Gym It Up

If you own a business or you’re planning to start a business, time seems to be an ever decreasing commodity. As I write this I’m having trouble believing it’s May already. Where did the last five months go!? Ever ask yourself the same thing?

Running a company is not for the faint of heart. It takes passion, dedication, and a boatload of time. It can also be quite stressful. When you are your own boss the security blanket of knowing what your next paycheck will be (Hell, just knowing there will BE a next paycheck) goes bye bye.

All of this stress can do some pretty bad things to you physiologically. If you don’t have a positive outlet for your stress, you are probably headed down the heart attack highway baby, and none of us want to go through that.

Enter the gym. For me, going to the gym is my time. I unplug from my desktop, my laptop, my iPad, my iPhone and leave everything at the door for an hour or two. (now of course I check in to the gym on foursquare before totally unplugging…AND I do have an iPod that I listen to while working out…but you get the point).

No matter how busy I get, I always try to make time for the gym. It’s built in to my schedule to have fitness as part of my lifestyle. If I get busy or work late, I make that day up during the weekend, or go out for a run when I get home. But the fitness is crucial for me to stay sane, happy, and productive.

I hear this a lot, “But I’m tired at the end of the day. I’ve got nothing left.” I feel that way too sometimes, and so does everyone else in the gym. But once you get there, something changes. And when you are done you feel great. Absolutely can’t workout after work? Go in the morning. All of my friends who workout in the a.m. say they feel more energized all day at work. Most of them have even been able to cut out coffee (crazy).

Put a reminder on your phone or computer to pop up every day and remind you to go until you get the habit down. The most important thing is to START.

Don’t Squash Creativity

Your business is your baby.  You’ve nurtured it from the beginning, and you may be a bit reluctant to hear any ideas that aren’t your own.  I can hear you now, “I listen to other people’s ideas all the time!”  Yeah, you may be placating your team members or employees, but I’m always surprised by the amount of great ideas that staff have that often go unheard.  And it’s not for lack of trying to get their ideas out there, it’s because the business is YOUR baby and because it’s your baby, any ideas that aren’t yours can easily be dismissed.

There are a couple of problems that can occur because of this that, as a business owner, you may not see.  

The first problem is missed opportunity.  How many time saving, cost saving, productivity increasing innovations are you missing by not hearing the creative thoughts of your employees?  It’s important to remember that as your company has grown, by necessity you have removed yourself from certain daily operations which are now being done by your employees.  The people that now do the work you were doing, may very well find a faster, smarter, better way to get it done.  Instead of shooting down their ideas, hear them out.  Create a forum for creativity if you will.  Create a process for the submission of ideas.  This empowering of your employees is an often missed and invaluable business asset.  Which brings me to the second problem that can occur by stifling out ideas.

This problem is often overlooked, but is probably a much bigger issue than the missed opportunity issue.  What is it?  Demotivation and devaluation of employees.  Employees who feel their opinions and ideas are not heard stop giving them willingly.  Not only that, they may start doing their work begrudgingly.  They may lose the passion for what they do that makes them valuable and in turn, may start doing sloppy work–may stop caring about the quality of their work altogether.  

The ripple effect that is caused by a disgruntled or unsatisfied employee can have a lasting imprint on your entire business.  I saw a company recently lose hundreds of thousands of dollars because one disgruntled worker (who repeatedly had ideas shot down and felt demoralized by the boss) “poisoned the well” at her office.  The customers could see it and responded by going elsewhere, the quality of her work went down the crapper, and she was constantly bad mouthing the employer and making everyone else question why they worked there.  Months later the company is still trying to recover from this one employee.

The simple fact is that employees who feel empowered perform better.  If a team member feels like they have a voice, they are much more likely to be passionate about what they do and perform at highest level.  

Does this mean every idea a team member has is a good idea?  Absolutely not.  I’m not talking about letting the employees make the rules either.  But many a grand innovation has come from an employee, not the employer (you).  Be open to new ideas from within your company.  Create a company culture that embraces creative thinking without restrictions.  Let the ideas come to the table and then nourish those ideas with potential.  Your team will feel more connected to you and to their work, and you will feel better as your company grows and flourishes.  

