The Common Sense Industry

Written by Aprill on August 6, 2010

Our ways of doing business are going through a correction, of sorts. As we evolve to do more of our business online, or at least support our brick and mortar businesses with an online presence, we're going back to fundamentals. In fact, there seems to be a big trade in the industry of common sense.

Rework Reworks the Way we Think

A terrific example of this is Jason Fried's book Rework. It's a light read about business. In the tech boom of the 90s we worked hard on giving customers what they wanted before they knew they wanted it. We wanted to build things big and be the first to get it out there. We had big ideas and big dreams and if we couldn't fund it ourselves we found a venture capitalist.

We still have our big ideas and big dreams but Rework reminds us to prioritise and focus on the important parts. In clear and simple language, and in short chapters, it espouses iterative design (release early and improve often), and flexibility instead of big product and rigid business plans. It's so obvious, it seems like a whole lot of common sense. And it's enormously popular.

Why the Common Sense Industry is so Big Right Now

The thing about common sense is that what sounds like common sense to you, may not be common sense to others. Think about when you started out doing what you do. You wouldn't have known what you know now. In fact, I'm sure you sought and soaked up all the information you could get your hands on to help you on your way.

The other thing about common sense is that you might be thinking "I know all those things", but are you doing them?

The Problogger Training Day—A Whole Lot of Common Sense

The Problogger training event this week was just that—a room full of people with big ideas listening to common sense advice from big names in the business of blogging.

The speakers and panelists included Collis Ta'eed, the founder of the Envato suite of successful sites, Chris Garrett, Yaro Starak, Pip Lincolne and of course, Problogger's Darren Rowse.

Here are Some Tips

There were a few points that struck a particular chord with me.

1. Be where people are and be awesome.
2. Create a client profile - who are they, what are their interests, what do they look like? Give them a name and a photograph that suits that 'personality', and then call that profile to mind when you're creating your product or coming up with a brief for your copywriter.
3. Don't just be different; be different with an advantage.
4. Do what you love, or solve your own problem; there will probably be others out there like you.

... and Some Resources

Lots of people have been recording their thoughts on the Problogger training day; search the #pbevent hashtag on Twitter. A few people have graciously shared some resources that came up during conversation.

• Links mentioned during the event - Courtesy of Bec Coleman.
• 15 useful resources from The Blog Stylist.

Did you go to the Problogger day? What are the common sense tips that you took away? If you weren't there, leave a comment telling me what your common sense tips are in your line of work.

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Photo by Wayne Large