I meet a lot of people.  Between all the networking events, volunteer activities and my growing social life, it seems like a constant flow of new faces. I love it!

As a result, I’m often answering the “what-do-you-do?” question.  And as I explain that I help people get organized, many people immediately announce “Oooo, I so need you!”

Which I’ve always taken as polite conversation. I’ve never actually considered that they could be expressing interest in my services.  And while I’m proud of my effective follow up with prospects and clients,  I’ve never followed up with one of these folks.

Until now.

See, I was totally impressed by someone recently.

A wonderful lady representing wickless candles hosted a table next to mine at a trade show. (Yes, wickless candles are a cool product, but that’s not what impressed me!)

After introducing myself and asking her a few generic questions about her business, I was very interested in this new ( to me!) concept. To keep the conversation flowing, I commented that the candles would make great gifts for two newly-pregnant friends.  It was a quick thought that popped out of my head as I learned about her business.  I wasn’t actually prepared to order candles at that moment.  And I immediately realized: that’s just like what people say to me! 

I returned to my office after the trade show and within twenty minutes I received an email from the friendly little lady saying she’d be glad to drop off some samples for me to choose the perfect scent for my newly pregnant friends.

Ah!  Effective follow up wins again. I made my purchase – my friends will love these unique candles – and I admired her for the follow up, and for pushing past the idea that I might have just been making conversation.

As a result, I realized that my presumption someone is “just being nice” could be costing me business opportunities.  There is likely a kernel of truth in the “I need you!” statement people make upon meeting me, and some kind, supportive follow up could lead to benefits for us both.

Have you ever delivered a well-prepped, fine-tuned, engaging presentation to a group of people….who were drinking?

I was very excited about my recent opportunity to speak at an annual conference of women business owners!  And I was quite pleased with my thorough preparation: I knew the makeup of the audience, I had a solid idea of their concerns, and was prepared to provide value that spoke directly to those concerns.

I did not, however, think to ask if this event could possibly turn out to be their annual let’s-spend-last-dollars-of-the-budget-on-wine-get-together.  Oh, the things they don’t teach in school!

Tackling the topic of time management and effectively organizing paper is challenging enough, but who the heck wants to hear about those topics when you’re socializing and enjoying a glass (or three) of Pinot Grigio with colleagues you only get to see once a year?

Fortunately, I was able to hold their attention for the full 45 minute presentation because I kept things a heck of a lot more interactive and casual than I would have if there weren’t bottles of wine on the table. “Yay!” for being able to speak off the cuff and turn potentially boring information into an opportunity of sharing, practicing and laughter.

Lesson learned: When presented with my next speaking opportunity, I won’t presume the event is like others I’ve been to. I will ask questions. Many questions.  Even possibly uncomfortable questions.  

This experience was valuable, forcing me to step up the level of engagement in my presentations, but I’d rather avoid surprises like this one in the future!

We’ve all been told that it’s OK to fail, and many of us even believe it.  Ideally, we learn a lesson or two when we fail, and that makes us stronger for the next round.

But truly embracing this philosophy? Well…that can be a little tricky.

Last year a friend of mine left her job as a marketing assistant to enter the world of entrepreneurship.  A month later, she was voicing some fears about a project to her husband.  He told her, “Hurry up and fail.  Just get it out of the way and you’ll be off and running again on your next project.” And the pressure she was creating for herself immediately dissipated.

So, yes, we know that failure teaches us.  It makes us stronger. It shows us how far we can go.  It builds courage.  And of course, it beats the heck out of regret.

As entrepreneurs, we must embrace our pending failures.  According to Robert Kiyosaki,

One of the reasons so many people don’t become entrepreneurs is because they’re afraid of failing. They’re afraid of making mistakes. They’re afraid of losing money. But if people can’t overcome these psychological fears, they’d be better off keeping their day jobs.

Fortunately, failure often inspires others.  As in the case of this video I’d like to share with you.  It’s been around a while, but each time I watch it, I’m reminded of all those reasons to pursue failure. 

