Online Business Adviser

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I was doing my weekly shopping over the weekend, and something grabbed my attention. While I was looking for some kitchen cleaner spray, I noticed that the most any of them kill is 99.99% of household germs.

Now, don’t get me wrong, I know that’s a pretty high strike rate, but what then is differentiating them from one another? What is setting them apart from their competition? For the most part, it’s brand loyalty that’s driving it. I’ve always used Mr Muscle, so chances are I will buy it.

But imagine if a one of them developed a household cleaner that killed 100% of the germs. When you’re talking about something that matters to people, this extra .01% can give you a massive competitive advantage.  I know that there is probably a major scientific explanation as to why that extra .01% is so hard to obtain for household cleaners (given they got to 99.99%), but I think it illustrates an important point.  Read more...

I think it’s true for everyone that no matter where you have worked, you will come across people within an organisation who are just really, really good at what they do. Certainly for me, having worked across a number of different media companies, I have found people in all sorts of departments (not just mine) who know their stuff inside out and astonish me with their knowledge.

I consider these people as my Fantasy Business Team – the people that if I had was to go into business for myself and had the scale, I would want to recruit and have work with me, because they each bring something special to the table. It’s the kind of team that you think you could accomplish anything with.  Read more...

I’ve had some great feedback regarding my last post of 27 people who I derive value from on Twitter. Some of you left comments on the blog and I received a number of emails as well, and I want to thank all of you for your contribution to the conversation.

One of the themes that came up several times was around innovation, and why I didn’t single out anyone in my list as specifically innovative. I think the important thing to remember here is that the intention of the post was to list people that I derive the most value from. Certainly the list wasn’t exhaustive – there are a great many people that I get a lot from, but these people demonstrate consistent value.  Read more...