The Blue Ocean Strategist

08Feb 2021 by Sherman Mohr

Meet Value Innovators The Drury Brothers of 1 Stroke Club

Blue Ocean Articles, Six Paths Framework, Strategic Models, The Value Innovators

Meet value innovators the Drury brothers of 1StrokeClub.com. The Value Innovators Show is a webisode series featuring company founders that have launched or run companies that exhibit numerous qualities of blue ocean strategy. Some of these founders have a clue that they've done something related to blue ocean strategy. Most do not. I met one of the founding brothers, Brian Drury via a great Nashville connector, Todd Bowman of Insperity. Brian and I struck up a business relationship that has served to keep us connected and aware of what's going on in our professional lives. Brian mentioned on a recent call that he and his brothers, Grant and Kyle, had launched a business. I immediately inquired as to the nature of the venture and was truly impressed. [embed]https://youtu.be/ehOpT_JVkOo[/embed] Brian explained…

22Jan 2021 by Sherman Mohr

Sports Challenges are Thriving with Blue Ocean Thinking

Blue Ocean Articles, Six Paths Framework, Strategic Models, Strategic Planning

Sports challenges are thriving with blue ocean thinking. Our culture loves the thought of winning big. Winning big with a half-court throw at a basketball game or a mid-rink puck strike into the net at a hockey game. One of the more popular prizes fantasized about by those who golf is the hole in one prize offered in most golf tournaments. If you've done any golfing and found yourself in a foursome in a local tournament, there is a good chance at some par three hole on the course, there was a car parked close by. The car had a bow on it and the premise was simple. Get a hole in one and the car is yours. Sometimes it's cash, sometimes a vacation, or something else of significant value.…

10Dec 2020 by Sherman Mohr

Blue Ocean Strategy for Solopreneurs: Focus on the Big Picture, Not the Numbers

As-Is Strategy, Blue Ocean Articles, Six Paths Framework, Strategic Planning, To-Be Strategy Canvas

You may recall, the first principle of Blue Ocean Strategy is the reconstruction of market boundaries. Without permission internally, and a process to break your industry boundaries, it will be impossible to move into blue oceans of uncontested market space. In today's post, we learn how important the second principle is in blue ocean strategy for solopreneurs. Focus on the big picture, not the numbers. The temptation when planning is to launch into a business plan or strategic plan and use templates that one finds online or using some process read about when researching a business, marketing, or strategic plan. I have been guilty of the same thing. Before I know it, I've played office and have spent a week mocking up fabulous charts, graphs, marketing and sales projections, and…

07Dec 2020 by Sherman Mohr

Blue Ocean for Solopreneurs. Reconstruct Boundaries with Path 6 of Six

Blue Ocean Articles, Six Paths Framework, Strategic Planning

In today's post, Blue Ocean for Solopreneurs. Reconstruct Boundaries with Path 6 of Six, we discuss looking across time. No, we're not learning how to forecast the future. We are, however, learning a framework around assessing trends. When a company or individual learns to assess trends, serve the culture, and then get in front of those trends using all the other frameworks, magic begins to take place. What special qualities of looking across time work in the context of blue ocean strategy? You have to look at the trends for blue ocean for solopreneurs and reconstruct boundaries with path 6 of six with these questions in mind. What trends have a high probability of impacting or are decisive to your industry? What trends are irreversible and what trends have a…

03Dec 2020 by Sherman Mohr

Blue Ocean for Solopreneurs. Reconstruct Boundaries with Path 5 of Six

Blue Ocean Articles, Six Paths Framework, Strategic Planning

Blue ocean for solopreneurs is a series written to provide a translation of the business best-seller Blue Ocean Strategy: How to Create Uncontested Market Space and Make the Competition Irrelevant into language more useful for the solopreneur or small business owner. Today in Blue Ocean for Solopreneurs we Reconstruct Boundaries with Path 5 of Six. Path 5: Look Across Functional or Emotional Appeal to Buyers. Companies of all sizes generally default to doing what the competition does. There is generally little thought given to strategic planning that leads to true differentiation of one company's product over another. In most cases, companies will compete on functional price-oriented factors or emotional feeling-oriented factors. These two competitive defaults end up training the entire customer base of entire industries. The cycles of function or…

