Step 21: Manage By Mobilizing - Create an environment that empowers people
By Jody Urquhart, Guest Columnist

Are you depriving your employees of the opportunity to excel? Most organizations revolve around the manager as controller model but attempts to control people s behavior can cause resentment. As Peter Druker says, A leader s job is to make people s strengths effective and their weaknesses irrelevant.

Goal Setting
By setting goals so high that only a few can reach them, we limit others. Set a standard and people reach for that, even if they may be capable of more. Goal setting can limit productivity.

There is a delicate balance between what is just right and what is too far out of reach. Aim too high and it s defeating, aim too low and it s not motivating. The most important part of goal setting is that people, who have to reach the goal, also set them. Often goals are set because a manager wants to force an outcome. People perceive this and don t feel like a part of the process so they don t buy into the end result enough to make it happen. Results depend on people, so it makes sense that people set, buy into and drive the goal setting process.

Here are some tips on setting goals:

1. set goals and standards individually for each employee. Help them create their own goals. A goal should be thought of as an agreement between a manager and an employee;
2. get to know employees and their abilities. People will respect you if you bring out their own sense of worth;
3. watch employees to see what inspires them and encourage them to do more of this;
4. try to see things from the perspective of the employee.
5. think of the manager s job being to support employees in reaching their goals. Managers are a resource for employees;
6. be on the lookout for ways to help bring out the best in others. Instead of saying I need you to be more productive. Ask, how can I help you be more productive?
7. be open minded and flexible to new ideas, suggestions, work habits and behavior.

Make Mistakes More Often
Encourage employees to risk making mistakes and create an atmosphere that encourages them to be open when errors occur. Usually when people make mistakes they feel guilty and try to cover up, sometimes even from themselves. The opportunity to learn from the mistake becomes hidden as well. Mistakes are a part of growth. Bring them out in the open and let others learn from the example. This will foster an environment of openness that encourages creativity and autonomy. Celebrate errors and victories equally.

Vision of the Whole
Keep the operation and vision of the company top of mind for everyone. When emphasizing this department or that process we often create value judgments, competition and detachment from other parts of the organization. Instead, encourage employees to see every move, change or activity as it affects the whole company. Vision isn t one-dimensional. It includes all employees, suppliers, customers, competition even the political and social environment.

Make Information Accessible
Imagine your first day on the job in a new company. As you walk in the door you notice rooms that are off limits to everyone but the managers. Day after day you start to see that information is carefully guarded and watched. Many meetings occur behind closed doors. As managers walk around, you sense they know something you don t. Does this sound like a fun and productive work environment?

What s the big deal? Why do we guard information so carefully? Company information is often seen as intellectual property, for both the company and for individuals. People put effort into creating information and ideas and start to take ownership of it. In doing so, it becomes territorial and guarded. Pretty soon it creates a separation between those who have access to information and those who don t. Individuals start to see they are excluded and feel disconnected from the whole vision of the organization.

Information bonds people to one another. It is an important part of the positive growth and community of an organization. Cutting people off from access to information is unhealthy for the company. Find ways to make information accessible to everyone. If meetings must occur behind closed doors then make sure others in the department are included. Bring their information and ideas to the meeting. Create an after meeting follow up bulletin that discusses what was said.

Try to include employees in the information even though they may not have been at the forefront of the change.

Jody Urquhart, a popular speaker and author of All Work & No SAY Takes the PASSION Away. Create a Passionate & Committed Workplace. To order your copy or to discuss having Jody speak at your next meeting, please email ido@idoinspire.com.

Step 20: The Power and Responsibility of a Vision
By Nicholas Hall, Startupfailures Founder

A compelling vision is often the kick-start to a successful business. A vision provides us with direction, inspires us to take risks and communicates to others our intentions. A vision, when communicated effectively and acted upon consistently, can deliver unimaginable results, from Apple Computer's vision of "a computer in every household" to DuPont's vision of "improving life on our planet". A powerful vision led to the formulation of our country's most treasured document -- The Declaration of Independence. Osama Bin Laden's vison of expelling the United States from the Islamic world and uniting Muslims in one empire lead to the destruction of the World Trade Towers and the loss of thousands of innocent lives.

If you watch just a few minutes of network news or read a few headlines in the newspapers, it is clear that the U.S.'s new vision is -- wiping out terrorism. Admittedly, "wiping out terrorism" is appealing to our initial feelings of anger, hatred and hunger for revenge.

However, I already see negative short-term effects of our vision. News programs focus on "America Fights Back" and "War on Terrorism". These programs cover our military actions in Afghanistan like play-by-play analysts at a sporting event. We start to forget that we are dropping millions of pounds of bombs on an already devastated country. Our government has pulled out a giant rubber stamp for everything that can be associated with "wiping out terrorism". While I understand the need to move swiftly, we need look no further than the recent Internet boom and bust to see what happens when we fire first and figure out what to do with the results afterward.

We have made the assumption that the terrorists' motivation is to break our spirit and dampen our resolve. Maybe they want us to focus our time and resources on what they MIGHT do next, knowing that in the long run our economic infrastructure and world influence will suffer. I have had the opportunity to speak with several Bay Area leaders the past few weeks, and while I cannot point to one specific comment, I am left with the sense that we are at a turning point in human civilization. The acts of the terrorists on September 11th and our response leaves many with a sinking feeling that we are being sucked in to the web of responding to violence with violence, a short-term sedative with historically severe long-term consequences.

