bizthreads.net: Business Information for Entrepreneurs by an Entrepreneur

Dealing with crises when they arise is all part of life. And it seems like entrepreneurs “enjoy” more than their fair share of crises. Perhaps it's because of the many tasks under their care or it's because they're creating something that will eventually be bigger than any one person can manage… whatever the reason, you can guarantee that crises will arise.

When dealing with crises, I recommend you do two things. No, not (1) cut and (2) run!

When you're faced with a crisis, pause for a moment and consider:

1. The best case scenario
2. The worst case scenario

People who do not deal with crises well imagine a worst case scenario and panic. My recommendation is to first imagine (or even write down) the best case scenario: what the resolved crisis looks like when all the parties leave happily with the outcome. It gives you something to work for.

My next recommendation is to think about the worst case scenario, but don't let it panic you. Instead, identify the things that have to go wrong in order for that to come true, and quickly brainstorm ways to ensure that those things don't occur.

Is this system perfect? No… no system is. But the next time you're faced with a crisis, you'll be able to manage it much better when you pause and consider these two things.

The season of American Inventor has wrapped up and the season of American Idol is over as well. I have to admit, I'm fairly torn. Not so much to who won or who lost, but to the process in general… and what I think it does to our entrepreneurial spirit.

For me, the concept of American Idol or American Inventor or any of the other shows in this vein weakens the concept of the American Dream.

I think the notion of having a better life is something that you need to work for… and you need to work hard and sacrifice to achieve your goal. I don't think that you can fast-track the system and avoid paying your dues (or pay them all in one season of national television).

There are many great inventions, for example, that need to reach the market but didn't make it onto American Inventor.

Or take American Idol, for example (because we don't have a history of success with American Inventor, yet). As a business, it seems like a smart idea: you create a show to generate buzz and that buzz should carry over into record sales of loyal fans who have watched the show and are pleased with the winner.

But these winners, as talented as they are, didn't “cut their teeth” in the smoky bars, nor did they waitress until they were discovered by an industry mogul. They were fast tracked.

To me, that's not the American Dream… that's winning the lottery. Nice, but not as rewarding.

Links of Interest: National lottery - check your results!

In blogging my book reviews, I try to give a cross section of topics by a cross section of authors. This is my second book by Alexander Hiam… which is completely unintentional.

I was looking for a book that covered higher level business practices and picked up a few books with the acronym “MBA” in the title. What I like about this book is not so much its 24-hour format — that you can get through one lesson in one day — but rather its division into 5 critical segments of business and how it combines easy-to-read information with intelligent content (I often find it's one or the other in many books).

The book covers topics like business communication, leadership, employee motivation, organization, and financial management. As well, there are a few short bonus lessons on innovation, sexual harassment, and business etiquette. The content can be easily plugged into your business.

The only areas I felt it really lacked in were marketing and e-commerce, and I thought there was a greater emphasis on application for managers rather than entrepreneurs. Still, it was a great book with a lot of value for the small business owner.

I asked a small business owner recently how he got his start. He related that he used to work for a privately owned international firm (whose name will remain unwritten here) and they required him to work 6 days a week, wear a specific color of shirt and tie, and he wasn't allowed to grow facial hair. Along with these mandates, there were several other business practices that he felt were repressive to his personality. So he quit and started his own business.

At heart he was a creative, free spirit. He didn't like a schedule and his art was good enough that he could afford to eat and put a roof over his head. I think one of the first things he did was grow a beard!

Is your own unique fingerprint on your business? I hope so. Small businesses are not just about transactions that are made between you and a customer. Your business is an important part of you and should adequately represent you to the world.

And if you're just starting a business, let your interests and uniqueness inform your decision: love to travel? Consider a business that lets you do that. Love to sing? Consider a business that lets you do that.

You spend long enough at your business, it only makes sense that it should be a natural extension of who you are. Don't be afraid to be unique… embrace it!

Many of us operate e-businesses, or at least have an e-business element to our company. It doesn't matter where you operate your business, if you do business in US funds, you should be ready to consider a new market.

Once, Canadian dollars were worth virtually the same as American dollars. However, for nearly 2 decades, Canada's dollar has been trading at about two-thirds of the American dollar. Essentially, that meant it was more expensive for Canadians to purchase products in American funds than in Canadian funds. So given the choice between two products, one in Canadian funds and one in American funds, they might be more likely to choose the product in Canadian dollars.

However, due to their robust economy, their dollar is once again catching up. Where it once traded at about 66 cents on an American dollar, it is now trading at about 91 cents on an American dollar (at the time of this writing). There is talk that it could achieve “parity” very soon and perhaps even outpace the American dollar slightly.

If you do business in American dollars, that's great news for you. While Canadians did buy products in American funds before, the transfer fees and exchange rate was sometimes enough for someone to pause and count the additional cost (and perhaps NOT make the purchase).

But now, with the dollars being almost the same, American products are priced virtually the same as Canadian products. That means Canadians may be more willing to buy products in American dollars. That means an additional 30 million people have suddenly increased their likelihood of shopping online for products in American funds.

