Christopher V. Flett

I’m in the process of forming five new profit models right now. I was corrupted, long ago, by the sweet, sultry seduction of Capitalism. More is more and less is less. In a market like this, the strong rise to the top and the weak wither. I’m okay with this. There hasn’t been a more constructive, affordable, and exciting time to start a new business, or re-work an existing model. In upcoming weeks, I will show you my new ‘babies’ and give you details on what they do, how they make money, and the big picture for them. My partners have varying levels of skills they bring to the table. Some what to have a company that can feed the ego, others want one that will make them wealthy. I want both.

I have a lot of interest from people wanting me in a new venture. Some want the start-up costs, but most want the direction to take it to a big level. This is good for the ego, but what I must watch myself with is deciding if this partner can make things happen as well, or if they are going to limp into the business expecting me to chew their food for them. I think I have gotten better over the last few years stripping the mud out, but it can still seep in. What’s exciting is I have two good friends that I’m exploring a working model with. Doing business with friends is traditionally a bad idea, but having worked with one for 10 years and the other for 7, I’ve seen how they do business and I’m comfortable. What I love is that I’m a starter and they are finishers. I get the fire going, and they keep the fire going. That’s a good partnership for me. When partners want me to start it, manage it, tweak it, fix it, and they watch it and tell me what else it needs, it’s like having someone in the kitchen telling you how to season your food. If you aren’t a chef, get out of the kitchen. If you want to be a chef, get your pots and pans and get cooking!

Here are some questions I ask myself and you should too, if exploring new business models:

1. What role will each of us play?
2. Who brings what to the table?
3. Why are either person interested in the arrangement?
4. What type of investment (money and more importantly time, is required?)
5. Can either side keep their word and their end of the bargain?
6. Who has the most to gain/lose from the relationship?
7. Is this worth my time to be involved?

• I have one partner who moans that “he didn’t get enough time with me when we first started our model.” When asked if he called when he needed help, he replies, “No, I knew you were busy.” Well Tiger, if you want something, you need to ask for it. I’m in business, not mind reading. When he tells people this, it makes him look old and weak. Especially to other people I work with who know I return their calls.

• Another partner calls all the time with opportunities and I say to her, “What the hell do you want?” when I pick up the phone. She says, “To make you some goddamn money.” Then I say, “Please continue, I have all day for you.”
• A third partner is an amazing closer. He brings in big deals, but consistency is a challenge. We fight over breakfast, come up with a plan, follow the plan, fall of the wagon, fight over breakfast, come up with a plan… It might sound stressful, but it’s fun because he has potential and I think I beat a work ethic into him. Might be a losing battle, but I’m confident. There is no one better at engaging people than he is. I’d like to bottle it and sell it.

When both parties are coming to the table, business is fun. When one is hauling the other along, or a model is stalling, that’s not a lot of fun and it isn’t going to get me fired up to focus on it. Now with over 20 companies under my belt, I get how this song goes. I’m not a big fan of sharing my pie, unless the person coming to the table is bringing some ice cream. When you are looking at joint ventures, consider the personality first, the business model second, and finally the profit model. If all of those make sense, give it a go. If it’s a great model with the wrong person, get out. If it is the right person with the wrong model, get out. And be clear with what you want from the relationship. I’m in a position now where I’m very clear what I want out of a model and then I ask for it. The strength in this style of negotiation is I’m not focused on doing the deal. If I get what I want, I’m good to go (granted it’s the right person, model, and profitability), and if it isn’t a model that works for me, I wish them the best and bow out.

I will do business with almost anyone if the model interests me, the person can get it done and can be trusted, and there is money to be made. I’m open to hearing about any opportunity but unless I can answer the above questions effectively, I don’t put the model into play. Follow my advice friends and make sure of what you are doing, who you are doing it with, and how it is going to roll, before you commit. Remember, you can always back out if it isn’t working. Only death is forever and working with a boat anchor is death, trust me.

C/

Now, more than ever, people are starting to look at starting a business as a viable option. Being employed by someone gives them control over your time, money, and blood/sweat/tears. Being self employed removes the shackles, but if you don’t approach it with the right mindset, you’ll end up working 80 hours a week for yourself so that you don’t have to work 40 hours for someone else.

