Aviation of Business

posted by Andrew Hartley - Business Consultant & Entrepreneur on Dec 18

I am entering Thor Schrock’s Secret Classroom Blog Contest.

I’ve been reading Thor’s blog (www.thorschrock.com) for awhile now, and he’s got some really great content! I highly recommend subcribing to RSS feed (I did!). If you are looking for an RSS aggregator, I suggest NewsGator (www.newsgator.com) - it’s got an online version which is very easy to use and update.

In addition to the obvious monetary value of the potential prize, I’m also entering the contest because the Secret Classroom information sounds like it has some real substance to it, unlike many other offers out there on the web these days. Some of the infomation that is available on the Secret Classroom DVD set includes:

One of the benefts of having this information on DVD is that you can rewind and watch portions over (instead of missing the information like you might in a live seminar), as well as being able to see it happen (instead of having to interpret what it should look like, like in a book or e-book). Additionally, you get a workbook to make the learning stick even better!

Sounds like being back in school - taking notes, doing assignments in a workbook - but I’d rather have the information and take notes and work at something to get what I want.

What’s the alternative?

Doing the same thing every day - and getting the same thing I already have. And that may not be bad, but I have goals and dreams… and the day-to-day won’t allow me to reach them.

So here’s to learning and doing and building something new!

Fair Winds,
Andrew

posted by Andrew Hartley - Business Consultant & Entrepreneur on Sep 17

The following is a paid review, but is completely my own opinion and is not at all influenced by being paid.

I recently signed up for Pay Per Post, a blog marketing site which has been gaining and gaining in popularity with bloggers as a way to use a blog to make a little (or a lot) of money. It’s also very popular with internet marketers as a way to drive traffic to their sites! If you’re already writing, and you already use products and surf the web, why not make a little money while doing so, right? I’ve been experimenting and learning about online business for a little while now, and have not had much success. To be fair, I’ve also had a lack of focus and not spent my time where it might make the most impact. I’m trying to change that, because - as you see from my last post - I am edging my way back to my original career goal (since high school or college) of becoming a professional pilot.

Since flying isn’t cheap (my first flight in nearly four years lasted nine-tenths of an hour - that’s .9 hours or 54 minutes - and cost $115.64!), I’ve newly refocused my online ambitions to help me pay for the cost of flight training. I figure that if I can make $30 per day, every day, from my online businesses, my flight training will be nearly paid for! With that in mind, I am refreshing my interest in Pay Per Post, starting with this post. I hope to be able to use it to get a good start on my goal of $30 per day. If I am able to make more than that through Pay Per Post (and/or other advertising, donations, etc.), I will increase my flight time commensurately.

Up to now, I have found Pay Per Post to be pretty easy to use. It was very easy to add this blog to my account and get started. I actually got an offer for $30 to review a site - which I was pretty excited about, but then I got distracted and forgot to actually post about the site. The offer was susequently rescinded - unfortunately it happened on the day I remembered and was going to post about it! I ultimately would like to add some of my other blogs to my account at Pay Per Post (blogs like environmentastic! and Teacher’s Forum, but Pay Per Post requires that you have 10 approved posts before you can add any more blogs to your account. I wasn’t aware of this (or I had forgotten), and I was a little frustrated trying to find out how to add another blog to my account… you actually have to do that under the “my posts” tab. That was a little confusing to me, and then frustrating that once I found out where and how to add another blog, I wasn’t able to until I did more posts.

Other than that I think Pay Per Post is a really nice site to work with. It’s easy to learn, use, and navigate, and it has already given lots of people another stream of income! I know Tyler Cruz (visit his blog) has had some success with it… I hope I can make enough to start subsidizing my flight training soon! If you’re interested in making some money with your blog (even if only a little), check out Pay Per Post.

Have you used Pay Per Post? What did you think about it? Let us know - leave a comment!

Fair Winds,
Andrew

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

Today I will be getting back in the cockpit! I finally got in touch with my friend (a former student of mine when I was a training consultant in aviation) who is a flight instructor. We will be flying tonight - I’m going to attempt to pass a biennial flight review and aircraft rental checkout after nearly FOUR YEARS of not acting as a pilot of an aircraft.

