is an organizational and leadership psychologist who uses psychometric tools, like the HAB, to develop teams, leaders, and career options for individuals. For the past 35 years, Tom has worked with leaders and teams in the global pharmaceutical, energy, communication, and manufacturing industries. Tom has done extensive research in psychometric tools. Since 1993, he has specialized in the Highlands Ability Battery and is now one of the world wide experts in the HAB. Tom has served as Professor and Director of Organizational Psychology and Leadership Program at Saint Joseph’s University in Philadelphia. He currently teaches in the Organizational Development and Leadership Graduate Program in Haub School of Management, Saint Joseph’s University, Philadelphia, PA. Tom is the author of HardWired: Taking the Road to Delphi and Uncovering Your Talents, and co-editor of Don’t Waste Your Talent. He and his wife Martha are the Founders of Innovative Management Development, LLC.
Dr. John H. Wilson & Dr. Thomas Tavantzis shared insights into the changing fact of leadership as we return to a permanently changed workplace that will undoubtedly look very different than pre-Covid times. This will call for a very different approach to leadership that is more authentic, adaptive, and personalized rather than popular pre-pandemic approaches to leadership the follow a pre-defined template.
For leaders who embrace their own natural abilities and talents, their “Hardwiring”, and connect these strengths with an adaptive and purposeful approach are more likely to cultivate loyalty and engagement among their followers and stakeholders. This includes:
Appreciate the value of time - you only have 168 hours per week, so this transition offers the opportunity to focus on high-impact pursuits and to jettison time-consuming patterns that no long have relevance
Be the inspiration - take the time to help each follow make the connection between the mission and their critical role in achieving the associated outcomes
Re-boot culture - culture can be motivating or culture can be toxic (or some mediocre place in between), to the shift to the post-pandemic workplace is an opportunity to create a new set of perceptions and behavior patterns that promote proactive engagement and high performance
Purposeful goal-setting - since the post-pandemic workplace will likely be hybrid in terms of co-location and remote work, goals take center stage in aligning strategy and operations - fewer goals with more attention to design and specificity will help to bridge this gap
Orienting time and focus - As technology accelerates and competition intensifies, It’s a chess match - leading with an intentional progression of opening, middle, and endgame applied to strategic priorities will give you and edge as a leader and give your team clarity during ambiguous times
To learn more about tailoring your personal leadership approach for post-pandemic workplace, pre-order your copy of the eBook, “Hardwired to be a Great Leader”.
Also, if you would like to view the entire livestream discussion:
Strategic Collisions Founder, Dr. John H. Wilson was highlighted recently on a widely distributed podcast, Discover your Talent, Do What You Love. To hear the stories of his journey from Payroll Services Sales Rep to Corporate Entrepreneur, Executive, and not The_Entre_Professor (University Professor of Entrepreneurship & YouTuber).
Listen to the Podcast here: https://www.discoveryourtalentpodcast.com/podcast/john-h-wilson-phd/
Also, check out The_Entre_Professor on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UClo7T0qolr8fYJz9nyY3Q7g
Covid-19: Debilitating Crisis or Opportunity for Innovative Entrepreneurship
With much of America in self-quarantine or other social-distancing measures, times can be quite anxious for entrepreneurs. Who would have expected a scenario where employees can’t come to work, and customers aren’t leaving their houses? Established firms are likely to have capital reserves or lines of credit to help weather this storm, but for startups or those trying to establish new markets, this could be a threat to survival. Some of the toughest questions include:
How do I take care of loyal employees who depend on their paycheck, while there may be little or no revenue coming in to cover this cost?
What are new problems or needs our customers have that we could help to address during this crisis?
Does my core mission still hold true in a completely new and different set of circumstances? If not, does the mission need to change?
Is the business model that has sustained the company in the past still working, or does it need an overhaul? Is this likely to be a temporary or permanent change?
Ultimately though, these point to a core question of entrepreneurship that comes up every time there is a change in the surrounding business environment - should I pivot or persevere? Whether the result of changes in customer preferences, the introduction of new competition, or disruptive technologies, this same challenge is always present.
It is inspiring to see how quickly many businesses have pivoted the business model to adapt to a radical change in customer needs. Restaurants setting up no-contact curbside pick-up, Realtors conducting closings in parking lots, medical practitioners shifting to telemedicine, teachers coming up with creative ways to inspire their students using video conferencing and learning platforms, the list goes on.
Other businesses are finding that their current value proposition is in higher demand because of the changes. Whether it be providing products or services to support remote work, supplying critical medical supplies, or streaming entertainment content, persevering may involve reexamining how services can be delivered on a larger scale.
Covid-9 is no doubt a massive disruptor for every business. But, for the entrepreneur, it’s likely just another day at the office.
No one wants to work for a life-depleting bureaucracy that takes the fun and joy out of life, and purposeful owners and leaders want to avoid creating this kind of environment for their employees. So often, when the Collisions Coaches start working with a new ‘accidental entrepreneur’ (client), they remind us how important it is to them that they don’t want to be a soul-less Corporation that achieves high levels of profit and efficiency, but at the expense of their employees’ wellbeing. Caring for these individuals is frequently highlighted as core to the purpose of the enterprise.