The trick here is to know what you are doing and if you don’t know, find someone who does. I spent sometime with ‘curious entrepreneurs’ over the last couple of weeks that dip their toe in the water, but are unsure if they can swim. When I assess their skill sets, the only thing they lack is ‘experience building business’. They don’t lack the experience of being able to do the work, they are just unsure of how to build it. It makes me smile because I remember that hesitation and how hard I made it for myself. Then I found people who had cut the path before any my work got very easy and very profitable. I’m starting two new companies this week, and doing the work in between meetings, having coffee and writing this blog. It seems very easy to me now, because I’ve done the process well over 20 times before. If someone asks how, I tell them. I can give the cliff notes over coffee.

If you have been thinking about building a business and not sure where to start, drop me a note. I’m at chris (at) ghostceo.com I’ll do my best to give you some simple tips to get your started. When you are up and running, you can always think about the Ghost CEO when you are ready. That’s like putting the old business model on steroids. Don’t stay in a job you don’t love because you don’t know how to do your own thing. Step up and stand out. Be master of your own domain. Check out one of my latest models we are working on. Lullaby League is a speed dating service for parents and babysitters. Unbelievable value and you’ll never miss another business meeting, presentation, or ‘date night’.

Cheers,

C/

In this world of political correctness, we are so far removed from reality, we find ourselves in a constant stake of bullshit with one another. Recently a colleague brought up the topic of ‘everyone’ gets a ribbon in kid’s sports. WTF? Are you serious? Every kid now gets a ribbon? I know, I’m harsh. Kids need to feel good, blah, blah, blah. When I was growing up, competition was fierce for the trophies. You worked hard, stayed committed, and fought to win games, tournaments, and championships. When you lost, it felt like shit. Your life sucked, you moped around the house, you wished evil upon the winner’s house, etc. Now they want to do away with this for kids. Everyone’s a winner!?! What’s next? Get rid of the Stanley Cup? Super Bowl? Tour de France? How about we get rid of CEOs and we all take a turn running the company? Hell, if we work hard, we can stand in line for bread and toilet paper and really be equal.

“Success and victory are overrated.” Anyone who says success doesn’t matter hasn’t had any of it. Anyone who says victory isn’t sweet, has never won the race. Lance Armstrong doesn’t go in the Tour because it is fun to bike up mountains. He does in it to WIN. Winning is important. You need only a taste of it once, to be hooked for life. Kids need to learn this. Hell, why get ‘A’s if D’s will pass you. Why do well on your driving test, if 55% is the pass. Kids don’t need to be THE best. They need to be THEIR best and it is up to us to model this ourselves and teach it to our kids. How many parents out there would bring the company into the family room and say, “Look at all the participant ribbons that Kelly has received. She’s never won anything, but she competes all the time.” Ummm, I don’t think you will put those out in display. They will go into some cupboard as you find something for Kelly to do that she is more ’suited for’.

When did we start believing that everyone should get acknowledgement, regardless of their contributions? “Here Billy, you came in first. Here’s a ribbon. Here Tom, you scored on your own net three times, but had a smile on your face. Here’s a ribbon.” Really?!?

There needs to be winners and their needs to be losers. Hello?!? Natural selection. The winners need to work to stay winners; the losers need to work harder to become winners. Telling kids that it doesn’t matter is setting them up for imminent failure as adults. I drive a nice car, live in a great neighborhood, travel first class, and stay in nice hotels. It is because I worked to have this life. I made sacrifices that others weren’t prepared to make. Now I have people say, “well if you are flying first class, so should I.” Really? Should you? Then do the work you piker.

The great thing about losers is they like to hang out with each other. Rather than keeping each other accountable, they chip in to help make excuses for their individual and collective failures so that they can all feel warm and fuzzy about being sub-mediocre. Here are some examples I heard on a recent trip:

• You didn’t get the promotion? It doesn’t matter.
• Everyone is going on the company retreat except you? It doesn’t matter.
• You make $30,000 less than your male colleagues? It doesn’t matter.
• Your underling is now your boss? It doesn’t matter.
• The boss walks into your office, drops off his work and picks up his golf clubs? It doesn’t matter.
• You can’t get your business to grow because you won’t get off your ass? It doesn’t matter.