Wish me luck - it’s a first step to return to my journey of becoming a professional pilot! The teacher again becomes the student…

Fair Winds,
Andrew

posted by Andrew Hartley - Business Consultant & Entrepreneur on Sep 1

Quick blurb today:

I was attending a “brown bag” session about communication once, and we were doing an activity to illustrate how, often, what one says is not exactly the same as what someone else hears:

The “Explainer” has a sheet of paper with a fairly simple drawing on it (ours was a rabbit in a hat). This person must instruct the “Drawer” on how to draw the picture without giving away what the picture is - in other words, the explainer will instruct, line-by-line, how the drawing is made up, like so: “Start with a straight, horizontal line at the bottom of the page. Now draw two vertical lines, each starting at the end of the horizontal line and going up, about the same length as the horizontal line, and each vertical line the same length.” and so on and so on until the picture is complete (or the communication has broken down so badly that the picture is unfixable!).

It was a neat exercise, but the most interesting thing was that, as the exercise was being explained to the “Explainer” and the “Drawer,” there was a misunderstanding on the part of the “Drawer,” and the Director of Training said, “She might be a good communicator, but she’s not a very good listener!”

WHAT!?!

Communication is not just about talking! 50% of communication must be about listening - it’s a part of communication! If you’re not a good listener, by definition, you can’t be a good communicator!

So I’ve decided that we should have a mini-course on communication on the Aviation of Business blog!

Stay tuned for it!

Fair Winds,
Andrew

posted by Andrew Hartley - Business Consultant & Entrepreneur on Aug 12

I’ve been kicking around some business ideas for quite awhile now. Third Floor Cards is a site that I started and then put off for a long time… and it’s one that I would still like to see up and running with a decent site and some good business running through it.

But the most recent one that I have started is The Teacher’s Forum. Currently, it is a dull yaBB forum with a generic look, but it is functional and up and running. So far the only registered members are me (administrator) and my wife, Jill. There are three posts. Two are introductions in the “Break the Ice” section.

We’ll be continuing the design of the site to make it look less generic and more eye-catching when people first come to the forum, but this brings up two questions:
1) Is yaBB (a freeware forum software) the right software to use for this forum, or should I use something more “well-known” throughout the forum world like vBulletin? I’d have to buy a license for the vBulletin software.
2) What is the best way to encourage people to be the first ones to post on a new forum? I’ve thought about using a service like ForumShock to jump start it, but is there a better way?

In beginning to answer number 2, I will be offering free “upperclassman” membership to the first 50 people to register and introduce themselves (in the “Break the Ice” section) on the site. However, I don’t have any kind of paid membership level (yet), so they’ll be taking it on my word that the site will, in the future, have that capability. Which begs the quetion laid in 1, above again - is yaBB the right forum software for the site?

I also spent some time yesterday listing The Teacher’s Forum on search engines and free site-listing web-pages to help bring up the site’s “link love,” as so many search engine optimization (SEO) gurus (like Rae Hoffman and Jeremy Schoemaker) call it.

Any other suggestions and help would be appreciated! Leave a comment if you have any ideas…

And if you want to register and be among the first 50 people to get your free lifetime “Upperclassman” membership, I certainly won’t shed any tears over you posting and helping to get the site active!

Fair Winds,
Andrew

posted by Andrew Hartley - Business Consultant & Entrepreneur on Jun 19

Okay, so I’m learning to not make promises before I am sure I can follow through. I’m having a bit of writer’s block on the posts I’m trying to write about the “sacred six” instruments. I want to make sure they are interesting for you, the reader, while still making them as accurate as possible and as “real” as possible. I thought that laying out that pattern for myself would make writing easier, but I’ve found that it constrains more than anything, and makes it MORE difficult to write about them. So, while I will no longer promise that the sacred six will be the next five posts, I will promise that - eventually - I’ll get to them.

