Talking about product development while conquering ADHD is one thing, but having wider strategy is another. Think of it this way: Winning a single day is a just winning a single skirmish. It’s not a battle, and it’s certainly not the entire war. It gets you through a day, but what about the rest of the week, let alone decades of business?

That’s where having strategy comes in. 

When I started running my first business back in high school, my grandfather told me about the difference between a strategy and a business plan. Our strategy at Insanitek is to run lean, both in terms of the methodology as well as financially. For those of you that don’t know what running lean means, you could dive into Ash Maurya’s book (free PDF from Daniel Pandza) or check out his website. But, it may seem a little overwhelming for those of you that haven’t heard of the concept before. Basically, as Dan Kaplan noted in TechCrunch,

Lean assumes that on day one, founders start with a series of untested hypotheses about their potential customers, the ideal pricing for their product, their best distribution channels, the costs of operation, and so on.

Rather than simply assuming you are right about all of these things and can dive headfirst into building your product, Lean suggests that you test your assumptions first.

That means less failure from the outset because you’re testing your ideas against the market and making sure they will succeed before you donate a bunch of money and time uselessly somewhere. Each step is highly focused and has a purpose, no dollars or minutes wasted.

Sounds glorious, doesn’t it?

It’s not easy. You need to focus (for my ADHD comrades, it is doable), get out there and talk to people in meat space, and get a feeling for the market. Ash Maurya makes a point in his piece Bootstart Manifesto:

Optimizing for time does not mean going fast on everything, but rather slowing down to focus on the right thing. Pareto’s 80/20 rule applies here. Your biggest results will come from just a few key actions.

That means not wasting your time on things that are shiny. You know, all those webinars you signed up for? All those email lists you couldn’t resist? All those nuggets of “knowledge”? Those are not a your few key actions. Asking your market what their biggest problem right now and coming up with your own solution to it is. Marketing the solution is a key action.

Your key actions are your strategy.

What should you use for your strategy? I like to take a page from Tara Gentile on this one. (Quite literally as that link leads to a free map to finding your strategy.) I like Tara’s style because it’s using your own way, not someone else’s way. It’s tapping into your own strengths and desires while putting your weaknesses and dislikes in a box to deal with some other time.

For example, the mission of Insanitek is to help independent researchers and inventors make their way in the world. One of the strategies is to help them learn all the skills that they need. I want to build a complex where we can train and apprentice them. I can’t do this without a lot more money than I currently make.

So, I’m moving past tutoring and homeschooling on a basic level. It’s time to up my game and the income levels. I’m terrified to move because the schedule is comfy, I trust the people I work with, and I’m making “just enough”. Well, just enough for me is not good enough for growing a company any more, and I need to step out of that comfort zone and see what I can do about working with someone who will pay me more.

Enter a nice maintenance guy that wants to retire. He has three parents that he works with in the homeschooling area, and they will pay “anything”. It’s terrifying going from someone you trust to someone you don’t know just to make more money. But, the strategy for growth is both service in the form of education and heavily reliant on money.

It’s quiet, not loud. It’s effective growth that is careful, focused, and wanted by the audience. It’s lean and powerful.

Powerful and lean is what you are aiming for in your own strategy.

I truly believe that no dollar or effort should be wasted. (I’m the same with movement, too.) When we focus on not wasting, we become efficient. When we are efficient, things can be smoother, quicker, and more enjoyable. And isn’t that what business should be for both owners and clients?

What are you having problems with making lean? Let’s chat in the comments and try to solve the problems together.