These reasons may dictate the success of your online teams
Hiring, motivating and managing online teams is the hard part of owning and operating a successful Mequoda Content Marketing System… Surprised?
Over the past 15 years, I have guided the launch of dozens of successful Mequoda Content Marketing Systems. I have also guided the launch for dozens of failures and for many more recent launches, it’s still too early to tell.
A few of those now successful Mequoda System launches include Business Management Daily, Ceramic Arts Daily, Dark Daily, Faculty Focus, Johns Hopkins Health Alerts, HR Daily Advisor, Knitting Daily, Morningstar, Mother Earth News, Tech Republic, TSI Network, Vida Y Salud, and of course, our own Mequoda Daily. They are among the most treasured accomplishments of my 30-year career in media and marketing.
The failures no longer exist.
So with each new Mequoda System I agree to guide, I ask myself about the odds for success. I am old enough to know now that their success does not revolve around me. After all, I have worked on many successes and many failures. Other circumstances and behaviors will overwhelm my contribution to the enterprise. So why do some online teams succeed and why do others fail? I think about this a lot. If I can understand what causes Mequoda Systems to fail, then perhaps I can help a few more succeed.
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The Six Reasons Mequoda System Fail (and Succeed)
- Failure to Connect
- Failure to Grow
- Failure to Monetize
While these are the observable reasons for failure, I know in my heart that the real reasons lie deeper.
- Lack of Talent
- Lack of Discipline
- Lack of Capital
No soldier joins the army expecting to die. No couple marries expecting divorce. And no publisher launches a Mequoda System expecting to fail. Yet soldiers die, couples divorce and Mequoda Systems fail.
There is only one sure way to prevent failure: Don’t try.
If you never launch a Mequoda System, it will not fail.
Short of not trying at all, understanding the reasons for failure and avoiding them as best you can will increases your odds of success.
My advice: Set clear business goals, hire good people, empower them to succeed, provide them with adequate resources, and be, at least, a little lucky.
It can take three to five years to discover whether each new Mequoda System is a success. It often takes far less time to fail. Expecting quick success is actually a leading cause of failure as it leads to having inadequate resources.
Expect to spend the first year designing, building, planning, hiring and training your Mequoda System online team. Expect to spend year two experimenting, testing, growing and getting to know your audience. Then in year three, expect the revenue and profit to begin to flow freely. As one of my venture capital friends says, success always starts with a trickle.
Hi Don:
I wholeheartedly applaud your comments.
“Expecting quick success is actually a leading cause of failure, as it leads to having inadequate resources.”
That says it best.
Too many business managers begin their projects without a well-formed and realistic outcome in mind.
And too many entrepreneurs are expecting magical shortcuts to riches. They’re not committed to the hard work of making the enterprise a success. Instead, they really want a seven-word chant that will make money fall from the sky.
The first step in achieving anything is believing that it is possible. Not hoping, but believing.
What you have done is proven that the Mequoda System works. There’s no question about that.
And professionals know that something of value doesn’t happen overnight, or without effort.
— Peter
Don
Refreshing article this morning. Too many businesses ignore that they have failed in some projects. If you never fail, you never learn. Michael Jordon didn’t make every game winning shot. We just remember the ones he did. Thanks for the honesty.
Chet