It was the hey day of the heady 1990’s internet boom and everybody seemed to be making boat loads of money. There was alot of pressure to “get your fair share”. We had decided to sell our business after 6 years. We were doing some good things in the internet space. We found a great buyer, but the deal had been stalled once before. In my dealings today as a business broker, I find that this is not unusual at all- very few company sales come off without a hitch.

The day came for the closing for the sale of the business. I was so nervous I remember on the way to the closing, all the stock certificates to the company fell on the floor of the back seat of the car and we had to sort thru to find all of them again!

After the close, I remember (in addition to the relief) the sense of accomplishment that my partner and I had which no one could take away from us. We had built a company from scratch that had value to another company. It also felt like a near death experience with so many starts and stops and twists and turns. That weekend, my partner and I went on Chicago’s All Night Bike ride- what a great way to celebrate.

As a business broker, I still sit at the table with my clients and I am just as nervous on closing day.

What I learned after looking back on this after 10 years.

1. If you are selling your company, realize there will be ups and downs, starts and stops in the process. It’s not a fun thing, but use the resiliencey you developed while running your business to get the deal done. Then you can celebrate.

2. If you build something of value, people will buy it. Think cash flow and how your business can help leverage a larger company’s customer base.

3. Think about what you will do the day after you sell your business. Without that plan, you’ll never be able to let go.

3. Hold onto these achievements to get your Bounce! especially when things are currently going badly for you. You have had success before, you will again.

Tell me about your business selling experience!

Dates like these are good to pause and reconsider your goals for the year. What where those New Year’s Resolutions you made? For those of you that don’t want to go back and look at my blog to see what my resolutions were, here you go:

1. I will stop checking the stock market on an hourly basis. Stop watching cable news. It just makes me mad.

My Progress: This still continues to be a daily struggle for me. The media does not stop speading doom and gloom. I limit myself my only reading the morning newspaper and not watching news before bedtime.

2. I will give more of my time to people that need it but can’t afford to pay for it. I will hand out more books and audios to people that can’t afford to buy it.

My Progress: I have done alot of  this. I have volunteered more of my time for those who are between opportunities and local non-profits. I have sent free books to those that are out of work who can’t afford to buy them.

3. I will continue the Business Bounce Group on a weekly basis for clients.

My Progress: I have sent regular content to all my subscribers weekly, but I need to continue to strive to share high quality value to them. What type of help would you like to see from me?

4. I will finish my next book on Crazy Customer Service.

My Progress: 95% Done, It’s now called BAM! Delivering Customer Service in A Self Service World. Look for it in October.

Don’t use this opportunity to be critical of yourself or flog yourself for not meeting your goals. July is a good time to evaluate and adjust your goals based on new knowledge, conditions and outlook.

What do you plan to change?

I still love my country because:

1. You are free to do what you want for work. You are not assigned a job, you seek it out. I know there are economic limitations for all of us, but no one tells you what you have to do.

2. You can start a business still with a minimum of government restriction or regulation. Service businesses can be started with a small amount of money. As we know, more people start businesses during tough time and there are more resources available than ever before.

3. We all have an opportunity to learn and better ourselves. There are plenty of ways to train and educate yourself using public and private resources in person or over the web.

So on this Independence Day, I thank my country for the freedom and still the security it gives me.

Do you still love doing business in this country?

Colin Jones (on right) at My Beach House June 2009

It’s not every day that you get a visitor from down under. In 2006, when I toured Australia and New Zealand talking about my first book, You Need to Be A Little Crazy: The Truth About Starting Your Own Business, one of the places I spoke was in Hobart, Tasmania (off the coast of Austraila). Professor Colin Jones from the University of Tasmania (or UTAS as it is called) invited me to speak at a luncheon sponsored by local business people. We became fast friends and I interviewed Colin for my second book, Bounce! to get an Australian view of resiliency and failure.

Colin uses both my books as texts in his entrepreneurship class. He has been a huge supporter of mine in the international education community.

The founder of many service-based, import-based, and education-related businesses, Colin has experienced the highs and lows of self-employment. A willingness to trust and assist others has helped to advance his life. Now a professor in entrepreneurship at the University of Tasmania, Colin continues to mentor local start-ups and his students. He was the 2005 winner of the Australian University Teaching Award. His career change has afforded Colin valuable reflection space within which to contemplate past failures and plan new entrepreneurial ventures.

