As many readers already know I’ve been relating my efforts of attracting birds to my yard to starting a new business. In the last article in the series I wrote about trying to develop a new market vertical for my burgeoning bird business. So how’s it going?

Like any good entrepreneur I tried a number of different techniques to attract clients to my offering. Applying the marketing principles of product, price, placement and promotion I began testing the market and then evaluating the results.

My wife had given me some bird seed (ie. the product) for Christmas as a present and I scattered these liberally across the lawn and in the feeder. The result, pigeons. I have nothing against pigeons but they weren’t the market I was trying to reach and to be frank with you….they are complete pigs and ate all of the seeds.

This is similar to a new business taking a scatter gun approach to marketing to see if there are any bites on their product or service. More often than not, you get a lot of tyre kickers that talk a lot, don’t buy and waste your time.

Time is often viewed as the ultimate commodity but is it? Other than our last day on this planet we all have exactly the same minutes in the day as each other. It’s my birthday today and I find myself thinking about what I’m doing with my allotted minutes and whether I’m doing the right things with them.

Iin an interview at NamesCon I passed on a number of things that I do before and after the conference to maximise the use of my time. I have a mental image of it costing me about $100 per hour whether I’m asleep or awake to attend a conference. This means I’d better be very careful with how I allocate my time.

I like to have a mixture of meetings at an event like NamesCon. Some will be with existing partners and clients while others will be with people I’ve never met before and potential relationships. The goal is to have a meaningful conversation with each person and to make the best use of my time.

In the end I averaged 18 scheduled meetings each day and had countless other spontaneous discussions during the evening or walking up and down the lonnnnnggggg hallway. The conference was a huge success for my company, ParkLogic, with many more people coming onto the new Next platform.

This is great for a conference but what about now I’m back home? What do I do with my time and how do I keep a sense of balance?

I was looking out my study window this morning and enjoying watching a family of birds as mum responded to the constant chirping of a youngster with a tasty morsel. All at once two slightly larger birds from a different variety swept in and began attacking the youngster.

The parents defended their child and a few friends flew in to help drive the bullies off. It wasn’t very pleasant viewing, but it reminded me of a number of things about the behaviour of some humans.

Bullies come in all shapes and sizes, but their ultimate goal is to control those around them. When they act alone they pick on the perceived weak or a person that is in no position to fight back. When they act as a group they will inevitably demonstrate their power and influence publicly, so they can intimidate others into submission.

Last year, some of you may remember that I set myself the challenge of launching a new business. Although it was a significant challenge I managed to attract enough customers to make it worthwhile and it’s continued to expand with a whole flock of repeat clients.

For the past week or so I’ve been working diligently on opening a new market vertical. Attracting new clients from a different market vertical is taking a much bigger investment than I thought but I’m determined to reach them.

If you remember from previous blog articles, the first incarnation of the business involved positioning a bird bath in the garden outside my study window. It took quite some doing but after moving it around and laying out some bread crumbs I’ve managed to attract a number of bird families as my first clientele.

The photos below can testify to the success of my existing venture….but I wanted the business of me enjoying watching the birds from my study window to expand.

I would like to wish all the readers of Whizzbangsblog, members of the Domainers Network and sponsors a very Merry Christmas and a prosperous New Year. I can’t believe another year is over and NamesCon 2018 is just around the corner.

Both Roselyn and I were just so proud and happy for our son Timothy marrying his wonderful bride, Ruth, on her mother’s farm. It was an incredibly joyous occasion that caused me to reflect on three words that are very appropriate to the Christmas season and principles I try to abide by in my own life, “truth, trust and learning”.

You can’t have a relationship, whether it’s with your wife, kids, business partner, colleagues, or other companies without being truthful. Taking the more difficult road of telling the truth in a manner that it can be received will pay massive dividends in your relationships over the years to come.

If Roselyn never knew whether I was telling her the truth, then what would my marriage of 30 years be built upon? It’s exactly the same with business relationships. There needs to be a level of transparency where the other party is confident you are telling them the truth.