Remember, your entire company started with an idea.  

iPad Review – Fresh Out of The Box

The new Apple iPad is all the buzz in so many Internet forums and social media platforms. It’s been that way ever since Steve Jobs announced it over a month ago. And despite all of the nay saying And flat out hate for Apple’s newest device, I decided to get the first edition on the day it came out.

Let the record show that I’m not an “Apple fanboy”. Not in the least. In fact, anyone that knows me will tell you that I resist most things Apple and use PCs both at home and at work. I have an iPhone 3GS which I did not buy when it first came out. In fact, I had to be persuaded by people I trust to make the switch from Verizon to AT&T (which I hate). However, since having the iPhone I’ve become increasingly more accepting of Apple products. The iPhone really has been a game changer and I saw the opportunity for the iPad to do the same for me, on a larger scale.

So why the iPad and why the first edition?

I was in the market for a small laptop for use when meeting with clients and for surfing and working from my couch or front porch (which is where I’m typing this on my iPad right now). I had been looking at netbooks and laptops when I heard the rumors about an iPad, so I decided to hold out. When Jobs announced I could get my hands on one for $499 I was shocked. So I did just that. I pre-ordered one of the $499 models and picked it up the day it came out.

I chose the smallest iPad because it made the most sense. It’s a brand new device, and as with most Apple products, there will be a bigger, badder, cheaper version within the year. It’s also in the same price range I was looking to spend on my small laptop, so it was affordable. The 3G model is coming out soon, and most people said, “why not wait for that?” Well, I don’t really want to give AT&T any more of my money (3G is an extra $20 per month) and I don’t really plan on using the device in areas without WiFi. If I had bought a laptop as I had originally, planned, the 3G wouldn’t have been an option anyway.

First Impressions

As with most Apple products, the packaging is great. Minimal, sleek, and basically begging to be opened. (For some reason I’ve hung on to the packaging from every Apple product I’ve purchased back to my first iPod).

It was fully charged and worked right out of the box, with no software to install–a blessing for PC users. I just turned it on and it worked. I was surprised at it’s weight (1.5 lbs). It was a little heavier than I expected but certainly not a negative nor has it been an issue at all in over a week of use. (For full specs click here)

I synced it to iTunes and threw some photo albums and music on just to see how Photos and iPod function on the iPad. The Photo functionality was pretty cool, with the “pinch and peak” preview and slideshow functions that you may have seen on the iPad commercial. The iPod didn’t really wow me, basically just a big iPod.

After syncing up I put my new iPad in the Apple case I also purchased (for $39.00). There was a non-Apple version but it was more expensive and bulkier.

The case is a tight fit but it allows me to stand the iPad up making it more functional. It also gives the iPad a layer of protection. The case can be a bit wobbly at times but in general works well. The only other downside to the case I’ve noticed so far is that it collects dirt around the edges of the screen and the iPad needs to be removed every now and then to be cleaned. My recommendation, spend the extra $39 if you get the iPad and get this case.

The touch sensitivity is amazing. It seems very accurate and almost intuitive to the touch and desired result. The only issue I’ve noticed is that it can be hard to hit the right button accurately if you are demoing the device to someone else and looking at the screen upside-down. Another problem is finger smudges on the screen. A sweet fix would be a case with a cleaning cloth compartment built in.

WiFi

Here lies my biggest complaint with the iPad– WiFi connectivity is not always a guarantee. This is a frustrating bugaboo that has left me cussing the iPad on a couple of occasions. Just to test it out, I hooked up Jaclyn’s laptop (a PC), my iPhone and my iPad to our WiFi connection. Guess who had the worst connection? Yup, iPad. I’ve done some poking around on the web, and I found one interesting trick on YouTube. For some reason, the screen brightness sensitivity seems linked to the WiFi strength. Increase your brightness, and signal strength does seem to go up. This has helped curtail my cussing but isn’t a great fix, not to mention it is a bit strange.