Colin and I have been able to stay connected through all the social media tools including Skype. He flew on Saturday from Tasmania via Melbourne via LA via Chicago to a train to our beach house. It felt like her was part of the family. Colin was in town to continue is PHD studying Pizza!

Yesterday, Bernie Madoff was sentence to 150 years for what the judge called “extraordinary evil”. There is no doubt that through his deceptive practices Madoff ruined many lives for his personal gain. But could he have achieved such a Ponzi scheme without our help? I don’t think so.

If we are not guilty along side Madoff, our own greed is at least an accessory to it. In business, if things are too good to be true, they usually are. This is a tough one to accept because we tell ourselves all kinds of stories…how we are special and this time, we should believe it. Madoff was able to carry out his Ponzi scheme because he knew two things about most of us:

1. We want to believe that we have the inside scoop on a “secret” way to make money even when the market is going down.
2. We want to have faith in “gurus” (financial and business) who can can help guide our future.

Personal and financial greed is a tough habit to break. I have been working on that one for alot of years. Sometimes we need to listen to the old adage, “Pigs get fat, hogs get slaughtered”.

Do you think we share responsibility along side Bernie Madoff?

I was proud to have on a special episode Keith Ferrazzi. His current book, Who’s Got Your Back has been #1 on both the NYT and WSJ bestseller list.

The beginning of the broadcast is a bit choppy with me cutting out but you can hear Keith fully when he comes on! Listen Now!

Keith Ferrazzi has transformed professional networking with his first bestselling book Never Eat Alone, which shared the secret of his impressive climb to the top: powerful marketing acumen, deep generosity, and a remarkable ability to connect with others. As founder and CEO of the business consulting firm Ferrazzi Greenlight (www.ferrazzigreenlight.com), Keith counsels the world’s top enterprises on how to dramatically accelerate the development of business relationships to drive sales, spark innovation, and create team cohesion. Ferrazzi is a frequent contributor to CNN and CNBC. He has authored numerous articles for leading business and consumer publications, including Forbes, Inc., Fast Company, The Wall Street Journal, the Harvard Business Review, and Reader’s Digest.

Keith was previously Chief Marketing Officer at Starwood Hotels, where he oversaw marketing activities for global brands including Sheraton, Westin, The Luxury Collection, St. Regis, and W Hotels. Keith also served as Chief Marketing Officer for Deloitte Consulting.

We discussed:

We are all trying to network all the time – get connected to as many people as possible through networking events, twitter and facebook and how Keith thinks this is wrong- we need to look for 3 key relationships.

What are the characteristics of these relationships and how do you find them?

How do you get people to hold you accountable for achieving your goals?

How vulnerability is one of the most important mindsets with generosity, candor and accountability.

The personal success wheel.

The relationship between leadership success and spirituality as a core for any business person.

How this applies to your relationship with your significant other.

Listen now!

I am not into lists, but I have felt so supported this year that I was compelled to start one. What is so interesting is that many of these people I have never met in person (IRL).

Here are 16 people that I have learned from this year (in no particular order):

@ChrisBrogan You can’t help but learn from his daily blog post about how to build relationships with people and your business. If  was on a desert island and had only one RSS feed, it would be to Chris’ blog.

@LizStrauss Liz is the person that started to teach me about social media. She is the master connector- all she does is give, give, give. If you can only attend one conference next year, I recommend SOBCON.

@LizMarshall Another Liz I met through @michaelport. She knows how to bring the best book ideas out to all of us. She is constantly bring big thinkers together so we can all learn.

@MichaelPort A fellow Wiley author, he has always encouraged me to Think Big! When he says it is an honor to serve you, he really means it.

@Gail Blanke One of the finest authors and speakers I know- You must read “Between Trapezes” and “Throw Out 50 Things”

@BeckyMcCray Who is teaching me about what its means to be a small town entrepreneur since I travel and speak at so many of these citites.
 
@PenelopeTrunk I never know quite what will come from her keyboard. She always says what is on her mind no matter what. She is unafraid to call people out. A must read.

