Advice

How to Use Silence to Stay Focused

February 11, 2013

Today I’m recommending another in John Jantsch’s Recover You series: How to Use Silence to Stay Focused. Everybody should read it. I love reading John on how to live better. In his case, it’s a natural extension of his brand on business advice. Do yourself a favor. Read this. Think about it. Do it.

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Are You Guilty of One-Size-Life-Fits-All Thinking?

January 9, 2013

I was talking to my older brother the other day, about startups, siblings, raising children, and he shocked me, right in the middle of an otherwise smooth conversation, with this:  Now you’re guilty of one-size-life-thinking. You do that way too much. You want everybody to do things the way you did.  That took me aback. [...]

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True Story: Social Media Morality Tale

December 18, 2012

The Chronicle of Higher reported last week on this news item on a social media director getting caught lying about her resume and exposed via social media:  … social-media director quit her post on Monday after it was alleged that she had lied about graduating from college on her résumé—an assertion that, ironically, first bubbled up [...]

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Biggest Mistake? Mistaking Business for Life

December 5, 2012

(Note: I’m posting here my latest column for the Eugene Register Guard Blue Chip monthly magazine. These are not new themes for this blog, but I like what I say here. This is reposted here with permission.) Let’s put startups, entrepreneurship and life in proportion. A webinar participant asked me last week about what I [...]

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On Trying to Start Two Businesses At Once

December 3, 2012

Do you recognize this question: “Do I start two businesses at one or just one at a time?” I received it over the weekend from my ask-me form on my website. And I have two completely contradictory answers and then an explanation.  First, the question (leaving out parts of it that would identify the person asking [...]

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10 Ways to Be Smart in Business Discussions

November 29, 2012

Listen.  Look at the eyes of the person talking.  Don’t be thinking about how to interrupt and make your point; absorb that person’s point first.  Keep your mind open. Smart people don’t win arguments; they gain insight. Let your argument go.  Acknowledge points made by others. Absorb those points. Get them. Get them before you [...]

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Sticky Questions on Startup Ownership and Buy-Sell

November 27, 2012

I received this interesting detailed question from the ask me form on my website. I’ve decided to answer it here. I think my answer might be useful for others with similar questions. I’m putting the question in quotes, paragraph by paragraph, and adding my response directly where it comes in the question.  It starts like [...]

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Q&A: How Do I Finance My Company Without Losing Control?

September 5, 2012

Question: I need $250,000 to get my business started, but from what I see on the web, I’m going to have to give away the business, practically, to get that money from investors. And I don’t want to borrow the money because it’s a startup and I can’t be sure I’ll succeed. My answer: You [...]

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Good Advice Often Makes Bad Things Happen

August 15, 2012

Mike Myatt, who writes on leadership, says it straight. In a post titled Really Bad Advice, he first sets the scene: I just finished reading an article where the author (a self professed innovation guru) recommended strategy be aligned with capability, and that to allow ambition to exceed capability is a nothing short of a [...]

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Key to the Pitch: Make Me Care

June 27, 2012

Never underestimate the business value of the good story. Business planning is telling stories and making them happen. Startups make stories come true. In this delightful TED talk storyteller (filmmaker) Andrew Stanton boils it down to this: Make me care. If you want to sell a business idea, tell it as a story. The best [...]

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