Marketing is a modern form of business communication, but its roots are as old as humans. People are tribal. It probably started with survival, but tribes evolved to become communities of people that share similar values and beliefs. To show they are part of the same tribe, they used characteristic colors and ornaments and engaged in specific behaviors or rituals. By doing this, they communicated to others their beliefs and what made them different.They used verbal and visual language along … Read More

“The purpose of thinking is to let the ideas die instead of us dying.” ― Alfred North Whitehead This is perfectly true only if you don’t account for people’s tendency to overdo it. A lot of us – myself included – tend to overthink, transforming idea-slaughtering into some kind of odd hobby. While eliminating stupid ideas is fine, and playing with thoughts can be a good mental exercise, it becomes counterproductive if it hinders you in bringing ideas to life. … Read More

Business is not your life.It’s just a piece of your life, a good way to generate value in your lifetime. You won’t be able to make a good plan for your business if it’s not aligned with the plan of your life. But you can’t plan your life, if you don’t know what you want to accomplish by the end of your life. If you don’t know what you want to accomplish by the end of your life, you can’t … Read More

Waiting for something special to happen before you start? The perfect plan, the perfect setup, the perfect logo, the perfect constellation alignment? Are you constantly delaying actions, procrastinating, finding other priorities?  How many things did you put on your “need this to start” list? Are you telling yourself nice stories to support all the above? Congratulations! You are one of the billions who do the same every day. And you are going towards a life full of regrets, depression and … Read More

Working towards a potential future, one that we imagine, is what separates us from animals. Animals react – we are able to anticipate and act with intention. It is this super-power that enabled our evolution, and it is the only power that can save us from destroying our future. Be health conscious now and you will have a long healthy life.Grow a brand now and you will develop a future-proof business.Protect the environment now to save the planet for our children. It’s not easy. We … Read More

Think of design as intention.  ‘By design’ we say when something was purposefully crafted and didn’t happen by chance. It’s a way to predict results and to mitigate risks. We design the world around us to be able to control it and generate purpose. Design is intention. It has purpose.  So should the looks and feels of your business be.  Designing the customer touchpoints of your business should never be left to chance. How you show up is a statement! So is … Read More

Teaching the principles of Future-Proof Businesses in the middle of a global pandemic is like describing the most delicious, decadent chocolate cake recipe to drooling hunger strikers. But the timing isn’t really wrong – I’d bet you are paying attention now. More than ever, actually. Because if your business is in lockdown, almost dead, craving for the tiniest crumb… of revenue,  you probably have abundant time for self-reflection and for finding out what you could have done better and how to avoid it … Read More

How do you make decisions? And how can positioning fight stress? We are wired to make decisions by comparing stuff. It’s how our brain works. Comparing details and finding differences is what we constantly do, sometimes without even noticing. But you will notice tension and stress rising if you fail to find something that will help you make up your mind. Similarly, finding yourself in front of too many choices, is confusing and stressful. Mainly because, if nothing stands out, you’ll … Read More

“Eight of out 10 businesses fail within the first 18 months” was the myth spread by Forbes in 2013. Don’t let this journalistic marble scare you. It’s not that bad. Jet, the real numbers still show you have to do your homework. So lets start right now: Half of new businesses fail during the first five years, of which 30% in the first two years, … seem to be the accepted rough numbers across multiple institutions and media. For me, that is … Read More

You can’t ignore competition. It has the power to destroy or boost your business, depending on how well you understand its position in your market. The way to start understanding it, regardless if you are a startup or a seasoned entrepreneur, is through an audit.  The competition audit is one of the best tools to help you assess your business and the environment in which you operate. Whether you do it yourself or bring in an expert, here is what … Read More

Are you happily employed? You better skip this post then. I’m about to argue against employment.  Let’s say you have some average job and you go to work every day. The entrepreneur, your boss, will have to sell your work for more. There is no other way. He/she will have to pay you as little as possible and sell it for as much as possible.  Clearly, the entrepreneur has to pay for a lot of stuff, like rent, materials, marketing, … Read More

There are essentially two ways of doing business: short term and long term.Most don’t think about this. I bet there are in the short-term game.  Capitalizing on opportunities isn’t entirely wrong.  Jet, it’s a good way to fail in the long run if you are not aware of its finite life cycle.  Take trends, for example. You could earn a pretty penny out of today’s trend, but be aware, the opposite might be preferred next year. If your organization is not built … Read More

If you don’t plan your life, others will. Acquiring skills can be a good plan for your life. At least if you also have a good plan on how to use them. Maybe you are lucky and don’t need a plan. With a bit of luck, a set of good skills will get you a job.A job is not your plan. It’s how you contribute to someone else’s plan. If you’re lucky, they included you in their plans: a job you don’t hate, … Read More

There is a lot of confusion around the two terms and a lot of people use them wrongly. What is a Freelancer? Originally the word Freelancer described a “medieval mercenary warrior” or “free-lance” who’s lance was not sworn to a lord or master. Are you free and carry a lance? You are a freelancer. And don’t worry, other weapons will do, as long as you know how to use them. Today we mostly refer to professionals who are self-employed and … Read More