There’s a lot that goes into making a successful business. So many things to think about and actions to take, the to-do list seems to grow longer by the minute.  That said, I’m always keen to understand how a business – your business – makes money.  How does it actually generate cash?

Take my business as an example.

I blog, tweet, contribute to a thriving business community, meet people, generate ideas and intellectual property, build products, manage cash-flow, plan, collaborate – to name a few activities.  But none of that makes money. How I make money is by selling consulting hours to large organizations and more recently, by selling products on-line.

If we know specifically how each other generates revenue, we can be more efficient and effective in helping each other succeed commercially.

Let’s discuss this important business development topic in the comments.

Too busy to make money?

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So here’s the plan. Give away your ideas, your know-how and your hard-earned wisdom and experience as blog posts, e-books, slide presentations and videos – for free – and crowds of people will come running to your blog. Then do your best to convert as many of these people as you can to buy more of your ideas, your know-how and your hard-earned wisdom and experience.

Am I the only one who has a problem with this logic?

Surely, by giving our precious intellectual property away – the family silver – we not only train people NOT to buy our ideas, but also erode our future ability to earn income.

I would love to discuss this touchy topic with you in the comments.

Giving away the family silver for a golden future

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There’s gold in them hills!

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Where there are great mysteries, there are great opportunities – opportunities to explain, to solve, to discover and to reveal.  Take the Internet for example. It has exploded into our lives with a leading-edge that hugs the horizon.  In the wake of so much accelerated change comes an ever increasing tail of mysteries and yet-to-be explained phenomena for opportunistic leaders to capitalize on. [Read more]

Since Ancient Greek times and even earlier, people have gathered from far and wide to fill rooms – and amphitheatres – to bare witness to the sage advice of the thought leaders of the day.

If you’ve got something interesting to say, perhaps you’ve written a book, invented a gadget or run for office, there’s a well established path in place to get you in front of a room full of people – all willing to schedule time, commute distances, even pay hard-earned cash and to applaud you on cue. [Read more]