It's A Matter Of Phase

I am a bit of a music nut. I once heard Carlos Santana talk about excellent music realigning the neurons in his brain and taking him to a higher place, and from time to time I have a similar experience. As I sit here on a weekend evening drinking a tasty adult beverage and listening to Sade's new album, I am transformed. In a very metaphysical sense I can feel the stress leaving my body. Some would accuse me of being an audiophile, but I would rather consider that I believe in the quality of music. And I mean 'quality' in the way Robert Pirsig defines it in Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, where he considers it the center of all good things and value; what Pirsig calls 'pure truth'.

As I experience tonal excellence here in my favorite chair I am thinking about how much great loudspeakers and a winning start-up team have in common. When I am questioned about what makes a high end stereo and high end speakers worth the high price, I answer is that "it's a matter of phase". In the natural world sounds blend and move in perfect synchronicity. No matter what the tone of the sound or the distance that the sounds travel, they equalize and reach your ears in phase (at the same time). This simultaneous combination of rich and deep high, middle and low tones is one of the things that makes life beautiful and is extremely difficult to reproduce in a living room. The problem is that high, mid and low frequency sound waves move at different speeds and they don't have time to equalize by the time they travel the 10-20 feet from the speaker to your ear. The only way to achieve this natural sound is to have loudspeakers that align frequencies so that they are in phase the second they leave the speakers and making that happen requires a level of excellence that is extremely difficult to achieve and is therefore expensive.

The difference between a $600 pair of Polk Audio and a $30,000 pair of Wilson Audio speakers is that the Wilson speakers produce a sound that blends the very different high, mid and low frequencies so that when they reach your ear you experience the tonal perfection of one powerful, perfectly blended and deep sound. In other words, they produce music that is perfectly in phase. They are separate but move in time with one another in perfect complement.

The metaphor is that in a tight technology start-up team, each member must operate from a different set of complementary strengths - or frequencies. Each one must move in phase with the other as one team, and this takes vigilance. As entrepreneurs we increase our odds of success by working with other smart and talented people (co-founders and investors) but it takes emotional flexibility, patience and a ton of work to reach the goal. The blend must be seamless, yet the frequencies cannot lose their individuality or relation to each others strengths. Once they are moving forward together and properly aligned, it’s difficult to see where one begins and the other ends. Done well, this produces incredible depth of talent, force and efficiency, and an environment where no one frequency is more important than the other.

So, as I am working on and thinking about the process of aligning - and being aligned with - the frequencies of a new team, I consider all the work and talent that went into the loudspeakers in front of me (they're not Wilson Audios BTW) and that the price of quality - explosive growth in a big hairy market - is high. But the result is sweet and so very worth it.

It Might Get Loud

Have you ever truly understood what an entrepreneur means when he or she says "It's not about the money", when it's painfully obvious that the very core of business centers around making profit? I mean, if you don't make profit you don't exist...right? No sane entrepreneur would deny the profit motive its rightful place. However, generating capital is the byproduct NOT the chief driver of why excellent entrepreneur's do what they do. The vast majority of business people will pay this concept lip service but actually don't get it. An illustration of what I'm talking about is found in a documentary by Davis Guggenheim called 'It Might Get Loud'.

The documentary is amazing on many levels and centers around the spectacular nature of the six stringed instrument so many of us love called the Guitar. It focuses on three musicians from three very distinct generations of music, chronicles their history, how they learned to play, how they made the transition from 'guitar player' to 'song writers', explores their distinct playing styles and philosophies, and then brings them together for the first time to meet, talk and play together. The musicians are Jimmy Page of Led Zepplin, The Edge of U2 & Jack White of the White Stripes and the Raconteurs. Wow.

It is not a story about rock-n-roll. It is not about success or excess. It IS about the creative journey and what it takes to find fulfillment and develop passion in your work. Through understanding their stories, you witness the struggle to conquer an instrument that has infinite possibilities to create new and better sound. What reached through the screen to smack me in the head was that these three guitar heros were on a continuous journey of reinvention. Even Jimmy Page at 66, is still driven on a daily basis by the creative process. Edge admitted that some days he questions his talent and abilities but yet he's driven by finding that magical moment where greatness appears out of the creative process.

As I watched 'It Might Get Loud' (for a second time this weekend) I could not help but allude to my own journey as an entrepreneur and how I am-yet again-in the midst of another start-up. Interestingly, I am working on this new venture with two incredibly smart, talented and creative guys. From the beginning of bringing this team together it has been evident that the three of us are not in it for the money. Like Edge, Page and White with the guitar, we are all in part driven by a thirst to reinvent business and are fascinated by the process of doing so. At the highest level we want to have a good time, do something amazing and change the world. We want to use the talents we have been blessed with to enjoy life and do what we were built to do. Please, dwell on that last part for a moment. I believe that we ALL must figure out our DNA and play to its strengths to find true happiness. In that vein, the new team believes (indeed KNOWS) that through this new venture & pooling our strengths, we can make a huge difference in the lives of thousands - perhaps millions - of people. Is there anything more noble than that? Pete, Dan and myself have grown through, practiced and experienced the struggle of business along the path of creation and entrepreneurship. We have realized that life is about peace and love (peace of mind and love for your fellow man and woman) and that business fulfillment comes from the journey and the process of changing lives.

