I lost count on how many times did I trip over on the skateboard when I was young.

When your wheel hits a big enough rock, it will stop. You could apply more power to the axle or pull on the cart with increased force, but there are times when just giving it a slight lift can be much more effective. 

Rocks are frequent, but not everywhere, and if the wheel is big enough, most likely you will not need to give it a jolt again. Your wheel will keep on turning, “normally” and while doing so, lifting a little won’t do you any good, in fact, it can even harm you, making you lose traction and destabilizing your load unnecessarily.

Until you hit the next rock. 

This is how incentives work. Apply them when and where there is a particular obstacle that has to be overcome, otherwise, they are superfluous, an unnecessary expense, and even a distraction.

 Save the thug for when you hit a rock.

Should you partner? Go direct? This is an article that I wrote many years ago, and a lot of things changed since then. These hold true however.

1.- Failing to choose the right model from the start
It seems simple, but it can really make a difference. The right decision will depend enormously on the client base you are trying to reach and second, your product. There are certain products that are just not made to be sold through a distributor, or maybe the Internet. Conversely, there are customers (and demographics) that you will never reach effectively unless you utilize the same reseller/retailer that they are used to make business with. Same applies for wholesalers, your product has to be carried by those who sell to your retailer of choice.

2.- Not making it clear
We like to go around making our own decisions and we don’t really bother on letting people know what we do. But informing the market know what type of Channel we engage with and under which policies is crucial to have the community properly align itself. Those who feel that your model resonates with them, will look after you.

3.- Not being honest
If your decision is to sell direct, say so. You can suddenly become someone’s competitor but you will still be known to be a trustworthy individual (and Company!) in the industry. Always stick to the rules that you put out (if you don’t, who will). If you need to change them, do so but honor whatever happened under them when they were valid.

4.- Not having a “Channel Specific” plan
Channel Partners  are in the business of sustaining their own companies and they will only behave in a way that supports these objectives. Vendors and Manufacturers COMPETE for their mindshare. Being one of the many that they carry, making it easy and profitable to do business with, is on our own interest. Failing to have a Channel-Specific team and tools such as Channel support, Channel Marketing, Channel Portal, etc. will make partner adoption much slower.

From time to time I revisit some seminal business books. This is the case of the E-Myth, which every small business owner and entrepreneur should at least know what is about. Through a number of anecdotes, the author makes his case for building businesses with a system in-place from the very beginning.

In one of the chapters, the concepts of the Technician, the Manager, and the Entrepreneur are introduced. These three characters are not different people, but they are rather all living in the business owner’s head. They rarely talk all at the same time, but they take turns, depending on the context, or just the mood of the business owner.

Let’s take a look at each of them and understand why are they important, and why is it also important not to let them take over completely:

THE TECHNICIAN

This is the part in you that knows the craft. You have probably done this (whatever “this”means!) for years, you understand the market, the industry, and know very much what has to be done to produce a quality output.

Why is it important? It is the basis of the commodity you produce. It is necessary for having domain expertise and know how to create the state of the art.

Why must be kept in check? The business is never the commodity you produce, but the value that you create for your customers. Technicians seek refuge in their craft and generally want to produce what THEY believe the customer SHOULD love. The Technician is at odds with the Entrepreneur who tends to fly high and doesn’t know what can and cannot be done, and is also at odds with the Manager who wants consistency and to follow process, when the Technician just wants to express themselves through their craft.

THE ENTREPRENEUR

This is the creative, hard-charging, visionary part in you. The Entrepreneur comes up with new ideas, products to try. Gets excited about the possibilities and drops everything to pursue the next thing.

Why is it important? The only way to move a business forward and face adversity, is with this spirit. The Entrepreneur is what keeps the business evolving and makes sure that there is “business creation”, instead of just putting out products. Without an Entrepreneur, the output that the business generates can lose its appeal.

Why must be kept in check? The Entrepreneur does not like sticking to a predetermined process, they would like to try something new (again!). The Entrepreneur also gives little regard to the craft, to getting product out the door. The Entrepreneur is at odds with the Manager who wants to control things, make them repeatable, and with the Technician, who is the one tasked to execute on some of the crazy ideas the Entrepreneur comes up with.

THE MANAGER

The Manager is the one who builds a repeatable business. Creates processes, documents them. Trains people to do things the same way. Control costs.

Why is it important? Without a real Manager, there is rarely a sustainable business. The Manager creates value by creating repeatable processes that produce repeatable products and services that customers can buy.

Why must be kept in check? The Manager, left to its own, will create procedures that are so rigid that don’t allow space for creativity, for producing things that are of value for the customer. The Manager is at odds with the Entrepreneur who wants to change things around constantly, and with the Technician who thinks they know the craft enough that there is no need for them to follow process.

Do you recognize these inside you? Do you lean more towards one, or the other?

