Archive Page 2

One of the great challenges of working with a team of remote independent contractors is that there is no central office. People often say that by working with a remote team that is spread halfway across the globe, we are essentially missing hallway chatter. In other words, we’re missing a bond because we don’t run into each other and chat about things on a daily basis.

Since we don’t have a central office, we’ve decided to try a strategy of meeting with some of our most active team for a week in a Casa de Mar, a tropical resort in El Salvador (more photos to be uploaded when we get home and have a better connection). So far, I must say, the results have been spectacular (why don’t we have all our meetings in tropical resorts?)!

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Hi everyone,

A lot of you probably know that Peter & I have been passionately working on our next adventure, stealing moments of time between clients, travel and family. I am excited to announce that the beta has finally arrived! I hope that you will check it out and give us your feedback. I love the community we have developed along with our blog and couldn’t think of someone I would rather hear from. I trust your opinion and want this to be the best it can be.

Sign Up for the Beta!

So here is what have we been doing off in the bat cave:

Sproutwire came about because I love to read but I am far too busy to go hunting through the internet for the few gems. My RSS reader was overflowing and most of what was in there frankly was underwhelming. In fact, a lot of you know that I quite vocally renounced the use of an rss reader. In the end, I was only reading the links my friends were sending me and started asking them to do it regularly. And so Sproutwire was born. A favorites list from an editorial team of writers and entrepreneurs who really get what it means to launch a startup, grow a small company, run a microbuiness and work freelance.

Peter & I went off and collected a team of up-and-coming and renown business owners and bloggers, who will review and select the best fresh content we can find on the Internet for small business. Blogs, newspapers, ebooks, presentation slides, journals, video, newsletters, anything that we think will help you be better at what you do and live a happier life. Those items that make the cut will be summarized and linked to. Our goal is to keep it fresh, smart and personal.

Sproutwire offers you a daily dose of the best small business articles that the internet has to offer.

We are looking for leads on great content to review, so if you run into something cool that you think truly stands out, email it to contribute@sproutwire.com. If we pick it, we will give you a shoutout and link to your site so include a link.

I want to send a huge thanks to our starting team of expert editors/reviewers: Jarrko Laine, Sara Smith, Jonathan Fields, Naomi Dunford, Christine OKelly, Eric Davis, Brandon Jones. A special thanks to Brandon for the branding and design and Eric for beating the code into submission and late night business chats. Go check out their blogs and leave some intelligent feisty comments for me!

Also, if you know someone you think might be stoked to check it out - please feel free to pass this invitation on.

Now I am off to go work and play in the sun for a long week with our business team in El Salvador! I’ll post pictures when we get back.

-S

I’ve always been a firm believer of you are what you eat. It is true with food and more so with social environments. The thoughts, ideas and media you consume shape the way you think. I remember listening to Mike Murdock at a business conference share his passion for books. His friends were giving him grief for having paid $140 dollars for a small 80 page book. Through poor genetics and a short attention span, I’ve pretty much forgotten every word he said that day. And yet over the years, I cannot forget this statement:

The author of this book took his time to put all the lessons he has learned in life into 80 pages. All his frustrations and agonies as well as his joys and tribulations. Wisdom comes from two places mistakes and mentors. If I can learn from this book and avoid one mistake, that was money well spent.

Now I have to admit that I didn’t buy his book that day, but the idea behind his statement is a powerful one. What is the wisdom of a man’s life worth? I’ve been obsessed with reading since I was a child and that obsession has grown to encompass listening to speakers. Today, I had the pleasure of listening to Carly Fiorina as she discussed change and the fundamentals of leadership. Then, I switched over to Scott Kriens, exploring the question of trends and market timing. Two amazing business talks for free.

I was meandering on itunes and finally noticed the iTunesU link (I know its been there forever). What a treasure trove! Access to some of the worlds greatest business minds, their personal stories and insights, all for free. I can’t wait to learn more. I’m so excited I just had to share.

My two favorite series so far:
Business Leaders & Entrepreneurs (38 Episodes)
Entrepreneurial Thought Leaders (53 Episodes)

Personal Note: I apologize for the slow posting rhythm. We are getting close to the beta of our new project, and also happen to be dragging some good friends, a client and part of our team down to El Salvador for an off site annual business meeting and social gathering. We will be gone from Friday though President’s Day and probably won’t post during that time. Have a great time you all - I’ll catch a wave in your name!

I was meandering through technorati, checking what people out there in the world have to say about us (at least those who have the courage to link back) and saw WAH(Web)Mommy expose her weirdness to the world. A little off kilter, I had almost relegated her to the OCD kookie bin, where she would be pleasantly surprised to find about half the women I have ever loved including my wife, when dear god, she called me out to lift my skirts too. Never one to back down to any kind of challenge, I bring you seven more pathetic quirks to add to this ever growing rash of personal exposure making its way across the web.
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Peter & I talk all the time about which idea do you pick and run with. We love innovating and since we happen to work with the IP of a number of the world’s largest and fastest growing companies, we constantly are exposed to amazing ideas. Our problem isn’t coming up with them, it is choosing the one to stick with.

