Yesterday I was driving past our local international airport and watched a plane blast off right over my head as it was on its way up to 30,000 feet.  This airliner made me think of an analogy that has withstood the test of time in business and will continue to do so for all of history due to its fundamental nature.

“Keep it Simple.”

Below I have outlined a real life business example of two competing businesses in the airline industry, one of which keeps its simple while the other loves to be the king of trying to be everything to everyone all the while not being anything to anyone.

Example A:

The Minneapolis MN-headquartered airline, Northwest Airlines (now merged with Delta) is a prime example of a company that is not only boring, but an absolute mess, barely makes a dime, and has been through years and years of struggle as they try to find their place with their business model of “lets be try to be everything to everyone.”

Their CEO Doug Steenland has his head so far in the sand that he can’t even see the fact that they would be a great airline and highly profitable if they just focused on what they did best instead of trying to be everything to everyone.

Here’s the thing:  Northwest makes 90% of its money from business travelers who regularly fly to hubs like Chicago, New York and Los Angeles. Northwest loses more money than they know what to do with shipping people to remote places like the Bismarck, North Dakotas of the world at 10:52 p.m. They have tried to establish their airline as one who can take you anywhere in the world anytime.

While that may be fine, people don’t care about that.  They care about quality; brand and service (I have yet to meet a Northwest flight attendant who doesn’t have a chipped shoulder and wasn’t angry at the world). A majority of consumers will go out of their way AND PAY MORE MONEY for things that they enjoy.  Take coffee for example: people don’t have to spend $3.47 on a skim latte form Starbucks, but THEY DO.  They could just brew it from home which some people still do and that’s fine…. they are not really members of Starbucks’ target market. NWA can’t seem to focus on a  target market – let alone decide what their brand stands for – so consequently they have swapped their once-successful company for a joke of an airline that is more about shipping people around like cattle instead of the values the airline industry was founded upon.

AND to top it all off after years and years of nothing but continual failure, instead of getting smarter and learning from their mistakes they decide to merge with Delta Airlines in hopes to make them EVEN bigger, so just MAYBE, just MAYBE the combined losses will be a little less that what they are today and they won’t have any market competition.

Yes, Northwest Airlines does ship tens of thousands of people all across the world every single day safely, but why not do in style, and in a way that their travelers are proud to wear the badge of their brand and shout out from the mountaintops advocating for them to the masses.

Why not just “keep it simple?”

Example B:

Virgin America is an example of one of many airlines that is smart about how they are running their business. They run their company like it’s a small business spending their own money, not like a major publicly-traded company spending shareholders’ cash.  Virgin America is a company that people WANT to fly on.  Very simple when you stop and think about it.  They have a select few routes, with limited times and limited destinations, maximizing the use of their planes to their absolute fullest potential. They do the same flights, and the same schedules, to the same places….OVER, and OVER, and OVER, and OVER, and OVER.

Virgin America operates on an entirely new fleet of identical planes which are not only more efficient, but also again…”simple”. Their interiors are second to none; their staff is friendly and happy to be working. They have a brand behind them that people all over the world have come to admire. All the while Virgin America keeps things simple, and builds loyal clients while making a boatload of money in the process.

It’s really not that complicated, is it?

Why is Virgin America a success vs. Northwest Airlines constantly in the shitter?

Two Things:

1. Focus:

Having a clear and concise focus, and becoming the very best in your industry is one of many ingredients in the recipe for success.  Focus on keeping things simple, and don’t unnecessarily complicate things that should never become complicated in the first place.

2. Replication:

My dear readers, everything we do is a choice. Replicating and duplicating the same process over and over allows you to perfect what it does and become the VERY BEST at it – all the while being a thought leader and expert in your industry. Anyone who runs a successful business should put replication into practice, and if they don’t they are missing out on a major opportunity to set yourself apart form a very large crowd of mediocrity.

Keeping it simple doesn’t mean you can’t be a mega global corporation. It just means you have to remember what you are best at and stick with that until you’re blue in the face for doing the same thing over and over again.

In our society of consumerism, instant gratification, and me, me, me attitudes, businesses are going to have to wake up to the fact that they will not survive if they try to be everything to everyone. If they want to be successful; they must be the very best in their specific highly targeted niche and nothing less – otherwise why even bother? Screw being mediocre.

STOP COMPLICATING YOUR BUSINESSES.

Simplicity has never gone out of style and it never will.

Screw being in business if you can’t learn to “Keep it Simple”

Starting today, my writing is going to be different.  When I started this blog a few months ago I didn’t know what I was getting into, my writing skills were crap, I had this vision in my head that “if you build it, they will come”, and really knew almost nothing about blogging or writing in general.