I'll close by saying that especially for the Creative Entrepreneur it's important not to confuse the pursuit of peace, love and happiness with being happy-go-lucky. Jack White talked extensively that playing the guitar to him is all about the attack. It is about the struggle to take this simple six stringed instrument and beat it, mold it and make it what he wants it to be. Again, not dissimilar to the technology start-up process. We have the right perspective, super intelligence (at least Dan and Peter do) and we are in the process of beating the hell out of it. It's going to be fascinating to see what happens...

Carpe Neural Network

On August 31, 1986 my mother and stepfather were killed in a plane accident over LA. I was 15. More than any other single event in my life, that event has defined me. I don't remember much from the three months after the crash, except darkness. My father has told me about things he observed me doing during that time, most of which I have no recollection. What I do remember is that when I came out of the darkness, I was forever changed. The Colin I knew was gone. I came through that time realizing two things: one was that every day we must choose to live or die and the second was that I was going to do my level best to live as if tomorrow I'm gone for the rest of my days.

Since then I have tried to live within a modified Carpe Diem philosophy that I think of holistically as 'seize the life'. I understood (even at 15) that with life and effectiveness comes responsibility, and that means one cannot simply go where the wind takes him or her without being a fool. Therefore, generally once a quarter I evaluate my life. I think about and look at EVERYTHING and I put it through the death and regret filter.

• I consider my wife, children and our relationship.
• I ask myself who they are becoming and what it takes to fulfill their hopes and dreams.
• I consider business and question every aspect and direction of my company.
• I consider books that I am reading and what's up next.
• I consider my relationship with God.
• I consider myself and try to frankly access my successes and failures as an entrepreneur, father and husband.
  
• I think about how I can push harder without damaging my health.
  
• I think about my hopes and dreams, how I am going to get there and how I may need to change to make it happen.
• I think about my energy level, how good is my salesman Kung-Fu and how I need to improve.
• I consider my physical well-being, balance and how I can take better care of my vessel.
• etc. etc.

Okay Colin, that's great carpe whatever dead poets kinda fluffy crap, what's the point? The point my friend is that quite literally - WE ARE WHAT WE THINK. Consider what Charles Jacobs says in his new book Management Rewired: Why Feedback Doesn't Work and Other Surprising Lessons From the Latest Brain Science (Portfolio; May 2009):

The brain is very flexible. We have 100 billion neurons that connect to one another in 40 quadrillion ways. Thinking about something causes synapses between neurons to fire, creating a network. If I say, "Picture a seal balancing a ball on its nose," you've just built a neural network. Think about that seal over and over; the network is ingrained deeper. The synapse structure is changed. The threshold for firing at those synapses is lowered.

Every time we think about something it creates or strengthens a neural path. Do you know what I said to myself over and over again in September, October and November 1986? I said "I have to live, and I don't know how". Eventually I just said "I have to live!" The result was that I emerged a new, quite angry and determined Colin. What I had previously taken for granted, was no longer.

Now consider what Malcolm Gladwell calls the '10,000 hour rule' in Outliers. The 10,000 hour rule is simply that in order for you to be a world class rock-star at anything you do, in general you need to spend 10,000 hours practicing. Whether you are a hockey player, a cellist, a software developer, a salesperson, an artist, a mechanic or a pilot like my father, the story is the same. If you want to be the greatest, the best of the best of the best, you must first work your ass off. Why? Because in order to emerge the best it takes 10,000 hours to so completely train your brain in whatever Kung-Fu you are trying to master. This applies to all of us, doctors, lawyers and most certainly to entrepreneurs. Do you know how many hours I spent working on and in my first start-up before we began tasting success? 10,125 hours in 2.5 years. More recently, I have spent 15,000 hours getting PromoPipeline.com to a point where we are seeing success. I'm not bragging, it just is what it is. Actually, I find it bit depressing because there is time in that 15,000 hours that I spent working on or thinking about the wrong things, building the wrong pathways. Could I have reached the tipping point faster? Most certainly "yes".

