Do You Have an Escape Button?

When the program you are using freezes for the fifth time you can press the “esc” button and restart the program. When things get too tough with a project the local office supply store tells you to press the “Easy” button. So when things are going wrong in business or a product isn’t working as well as it should be, what is the button you can press? You may not have a button as it is a figure of speech, but the point is that you can restart at any time. I know some entrepreneurs that have the “Easy” button from Staples and keep it on their desk. It really is a mind thing as to how you handle different situations regarding your products and services.

Many times I see entrepreneurs that keep going when things aren’t going well instead of trying to redirect or take a different approach. Products and services are like that, many will take their time to flourish and build momentum and others never seem to get off the ground. How long you allow them to stay in the forefront is up to you. If they’re aren’t costing you more money then leave them alone and work on the promotion of them. If they cost you on a monthly basis then you are best to try to stop production and change course or cancel the product all together. Only you know if a product is making it or not based on cost, time, and a host of other factors. The point is don’t keep that product going because you’re in love with it. That is the wrong reason. I am sure all of you have heard of market research and how you can do focus groups and plan other techniques for finding out if a product should go to market. I believe those are very important if there is a huge cost factor involved with manufacturing and capital. For most of us, however we are developing smaller products and I tend to just create them and give them a try. Find a way to create them in small quantities so you aren’t holding onto inventory, manufacture at the lowest price possible and introduce it to the real world. This way you can change direction quicker and won’t have the anxiety of trying to hold onto a product. An idea is to give them a timeline for success or failure so you have a way of measuring their success.

Remember you can reset your business at any time and that goes for products, services, or any other process that you have for your business. After all you are the captain and have the ability to change.

About the Author

Bruce Outridge is a business and leadership consultant. He is an entrepreneur, author and speaker to many entrepreneur groups. For more information on his business please visit his website at www.outridge.ca