Getting things right straight off the bat is no simple task. It’s the reason writers write drafts. It’s the reason athletes practice and train. It’s why a photographer will take a whole memory card of shots just to get the one magic image. And in business it’s the reason we plan.
Before you start a business, you will inevitably (and rightly) produce a business plan about your product, the market, financial estimates, projections of sales and lots of other speculation on the future. Planning forces you to think through a lot of your assumptions about what’s going to happen after you invest your money and time. It ensures you’re not walking blindly into a storm.
But the truth is, no matter how much you plan, there are still many ways you can find you’ve totally misjudged things. Perhaps you price a product wrong incorrectly guessing what people are willing to pay, maybe there are competitors you didn’t know you had, or perhaps you find that people use the product or service in a totally and unexpected way. Like life, business is unpredictable. Read More
When I first started blogging, I remember reading a post on Steve Pavlina’s blog about how much traffic he was receiving. If I recall correctly it was around a million visitors a month, a huge number! I found myself wondering where all that traffic was coming from.
Today while I was doing my routine sifting of Analytics numbers from Psdtuts+, I thought it’d be interesting to analyse and share some of the statistics and trends we have been getting. So I’ve taken some screenshots and put it all together for your informational pleasure!
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There used to be an advert on TV back in Australia for a shampoo brand called Pantene. Like most ads of its type it focused on shots of women whooshing their hair about glamorously while promising softer, silkier hair. As a person who doesn’t have much hair, about the only thing I found memorable about the ad was the slogan they used, “It won’t happen overnight, but it will happen!”
It’s a great sales pitch as it ensures customers have to buy a product for some time before they might possibly come to the conclusion that it’s not right for them. But more than that it’s just a great line, and this is proven by the fact that if you say those words to pretty much any Australian they’ll start whooshing their own hair about … well maybe not, but they’ll most likely know it’s from those Pantene ads.
I think the reason the line resonates so well is it’s a great descriptor for a lot of things in life besides the potential of adding shine to your hair. It’s the kind of sage advice you might give to someone battling away at a problem or setting out to do something difficult. Personally I’ve always thought it seemed to fit rather well with starting websites. Read More
Some time ago after a particularly long string of tweets on my @collis account, someone sent me a twitter message saying “If you have so much to say, get a blog!”. Well I thought about it and 6 months later I’ve decided the mysterious twitterer was right. So today I’m moving in to my new blog The Netsetter! Read More