As the sole world power, the United States has an incredible opportunity and responsibility to create a new world vision that unites the world and focuses our energy on spreading freedom, equality, opportunity and human kindness. I know I am being slightly idealistic, but I believe it is possible for us to achieve our short-term objective of destabilizing terrorism and maintaining the long-term opportunity of world peace. If we want to kill terrorism, we should not focus primarily on the terrorists but rather on their source of power. Let us take this opportunity to declare that poverty, hunger and inequality will be eradicated from our planet. That, in the end, will put an end to terrorism.

Step 19: MISTAKES MADE BY FAST-GROWING HIGH TECH CEOS
(To be published in The Forum Reporter, MIT Enterprise Forum, April, 2001)
By Guest Columnist, Diane Franklin PhD - New Venture Network

In the mad rush that is characteristic of fast-growing high tech companies, there are a number of mistakes that CEOs often make, but which can be avoided. Given the need for high growth companies to simultaneously define, develop, and reach their markets quickly and effectively, build out their operations, rapidly hire many people in a tight labor market, and raise the additional rounds of financing necessary for fast growth, it's easy to impede growth and derail a company from its initial upward trajectory by not attending to a number of key factors. CEOs can make mistakes in a variety of areas:

Strategic

• Making decisions reactively rather than strategically because you don't have a strategic plan to guide you through the stages of rapid growth.
• Not working with your senior management team to develop a strategic plan, mission statement, vision and growth strategy that everyone buys into and supports.
• Not communicating a clear strategy, vision and direction to your employees, either because you haven't taken the time to think strategically or because you're so busy doing other things that you don't have the time to share your strategy and vision.
• Not building a corporate culture and a set of values that can support your vision throughout periods of rapid growth and guide employees' decisions and behavior.
• Thinking too small - though if you think big, make sure the reward is in line with the risk.
• Not listening to the views and feedback of all your key constituents, including your employees.
• Not addressing-and resolving-conflicts and major differences of opinion, especially among key constituents.
• Not building a learning culture, one that tracks and learns from its own successes, failures and mistakes.
• Failing to push for continuous innovation, reassessment, and change.

Human Resources

• Hiring for today's needs, not tomorrow's, thereby leaving yourself without the management depth and functional or domain expertise you'll need as the company grows into its next stage.
• Hiring the wrong person for a job or, in a tight labor market, waiting for the absolute right person to come along rather than taking a chance on someone who is capable and bright and can quickly develop into the person you need.
• Not developing clear job descriptions and expectations for new employees, thereby leaving them unclear about what they should be doing or about the management structure that will support their efforts.
• Not developing incentives, compensation, a reward system and a culture that will attract and retain valuable employees.
• Failing to develop, coach and promote valuable employees

Financial

• Burning through cash too quickly, by spending money too lavishly, hiring too many of the wrong kinds of people, or spending in excess of revenues or funding.
• Not raising enough money in early financing rounds, thus necessitating having to raise additional rounds at a time when you should be focusing on other aspects of growth.
• Setting initial financial expectations and milestones unreasonably high, thus disappointing your investors and your team.
• Telling your investors, or potential investors, what you think they'll like to hear rather than being straightforward about your ideas.

Marketing

• Not focusing on the types of markets and customers that will maximize the company's opportunities for growth.
• Taking your eye off or underestimating the competition, thereby leaving yourself unprepared for rapid market or industry shifts.
• Failing to develop new niches in current markets, cultivate repeat business with current customers, develop new markets for your product or service or expand your current product/service lines.
• Failing to move from a product focus to a solution focus.
• Failing to brand your products or your company.
• Not listening enough to the needs of current and future customers.

Operational

• Not being willing to delegate operational and other day-to-day responsibilities, thus leaving you without adequate time to focus on strategy and growth.
• Not developing a forward-looking infrastructure, one that will continue to function well as the company grows.
• Not developing efficient processes and structures.
• Not developing a good communications process among functional areas, so that different functions work in conjunction with each other, not in conflict.
• Not developing an operational plan, in accordance with your strategic plan, that has clear objectives, metrics and milestones.

Board-Related

• Not developing an outside advisory board and/or board of directors who can add objectivity and provide additional resources to the company.
• Not listening to the advice and counsel of people who have been through the process of rapid growth: although entrepreneurs do not like being told what to do, there is a delicate balance between sticking to your ground despite the objections of others and not listening to people who could really help you.
• Not being honest with your board about bad news, or not sharing your problems early enough for your advisors to help you solve these problems.
• Not being willing to admit that you've made a mistake; if you do make one, admit it, offer a solution for moving on, and implement your plan.

Diane Franklin, Ph.D., is the president of New Venture Network (www.newventurenetwork.com), a consulting firm that works with the CEOs of fast growing entrepreneurial companies, facilitating growth strategies and implementation plans and reviewing operations. In the fall, New Venture Network will launch a new service to help CEOs develop advisory boards for their companies. She can be reached by phone (617-524-7598) or e-mail (diane@newventurenetwork.com).

Step 18: "Follow your bliss"
By Guest Columnist, Jaki Scarcello - FPS Consulting

So here I am in Southern California pursing the advice of my mentors Joseph Campbell " follow your bliss" and John Mellancamp " your life is now".

