What is the ikigai concept for business?

Ikigai, which means “a reason for being”, is a Japanese word that has gently risen to the forefront of the business world, like a whale coming up to greet the dawn. It is a welcome wave of thoughtfulness and quiet in the face of a usually loud, blustering, profit-at-all-costs model.

The Ikigai concept beckons to us, asking us to consider the question: What do I get up for in the mornings? For most of us, the answer is not “money”.

Money, for most people, is a means to an end. If you ask people at the end of their lives what they wish they could have done differently, the answers are not usually “I wish I’d made more money”. They’re along the lines of “I wish I had stayed in touch with my friends”.

Heart matters, both in our personal lives and in business. It seems a bit short-sighted to assume otherwise or to see business as totally apart from our personal values. The industrial revolution saw people exchanging their labor for money and becoming increasingly alienated from the joys of pouring their hearts into their creative endeavors and trade. They became cogs in the wheel of the factory that is capitalism.

We still have a top-down structure in many work environments today, but some companies have begun to embrace a horizontal knowledge approach, where managers and employees are on the same level and treated as equals. The more we learn about what makes employees happy, hopefully, the more we will move towards those models, of which the Ikigai concept is a prime example.

While ikigai is generally applied to finding purpose in your personal life, this Process Street post will look at how the same 4 concepts can be applied to your business as well:

• Ikigai for business: The need for meaning & purpose at work
• Ikigai business concept #1: How are you helping the world?
• Ikigai business concept #2: What lights your fire?
• Ikigai business concept #3: What are you good at?
• Ikigai business concept #4: How can you generate profit?
• Look inwards for your purpose – even in business

Make sure you’re sitting comfortably. Let’s begin.
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What does a customer success manager do?

Let’s start at the beginning.

Customer success is vital to a company’s growth because customers are the ones that bring revenue. Although more popular in high-tech sectors, like SaaS product development or cloud services, the customer success manager (CSM) role is gaining more and more popularity in other businesses as well.

But you may be asking, what does a customer success manager even do?

A CSM’s role revolves around making sure customers get their desired outcomes while using the service/product, thus prolonging their life cycles.

In this Process Street article, I will walk you through a customer success manager’s tasks, from onboarding and training the customers, to reducing churn, dealing with critical events, getting and analyzing feedback from customers, and so on.

Read on to get a full 360-view of what the CSM role entails and why it’s so important for a company:

• CSM responsibilities: Customer onboarding
• CSM responsibilities: Collecting & analyzing customer feedback
• CSM responsibilities: Maintaining customer success
• CSM responsibilities: Customer offboarding

Let’s jump right in!
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Keeping everyone on the same page in your business is easy with today’s technology. Using cloud-based calendars, you can have everyone synced up all the time from any device. In this post, I will go through our favorite setups to ensure your team never misses a meeting again.

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Business systemization gained notoriety from the bestselling book by Michael E. Gerber, published in 1986, The E-Myth – Why most businesses don’t work and what to do about it. In 2011, this groundbreaking book was named the number 1 business book of all time by The Wall Street Journal. In The E-Myth (Entrepreneurial Myth) Gerber explains how businesses are usually started by those who know the content of a business – so-called “Technicians”, people who know how to do the technical work involved in an enterprise – rather than by those who know business itself – so-called “Entrepreneurs” – and why start-ups are therefore by definition prone to failing.

In order for a company or business to thrive, it must move beyond relying on the so-called “Technician” who is now also the company owner. Gerber uses the franchise model to demonstrate how a business does this: Franchises are prototype businesses that are operated in terms of well-documented systems, i.e., there are manuals describing in minute detail how to run the business. Gerber argues that the entrepreneur should spend time creating a business that can run by itself, without the presence of the entrepreneur, and this is achieved through business systemization.

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This is a guest post by Adam Hempenstall, who is the CEO and Founder of Better Proposals – simple proposal software for creating beautiful, high-impact proposals in minutes. Having helped his customers win $500,000,000 in the last 12 months alone, he’s launched the first Proposal University where he shares best practices on writing and designing proposals.

A great business proposal means the difference between an unsigned contract and a successful deal. A poorly written business proposal will get turned down, even if the offer is good.

Business proposals are considered to be an art form that only the extremely skilled can write.

However, after analyzing over 189,000 successful business proposals, I can tell you that there’s no secret to writing a great proposal.

Allow me to elaborate as I take you through our analysis findings, and run through the following topics, in this Process Street post:

• What is a business proposal & how do you create one?
• Business proposal finding #1: Visuals matter
• Business proposal finding #2: Video makes no difference
• Business proposal finding #3: Live chat increases conversions
• Business proposal finding #4: A single offer is better than a package
• Business proposal finding #5: Kiss PDFs goodbye
• Business proposal finding #6: People open proposals on their phones first
• Business proposal finding #7: It doesn’t matter when you send your proposal
• Business proposal finding #8: Clients love paying directly from the proposal
• Business proposal finding #9: Length matters
• Business proposal finding #10: The title of the pricing section makes a difference
• Business proposal finding #11: Act quickly
• Business proposal finding #12: Use a template
• Key takeaways: The magic business proposal solution

Let’s get started.

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Are you worried the upcoming recession will turn your business to dust? Then you might find this recession survival toolkit of some use.

With global growth predicted to slow down by 70%, millions of people are anxious about what’s to come.

