Birds of a feather; flock together. The same holds true in business. The business life you want to have will happen in direct relation to who you spend your time with. Miserable employees who hate their jobs seem to cluster. So too do successful entrepreneurs. When we spend our time with people who ‘get it done’, not only are we inspired to do the same, but we consciously or subconsciously learn from them and in turn start to ‘get it done’ for ourselves.

When Ghost CEO clients start to get on their flight path with their business model and trend upwards (increase their revenues), the first thing we suggest is for them to be strict with who they spend time with. If they hang out with suffering entrepreneurs who are getting banged up because they aren’t doing the work, then this could (and does) rub off on our clients. If they spend time with people who are getting it done, who don’t make excuses, and assume total responsibility for their businesses, they will be in good company. When women do business in a group, they tend to call these ‘support circles’, but what it really is, becomes apparent after the first get-together. More times than not, it becomes a ‘justification party’ of why things aren’t going well for each member of the group. These have zero value for an entrepreneur and can actually drag you down.  When you leave a meeting with your peers and feel ‘justified’ that you are doing your best and that many things are outside your control, you have just wasted an hour (or hours of your time). If however you leave inspired, energized, and determined to push farther ahead, you have spent time in good company. You should judge each meeting to determine which camp it falls in.

Here’s a tool we want you to consider trying this week:

1. Answer this question: “Am I making as much money as I can and building the right business model for me?”
2. If the answer is “YES”, make a list of 10 people that have supported you in getting there. If the answer is “NO”, look at you scheduler and determine who has spent time with you in the last month. Have you been hanging with people who get it done? Or people who make excuses on why things don’t happen.
3. If you want to be poor, hang around with poor people with poor mindsets. If you want to be rich; hang out with rich people with rich mindsets. We learn from our environment.

Show me someone off profit model and I’ll show you someone who invests time in the wrong people. People who focus on abundance see opportunities everywhere; people who focus on scarcity see threats everywhere. Which team do you want to play on?

Best,

Chris.

From time to time, something happens in business that makes me angry. After two decades of being an entrepreneur, you’d think that I would have gotten past the emotional side of feeling slighted or needing to stick my nose in the business of something that I don’t have right to (i.e. a client getting screwed over by a partner), but I am still always surprised by how crappy people can treat each other and how cheats can try to screw people over in business without concern of repercussions. Last summer I had a long-term business relation who wanted to have their lawyer  speak on their behalf because they didn’t have the courtesy or the courage to have a professional conversation about their inability to lead their team or follow a system. This lack of professionalism made me angry, but I bit my tongue and simply let the process of business take its course. I referred back to our agreement, engaged the court system in ruling on my position and had the lawyer involved on the other side reviewed for their conduct in the matter. Thought I didn’t have any interest in being aggressive or getting into a pissing match, I was committed to seeing the matter through to the end.

In business, we can be angry, but the thing to remember is that people do dumb things in business, even more so when they are angry. This particular person made many judgement errors throughout the time I did business with them and I would carefully go in and advise them on how to fix their mistakes. Anything from an unhappy client firing them through to a business plan that was one of the most poorly written documents I had ever read. After time and time again moving in to ‘fix’ problems, this individual decided to go on the offense with me which displeased me to say the least. When ever I find myself getting into an angry space, the first thing I think of is…”let the process manage the response”. We have agreements in place with people, not because we don’t trust them, but because we can’t rely on objectivity when something happens. It’s human nature to take up guard when you think someone is trying to screw you, but the proper response is to go back to the process you have put in place. In all occasions where I’ve found myself in this spot, I go back to the process. A partner doesn’t want to pay you your share; refer to the shareholder’s agreement. You call into question the ethics of a lawyer representing the other side on a business transaction, you call the governing body for that lawyer and file a complaint. There is no need getting red in the face, yelling, screaming, and stamping your feet. It’s better to follow the process.

If you find yourself getting aggravated in business, think first of the process(es) in place for you manage the situation professionally.  A strategic strike is always a better response than a physical one. When I’m angry, I get paid because I have a system in place.  Hit them where it hurts, and I don’t mean their stomach. For someone who used the middle initial “M” to refer to ‘money’ (they didn’t have a middle name), there is nothing sweeter than having them courier you a registered cheque for the amount they owed you, but weren’t planning to pay you. That’s gotta hurt! They get to fume about paying you money they didn’t want to (but were contractually obligated to) and you get to have trips, martinis, and other good stuff on their tab.

