Incredible Things That Happen

Some interesting figures
http://www.businessinsider.com/incredible-things-that-happen-every-60-seconds-on-the-internet-2011-12?utm_source=twbutton&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=sai

Knowledge the Scarcest Resource

Knowledge is one of the scarcest of all resources in any economy, and the insight distilled from knowledge is scarcer still. An economy based on price, profits, and losses gives decisive advantages to those with greater knowledge and insight ~Thomas Sowell

Talent and Knowledge workers

Came across this article Top Ten Reasons Why Large Companies Fail To Keep Their Best Talent by Eric Jackson which is also true for small businesses.

No 1 is Big Company Bureaucracy which also could say Small Company Bureaucracy. I don't have experience working in a large corporation but do know what bureaucracy looks like in small tech firms, my background.

In the article I don't agree on No 3, Poor Annual Performance Reviews. Why not daily reviews or weekly reviews? Are official reviews really necessary? Should they be called reviews altogether? What could potentially replace them?

I want to read a book on this called Get Rid of the Performance Review!: How Companies Can Stop Intimidating, Start Managing--and Focus on What Really Matters by Samuel A. Culbert

Here is an excellent review on the book by Ron Baker

According to Ron's review, Culbert says that annual performance reviews is what creates bureaucracy.

After I read the book I will write a review here.

How to handle email volume

Jim Estill, a vivid blogger and business mentor of mine has these 10 tips on handling email volume.

1 - Deal with it once. If I can deal with an email start to finish in less than a couple of minutes, I just do it. Leaving it to read again then respond just takes more time.

2 - Train people you interact with on the email ettiquette you want. EG - I only want the person who takes the action in the to line - everyone else in the cc list. I also coach on unneccesary email - let people know when I do not need to be included.

3 - I generally leave my highest energy and creative times to NOT do email. The better I know when these are - the more effective I can be.

4 - Get off lists.

5 - I have a great folder system and many of the lists that I am on get automatically filtered to these folders. For example, all the email newsletters and publications go to folders when I can read at my leasure.

6 - Of course I love my Blackberry. It greatly reduces my time required to do email and allows me to use any idle minutes I might happen to have.

7 - Delete, delete, delete. You can always find it if you need it. I also keep slush files. Simply move emails to a July08 folder. Then find them there.

8 - Avoid email clutter in what you send. EG - use descriptive Subjects. Sending email creates more email. Don't cc everyone. No reply to all.

9 - If a message goes back and forth more than 4 or 5 times - just pick up the phone.

10 - Just do it. I find my stress level is lower if my email is clear. I end every day with no messages in my in box. (I might have a few in my to do subfolder).

Here is the link to the blog: http://www.jimestill.com/2008/07/managing-email-volume-great-american.html

No more email at work at French tech firm

For the most part I find email a productivity tool but it has it shortcomings too. One of them, as I have learned the hard way, is misunderstanding. But then again as long we will have interactions with human beings misunderstandings will abound, be it emails or face to face conversations. It is just human nature not to listen well and therefore misunderstand and make assumptions.

Found this interesting article where a French tech company is doing away with internal emails at work.

Here is a quote from the article and the link:

"We are producing data on a massive scale that is fast polluting our working environments and also encroaching into our personal lives,” he said in a statement when first announcing the policy in Feburary. “At [Atos] we are taking action now to reverse this trend, just as organizations took measures to reduce environmental pollution after the industrial revolution"

http://www.geekosystem.com/atos-email-ban/

Happy emailing and that is all for today!

Occupy Greed not Wall Street

I tend to stay away from commentating on Politics in public (e.g. this blog). With the latest development of the occupy movement I decided that I would make a few comments here.

One of the most predominate things that stands out is that the cause is to fight corporate greed. I do not believe that greed dominates the corporate world. Does it exist in corporations? Sure and I'm not in denial of it but what is forgotten or never considered is that greed is universal. Much could be said about this from a theological perspective but that's not my expertise.

Recently I purchased and watch The Call of the Entrepreneur documentary done by Acton Institute, co-founded by Robert A. Sirico. In the video it is made very clear that corporate America is much more than a collective body of greed.

I highly recommend the documentary. That is all for now....happy reading!

Entrepreneurship in the Making

Here to announce the new title for my blog. Entrepreneurship in the Making.

Two reasons that I made the change. First is because I love reading about Entrepreneurship and studying subjects related to it. The next book on entrepreneurship I plan to read is the new biography on Steve Jobs.

Second reason is because in this blog I will no longer write specifically about business development (the previous title for this blog). I'm in the process of creating a website for my company with an integrated blog where I will write specifically about business development as it relates to distribution and manufacturing. I will probably do some cross posting.

That is all for today! Enjoy your day....

Social Entrepreneurship

I'm an advocate for Entrepreneurship. I love innovation and executing on creative ideas. Everything starts with an idea!

I follow a few blogs and one of them is Porverty Cure. Recently I read this inspiring blog post on what they call Social Entrepreneurship.