Have you ever wondered how some people are so incredibly effective and seem to operate from a huge reserve of unconscious competence? I submit that in large part it is because they are so unbelievably engaged in and passionate about their life that they have put in the time to create the right powerful, strong and numerous neural connections. Perhaps that is why people with an entrepreneurial mindset have zero tolerance for someone who mindlessly drones through life and then complains about their station. What you think about, what you pursue, how you think REALLY matters. If you want to change your life and the world, you must think about and practice the right things. A pessimistic person can become positive by thinking positive thoughts, a lousy salesperson can become a Jedi by practicing sales in better and more effective ways, and a shocked teenager can pull out of hell by choosing life. All the talent in the world goes nowhere without putting in the time. If you are not pursuing greatness on a daily basis, you are reinforcing mediocrity. If anything gives me practical hope about life, it's that when I see people down on their luck, a business in the ditch or a train wreck of a marriage, I know that there is potential for pathways to change. It's not psychobabble, it's physiological reality.

A Bit of a Change

Even though my Blog is titled "Colin's Views on Business and Life" it has generally been more on the business side than the life side. So, I want to let everyone know that at least the next two (maybe more) are going to be a little more philosophical. For me, business and life are so very intertwined that sometimes it is hard for me to tell the difference. I never want to get preachy or Dr. Phil - ish, but rather to simply express that there are certain things that have become hardcore beliefs and philosophies for me. They end up governing my thoughts and actions, and creating meaning in my life. Perhaps these things may offer some meaning to you as well. I hope they do. I hope that my words cause you to think and perhaps...to stretch beyond the status quo.

Stay tuned and thanks for reading. It is just an honor to have you read my words and thoughts. As my buddy Dan says after almost every conversation I have with him, "be well".

Don't be a Hack

Something has been pinging my brain and its beginning to hurt like a dwarf whacking me in the temple with a hammer. There are a ton of smart and educated people that are out-of-work right now. In fact, this recession is billed as the first predominately white-collar recession in history. It is absolutely unreal. Have you tooled around on LinkedIn lately? There is some serious talent available right now. Interestingly, a lot of that talent is just beginning to work on and build their "network" and I am passionately disturbed by this.

I have had leadership experience working for a VERY internally focused and closed ecosystem Fortune 1000 company. Also through PromoPipeline.com I work daily at building relationships with Fortune 1000 companies (some very internal as well). What I have witnessed over the years is that the natural business person's tendency is to get comfortable and content with their corporate system. He/she becomes overly confident in & consumed by the four walls of their employer. This tendency is foolish, stupid and irresponsible. What is worse and insulting, is a person (again - smart, well-meaning, educated, experienced, etc.) who is trying to truly and aggressively network for the first time after being canned by the corporate machine.

So let me get this straight, you didn't have the time to be innovative or pay attention to anyone or anything outside of your "job" while you were too busy to care and now you want "my" help so you can find another closed business system from which to draw a paycheck? Am I the only one that finds this deeply upsetting? This is the LP whacking me in the head with a hammer! I consciously and purposely work on building my network EVERY DAY. Not just because of my business but because of MY LIFE. My network of people I know, love and am connected with is a massive strength. My network allows me to...

• Operate more efficiently
• Grow quickly
• Get answers faster
• Protect the interests of my family
• See greater and more innovative ideas than the stale ones in my head
• Leverage my abilities
• Magnify my strengths and minimize my weaknesses
• etc. etc. freakin' etc.
  

Are you feeling me? How about you return that phone call from a potentially well connected person you don't know? How about you not report that person to LinkedIn who contacted you when you didn't know them? What are you going to do when you suddenly become a part of the 9% cutback? No one is immune right now, so get off your high horse. Get out of your four walls, reach out to people and build your network with genuine care, intention and sincerity. For heaven's sake don't EVER tell me you can't find the time to return a call, build a relationship, get connected on the web, etc. Build it before you need it...so, you don't look like a schmuck.

Flash of Genius

It was May 18, 1994 and Valerie and I were on our honeymoon in Ocho Rios, Jamaica. We almost had our own private pool but we shared it with one other couple. Neither of us came out much, but eventually we all ended up in the pool at the same time. We exchanged pleasantries and eventually got around to line of work. Our new friends were the boat captain and cook for a 120' yacht. "Wow" I said "Who owns it?". The answer I got stayed dormant in my brain for 14 years and has ended being a small regret that I did not ask the simple question "Really, tell me more?" The answer I received, that I deemed too rude to pursue further was "Well, he's the guy that invented the intermittent windshield wiper."

I have to admit that went a little nuts when 14 years later I was sitting in a movie theater with Valerie and up popped the preview for "Flash of Genius" the story of Bob Kearns, the Wayne State engineering professor who invented the intermittent wiper, got screwed by the auto manufacturers and spent almost thirty years suing them.

I said (practically shouted) "That's the guy! He owned the yacht the couple was with on our honeymoon!"

I waited for the DVD and finally watched the movie this past weekend. It was a tragedy through and through, and a classic David and Goliath story. More importantly, it was a story of a businessman getting royally thrown in the ditch by his ideas and his business. It was a story of a guy who believed in his invention and the business he was to create so much that he could not let it go, even though EVERYONE told him he was crazy. His wife was very content with loving an engineering professor and she eventually divorced him. He lost the faith of his kids for a while, quit his job and even got thrown into the loony bin. At one point he was completely humiliated...but...he never gave up. And he won. Records show that he was eventually awarded close to $50,000,000 by the courts.