Today, I was listening to a man speak this morning and he said something that hit me like a ton of bricks. A light bulb finally turned on inside my head.  He said that we must SERVE.  To put others first, care for them. As hard as it is for me to stomach and recognize this myself, let alone openly admit it, I think when I first started this blog that it was all about me.  A way to promote myself, show the world what I do, get myself known, blah, blah, blah.  There is nothing wrong with that, but after thinking about this all day long, I think we have to let that part go to truly make a difference in peoples lives.

So here is what has transpired over the past 3 months with my writings and I would like to share some of these things with you:

There were people in my life that I thought didn’t care about me. One person in particular was my father. It has become apparent to me that he does now from his commenting, and responding privately to my writings and I even sense him being proud of me which I didn’t think would ever happen.  I think we all seek validation from out fathers, and it’s a nice feeling when someone you care about so much thinks the world of you.

My writing skills went from about a 9^th grade flunkie level to for the most part, proper and pretty damn good if I do say so myself. I think I have found my writing style, times to write – as I think this is different for everyone, and what to write about.  I write at least 1-2 hours every day now, and usually at least for a large 4-6 hour chunk on the weekends.  Sometimes I force it out, and others (like right now) it just flows.

I started writing a weekly column for a magazine and really enjoy it! It’s really cool to be able to write whatever I want to write about and have an editor to make it really sing!

I 100% finished and published my first book (which any writer knows how hard it really is to make their piece of “art” fully complete). At least for me, I saw all the imperfections, edited, and re-edited, until I finally had to just had to say screw it, its never going to be perfect, publish it, and let it go. Now, I have some AMAZING things that are happening with this and will let everyone know when the time is right.

I have outlined my next book and will be sending the book proposal to one particular agent that I think should take a hard look at me, and it. When I wrote my first book it took years to write, needed the help of an editor to pull the information out of me, and was unknowingly just writing for my ego’s sake.  Now, I think if I were to lock myself away in a room, or go on a trip to Ireland or something and focused strictly on writing for about a month I would get my next book done and I know it will be NY Times Best Seller List quality.  Mostly I know this because of my writing skills, and the topic I want to write about, and look forward to checking out from real life and society to create my next piece of art. It is entirely intoxicating for me to think that currently at age 26, I have a lifetime ahead of writing.  I also know that not everything I write is going to be a masterpiece.  Some will be crap.  Some will be mediocre. And some will be my best work.  So when I think about the fact that I will have the blessing to be writing fairly conservatively guessing for the next 50 years or so and this is just the beginning…I can’t wait to see what book 2, 3, 5, 10, 15, etc. turns out to be over my lifetime. Maybe I will write short stories, maybe a novel, maybe kids books, maybe more philosophy, maybe more business, any of which would be an absolute blast to do.

This weekend I started to get ready to submit a few guest posts to very popular blogs. When that happens, my blog and writings should start to become more widely known across the internet, that is, of course, if people like my content.

I now consider myself well-informed in the writing and blogging industry.

This weekend I decided that I am going to try to write for at least one more magazine on a regular basis and am going to contact the publications that I am thinking I would like to write for this week.

And I left this one for last because it is the most important.  I mentioned that when I was writing my first book, looking back I realize that it was for my ego.  I also mentioned that today it hit me about serving others. So here is the big change that you will see from now on moving forward:

I realized that when I write I need to not just put my thoughts down onto paper.  That’s not writing, it’s word vomiting. When I think about “serving others”, I look at what I wrote down months ago as My Major Desire In Life.  I am not going to tell you the full details of my desire, or what I am willing to give to achieve this desire, mostly because a lot of it is private, but I wanted to tell you this little part, which I think is most important. I wrote:

“I intend to give all and any of the knowledge and wisdom that I have accumulated along my journey back to everyone as to help them not have to go through what I did.”

So, “serving”. What does that mean? What does that mean for you? What does that mean for me?

When I wrote down my desire my ego was not there. My ego is not here right now when I am writing this.  Serving is what I feel called and destined to do. Not writing to become famous or rich, but to help others in any and every way I possibly can with every ounce of my mind, body, and soul.

The gift of life allows us to decide many things. 3 months ago, I decided to start writing on a regular basis and look at what has already happened. What I decided today was to no longer consume, or write to just write, but to really “serve others” by providing insight, detailed accounts of wisdom that can be passed on, real life experiences with emotion, and let go of fear and write about what I am truly passionate about in a way the informs and serves others.

Today, I start writing to serve.

I wanted people to see this because, when building a company you should always be asking yourself these two questions:

1. “What basic fundamental human need do I provide?”

2  “What does my service answer?”

Doing that will help ensure that you are not wasting your time making something that users don’t want or need.

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