This weekend I'm going to be at WordCamp Reno. While there, I'll be speaking, on Saturday, about overshoot. And next week, I'll be publishing my next ebook on, you guessed it, protecting yourself from overshoot.
What is Overshoot?
So what does this really mean? Well, in really practical terms, the meaning is exactly what you might think – you passed something by. You shot passed it. You overshot.
In this case, I use it to mean the dynamics that lead you to pass by real project requirements and customer needs, only to see all your profit disappear.
And here's what I know – regardless of whether you're a startup, a small business, an established business, or a freelancer – no one likes seeing their profits run off without them.
I Drew a Picture…
To illustrate the concept, I sketched out my main premise in this image.
Does it help you to see it?
I don't know if the image helps, but I hope it does. What it highlights is that it's not always (only) the customer's fault. We can walk ourselves into overshoot when we start pushing to do something because it's interesting to us, rather than because our clients need it.
And of course there's always that client who thinks that they can “collaborate” on the design, and on iteration 20, you're both ready to kill each other. I can tell you this, most people don't finish projects like that with a profit.
So here's the little spoken truth – you need to focus not on what you want to do (for “professional” reasons), not on what your client says they want, or even what they need.
You need to focus on what their clients need.
My eBook Launches Next Week
I'm going to be doing some special promotions next week to everyone on my newsletter list, including giving away some free copies – so make sure you sign up in the big orange box over there, or down below, in the black box between the article and the comment section.
I can't wait to hear your take on it and to see if it helps you. In talking to one person today, she said, “I really could have used that lesson about a year ago. Sure would have saved me tons of time and money.”
I hope it will be the same for you. So Sign Up.