Let your processes channel your anger, not your words or your physical actions.

Cheers,

C/

When I was taking life guard training, the first thing we were taught is that a drowning person is a dangerous person. Not only will they strangle you if you get close (in order to preserve themselves), but they are not of rational mind. The first thing you need to do is get their attention, swim in behind them, and grab them around the chest. We were even taught that if need be, slap them or punch them to give yourself a chance to ‘shock’ them and position yourself to help them without getting hurt yourself. In business, it is common to feel like you are just about to go under water. The invoices that your clients owe you aren’t being paid, you have a huge cash burn each month (expenses), and the water is creeping up slowly, but surely over your head. Rather than flailing around frantically, stop and take a breathe.

If you stop struggling and put your feet down, you’ll find that you can touch. Maybe just on your tippy toes, but you can touch. Then you quiet your mind, close your eyes and feel the floor beneath you. One way and you’ll go deeper; the other and you’ll start to get into shallower and more manageable water. If you got yourself into the deep end, you can get yourself back out, but not by splashing and screaming. You must breath and ‘feel’ for the way out. Your rational mind will kick in, but not if you are in flight or fight mode. I’ve spent the last 11 years working with clients, who in their pursuits of big business and big money, find themselves in the deep end. Some swim in circles, some bob their heads above and below water month to month, but the seasoned ones ‘tread’ water and look around at the horizon. They look to see where the shallow part is and they swim (with strategies) to that part of the proverbial pool.

Everyone that has ever done anything great has felt like they are ‘in over their heads’. That’s part of the process, but how you manage these situations will determine if you become a champion swimmer or if you will run out of steam and sink. When it doubt, turn off your phone, your email, shut your door, take a breath and think…there is always a way out and you are the person to make it happen.

Best,

C/

I’m noticing this epidemic of business owners who have chosen to ride Social Media as their main (and only) business development process, rather than build traditional business through networks, creating credibility, and talking to people. About once a week, someone in the social media sphere tells me that I should be doing more on Twitter, Facebook, Linked In, and other social media sites in order to ‘build more business’. The first thing I do when I get this advice is have a look at what they are doing. Some have 4,000 Facebook friends, 20,000 twitter followers, and they get their blog reposted by other blogs like it is going out of style. The one thing they don’t have is….clients. They have these huge networks of people, but are not realizing the benefit from all their efforts online  resulting in gains financially.

I guess maybe this is the Luddite in me, but I’m using Social Media to stay engaged with people i know, not to meet new people. I meet new people in real world situations and then decide if I want them into my social media network. I get many requests for Linked In (up to 10 a day), friend requests on Facebook (maybe 10 a week) and 2-3 twitter followers a day. Nothing to write home about or to brag about. But..I’m on profit model. I run successful and profitable business models by meeting people, looking for fit, engaging them if the fit is there, and doing business. Then we may or may not connect online through social media, although most I do connect with on Linked In.

So am I saying that Social Media is useless? No. What I am saying is it should augment your marketing and business development systems, not replace them. You will make more money with a couple of good face to face meetings, then you will getting 100 new twitter followers. If you are selling a service or a product, you can open up Social Media as a way to have future conversations online, that were started offline. I have yet to meet one non-technology service/product based company that has built their company through Social Media only.  Maybe I haven’t figured it out yet, but truthfully, no one else I know has either. There are some great companies out there doing their thing on Social Media like Magnify and our friend and colleague Norma Maxwell, but they are extensions of business development, not replacements of business development. Their services  lengthen the conversation, not replace the conversation. They shorten the sales cycle,not replace the sales cycle. Social media is an ‘add on’, not a ‘replacement’ at least not yet.

Watching this closely, from a non-technology viewpoint, I don’t believe you can sell online, if you can’t sell offline. You master what you do offline, and then move it online with the right strategy.

Now, off to play with my abacus.

C/

In the last two weeks, I’ve been in five provinces, two states, and flown about 15,000 miles. Aside from some bumpy flights, I was able to get some time to work on overdue projects. While others were watching movies beside me with their feet up, or listening to their iPods, I was billing. Why? Because travel to me isn’t a luxury, it’s a necessity. I plot out my work day and set aside a certain amount of work I want to accomplish. I’m not always overly enthused to have to do the work, but I know what gets me busy keeps me busy.