Perhaps I’m trying too hard to write posts that are substantial (read: longer) and not just short little blurbs - I don’t want to waste your time if you’re here reading my blog. On the other hand, shorter posts written more often will bring more visitors, which is a goal I have for this blog. So I’m a little torn.

So leave me a note in the comments telling me whether you would prefer shorter posts written more often or longer, more substantial posts written less often. In return, you have my thanks, and the short story in the following post.

Namaste,
Andrew

posted by Andrew Hartley - Business Consultant & Entrepreneur on May 29

I haven’t done this in several months (though I did post on the first one ever - in the comments sections of the post itself), but I think it’s a good idea and a great way to reflect on what one has learned in the past month (and if you can’t say that you’ve learned at least five things in a month, no matter how trivial it seems to you, there’s something wrong with you!).

 So, in the manner laid out by the Joyful, Jubilant Learning Blog, here are my top five “learnings” for the month of May:

1. No matter where you are, no matter what you think, you have friends near you.  My wife and I were at a beautiful wedding over Memorial Day weekend in Clearwater (Dunedin), Florida.  It was the wedding of a very good friend of ours who Jill met while working in Theatre in Columbus, Ohio (and who now lives in New York City, NY, but whose family is still in Florida).  We didn’t expect to know anyone at the wedding or the reception except the bride and groom themselves (whom we expected to be rather busy, for some reason); however, once we got to the reception, we were almost immediately approached by two other couples who knew us (though we didn’t know them immediately).  It turned out that Jill had met the women while they were the bride’s roomates in college!  And at the end of the reception, one of the bridesmaids was another friend of the bride’s whom Jill had met previously!  Another of the joys of networking… in Florida, we ran into people who we knew from Columbus, Cincinnati, and Kentucky!
2. A business can survive through almost any length of “down season” if the “busy season” is busy enough!  A small shop in Clearwater, FL makes 1/2-pound cookies and homemade ice-cream - and was pretty much empty except for while we were in it (eating a chocolate-chip cookie with two scoops of vanilla ice-cream and hot-fudge on top… whoa!).  The man behind the counter said that spring break is always his best time.  Planning ahead for the rest of the year is of utmost importance!
3. Related to the above, a business can survive without a business plan or without good leadership if it’s in the right location.  If you serve alcohol and pizza, and are located on a beach where college students frolic during spring, you could leave your business i the hands of a monkey and still survive.
4. Love bug season in Florida SUCKS.  Those damn bugs were EVERYWHERE and they were ANNOYING!  Jill and I took to calling them “Fuck Bugs” for two reasons - 1) they were fucking, and 2) we were constantly saying “Fuck, bugs! Get away from me!” I buried as many as possible in the sand, alive. 
5. Business is just breaking down a large “problem” into small, actionable parts.  The “problem” is your business and the small, actionable parts are your goals and plans to reach where you want the business to go.  This is basic - but I constantly need a reminder of it.  I’m reading Robert Allen’s Multiple Streams of Internet Income, which breaks down internet business quite well.  I’ve already taken 13 pages of notes and I’m not even halfway through it.  I’ll buy a copy for myself (I’m reading a library copy) so I can highlight and underline and take notes in the margins…

Hope you enjoyed this, and I encourage you to do the same thing on your own blog… (what?  You don’t have a blog?  Leave a comment on this one or on JJL’s!)  or at least in your own head so you reap the benefit of reflecting on the month behind you!

Next post will be back to our regularly scheduled programming (the sacred six flight instruments & how they relate to business)!

Fair Winds,
Andrew

posted by Andrew Hartley - Business Consultant & Entrepreneur on Apr 12

This past weekend, my grandmother, Mimi, passed away.  She was 86.  We buried her yesterday, April 11th, 2007.  It was one of the hardest things I have ever done, and I was kind of surprised by it.

I was surprised not because it is ever easy when someone passes away, but because I firmly believe in reincarnation and the idea that family and good friends tend to “cluster” in groups no matter what life they are living (read Many Lives, Many Masters, by Brian Weiss - buy it here [aff]).  In this way, I know that my father is still with us.  I know that my grandfather is still with us.  I know that my other grandfather (though he passed before I was born) is still somehow in my life.  I know that Mimi will never be gone completely; that she will always be with us in our memories and in our children and grandchildren and friends and cousins and everyone we meet and know and love.

