It is possible that the cell phone has done more harm than good for business. It leads to bad manners, worse work product, and disruption in focus. I know people that spend hours on their cell phone each day, or typing out emails 20-30 times a day. This is a waste of time. Books like the Four Hour Workweek suggest checking messages/email 2 x a day. This makes sense to me. You control your technology, not the other way around. This week, I want you to track your calls/emails on your iPhone/Blackberry. On Friday, count how many total you had (voicemail/email). How many were necessary? How many disturbed work you were trying to accomplish. Unplug for a while each day and see your productivity grow. If you can’t turn off the phone, you have some serious dependency issues you need to address. I used to be that guy, but realized that being tied to technology didn’t serve me. Try something a bit different and next week (after you get your counts from this week), try to drop the number of calls/emails you take/respond to by 50%. You will likely see no drop in opportunity, but a huge return in productivity. Try it, you might like it.

Cheers,

C./

www.GhostCEO.com or if you are feeling brave: www.ChrisFlett.com (rated “R”)

Collaboration allows amazing things to happen, but make sure that you are partnering with the right person. It is much easier to avoid a bad partnership, then it is to get out of a bad partnership. Women will give each other the benefit that they will both contribute equally. This is rarely the case. When you are collaborating, have a conversation that openly discusses what each person is going to bring to the table. The relationship should have measurable goals that both partner contributes to and that both partners can identify with one another. When everyone is pulling equally and in the same direction, magic can happen. When one partner is doing all the work and the other is coasting, bitterness and resentment set it.

Here are some questions to go through with a partner you are considering collaborating with. If the answers don’t add up or make sense, look for someone you are better aligned with.

1. What is each of our selfish reasons for this alliance (“because it would be fun” is not the right answer)
2. Let’s make a list of what needs to get done and who will do what.
3. What needs to get done that neither of us want to do? Who will do it?
4. How will me measure the success of our collaboration?
5. At what intervals do we want to check in?
6. What ‘weaknesses’ do each of us bring to the table?
7. What are some of the reasons that past collaborations we’ve been involved with (individually) have failed?
8. How am I likely to piss you off? How am I likely to get pissed off?

Having a frank discussion at the beginning of the process will save feelings, time, and resentment down the road. Collaborators who don’t take the time before hand, set themselves up for failure. Those that put in the due diligence will benefit from the collective power of the team.

Best,

Chris.

www.ghostceo.com

I bitch and moan about technology sometimes because it seems the phone is always ringing and the Blackberry always has a new email or message. That being said, thank GOD for the Blackberry. It might be a leash, but at least you can go outside with it. I have travelled around the world and the blackberry has allowed me to manage the various companies I’m involved in. I spent 6 weeks in Barbados last year and my blackberry was my connection to the world. I was religious in the fact that I only checked it twice a day, but I could enjoy going to the beach or pool side all day and still feel like I was at the helm of the boat. The connectivity on the island is shitty so there would be days where I wouldn’t get any messages. I didn’t obsess about it. I just accepted it and went about my day. If not getting connection is ruining your time off, you need to get yourself in check. It’s just work people. It will be there when the signal comes back (shit, am I starting to sound like Heather White?!?)

Use technology to run your business AND have a great summer (or vacation). I’m a bit of a hypocrite in the fact that I really do love my work and so checking email isn’t as much of a chore as it might be for someone who hates what they do. One day my ‘office’ was at the horse track. One day on my parent’s deck. Most days on one of the various beaches. Below are some pictures of my ‘offices in Barbados’, courtesy of Blackberry being my tool of choice:

The beach where I did the most….ummm….work

Rum shack where I had a couple of…Banks Beers.

Crane Beach

Poolside at the Crane Hotel (isn’t this better than your stuffy old office?)

Where I worked on the next book and had frequent naps.

Life is short! Get in your bathing suit, grab your Blackberry (or iPHONE) and note pad, sunscreen, something cold, and revel of your empire in the making!

Cheers,

C/

www.GhostCEO.com

I’ve been using ELANCE since first reading about it in the Four Hour Work Week. It is a service that matches buyers with a variety of talent around the world. You can hire researchers, graphic designers, programmers, secretaries, writers, etc. It can be hit or miss, you need to try out a couple of people and find vendors that match your style. I use ELANCE for a variety of business development functions, one being data mining. If we are targeting groups, I need to have lists to examine who is in a particular niche. I hire ELANCE researchers to do all my leg work, run my demographics, and group types of professionals together. Many of these vendors are in India where education rates are amazing and there are a lot of people looking for work. With the economies of scale in place, it is VERY affordable to have this work done. The best part is while I’m sleeping, my team in India is doing the work I need to make decisions. Check out ELANCE and surf around to see who can be doing your work while you are enjoying some much deserved time off.