I’ve always believed there are two types of entrepreneurs. Shotgun entrepreneurs take a large number of ideas and try many at once trying to see if they can get something to stick. They believe if you throw enough mud at the wall … eventually one of their ideas will come to fruition. Rifle entrepreneurs focus their energy on one careful enterprise at a time. I am very much in the second category. As a result I tend to be extremely cautious about the ideas I commit myself to. So first thing, if I am already committed, then I pretty much ignore all ideas even good ones.

If I am in the looking zone, I have a shortlist of four criteria that I use to select my direction:
1) Does it line up with my personal goals, beliefs and definition of happiness
2) What problem does it solve?
3) What trends play a role - what is the industry timing?
4) Who is on the team - are there people with success who have a vested interest?
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Today I learned a lesson. It surprised me quite a bit as it counters a lot of my basic understanding of business contracts and relationships. It happened twice in one day and a little search on Google confirmed that this wasn’t some odd exception.

Two successful entrepreneurs I respect and trust enormously refused to sign our NDA. At first I was confused and worried. You see I was raised on the belief that in business, loose lips sink ships. I was under the impression that the proper procedure with any business idea was to get an NDA before sharing. I have a close relationship with both of them and asked why not. It appears that the business culture and realities of their trade make signing such a document unrealistic.
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A lot of lessons I learn come from personal tragedies. I am incredibly grateful that this is not one of those. I got lucky. Quinn sat me down when I was starting and told me:

Make sure you put a certain amount of your earnings aside each and every time you get paid. It is not your money, it is Uncle Sam’s.

I’m not going to write a big old post on taxes. I’m just not that cruel. The tragic tax yo-yo is quite simple and easy to avoid. I see too many business owners in that position. You make money, you spend it. Make more, spend that too. April 15 comes and BAAM … you owe Sr. Sam $25,000 in taxes. Problem is, you don’t have it because you already spent it.

A lot of first time business owners fall into that trap. So, you file an extension and work hard, saving up the money to pay the tax bill. You have a great six month, squeak by and come September, you manage to eek out an addition 25k. Taxes get paid. Thank god that is solved. You forget all about it, until February when you meet with your new accountant who looks at your projected tax basis and your bank account and … oh damn not again. This game of yo-yo is a tough one to get out of. There are two ways to deal with it: never fall into it in the first place (Thanks Quinn) or be frugal and figure out how to save up enough to get out of the trap. It is never too early to start preparing for taxes.

So how much should you save? Look at your projected income for the year, figure out what tax bracket it lands you in, tack on self employment taxes and park it. Depending on my earning at the time, I set aside 25-45%. That money gets transfered into a separate high interest savings account (ING Direct for us) and is not touched until tax time. I have always over saved, which usually makes for a very nice April bonus!

Oh - and check you get all your 1099s. You should be getting them any day now (deadline in the US is Feb 1). Make sure they have the same numbers as you do on your books, entered your name and your Tax ID correctly. I have had a dozen or so be incorrect over the years.

When you are considering a business opportunity, one of the most important issues to really ponder is timing.

You may have the very best idea on earth. It could solve a huge problem. You could have a great team with phenomenal support. But if the target audience are bank tellers, I would beg you to reconsider. Bank tellers are a dying institution. ATMs, and now online banking, are making them essentially obsolete. Peter showed me that I can even write a check through the Wamu website and they will mail it for me at no extra charge. No more stamps, addresses and numb tongue.

Tom has often told me that the dumbest man can make money in an up market, while many smart people loose their shirts when a trend dies. Now you may be a genius, but I’d still hedge my bet and pick an idea and a strategy that takes advantage of industry timing.
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The time has come! We posted a challenge to our readers a few weeks ago to interview themselves. Many people responded. Peter & I read and read and laughed and cried. We got some amazing stories and wanted to bring to you a few of our favorites and pass on our congrats to the winners and the community at large. We are giving out 3 prizes. One for our favorite interview, one for the best original question and one award for sheer determination and chutzpa. The winners get to pick one book from my personal reading list. I hope you enjoy these as much as I did.
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in.sta.ma.cy [in-stuh-muh-see]
noun

1. a phenomenon in which complete strangers feel a powerful connection as though they have known one another for years.
2. a power sales approach built upon techniques such as mirroring and matching, eye contact, asking key questions and active listening, employed by master salesman around the world
3. a common precursor to the one night stand

Examples: The instamacy of the moment was so overwhelming, that I believed my new best friend when she told me that I need a forum, a wiki, 4 blogs, and a shopping cart for my lemonade stand business.

First coined by our friend and developer Stefan.