People put more time into excuses than they do into honoring success. It is time for us to re-shake the paradigm and look at personal excellence again. My dad and I had a chat last week and he said, “Chris, you set unreasonable expectations of those you work with.” I said to him, “I don’t want them to be my best….I want them to be their best.” Whenever I give shit to a client, colleague, or partner, I say to them, “Was that your best effort?” I have NEVER had them admit that it was. They might be trying hard, but they are not giving it their best. When I fail at something (barf…hate to admit that), 99% of the time is because I didn’t give it FULL effort. It has been a rare occasion when I haven’t gotten what I wanted when I have directed my focus and attention on it. It’s time we start holding each other accountable to making magic happen. But you have to want it more than anyone else. I learned this as a kid. My parents told me that “no one is going to hand it to you. If you want it, take it. If you don’t want to do the work…well then shut up about it.”

Instead of saying ‘it doesn’t matter‘ when you get passed over for a promotion, ask yourself, “why didn’t I get that promotion and what do I need to do to get it next time?” I think this generation and the next need to remember that hard work, dedication, and 100% commitment is what takes dreams from idle chat to reality.

• “I’m going to build my business.” (Then do it!)
• “I’m going to write a book.” (Start working on it!)
• “I’m going to lose 20 lbs.” (Then lose it!)
• “I’m going to get a new account.” (Then go get it!)
• “I’m going to find a new job.” (Then go find it!)

What the hell are you doing to make that happen? What are the measurables? Do you think that by ’saying your are working on a manuscript’, it will magically come to life? Losing is part of learning, if you use what you learn from it to stop losing. I think kids and adults benefit by seeing the very best (in whatever area) go up on the podium, get the award/trophy/cash and the applause of the audience. The losers think, “I wish that was me.” The winners think, “that will be me.”

If you see me fail at something and come up to me with a ‘participant’ ribbon. I’m going to look you in the eyes, smile and say, “stick it in your ass. I have work to do.”

Female managers more likely to underestimate how their work is valued

(From the Associated Press)

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – A new study shows female managers are more than three times as likely as their male counterparts to underrate their bosses’ opinions of their job performance.

The discrepancy increases with women older than 50, the study states.

“Women have imposed their own glass ceiling, and the question is why,” said Scott Taylor, an assistant professor at the University of New Mexico Anderson School of Management who conducted the study.

Taylor will present his findings Tuesday in Chicago at the annual meeting of the Academy of Management, a 19,000-member organization devoted to research and teaching.

“It’s pretty fascinating, actually. It’s a different take on it,” said Leanne Atwater, a management professor at the University of Houston.

Atwater has researched the standard management assessment tool that Taylor was examining when he discovered the gender difference.

In the study, 251 male and female managers from different industries nationwide rated themselves and requested ratings from supervisors, peers and subordinates. Each subject also was asked to predict the ratings made by others.

Taylor collected the data for the study in 2005 while a doctoral student at Cleveland-based Case Western Reserve University.

The ratings measured nine elements of emotional and social competence essential to leadership: communication ability, initiative, self-awareness, self-control, empathy, bond-building, teamwork, conflict management and trustworthiness.

The men who were studied slightly overestimated how their bosses would rate them, while the female respondents underestimated their ratings on average by about 11 percent.

Chelsea Walker, 52, an administrator for UNM’s College of Pharmacy, participated in a similar exercise while taking Taylor’s class and was shocked to find her results matched her professor’s findings.

“I was very, very surprised by his responses,” she said. “I guess that I just didn’t think that he thought that highly of me, even though I thought pretty highly of myself.”

The exercise was a confidence booster, Walker said. Now, she takes five minutes during weekly meetings with her supervisor to discuss what she’s done on the job, something she thinks men do more easily than women.

“To me it’s still uncomfortable to a certain degree,” she said. “We’re not out for the glory kind of thing. We’re just out to get the job done.”

Walker said her experience also reflected the generational difference found in the study.

