Aviation of Business

posted by Andrew Hartley - Business Consultant & Entrepreneur on Feb 25

We’ve all been told how important a network is to our success.  Once we’ve decided to “do something,” whether it be starting a new business or finding a new job or new career, having a good network becomes crucial to the ultimate success of that endeavor.

If you are starting a business, knowing people from many disciplines can be nothing but helpful to you; looking for advice on what business structure to use for your entrepreneurial idea?  Perhaps you know (or know someone who knows) a good business lawyer.  Looking to start an online business?  Maybe you have a good friend who is a web-designer.  Did you invent a better mousetrap?  Who better to introduce it to the world than your brother-in-law who is a professional in sales.

If you’re looking for a new career/job, it’s good to know people who work in the industry you’re looking to enter.  It’s good to know Human Resources professionals from your current job (or previous jobs) – they generally have connections in other HR departments at other companies or even general search firms.  Maybe your old college roommate is a head-hunter now (or can give you the name and number of the headhunter who found her the great job she started a few months ago!)… the possibilities are endless.

But what is a network?  What is social capital?  Is your network your friends from high-school and college?  Is it your professional acquaintances from work?  Is it your social acquaintances from the dive bar where you sing karaoke on Wednesday nights?  Or is it only the people you know who can actually help you in some way – people who have something you need and are willing to give it to you?

First of all, understand that everyone you know or have met is your network.  Having said that, also understand that a network is absolutely not a one-way street.  Once you have met someone, it is up to you to cultivate the relationship to ensure that your network continues to grow and does not begin to dry up and shrink.  Because - let’s be honest here - your functional network is much smaller than your network as a whole. When you need something from your network, it’s your active contacts who are going to be willing and able to help you, not necessarily the guy who gave you his business card at that “How to deal with difficult people” seminar at the Mariott two years ago. Unless that guy happens to know or be related to someone you know well and talk to regularly.

Which brings me to my main point - maintaining an active, open, entrepreneurial network.  Networking is not just meeting new people (although to keep a network growing you must meet new people once in awhile); it is also reconnecting with people you already know on a regular basis.  For example:  Marcie and Jamie work with you at your current job, and they used to eat lunch with you and others - sometimes one-on-one, sometimes as a larger group.  But over time, they have begun to eat lunch by themselves, in their cubicles.  Not so they can get more work done (which is no excuse anyway - if you can’t get your work done without skipping your lunch break, you either have too much work or a time-management issue), just alone.  While one should never take no time for themselves, one should also not avoid cultivating the relationships built over time.  Marcie and Jamie’s “social-capital” network is shrinking right before their eyes.  Their former lunch partners are now wondering, “What did I do?  Why is Marcie avoiding me?” They may even be saying, “If she always works through lunch, why doesn’t she get more done?  Why do I still have to pick up the same slack I’ve always picked up?”  Oops.  This person certainly isn’t going to get the help they want and may need in the future from their network.

There’s a book called Never Eat Alone, by Keith Ferrazzi, which discusses the exact issue above.  I’ve heard that it’s very good, and that Mr. Ferrazzi is considered one of the most connected people in the world.  While I haven’t read the book, I bet I already know one of it’s main themes - take lunch with people in your network, and add more people to your network when you meet them at business dinners, office parties, etc.  I plan on picking up this book from the library soon and getting everything I can out of it.

As a last thought before ending this (admittedly long) post, keep in mind that a network is not there only for you to get something from.  It’s there for you to give as well.  There is a long-known but not well-understood law of business and the universe - you get what you give.  It seems nonsensical, but if you want to attract more money into your life, you should give more money away (not spend more money, but donate and tithe more money).  If you want someone to help you, you must first help others (not necessarily the person whose help you want).  It’s the pay-it-forward phenomenon, even more like karma, whether or not you want to believe it.  When was the last time you gave someone a smile and didn’t get one back?  A network is the same thing.  You have to be willing to give before you can get - and you have be willing to not keep track of who owes you because you’ve done something for them.  Let the cards fall where they may - ultimately, the universe provides and balances.  Let it do what it does while you do what you can.

How do you tender your network? How has your network assisted you?  Leave a comment and tell us!

posted by Andrew Hartley - Business Consultant & Entrepreneur on Feb 21

Where does one find business wisdom? Provided the right mindset, it can be found nearly anywhere - music, fiction books, everyday conversations with family and friends, etc.  The trick is to make the business mindset a habit.  The more you consciously think about business and entrepreneurship, the more you will subconsciously think about business and entrepreneurship.  The more you are subconsciously thinking about it, the more these nuggets of wisdom will appear to you - all around you.

 There are hundreds, thousands, even more business books out there.  Each one is packed full of business wisdom, written in a business-y way.  Some of these books are very good - Robert Kiyosaki’s Rich Dad, Poor Dad is credited by many entrepreneurs as THE book that got them started.  A classic that is also cited by many is Napoleon Hill’s Think and Grow Rich.  There are many more books that are recommended highly by entrepreneurs and others.  Check out Ben Casnocha’s Book List (he’s one of the most prolific readers I’ve ever seen); Guy Kawasaki’s Ten Favorite Books; or see Joyful Jubilant Learning’s A Love Affair with Books 2007 in March.