My company FPS Consulting Facilitating Profit and Spirit is in the startup phase just like your business.

FPS is the offspring of my experience and my dreams. It is genetically coded with 28 years of supporting other people's lives and work. Its nature and purpose reflect the lessons I have learned working inside and beside corporate cultures as a privileged intimate to people's dreams and fears.

FPS is dedicated to developing organizational cultures where profit and the realization of human potential exist interdependently. In Steps For Sustainability Nicholas Hall states that entrepreneurs "seek freedom, flexibility and control over their lives." Present! Yes this is what I seek. Is this not what we all seek as we step out on our own?

Today I challenge you to ask yourself are you prepared to offer this as well to those who come to join you in your work? Are you prepared to dedicate yourself to creating a corporate culture where human potential can be realized while business value is generated? Doing so will be one of the keys to your sustainability.

Arie de Geus in The Living Company, Habits for survival in a turbulent business environment, investigates companies that have survived for hundreds of years and reveals the keys to their longevity.

De Geus writes, "The amount that people care, trust and engage themselves at work has not only a direct effect on the bottom line, but also the most direct effect, of any factor, on your company's expected lifespan. The fact that many managers ignore this imperative is one of the great tragedies of our time." When the work place invites all its members to experience freedom, flexibility and a sense of control over their work, caring trust and engagement will follow. Your organization can reach it potential as the individuals within it reach theirs

Is this the sort of organization you are forming?

Ok, so how do you start? The process is simple like so many of the great secrets of business that are mysterious and elusive until we realize how truly simple they are. This is what consultants are for. Consultants point out the obvious and charge big fees to tell you what you could not see because you are only looking from within the fence. Try sitting out in your parking lot (or your driveway if you are a home business) and ponder the issues of your company. A little external perspective goes a long way.

Step 1. Start with a Purpose/Vision. This is your dream. It tells people what you heart and soul is aching to achieve. Pour it out, make it personal, and make it as intimate as your nature can bear. Yes you will be standing naked and vulnerable in front of folks you may have just met in the last few weeks or months. But if you don't trust them with this information how can you rationalize trusting them with the operation of your business.

Step 2. Each Team Member Shares Their Purpose/Vision. Study where there are similarities and where there are differences and craft a company purpose/vision statement from the raw material of them all. Do not spend hours in "word smithing hell." It is not the words; it is the shared understanding and the consequent commitment of each person that matters. If someone's personal vision is very unaligned with yours, now is the time to find out.

You cannot engage people in the corporate vision by telling them what it is and saying now we all agree right? Commitment to a shared vision comes from truly experiencing yourself in that vision.

Steps 3. Identify the Organizational Values The vision and the values you identify will become the guiding principles of your organization. They will be the filters of your decision making as you proceed. You will go back to them time and again to test your plans and ideas. They can live with your organization for 500 years. The product can change form wooden wagons to microchips but the vision and values will endure.

Step 4. Establish the Corporate Goals These are the milestones along the path. Think of it this way, if you want to play concert piano on Carnegie hall when you are 55 you will have to start with piano lessens today.

• Carve out the big goals and work back to today.
• Goals need to follow some simple rules. They must be:
• Specific
• Measurable
• Achievable
• Realistic
• Time based
• Test each goal to these principles.

Step 5. Set Goals for Each Role.

• Ask each team member to consider the company vision, values and goals and then build the goals for their roles.
• Then have everyone share his or her goals. In this process the links and connections will start to surface, the interdependency of the team will fall onto the table where you can have an open discussion about what you need from each other.
• You are the leader! Listen and do not be afraid to stretch the goals of your team when they sell themselves, each other and the organization too short. Remember real learning happens in a place where people are uncomfortable. If you are not slightly uncomfortable you are not in new territory and if the landscape it is not new then where is the learning?

As the leader you also need to make sure the resources that are identified are available.

With the vision and values set, the goals and roles identified and the resources provided you give into the trust you have in your team and get the heck out of the way. Watch now in wonder as human potential ignites in the environment of trust you have provided.

According to De Geus there is an unwritten contract in an organization that operates like this that generates trust. This contract exists where the team and the organization are committed to first survive and then to create a place for the realization of everyone's potential.

At this point the seeds of the organizational culture have been sown. I urge you to be proactive and to give thought, time and energy to your organization's culture right from the start. The culture will form with or without your involvement but perhaps not as you may have hoped.

How do you nurture and enable this culture as you shift course, manage crisis and celebrate success?

Well that is another story. It is about how to use your vision to be a coaching leader. Stay tuned.

Jaki Scarcello FPS Consulting, Facilitating Profit and Spirit
Jaki can be reached at jaki@fpsconsulting.com

Step 17: Failure as a Badge of Honor (From Nick Hall's BusinessWeek column)
By Startupfailures Founder, Nicholas Hall

In the New Economy, it's no cause for shame. In fact, many who went down in the dot-com debacle have picked up a certain cachet

Lost your job? Lost your company? Lost somebody else's millions? You're not a failure -- you're a marketing opportunity, a member of a hip new club, a streetwise graduate of the Net school of not-so-hard knocks. If a dot-com was the right place to be a year or two ago, dot-gone is perfectly O.K. now. If layoffs can hit Priceline, and if bankruptcy can close eToys, it can happen to anyone.