But I’m here to offer a solution to your concerns: technology. 

This article will explore the best tools to use during a recession.

“Yeah, right! I don’t wanna be spending more during a recession!”

Well, if your goal is to retain your employees, satisfy customers, and improve business outcomes, you will have to spend some money. At first.

Once you’ve acquired the tools needed to scale, you’ll be able to put your feet up and reap the benefits for years to come.

So are you ready to find out how tech can help during a recession?

Then follow me as I take you through all you need to know to succeed during the economic downturn.

• How can technology help you withstand a recession?
• Benefits of using this recession survival toolkit
• Recession survival toolkit: The best tools to use
• In a recession, tech is the way to go

Cutthroat. Ruthless. Dog-eat-dog.

No, I’m not introducing this year’s hottest action movie – I’m talking about the world of business.

Nowadays, it’s quicker and easier than ever to get a business up and running. Hell, with the emergence of low code and no-code platforms, it’s not just quick and easy but downright simple.

But only 3 out of 4 companies featured in the S&P 500 list will still be relevant – and even exist – in 2027.

With this stark realization, how do startup hopefuls and the Fortune 500 alike know if they’ve got the resources and capabilities to not only stay in the game for the long-haul, but have an overall competitive advantage?

VRIO.

I last discussed VRIO in my post What is VRIO? The 4-Step Framework for Continuous Business Success, where I laid the foundation for understanding what VRIO is, where it came from, and how to navigate the framework.

However, in this post, I’ll be taking things one step further.

I’ll recap what VRIO is (handy for those who don’t already know!), discuss the specific benefits of VRIO analysis, and even provide you with a free VRIO analysis checklist – made by us here at Process Street!

Just read through the following sections to get started:

• What is the VRIO definition?
• The benefits of using the VRIO model for business analysis
• Using Process Street’s VRIO analysis checklist
• Tips for undergoing VRIO analysis with our checklist
• Additional resources for a sustained competitive advantage

The clock’s ticking, so let’s jump in! ⏱

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The definition of economic doom: Recession. 

It’s every homeowner, parent, investor, business owner, and employee’s greatest fear. Especially when you look at the lasting effects previous recessions have had on the economy. 

Recently, there’s been much speculation about whether or not another recession will be creeping into the economy soon, and how this one will pan out. And with speculation comes rising anxiety around the topic. Mass layouts. Sky-high inflation. Lower profit margins. It’s understandable why people might fear another recession. 

But is a recession really as bad as it seems? 

To answer this question, I’ve put together some of the recession myths and misconceptions still floating around today and debunked them for you. Take a look: 

• What makes a recession, a recession?
• Myths and misconceptions about a recession 
• Staying one step ahead of any recession

Do you have a brand that you go back to, time and time again?

If you do, what is it about this brand that’s captured your loyalty?

I do not doubt that an exceptional customer experience plays its part. That is, think about how that brand makes you feel. Good huh?

According to Bain & Company, businesses that invest time and effort to optimize their customer experience (CX) flows, experience above-market revenue growth between 4-8%. With the vast choice of products, services and brands available, exceptional customer experience comes as the ultimate seduction and differentiation for businesses to stand out above competitors.

In this Process Street article, you’ll learn how to engage your customers at every point in their journey with you. You’ll learn how to consistently create a service with a smile, a product to praise, and a beloved brand.

Learn from the best as we take a glimpse into the CX operations used by the likes of Netflix, Microsoft, and of course Process Street. You’ll then be given 5 tips on how you can optimize your CX flows, taking into account the changing business landscape, and the impacts of digitalization on customer behavior and experience.

Click on the relevant subheader to jump to your section of choice. Alternatively, scroll down to read all for an in-depth understanding of CX.

• What is CX?
• Case studies: How top tech companies deliver excellent CX
• How to optimize your customer experience flows
• Using checklists to optimize your CX flows in 5 steps
• Understanding customer experience flows in a digital world

Let’s jump to it!
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This is a guest post by Ray Slater Berry, a freelance writer for Chameleon with over nine years of content marketing and social media experience. He specializes in product tech, travel, SaaS and working one time as a CMO at Study Clerk. Ray is also a published fiction writer, with his first novel titled Golden Boy.

“Every dollar invested in ease of use returns $10 to $100.” – IBM, The ROI of UX

The above statement was made by the global business powerhouse, IBM. The company explains that it’s far more economical to consider user needs early in the design process than to try and solve them later. Based on the returns given in the above quote, we can calculate an ROI of 9,900%.

And considering the user needs early is exactly what a user experience (UX) map does, meaning creating an effective UX map has the potential to bridge the gap between business success and failure.

By understanding your user’s needs in the early stages of a design process, you’re more likely to consistently meet those needs, meaning a happy customer and reduced churn.

This is why we at Process Street have produced this article, your practical guide to user experience mapping.

Welcome and gather around the user experience campfire. Grab a marshmallow on a stick, a cup of something hot, and relax. Today you’ll learn the ins of outs of user experience maps and how you can create one in the leanest way possible.

Click on the relevant subheader below to jump to your section of choice. Alternatively, scroll down to read all we have to say regarding user experience mapping.

• What are user experience maps?
• The benefits of UX mapping
• How do you create a UX map?
• Examples of user experience maps

Once upon a time, in a land not so far from here…
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