Touching Colin, So what? The answer to "So what?" is the question - "Do you have what it takes?" Do you have the gumption to go the distance and climb out of the ditch? What are you willing to sacrifice to change the world? How hard can you push and do you have the support structure in place to make it?

Changing the world for Bob Kearns became an iron determination to stop the little guy, the entrepreneur from getting stomped. He did not have the support structure in place and it was painful. His wife got blindsided by a genuine crisis of expectations and she had to let go. His children walked away until they were old enough to respect his incredible integrity. All his friends thought he was crazy and he was called a moron by his attorneys (who ended up representing his enemies). He lived penniless for two decades until suddenly, one day, he could afford a 120' yacht. Suing the people that stole his ideas became the absolute definition of his existence. Bob's last case was wrapping up about the time I met his Captain. He lived another 11 years and died in 2005.

Was Bob Kearns' story one of a sad, crazy, obsessed person or was he a tower of a man? That answer can only be found within yourself (and to a large extent the answer lies in the end result). This moral tale would sound a heck of a lot different if Bob Kearns died penniless. You sure you want to start that business? You sure you want to swing for the fence? How will you handle failure? One of my best and dearest friends once looked at me and said "Look, no one makes the cover of Fortune and Parents magazine in the same lifetime." He was right. How far are you willing to go? Make damn sure you have the stuff for the journey, because it may define you.

There Is No Competition, Part One

I was reading Kawasaki's latest book (Reality Check, 2008) and he mentioned that a Partner at Sequoia Capital once told him that competition doesn't start until $100 million. Now Guy recognizes that those words were said in the dot com exuberance and have probably come down a bit since then, but I think - not so much. For the vast majority of companies worldwide, there simply is no such thing as competition. There are only quality products and companies and products and companies that suck.

I didn't used to think this way. I used to be worried about my "competitors". In previous companies I spent a great deal of time focused on what they were doing, figuring out how they were going to try and take my hard won customers and how I could be better than them. What complete foolishness. How much more successful I could have been back then if I never gave competing companies a second thought and instead poured my focus into making certain that my product was the absolute best, that it was priced perfectly, that my strategy was correctly targeted and that my marketing was concise and meaningful in its message. I humbly submit that if your business is not doing well it is because there is something wrong with the fundamentals. It has nothing to do with competition.

Which brings me to Patents...You may be thinking, "Well Colin, if there is no such thing as competition then why do so many companies apply for patents?" Great question. There are definitely situations where patent protection makes sense, but practically, do you really think you are going to sue a company for stealing "your" idea? Do you have any notion how long and how much money that takes? Rarely is a patent lawsuit even remotely a decent option. The best option is to outproduce, out market, out strategize and outsell EVERYONE else. Be first, be the fastest, be the best. There is no better way to insure your success than that. Also, there is a business misconception (lie) that lawyers and academics (i.e. those that have never started a business from scratch) would have you believe. The lie is that the hard part is coming up with the "brilliant" idea, when the truth is that the unbelievably hard part of starting a business is the implementation and successful execution of that idea. ANYONE who has done it will tell you that the hard part is making it happen. Great ideas are easy.

Make sure that your product and your company offer definable and meaningful value. That is hard enough as it is. Truly achieving meaningful market value is something that few accomplish and when they do it is beautiful and defends itself. Obviously, this brutal truth applies to my company (PromoPipeline.com) as well. If a competitor comes along and actually takes me out, then the cold hard truth is either that I never had a meaningful, defensible product to start with or I failed to innovate over time. Either way I lost sight of the fundamentals and deserved to die. It's business Darwinism.

To be clear, acknowledging that competition exists and bemoaning their effect on your business are two totally different things. The existence of competitive companies in your market is a great thing. In fact, no competitors is a major red flag that points to an insufficient market for your product. Competitors validate your reason for being. Beyond that, concentrate on what you can affect, keep the faith and don't give competition another thought.

Afterthought: I don't know when part two will be written. It surely will not be next. Many of you have given me a hard time about taking so long to write another blog entry. I appreciate your encouragement and the honor you pay me by reading my words.

"On Partners..." - Alas it has been a while...

The subject of Business Partners is one that I have thought a great deal about. In two out of three businesses that I have run or held an ownership stake in, I have had a partner. Each of those business relationships fell apart and did not end as I would have wished. I have read extensively on the subject of business partners and co-leadership, and I have also counseled with mentors over the years. Now that I have lamely tried to establish some street cred on the subject, here are my thoughts...

Many who know me reasonably well are often surprised when I say that do not counsel people to run from the idea of business partners, or business to business partnerships. Let me clarify that this includes two dudes who decide to develop software together as well as an architecture firm that decides to partner with a builder on a mixed-use project. Even though the situations are very different, the principles of effectively managing the relationships are the same.