In the New Economy, failure isn't the cause for shame that it once was. Instead, it's a sign of courage, a badge that says you've completed a business rite of passage. Now, it's not only acceptable to bring up your own layoff or your company's bankruptcy at a social gathering, it's often the point of the get-together. At pink-slip parties and high-tech happy hours, the laid-off share war stories and network with headhunters over free drinks.

No need to blame yourself -- chances are good your next employer or next investor won't. But although there's no sense moping, some rules for how and when to fail, New Economy-style, still hold. Here are a few of the most important:

There's safety in numbers: A good time to go under is when companies like yours are dying all around you. That way, the problem isn't that you were a bad manager or had a faulty business plan. Failure was an act of the economic gods, a no-fault dissolution. Even though they might have seen the handwriting on the wall, few dot-com execs were eager to be the first to go under, says Irving Leveson, president of ForecastCenter.com, which makes economic forecasts, in Marlboro, N.J. But once they realized they were in good company -- and lots of it -- the stigma was gone. "It's better to go down with everybody else and blame it on the downturn," Leveson says.

Wear failure proudly: "It's not a shameful thing. It's happening everywhere," says Carlotta Stankiewicz of Austin, Tex., who was laid off earlier this year by an ad agency. Her reaction was to go right out and found PlanetPinkSlip.com, a site that features "unemployment humor" and a job board. Bankruptcy lawyer Deborah Crabbe of Seattle has also noticed the lack of shame. Usually, a company that has filed for bankruptcy will keep a low profile. But some of her colleagues who represent dot-coms in Chapter 11 "couldn't get the CEOs to stop talking to the press," she says.

If you've failed, after all, it means that you aren't a boring, stodgy, Old Economy drone who played it safe. You're a risk-taker, a go-getter. In a pitch to potential advertisers, Failure magazine describes the psychographic profile of its readers: "educated, ambitious, adventuresome, self-starters, affluent, or affluent-minded." When you're talking about people like that, what's a little failure now and then?

Failure has become so fashionable that it's all over the Web. Startupfailures.com is "the place for bouncing back," and Duty-free.com offers an invitation to get on Bernardo's List, which sponsors networking parties for venture capitalists, entrepreneurs, and "talent for hire." If the talent wants to replace the coffee mug or backpack that now contains a dead company's logo, she has many options, including goods that say "Failed" in bright red letters. Students of dot-com death can visit historical monuments, such as The Museum of E-Failure from Netslaves.com, and read their own daily trade journals, including F---edcompany.com.

Be sure to fail with class: Net entrepreneurs whose companies have tanked, those whose companies have survived, and the VCs who have backed both kinds all say they wouldn't hold failure against a founder whose company goes under. In fact, they say they'd probably consider the person more qualified when it comes to knowing what -- and what not -- to do.

One caveat, though: The founder has to have behaved well on the way out. "I think there's something charming about somebody who has tried and failed, especially if they failed with integrity," says Matt Harris, CEO of Village Ventures in Williamstown, Mass., which has established venture funds in about a dozen U.S. cities. "It's very stressful to have a company go down, so it doesn't bring out the best in [an entrepreneur's] nature. If they failed because of factors outside their control and they acted with grace and integrity and tried to make people whole, that's great. They've shown their mettle."

Matt Bergheiser has a similar view of former CEOs whose companies died -- except that he argues that there's no such thing as factors outside their control. "Having failed might be something in their favor rather than a strike against them. It depends on whether they learned from it," says Bergheiser, vice-president of The Enterprise Center, a business incubator in Philadelphia. "If they're making excuses for why it didn't work, they haven't learned. Even if the whole economy is going south, they still have to look within for reasons why the company failed. What if the economy goes south again? What would they do differently?"

It's good to be rich: Perhaps the biggest reason that failure is less ego-bruising than in past downturns is the relative affluence of the victims. In the New Economy, the captain usually doesn't go down with the ship. Many of those who lost a company or a job in the Net wreck have healthy bank accounts, severance checks, and college degrees to see them through. Their company stock may be worthless, but they still have plenty of options. And that can make failure a whole lot easier to take.

----------
This article can be found online at:
http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/01_35/b3746632.htm

Copyright 2000-2001, by The McGraw-Hill Companies Inc. All rights reserved.

STEP 16: Book Review: Dot Com Success - Surviving the Fallout and Consolidation by Sally Richards By Startupfailures Founder, Nicholas Hall

I compare writing this book to writing about the maiden voyage of the Titanic. Your early chapters are spent writing about this grand vessel that is the envy of the world (i.e. dot-com millionaires) and you pen your final chapters clinging for life on a tiny raft in the middle of the Arctic Ocean (i.e. former dot-com millionaires with worthless stock).

It usually takes at least a couple of years to go from book proposal to a book on the shelves. With the incredible shift in the Internet marketplace post April, 2000 I imagine that Sally had to go back and do quite a bit of editing from her original draft. When she talks about the countless hours spent researching and writing this book, I can only imagine the effort required.

Since I was in the middle of much of what Sally writes about it was fun to recognize so many of the names and examples she mentions. Sally derives most of her interviews, stories and examples from people on the inside of Silicon Valley, therefore, if you have future plans for doing an startup in the Valley this book can be a great map to help guide you once you arrive.