I know all of this, but I also know that I cried when I had to say goodbye for the last time.  After the service, I placed a handkerchief in Mimi’s pocket.  She had saved it for about twenty-five years.  It was the same handkerchief that I had cried into as a baby once.  As Mimi told the story, I cried and cried and wiped my eyes on the handkerchief until it was soaked with my tears… she gave it to me when her husband, Gran, died.  I thought she would want it back - she saved it for so long it obviously meant a lot to her.  Once I placed it in the casket, I cried.  It was the first time since I found out she had passed away that I cried.  And I hated it.  And I loved it.  And it felt right.

But the universe works in mysterious ways - my friend whom I have never met, Verna Wilder, wrote in her blog - Out of the Cube - that there are so many things we don’t know.  And that it is okay - perhaps even good. And that life is, maybe, a lesson to teach us how to accept not knowing, and that death, possibly, is knowing (after all those years of ignorance).  And Verna posted a beautiful poem, which reminded me of the poem that Mimi loved because it was so reminiscent of HER family (Mimi was the only sister of seven siblings):

We are Seven by William Wordsworth 

A simple child, dear brother Jim,
That lightly draws its breath,
And feels its life in every limb,
What should it know of death?

I met a little cottage girl,
She was eight years old, she said;
Her hair was thick with many a curl
That cluster’d round her head.

She had a rustic, woodland air,
And she was wildly clad;
Her eyes were fair, and very fair,
–Her beauty made me glad.

“Sisters and brothers, little maid,
How many may you be?”
“How many? seven in all,” she said,
And wondering looked at me.

“And where are they, I pray you tell?”
She answered, “Seven are we,
And two of us at Conway dwell,
And two are gone to sea.”

“Two of us in the church-yard lie,
My sister and my brother,
And in the church-yard cottage, I
Dwell near them with my mother.”

“You say that two at Conway dwell,
And two are gone to sea,
Yet you are seven; I pray you tell
Sweet Maid, how this may be?”

Then did the little Maid reply,
“Seven boys and girls are we;
Two of us in the church-yard lie,
Beneath the church-yard tree.”

“You run about, my little maid,
Your limbs they are alive;
If two are in the church-yard laid,
Then ye are only five.”

“Their graves are green, they may be seen,”
The little Maid replied,
“Twelve steps or more from my mother’s door,
And they are side by side.”

“My stockings there I often knit,
My ‘kerchief there I hem;
And there upon the ground I sit–
I sit and sing to them.”

“And often after sunset, Sir,
When it is light and fair,
I take my little porringer,
And eat my supper there.”

“The first that died was little Jane;
In bed she moaning lay,
Till God released her of her pain,
And then she went away.”

“So in the church-yard she was laid,
And all the summer dry,
Together round her grave we played,
My brother John and I.”

“And when the ground was white with snow,
And I could run and slide,
My brother John was forced to go,
And he lies by her side.”

“How many are you then,” said I,
“If they two are in Heaven?”
The little Maiden did reply,
“O Master! we are seven.”

“But they are dead; those two are dead!
Their spirits are in heaven!”
‘Twas throwing words away; for still
The little Maid would have her will,
And said, “Nay, we are seven!”

You are seven, Mimi.  You and all of your siblings.  And those of us left here in this life still count you among us, and we are many.  And we miss you already.  And we’ll all see you soon.  We love you.

Fair Winds,
Andrew

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

A very close friend worked his last day at the company at which I worked for nearly six years today. He had been there for eleven years (count ‘em - 11!). It’s an aviation company, and as such it has seen its share of ups and downs. Over the past year or so, however, the company’s leadership turned to layoffs and generally bad management of its people to turn its financials around. Temporarily, I think it’ll work. Long-term, I think it’s a mistake. Regardless, I recieved the following message from my friend today. Talk about leaving with class!