If you are involved with the Tech industry in any way, you are probably familiar with the “Technology Hypecycle”. It’s first cousin is the “adoption curve”, and it looks somewhat like this, with its very creative phase names:

SOURCE: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Hype-Cycle-General.png

The hypecycle attempts to explain some of the dynamics of introducing a new technology. In the beginning, few people have heard about it, understand its benefits. Some people may not even trust it. Slowly, people start to warm to it.

Eventually, marketers and pundits oversell the benefits, reaching the “peak of inflated expectations”.

Then, when reality sets in, comes the “trough of disillusionment”, until things become more practical and we settle on the “plateau of productivity”.

For me, this model had resulted extremely useful, not only for its originally intended purpose, but to understand other dynamics.

In particular, partner relationships, excitement created by a new project, and a long list of etceteras.

When starting something, I keep this in the back of my mind, recognizing also that most phases sustain themselves, with the exception of the “through of disillusionment”. This is the most tricky phase, and if you can make it through it when it comes (and it will come!), you’ll succeed.

Every time you deliver a presentation, a pitch, it gets better. You gather feedback, and you test ideas.

There is this saying in Spanish, “he who teaches, learns twice”. Every time, you have to explain something, you develop the concept and improve on it.

That’s why those who take speaking, or presenting seriously; rarely say no to an opportunity to do so.

Talk to me.

Making a movie recommendation on a Monday is almost like talking about cocktails at 10 AM, but here I am, doing what I am not supposed to.

If you haven’t seen “A million miles away” on Amazon Prime Video, it is a deeply inspirational movie, with a story of struggle and persistence. The movie is an adaptation of José Hernandez’ book, “Reaching for the Stars”, where he tells the story of how he went from being the son of migrant workers from Michoacán,, to be the first Hispanic to get in orbit

The story brought some memories to me when it gets to Livermore, CA; where the late Bill Soto -probably the best sales person I have ever met- and I worked together at the headquarters of Intellicom, Inc. The story is divided in sections, in what I think is the basic entrepreneurial and strategic process, it goes more or less like this:

• Know where you are going
• Find where you are in the process
• Figure out how far are you from your goal
• If you don’t know how to get there, learn
• Work hard towards your goal
• Once you think you arrived, you will probably have to work some more

Fairly simple. With all the credit that it deserves, Hernandez’ journey, is one of being selected. Without spoiling anything about the movie, he has to apply many times before he is accepted in NASA’s space program. And the thing with this type of process, is that they tell you when you failed, but the also tell you when you succeeded, and once you did, you still have to work hard, but there is someone there to guide you. This is the one difference with the entrepreneurial process. You will know for sure every time you’ll fail, but success doesn’t come in one big moment. Many times, it comes in drips, and you’ll have to recognize it. Small successes that build upon each other, and most of the time, there is still no one there to guide you.

Enjoy the movie!

When you are putting yourself in front of others and explaining what you do, there are five questions you should be prepared to answer. Whether you are selling your services, some specific product, or you are pitching your business idea, the objective is to to engage the audience and get them excited about what you are selling, about you, and have them take action. Everything else is accessory. These five questions are:

• Why this? – Why are you doing it? What problem does it solve? How is it different from anything similar. What are the benefits that anybody would get out of it?
• Why now? – Why is it relevant today? Why can’t it wait? Is the problem getting bigger as time passes? Is it going to be more expensive in the future? Are there any opportunities that the audience will miss out of if they don’t act now?
• Why you? – Who is the team? Why should the audience engage with you and not other person/organization that could do the same thing, today, for the same money? What makes you special or different?
• What are you asking for? – How much do you ask for? How much is the investment? What do they get in return?
• What for? – Why are you asking for what you are asking for? What are you going to use it for?

These questions are the same for a pitch deck, or if you are trying to sell something. The only difference may be #5, where a buyer doesn’t really care about what you’ll use the proceeds for, but more about what they will get out of the purchase. It is better to answer them before they ask. If they never do, you may have lost them already.

The first Daily PPILL was published more than 18 months ago. It has been an incredible ride creating the habit of creating daily, and counting with your patronage. I seldom hear from any of you, but every once in a while someone reminds me that there are readers out there and I am infinitely grateful for them. THANK YOU.

This summer, I will need to put a short pause on the PPILLs. I have been working on some longer form articles, and I can use some focus around those.

I’ll return on the last week of August, until then, enjoy the pause.

As long as there has been organized work, there has been supervisors. The often hated individuals who often make sure that the work is done under spec, and on-time. The ones that are “responsible” for production, for hitting the quota, for making the numbers.

Each worker may have their own idea of what to do, how to do it, and when to do it, but the result has to be there, whether you’re building a product or delivering a service. This where the super justifies their salary. So, if there are workers, you can expect to have supervisors.

But what happens when the workers are robots, or AIs? I say you can be dang sure that there will be someone overlooking them. That’s the future of the Middle Manager, all the same skills, except for the interpersonal ones.

Strange times.