While the craze over dot-com startups has clearly died, the passion for startups will come back alive and when you decide to take the plunge and launch your own startup, Dot Com Success can provide you with some food for thought as you build your company and hit the streets for money.

Buy a copy at amazon.com today!
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0782128513/107-8523942-2334168

Step 15: The First Law of Business: Be Good to Yourself
By Startupfailures Founder, Nicholas Hall

Small-business owners take the initial plunge for different reasons. Some figure they can make more money and do a better job without a boss's interference. Others get downsized by their companies and figure that now is as good a time as any to give business ownership a shot. But most want more freedom, flexibility, and control over their lives.

Unfortunately, those three most cherished things are often the first to go when small-business owners start a business. In my previous businesses I worked long hours, my waistline expanded, I forgot about my friends, and my hobbies and interests outside of work became afterthoughts. I became the lifeless, boring, overweight entrepreneur that we all read about in magazines, except I didn't have the millions of IPO dollars that somehow make it appear the sacrifice was worthwhile.

Like many entrepreneurs, I got caught up in the dot-com mania. I was one of the many in that long, hapless line of wannabe moguls hoping to raise millions of dollars and become an overnight success with my picture on the cover of, well, BusinessWeek.

NEW PHILOSOPHY.
I can still remember wondering how I was going to explain to the venture capitalists that I had the lead in a local musical production and would have to leave work every day by 5 p.m. Or, thinking how much I would miss my home office, lunch with my wife, and baking bread in the afternoon.

I came to the painful realization that I was not being true to myself and had not created a business that served me, but rather one I would have to serve. It is no surprise, and thankfully so, that the business never materialized.

About 18 months ago, I adopted a new philosophy. Within several months, my energy, friends, interests, and proper waistline returned. The move put freedom, flexibility, and control -- those things I so desperately wanted when I joined the entrepreneurial world seven years ago -- back in my life. The philosophy was not developed over a long period of time, but in a moment of reflection while walking my new puppy.

I realized that when I considered the type of business to start I never thought about how it would fit into my life. Therefore, I always ended up struggling to fit my life into my business. I made the choice that, from that moment on, I would always be involved in a business designed to serve my life.

SUPPORT SYSTEM.
Writing about it in a few sentences makes it sound easy. It wasn't. Making the commitment was easy, but sticking with it was a daily process. Having a support system that included my wife, business coach, mentors, and peers was essential to my sticking to my commitment. Over the years I have learned that we are always the first ones to give up on ourselves.

My new philosophy had a significant impact on the creation of my most recent business. My wife's promotion prompted a move from San Francisco to Westport (Conn.) in June, 2001. This relocation provided the opportunity for me to start the company.

Keeping in mind my "business that fits in my life" philosophy, I realized I wanted a business I could run from my home, would be able to grow in a virtual environment, could be operated from any location -- as long as I had a phone line and an Internet connection -- and, most importantly, was simple and straightforward. I know myself well enough to be aware that I often get involved in businesses that do not have straightforward business models, meaning I end up getting stuck in the complexities and avoid important things like generating revenue.

EUREKA!
So when I thought about my areas of expertise and where people needed help, I realized that, with the downturn in the high-tech economy, conference organizers have been struggling to sell tickets to their events. My initial strategy failed because -- no surprise -- the revenue model was a bit too complex.

However, I stumbled across the idea of negotiating "last-minute" discount tickets to high-tech conferences. Bingo! Several conference organizers appreciate the opportunity to sell a few extra seats and cover some expenses, and my subscribers, like just about everyone, love a good deal.

Simple, straightforward, clear path of organic growth, ability to operate from anywhere, four virtual contractors working with me, and plenty of long afternoon walks with my new puppy. Now that is what I call being good to myself.

http://www.businessweek.com/smallbiz/content/jul2001/sb20010730_507.htm

Step 14: Netpreneur John Daniels
By Startupfailures Founder, Nicholas Hall

I am taking a few weeks off from my writing duties while my family visits and we all attend the wedding of my cousin Claire. I am making my way through another book I know you'll be excited to read about. I wanted to let you know about a story that just ran on Entrepreneur.com. It is a quick interview of John Daniels, who was featured on a story that ran about Startupfailures.com about a year ago. He is planning on creating a movie to document his dotcom roller coaster ride. You can read the interview at:
http://www.entrepreneur.com/Your_Business/YB_SegArticle/0,4621,291083-1----,00.html

Step 13: Book Review Bread and Butter: What a Bunch of Bakers Taught Me About Business and Happiness by Tom McMakin
By Startupfailures Founder, Nicholas Hall

I was fortunate to be featured in Fast Company last summer because Tom got a hold of my email address and sent me a note about his new book. Tom has been the COO of the Great Harvest Bread Co. for the past several years. If you have not read about the Great Harvest Bread Co. before you should, and this book is a great opportunity.

Laura and Pete Wakeman founded Great Harvest twenty-five years ago because they wanted to make great whole-wheat bread. They also wanted a business that would provide them the freedom to live the life they wanted for themselves; the exact life they wanted for themselves. Similar to how I declared my life as an experiment six years ago, they declared their life and business as an experiment. It seems that when you are willing to come from the perspective of an experiment versus success and failure it provides you with a tremendous amount of freedom in your life. I know that is my experience of life and it seems to be true for the Wakeman's as well.

