Author: lapreuss

Posted in Business Strategy

What Are Your Customers’ Pains and Gains?

Posted on by lapreuss

Nowadays, there are products for everything. Just have a look at your local supermarkets’ shelves. They are crowded! Still, you may not have even notice this but many products disappear after only a short period of time because their launch wasn’t successful. If you take a look at lists of product failures, such as this one here you’ll see that the products just don’t seem to correspond with the customers’ needs. And that’s a huge problem!

So, in order to avoid putting yourself in such a situation, one vital step in your product development phase should be to think about your customers’ pains and gains in order to make sure that you’re creating real value for them. And for that, the Value Proposition Canvas can be of great help!

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Posted in Business

After The Intern

Posted on by lapreuss

As of yesterday, I’m back to working without the lovely Lisa and let me tell you: it felt really weird to cancel her e-mail account this morning. I guess a part of me hopes she’ll simply reappear at our co-working space out of thin air. But since that’s never going to happen, I’m thinking about hiring someone who’s talented at graphic design for +/- 20% to support me at least 1x a week.

Let me know if you know someone who know’s someone, preferably living in Switzerland!

Posted in Inspiration

Letter Of Reference

Posted on by lapreuss

Don’t know where to start with your letter of reference?

I wrote one today for Lisa, who will be finishing her internship at LA Preuss Consulting tomorrow. And since we worked together for 4 weeks straight, it was my pleasure to put into words how dedicated and hardworking she’s been!

OK – here’s what you do Continue reading “Letter Of Reference” →

Posted in Business

Key Performance Indicators

Posted on by lapreuss

Each time a new month kicks off, I try to block an afternoon of my time to write my invoices and create performance reports for my customers. Not only do I really enjoy the math to this, as well as getting back in touch with my customers, I also love calculating my own company’s performance report.

To do so, I use so called “key performance indicators” (KPIs) and calculate what my total revenue was, as well as my total costs and how many new vs. returning customers I had. This way, I can track how my business performed in one month and easily compare it with the performance from previous months. Another benefit is that I can calculate how profitable I was and what I need to do better next month (e.g. increase revenue, cut costs, etc.)!

Hope this gave you a little insight into what you can do to measure your company’s performance. If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to leave a comment below!

Posted in Business

Every Chance You Get

Posted on by lapreuss

It’s so important to use your personal contacts, as well as events, to connect with others and talk about your business, especially when you’re just starting out. And while some may ask you for a business card and never get back to you, others will find it interesting to know what you do for a living and either get back to you one day or tell their friends and family about you in the meantime. So just keep that in mind and use every chance you get the next time you go somewhere!!!

Posted in Business Strategy

Strategy in Practice

Posted on by lapreuss

In line with yesterday’s strategy talk post, Lisa & I spent the afternoon coming up with a vision (“Empowering SMBs to make full use of the digital age”), mission (“Showing SMBs the potential of digital marketing and helping them exploit these opportunities by providing a holistic solution”) and strategy (“Spreading the news and constantly updating LA Preuss Consulting’s services to match the individual needs of SMBs”). Continue reading “Strategy in Practice” →

Posted in Business, Inspiration

Small Things That Make A Big Difference

Posted on by lapreuss

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Working with Lisa on so many different projects from various locations over the past 2 weeks has made me feel especially grateful for the following 5 of her many traits:

  1. Being reliabile
  2. Being honest
  3. Working hard
  4. Being well-prepared
  5. Having a positive attitude.

Sure, one could argue that these are “small” things that don’t require special skills or talent but believe me – they make a BIG difference and continue to have a positive impact on how we work together!

 

Posted in Inspiration

Sunny Days

Posted on by lapreuss

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The weather was absolutely perfect over the weekend – really warm and super sunny! And it felt great to be able to take it all in one ray of sunshine at a time. YAY! Plus, now I feel so energized about starting into the new week with so many exciting projects awaiting…

Hope you have a fabulous start into your Monday!

Posted in Business

Teamwork

Posted on by lapreuss


Having Lisa support me at LA Preuss Consulting over the last 2 weeks has been such an incredible experience and I really appreciate working in a team again. Also, I’m super grateful for the fact that we don’t just work well together but constantly challenge one another’s ideas. FYI – we’ve decided to unite our brain power to create a fresh strategy for LA Preuss Consulting… Exciting times ahead!!!

Posted in Business

Outside The Comfort Zone

Posted on by lapreuss

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We decided to go outside for bit of strategy-talk regarding LA Preuss Consulting’s business plan and were not only able to meet a grazing cow but had our first quick sales pitch in front of a neighboring business and hopefully soon-to-be customer…

As for my take-away of the day: creating a business plan and breaking it down into doable goals is great and can be very helpful for a business. Still, even the greatest ideas won’t get you anywhere if you’re not willing to implement them. And sometimes, doing so requires stepping outside your comfort zone, making phone calls and knocking on doors!