Quantity is more important than quality. I actually don’t think you can have quality without quantity.
Dayne Shuda is the Founder of Ghost Blog Writers, a blog writing service. Before starting Ghost Blog Writers in 2010, he worked for a footwear cataloguer where he learned the basics of running a successful business. His hobbies include golf, hunting and the outdoors.
Where did the idea for Ghost Blog Writers come from?
It wasn’t really an idea. I had struggled for years trying to come up with a great business idea. Then one day I started blogging out of curiosity. Then a business owner I knew hired me to write weekly posts for their website. Then I saw another business owner on Twitter asking for the same service. After a few months of this the light bulb finally went off. This is where business ideas come from.
What does your typical day look like and how do you make it productive?
It’s a combination of two things: 1) Solving problems. I think that’s a role that most entrepreneurs, managers, etc. take on. You can’t really plan for all the issues. You just kind of take them all on and knock them out. 2) Thinking about the long-term, researching and then creating new procedures for the business to follow that will hopefully make it successful in the future. Those are the two big things, but I also still do some writing each week along with a few other regular tasks.
How do you bring ideas to life?
I start with the idea and work backwards until it becomes a regular process. Regular might mean everyday or it might mean every week or month. But I try to bring it back to something that’s repeatable. That seems to be the way to get things done and to work toward an idea.
What’s one trend that excites you?
Audio. It’s not an entirely new idea. I think whoever made the push to get radios into automobiles was a genius. They understood the ability of people to do one thing while listening to audio. I think audio is already a big part of our live, but that trend will continue to accelerate in the next ten years.
What is one habit of yours that makes you more productive as an entrepreneur?
Every six months I audit my daily life. I look at my priorities and goals. Then I look at everything I do everyday, every week and every month and see if I’ve gotten into any bad habits. A bad habit is simply something that doesn’t align with my priorities or that isn’t helping me achieve my goals.
What advice would you give your younger self?
Start sooner. I actually picked up on this in my twenties, but I still have to remind myself to do it. I used to read about entrepreneurs and listen to them and the most common regret I would read and hear was that they wished they had started sooner. If you want to do something do it right now. Life is too short.
Tell us something that’s true that almost nobody agrees with you on.
Quantity is more important than quality. I actually don’t think you can have quality without quantity. I write blog posts for example. After ten years my quality percentage is fairly good. But I had to write thousands of posts, especially in the early days, to even get close to quality. I think the excuse of quality makes people think it’s okay to not do something unless it’s amazing. Picasso’s first painting probably wasn’t good. Tiger Woods’ first golf shot probably wasn’t pure. It takes quantity to get to quality no matter what you’re doing.
As an entrepreneur, what is the one thing you do over and over and recommend everyone else do?
Give positive feedback. People need to feel appreciated and I think it’s overlooked in our society today more than ever.
What is one strategy that has helped you grow your business?
Long-term thinking. I’m obviously in the blogging business. Content marketing. Inbound marketing. Whatever you want to call it. It’s a long-term play. You need patience, which is a challenge, but also an advantage. I’ve been focusing on the long-term play for nearly 10 years and I’ve seen lots of others come into the industry and leave because they didn’t have the patience. If you do something today and do it for 5 years focusing on the customer you’re going to get five years from now you have a huge advantage over most people.
What is one failure you had as an entrepreneur, and how did you overcome it?
I started a social networking website in 2007. In 2010, I finally gave up on the idea. I had no idea what I was doing. It was difficult. I felt ashamed. But I just kept on pushing. You only really have to find success once in life. Who cares how many failures there are?
What is one business idea that you’re willing to give away to our readers?
Indoor children entertainment. Space in shopping malls seems like it’s going to be very cheap in the future. Retail stores are going out of business. Who will be able to fill all that used space? One need is that parents can’t figure out how to entertain their kids especially with physical activity. It would make sense for shopping malls to turn into physical entertainment centers. You can’t deliver physical entertainment in the mail.
What is the best $100 you recently spent? What and why?
Golf league annual fee. Personal enjoyment. Also a great way to meet successful people in my local area.
What is one piece of software or a web service that helps you be productive? How do you use it?
G Suite. We couldn’t do business without it. Gmail for all communication. Sheets for organizing all the content we create. Docs for procedures. It’s simple, but that’s why I like it. We’ve tried all kinds of project management software, but always come back to the simplicity of G Suite.
What is the one book that you recommend our community should read and why?
“Sam Walton: Made In America“. The business he created, Walmart, is still the biggest in the world and he had some very basic principles that work in just about every business.
What is your favorite quote?
You are what you do everyday. I wish I knew the person that originally said it.
Key learnings:
- Think long-term
- Take big ideas and break them into regular habit
- Audit your habits every six months
Connect:
Dayne Shuda on Twitter:
Dayne Shuda on LinkedIn:
Carlyn runs the day-to-day publishing operation here at ideamensch and interacts with our awesome customers and entrepreneurs. She is likely editing this with a cat on her lap.