Tom also delicately weaves in his own thoughts and frustrations with being the COO of the company, but having an inkling that he would like to be his own boss as well someday. He ultimately chooses to continue as the COO and sees the power of making the choice rather than "walking on a tightrope".

Tom shares a few of the lessons he has learned from his experience at Great Harvest. A few that stand out for me are:

• Happiness comes from making choices
• Design your life (hey, this is a good time to plug my book The Future Scrapbook: Having the Design of Your Life.
• It is important to align the work we do and the business we own with our purpose in life
• Great things happen when we are free to be ourselves and connect with others (go to those networking events!)
• To create a healthy organization we must first work on ourselves

This book is a fun and easy read and it will inspire you to think about your life, your business and your commitments in a whole different light. If you feel a bit stuck or frustrated and know your work and purpose are not aligned then get this book ASAP!

To read more about Tom, buy the book and get a $2 rebate from the publisher go to http://www.tommcmakin.com/

Step 12: A Mistake I Will Never Repeat Again
By Startupfailures Founder, Nicholas Hall

I am sure we have all said more than a few times “I will never do that again”, but rarely is the experience so painful that we can begin to live it again just by thinking about it. With that said, there is one mistake that I am quite confident I will never make again. I will never go it alone in a business endeavor again. When I started my first business I was very headstrong and insisted that I be able to say I did it my way. I learned that doing it my way, while I thought it was the best way, was a very slow, painful and lonely experience.

Now, when I have a new idea I immediately think of people that I know that could join me in my new project. I was reminded of my pain a few weeks ago during the development of one of my new businesses. I had talked to a few people about working with me on the project and I am so used to hearing “yes”, that when I heard “no” I immediately began to think of how I was going to be able to do it all. When I sat with that thought for a few hours I started to get a headache. The mere thought of trying to do it all wiped me out.

So I got on the phone and called some more people and started to share my idea with more and more people and before I knew it I had a small team in place. And if you are going to put a team in place then have a team that plays like a team. The only thing worse then going it alone is a “team” of individuals. Oh yeh, I tried that before and I will never do that again either.

Step 11: Chchchchchanges
By Startupfailures Founder, Nicholas Hall

Well, I am sitting in my office at a little table, surrounded by boxes. Today the boxes are loaded up on a moving truck and we start our cross-country journey to Connecticut. My wife, Jennifer, has always wanted to drive across the country. I have not. When she suggested we take this opportunity to drive from sea to shining sea I was adamantly opposed. I was eager to get the moving part over with and "get started" on my new adventure in Connecticut.

What I failed to realize, but I noticed with my coach, is that a cross-country drive was exactly what I had asked for just a few months ago, just not exactly in those words. I shared with my coach that I was ready to take a break. I had been going at a pretty strong pace for quite some time and was ready to chill out for a month or so. I told my coach that my intention was to take it easy between Thanksgiving and New Year's 2001. I didn't realize the power of my words. Within a few weeks my wife was offered a promotion, which gave me the opportunity to wind down some of my responsibilities in Silicon Valley, take a part-time job as transition coordinator for the Nicholas and Jennifer Hall Household and 'chill out" for a month or so.

So with my new found perspective I look forward to taking my time and smelling the roses as we cross this giant country. Except I heard that Kansas really does go on forever. I'll let you know.

Step 10: A Funny Looking Gift
By Startupfailures Founder, Nicholas Hall

I have learned many important lessons along my entrepreneurial journey. One important lesson is that failures and setbacks can often be gifts in disguise. When I look back on some of my most successful ideas they often came to me after something did not go as planned.

I am often asked what people can do to avoid the common mistakes of startups. Let's face it, there are so many mistakes that people can make, but what if we actually switched our focus from trying to avoid mistakes to trying to make as many mistakes as possible and make them as quickly as possible. I can promise you that you will learn more and have more success in the long run.

We don't learn anything by doing it right the first time. If you need any proof try going to your local golf range. You will be able to find plenty of people who are making plenty of mistakes, but with patience, practice and coaching they can become a great golfer.

The moment you make a mistake or have a failure it can be a frustrating experience and be a good test of your ability to practice patience, but those are the times when you learn and grow the most, so take advantage and don't look that gift horse in the mouth.

Step 9: What's In a Name
By Startupfailures Founder, Nicholas Hall

To celebrate my move to Connecticut I have created a new company, and that means I get to make up a new name! Isn't that the best part about starting a new company? It certainly got more interesting when this whole Internet thing took off. All of a sudden we had to worry about how long the name was and if it was easy to spell and whether the url was still available.

I have been an entrepreneur for seven years and I think I have at least one name for each year. Let's see I had:

* Helmsman Financial Services
* Helmsman Enterprises
* BrewServ
* Venture Awareness Network
* Intori
* Startupfailures
and now…
* Possibility Productions

You can probably guess which name was my Internet startup. Of course, Intori. The name with no true heart-felt meaning to me, but the marketing folks said it sounded good, was easy to spell, yada, yada, yada.

So what's in a name? Hopefully there is a deeper meaning for you that brings out your passion and joy and screams "this is my company"!

