Episode 6 – More Than a Few Words – Inbox Zero

I had a chance to sit down with Michael Reynolds, owner of Spin Web recently.  We talked about a number of things including Inbox Zero.  If you are not familiar with the concept, it is a technique for managing your email instead of letting it manage you.

The goal of Inbox Zero is to clear your “inbox” every time you sit down to address email.  It sounds impossible, especially for someone like me who receives hundreds of emails, but it works.  At the core of Inbox Zero are four folders:

• Action Required
• Someday Maybe
• Waiting For
• Archive

Making the switch from multiple folders for projects, customers and employees to just four was difficult at first. As I have used the system, I discover it is faster to find what I am looking for then it was when I had lots of folders.

Want to learn more about Inbox Zero?  Listen to today’s podcast, check out Michael’s blog, or even one of his seminars and you can become an email Ninja too!

Make Your Life

Every now and then I get one of “those” emails.   Most of the time, I browse and delete, but every now and then I like it well enough to share.   This is one I wanted to share, but didn’t want to add to the clutter in everyone’s email box, so I thought I would post it here.

It is an excerpt from a poem by Maya Angelou. While she is not writing just for business owners, I think her comments are dead on.  She says:

‘I’ve learned that no matter what happens, or how bad it seems today, life does go on, and it will be better tomorrow.

I’ve learned that “making a living” is not the same thing as “making a life”.

I’ve learned that life sometimes gives you a second chance.

I’ve learned that you shouldn’t go through life with a catcher’s mitt on both hands; you need to be able to throw some things back!

I’ve learned that I still have a lot to learn.

I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.

So here is my thought for today – Before you end your day,  do something to MAKE YOUR LIFE: Learn something, give something or do something to make someone else feel special.  After all, isn’t that why we went into business?

Hope Always Finds a Way!

For a change of pace, I watch Video’s from the annual TED event.  The range from interesting, thought provoking, and funny to completely over my head or simply inspirational.

I found this one today, and and was inspired by the story of Becky Blanton.  She was a writer, photographer and former journalist who planned to live in her van for a year and see the country.  Instead when her freelance job ended, her camping trip turned into homelessness.

In this short seven minute video, she describes her experiences, and the path back to mainstream society.  Her closing words, Hope Always Finds A Way rang in my ears long after the video had ended.

How to Innovate

Written by Melinda Cooper

Jennifer Alsever presents a step-by-step guide to fostering business creativity in the October 2009 Fortune Small Business.  Her process includes suggestions and comments from authors, entrepreneurs and consultants:

Step 1: Look Behind You

Steve McKee, author of When Growth Stalls, sums this step up best when he says – “It’s like trying to catch a baseball….you’re in a better place if you know where the ball has been. Then study the needs of your customers. Where are their frustration points? Where is their productivity being hampered?”

(side note: Really? When does history not repeat itself? People are wearing LEGGINGS of all things again!)

Step 2: Lose The Routine

Robin Chase,  CEO and founder of Zipcar and GoLoco, says , “Time wasting in an excellent source of innovation… Make time to read widely, and cultivate a variety of friends and online groups who send you wacky articles.”

(side note: I long to be a master of this. Ha. Let me know if you want some wacky articles.)

Step 3: Use The Brains You Hired

Thomas Koulopoulos, author of “The Innovation Zone” says, “You need to give people the license to take risks and to fail often enough to realize that they will not be punished for doing the right thing even though the outcome might not be what they expected…Small failures encourage big success.”

(side note: Devil’s advocate: So… hire people to fail for you and then after they do trial and error… you use this information and come out victorious? Sounds good to me, just make sure to give credit where it is due.)

Step 4: Get Cozy with Customers

David Fields, managing director of Ascendant Consulting says “You can’t be too close to your customers… Your customers are your lifeblood. The heart of innovation is understanding what problems they have that you can solve.”

(side note: This seems obvious to me. And David should maybe talk to his HR department because… you can sometimes be too close to your customers.)

Step 5: Share The Load

Getting outside feedback doesn’t have to be expensive or time-consuming. Dig into your Rolodex and find a partner or vendor who might be interested in sharing time and/or money. Travis Hollman, a serial entrepreneur in Dallas, Texas encourages business leaders to find student interns who work for credits.  Why? Because they will tell you the truth when it comes to market research since “they don’t work for you, so they’re not afraid to tell you something is dumb.”

(side note: Unpaid interns will also tell you when something sucks. E-mail me. I’ll tell you.)

Step 6: Try to Fail Quickly

If you have a good idea, move on it rather than sit around on it. Sometimes moving from brainstorming to action can be tough. Set goals and benchmarks – time or money – for your idea so you know when to quit. And Kirk, the CEO of Path Forward International warns, pf getting trapped in “shiny-penny hell” where you become enamored of too many great ideas at once.

(side note: At least be optimistic about it and try to MAKE MONEY quickly rather than fail…)

Eureka!

