Those of you who follow my blog on occasion know that I am a Monocle fan. A special edition called MONOCLE MEDITERRANEO is out …a new venture …that incorporates both this super-premium newsprint edition and a weekly audio series.
Just like the magazine Monocle, the sections are Affairs, Business, Culture, Design and Edits. What caught my attention in this issue os the Business section — a host of ideas for those in search of a fresh start.
I am particularly interested in new business models — and the Sauder D-Studio is going to be very much focused on analysing existing business models and reinventing them — or just plain coming up with new ones.
There are two full pages of new business ideas…everything from a tile-maker in Beirut to an urban farm in Helsinki to a Cafe/Children’s Centre in Madrid.
And there are 10 points of advice “before you dive in” (most of the bolds directly from Monocle):
- Proceed with passion — the idea being that if you don’t have that “drive” it will be tough going;
- Old is the new “new” — concept of the heritage business — its about re-invention;
- Be prepared to work hard — very little comes with hard work;
- Branding goes a long way — “make sure you know what you stand for and communicate this”;
- Aim big — need a longer plan than 1 year — a big vision;
- Make the world better — whatever you are up to should be an important contribution to society;
- Have fun — like most things in life, this is important;
- You are small and nimble — “learn lessons but never trade your core idea”;
- Build relationships — they’ll stand you in good stead; and,
- Stay focused — build a solid base.
But one of questions is — how do you build a new business model — or re-invent an existing one (the heritage idea)?
Am a big fan of a 2010 book called Business Model Generation by Alex Osterwalder & Yves Pigneur. Find the link to the pdf for the first 70 pages or so below.
I’ll be referring more to this book and the techniques therein as I blog more on the Sauder D-Studio. I like the way it combines business and design language.
http://www.businessmodelgeneration.com/downloads/businessmodelgeneration_preview.pdf