Here are the three major cautions to consider when trying to develop a successful business partnership:

1. Be as equally yoked as possible (financial, familial, values wise, etc.).
2. Have an agreed upon, crystal clear division of partner roles and responsibilities. This should rarely be crossed once established and egos subordinated to this agreement.
   
3. NEVER, ever, ever enter into a 50/50 partnership. NEVER.

Being equally yoked with your partners is the primary consideration. My first partnership broke down eventually because my partner was single, I had a family and he had no rational respect or understanding of how I needed to live. My second partnership broke down because my partner got a divorce and it wrecked his life, completely took his eye off the ball and eventually destroyed the business. Also with my first partnership I had funded the business so he had no rational basis for valuation when it came time to sell, and with my second partnership the divorce wrecked his financial position and I was left with bankers staring at me to secure corporate debt. Whew, not good and all because of not being equally yoked. If you are of a higher financial position than your potential "partners" then you call the shots. If you don't then you are a fool. If you are in a different family situation than your potential partners then you should REALLY reconsider.

Business to business partnerships are very similar to partner to partner. This point is well illustrated by a story one of my mentors told me. He was in business with four other guys. He was on the corporate board of directors, the whole nine yards. The company needed cash and they found a bank to make the loan. The catch was that the bank required personal guarantees from all the Board of Directors - including my mentor. The day of closing came and they were all at the bank sitting around a big bank table, getting ready to sign their guarantees and that's when my mentor took a good look around the table. He quickly ran the numbers and realized that his Net Worth was considerably higher than either of his partners. Therefore, if the company defaulted he knew the bank was only going one place and the knock was going to be on his front door. He wisely pushed away from the table and walked away. He was unequally yoked.

The second caution is all about knowing your potential partner very, VERY well before you get in bed together. Spend hours together. Meet his wife. Talk to old friends. Pull a SLED report and find out every speeding ticket he has ever had. You may find something that could save you and your investors a boatload of money and suffering. The SLED report costs $50 by the way. Your attorneys can pull it. Spend the money.

Back to strengths, weaknesses and ego...you must know everything. You must tell everything. There must be trust. If your strength is in sales then stay out of ops. If your strength is in leadership, strategy and fund-raising (CEO stuff) then stay the hell out of web design. If you have a partner that let's his ego and hubris compel him to stick his nose in everything and micromanage, you are screwed (or you must fire him). The positive side of getting a partnership right is that it can be amazingly beautiful. You play your role, he plays his and both of you are at peace serving one another and the organization. This is a true co-leadership environment and it is a place where two becomes the power of 10. One more thing before I leave this one; you need to make sure that your partner is willing to work as hard as you. I have always worked harder and put in more time than my partners (a fact that I used to be okay with). Experience has taught me to weight my time a little heavier than I used to.

The third caution is the most important. Have you ever heard or read a news story that described a combining of two companies as a 'merger of equals'? Never has there been a larger business load of crap than those three words. There is only ever an acquisition. Why? Because someone always has to have the final say and everyone knows this, but for some really strange reason people get stupid and think that this only applies to big deals and not with two guys writing code or launching a restaurant. Whether you work out terms with a handshake or with an LLC Operating Agreement or C-Corp articles, it doesn't matter. Someone (one person or unified investor group) ALWAYS has the last say. There is only ever one person or party on top. This does not mean that it is bad to be number two. Just don't be number two thinking you're number one.

Once you get past the big three and your partner(s) pass the test of being equally yoked, having a subordinated ego to the organization and all agree to a non 50/50 arrangement, there are lessor but still important considerations. Probably the biggest one is that you don't have to be a partner. Every business needs smart, committed leaders. Being at the top of the pyramid is often where the flash and stress resides. The character of the company resides in the team. Please understand that I am not saying partnerships are bad, just that you CAN be a leader with an ownership stake in the business and still be very fulfilled and happy. I think that Warren Bennis (author and SoCal prof) has some interesting thoughts on what it means to be a great co-leader. Adding to Bennis' thoughts I think that great co-leaders have four primary qualities:

1. They subordinate ego to attain a common goal
2. They have the courage to speak the truth to power, even when it hurts
3. They possess and use creativity (the power to go beyond the manual)
4. They have the wisdom to be candid in private and discreet in public

So, don't get caught up in the word "Partner". Its okay to be a great leader or simply get paid for doing a great job as part of a great team (this goes for business to business deals as well). Or if you just must lay your stuff on the line and you are convinced that you can't do it on your own, then be careful. Be very careful and remember that you are either on top or you are not. There is no middle ground.

