Paradox of Product Persistence
By Tim Berry
Paradox: On one hand, to keep a business healthy you have to be able to cut mediocre products. On the other hand, some successful products require sticking to them for a long time, stubbornly, to get either the product or the marketing right. Take a minute and think about it, and you’ll find examples of... Read More »
10 Tips for Starting a Consulting Business
By Tim Berry
Are you thinking of starting a consulting business? Let’s say consulting, engineering, graphic design, SEO or marketing help, something you can do yourself? Here are some tips I’ve garnished from several decades of it. I took my business from high-end professional service to software products, but I’ve never stopped watching the service businesses, and I’m actively involved in... Read More »
Why All Business Has to be More Social
By Tim Berry
Are trends favoring social businesses over classic “greed is good” businesses? Is all business social business? Or, every day, more business is social? I think so. I hope so. I first heard the term “social venture” in the late 1990s. Back then, social ventures were the odd exception to the norm, making money while making... Read More »
Planning Is Telling Stories and Making Them Come True
By Tim Berry
You could call this synchronicity. A few years ago I was reading Seth Godin’s All Marketers Are Liars at about the same time that I caught Harvey Cox talking about the power of stories as truth telling in all major religions. I paused to think about the importance of stories in so many different modes... Read More »
Business Consulting Suggestion: Make The Small Modules Work First
By Tim Berry
I knew a man who made a living with complicated mathematical models that he would provide for large companies. He was a professor at the Stanford Business School, but kept his consulting business on the side. "One thing you want... Read More »
If Your Idea is Any Good It Will Be Copied
By Tim Berry
Good ideas get copied. Yes, you can read all over the web how to protect your idea. And people are recommending patents, trademarks, copyright, all of which you should do whenever you can. People also recommend contract-like non-disclosure and non-compete agreements too, which is sometimes good advice, sometimes impractical. But eventually all good ideas get... Read More »
You Need to Understand the Business Principle of Displacement
By Tim Berry
Imagine a bucket of water full to the brim, on a table, right next to a phone and a computer. Now take a brick and drop it into that bucket. Imagine what happens. Water splashes out, right? And that’s probably bad for that phone and computer next to it. Business Principle of Displacement That simple... Read More »
Stories as Business Strategy
By Tim Berry
Stories are the oldest and probably the best way to communicate ideas, truth, and beliefs. Stories as business strategy can be extremely powerful. Think of the key stories that are foundational in the great religions. Or think about the stories behind the phrases “sour grapes,” “the fox in the henhouse,” and “the emperor’s new clothes.”... Read More »
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