In recent weeks, I’ve had conversations with a variety of people that have notices that the economy has picked up. Buyer confidence is coming back, yet they find themselves off their profit model. How can this be? They are good at what they do. They have an obvious market they service. And their market has more money now than it did last year. When the explain this inexplainable situation, I ask to see their daytimer. At first there is a look of shock and then it is quickly replaced with defensiveness. “Why would you want to look at my schedule?” I reply, “I can tell you in 10 seconds why you are off model.

The truth is, we can busy ourselves with things. Getting groceries, surfing the web, paying bills, and other tasks, but none of these make you money. They cost you money. You can have a long lunch with your friend, call your mom, or get your car washed, but if it is happening between 9AM and 5PM, you are pissing away profitable hours of the day. One woman in Seattle showed me her daytimer and after looking at 20 tasks. Here is a sample of what was on the list:

• Pick up dry cleaning
• Make a Costco shopping list
• Pay the house taxes
• Check into better cell phone plans
• Find week-long camps for the kids this summer
• Get the car insurance papers in
• Plan parents anniversary party
• Follow up with Beth (prospect)
• Find out when the Alumni party is for Seattle University
• Get some groceries for the weekend
• Make up the bedrooms for the grandparents visit

As you can see, only one of the tasks was business related (in bold).

>Here is an example of my average week (includes meetings with clients/partners). The spaces you’ll see in the list is the space that I put in place to think about projects (again pro-business development).

Have a look at your calendar and determine where your time is going. Is it spent making money? Of 40 hours, how many were actual billing hours or hours building billing opportunities? What gets in your way? Once you know, you can’t un-know.

Cheers,

C/

Cheers and thanks to the two clients in particular that reminded me how much I enjoy watching horses win races.

C/

When I started in business, nearly 20 years ago, I wanted to accomplish things fast. I wanted to start a project and have it making money by week’s end. I was impatient, I tried to push, pull, and tug initiatives forward. It was never fast enough. I wanted to be an overnight success…but things didn’t happen that way. Like a sprinter, I’d get amped up, look at my competition, and take off when the race started. I’d jet ahead, fall behind, trip, pick myself up, and struggle to cross the finish line. It sucked. I wanted the flash, the glory, and the speed. The problem was, the harder I pushed, the slower things got. My frustration grew into a realization that the game of business is a 30 year process, not a 12 month cycle. Don’t get me wrong. To build a $100K business, you need about six months to get on track (billing >$8,600/month in fees), but to truly win the race; to own the game, you need to approach it like a marathoner.

There’s a lot of ground you need to cover. You can try to chase it down, but you will run out of steam before you get half way. Instead, pace yourself. Warm up, have a look around, make sure you have your shoes tied, your head up, and you are going in the right direction. Sure, you’ll have some easy parts and some hard parts, but if you look at the overall race as a long track in which you need to find your cadence, then you’ll be on the right path. My goal is to ‘beat my time’ each time I do a project. I want to see and feel myself getting stronger the longer I run the course. I want to get in that state where I’m going full tilt, but rather than hitting the wall, I feel like I could run forever. That’s how I feel today and I want you to feel today and everyday.

You might feel tired, disappointed, down on yourself, feeling things are too hard. I feel that way to and when I do…I slow down. I catch my breath. I keep moving, but realize that the only person who I’m competing against is myself. When you take away the stands, the shouts from the crowd, the lights, and all the other stuff, you are left with you. This is your game and you choose how you are going to play it. Will you be the star that no one sees shine or will you be that constant, focused competitor that gets into a machine-like momentum that when it gets up to speed, it can’t be derailed by anything. Most think the former; champions think the latter.

Nothing comes easy in business, like marathoners, you need to equip yourself properly, plan for a long race, keep your eye on the clock (but don’t be bossed by it), and keep looking and moving forward. Each step is a step farther from where you started, and closer to where you know you are supposed to be.