The Keyboard

Let’s just say there is a reason Apple sells a Bluetooth keyboard and keyboard dock for the iPad (Both about $70). The keyboard is great for little items. It is surprisingly accurate and easy to use, but it’s small and a bit awkward. I’m using it to write this and although it’s going fairly smoothly, it could be going faster. I’m going to be purchasing the Bluetooth keyboard very soon. I’d recommend anyone who plans on using the iPad for typing do the same. If you are just going to browsing the web, playing video games, and using apps, you probably won’t need it.

Apps

What makes the iPad tick? Apps baby. And while there are a ton of them available, here are some that I’d recommend:

Evernote– already a great iPhone and desktop app, the iPad version will make any Evernote user very happy. Cost: Free

NPR– interactive news makes news more fun. NPR did a solid job with layout and functionality in this app. You can listen to artists from around the world, read breaking news, listen to audio inside of some articles, and post interesting articles right to facebook. It’s easy to spend some time in this app. Cost: Free

Dragon Dictate– Transcription, instantly. This app is awesome. Record a voice memo with the click of a button and Dragon transcribes the whole thing. With another click you can send the message as a text or email, sweet! Only issue is inaccuracy, which can mean some brief editing. Great time saver. Cost: Free

Wikipanion– Wikipedia on the iPad, so what? Well, that’s what I thought too, until I tried it. The cool thing about this app is that it uses geolocation to pinpoint your current location and then drops pins around you that correspond with Wikipedia entries nearby. I love this app. Cost: Free

Pandora– streaming music that you like and control. It’s an extension of their web service and now it’s more portable on the iPad. iPad speakers are decent so it can work by itself. Cost: Free

TweetDeck– Twitterers out there know this app, and while it’s ok, it’s not great. It does provided you with a big clear picture of your tweets, mentions, DMs and other columns you set up. Cost: Free

To sum up my first seven days with the iPad, it was worth the investment for me. The bright, amazingly clear screen, the wonderful apps, the convenience, the wow factor and the usefulness outweigh my tenuous WiFi connection (hasn’t gone out on me once while typing this outside) and small keyboard (I’ll be rectifying this problem soon enough). I discover new apps every day that blow me away and somehow make me feel more connected. My clients and friends are all amazed (although skeptical at first) and it has become a great asset for my business.

I would recommend the iPad but would not recommend going overboard with a super high end model just yet.

Skin in the Game

Warren Buffett is credited by some (Answers.com included) for coming up with this term which, basically, means investing your own money in your company.  By doing so you are proving that you believe in your company and it’s eventual (if not present time) success.

Investors, including banks and angel investors like to see that you have some skin in the game as well.  It makes sense, if you’ve put $20,o00 of your own cold hard cash (or credit) into your company, it acts as a show of good faith.  You believe it will work and have a vested personal interest in the companies success.

I like to add emotional and physical to my own equation of skin in the game.  Time spent + sweat spent + sleepless nights spent + money spent = Skin In The Game.

How much skin do you have in the game?

What I’m reading part 2

So last night I confessed my love for tree zapping physical copies of books (I do at least recycle!), and also talked about 5 of the last 10 I’ve read. Tonight I’ll hit the other 5 to round it out. First let me also say that I went to the Apple store today and learned that I can pre-order my iPad on Friday (the 12th) so I’ll be doing that. And even though I may eventually download a couple of books to my iPad, I’m positive I’ll continue being old school; buying my analog books and enjoying bookstores.

Ok, without further adieu, here are 5 other books I’ve ready recently:

Vanity Fair’s Proust Questionnaire, edited by Graydon Carter. This book, based on an old 19th-century parlor game made famous by author Marcel Proust, poses questions to celebrities which are supposed to reveal the true nature of the individual. This isn’t a sit down and read cover to cover, more a flip open and enjoy, conversation starter. The celebrity list includes George Carlin, Martin Scorsese, Jane Fonda, Sidney Poitier and Fran Lebowitz to name a few and poses questions like “what is your greatest fear,” and “on what occasion do you lie”. If for nothing else, there’s a high entertainment value per dollar spent on this one.