@skydiver Peter Shankman defines networking. Ask for help in HARO and you get 500 replies in a day.

@MattWilsonTV Matt is the Gen Y entrepreneur. His passion and drive are models for me on why I support young entrepreneurs.

@EdScanlan and @KevinChern Shows every entrepreneur how you can have a business that can thrive in a tough economy. They have built an impressive company in the Great Recession.

@MissDestructo One of the most original and creative thinkers in the webosphere especially when it comes to Yams, MJ and Swine Flu. Tune her in.

@SimaSays  Pure energy and a delightly person. The ideal marketer to support you and your business.

@AmberCadabra I have only met Amber briefly IRL, but her blog Brand Box blog teaches me everyday how I can apply social media to my business.

@scottevest I have followed Scott Jordan’s success for many years. He is one of the most creative entrepreneurs I know and defines methods to deliver outstanding customer service.

@dmscott His bestselling book, The New Rules of Marketing and PR will change the way you look at marketing forever.

@robmcnealy Always there to help even though 100,000 people follow him on Twitter- no matter how small or stupid my questions are.

Who have you learned from this year?

This episode was very choppy today because of high internet traffic, but it is worth battling through.

I talked with Phil Gerbyshak, the Make it Great! Guy who always seems to be able to bring out the best in people. We discussed:

1. What is a Relationship Geek – oxymoron or business truth?
2. Offline networking – as important as offline?
3. Feeding Your Friendlies – what is meant by this and how can this grow the business?
4. Social Media Saturdays – can you really teach folks Social Media in just five 30 minute sessions?

Listen Now!

I also talked with Action Coach, Rich Allen on his advice for small business. Chris Churn had connection problems but I discussed a bit about 504, 7A and ARC loans from the SBA.

Listen Now!

This has always been common in start ups. There are many times that employees begin to work for a new company and don’t get paid (or paid in stock) or get partial pay. Those of us that are start up warriors have come to expect this. It comes with the territory.

But now comes the second year of the recession where cash flow is tight for most businesses. Every customer it seeems is paying later. This includes large corporations who have extended their terms in many cases to 120 days or want to take a discount for paying within terms at 30 days! Outrageous!

This has put extreme cash pressure on every small business and many can’t make payroll or can only pay their employees part of their salaries. It used to be if a company could not make payroll, the employees walked. But in this Great Recession, where are they to walk to? With unemployment climbing to almost 10% levels, there are few jobs that these unpaid employees can move to….so they stay working for the company, not getting paid and hoping for better times…a time when they can get paid.

If you were at a job where you were not getting paid, how long would you stay before quitting to find other work?

News Item: South Carolina’s governor, Mark Sanford disappears for 4 days “to hike the Appalachian Trail to clear his head”. He lost his security detail, skipped Father’s Day and didn’t show up for work on Monday. Neither his wife, the LT Governor or the State Police knew where he was.

I am sure there are many public figures that are jealous of Governor Sanford right now. But it begs the question: With our world now 100% connected and running on 24/7, are we entitled to cut all ties and get totally away where no one can find us?

The question may be different for a public official than a business owner-  we will leave that debate to others but should a business owner be able to disappear for a few days, a week or a month?

Yes and no!

No- Business owners have responsibilities to their employees, vendors, and clients. These people need to know whether they can get in touch with the owner because many of them are basing their decisions on what the owner’s decision. You are part of an ecosystem whether you like it or not. It is irresponsible for an owner just to disappear.

Yes- Business owners need to take one long planned absence (vacation) a year where they go on radio silence. I practice this in two ways. 1. Weekends in the summer when I am at my beach house are cell and internet free. 2. Every two years, for 3-4 weeks, I travel somewhere in the world with my family free of cell and email. If you want to find me, you can’t. Don’t even look.

But this is the big difference between what I do and what Governor Sanford did. I tell people that I will be out of touch and you won’t be able to find me. Whatever will happens will need to wait until my return.

This takes alot of courage for any business owner but, I highly recommend it because it relieves an incredible responsibility that I have of always have been their for my clients no matter what. When I go on these trips, I feel lighter, more present and when I come back, much more focused.

Join the conversation- what do you think? How do you unplug?