Do you have that sinking feeling?

Let me tell you about an all-too-common scenario: You have a great idea for a project. A fabulous idea. An idea that keeps you awake at night. Even in the light of day it sounds good so you pour your time and money and effort into it. You produce it. You market it like crazy.

And no one buys. Do you keep marketing it? Many do. After all, they’ve put so much into it.

In his book “The Dip”, Seth Godin talks about how the modern myth is that winners don’t quit. He says that’s not true. In fact, winners quit all the time. They just quit the things that don’t make sense to continue.

Godin’s book is okay and I did find it thought provoking but I wanted some more practical advice. And I found it in this article by Jason Cohen who has a blog on ASmartBear.com. You can read the blog here. In the blog, Jason talks about how projects we own are more difficult to quit after we’ve invested time and money and effort into them.

After we’ve sunk money into something, if it doesn’t pan out, we should kill it and move on. But that is so difficult to do. I’m realistic enough to know that you can’t always do that. And, I’m optimistic, so I like to think that with a slight change you enjoy success from it (or, at least win back your investment). So, if you have sunk money into a project and you know you should kill it but don’t want to, here’s what I suggest doing first:

1. Check out the metrics that you’ve been using in your sales. (Note: If you haven’t been using metrics to track sales, that’s mistake number 1. Go back and add metrics and wait to see what they tell you). Make some minor modifications to see if those changes help.
2. Pass it off to a friend or mentor or coach who has some insight. Perhaps they can look at the project and they may immediately see if there are specific parts that are holding you back.
3. Convert the project into a joint venture and ask someone else to fill in some gaps. Perhaps their value add or their network or even just the addition of their name on the project can make all the difference.
4. Look at selling the project. Depending on what it is, you might be able to sell it as a complete package (like a turnkey business, for example) or break it up and sell the URL on a domain auction and sell the product to a private label rights reseller.
5. Give it away for free. Perhaps the project itself will still be valuable for you as a marketing tool. Give it away for free (or at least a portion of it) to generate some positioning equity.

If those 5 things don’t work, then you might consider killing the project and walking away, but try those things first and see what happens.

Jessica Routier, IAC-EZ

Sounds boring but you won’t want to skip it

I just read an article called “Liquidity, Crime Woes Shake Up Chief Risk Officers” at CFO.com. I suspect I lost about half of my blog readers just reading that sentence. Nothing seems quite as boring as words like “liquidity”, “risk”, and “CFO”. It’s all I can do to stay awake.

But it’s important for small businesses to understand this stuff. The problem is, small businesses don’t buy into the importance of risk management until they become bigger. They are just as exposed to risk as bigger companies but they are often underinsured, over-extended, and ill-prepared for when risks become realities.

If you are breathing a sigh of relief because you are still in business after what seems like the worst of the recession is over, STOP feeling relieved. Your business is still in danger. And many businesses (perhaps yours?) are not prepared for risks.

Please take a moment as soon as you are done reading this blog and list the potential things that could happen to you. Then, figure out how to prepare for it. (Yeah, it’s depressing. Yeah, you’d much rather be playing with your cat or doing billable work. I get that. But risk preparation will save you thousands of dollars and hundreds of hours of your time.)

For example, if you live in an area where hurricanes are frequent, think about how your business can continue should a hurricane strike. Will your customers get their work if you lose power or experience flooding? A solution might be as simple as getting work out the door as quickly as possible and saving all work to multiple off-site servers.

I don’t need to tell you that mother nature isn’t the only potential risk that businesses face (it’s just often the least predictable). There are other risks, as the article at CFO.com suggests. In fact, they highlight liquidity and crime – both are key risks that you might be able to control with wise investments and careful planning. Maybe the addition of insurance or even just a better lock on your door.

Read the article here. Then, make your risk list. Then, figure out how to mitigate those risks.

The truth is, most businesses will click away after this blog and think “that’s not a bad idea, maybe I should do that someday”… but it’s the businesses that actually do it that will survive the next catastrophe.

Jessica Routier, IAC-EZ