Check out this company: 37 Signals

They create highly practical applications to help people build their businesses. Perhaps you can find one that suits you. Their offerings include:

• Basecamp, a project collaboration and communication tool
• Backpack, an information organzing tool
• Writeboard, a web-based word processing tool
• Ta-Da List, a shareable to do list
• Campfire, a group chat tool

This company seems to have a real strength in the field of collaborative applications, which are programs (in this case, web-based) that allow you to communicate and share content with people.

I know this is going to sound like some kind of paid promotion (which it's not): What I like about this company is that they combine great programs that are web-based and provide high value with excellent branding.

If you are looking for a great example of a business that has it together when it comes to brand creation, check them out. If you want great collaborative software, their programs are well-thought-out, nice to look at, and robust.

One interesting challenge I see a lot of entrepreneurs struggle with is the pendulum that swings between working too much… and procrastination. Even I tend to do too much some days and not enough other days and, frankly, I wish I could find the perfect spot between and hold that level each day of the week.

When it comes to procrastination, how do you get your work done? What can you do to push through that internal resistance and do the work you need to do? Here are some ideas:

If the task you're avoiding is unpleasant:

• When prioritizing your work, schedule one unpleasant task first and get it out of the way.
• Consider rewarding yourself with appropriate rewards to motivate you.

If the task you're avoiding is too big:

• Break difficult tasks that you tend to resist and leave until the last minute down into smaller tasks that can be scheduled over a period of time.
• Consider outsourcing it to someone who could use the work or the money. If it's an easy task, hire a high school student. If it requires some technical expertise, go online and hire a freelancer to do it.

If there's some other reason you're not sure of:

• Don't be afraid to embrace who you are. Sometimes we need that extra pressure from a deadline to help us do the job. Although I wouldn't recommend this as a “best practice” to do every time, leaving something until the last minute — as long as it's not a vital business task that could make or break your business — isn't the end of the world.

Someone recommended to me a copy of Cramer's book, published in 2002. They suggested the book as part of a conversation I was in regarding the challenge of owners of established and growing small businesses who find themselves up against a wall: too busy to take on more clients but not busy enough to hire someone else.

I was hoping the solution would be in When Faster, Smarter, Harder is Not Enough. The book, subtitled “Six steps for achieving what you want in a rapid-fire world” seemed to be exactly the kind of book I was interested in reading on the topic. Unfortunately, when I completed the book, I wasn't sure that I came away with any practical, actionable items.

The author's six steps include such ideas as outrageous optimism, building momentum, and leveraging success… good concepts! And she contrasts the idea of Faster, Smarter, Harder (which are not enough to get more done) with the ideas of Richer, Deeper, Wiser… supposedly a new outlook on life.

Perhaps I went into the book expecting something different than what was delivered. The book was still a good and it dealt with perennially timely topics like goal setting, optimism, motivation, and strategic alliances… all critical to an entrepreneur's success. But it is definitely a book about higher-level concepts… more of a what-is rather than a how-to.

If you are looking for a detailed step-by-step how-to approach to solving the growing business dilemma, you'll have to keep looking. If you're sick of the workday grind and want a fresh perspective, this is the book for you.

I wasn't sure what to blog about today so I thought I'd solve my dilemma by taking a walk around the block to get some fresh air.

I stopped for a moment at a children's playground and sat on the bench and watched them. Inspiration strikes at the oddest times and I thought of something to blog and returned home.

From the few moments I spent near that playground, I give you 5 Things I Learned about Business at the Playground.

1. If you fall, get back up. I wasn't there for more than 10 minutes and I think that every child there stumbled at least once. They got back up and kept playing. We'll make mistakes in business and if we're not making mistakes periodically, we're not trying very hard.
2. Find what you love to do and do that. Some kids hogged the swings. Others couldn't be pulled away from the slide. Whatever it was they loved to do, they did again and again and were joyous each time. Your business should be something you love to do.
3. Imagine the possibilities. They say that youth is wasted on the young. I think that imagination is wasted on the very young. If only I could imagine such great possibilities as readily as those kids. I think the great entrepreneurs of our time imagined with boundlessness.
4. Savor every moment. The kids were having so much fun and they made a big fuss when some had to be pulled away. That's the kind of fervor we should have in everything we do, whether we own a business or work at a “regular” job.
5. Play fair. Okay, this doesn't always happen on the playground as much as it should, nor does it happen in real life… but a little extra helping of it is always welcome. It's okay to be competitive to build your business but pay your people what they're worth and share the wealth when you have it.

I do a fair amount of writing… often more than most small business owners I know. I like it, so it's become a part of my business. But I know plenty of business owners who would rather focus on many other parts of their businesses.

Because I do so much writing, I end up paying more attention to news reports of plagiarism than most people. Lately, we've seen a few cases of plagiarism hit the news, including Dan Brown, author of The DaVinci Code, Ben Domenech, blogger for the Washington Post, and Kaavya Viswanathan, young author of How Opal Mehta Got Kissed, Got Wild and Got a Life.

Plagiarism touches both the fiction and the non-fiction world. Unfortunately, I think plagiarism is on the rise because the Internet makes it so easy to copy someone else's work and sign your own name.

If you are putting together a website and wondering where you are going to get your content, please take the high road. There are sites available where you can get content (legally) for free, like www.articlecity.com. Just as you are trying to make a living from your product, there is a writer out there who is trying to make a living from his or her product… don't take that away from him or her.