This final message is to a select group of people who are particularly dear to me…

You are special to me, and I’ll miss you. [Our CEO] has said “it’s the people that make the difference” and I couldn’t agree more. [Company Name] is unbelievably volatile with change, and it has its share of corporate problems, but it’s as good as it is because of the folks who show up every day committed to doing a great job and never giving up on making things better. Each of you is one of those people and each of you has influenced me for the better.

While my career here is coming to a close and a new chapter is opening, yours continues. And like mine, your time with [Company Name] will continue to add to your skills, open up new opportunities, and give you many more chances to make that difference. Despite the setbacks, I look back fondly on almost 11 years of growth and development here, and I’m thankful that I’ve moved into the world of training through opportunities that came out of this company. I especially want to thank [Name Removed], who in 1998 took a chance and asked me to join him in training [employees] – that little effort forever changed the course of my career, and brought me into what I believe I was always meant to do: educate and develop people.

I’m also thankful for the countless projects and teams I’ve been a part of, for the learning I’ve done, and for the many areas of the business I’ve been in contact with. There was rarely a dull moment, and I don’t doubt that will continue. In that I’ve learned to seize the day, and take every chance to make the most of it. We must remain committed and determined – these are always rewarding whether in the company or somewhere else, no matter what the endeavor.

I also continue to learn not to let external factors determine my mood, attitude, or mission. It’s worthy to be true to yourself and even more so to your purpose – I believe there is a plan for every life and a benevolent God who created it. No matter what the world does or says, these things transcend it. Work is just work, and no company is perfect, nor can it provide the deepest meaning and purpose our hearts long for. So no matter how tough it gets, we can always look back and see benefit in our work and the companies that provide it. Even more so with the relationships we build.

May your career be blessed as mine has, even with the difficulties that come along the way; may they help us along as we mature and build character, all the while gaining valuable experience to contribute to our futures and the world around us. Thanks to [Company Name] for my career, and thanks again to you for being a part of it.

Best wishes,
–[Name]

We should all take a cue from my good friend and his departure message - learning to separate one’s self from one’s job and to look to many things for self-worth, mission, and attitude, as well as to use the good and the bad to build a worthwhile character and mature into who we are meant to be.

Fair Winds,
Andrew

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

Okay, so the more I read blogs, the more I am amazed at the similarities between people. 

Verna Wilder, for instance, consistently impresses me with the similarities between what she does (or wants to do) and what I do (or want to do).  Recently, Verna posted about wanting to learn to play the harmonica.  In her usual manner, she wrote beautifully about the lesson that particular interest was currently teaching her: to really learn something, you must first learn to have a Beginner’s mind.  I’ve long wanted to learn to play piano, guitar, etc., but I have trouble starting something that I don’t already understand or basically know how to do already.  It’s silly, but difficult for many people, I imagine.

Another thing I’ve noticed is that as soon as you start something, the universe provides to make it work (as long as you really want it)!  Within a month of starting this blog, another blogger posts about flying!  Ben Casnocha, a blogger, entrepreneur, and passionate player of table tennis, recently took his first flight in a small aircraft.  Apparently, a friend of his owns what appears from the picture to be a Cirrus airplane and he was taken on a flight over Colorado.  I’d accuse him of trying to elbow into my metaphor, but I’m sure he doesn’t know who I am, nor does he need my traffic. :)  I have two questions for him, though:

1. Did you think about the similarities between flying that plane and starting/running a business?
2. Where have you heard about the “unusually high rate of small aircraft accidents?”

So it’s a small world; people separated by hundreds, even thousands of miles - people who have never even met each other - are connected in strange, interesting ways.  Verna has reminded me that to learn and do something new, you have to start by accepting that you aren’t going to be good at it at first, and that’s okay.  And Ben has reminded me that one of the main goals of this blog is to build a metaphor connecting aviation and business-building - and I have yet to truly post on that topic.  Watch for that post soon!

Thanks, Verna.

Thanks, Ben.

Thanks, readers - for your comments!  Keep ‘em coming… have you noticed the connections between strangers and essentially disparate people?  How did the connections become obvious to you?