Best,

C/

I frequently get asked how I became a professional speaker. Unfortunately I wasn’t an overnight success. I didn’t even reach success in one year or three. It’s taken ten years to get to where I am today and it feels like I’m only on the first few steps of the big game. When I started Think Tank Communications, back in the 90′s, I dreamt of commanding an audience one day. I frequently went to see speakers and would get excited at watching them take the stage, do their presentation, and leave me inspired. Not to mention, they made very good money to do what they do. I remember walking up to one speaker when I was in my early 20′s and asking him how he became a speaker. “I one day offered to give a speech on my area of expertise. That led to another speech, then I started getting honoraria, then I started getting asked for my speaker’s fees, then I started negotiating my speaker’s fees, and now I’m a full time, professional speaker.”

Seemed like a simple enough formula. In the late 90′s, I started giving presentations around sales and business development. One of the first ones that sticks out in my mind was one to the Southwest Business Improvement Area, in Kamloops B.C. It was held in the Aberdeen Mall food court prior to the mall opening for the day. Probably not the best speech, but I got applause and got clients. From there, I went on to deliver 20 presentations that first year, and each year after that, I gave more than the year previous. As of today, I’ve given in excess of 1,000 presentations. Some days I give a 45 minute presentations, other days, I’ve done 4-5 presentations back to back. It is not uncommon for me to make off one speech, what I used to make in 2 months, full-time in my corporate job. But instead of working 320 hours (160 hours a month x 2 months), I make it in 45 minutes. Not bad for practicing a craft for the last ten years.

Becoming a speaker is all about platform. There are some givens:

• You have to enjoy speaking
• You have to have something to say
• You have to be a good speaker

Okay, now that we have the fundamentals out of the way, now the important part: Platform. What will you (or do you want to be) known for? For me, specialities include women’s leadership development and overall business development systems. Licensing has been sneaking in there as a third platform, but I’m keeping a harness on it .Platform is what you are known for and how you are different from the 1,000′s of other speakers out there. What will your platform be? Here are some questions to guide you:

1. What are you good at?
2. What are you an expert in?
3. What solution to others problems do you have?
4. What you can you speak on that is unique, memorable, and valuable?
5. Who would want to hear what you have to say? (What groups?)

When you can start to get clarity around these things, you start to pencil in your platform. That’s the first step. Decide what you want to be known for, consider which market(s) are interested in your message, deliver the message, fine-tune your skills, and then build a speaking practice, one presentation at a time. It doesn’t happen over night. Rather, it takes night after night of taking the stage, perfecting your craft, and engaging your audiences. You can do it, but you need to start like the rest of us…with a plan, with a platform, and with a wiliness to learn what works and what doesn’t, one step/speech at a time.

Best,

C/

p.s. If you want to watch a great documentary on working your ‘material’, check out the documentary on Jerry Seinfeld called Comedian. Here’s a clip:

1. Don’t buy your own PR.
2. When the man thinks he’s bigger than the message, he’s finished.
3. You’re only as good as your last presentation.
4. What gets you busy keeps you busy.
5. It takes a lifetime to build and a moment to lose.
6. There is always someone hungrier than you. Don’t take a break. It’s a marathon, not a sprint.
7. If it is worth doing, it’s worth doing well.
8. Those that show up…matter. Those that don’t, don’t matter.
9. You are never too good to do something that needs to be done.
10. Everyone (and I mean everyone) gets the time of day…once.

Have you paid the price for what you want to do? If so, what was the price? If not, what’s holding you back. As always, I welcome your comments.

Cheers,

C/

Great thought of the day is listening to critics, inside (your head) and outside (others). It’s rare that criticism has any positive meaning. It’s meant as an attack, disguised as an intellectual commentary. People who accomplish things don’t have much time to criticize; those that don’t have all the time in the world. Consider the source when hearing criticism.  I remember in the same week Entrepreneur Magazine suggested my first book was a “must read’ and then a donkey from the Boston Globe said that I “wrote the worst business book ever written.” Well, first of all, I doubt he has read every business book ever. Secondly, he is a three time author that has managed to sell less copies than the critically acclaimed book, “How to fix your Ford Pinto.” Those around me got mad at his review; I smiled. While he’s busy attacking me, I’m busy pacing him.

Whenever a person criticizes you, it is their stuff, not yours. It only becomes your stuff if you put value into it. Those that are trying to grow you won’t criticize; they will make assets and resources available to you.

Cheers,

C/