What failures have you experienced?  And what lessons did you get out of them?  I’d love to hear your stories – please comment below!

I have had the good fortune of personally meeting and spending time with Dr. Edward Hallowell, one of the top ADD psychiatrists in the world.  This best-selling author has first-hand experience in the crazy busy lifestyle that so many of us are now in. His incredibly insightful book, Crazy Busy, was recently expanded into a hugely popular audio program by Nightingale-Conant, and he has appeared on Oprah five times, which, of course, is pretty cool.

I’ve learned so much from Ned about my own Crazy Busy propensities and challenges, and these lessons also apply perfectly to my Crazy Busy clients!  

Here is one of my favorite concepts from the book - I’ve summarized it briefly in case your attention span is as short as mine!

F-State vs C-State

F-state is when we’re frantic, frenzied, forgetful, fearful.  And perhaps using some other choice words beginning with the letter F.

Here’s an example – you’re running late, racing to a meeting and realize you: a) forgot to bring the paperwork you need for the meeting and  b) your car is running extremely low on gas.  How do you feel? And how do you react?  When we’re in F-state, we’re dangerous! This “mode” can apply to anytime in our workday, when we’re feeling overwhelmed and all over the place. In F-state, we don’t do our best work.

C-state is when we’re calm, cool, collected, careful, and courteous.

This might occur when you start off your day with a clear desktop, knowing exactly what you’re going to accomplish for the day, feeling fresh and motivated. C-state is when you are likely to get high-quality work done,  and though we all drift to F-state at times, having an awareness of the difference helps to bring us back to C-state, where we are most productive.

Want to learn more?  Grab a copy of Crazy Busy today!  I’d love to hear what you think of it.

You might consider me a tad silly for recommending a children’s book, but sometimes such books remind us of what it’s like to think like a child: with no limits and believing anything is possible.   Remember those days?

An Awesome Book by Dallas Clayton reminds us of that wonderful time.  Plus, it’s a quick & inspirational read, so you get a lot of ‘bang’ for your short time investment. 

Elizabeth Wilson from Entrepreneur.com shares the story of her entrepreneurial parents and the impact they had on her life and how it ties in with the lessons from Clayton’s book.

If you check it out, please let me know what you think of it!

As a crazy busy entrepreneur in my late twenties, I haven’t yet slowed down enough to make time for the family that I know I want.  As one of five children, having kids (someday!) is pretty much a given.

I’m very grateful for the fact that I come from an family of entrepreneurs, and that I was able to witness both the risks taken and the benefits earned from those risks.  I know with complete certainty that entrepreneurship is the only life for me, and I look forward to the day when I can share that spirit with my own children.

Marc Warnke, The Family First Entrepreneur, feels the same way. 

His upcoming book, ONO: Options Not Obligations contains a chapter on the subject.  Here’s an quick blurb:

Entrepreneurism is a great concept to teach children when they are young. It is one of the greatest gifts you can ever give them.

You can read more about his 3-year old son’s first experience in entrepreneurship here.  If you don’t have kids, it’ll still bring a smile to your face.  And if you do have kids, you might get a little watery.  Enjoy!

As many of you know, I’ve been impeded for the past six weeks by a 10 pound cast on my left arm!

I was reflecting on the lessons I’ve learned from this maddening enriching experience, and recorded this 3 minute video for you:



So, are you up for my challenge of spending a day typing with just one hand? Believe me, that would definitely get you to ask for help!

One truly Crazy Busy Entrepreneur in my circle has taken the time to download a pdf of the proposed 2009 Stimulus Package. Lisa Wagner, CEO of Piranha Marketing, is an exceptional entrepreneur and business coach. I’ve always enjoyed reading her many articles on business, personal development, and entrepreneurial issues. She granted permission to reprint her article on the Stimulus Package:

70% of new jobs each year are created by small businesses … it seems that if you wanted to “stimulate” the economy you would go to where the growth always comes from – small business … yet this almost 1 TRILLION dollar plan has no substantial plans for helping the 30 million small businesses (employing 2-25 employees each) to do what they do best – look for ways to grow.

