What Can Entrepreneurs Learn From Seth Godin's LINCHPIN ...
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I just came from the gym. At the gym, I was listening to the audio book: LINCHPIN by Seth Godin. The book had very interesting lessons for us entrepreneurs. There is no way I can do justice to the book with this single article therefor I will admonish you to read it, if you have not done so yet, it would help you in your business.
There are two specific subjects from the book that I would like to address in this article:
? Becoming an artist
? Shipping
Becoming an artist
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Usain Bolt the biggest LINCHPIN of London 2012 Olympics
In the book Seth Godin described an artist or a LINCHPIN as someone who brings humanity or uniqueness to their work. A LINCHPIN is someone who do not need a map or instructional manual to operate. Someone with the ability to use their own judgement when the situation demands it.
A LINCHPIN is also someone who is different or unique. As entrepreneurs, we are taught about the concept of USP. However, when it really comes down to it, either the large majority of businesses find it difficult to differentiate their businesses from other businesses or what they consider USP is nothing more than a fluke.
A very important point he made about indispensability which is very important for entrepreneurs is for us as individuals to be indispensable. Most entrepreneurs are stuck with 19th century entrepreneur skills.
I just completed SEO training yesterday. I did not do SEO training because I want to become an SEO expert, I did it because I am in the information product creation business. Many people produce very good information products but struggle to sell them because they lack the ability to sell and they do not understand SEO.
Traditional advertising is expensive and ineffective. The likes of Google and Facebook became multibillion pound businesses without any form of traditional advertising. Being well aware of this, I realised that if I needed to succeed in the information product creation business, it is essential that I know how to sell and how to effectively use the internet.
Many entrepreneurs open businesses and depend on others to do the most critical aspects of their businesses for them. This is especially true for professional entrepreneurs. Many professional entrepreneurs such as doctors, lawyers, accountants, dentist, consultant etc. do not have a single idea of how to market their services.
In their mind, they feel all they have to do is provide the expertise. The reality is this: if you are only an expert in your field, even if you own your business, you are only self-employed. You are not an entrepreneur. To be an entrepreneur you must know how to sell, that is a prerequisite.
And as Mr. Godin put it, if you want to be successful in this century, you need to be indispensable. This means that your business has to offer more than just what customers expect it to offer.
Shipping
Shipping according to Seth Godin is completing task and getting it out to the marketplace. Like me completing this article and placing it on the blog, you completing whatever project you are working on and get it out to the marketplace.
Most entrepreneurs never ship because they never finish. Even those who finish, sometimes just have the products lying about in their offices.
There are two reasons for this.
Reason number one is: most entrepreneurs never complete a project. In their minds, a piece of art is never complete. It is never good enough to go out. They still need to do some type of tweak on it. Twenty committees need to sit and decide when to ship or decide whether it is good enough to be shipped.
And the committee never find the time to have that meeting because everyone is busy on other projects, someone is off sick and someone is on holiday and the list goes on. But to succeed means we need to set a shipping deadline and stick to it no matter the circumstance.
Another very important point that he made was that we need to consider everything a draft. This means that it can be improved upon on a later date.
I have just completed nine books to be published next week:
How To Market And Manage A Professional Firm
How To Market And Manage A Private Security Firm
How To Market and Manage A Corporate Training Firm
How to Market And Manage A Dental Practice
How To Market And Manage A Private Medical Practice
How To Market And Manage A Consulting Firm
How To Market And Manage An Accounting Firm
How To Market And Manage A Law Firm
How To Market And Manage A Coaching Firm
After completing the books, I read Peter Drukker?s: Innovation and Entrepreneurship. The book is like a gold mine that contains lots of really good information for entrepreneurs that I would have loved to include in my book. The dilemma I had was should I include this information in the book knowing fully well doing so will cause me to miss my shipping date? I decided against it. In my mind the first sets of books are draft I can always come up with second editions.
That is how entrepreneurs are supposed to think. When we have a shipping date, we stick to it.
The next reason entrepreneurs don?t ship is that they do not have a clear vision of the final objective. Why are you doing that project? For whom are you doing it? What is your final outcome?

Sir. Richard Branson the master entrepreneur LINCHPIN
As an entrepreneur when you lack clarity, it becomes difficult to make decisive decisions. Clarity of purpose is what makes taking certain decisions easy. If you are doing a project, you need to have a reason for the project.
From the onset, you need to be clear about: who, what, how and when. You cannot succeed as an entrepreneur in the 21st century business environment if you are not a LINCHPIN. Being a LINCHPIN means you need to become an artist and you need to ship.
Related posts:
- How to Market and Manage A Professional Firm
- How to Market and Manage a Business Coaching Firm
- How to Market and Manage A Corporate Training Firm
- How To Market And Manage A Business Coaching Firm
Source: http://theprofitexperts.co.uk/what-can-entrepreneurs-learn-from-seth-godin%E2%80%99s-linchpin/
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