FocusBerry

I hate it when I am talking to someone and they keep on looking down at their Blackberry, iPhone, Treo or whatever gizmo device they are using to be 24/7 connected.

Unless he/she is an on-call doctor, which most business people are not, one does not really need to be disrespectful and look down at their device every three minutes.

I learned this the hard way. I was never one of those people (I hope!) that looked down at my phone every two minutes when I was one on one with someone. But I would check it in larger meetings when I thought nobody was looking or cared.

Wrong.

We had a sales retreat a couple of months ago and while I thought I was 100% present, some of staff members mentioned to me that they felt my focus was elsewhere. I asked where – and I got the answer I dreaded. My phone!

I felt terrible and stopped checking it in meetings immediately.

Jim Rohn, a great business philosopher says, “Wherever you are, be there.” That means if you are in a conversation with one person, 10 people, or more, just say no to your online connection and focus on the conversation at hand.

The people who are talking to you will appreciate it and you’ll be a better person because of it.

Next Step – Open book management!

Two years ago only three people saw Next Step’s annual budget; me, our CFO and our accountant.

Last year, I opened it up to the whole management team. I wanted their insights and also for them to take ownership of their line-items. It worked well. Everyone took this role seriously and worked hard to make their budgets and/or cut costs.

This made me realize that if you have the right people on the bus, they’ll want to take ownership and make a difference in the budget. So then I started thinking, why not the whole company? If everyone is involved in making budgets and saving money, wouldn’t that be better?

Plus they’d have a better appreciation of what really happens with expenses, revenue and profit.

So I am doing it. Next year, the budget will be open to everyone and most will play a role in managing specific line-items. Jan Resch, Next Step’s VP of Finance suggested to gives bonuses to those who stay within their budget. And even bigger bonuses if they come below a budgeted expense. This will give everyone an incentive to be fiscally responsible. I love that idea and we’re doing that too.

One important thing though. I do not suggest making public everyone’s individual salaries. That could lead to much stress within a company. There is a way show the budget so that people don’t know each others’ salaries.

How’s the family?

When you meet a successful businessperson, I would look to see if their success extends beyond business. Are they raising their kids? Are they happy? Do they lead an honorable life?

This was some advice given to me by Jay Goltz, a seasoned entrepreneur who founded The Goltz Group, which comprises Artists’ Frame Service, Jayson Home & Garden, and Chicago Art Source (www.jaygoltz.com). He is also the author of a book called “The Street Smart Entrepreneur.” You can check out Jay’s blog at http://blog.inc.com/boss-school/.

I recently met Jay at an Inc. Magazine Small Business Summit in Aspen, CO. I’ve read about his success before and was anxious to pick his brain for some entrepreneurial insights. I think he sensed that I am a lush for entrepreneurial advice and was very willing to chat about his successes and mistakes.

One thing he is very proud of is his successful family. Jay has three kids and a great wife and he puts their success and time spent with them into the formula for his own success. We were talking about all the “successful and famous” business titans covered in today’s media and were wondering what their families are like?

Many times a “successful” business owner will work and travel so much, his kids will grow up without him or his influence. Work is not a place to escape to and declare, “I am doing it for my family!” That statement is a bunch of bull. If you were doing something for your family, you’d be spending time with them.

I have often seen this with my own eyes. A business leader will be in all the right magazines and newspapers and look like he is superman, but then behind the scenes his kids are nowhere near being well-functioning.

Jay encouraged me to throw in “time spent with the kids/family” as part of my formula for success.

I agree completely. Success can not be lopsided. A truly successful entrepreneur will work hard to balance both family and work.

Thanks for the reinforcing advice Jay!

Ethics – A Unique Competitive Advantage?

Ethics – A Unique Competitive Advantage?
In today’s massively competitive world, small businesses need every advantage we can get. Big businesses (especially public companies) are often focused on short term profits to please shareholders and Wall Street. That also means that they have to take short cuts in order to please their masters.

When one takes short cuts, ethics can become optional. Apparently Wall Street prefers short term profits over long-term results. Usually these tactics will catch up with the schemer(s). And their rear ends are handed to them in proper fashion (think Enron or even the current mortgage crisis).

The pressure for bigger companies to perform turns out to be an advantage for the small business entrepreneur. You see, we can decide to take the high road and act ethical in our decisions. In fact, we must. Often, we don’t have the budgets to absorb a poor decision. Small business entrepreneurs are usually one to two bad decisions from bankruptcy.