If you have had more businesses than me I would love to hear from you. Whoever sends me an email with the most businesses by the time my next column is posted will get a free Survivor t-shirt. Send your email to nick@startupfailures.com.

Step 8: Shift your mindset and a world of opportunities awaits you
By Startupfailures Founder, Nicholas Hall

I was talking on the phone yesterday with a friend of mine and he was telling me about his blossoming love life. He met the woman who he is going to spend the rest of his life. What prompted his call was my announcement that I was moving to Connecticut, seemingly leaving behind a tight-knit community I had created in the Bay area.

He shared with me that he was a bit nervous about one aspect of his future wife. She grew up overseas and has spent her life traveling around the world and she would like to continue her adventures. He has spent most of his adult life in the Bay area and is afraid that if he moves he will jeopardize his ability to do great things because he will have to leave his community behind.

I suggested that he think about what he is up to in his life, what he wants to accomplish, and consider what would be possible if he considered his community to be the entire planet, not just the Bay area.

I was able to make the suggestion because I went through the same struggle. I was living in Cincinnati, Ohio and knew that it was a matter of time before my wife would be offered a promotion and we would have to move. I had the same mindset as my friend. I thought I would have to spend years building relationships in a specific community and the only way to truly receive the fruits of my labor would be to stay in that specific community.

I then had an "aha" moment when I realized that my commitment was being a global leader, yet I had the mindset that I needed stay in one community. When I shifted my mindset to seeing the entire planet as my community it opened up new opportunities and freedom for me. Now I embrace moves and changes with open arms as I shift from the known into the unknown and life gets really interesting.

Step 7: Start Spreading the News
By Startupfailures Founder, Nicholas Hall

My wife and I have an unwritten agreement. She continues to be my biggest cheerleader and I support her as she advances in her career.

When I first became an entrepreneur I sold myself on the idea that I needed to remain in one community for a long period of time so I could solidify and ultimately, leverage my relationships. That changed, however, during the process of creating my Future Scrapbook. I realized that my personal vision was being a global leader contributing to people living lives they love. I wasn't sure what to do with my vision, but I knew that it would be important to become more of a global citizen.

About two years later my wife received a promotion that required a move to San Francisco. Without a skipping a heart beat we were off. As you can imagine, I am happy that we made the move.

Well, another opportunity has presented itself, and so to keep my end of the agreement we're off to New York City (actually Greenwich, Connecticut, but its only an hour by train so that counts). What used to be something I dreaded, moving to another community, is now something that I relish. I look forward to networking in Silicon Alley, Boston and Washington DC and expanding my vision as a global citizen and leader.

Every opportunity that presents itself will go a certain way and it all depends on how you approach it. So start spreading the news…I'm leaving today (well, actually in a few weeks). Hey, if you're reading this and live near my new community drop me an email and I'll let you know when I arrive.

Step 6: Being Clueless is a Wonderful Place to Be
By Startupfailures Founder, Nicholas Hall

I had a wonderful opportunity to speak to a group of 350 new hires for IBM in the Netherlands this past weekend. I can remember just eight years ago when I was a new hire for Price Waterhouse. Man, was I clueless. But there is a lot of value in being clueless. Often times salespeople do best when they know the least. The more they learn, the more they know and the more they know the more they want to tell you how much they know.

As an entrepreneur being clueless can be a wonderful asset. Revolutionaries in an industry rarely come from within the actual industry. It normally takes an outsider to go in and say "why in the world are they doing it that way?" After you have been in an industry for a long period of time your creativity starts to be limited by your past experiences and your resignation to "that is just the way it is". A great example of a revolutionary is Richard Branson. He has constantly looked at various industries that have been "stuck" in their ways and from the pages of his autobiography Losing My Virginity it sounds like he has had a ton of fun along the way.

I have been an entrepreneur now for about six years and I realize looking back that at the beginning you have no idea how clueless you are. You are so clueless that you don't even know that you are clueless. I realize now that being willing to take action in the face of having no idea how to do it is the only way to grow, and a sure sign that you're taking on an entrepreneurial mindset. Cluelessness (my new word for the day) is a good sign that you are up to something exciting!

Step 5: Don't be afraid to charge what you are really worth!
By Startupfailures Founder, Nicholas Hall

One of the biggest mistakes I made in my first business was hoping that if I charged a lower amount for my services that I would obtain more clients and over time I would be able to raise my prices. What a mistake! And it is a mistake that I see happen over and over again. You can do all the financial projections you want, but you will never believe how expensive it is to have a business. If you're a typical service business with basic office expenses, some support services and taxes you can plan on paying yourself maybe 30% to 40% of your gross revenue. Therefore, if you want to make around $150,000 a year, you should plan on billing around $400,000.

A simple process I go through when starting a new service, which I am in the midst of doing right now, is ask myself what I think I should charge for the service and I immediately double the price. It is human nature to think less of ourselves than others think of us. The little gremlin inside of us will have a tendency to beat down our prices before we even get a chance to ask for more. Think about it this way…If you needed to be defended by an attorney would you rather have an attorney that charged $49 and hour or $490 hour. Why $490? Because of the incredibly higher perceived value. When someone really, really wants your service they will be willing to pay what you are worth.