Trust Agents by Chris Brogan and Julien Smith. To be honest, these two were all over the damn place, I couldn’t listen to a pod cast or log in to Twitter without hearing about this book, so I got it and read it. There, are you happy now!? In all honesty it was a good book, not a great book, but it did cover one topic fairly well: Trust. Seems like all the Social Media folk are always trying to coin their own terms, and Trust Agents is Brogan and Smith’s term. But there are some good points about building lasting relationships and leading with your best foot forward. Borrowing from Google’s motto, “Don’t Be Evil,” Trust Agents is about the age old concept of being sincere, being genuine, and above all, not being an asshole. I think social media has a million uses and should be explored by the individual, but there are some great points in this book and it’s worth a read.

Shop Class as Soulcraft by Matthew B. Crawford. The satisfaction of working with your hands; are we losing the mental and physical rewards associated with this interaction and are we becoming stupider for it? It’s a worthy question that Crawford explores here. Anyone that’s ever done manual work, whether it be repairs on a vehicle, fixing a bike, building a house; whatever will appreciate where Crawford is going here. My only complaint with this book is that, at times, it reads more like a philosophy and sociology text book than anything else. There’s some really tasty stuff right around page 109 to 130, where he switches his writing voice from that of a teacher (he’s a professor at UVA) to more of an author while describing his motorcycle repair shop in Shockoe Bottom (my home town no less). Although I wish there more “human” moments in the book, I think it’s a very worthy question he poses and I do think we lose something when we detach ourselves from the very things we use.

The Google Story by David A. Vise. Let me first say I’m biased as hell. I really like Google, and learning about their humble beginnings in a Palo Alto garage is cool to me. Learning about all of the stubborn tenacity and genius they implored to get Google public and the whole IPO story is pretty fricking sweet. So, in a nutshell, this one is strictly for the nerds and business people out there that want to see what Google did to get where they are and why Google is such a special, and respectable company.

The Women, by T.C. Boyle. No words I write could describe the genius that is T.C. Boyle. I think you’d be hard pressed to find any living author with his profound knowledge of the English language and how we weaves words together to paint the most vivid pictures imaginable. He’s been around for a while, but my guess is he will be immortalized, once he does pass away, as one of the great American authors. I’m late to the party (as usual) as this is my first T.C. Boyle book, but I assure you I’ll read them all. In The Women, Boyle creates a fiction (loosely based on factual occurrences) around the life of famous American architect, Frank Lloyd Wright and the multiple women that were part of his life. Ostensibly it’s a great fiction work, but more than that, this novel is an amazing display of the depth and breadth of the English language and the poetic use of words to create lasting images and impressions.

In closing I’d like to say one thing. Often, business owners get caught up in just reading business book after marketing book after social media book after business book. Some of them will even turn their nose up in disgust at the thought of reading a book of fiction. This is one of the greatest mistakes anyone can make. Not only do fictional books provide a great escape, a way to unwind at the end of the day, they also unlock the imagination and creativity. They inspire the art of storytelling which may be one of the most important crafts any true salesman can implore (and every business owner is a salesperson whether they admit it or not). I’d recommend weaving the two together so that you can keep your business on tract, stay up to date with the latest and greatest, and keep your imagination and creativity sparked and ready to work. More than likely that’s what got you into business in the first place…

My book list

I read a lot. Like, all the time. In fact I purchase books much faster than I can read them. I know, I know, I should have an e-reader of some sort, perhaps a Kindle or Nook, but I have an affinity for the tactile nature of holding a book in my hand. I like the way books smell and feel, so I’m analog in that way. I also like book shelves and stacking books everywhere. Anyway, my argument for analog can wait for another day (I’m probably going to buy the iPad the day it comes out even though I know a much better and cheaper version will probably come out six weeks later). In the next two posts, I’ll just share the last 10 books I’ve read and why I recommend them.

Here they are (in no particular order):

1. The Catcher In The Rye by J.D. Salinger. I’ve read this book like 4 times, but since J.D. Salinger recently passed away, I thought I’d pay homage to him and Holden Caulfield and give it one more read. This one’s an obvious classic, about a teenager questioning the way the world works and looking for answers to questions that may not exist. If you haven’t already read this, it’s a must.

