Jim Blasingame

Business futurist, award-winning author, speaker and columnist

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management fundamentals

The Problems And Perils Of Perfection

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There are a million – maybe a billion – scenarios for how someone becomes the Founder of a business. But regardless of variability, there is one part of every venture that, almost by definition, will not vary: In the beginning, and often for some time afterward, the Founder will be the first to do all the jobs.

If you’re one of those Founders, you were the first receptionist, the first salesperson, the first accountant, and the first janitor. But you didn’t become a business owner to answer the phone, pay the bills or sweep the floor. You did those jobs because, at that moment, you were the smallest of business entities. An entrepreneurial quark. A team of one.

You have every right to look back on those days with great pride. Starting a business from scratch and growing it into a success story is a modern-day Herculean feat, accomplished against all odds. But there is one perilous byproduct of the Founder being the first to do all the jobs [Continue Reading]

Cloud Computing Is Awesome – But Not Always

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In aviation, being “in the clouds” is a universal flight condition referring to a pilot’s inability to see the ground.

It’s also a common lament of parents about the troubling coordinates of a teenager’s head, which might seem to be “in the clouds.”

In the 21st century, “in the cloud” is a reference that has established itself in the marketplace vernacular as the interaction and delivery point between providers of “cloud-based” digital applications and customers.

Cloud computing is the availability of incremental processing power that resides on an application provider’s servers, instead of your hard drive. For example, community-building technology, like social media platforms. When you post something on Facebook, you’re in the cloud. When you conduct online banking, sell a stock, or hail an Uber from your smartphone, you’re doing that in the cloud. If you use Google’s G Suite of office products, or Microsoft Office 365, all are cloud-based. And, of course, hooking up on Zoom, et al, are all meetings “in the cloud.”

No question, cloud computing is another example of technology increasing business efficiencies and leverage. And for small businesses, it’s been a godsend, because [Continue Reading]

Closeness: The 21st Century Coin Of The Realm

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Why do birds suddenly appear every time you are near?
Just like me, they long to be, close to you.

If you’re old enough to have had at least a couple of anniversaries of your 39th birthday, you recognize these lyrics from the Roger Nichols/Paul Williams song by the brother/sister act, The Carpenters, which topped the charts in 1970.

When I write the theme song for small business, the title will be, “Close To You.” My reasoning is because, like the birds and the stars and the objects of their affection, there are many stakeholders in our small businesses that we hope will long to be close to us. Let’s take a look at three of the most important ones.[Continue Reading]

Bring Your Customer’s Customer Into Focus

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When you take a photograph, the resulting product is two-dimensional: tall, wide, and flat. But in most cases, you want the photo to show depth, where images in the foreground and background are all in focus.

In photographic terms, the range of focus front to back is called depth of field. The best way to expand depth of field so more of the subjects in the photo are in focus is to add light. Light contributes to depth of field.

If you were given a photo of people who were the most critical to your success, you’d easily recognize your customers in the foreground in perfect focus. But as you look deeper into the photo you’d notice the images behind that first row increasingly drop out of focus with each receding row. The reason is that for most of the history of the marketplace, businesses have gotten away with having a very narrow customer depth of field.

When the coin of the realm was to be competitive, that meant you spent all your time thinking about how to serve the person in the foreground, the first row of your business world: your customers. But as I’ve revealed in the past, being competitive has been trumped by being relevant. And in The Age of the Customer, perhaps the most important component of being relevant to business customers is helping them serve the most important person in their photo:  [Continue Reading]

It’s Possible To Succeed Yourself Out Of Business

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This is another offering in my ongoing series on understanding the fundamentals of business as we become better business managers. Remember, fundamentals are like natural laws: they don’t change; they’re the same for everyone, and you can’t succeed without understanding and respecting them. The fundamentals today are all about funding growth.

Consider the following scenario that plays out on Main Street every day:

“Finally, my business is growing,” a small business owner confides to his friend, “but why is it creating so much negative cash?” And then, with that deer-in-the-headlights look, he completes his report, “I thought by now, with increased sales, cash would be the least of my worries. I used to be afraid I couldn’t grow my business; now I’m worried it will collapse from growth.”

This entrepreneur’s lament is one of the great ironies of the marketplace: a small business in danger of failure succeeding itself right out of business.

Beware Blasingame’s 2nd Law of Small Business: It’s redundant to say, “undercapitalized small business.” This maxim is especially true for fast-growing companies because revenue growth depletes cash in two dramatic but predictable ways. [Continue Reading]

Shocking Confessions of a Legendary Actor and the World’s Greatest Salesman

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After a lifetime on stage and screen, the legendary English actor, Sir Laurence Olivier, once admitted that he had always suffered from stage fright.

Imagine that. One of the 20th century’s most revered actors, appearing in over 120 stage roles, 60 movies, more than 15 television productions, and countless performances, actually battled the fear of rejection and failure. But when you look at the numbers of his body of work, it’s obvious that Sir Laurence didn’t let his “condition” cost him success.

And now, after a sales career that has spanned more than a half-century, a legendary salesman named Blasingame reveals that he’s suffered from the marketplace equivalent of stage fright – call reluctance – his entire career.

Imagine that. Having conducted thousands of sales calls on multiple continents, in front of decision-makers from the towering C-Suites of Fortune 100 CEOs to bell-over-the-door Main Street mom-and-pops, perhaps the greatest professional salesperson of all time struggles with…making first contact. But when you look at the numbers of his body of work, it’s obvious that the man known as JB to colleagues and “The Force” to competitors, didn’t allow his “condition” to cost him success.

Alas, it’s a sad truth that even well-trained and motivated people can suffer from the scourge of the sales profession to challenge their performance. What about you? Have you experienced call reluctance? If so, what do your numbers tell you? The good news about stage fright/call reluctance, as proven by Sir Lawrence and JB, is that it’s a condition you can overcome. Indeed, their success, and the fact that they’ve been willing to share their personal struggles, provide us with at least four clues about their professional grit and spirit. [Continue Reading]

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