“Younger women tended not to be as off-base in their predictions than middle-aged or senior women,” Taylor said.

Taylor said managers may need to learn better ways to communicate to female employees that they are valued. Women may need to learn how to better seek positive and critical feedback, he said.

Taylor says the findings could indicate why many women don’t rise to head companies or why there is a wage disparity between men and women.

In 2008, the Census Bureau estimated women receive only about 78 cents for every dollar that men get for doing equivalent jobs.

Bonnie Coffey, president of the National Association of Commissions for Women, said women are unable to predict their bosses’ assessments because of media images, particularly those of older women, that show them as silver-haired beauties or grandmothers in dumpy dresses.

“If you recognize that society doesn’t really value older women, then you say, ‘Gee, this isn’t where I belong. Maybe I shouldn’t be asking for a raise. Maybe I shouldn’t be speaking up at meetings,” Coffey said.

Cara Waymire, vice president for human resources at insurance brokerage Hub International in Albuquerque, said when she works with female employees on getting raises or promotions, she notices they are more likely to focus on shortcomings rather than accomplishments.

“They think the boss needs to think they hung the moon in order for them to ask for anything,” Waymire said.

It’s such a cliche for people to hook up at work. When this happens to single people at work, the guy looks like a stud and the woman looks like a slut. Sorry, it’s true. When a married buy hooks up with his single secretary/assistant/colleague/boss, he looks like a douche; she like a slut. Two married people hook up a work…they both look like douches.

I’ve had a couple of companies I’ve been working with where the office place romances are rampant. Married guys with their secretaries. Female VPs with new sales guy. It is so frigging cheesy, I can barely handle it. Any the guilty parties are such morons, they think nobody knows what’s going on. Aside from being fired for poor decision making, they should be fired because they are so god damned stupid. Men have a saying, “Don’t dip your pen in the company ink.” We all know it, but the biggest geeks in the herd think this doesn’t apply to them. Then they get snapped with a sexual harassment suit which leads to divorce, alimony, child support, and lonely nights. For the gals, I see secretaries hitting on the owners, partners, and senior associates of firms. They think the quickest way to success is the casting couch in big daddy’s office. Are you kidding me? He is going to tell his buddies at the firm, you are going to tell your friends because you bagged one of the Alphas, and the whole company is going to know he is a douche and you are a slut.

I know, I know…it’s true love. If you are both single, then one of you should leave your job to avoid the stereotype. What? You don’t want to leave your job? But….it’s true love! If you were that serious, one of you will leave. Now if he is married. Well….that’s another story. You are the home wrecker, the slut, hooker, and all the other names you inherit through your actions. This dick is going to cheat on his wife with you. Maybe he is going to leave her. He only sees his kids on the weekend anyway. Right? Well, he may or may not leave her. If he does, you might become the next wife. Then a couple years down the road, he is going to be working late and you are going to be wondering if the pattern is going to repeat itself. Guess what? Yes it is, and you have just become a statistic, a soon to be ex-wife, and a woman in mid life without a career, a relationship, or a plan. Well done!

So if you listen to anything I’m saying, here are some things I want you to consider to avoid the bitterness that will inevitably follow a woman’s bad decisions in this area:

1. If he is married, he is unavailable, even if he says different. If he wants to date you so bad, tell him you can talk about it ONCE his divorce is finalized. Let’s see how serious he is.
2. If he is single, ask him if he thinks he or you should leave your jobs. You don’t want to be seen as the slut and he as the ‘typical’ twat. If he will quit his job, it might be love (or he wants to stay at home and play XBOX). If he wants you to quit, he wants to dis-empower you from having a career. Strong men like strong women. Dump this loser and find someone else.
3. If you work for him, that’s just nasty and typical. Don’t be that girl.
4. There are lots of guys out there. Find someone else somewhere else.

I’ve been called the anti-Christ and now you are probably thinking I’m the anti-Cupid. This is not so. I’m a big fan of love, relationships, rainbows, and puppy dogs. What I don’t like is women giving up their power to dumb ass men who will use them, dump them, and find the next one that comes along. Respect yourself and engage in relationships that empower you, not destroy your professional relationships. No scarlet letter for you!