Written by Melinda Cooper

I’m reading this article today in the October 2009 edition of Fortune Small Business which featured this interesting statistic:

In a July poll of small business owners conducted by Zogby International for FSB – six in 10 respondents said they have had a “eureka moment” – a sudden, blinding flash of inspiration that led them to offer a new product or start a new company.

Have you had an eureka moment? If so, please comment. I would like to read it

Oh and just for fun … 25 years of ‘eureka’ moments

And if you would like help converting your Eureka moment into a business concept, consider taking advantage of our FREE ” How to Write a Business Plan in Ten Weeks Program”

Sometimes it is Brawn over Brains

Entrepreneur Andrew Chen has written a great post about building your initial team, after you receive your first round of funding. The advice is great for any small business ready to start hiring people. He suggests:

• Hiring T-shaped people versus specialists
• Try to get doers
• More candidate flow solves a lot of problems
• Interview for the actual work you’ll be doing, not skill set trivia
• Raw intelligence is just one factor – don’t overestimate it

I thought all five suggestions were valid, but the one which stuck out the most for me was # 5 – Don’t overestimate raw intelligence.

Years ago, I had a choice between two candidates. Karen was clearly smarter than Julie. But there was something about Julie I liked.

Against my better judgment, I let others convince me to hire the smarter candidate, Karen. I soon discovered the problem.  Everything had always come easy to Karen, and she was lazy.

About six months later, I had a chance to offer the Julie a job. While it took her longer to catch on, she knew how to ask for help and work until the project was done. Given a choice, I would hire Julie again.

Some projects require raw intelligence; others require muscle and work ethic. Be sure you know what you need most.

Follow the  link to read the rest of Andrew’s article

Stop to Listen to The Music

Today’s post comes with a story.  On a cold rush hour morning, a good looking  man, dressed in jeans and a baseball cap walked into a train station, carrying a violin case.

He opened the case, dropped a few dollars in to encourage others to do the same.  Over the next 45 minutes, he earned less than $35 for his performance.  Most people simply walked by, barely stopping to listen to the classical violin piece, played flawlessly by the young man.

Who was he?  Joshua Bell, one of the world’s most renowned musicians.  As part of a social experiment, arranged by a writer from the Washington Post, he played for 45 minutes to see what would happen.  The results are depressing.  More than 1,000 people walked by missing a chance to hear this amazing musician perform.  Depressing not just because they missed a once in a life time chance to hear Joshua Bell, but because their behavior is very typical of how we live our lives.  We get so focused on the end game, we miss so much along the way.

So the lesson for today, is not strictly business. Take a few minutes to listen to the music, explore something new, you and your business will be better for it.

And if you are looking for something wonderful to distract you this weekend, check out my husband’s opening at the Indianapolis Art Center, if you are here in Indy.

Do You Fuel Up Often Enough?

Every driver knows if you don’t put gas in your car it won’t go very far. The same is true for your creative engine. If you are looking for creative solutions, you need to start with a little fuel!

Listen More, Talk Less

You don’t learn anything new when you are do all the talking. You learn when you’re listening. Practice asking good questions, to keep other people talking!

Make an effort to talk to new people, even if the conversation seems completely unrelated to anything you are working on at the moment, your brain will file the information away for use at a later time! So at business events seek out people you don’t know, or chat with strangers on airplanes and on line in the grocery store. You never know what you will learn!

 Visit Alien Cultures!

 Learn from everyone! Don’t just study the activies of companies like yours. Talk to business owners and visit companies that seem to have nothing in common with your firm. Discover how these “Alien Cultures” address the challenges.

Once a week, read a trade magazine from a completely different industry. “The Heating and Air Conditioning News,” or ” Salon Owners.” As you read, look for at least two things in the magazine that relate to your business or provoke your thinking.

Creative Environments

 You can’t force creativity. But you can create an environment to encourages it. In addition to colorful walls, comfortable chairs, and the occaisional water gun, create a center with books, magazines, videos, music and technical training items. Encourage employes to spend time in this space to spark new thinking.

And finally, make your “windshield” time productive. If you are often in your car, turn it into an “University on Wheels” by listening to books on CD while you are driving.

Ultimately if you want to think outside the box, get the tools to help you climb out!

Be More Creative! Reconnect With Your Inner Child

Creativity is a natural ability, but unfortunately it is often beaten out of us by our life experiences, as demonstrated in the story of Steven and the Bald Man:

Over time, we learn that many people do not want to hear our creative ideas and begin to fear that inner child. We muzzle and mute the part of us which is always ready to jump out and share our excitement and ideas with the world. But it is this inner child who is often at the center of truly great new ideas. So sometimes you have to let it out.

My suggestion: Bring a few people into your life who will embrace and encourage the inner child. These people will listen to your creative ideas, and even share an hour or two brainstorming with you.

Sometimes the Unexpected Works

Have your consumers become numb to your messages? After awhile, when we see the same images over and over, we tune out. To get their attention again, sometimes you need to shake things up.
Check out this five minute wedding video in which the bride, groom and entire wedding party changes forever the expectation of how a bride should walk down the aisle.

It is fun, joyful, completely unexpected, and entirely memorable. Can the same be said for your marketing?

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