2020 vision with Graham Arrowsmith and Kevin Appleby
What’s your vision for the first 100 days in 2020? 2020 vision is all about planning for the new year ahead. If you’re starting out on a new project, have business plans in mind or have already started a new business, 2020 is the year to persevere and live out those plans.
On this podcast, Kevin and Graham will be chatting about the past, present and future in regards to business and life!
2020 vision and the next 100 days
So, what does Graham have planned for the FIRST 100 days of 2020?
Graham hopes to have launched his new business by March. Then he will have achieved stage one at least! That is the priority.
The other thing is, with bringing Ellie into the company, Graham will be relaunching the website. Additionally, he is focussing on new ways that Finely Fettled can help people – particularly regarding affluent data. With the advent go Ellie coming along, Finely Fettled has looked into affluent data. In particular, he’s been looking at how to access those when you don’t have their name and address. So, Finely Fettled will be launching the UK Affluent Address Database, and that will be an address database of the most affluent people in the UK.
It’s very similar to the service Graham talks about in episode 164 – Partially Addressed Advertising Mail. Address only data is the gap in the market Graham and Ellie see. The results people are getting from this type of data are really quite impressive.
In summary, and so you can all keep Graham to his Business resolutions (!):
- Launching the new business.
- Reinstating what Finely Fettled is and stands for.
The start of the podcast
It was on the 10th January 2016 that The Next 100 Days podcast released its very first episode. 4 years of the podcast and over 200 episode – what an achievement.
It’s quite a nervous thing to start a podcast and to speak with the possibility someone is listening to you! The thoughts of “I’ll sound like like a bozo!” do run through your head. However, once you get into conversation with the fabulous guests that have been on, it all flows.
Find the episode Graham and Kevin are talking about, here.
Unfortunately, Rosemary passed early 2019. However, she’s there on the podcast and will be remembered for the great things she said on it. As well as the other things she did in her life.
Kevin’s favourite was Dave Dee! Interestingly, this was Graham’s favourite. His content was awesome. Listen here id you haven’t heard it.
Initially, Dave worked as a magician. As a result, once of the things he does is PSYCHIC SELLING. Dave really started giving the magic about selling products and how to get into the psyche of the seller. That means he really knew how to appeal to the minds of others. Pure gold episode!
Many a guest, many a topic
The truth is, the podcast has become so varied as the episodes keep being recorded. We’ve covered finance, Human Resources, marketing, personal growth. There are so many people on the podcast who have been outstanding.
Another favourite of Kevin’s was John Lamerton and his discussion of his new book, ‘Routine Machine’.
The next 100 days for Kevin
The next 100 days will see him continue a business reshape. Kevin wants to move away from trading time for money. The lessons in ‘Routine Machine’ and those learnt from the podcast episode with Ken Keis – talking about playing to your strengths – should help.
Also, Kevin has been reading a new book called ‘168 hours’ which challenges you on what you do during the working week. These things combined will help Kevin to think about how he is spending his time, is he doing the right things so that he can move to a more product-based income.
Kevin’s background is consultancy and he specialises in things around enterprise performance management. However, in the 4 years of the podcast, Kevin has moved from consulting to teaching it in the classroom and he wants to do that more.
Now, that is still trading money for time but his classes are usually 2-3 days. The question he wants to explore is what is the entry level for that? He thinks it’s more about distance learning, online lessons and membership sites.
Ultimately, the tip here is not to move to something new and different. Stay close to your core competencies.
Always something to learn
It’s a privilege to be surrounded by so many people of different skills, because there is so much to learn!
The danger of listening to lots of things and getting great ideas is that you go off track. You gain ‘shiny object syndrome’ where you’re running off after ideas that don’t necessarily work for you. 2020 vision is a great thing to reclaim clarity.
2020 vision or 100 days?
When it’s New Year, we all know it is the time for resolutions. Kevin starts that in September to keep up with the school years. As a result, now he’s split his 2020 vision from now up to Easter.
If you want to get into something and do it properly, you need 100 days. The nice thing about 100 days is that it starts when you decide.
Graham shares his Finely Fettled 10 Rules with Kevin. If you’re a small business, these rules work for you.
- There will always be an OFFER.
- There’ll be a reason to RESPOND right now.
- There will be CLEAR INSTRUCTION.
- There’ll be OBJECTIVES, MEASURES & HARD FACTS. This is Kevin’s favourite one. One of the problems is that we have far too much data – just too much. What you need to do is sift through to hit the hard facts. Don’t rely on likes or engagements.
- There will only be NO-COST BRAND BUILDING.
- There will be FOLLOW UP. Now, this is something Graham needs to work on and evolve in. As a result, he plans to create systems which follow up clients and offer an opportunity to engage with other services.
- There will be STRONG COPY. You want to stand out against cautious messages. The current trend is not offending any one. However, strong copy that appeals to a specific desire or urgency or pain point will cut through the sea of messages that out world is swamped with! In fact, here’s an episode about copy, with Hannah Martin.
- Campaigns will look like MAIL ORDER ADVERTISING.
- There will always be a RESULTS RULE mentality.
- There will be TOUGH-MINDED DISCIPLINE.
2020 vision and tough minded discipline
This is something that can be extended beyond marketing. It’s about thinking whether what you’re doing is going to produce results – is it the best use of time, and does it add to the final product or result?
You can apply that to the whole of your business. Are the things that you’re doing the best things for your business, to push it a step forward. Being brutal about what you’re doing will help you change habits. Ultimately, you should not be doing marketing that doesn’t benefit your or your client when spending their money.
Looking back
Well, it really has been a great 4 years on the podcast. Graham’s 60, Kevin’s 60 next year; Graham has his first grandchild and Kevin is expecting his in April. Things are happening. Things are changing.
If people are still prepared to listen to the show, that would be fantastic because we absolutely doc are about putting up something that is of relevance to our listeners. We also want to have a bit of the laugh!
Spontaneity
After a wee rant about the BBC, Kevin and Graham get talking about spontaneity and large corporations. They rather seem to nullify creativity and spontaneity. Kevin certainly couldn’t go back to working for a big organisation. The bureaucracy, the red tape, the legislation – it all produces a unpleasant work environment.
Having said that, there are good things about large organisations too -security, great colleagues, fill a community of interest, etc.
Hopefully, as we enter into 2020 and enact our 2020 vision, you’ll keep tuning into the podcast.
What Graham and Kevin have loved is meeting lots of new people who are interesting and valuable to business. It’s all about good stories, good insight, and how to best use the next 100 days.