Business books are important.  They have lots of useful knowledge packed into them.  These books are written in perfect business fashion - efficient!  Lots of information in a small space can be good, but it is hard to remember everything - it’s hard to put all of it into practice and make it useful.

Most importantly, however, if you focus on business books to the exclusion of all the other business wisdom that surrounds you, you’re actually missing out on the best learning and the most important lessons. 

As an example of this, I recently read Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials Trilogy.  In the final book of the trilogy, one of the main characters, Will, is told by an angel, Xaphania, that he has important things to do with his life.  His answer, and Xaphania’s response, is below:

“What work have I got to do then?” said Will, but went on at once, “No, on second thought, don’t tell me. I shall decide what I do.  If you say my work is fighting, or healing, or exploring, or whatever you might say, I’ll always be thinking about it. And if I do end up doing that, I’ll be resentful because it’ll feel as if I didn’t have a choice, and if I don’t do it, I’ll feel guilty because I should. Whatever I do, I will choose it, no one else.”

            “Then you have already taken the first steps towards wisdom,” said Xaphania.

I love this passage for several reasons.  I like the reference to personal choice, which is obvious in the passage.  But I also like the underlying message, which is that even though you have the ability to choose anything you want to do, you STILL have to choose, and you still have to DO!  Sitting still, or analysis paralysis, does not count as a choice.  Knowing that you have important things to do is only beneficial if you make a choice and do something, even if you aren’t sure it is the “right” thing - the thing you are “supposed” to do.  Do something, anything.  Whatever you think might be that “right” thing.

Like Will Rodgers said, “Even if you’re on the right track, you’ll get run over if you just sit there.”  Get up and get out there. Do something.

Make it your habit to recognize these nuggets of wisdom… then share them by leaving us a comment telling us what you’ve learned!

posted by Andrew Hartley - Business Consultant & Entrepreneur on Feb 13

Don’t ask employees to be passionate about the company!

http://headrush.typepad.com/creating_passionate_users/2007/02/dont_ask_employ.html

posted by Andrew Hartley - Business Consultant & Entrepreneur on Feb 3

One of the most important things to do when considering becoming an entrepreneur is to know your “whys.”  Why do you want to own your own business?

This seems like the most obvious thing that anyone could say - that it would be easy to explain why someone would want to become an entrepreneur.  Some common answers to “why” include:

• Be my own boss
• Set my own schedule
• Make more money
• Enjoy my work
• Etc. etc.

Having said that, I feel that most of the above reasons are cop-outs.  Everyone wants to set their own schedule, make more money, and enjoy his/her work.  But why do only a few decide to become entrepreneurs?  It’s possible to make more money and enjoy your work in a “traditional” career-path… so what’s the REAL reason you want to start a business?

This takes some more thinking and soul-searching, because in reality starting your own business takes time and commitment - so “making your own schedule,” at least at first, means scheduling yourself 12-16 hour days and “burning the midnight oil” more often than you have since undergraduate school (only then it was more fun and you didn’t remember it the next day!).

So I have come to the conclusion that to make the decision to become an entrepreneur, you must be a very self-aware person; often you know, deep-down, that you want to start and run your own business, but you don’t truly know why.  So you fall back to one or more of the cop-out answers above.  And then, if you’re lucky, you have an epiphany as to REALLY why you want to be an entrepreneur.

I had that epiphany just the other day, and I think it will help me get off my ass and actually start moving more quickly to the goals I’ve set for my businesses and my life.

So here it is:

My father died when I was about twelve or thirteen years old.  I take a lot of his traits and interests - in fact, I’m sure the main reason I went into aviation is because of Dad.  He was a private pilot and a mechanic for a major airline, and I thought he was the coolest person in the world.  Thinking back, I may be kind of lucky - in a way - that he died while I was so young, because now he will always be coolest person in the world to me.

But this isn’t specifically about Dad - it’s actually about Mom.  After Dad died, it was just Mom, my brother, and me.  Mom had been working part-time for the county.  Though we’ve never really talked about it, I’m sure the plan was ultimately to retire on Dad’s pension and some savings - a good plan, had it worked out.  But it didn’t.  Dad died, and Mom and we two kids had to make do.  And we did - well.  My brother and I wanted for just about nothing, and mom worked very hard and long hours to provide everything that we needed - all of us.

But now, Mom is still working long hours and is “buying back” retirement years (she works in public education) so she can actually retire at a reasonable age.  Fortunately, Mom works in a field that she is passionate about, and she makes it about the kids, not just about making a living - so it is bearable for her.

I, however, have not found a job that makes me want to put in twelve-hour days (or more) - not one where I am making someone else rich.  My time is my time, and if I’m getting paid for eight hours, I’m rarely going to work beyond that if I can help it.  But if I start and run my own business - if I become an entrepreneur - each and every hour I work directly benefits me.  My pay does not become diluted if I spend more time working. 

Most importantly, if something were to happen to me, my wife wouldn’t be left holding the bags, so to speak!  My mom had to sacrifice too much to ensure that my brother and I had everything we needed because the plans that she and Dad made were dashed when he died unexpectedly.  I don’t want that to happen to my wife should I go down in flames someday.