2. How To Invest $50-$5,000 by Nancy Dunnan. Inc. magazine recommended this one to me, and I took ‘em up on it. It’s a quick read, full of good information for anyone looking at getting into investing, with plenty of great advice for the novice. If you’ve been investing or have a trustworthy investor working for you, you probably won’t get a ton from this one. One cool take away was www.betterinvesting.org

3. Downtown Owl by Chuck Klosterman. If you have spent any time in a rural area, ever in your life, you will love this book. Klosterman has quickly become one of my favorite offers for his verbose, resounding, intriguing writing style and knack for dissecting social idiosyncrasies. In this novel, his first, Klosterman’s characters inhabit a typical little town in North Dakota. Throughout the tale, one can’t help but relate what his characters experience to life in any small town. I blew through this one in a couple of days. It’s a good one.

4. The E-Myth Revisited, by Michael Gerber. This is basically Cliff Notes for starting a business. It’s sold something like a gizzillion copies in a bazillion countries. It should be on any business owner’s book list and should be written on, highlighted and gone through multiple times. There are tons of great ideas, although they aren’t all original or terribly complex. Even if you’ve been in business for a while, it’s probably a good idea to dust off that old copy you bought way back in the day and give it another read. Books like this one are good for getting your creative spirit up. Of course they run a consulting business so the underlying goal of the book, at least on some level, is to get you to call Michael Gerber and give him money to become your personal business coach (or at least one of his lackeys).

5. Where Men Win Glory, by John Krakauer. I’ve never met a Krakauer book I didn’t like, and this one definitely doesn’t disappoint. Even at 344 pages, you won’t be able to put this book down until you’re done. The concept is an in-depth and personal look into the life of NFL player turned Army Ranger Pat Tillman and the circumstances surrounding his death in Afghanistan. Krakauer, of Into Thin Air fame, spares no detail when describing the almost super-human, lovable Pat Tillman in this thrilling and sobering portrayal of his life and death. Don’t just read this book, read everything Krakauer has ever written. Also check out the Pat Tillman charity at http://www.pattillmanfoundation.org/ and donate if you can.

Stay tuned, the next 5 are coming soon. And as a side note, I put a link to the books in Amazon solely as a reference for those interested. I have no affiliate relationship with Amazon nor do I stand to profit from their sale. I do recommend these books, but I don’t care where you buy them.

Twitter- an expanded thought

My last post dealt with the importance of Social Media and business in general and dispelled the thought that social media was just a fad that will come and go like the pet rock, Vanilla Ice, and parachute pants.

I wanted to take the time to expand a bit on just one form of Social Media–Twitter.

I read an interesting e-newsletter from a pretty smart internet marketer by the name of John Reese today. (I’ve learned about some pretty cool stuff from this newsletter so if you want to subscribe, you can click here. It’s free and I don’t know him so I’m not pawning you off on some product, although he does occasionally sell stuff)

ANYWAY, he recently shut down his Twitter account which had over 25,000 followers. This counter-intuitive thinking prompted the thoughts I’ll write here.

First, I don’t claim to know the best way to use Twitter. I don’t make claims that Twitter is the new “hotness” or that Twitter will transform your business. Hell, I don’t even claim that I use Twitter that well. (At the time of this posting i have only 441 followers) That said, I know that I use Twitter differently that even many of my friends do.

I use Twitter to watch. I’m a Twitter voyeur if you will. I watch how big companies interact with their clients. I watch how start-ups and local companies spread their message. I watch people tweet mindless babble out into the ether. I watch businesses get on Twitter and screw it up royally. And occasionally I tweet, normally to friends and people around me locally. But that’s just how I use Twitter. Everyone has their own approach.

The larger, expanded question here (and this is something I’ve wrestled back and forth with quite a bit) is the amount of time people spend on Twitter (for business purposes for the sake of this blog) worth it? Largely, I’d have to say no. But there’s a very large caveat here.

