Tag: Business

Friction points – isolation kills

Posted on by philipdodson

You need friction points – isolation kills business – by Philip Dodson

isolated

Over 50% of us will be self-employed/freelancing/solo-preneurs within the next 10 years or less. The issue for anyone who is working for themselves is the challenge of isolation.

If you work at home all day every day or as a nomad in coffee shops, three things will happen:

1 – You will find that you will not be engaging in human contact – esssential for happiness & well being

2 – You will not be hearing about new ideas or sharing yours

3 – You will not be getting the motivation that being around others, who are working, creates

These will lead to you lacking motivation, getting cut off from the latest views, ideas & thinking. It will lead to your productivity falling and it will ultimately result in you becoming Isolated.

Businesses thrive on opportunity, which often comes from a ‘friction point’ occurring by making a connection with others. This a great phrase, that Bernie Mitchell of Engaging People used when we had a ‘friction’ point, which lead to him doing a podcast on co-working with me. It sums up exactly why you need to connect face-to-face with others.

These friction points lead to opportunities being created, that would have never have happened if you were at home or in a coffee shop. They don’t happen by email or skype, they only happen when two people connect in real life.

These friction points create opportunity to share ideas, to discover new connections, to create a new network and will inevitably lead to more success in your business.

People need to be able to feel and touch your business, as your business more often than not, will be you. You are the brand, the service, the company and in the new world of a connected consumer, they will never be able to share experiences about your business, if you are at home and isolated from others every day.

So for the ever increasing number of self-employed the solution is co-working, where you can collaborate, share and connect with others.

Working for yourself should never be by yourself.

The revolution will fail

Posted on by philipdodson

The revolution will fail – by Philip Dodson

The big buzz among authors, governments, mentors, ‘experts’, talked about on social media, and in many blogs is the ‘entrepreneurial revolution’.

It is seen by many as the answer to the developed world’s problems. Seen as our salvation from the frightening prospect of a never ending vicious circle of economic stagnation.

Vast and ever increasing numbers of us are chosing, or in some cases out of pure necessity, the path of self-employment, entreprenuership, freelance, solo-preneur or whatever other tags. It’s predicted by many that by as early as 2020, it will be the norm in the developed world.

There is a whole new industry of support for this cropping up with incubators, start-up loans, training, mentoring, websites, courses, and the list goes on.

The digital revolution, that will/is impacting massively on our business and personal lives, is the catlyst for real changes to the world and we stand at a real fork in the road for our collective futures.

Self-employment, embracing the digital world and using the real power of social media, & the shared experiences they create, is the solution to making things happen. To build economic recovery, to sharing knowledge, to changing ‘old school’ politics/education, to moving away from all the failing ‘isms’ that have dominated our world. People can connect and solve previously unsolvable issues through amazing technology.

However, this great revolution, this amazing chance we have, will fail if we don’t add one thing to the the mix.

That is community, people connecting face-to-face, people helping others, sharing, collaborating in real life – not on a device in the palm of our hands. Shared experiences can only happen if people physically connect.

What we need, is a locally focussed community leadership, involving all aspects of the community and embracing business leaders.

We need small community education which is creative & interactive, tuned in to the world we live in, not giant state run education factories.

We need co-working hubs providing a focal work place for all the self-employed, that enables them to share, collabotrate, better their ideas & themeselves, that removes the isolation of working at home or as a faceless nomad in a coffee shop.

Many start-ups will fail in this revolution if they are cut off and isolated. Starved of motivation and ideas, by being at home away from where their peers are.

The focus on putting leadership, decision making, workplace, education and people together in small locally focussed communities, will be the vital ingredient to the success of this revolution and so much more.

It is time for everyone to take part in truly fixing the ‘me, me, me’ world and changing it to a community that shares and helps each other. One not driven by material greed, but one driven by the desire to help others.

That doesn’t mean businesses can’t make money or success & that achievements in different fields aren’t recognised and rewarded. It simply means, the focus is on people & community first and not material wealth beyond what is sufficient.

With the power of digital technology and social media, the local communities can be connected globally and experiences can be shared. Then we can move away from the ‘old school’ self-interest based & short-term leaderhsip, which has failed and that the ‘democratised’ world has to suffer.

I’m in – who else is up for making the change our world needs?