First Word

       They always say there are two things guaranteed in life—death and taxes. You can add a third thing to that statement— change .   Nothing in life is static, and change is inevitable. Yet when it comes to the business environment (and in life), most people do not embrace change. Change scares them. Why do so many people fear change? A recent article in Inc ., titled “Science Says This is Why You Fear Change (And What To Do About It),” Case in point: one study had a group of people view a painting that they were told was done in 1905. The next group viewed the same painting but this group was told that the painting was done in 2005. The 1905 group rated the painting much more aesthetically pleasing than the other group. We like that which has been around for a while. That's the obvious reason for why we don't like change.  But it runs deeper than that. We also fear the new because of the uncertainty it brings. As popular podcaster Tim Ferri...

The work smarter not harder formula is a tough one to figure out. I think it's a balance between a few key areas: team work, responsibility, delegation of the right tasks, and (this is a bonus) passive revenue. The last item (passive revenue) is the entrepreneur's ultimate dream goal: make your product sell itself and bring in constant revenue based on previous work. I am a fan of passive revenue. One of the key things it provides is unexpected income (my kind of bonus). Breaking down the other areas it works like this: Team work -- you need a competent team of professionals who know their jobs. They don't need direct supervision that can suck up your management time. The more time you spend managing people resources the less time you have to work as a CEO. The CEO should never be bogged in minutia (what I call small details). The minute you spend too much time on the grains of sands, the less time you have on the beach :) (and that's a semi metaphor), but the beac...

Another day in which I begin here in Blogland not sure of what I'm going to say, so I'm going to just start writing (hint ... just write if you feel blocked). How about the idea of getting in action to solve problems. What's the difference between a leader and a worker? Leaders take action. Followers ... well, they follow the leader's action. I also lead by getting out ahead of potential problems. How does that work? You think through a scenario and you get out ahead of your client's thought process. Let me give you an example. One thing I do with books during the editing and production phase is to keep the client in the loop. If I were to just start editing a book and focus exclusively on the editing process, which takes weeks and not show any progress to the client, the client would not see the value in their investment. Instead, I always edit chapter by chapter. That way, the client sees the work being done on a continual basis. He or she knows (because they see ...

Yesterday was one of those days ! Just one where you have a few situations that don't make you feel too happy. Client work, in particular, can be fraught with daily challenges. Most of the time, we work with people we know and like. Every now and again, we will get entangled in a contentious client relationship. The thing is some people are never satisfied. And attempting to satisfy the insatiable is an exercise in a lot sugary platitudes, a lot of futility, and frustration. One thing that hit me yesterday as we were brainstorming some problems was that I was treating my executive position like the leader of the free world. Sometimes when you're an executive, you have to make an executive decision which means it's time to sprinkle a little dictator in the mix. My little dictator came raging out when I realized the day was going to be one of those days . So the first thing I did was take charge of a client situation where these clients kept telling us how to run 3L -- of co...