The caveat is that it depends on HOW the company is using Twitter and WHO they have using it. Done correctly, I’ve seen big business use Twitter to defuse potentially negative scenarios and win over new customers. I’ve seen small businesses successfully put customers in their stores and stimulate buzz. Done poorly, I’ve seen other businesses use Twitter as social hour (or hours…) and I’ve seen their social use of Twitter hurt their business and turn potential customers away.

The great thing about big companies is that they have the budget to hire a “Social Media Director” or some other person whose primary function is to understand Social Media, the internet, and how best to use it to build customer relations. The downside for many start-ups and small businesses is that they can’t afford to hire a full-time Social Media wiz that they trust with the voice of their company. That usually means the owner becomes the voice.

If you own a small company, and you are on Twitter 4 hours a day, off and on, with TweetDeck running in the background, how is that affecting you? Twitter can become a huge vacuum of time and accomplishment and this is something to carefully watch for. You can become dependent on checking your smart phone for Twitter updates and it can have a negative affect on your focus and accomplishment. As John Reese points on his newsletter, Twitter can also become a high school-esque EGO fest where he/she with the most followers has a superiority complex. Nothing good comes from that nonsense.

So for the reader who uses Twitter, my advice is to monitor your Twitter usage. For one week, take the time to document how often you are on Twitter. You may just be shocked how much time you use. ( I recently clocked my usage of Twitter for just one day and was amazed that I spent nearly 3 hours on Twitter in one form or another). Once you have a number, an average amount of time you spend on Twitter, ask yourself, is it worth it? What is the payoff?

These can be difficult questions to answer because some of the payoff from actively using Twitter is qualitative, not quantitative. New friendships, social invites, discounts to your favorite restaurant that you wouldn’t have know about otherwise, these things are important but hard to measure. Remember, we are focusing on Twitter for business here, so try to think in terms of how you used Twitter to build relationships that resulted in sales, new customers, new business. Again, since there are no “Twit-alytics” that can super accurately measure sales, this will take some close monitoring.

I guess the real answer here is that there is no cut and dry answer. If you have 25,000 followers on Twitter, I certainly would not recommend closing your Twitter account. At the minimum you’ve built a herd of followers who could potentially be customers, blog readers, referral sources or JV partners. But I would suggest monitoring your usage and at least try to be honest with yourself about how successfully or unsuccessfully you are using Twitter for your business. (By the way, even if you “just use Twitter for personal use” it could be cutting into your work time, big time)

Until next time,

-Brian

“Social Media is a Fad”

To that I say, yeah… right. Twitter may wax and wane and facebook may eventually go the way of Friendster and MySpace, but something will always replace it. In fact, I rarely actually use Twitter.com when I post on Twitter. I use third party applications that were built because Twitter is open-source (meaning programmers have access to the code and can write programs around that).

People want a voice. People want to be heard. People want to connect with other people. People want to interact with other people who share the same interests in them, and to argue with people they don’t agree with. Social Media provides this opportunity in a way that was not possible before the internet.

The fact that “Social Media” is a relatively new term applied recently to online communities begs the questions of it’s legitimacy but the truth is that Social Media, albeit in different forms, has been around since the internet’s conception. Forums, AOL chat groups, etc,etc are all forms of Social Media when you strip the term down to its fundamental definition.

A good friend of mine, Lindsay Dicks (@lindsaymdicks) was the first to show me this video from YouTube aptly titled “The Social Media Revolution” which paints a pretty clear picture of the future of Social Media. It’s worth a watch (the music by the way is Fat Boy Slim)

The internet is our digital Wild West and Social Media the proverbial gold rush for many business owners. More importantly though, it’s an opportunity to be part of something new, something powerful, and something that is changing the face of modern business.

You don’t have to look hard to see the impact it’s having on big business. Look at the recent incident with Filmmaker Kevin Smith (@ThatKevinSmith) and Southwest Airlines (@SouthwestAir) that made public headlines. Entire networks are using Social Media to better connect with their audiences. Take a look at HGTV (@HGtvOfficial) who has actually started incorporating tweets from real viewers into their commercials. Ever watch the NBC nightly news. Tom Brokaw now mentions NBC’s twitter page and facebook fan page as part of his sign off every night. The icons even show up in the closing moments of the show.