Decompression 101

"What is the use of living, if it be not to strive for the noble causes and make this muddled world a better place for those who will live in it after we have gone" Winston Churchill, October 10, 1908

Just what exactly is a balanced life? More precisely, what is a balanced life for an entrepreneur? Let me start with what it is NOT. It is not the business equivalent of the separation of church and state. It is not that at the end of the day when you go home, you leave the business behind. Yet, it is also not the modern (or American) self centered workaholic who never sees his family and arrives at his son's high school graduation wondering where all those wonderful family years went. Here's another angle so you can pick up what I'm puttin' down. Balance is not about doing less but doing more. Decompression from the stresses of being an entrepreneur is not about leaving the business behind. It seems like a contradiction but the best way to take a load off your shoulders is to do more. Specifically, more of the right stuff.

You have to find your own rhythm. My friend Robert is an entrepreneur in Canada. He starts work at 3 or 4 AM every day and takes a break to spend time with his young son at 7ish. He works all day till about 4 and then knocks off till about 8. He works for a couple more hours and then goes to play hockey from 10 to midnight. He does this every day and runs his own (very successful) marketing company. It works for him. Conformance to the "norm" is not the entrepreneurs strong suit. Winston Churchill was famous for his schedule. Up at 8. Nap from 2-4. Work till 8. Dinner till 10 then work till 2AM. I'm not implying that you HAVE to have an abnormal schedule. Just forget about what anyone else thinks and have confidence in what works for you.

80% of business is boring. Even for entrepreneurs. It's the 20% that we live for. In the same vein, you must be much more than a businessperson. Churchill found painting to be his muse. Write poetry. Restore classic cars. Volunteer at a worthwhile social organization. Sculpt or take up woodworking. Build furniture. Take a foreign language class or go fly-fishing. Teach a class. One of my favorite entrepreneurs and friends has been teaching an MBA class at his Alma mater, and I recently listened to him talk about the all the self-entitled millennial students in his last class. It was killing him to teach a class with students having such a chip on their shoulders. So, why does he do it? Why is he teaching again this semester? Because it is fulfilling for him, the class is a strong reminder of the basics that drive him, and he deeply wants to give back. Why the heck else would he do it? You have to be disciplined in paying attention to details to be successful. You have to live in the boring and you counteract the pressure of the boring by doing interesting and fulfilling things. Churchill once said "Change is the master key, a man can wear out a particular part of his mind by continually using it and tiring it, just in the same way as he can wear out the elbows of his coat." It is the change that Churchill speaks of that ultimately decompresses the mind of talented and absorbed leaders.

So how do I stay on target and refreshed when under tremendous stress? Quite a few ways actually. And I give this list not to brag. It's just an example and I have been thinking this way for a long time...

• I work with wood and create sculptures and furniture.
• I was on the board of a local domestic violence for four years until recently.
• I deeply love my wife and maintain a very active love life.
  
• I love and play with my children.
  
• I read. I love biographies and books about contemporary architecture.
• I get lost in music that I love.
• I pray.
• I am involved in my church.
• I surround myself with excellent people and share great food and wine with them whenever possible.
• I am an avid hunter and love the feel of a high powered rifle. I am an expert marksman.
• I exercise to release built up adrenaline in my system.
• I write poetry. To name a few...

Allow me to close with a marriage allusion. One of the secrets to a lasting marriage is NOT that its a 50/50 relationship. It's 100%/100%. The entrepreneurs business is the spouse of the personal life. They are intimately connected. The secret to balance is not that you remove one from the other, but that 1 + 1 = 3. Intertwining your business and personal life brings vitality to your life and multiplies your effectiveness. Business never leaves my mind, and neither does my family.

Going back to Sir Richard Branson "Entrepreneurship isn't about capital; it's about ideas" You release those ideas and decompress by doing whatever possible to refresh your mind so you can spiral higher and higher. Never give up...on any of it.

The Distance and the Rule of 32

One of the comments to my "What is Success?" blog entry referenced the fortitude it takes to 'go the distance' in business, especially in a start-up. This is a common theme as it NEVER goes according to 'the plan'. So, here is a story. I started my first business in 1997. It was called SECURESHRED and it was a document shredding company. Right before I opened the doors a friend of mine somehow got a VC to give my business plan a look and then give me 30 minutes of his precious time. And I am not trying to sound sarcastic here, I was truly this guys community service for the week (or month). We sat down and he asked me to explain SECURESHRED to him and he quized me. After about 20 minutes he looked at me and said "Colin I don't know if you are going to be successful or not. I don't know beans about your business and furthermore your business is too local for us to consider. So, here is what I can tell you...No matter how good your business plan is, no matter how great you are, no matter how well you have thought through every detail about how to grow SECURESHRED into a successful business...there is ONE thing I can tell you for sure. Here it is; one of two things is going to happen. Growing this business is either going to take twice as long and three times as much money OR three times as long and twice as money as you ever thought or imagined. If I were you I would start planning for that inevitability right now because I promise you it's going to happen."