Almost all of the programs dump money into the public sector. It is not a plan crafted by economists, or by anyone who apparantly has any shred of business experience. This is what kills me (and by the way – I’m not all through this huge pdf of this bill … and it may actually kill me). Here’s what kills me … when a small business, say my business, is not able to cover expenses – we look to see what we can do to create more value, get more business, and EARN the money we need. We don’t cry and ask for a damn bailout or a handout.

This bill on the table is going to destroy whatever real chances for getting our act together that we have. It’s a cop-out. It’s paying off special interests who create no significant jobs in our economy. It’s political. And it’s written by career bureaucrats and no one who seems to have had to run a real small business. It’s embarrassing … and certainly not the “change” promised with this election. It’s something we are going to pay for in taxes on the front end … and will end up paying even more trying to fix the problems this creates on the backend.

It’s easy to treat this as “pretend” money because the politicians – both sides – are not spending their money, they are spending ours. It’s a travesty. It’s criminal. And it’s a huge disappointment.

Please track down your representative’s contact info and ask them to not support this bill. This is not going to fix anything at all …

My two cents … make that one cent, I need to start saving more.

What’s your entrpreneurial opinon?  Please share your comments with us.

You’re likely already aware that your employees impact client satisfaction.

Have you heard of the “Spillover Effect” which explains the connection between employee engagement and customer engagement?

Today I read a fantastic post on positive employee engagement.  Here is an excerpt: 

For the mantra of “happy employees equals happy customers” to be real, companies should seek to foster emotionally engaged employees, because it will be these employees whose experience will “spill over” to help create emotionally engaged customers.

The post gives some great detail.  My all-time favorite resource about the concept of engagement is “The Power of Full Engagement” by Tony Schwartz & Jim Loehr.  But….if you already have a pile of books awaiting your attention and would prefer listening to an audio about engagement for entrepreneurs, I recommend this powerful interview with Tony Schwartz.

Do you have certain practices to help engage your employees?  If so, I’d love to hear about them!

Like many of my crazy-busy-entrepreneur clients, I just LOVE to delegate!

But sometimes my high energy, my distaste for details, and getting distracted with my latest exciting opportunity turns my ”delegation” into “dumping.” 

Being aware of this propensity is half the battle, and I’ve made enough progress that my assistant no longer has one foot out the door.

A client of mine recently shared a list of delegation “tips” that one of his employees created when she was extremely frustrated with him.  My client is a high energy ADD entrepreneur who tries to balance between ensuring his team is happily productive, and shouting “Because I’m the boss and that’s how I want it!”  As a fellow crazy busy entrepreneur, perhaps you can identify with him!

Fortunately, when reading his frustrated employee’s list, he was able to laugh at himself and take the criticism constructively.  Perhaps one or two of the items on this list will sound familiar to you!

1. Blast your team with anything that comes to mind, the instant you think of it. Even at 3AM. They’re on salary, right?

2. Delegate to 7 different people without clarifying who you’re really making a request of. That increases the chance of it actually getting done.

3. Forget which 7 people you ‘delegated’ to and get frustrated with the one person who has no idea what you’re talking about when you ask them for status.

4. Make no attempt to understand who on your team has what skill set. Dump and run.

5. Instead of reviewing status that’s been reported to you, request it be re-sent to you now. Right now.

6. After delegating a project or task, check in every 15-20 minutes seeking results. After one day passes, forget all about what you delegated and ignore any feedback reported. Then insist that no one executes your requests.

7. Explain your vision in rambling stories with a multitude of tangents. Depart before anyone can ask those “pesky questions.” Then get pissed off when things aren’t carried out to your satisfaction.

8. Give absolutely no thought to the mindset of your employee or what they might be focused on when you burst in, ready to delegate. If at all possible, be sure to interrupt them on the phone or with a client.

It’s possible you’ve occasionally followed one or more of these “rules” in the past.  But if it’s a habit, you may want to consider if your delegation style is harming your relationship with the person to whom you’re delegating.

Any other “rules” you’d like to add to the list?  I’d love to hear from you!