Step 4: Relationship Building 101
By Startupfailures Founder, Nicholas Hall

If you have read any of my quotes you will quickly see that I believe relationships are the fundamental foundation for building a long and sustainable career as an entrepreneur. I read an article about an entrepreneur about six years ago and he shared his attitude toward relationship building and I adopted it immediately. Your 20's and 30's are for planting relationship "seeds", tend to your relationship "crops" in your 40's and begin to reap your harvest in your 50's and 60's. Obviously, I have relationships that are producing a harvest now, even though I am in my 30's, but I recognize that as I continue to build new, stronger and more influential relationships throughout my career, my ability to produce results will grow exponentially.

Assuming that you agree that building relationships is an important part of becoming a sustainable entrepreneur, let me give you a little advice. When you are having a meeting face-to-face with other people, leave your cell phone and your mobile messenger in your car. In the last few weeks I have had meetings where people answer their cell phone or check their mobile messenger while I am talking! I have started to notice when I am in restaurants that people are constantly answering their cell phones. When you take this sort of action you are essentially saying to the person "I think that answering this ringing device is more important than you." With people's busy schedules it is difficult to get the chance to meet with people face-to-face. When you do get the chance take advantage and let them know how important you think they are by giving them your undivided attention.

Step 3: Entrepreneurial Lesson: Jump in the pool first, figure out how to swim later
By Startupfailures Founder, Nicholas Hall

I shared with a friend of mine that I wanted to have a better understanding of how the political game operated. As some of you may know, my commitment is being a global leader contributing to people living lives they love. I recently did an analysis of the relationships in my life and realized that I knew virtually no one that represented the world of politics.

As an entrepreneur/small business owner my attitude has always been that politicians help "big business", not me. Frankly, I have always tried to more or less survive politics, more accurately, the red tape of the government. However, I recently noticed the short sightedness of my viewpoint. I saw that because I was ignorant of how the political game worked I chose to scoff it and ignore it in hopes that it would go away.

The reality is that politics is a very powerful piece of our global machine and if I am going to be as effective as I can I should begin to better understand their game. It does not mean I have to become part of their game, but if I can appreciate it then I can work with their players much more effectively.

Oh yeh, back to my lesson. Within a few days of sharing my desire with my friend I was referred to an organization that was showing a "new economy" focused Congressman around to different places in Silicon Valley and wanted to know if I could arrange a dinner for the Congressman. So here I am, not knowing squat about politics, hearing that the Congressman would have meetings at Philips, Intuit, Oracle and dinner with me serving as the host. Yikes! Oh, did I mention that this was Thursday afternoon and the dinner was Monday evening? Needless to say I was a bit scared, but remember….jump and figure out how to swim later. So I jumped and the Congressman joined me and a handful of small business owners for a lively discussion about our hopes, concerns, upsets, etc. and I walked away with a much better understanding of the game!

If you are an entrepreneur/small business owner I encourage you to get to know a few people that are in the political game in your area and if you can get involved and make a difference, great. At least make an effort to understand the game. It will pay dividends when you are leading your dream business in the future.

The only true failure is the one who never tries.

Step 2: Email is not the only communication tool
By Startupfailures Founder, Nicholas Hall

Email, like most technology, is a double-edged sword. On the one hand, it has enabled me to communicate with people from around the world. It has helped to break down language, financial and time zone barriers. I do not believe a phenomenon like Startupfailures could have grown without the Internet and email.

On the other hand, email, as a communication tool, has become a very convenient way to avoid difficult conversations. Remember the phone calls you used to make, hoping that the person would not answer so you could leave a voice message. Now all the suspense has been lost because you can just send them an email. You do not have to worry about them getting upset with you, disagreeing with your opinion or flat out saying no because you can just send them an email and let them try and decipher the "true" meaning of your message. Being an entrepreneur is fertile ground for uncomfortable conversations. However, it is through uncomfortable experiences that we grow, expand and mature. I encourage you to avoid the temptation of sending off that email and every once and while doing it the old fashioned way, place a phone call.

By the way, the Sustainable Entrepreneur workshop went great. I had several more people register during the final week so I did not lose my shorts and people enjoyed the experience. However, now I have to deal with the attendee feedback. I know it will make the next workshop all the better, but "constructive criticism" always needs a little sugar to help it go down.

Step1: The only true failure is the one who never tries
By Startupfailures Founder, Nicholas Hall

I decided six and a half years ago, at the age of 25 that my life would be an experiment. I was going to see if I could live a life I loved and be a successful entrepreneur, but most importantly live a life I love.

The upside of committing myself to this experiment was the thought that I could recreate my life in any given moment. The downside is living without knowing whether it would all work out…you know what I mean, happy marriage, great kids, successful business, nice home, white picket fence, Volvo station wagon, fluffy dog, yada, yada, yada.

After six and a half years I have realized that life is not about "success" or "failure", it is about being happy moment to moment. Our past is our past, the future is something we hope for, but that bus coming down the road might end all that, but we do have THIS MOMENT.

Since I started my journey I have had plenty of successes and even more failed experiments (a.k.a. failure). But I have had a really, really great journey. That does not mean that it hasn't been a roller coaster, because it has, boy has it ever.

For who knows how long I am going to use this space to bear my soul. To let you in on my experiment; to let you know what is and what isn't working; the frustrations and joys. I am as knee deep in entrepreneurism as you can get and hopefully my experiences will help you to keep on keeping on.