I stumbled upon a great video by the legendary Ira Glass on the importance of storytelling and the utter significance of abandoning crap. He says you have to set aside time for looking for stories, probably just as much time as the rest of the process. He spends a lot of time being exposed to new ideas, stories, imagery and then only picks out the best.

What do you think?

Chippy is not an ordinary squirrel and there are many business lessons that all of us can learn from this tiny furry animal.  Follow these business lessons and you will be successful in business as Chippy is in terms of food that she eats and stores.

Five Business Lessons from a Squirrel Named Chippy

1. Approach – Unlike other squirrels that avoid humans all together, Chippy wasn’t afraid to approach, and ask for food and our attention.

Business Lesson – Never be afraid to approach potential clients and ask for business or possible leads. Let go of the fear and start approaching. As Michael Jordan recently said, “Fear is often just an illusion“.

2. Be Approachable- Chippy never runs away from us whenever we find her running around the park. Instead, she comes to us whenever we call her to come closer.

Business Lesson – Whenever clients come to you, be sure to be friendly and approachable. Don`t sabotage a potential client by being rude or not following through whenever you are contacted for business. Do your all to meet the client’s needs.

3. Trust – Many squirrels do not trust humans for the reason being that many of their ancestors have been eaten, run over, or plainly unfairly treated by us. Chippy, however, has trust towards humans and in the end wins, as she is rewarded with plenty of peanuts for being so brave and trusting.

Business Lesson – Have trust in others. Many business deals go wrong, money gets lost, and people even killed. You have to stop concentrating on all the bad things that can happen and see the positives that may turn out because of a potential business deal. (May not apply if you run an illegal business)

4. Be Unique - For most part, all squirrels look the same and act the same. They run around scared trying to avoid cars and humans. They are all either black or brown with furry tails.

Chippy is unique and stands out through her approach. She runs up real close and does a few circles around us, so that we know for sure it is her.

Business Lesson- You have to stand out from the crowd. For most part, all people approach in the same way, whether it is people sending the same old boring resume to an employer or a business sending bland pitches. Do something out of the ordinary and make it your own. What do you want people to know you for? How will they recognize you?

5. Build relationships – As time went by, Chippy worked on building the relationship with us by eating in front of us, walking along the path with us, or just sitting on the bench enjoying the company.

Business Lesson – Take the time to build relationships with your clients by giving them that extra attention they crave. Take them out for lunch or dinner, ask how you can make their experience better, and check up on them from time to time to see how they are doing. But most importantly, always listen.

Are there any other business lessons we can learn from our surroundings or our pets?

What will save them? Making people pay for online content? Being more niche driven? Embracing social media?

All the above might work, but what is going to drive profits as the margins are simply no longer worth the effort?

Here are a few unorthodox strategies that media moguls should be implementing:

1. Stop Chopping Down Trees: Yes, you have a massive infrastructure with a goal of delivering a paper newspaper. Scrap it! As there are too many costs, bringing your margins down. At the same time you save the environment and appeal to the eco-friendly mindset

2. Invest in the Future: Figure out a way to bring down the cost of e-readers such as the Kindle. Subsidize the costs, build your own, or work out a deal. Think what your margins would look like by delivering your publication to the masses via an e-reader every morning.   

I know… I know… you have Kindle versions of your papers available but the reality is that the Kindle is TOO EXPENSIVE for the public. The first company to produce an affordable mass market e-reader will be the Google of e-readers and be able to take the market by storm. What is affordable? $49-99

3. Educate the Public: Many people love reading the actual paper. Before you make the switch to e-readers, educate people why it will be a better choice – environment, convenience, readability, accessibility, etc.

4. Close Your Offices – Rent is expensive and you are actually killing your workforce’s productivity and creativity. You are probably thinking – “Are you crazy?” Please read next point. Keep

5. Implement ROWE – After you have closed your offices, you have to implement a Results Only Work Environment (ROWE). Dan Pink, author of Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us and an advocate of ROWE recently described the science behind true motivation in the TED Talk below.

What is ROWE?

“There are no schedules, people don’t have to work in the office, employees can work wherever and whenever they want and meetings are optional. When companies implement ROWE policy, he says, productivity always goes up and turnover goes down.

For more evidence, he discusses two different models that were posed for creating a digital encyclopedia. The Microsoft model which included hiring researchers and experts and extensive planning, and the Wikipedia model where people would participate because they were interested. Pink asserts that 10 years ago, you could not have found two economists who would have said that the Wikipedia model would work better, but it does.

Science knows that motivators only work to solve narrow problems, Pink declares, but they destroy creativity. Maybe, he says, if we can increase productivity in solving the candle problems everywhere, we can change the world.”

-TED Running Notes from Session 12: Dan Pink

However, even implementing these changes will not lead to permanent solutions. There will always be a need to embrace changing trends.

What are your thoughts on the future of the newspaper industry?

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There are times when you just can’t ignore when a business is doing something completely wrong. A recent visit to a local Starbucks got me thinking – “They just don’t get it!”  And this one aspect of their marketing and business model is completely broken. Corporations in pursuit of maximizing profits often overlook how their clients actually use their product or service. Attempting to maximize profits doesn’t always lead to maximizing profits and instead can lead to losses.

Here is the issue: Starbucks has put a limit of two hours of free Wi-Fi which you access by logging into your own Starbucks account. After that you either have to pay $10 hour or be a customer Bell to get free Wi-Fi; two options that don’t appeal to most people. And who in their mind would pay $10/hour for internet (except for the corporate folks).

Previously, you would put money on a Starbucks card, it would give you access for two hours. Of course, people hacked the system and just put money on multiple cards so that they can have more hours of Wi-Fi access. Starbucks obviously didn’t like people freeloading on their internet. However, they overlook the fact that people are buying $5 lattes at the same time.

The multiple card scheme is not ethical but it worked to some degree and to be honest I personally spent more money when using multiple cards. Spending more time in Starbucks leads to increased spending on not only drinks but also on food (People have to eat!). Create new menu items where you can generate even more profits.

With the new system, I buy a Peppermint Mocha, use the internet for two hours and leave right after except for the times when I don’t need the internet.

Tip for Starbucks: Make your Wi-Fi completely free! It will probably cost you maximum of $169.95 monthly (Rogers for Business Account). This simple step will lead to people spending more time and money at all of your locations. Get real- how many people actually pay you $10/hour to use the internet, SERIOUSLY? If you have stats, I would love to see them.

Small Sample Survey: I am also starting a Facebook group, Free the Wi-Fi at Starbucks, to see what people think on this subject.

Have Your Say: Would you spend more money at Starbucks if they offered free Wi-Fi? And do I have a point or am I missing something?

Image Credit: mightykenny, mandolux

Thank you for reading! If you have not already, why not subscribe to my RSS feed, or you can get the latest updates from me in your Email inbox for free.

Thanks for visiting and keep in touch ~ Alex.