All business and professions are about one thing – creating value for someone else. When you are able to create value for someone, you can expect to be paid for it. The more value you can create, the more you will earn. Focus on creating value and you will have a valuable enterprise.
Advice from Masters – Quotes & Tips on Creating Value
Your income is determined by how many people you serve and how well you serve them. Your true worth is determined by how much more you give in value than you take in payment.
Your influence is determined by how abundantly you place other people’s interests first.
The most valuable thing you have to give people is yourself. No matter what you think you’re selling, what you’re really offering is you.
Bob Burg – Author – The Go-Giver: A Little Story About a Powerful Business Idea
The key question you must consider is, “What problem do I solve?”
Christopher Locchead – Author – Niche Down
Questions to check your value hypothesis:
Is a problem or desired benefit strong enough? Does the solution fit the customer expectations? Is the customer ready to pay a certain price? Do we know who our early evangelists are?
Donatas Donikar – Author – Start-up Evolution Curve
Value is created when a person makes something useful and shares it with the world.
Chris Guillebeau – Author – The $100 Startup / The Art of Non-Conformity / Side Hustle / Born for This / The Happiness of Pursuit
Fortune-seekers can rarely sustain their passion through the hard times. Successful enterprises are laser-focused on Value Provided to Customers. Entrepreneurship is not about you; it’s about effectively serving others.
Timothy Clark – Author – Business Model You
Recommended Books on Creating Value
The Go-Giver: A Little Story About a Powerful Business Idea
Authors: Bob Burg,John David Mann
Bob Burg gives you the story of Joe, a young and ambitious man who seeks success and realizes that real success comes looking for you not when you are a go-getter, but rather when you’re a go-giver. Burg unravels the power of giving importance to the interests of others — the secret to fulfilment and success on an individual and organizational level. In his classic style of narrating, Burg reminds the reader of the timeless proverb — “Give and you shall receive.”
The Mom Test: How to talk to customers & learn if your business is a good idea when everyone is lying to you
Authors: Rob Fitzpatrick,
Questionnaires and surveys are filled with lies — you’d rather ask your Mom about your product than waste your resources by asking consumers. Unless, you find the right way to do it. In Mom Test, Rob Fitzpatrick shares the Dos and Don’ts of building strong consumer relationships, and most importantly, how you can detect their lies.
Start Something That Matters
Authors: Blake Mycoskie,
Are you’re a passionate person with a dream and a purpose for your life? Do you want to do something you love and serve the world through it? If you want to become an entrepreneur and a humanitarian at the same time — Start Something that Matters is the right book for you. The owner of TOMS or as he is often called, the Chief Shoe Giver shares how he integrated profit and social good while having fun.
Other concepts on Entrepreneurship
Dominate – Don’t Compete
People who truly succeed big, never try to compete – they choose instead to dominate their particular niche and become known as the ‘go-to’ person or company for those specific requirements. Domination allows you to never have to compete on price, not get involved in feature wars and bring along free marketing.
1000 True Fans
‘1000 true fans’ is a concept that explains why it is not essential to be famous and have a huge following to earn a successful living working on your passion. In fact, all you need are a much smaller set of passionate fans (1000 for example), who become your marketing evangelists and core customers.
Execution
Everybody has great ideas, but it is only a few that can actually act on a good idea and turn it into a viable business. The execution of an idea is often much more important than the idea itself. To succeed as an entrepreneur, it is vital that you and your team have the ability to execute.
Niche
A niche denotes products, services or interests that have a high appeal to a select smaller group of people, as compared to the general populace. By laser focusing your services and communication to the needs of this smaller group, you can gain much higher relevance than trying to target everybody.