Here is the link and a quote from the blog
http://www.povertycure.org/media/blog/somo-beads-empowering-women-and-their-families-in-gulu/

Humans are incredible beings, capable of hard work and creativity. We find value and worth in working hard. When we don't earn what we have, we can become dependent and spoiled, and even worse, we lose sight of our self-worth. But, when given the opportunity to create, to work, to become independent, to sustain, we are empowered. Our physical, emotional and spiritual life is enriched. So I have learned, as it relates to poverty and development, that the fundamental principles of work need to be restored and reenacted - this will bring hope to the people of Africa ... and with hope comes unlimited potential. Eek! It's exciting to think about! ~ Heidi Schroeder, founder of SOMO Beads

It is exciting indeed the potential of entrepreneurship. Entrepreneurship is about creating jobs.

Social Media - I'm going with the trend

I have been skeptical up until now about social media and perhaps also some laziness that has keep me from fully engaging in social media. Recently this book Social Media Strategies for Professionals and Their Firms by Michelle Golden came highly recommended to me. I'm not done reading it and it is already changing my mind. I still have to select which tools I will use but blogging will become more frequent here.

The book is not as much of "how to do it" but more about why it is important for businesses to be active in Social media.

Here are few reviews on the book 

Enjoy!

Steve Job's and Bill Gates share the platform

Found this video from here where Steve Job's and Bill Gates share the platform in 2007. Excellent big picture  overview of the technology
 

Entrepreneurs see an additional color

Came across this excellent video on entrepreneurship


Here are a few additional quotes from this website
http://www.povertycure.org/voices/andreas-widmer/

“Research has shown that in prosperous countries, 95% of all companies are small and medium-sized companies. They employ seventy-five percent of the entire workforce in places like Europe or, or America. They contribute— over fifty percent of all the GDP comes from SMEs, not from multinational large corporations. If you look at that same distribution in emerging markets, in poor countries, you see that there are a lot of very small companies and a few very large companies and nobody in the middle.” “Yet we know that that middle is what carries the economy, that is how you grow an economy and create a middle class. That is called the Missing Middle. And one of the things we really need to start focusing on is how do you grow that Missing Middle in emerging markets; how do you get these small and medium-sized companies to grow.”

Self-Esteem and Competition

I've been far too busy to blog and read and I'm not keeping up as I wanted to for this year.

But here goes a blog post.

I've been slowly reading Ron Baker's latest book called Implementing Value Pricing: A Radical Business Model for Professional Firms

Here is a quote from the book which I believe to be true in any business, not just professional firm like mine.

People with high self-esteem are not threatened by the success of others. On the contrary, they are truly happy for another's success and will go out of their way to learn from them. The person who is not afraid of competition does not have any.

That is all for now. Enjoy you day!

Going after market share mistakes

One of the mistake businesses make is going after market share. This is most evident in the automotive industry in my opinion.

We can see this in the big three GM, Chrysler and Ford. The fact that they went bankrupt in 2008 to 2009 (GM and Chrysler) was the result of going after market share, although they would blame it on the market crash. The fact that they are so heavily unionized also played a role.

What inspired me to write about this are two things. First, is that I will never seek to go after market share in my business. Second, is that I have been a long time loyal driver of Volkswagen cars. The reality is that Volkswagen or local Volkswagen dealers have never recognized this.

Volkswagen does not seem to have learn any lessons from GM and Chrysler. Volkswagen unveil the newly design Jetta at a price point never seen before. Why? Because they are after market share. Now that the Jetta has been in the market for almost 6 months they are already talking about the positive results measured in sales volume. This of course means cuts in quality needed to be made as described here and the Jetta was remove from the premium compact car market. They will sell more cars and gain market share but the question of loyal customers has not yet been addressed.

I have set out to do this different in my business. I'm far more interested in loyal customers instead of going after market share. One way to ensure this is by having a customer price guarantee.

The work of the team at Interaction Versa is guaranteed to the complete satisfaction of our customers. If a customer is not completely delighted with the service performed by representatives of Interaction Versa, we will, at the option of our customer, either refund the price, or accept a portion said price that reflects the individuals of our customer's level of satisfaction.

We will assume the individuals and companies we work with are delighted upon payment received by us under the terms of our work.

The Billable Hour is Exposed Again

The billable hour is exposed again for what it is.

Reading - Ronald Reagan

I just finish reading Ronald Reagan: How an Ordinary Man Became and Extraordinary Leader by Dinesh D'Souza.

Reagan was a remarkable leader indeed. This books is evidence in that many public events are documented were Reagan followed trough without giving in to popular demand. He never sought popularity and always stayed true to his convictions. In politics that is probably rare today.

D'Souza also points out the weakness Reagan had.

I highly recommend this book!

Happy reading.

Why I don't bill by the hour

I'm a big advocate for not billing by hour in my professorial service delivery model.