So is Social Media a fad. Hell no. Not even close. People will always look for new ways to connect, new ways to stay “in the know”, new ways to have a voice, new ways to express themselves and the internet and Social Media are making that easier than ever. If anything, Social use of the internet will grow exponentially and probably reform our current economy to one of Consumer-based Capitalism. I say, ’bout time!

Progress, Completions and Moving Forward

It’s a great feeling to actually get something done. To look back, remembering the before, and to see the after. It could be something as simple as cleaning off your desk, cleaning out your wallet or purse, writing a blog post. It could also me something like setting daily goals and checking them off of your list one by one.

As it turns out, these completions and the feeling of progress that we make have a profound positive impact on us. The human mind craves these completions and we tend to seek out things which we know we can complete. This is an important thing to understand, because we often tend to avoid things that we don’t think we can complete.

I was reading the most recent Harvard Business Review and happened upon an interesting article about what motivates employees in the workplace. While most people would guess that money would be the number one motivator and that praise would probably be a close second, those answers were actually both incorrect according to their study. I thought their findings were so interesting (and relevant to this post) that I took a quick snapshot with my iPhone. Here’s the graph:

As you’ll notice, the number one answer during this study of what motivated actually employees was progress. Getting stuff done. Checking it off the list. Making headway. Seeing the fruit of their labors.

We all have a deep desire for completion and forward progress. So help yourself to gain a mental stronghold on your day by making progress and setting daily goals which are actually attainable. If your goal is to create an entire marketing plan, that might be too big for one day. Break it down into sections that can be accomplished.

The flip side of this is, of course, leaving things incomplete and unfinished. The emotion and feeling that normally accompanies incompletes is frustration and a lack of fulfillment. Enough incompletes and you start to tell yourself you aren’t going to be able to accomplish your goal. You may even abandon the goal is search of a more favorable goal that you can accomplish quickly.

This can be very detrimental, especially if the goal you are trying to accomplish is, say, building a new business. A complex and formidable goal, building a business takes time, planning, and honest goal setting.

Naming goals, making progress and getting things completed will help you to Build Momentum. Don’t believe me, clean your desk.

Building Momentum and the Upward Spiral

The economy is in a tough spot. Millions without jobs, a government that bickers more than they actually solve problems, investments have tanked, banks have closed…hell, even Tiger Woods has fallen from grace. With so much negativity spinning around, it can be easy to allow your inertia to take a turn for the worse. It can be easy to become jaded and start looking outward to find blame for failures.

That’s one road to take.

Another is to Build Positive Momentum and create an Upward Spiral of success. Take even the smallest wins and celebrate them. Take one sale and turn it into three sales. Look for people who are succeeding and “hang” with them. Success begets success or the old adage I prefer, “You are who you hang with”. Instead of looking for ways to cut back, look for ways to expand. Look for new areas of opportunity that may be hiding under that rock over there. By the way, expanding and looking for new opportunities doesn’t necessarily mean spending more money, it could be accomplished by a little sumpin sumpin called networking. The power of many brains thinking about solutions to a problem is almost always more effective (except in government).

I like the word “stratification”. Wikipedia refers to stratification as “…the building up of layers. Stratified is an adjective referring to the arranging of layers, and is also the past form of the verb stratify, to separate or become separated into layers.” When you think of stratification, start to picture your business this way.

For example, is your marketing stratified? I mean, do you have layers of marketing like a website, mailers, social media, a solid name in your community. All of the elements allow you to stratify your business and help you to Build Momentum towards the Upward Spiral of success.

Do you have multiple offerings that allow you to stratify your business across different market segments, or even different demographics? You should. If you’ve only got one thing and that one thing is suddenly no longer valuable, you don’t have a business anymore. Plus, by looking at the layers of your business like this you may find ways to stratify and build momentum that you hadn’t seen before. I know I’ve had some big discoveries and helped clients have some big ones too, just by thinking about my business stratification.

So, instead of watching CNN or reading all the depressing crap in the papers, focus on your successes. Write ‘em down. Multiply them and trend towards the upward spiral. You’ll be better off for it and so will everyone around you.

-Brian

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