What Do You Want From Your Business?

I’ve spoken at length about “how” to start a business. That is, after all, the primary focus of this blog. But one thing I haven’t really spoken about is “why.” Not why you want to start your own business in the first place of course, that speaks for itself, but why you are starting this particular business? While there are any number of explanations, it’s my feeling that they all boil down to two specific (and very simple) reasons. You either want to create a job for yourself (and potentially others), or you want to build up a business…

Follow Up Fast, Or Let It Go

It’s an all too common tale: you’re at a convention, panel, or meeting and you spend the day making new connections. It’s an exciting feeling and you can envision all the ways the new contacts can help your business. But when you get home, you’re exhausted from the busy day and you drop right to sleep. Then the next day you get caught up in business and making up for the time away, so you don’t quite get around to following up with your new connections. The following day it slips your mind again. Before you know it, a…

The End Of Secrecy

The poster above may be a relic of World War II, but the notion of keeping secrets to preserve the advantage dates from much further back. The ancient “Art of War” by Sun Tzu includes the advice “onceal your dispositions, and your condition will remain secret, which leads to victory.” More recently, the passage of the Patriot Act has shown the importance that global leaders place on protecting their own secrets and uncovering the secrets of their opponents.

However, as is so often the case, the rise of the interconnected society has begun to change the rules. Transparency has become…

Train Yourself To Train Your Team

Experience, as they say, is what you get immediately after you need it. No doubt you’ve experienced this unfortunate truth many times in your life; I certainly have. That’s the beauty of training. It allows us to learn from the mistakes of others, rather than having to make our own (not that any teenager in the world is going to believe that).

Fortunately for us both, we live in a world built on knowledge.  That makes finding and disseminating information easy, for you and for your team. Your role, then, is more that of a curator. As you acquire knowledge…

Procrastinate For A Living

When’s the last time you did something without procrastinating, even for a minute? With so many distractions in our high-data culture, it can be hard to retain your focus on any one project for long stretches of time. That’s not always a bad thing – some people are simply happier with a lot of different things occupying their attention at the same time. For others, that can be overwhelming – and their productivity suffers accordingly. Odds are good you know which kind of person you are by now.

But that’s beside the point. Whether procrastination is a mood enhancer or…