Cheers,

C/

www.GhostCEO.com

Ahhh, the twitter. Twitter is a good tool for keeping people updated with what you are doing. I like to use my account http://twitter.com/ghostceo to put up business ideas, quotations I’m liking, or shout outs to other people. I try to have a thought up each day and what’s amazing is I get more feedback on my facebook page (my twitter account updates my status in facebook) then I do on twitter. When I’m traveling, like I am right now, I’m not sure if I can get up my favorite stuff so I use a service called FutureTweets to schedule my tweets. I can always go in and play with them if I am connected, but if not, my favorite stuff still goes up. I don’t have a tonne of followers on Twitter, but I will get 40-60 emails in Facebook if I go a couple of days without putting up a quotation. People are enjoying what is showing up there I guess. There is a lot of theory about how one can use Twitter to build business. To be honest with you, I haven’t figured it out yet. BUT…I do know that people are talking about what I’m saying and in business, that’s a good thing.

Cheers,

C/

www.GhostCEO.com

This month, I’m going to share with you some of the tools that you can implement now so that next summer, you can take a major part (if not all) of the summer off. I’ve tried to take a summer off before, but because business development is fun for me, I start to ‘Jones’ for it, if I’m not doing it. Instead, what I do is ensure my existing models are running on their own and work on new projects from the picnic table, the poolside, during a bike ride, or while having a beer.

The magic in being able to do this is that you need to automate your communications systems with the markets you are already servicing. The first tool I want to introduce (or re-introduce) you to is the eNewsletter. These are electronic newsletters that are sent to your mailing list on a monthly basis. Campaign Monitor and Constant Contacts are the main ones, but there are a variety of services that offer this type of delivery. The Ghost CEO uses Campaign Monitor, which has been tweaked by our webmaster, Christine Rondeau of Blue Lime Media. We send out the newsletter normally in the last third of each month and have about 300 new people a month signing up off the Ghost CEO website. What’s nice about this program is you can write your content and schedule it to come out at a later date. Imagine sitting down in April and writing four months of content in a single sitting. Now you are have newsletters going out each month and you aren’t looking at them again until September. The market gets regular communication and you get a tan.

Here are some things that guide how we put our newsletter together:

1. A quotation that reflects the theme of the month
2. A story (or example) of a lesson on theory that we want readers to consider that month. Anything from getting over your fear, to competing with big companies. Something that takes away the B.S. of traditional business and makes it easy.
3. A best practices idea for building business
4. Suggested reading or web resources, or both
5. Any updates about our coaching model, from one-on-one, to group, to our new ePACKS.
6. A final thought

Our goal is for it to be a quick pick-up for readers. They can scan it in under 3 minutes and explore the components later, depending on what interested them. Don’t make it a ‘pimp’ piece selling your stuff. Show value and if people are interested, they will go in for more. Remember that automation is in place to save you time and money. Explore these different eNewsletter tools and consider how they can keep your market engaged while you are drinking a frosty summer drink! Sweat by the pool, not over your desk.

Best,

Chris.

p.s. Here is a link to our last one if you are interested.

Being part of a family can be hard work. You should be making money off it. No, I’m not suggesting you get your little 6-year old sewing T-shirts under a sun lamp. Family events are a great way to make new contacts. Family BBQs, family days at school, street festivals for kids, etc., are all great ways to make new contacts. Parents bring their kids, you bring your kids. The kids play, the parents talk about the kids, and so on. What if you started finding out more about the parents at these events. Instead of you being Stephanie’s mom you are Stephanie’s mom who is a marketing consultant. And rather than sitting and chatting with Toby’s mom, you sit and chat with Toby’s mom who also owns a graphic design studio.

You are having the conversations anyway so why not find out what they do. As in last week’s primer, use those same questions to find out what they do. Parents focus too much on their kids at these events. Consider opening up the conversation. The stay-at-home group won’t engage, but the professional women who like having a career or business will welcome the addition. Watching these groups, I find that they are worried that it is taboo to bring up work at family events. I call ‘bullshit’ on that. When I bring up business, the other ‘like-minded’ people in the group come over to chat. They want to talk a little business too and need someone to break the ice to fully engage. Again, guys do this all the time. When they are standing around the BBQ, the aren’t talking about little Billy’s rash, or little Tina’s inability to share. They are talking about work.

Ladies, don’t abandon any urge you have to focus on your kids, but add a little business in there. You’ll be surprised at the results. Some moms (especially the stay at homes) might not want to chat about that so don’t engage with them. Instead, look for the other mom’s who might be sheepishly checking their blackberries when they think no one is looking. It’s the little things (conversations) that can create big results. You are there anyway so why not explore the opportunity?

Best,

Chris.

www.GhostCEO.com

With all the rain we get on the West Coast, summer is a time to get out in the sunshine, kick back, and enjoy the temperatures. Entrepreneurs will find themselves in one of two camps:

1. Work through the summer (like they do every other month) and resent their business or,
2. Put the email auto-responder on and head to the beach. The tan looks good, but they carry guilt over what they haven’t done or fear over what is going to happen to their business if they aren’t watching it.

My next few posts are going to focus on how you can kill two birds with one stone. Ways you can further your effectiveness in business while getting some sunshine and being outside. This week, it’s all about books.