Well, at 26 years old I thought this jaded, pompous guy was talking down to me and sure as hell didn't like it. But you know what? He was right. It took twice as long and three times the cash. I worked like a dog for three years till I sold it to a national consolidator in May of 2001. There was 18 months when I didn't think I could make it. My house, my car, my everything was in hock. I had to fight to keep my head from spinning on a daily basis. Six days a week and no vacation for three years. Then we grew by 650% a year the last two years we existed as SECURESHRED.

"There is a very, very thin dividing line between survival and failure. You've just got to fight and fight and fight and fight to survive." Richard Branson, Forbes 2006

That VC and I are friends now and I have seen "The Rule of 32" referred to and written about countless times since then. I don't think there is an exception to the rule if the entrepreneur is honest. I am sure that if you asked the founders of Facebook, Salesforce.com or Motricity (I know this one for sure) they all will tell you "'Oh yeah, we thought we would be a LOT bigger by now', 'we were going through money like water going over Niagara Falls', or 'all of the sudden we were not sure how to make it happen'". So, what does it take to go the distance? One of the things it takes to be able to stare the Rule of 32 in the face and know you are going to go through hell for a while. It always takes longer. It is always harder. It always takes more money than you ever thought in your "realistic" plans, hopes and dreams. Call it sticktoitiveness. Call it gumption and inner fortitude. Whatever. You got to have it. Laser focus and peripheral vision at the same time...or what I call Entrepreneurial Peripheral Vision doesn't hurt either. Alas, a subject for another blog.

Quest for Validation

Have you ever heard something off-hand and realized that it was a significant truth? Maybe you were walking by a TV and heard a commentator, or perhaps you were walking through a hotel lobby, or maybe you were at a party. Well, that happened to me a few months ago. I was in some random place and heard...

"At the core of every entrepreneur is a quest for validation..."

It stopped me in my tracks and I fought it at first but the more I thought about it, the more I realized that it was truth. At the heart of entrepreneurship is innovation and creation and whenever there is true innovation, there are lots of naysayers. Entrepreneurs see through the negative or misunderstanding comments and at some point say "screw it, I am going to prove them wrong. I am going to make this happen because I believe there is meaning and value here". On some level, many people think we are crazy. Even our friends, family and loved ones come along for the ride not because they believe in the innovation/business but because they believe in US.

So, why do we push so hard? Why do so many entrepreneurs get out after the start-up stage? Why do we love the fight and why do some entrepreneurs get bored when we find success? I think it is because we are driven to prove our spouse, our family, our funding partners and our employees that we are not crazy. We are driven to validate our thinking, our philosophical reasons for being, living and working. Perhaps this is elementary to many of you, but I think that it is important to acknowledge our core motivations. In general, our passion does not start with the business - it starts with us. That's THE reason why VC are prone to fund serial entrepreneurs (Once You are Lucky, Twice You're Good, by Sarah Lacy), because they validated their passion once. It's highly likely they will do it again, no matter what the business.

What is Success?

How do you define success? For some people I suppose this is an easy answer, however it is something I have wrestled with. Is it the absence of failure? Is it making money or profit? Is it the lack of stupidity? These all CAN be a component of success, but they are not in and of themselves - success.

A couple of entrepreneurs that I think highly of are Guy Kawasaki and Richard Branson. They each have exceptional perspective and make a great deal of sense to me. To answer the question "What is Success?" I am going to quote the last words from the last chapter from Branson's lastest book "Business Stripped Bare" because it is (obviously) what I believe. Here it is:

"Success for me is whether you have created something that you can be really proud of. Profits are necessary to invest in the next project - and pay the bills, repay investors and reward all the hard work - but that's not all...what matters is whether you've created something special - and whether you've made a real difference to other people's lives. Entrepreneurs, scientists and artists who died as paupers are often the heros"

Now to be clear, I am certainly intent on making a lot of money and one could look at this and say "those are easy words for a billionaire to say". And Branson does have the luxury of sitting in a very high place. But position does not change truth. And that is the truest description of success I have seen in a long long time. What are you going to be proud of today?

King Not a Peasant

I was reminded of something this past week by a close friend and it is worthy of expressing. The situation was that I got upset at one of my customers (specifically an employee of one of my customers). A blessing and a curse of being an entrepreneur is that you feel every beat, every pulse of the business, good and bad. We constantly suffer from what I call "The Crisis of Giving a Damn" - another blog for that one. Alas, I digress.

What happened was that this employee began lobbying others within the organization to use a competitor. This came from a person that I had bent over backward to help and be flexible with. In other words, she made demands one else had made and I said "okay". So, I caught wind of this 'betrayal' and became somewhat upset about it. I called my friend and vented about the situation. After listening to me he reminded me that I was a king and I needed to remember to act like one. Furthermore, this offending person was a peasant and kings don't worry themselves with peasants. I sat back and realized that he was right.