Here is one reason based on Chapter 7 of Ron Baker’s book Professional’s Guide to Value Pricing (no longer in print)

"It creates a conflict of interest between the consultant and the customer (the very person you are trying to help). It is the customer’s best interest to reduce the number of hours; it is the consultant’s best interest to increase the number of hours"

More here http://www.verasage.com/index.php/community/

Love Hate Relationship with Social Media

Almost as long as social media has existed I have had a love hate relationship with it. I'm not sure why. It all seems to be over the top.

I even hesitate to blog from time to time. Perhaps it is my pessimistic side.

At the same time I do see the benefit. On numerous occasions I have gotten good comments from customers, prospects and friends for blogging.

My conclusion. I will continue doing it for selfish reasons. It seems to be here to stay as the following image from Trend Hunter indicates.

Does the billable hour work?

Here is a funny video on what could happen if you stay attached to the billable hour. Homeless on the street

Spending someone else's money and value

Here is a great post by Dan Morris, one of the founders of Vera Sage Institute. I follow the blog of Vera Sage Institute closely to learn more about creating and capturing value in my line of professional work.

http://www.verasage.com/index.php/community/comments/why-public-sector-unions-are-different-and-why-it-matters/

Hope you find it relevant!

The Innovation at Google is Endless

Google is known as an innovative company. I have used Google for about 12 years now. When I first started browsing the internet I remember using Alta Vista, which is now own by Yahoo and has long been left in the "cloud of Google dust"

It is no surprise that Google is being used as the predominate search engine.

I use it for:

Every day searches

Public transportation schedules (far faster then going to city websites to check for the schedule)

Maps (both on my computer and Blackberry)

Translations

Images

News and more

I just watch this video with some great tips on searches I can do that I did not know about

The innovation at Google is endless!

Quotes

Here are a few quotes that I like:

Revamping a business model is not easy; it requires visible, consistent commitment form the top. It takes time. First, the more established an industry's norms, the more difficult it is to innovate business models. Everyone has a big stake in preserving the status quo, but it is critical to resist the temptation to do so. ~A.G.Lafty and Ram Charan, The Game-Changer, 2008

A ship in harbor is safe but that is not what ships are for. ~John A. Shedd

Price is what you pay. Value is what you get. ~Warren Buffett

"100 Things I’ve Learned" by Murray Aston

I recently found out that Murray Aston passed away in July 2009 after battling cancer for a year. I met him once in 2004 and had a good impression of him. Murray founded BusinessVision Management Systems Inc. in 1987. He started the development of the software what today is called Sage BusinessVision. He sold his company to Sage in 2004 shortly after I met him.

He was a remarkable Entrepreneur and touch many lives with his wit and humor

Here are a few excerpts from ‘100 Things I’ve Learned’ by Murray

Try not to be too judgmental. Remember that you’re probably the only “normal” person you know.

Forgive a reasonable number of mistakes—you will make some also.

Act normal in an abnormal situation.

When you’re at a place that doesn’t feel right, get out really, really fast! This is not the time to question your doubts... just bail out immediately.

Avoid discussing politics with your friends.

If it ain’t yours, give it back.

A definition on greed and on The Roots of Obama's Rage

I just finished reading a fascinating book on Obama, the current US president.

The book is call "The Roots of Obama's Rage" by Dinesh D'Souza

It is a Political Science book. D'Souza comes up with a theory why Obama is acting the way he is and then goes on to prove his theory. The book is very well done and I enjoyed reading it. If he is right then the US citizens should worry about who it is that they have in the white house. Perhaps even we as Canadians should too.

Here is a quote from the book that I liked:

Obama's main charge was that Wall Street has succumbed to 'greed'. But if you think about it, Wall Street is based on greed. People go there to make money. What inhibits greed on Wall Street is not public-minded altruism but rather fear. Greed drives the aggressive desire to make more money while caution is produced by the fear of losing money. If financial crises were merely the result of outbreaks of greed, Wall Street would be in perpetual crisis. Our economic system is based on directing or channeling greed in such a way that it serves the economic welfare of society. Somewhere along the way, this channeling system broke down, and that's what cause our financial system into a tailspin.

Read the book and find out for yourself if you agree or not with D'Souza. I find his arguments compelling!

Entrepreneurship and Freedom

It is often believed that being self-employed equals freedom to work less. It is really to the contrary. In my experience it is far more work being self-employed then it is when having an employer. But perhaps that is a good illusion to have, just like falling in love. If people did not start thinking of entrepreneurship as freedom and rewarding we would have very few business startups.

On the other hand what I find rewarding is the freedom to be creative. I have rarely had the opportunity to be creative in a business the times I have been employed by an employer. This is particularly true in businesses where you have power hungry people.

Even knowing that it causes more stress (which it does) being self-employed, I still would not have it anther way.

My wife pass on this quote and I'm posting it here. She does not remember the author.

The biggest waste in the world is the difference between what we are and what we could become.

Currently I'm reading The Roots of Obama's Rage by Dinesh D'Souza. A very illuminating book indeed. Perhaps I'll write a small review once I'm done, even though I'm not a political commentator due to avoiding strong opinions on a variety of political subjects.

Happy reading and blogging...whatever it is that brings you here.