I run my business by ethics; not only because of the risk of the opposite, but because it just feels good. When you consistently act with integrity in all business dealings, the word gets around. Customers will want to do business with you and job seekers will want to work for your company. But the most important reason to be ethical (besides the highway to heaven) is internal. By acting ethically, your culture will shine with honesty. You’ll attract moral people and the aura of your highroad nature will guide the company’s decisions.

Once your employees see that you are uncompromising about your ethics, they will fall into place behind you. Believe me, it’s refreshing to see someone who talks the talk AND walks the walk.

But YOU have to set the example. There’s a Sicilian saying that translates to, “A fish rots from the head down,” meaning that if the leader is corrupt, so goes the whole organization.

A few years back, an employee of ours got caught doing some inappropriate things online at work. Other than this behavior, this person was a good employee. It would have been easy overlook this behavior because the good performance otherwise. But I didn’t hesitate in my decision. This person was fired at once.

Of course it was tough because I liked the person and it’s always a pain to hire, retrain, etc…. But I thought to myself, “What kind of message would I be sending to my team if I tolerated this behavior?” I would be telling them that rules and ethics can be bent if job performance is good.

No way. There is no gray area with ethics. The minute you bend the rules, you’ve just opened up your company culture’s Pandora’s Box.

Plus, when you’re ethical, it’s so much easier to sleep at night.

The Big Idea With Donny Deutsch

If you can watch The Big Idea With Donny Deutsch tonight (7/24) on CNBC at 10PM, you'll hear a familiar voice. Mine! They are doing a show on how entrepreneurs can weather a recession and thanks to my new friend Cameron Herold (http://backpocketcoo.com/), I'll be calling in with a question!

Routine will set you free

Manic entrepreneurs have a hard time focusing. When we do focus, it’s like a laser beam, until our ADD kicks in and pulls us to something else.

How do I work with my ADD and actually get thing accomplished? It’s all about routine baby. If I have a schedule and a list of things to do, it helps tremendously with focus and productivity.

Here are some tips I’ve learned through experience:

Schedule everything. If it’s important, schedule it. I actually even schedule time with my kids in the morning. If I didn’t, it might not happen in the am. My morning schedule looks like this:

5am – 6am: Read, write, improve my Italian with Rosetta Stone and catch up on some work/e-mails. I usually get to two out of these four.

6am – 7am: Exercise (I eat way too much, so if I didn’t do this, my fingers would be too fat to type this blog entry). Plus it helps with mental focus throughout the day.

7am – 7:30: Have breakfast with wife and kids.

By 8:15-8:30, I am at The Next Step Magazine offices.

This morning schedule really works for me, partly because I don’t leave it to fate; I schedule it!

Other tips include meetings. Have them! Have a weekly meeting with your management staff, reports, sales staff, etc… But make them as quick as possible. One hour max… That’s the meeting attention span of any manic entrepreneur anyway. I find more frequent, but shorter meetings to be very effective.

Another one: Check email only 2-3 times a day. It keeps you away from the email-quicksand. Also, the less you respond, the less emails you’ll get back!

Last but not least, be a list taskmaster. I am actually a list freak. I prioritize the things that I need to do, and I don’t start #2 until I finish #1. Otherwise, I’d be working on 10 things at once and nothing would get done.

Employee Carpooling

At Next Step Publishing, we have 13 employees. Our office is in the village of Victor but much of the team is from the west side. We're talkin' Greece, Spencerport, Hilton and even Clarkson!

Needless to say, I am honored that they make the drive every day to Next Step. They are talented people that can certainly find jobs elsewhere, but choose to make the haul and contribute to the magic that is Next Step.

It hasn't been easy with the gas prices of late.

Lately, I am very proud of a decision that three of them made. They have decided to carpool! I love the maturity of this decision. Not only are they saving money and fossil fuels, but they are subtlety telling the rich oil mongers to kiss off! Plus from what I hear, there is some bonding happening in the car too.

This is a great example of what America used to be. We would react and sacrifice in times of trouble. For many years now, most Americans have lived in excess without thoughts of the consequences. We'll, the consequences are here my friend and it's time for us to work together and think. This will involve conservation and sacrifice.

Thanks to Jan, Lisa and Diana for the great example!