For those of you reading this that don't know me, I am not overly egotistical. I have an ego to be sure but not too much of one. I have taken pains to make sure that my ego is in check, as I have seen how destructive an over-blown ego can be in business. Therefore when I say that I am a king it does not mean I have a god complex, it means that I am high minded. I am trained, I have done things most people can't and I am making a positive difference in the people and market in which I operate. Most of all it means that I have perspective and experience to take the high road in any situation and that I don't think small.

Kings don't deal with peasants. There is never an excuse for rudeness or talking down to anyone, just don't ever give up your throne to a peasant. Take the high road and never be small-minded. I appreciate my friends reminder and I let it go.

Ambien

In an interview around 1997 with Bo Peabody (author: Lucky or Smart - google it) a reporter asked Bo what kept him up at night. Bo replied that what kept him up at night was the fact that he was not up at night. The point is that at that stage of his life and career as an entrepreneur the fact that he had to sleep and could not work all the time bothered him. Ahhhh, speak to me brother. This life, my life is not all roses. I have been struggling with sleep for a long time. I have excepted insomnia as part of the territory but truly, it sucks. Call it worry, stress, an all consuming passion, a combination of the three...whatever you wish but it affects me. At the age of 37 I realize that I have been doing this for so long that it is probably taking a few years (or more) off the end of my life. I try to counteract the lack of sleep (and the stress that causes it) with exercise, good eating, prayer, meaningful conversations with my wife and friends, etc. But it is tough. Tough to let go.

So, I await the telltale effects of the Ambien CR I just took. I can't take another 2AM night. I have to break the cycle. I actually hate resorting to sleep drugs. It bothers me because the act of taking them is an active confirmation that I am not in control. Whew...that last sentence is definately another blog entry.

I could go on about "be careful what you wish for" or how ALL of life is a tradeoff and how if you pursue one passion hard enough then another will suffer, but I won't...because my cheeks are starting to tingle and I am going to snore like a dang wildebeest tonight. Good night.

The Worst Place I Can Be...

The worst place I can be is where I am only thinking my own thoughts. Let that sink in for a minute. This does not mean that I am not smart. I humbly submit that I am a damn smart individual. I was created well and I was made and trained to do great things. What I mean by this is that I am biased. Eventually, any well meaning, intelligent person can fall into the trap of thinking their junk don't stink.

I try to keep myself from falling victim to my own bias by doing two things: surrounding myself with smart people and surrounding myself with an upper class of smart people with exceptional experience (otherwise known as "mentors"). These folks help me to maintain realistic expectations of my environment, corporate funding and management and...dare I say it...sales - the lifeblood of any enterprise. One of my mentors tuned me up recently and pointed out that if I was frustrated by only hitting half of my sales goals for PromoPipeline then I simply needed to double or triple my prospecting efforts. It's not rocket science. I was over thinking it and not being steady, consistent and focused on the sales process. Needless to say, he was RIGHT and over the past month I have made great progress.

With any truely innovative product (like PromoPipeline.com) it takes convincing and - more importantly - it takes focused and concerted effort to find early adopters. It's hard, menial work. It's entrepreneurial work and I embrace it. Sure as I embrace being shaken out of my own skull from time to time.

Who Are You?

Do you know? Do you really know your strengths and weaknesses? Do you know what will make you feel fulfilled? Are you working just because "it's a job"? Does your bosses boss know who you are and what your value is to the organization? Do you know what you want out of your business idea?

Whenever someone approaches me seriously about a business idea I ask the question "What do you want?" What follows is most often a litany of what the business of the future is all about. When they finish, I ask the question again. My point is that before you get to the business you must first understand yourself, deeply. Why do you want to do it? Is it for independence? Is it for money? Is it to "stick it to the man?" Or perhaps, is it to do something meaningful in some small way? What are you prepared to do to make your dreams come true? What sacrifices are you willing to make?

The answer to these questions are one of the key to success in business, more importantly they are the key to being at peace with yourself. Additionally, a deep understanding of who you are and what your best roll is in a fast growing organization, is necessary to work with me.

Negotiation.

I'll start with a lesson that I have expressed for years to friends and business associates and it has everything to do with living a fulfilled business life. It is the beginning of understanding successful negotiation of any kind. Here it is, the only power or leverage that anyone has in a negotiation is the ability to say "no". You must be able to walk away. If you cannot walk away, then a smart person on the other side will figure this out and at that moment he/she has you. You will get paid less, you will get less of what you want, an employer will treat you differently, etc.

To be clear, this is not about manipulation. This is about practicality. Part of any good ("good" can be, but is not the same as "successful") negotiation is about mutual respect and some acknowledgment that there is a mutual goal. But if you cannot walk away, in some form or fashion, you are screwed. I have experienced this a few times in life and business and I hate it. Recently, it happened to me in selling my office building and also in ending a business relationship. I could not walk away and, you guessed it, I got screwed. On some level, this is okay. It is part of learning. I work hard and consciously try to organize my life so that I can always say "NO".