Reading are a great way to stimulate business ideas. I’m not talking the trashy novels or People magazine. I’m talking business books. Before you get your back up thinking I’m referring to marketing text books, hear me out. There are many fundamental business books that every business owner should read. Not reading them can have a negative affect your bottom line and more importantly, the valuation of your company when the time comes to sell it. If you are heading to the beach, the pool, out for a walk or bike ride (audiobooks), plug into a book. Every morning I go for a walk. A 7 km circle from my house. I get 75 minutes of business development every morning. I’m doing two things I enjoy at the same time. Talk about maxing out your multitasking! Summer is a good six weeks long. Here are my recommendations for your weekly business development. If I was shipwrecked on a deserted island, these would be the six I’d take with me.

Read any or all and see your business ideas and your bottom line start to move in the right direction.

1. The E-Myth – by Michael Gerber
2. Tribes – Seth Godin
3. The One Minute Millionaire – Mark Victor Hanson
4. The Power of Focus – Jack Canfield
5. Think and Grow Rich – Napoleon Hill
6. The Four Hour Work Week – Timothy Ferriss
7. What Men Don’t Tell Women About Business – Don’t remember this author’s name but have heard he resembles Tom Selleck. Innocent good looks, devilish charm, and blunt like the head of a hammer.

Have fun out there. Don’t banish yourself to the indoors all summer. Get out there and get a tan while developing a plan. Next week, we’ll talk about getting into the ‘swing’ of summer business development.

Best,

Chris.

www.GhostCEO.com

“The greatest test of courage on earth is to bear defeat without losing heart.”

For many people, the thought of losing (a business deal, a client, or a key staff member) can lead them to making poor decisions. Our world is so focused on winning all of the time that it forgets that success is a shitty teacher. It is the times we lose where we learn the most. I worked in a casino for a while as a security guard on the high stakes tables. A friend of mine came in with $2,000.00 and told me that he had saved up the money to learn how the game of Texas Hold’em was played. I told him he was an idiot and that he should buy a game for his computer and practice at home. He reminded me that ‘in play’ experience is the best teacher. You won’t take it seriously if the money isn’t real.

He played that night and lost about $800.00 in chips. He came back the following night and walked away +$125.oo

For the following weeks he would be up and down, but never lost his entire $2,000.00 Some nights he’d be down to $200.00 and would leave. I thought the emotional roller coaster ride would have been enough to drive anyone crazy, but he stuck with it and now he seriously augments his income by playing in poker tournaments in B.C. and Vegas.

You have to be in it to win it. When you lose, don’t focus on the loss itself. Instead focus on the lesson. What did you learn this time that you can avoid next time. For me, most of my success comes from avoiding the pitfalls that others fall into. Almost everyone I know wants to write a book. They have it on their ‘to-do’ list, but get stuck in the details. I made almost every mistake you can in finding an agent, getting a book deal, and choosing how to promote the book. Every time I made a mistake, I’d look at what the lesson was and go again. I started focusing on Canadian agents and when that didn’t work, I focused on those in Manhattan. When I wasn’t getting anywhere with one press, I would look at working with another. I had a lot of bad radio interviews so I started decising which ones I would do and which ones I would pass on. The good ones got me excited for more good ones, the bad ones made me want to get out of the studio as quickly as possible.

I’m successful for one basic fact: I’m not afraid to lose. I’m not afraid to fall on my face….as long as I only do it once per area. I will take the hits, taunts, jibes, and self-abuse I do when I fail in order to learn. I seek out others that have failed and succeeded to get their take on how to avoid pitfalls and get in the winner’s circle. You have to walk the edge if you want the good stuff. Playing too safe will strangle opportunities for yourself. When life kicks you in the guts and tries to break you, get up, dust yourself off, and look for the lesson. It might be painful and it might be expensive, but it is necessary. If you do the same mistake over and over again..well, you might be a bonehead and need to take some time to figure out what you are doing wrong rather than doing the same thing over and over again hoping for a different outcome.

Best,

Chris.

p.s. If you find that when you are crapping out, you need to throw a pity party or engage in drama with the people around you, take a walk and think about where your focus is. You get what you focus on. Drama brings drama and pity parties are for losers. The only people that like coming to pity parties are other losers. Stay positive, look for the lesson, and drive forward.

Competitors in the market can be a great resource for your business development plans. You should spend as much time watching them as you do your market. Competitors are like weather vanes for your market and their actions can lead you to either avoid pitfalls or take advantage of their missteps. Here are some of the things you should be tracking on a monthly basis:

1. Who are their main clients? Have they lost any clients? Have they acquired any new clients?
   
2. What are they saying in their press releases?
3. Are they acquiring or laying off staff?
4. Are certain people getting promoted or moving to jobs outside the company?
5. Are they changing office addresses?
6. Are they adjusting their offering?
7. Are they changing their focus?
8. Have they formed any new alliances?
9. Does it look like they are on a healthy profit model or are they struggling?
10. How are they marketing/promoting their services?
11. How are the y positioned compared to you? Cheaper or more affordable? More accessible, less accessible?

When ever I play poker, I look to play the other players as much as I play my cards. Same in business. Your job is to never let the competition know what is in your hand, but to spend part of your time guessing what they are up to. Are they in a strong position? Are they bluffing? Are they almost out of money? Watch what the people in your game are doing and you can have everyone’s money.

Best,

Chris.

www.GhostCEO.com