20Nov 2020 by Sherman Mohr

Blue Ocean for Solopreneurs. Reconstruct Boundaries with Path 4 of Six

Blue Ocean Articles, Six Paths Framework, Strategic Planning

It's time to share another post dealing with blue ocean for solopreneurs. Reconstruct boundaries with path 4 of six. There are six pathways in this particular part of the blue ocean strategy implementation sequence. As a reminder, the first principle of blue ocean strategy is to reconstruct market boundaries. It is this willingness to question industry established boundaries and slaughter the sacred cows that is so exciting about the blue ocean shift process. Anytime some newcomer is nipping at the heels of an industry player, oftentimes without their knowledge and other times in plain sight, it is very exciting. Think Innovator's Dilemma. A study or implementation of blue ocean strategy includes the understanding and implementation of tools and frameworks that have been studied and proven to work in company after…

03Nov 2020 by Sherman Mohr

Blue Ocean for Solopreneurs. Reconstruct Boundaries with Path 3 of Six.

Blue Ocean Articles, Six Paths Framework

In this article, Blue Ocean for Solopreneurs. Reconstruct Boundaries with Path 3 of Six, we break down path 3 of the six paths framework. Path 3: Look Across the Chain of Buyers In most marketing and sales training, you are prompted to develop a buyer persona. The buyer persona will be focused on your opinion or history of who purchases your offering. In the absence of other processes, this a great exercise. Some businesses resist strategic thought about buyer personas. Blue Ocean Strategy invites the participant to broaden the definition of the buyer. As a sole proprietor, small business owner, or division leader, there are more possible definitions of buyer than you may realize. When Joann K, a distiller with a growing spirits brand seeks to sell her products to…

28Oct 2020 by Sherman Mohr

Blue Ocean for Solopreneurs. Reconstruct Boundaries with Path 2 of Six.

As-Is Strategy, Blue Ocean Articles, Six Paths Framework

In this post, I break down blue ocean strategy's six paths framework and cover path 2. We are diving into blue ocean for solopreneurs. Reconstruct boundaries with path 2 of 6. Today's translation of Blue Ocean Strategy deals with path 2 of the six paths framework. Path 2: Look across strategic groups within industries. In the book, it is noted that most companies seek to bolster their position within the same strategic group. It provides us the example of Mercedes, Jaguar, and BMW all pursuing customers in the luxury category. They don't spend much time reaching out to those new car buyers in the economy class. Alternatively, the blue ocean strategy success story provided is Curves, the successful women's workout facility that began franchising in 1995. They succeeded for a…

27Oct 2020 by Sherman Mohr

Blue Ocean for Solopreneurs. Reconstruct Your Boundaries.

Blue Ocean Articles, Six Paths Framework

Blue ocean for solopreneurs? Reconstruct your boundaries. Candidly, the ability to recreate, modify, enhance, or redefine industries is my all-time favorite business topic. Redefining and recreating one's life is my favorite personal topic! Chapter three of Blue Ocean Strategy starts with "The first principle of blue ocean strategy is to reconstruct market boundaries to break from the competition and create blue oceans." The challenge is to identify and implement countless opportunities for blue ocean growth. The authors of Blue Ocean Strategy found clear patterns for creating blue oceans. Research of companies and industries led to the identification of six basic approaches. Over the years, validation of these six approaches has been codified as the six paths framework. In this post, blue ocean strategy for solopreneurs; reconstruct your boundaries, path one;…

26Oct 2020 by Sherman Mohr

Blue Ocean Strategy Frameworks for Solopreneurs Part Three

Blue Ocean Articles, Six Paths Framework

Today's post covers blue ocean strategy frameworks for solopreneurs part three. In our previous posts on blue ocean strategy frameworks, we covered the As-Is Strategy Canvas and the ERRC Grid or Eliminate, Reduce, Raise, Create Grid. There are some final details in section two of the book Blue Ocean Strategy that need to be covered before we move on to chapter three. As a reminder, I am re-reading Blue Ocean Strategy, How to Create Uncontested Market Space and Make the Competition Irrelevant with an eye toward translating it into language appropriate for the solopreneur or small business owner. There are three characteristics of a good strategy. The first characteristic of a good strategy is focus. When you read any strong case study, you'll find a disciplined focused approach. While there…