They want to have the kind of workplace that people love to be part of, while still producing exceptional value for their customers. It's not that good performance is at odds with a positive employee experience. Rather, caring for employees as people is more likely to produce great results. As we engage with clients, they naturally talk about some of the business problems they're facing, but they also emphasize how important it is that they achieve their mission while treating the people that work for them with respect an authentic appreciation. After all, these individuals, are the ones who create a great experience for customers (or not, if they are exploited or treated badly). It is the employees who personify the company brand in the marketplace.
For leaders who want to run their business with purpose, this can feel like a dilemma if they believe that they have to sacrifice profit to achieve it. When engaging Strategic Collisions to help them to scale up their operation or pursue higher levels of performance, the question often comes up, “if we do all these things to increase profit, does it mean that we have to compromise on pursuing our purpose”? Conventional wisdom has convinced owners and leaders that PROFIT is the main thing and that achieving purpose is just a by-product. This doesn’t need to be the case – instead, when PURPOSE (deserving of all caps) is the main focus, the pursuit of profit (spelled with a little ‘p’) is a [worthy] means to that end.
So, what do a Coffee wholesaler, a lifestyle clothing designer, three contractors, a financial planner, a singer/songwriter, a social media mogul, a real estate broker, and a custom cabinet creator have in common? Only two things:
They own their own business
They know me
It was an unusual conversation at the first pass. Most of the discussions went something like this:
Me: “I want to host a ‘collision’ at my house one evening coming up?”
Entrepreneurial Friend: “A what?”
Me: “A collision – Tony Hsieh, the CEO of Zappos is all over this idea – it’s going to be big… except it’s going to be small… I mean, probably 8-10 of my entrepreneurial friends getting together to hang out for the evening to share ideas.”
Entrepreneurial Friend: “Sounds expensive, should I bring my checkbook?”
Me: “No, nothing like that. No sales pitch… not a networking thing either, at least not exactly – just some interesting people that I think you would enjoy meeting. There might be some business opportunities, but no pressure.”
Entrepreneurial Friend: “Will there be beer?”
Me: “I’ve suggested that everyone bring a snack and a beverage to share – so, beer is quite likely.”
It may be that the promise of beer was the real attraction, but in any case, 10 of my entrepreneurial friends showed up. I made introductions at the beginning and asked everyone to share a 2-3 minute summary about who they are and what they do. After everyone shared an overview of their business with the group, I encouraged everyone to enjoy the snacks and to stay as long as they like. A good time was had by all and just about every person who came said that it was unlike any networking event they ever attended – no one shamelessly self-promoting or pretending, just a lot of authentic interactions.
With 10 people, this represented 45 possible “pairs” of conversations. Since everyone ended up talking with everyone else during the course of the evening, the gathering represented 45 “collisions”. This notion of collisions is an idea that Tony Hsieh,of Zappos fame, has made popular – the belief that a significant factor for entrepreneurs who succeed are the number of “collisions” that they have with other entrepreneurs (http://bit.ly/Hsieh-Collisions) . Hsieh doesn’t seem to think that a collision is necessarily even a meeting or a discussion about a business proposition. Rather any interaction between entrepreneurs, even random ones, are believed to have an accelerating effect on successful small business venture.
What came out of the “collision” event that I orchestrated was quite amazing to watch. In talking with those who attended, a number of things happened:
– At least half a dozen follow up meetings at a later time took place among those who met that evening.
– Several of these meetings did, in fact, lead to joint projects or business opportunities.
– A number of folks have shared ideas or asked for input from the others on product ideas, website designs, operational challenges, business strategy, and many others.
– There have been several shared requests for referrals for potential employees or providers.
– Contact info was circulated and several individuals made requests to join each other’s communication networks, participate in upcoming events, etc.
– A number of folks have mentioned how the interaction with other entrepreneurs just gave them a renewed boost in enthusiasm for their business, stemming from being able to share what they are doing with others who are in similar circumstances.
I don’t want to overstate the impact of the moment, but the anecdotal feedback from this small experiment seems very much to support the notion that “collisions” do fuel entrepreneurship.
Time to collide!
Natural Abilities & Leadership
If you want to be a Great Leader, then you have to know yourself - your natural abilities are your superpower and pairing these inherent strengths with cutting-edge leadership techniques and skills will give you an edge, no matter what field you are in. This eBook breaks down five key aspects of effective leadership, connected with innate personality traits and abilities that offer unique insights for you as leader about how to craft your own personal leadership style and approach.
A Highly Personalized Approach
Your unique natural abilities driving for a highly personalized leadership development approach based on:
The opportunity Cost of Time
Inspiring others to excellence
Building an inclusive High-Performance Culture
Setting Goals that Make an Impact
Connecting Strategic Focus with Natural Timeframe Orientation
