SMS Desk

mobile ninja

So a while back when twitter was starting to gain some traction I made a few twitter templates to give away and had some nice responses. I was looking at the old templates and I decided to make a few more since the old post still seems to pull in downloads here and there. This time I took a mobile phone angle since a lot is being done with twitter and mobiles. I hope you like them! Leave a comment if you have an idea of others you may want to see or just to say thanks!

or better yet:

follow me on twitter! @posna

download the full photoshop psd template files below

SMS Desk (46)

Mobile Ninja (46)

credit: woothemes icons

Leave the Ego at the Door!

People talk about egos and business all the time and there are many different angles to the subject. There are times where having an ego may help you or get you ahead in business but for the most part they seem to do more damage than good.

I can really only think of one main example where an ego can play to your advantage in business and that is when the other party you are dealing with is unsophisticated or intimated in said area of expertise. I have seen it work on a small level of play, but when it comes to playing with the big boys you better drop that ego crap at the door.

There are a few main areas I have worked on in the past to tame my ego. I mean, you don’t have to get rid of your ego altogether, you just have to learn how to tame it; like the beast it is!

Confidence vs. Cockiness

The long battle of confidence and cockiness! How do you walk the fine line? Well, I don’t really have a strategy on this. It’s just one of those things you learn by doing (a/k/a messing up). The only way to really know if you’re being cocky is usually when it’s too late, but this is when you learn your boundaries. In other words, it will help you find that fine line that you can dance.

You want to learn how to be funny and serious when needed. Just practice, practice, practice! This is one of those things that have to be felt out through experience. No one can teach you how to master your personality; you must feel it out and learn this part for yourself. Take risks and learn from your mistakes.

Body Language

Unlike the previous section, Body language is something you can learn from others and start improving immediately. Most communication is expressed through our bodies and understanding the basics of body language will help you make great strides in face to face situations.

Here is a short list of body language tips that can be used in any situation…keep in mind, these are basics.

1. When someone new approaches your meeting table or enters a room - Stand up
2. When sitting in a chair - Sit up straight and don’t lean back or lounge
3. Slow the tempo of your voice
4. Look into people’s eyes when they are speaking
5. Look into people’s eyes when you are talking
6. Show a slight head nod here and there when you understand what someone is talking about
7. Do not show emotion to harsh or unwanted comments
8. Do not show emotion to positive and wanted comments
9. Do not touch or pick your face (very common)
10. Concentrate on keeping your hands in one place to avoid fidgeting

Diarrhea of the Mouth

You may have heard this term before and I feel it fits perfectly into managing your ego. See there are times that we just like to hear ourselves speak, like we enjoy showing everyone how smart we are. The problem with this is that we usually go overboard and say too much.

The more you talk, the more you have a chance to screw things up. One of my early mentors, my uncle, conveyed this to me when I was mentoring with him for a bit. You never know when you may bring something up in passing that will offend someone.

He used this example:

Say your deal is just about wrapped up on the verbal side. You are feeling comfortable and decide to say something about how your favorite “sports” team is the best and you are looking forward to the game. Now what happens if the people on the other end of the table hate your team? You have created this unnecessary uncomfortable situation that has nothing to do with your meeting! People loose deals like this all the time and then wonder, what went wrong?

Lesson:

Keep your mouth shut! Talk about things that pertain to the business at hand and that’s it! If they want to bring something up; fine…that’s different. Remember, less is more

Summary

Your ego is an important yet at times wild characteristic trait; if you learn how to tame and harness the emotions behind it, you may just be on your way to greatness!

Now that's Customer Service!

One of the many people I look up to just proves himself to me again. This guy is just plain cool. If you remeber his daredevil reality show from a few years ago you know what I mean. I even remeber flying Virign and talking to the flight attendants about him.

They spotted somone sitting in the back seat of coach by the engines and after a few passes they realized it was the one and only Mr. Branson. Turns out he was riding in the back to see what it was like for someone to have the worst possible seat. That’s quality assurance if you ask me! Not to mention that afterwards he flew the staff out to his private island for a quick get away.

Cheers to you Richard Branson!

(pic source)

This phone may even end up competing with devices like the ones offered by Bug Labs who already do modular hardware. Only time will tell…

(source)

Bloomberg: Facebook is an indecent site, Gianpiero DâAlia, the lawmaker who introduced the amendment, said referring to the fan clubs dedicated to the convicted mafia bosses. Its only right that Facebook be blacked out, DâAlia said in an interview published on l’Espresso magazines Web site..

The bill says the Interior Ministry will be able to order blocking Web sites that encourage or justify criminal behavior if prosecutors open an investigation into the content of the sites. Should the Internet provider fail follow the ministry’s order to black out the sites, they may face a fine as much as 250,000 euros ($322,338), the proposed law says.

The measure was inserted as an amendment to a bill aimed at cracking down on crime that the Senate passed on Feb. 5. The measure must pass in the Chamber of Deputies without being changed to become law.

(source)

This is similar to the G1 “square” that comes up when you browse the web on the phone and want to see the page as a whole.

This just seems a lot cooler!

(source)

Maximizing Channels of Communication + Throw-away Concept « The Mozilla Phone

I love when you get to see real bullshit in action. Sometimes the only difference between a “big” deal and a “small” deal…are the zeros on the check!

Last year Pepsi spent several hundred million dollars on a new logo. Everyone figured they had just ripped off the Obama logo. But now an internal document from the branding company has surfaced: Breathtaking bullshit.

See, there’s no way the branding agency could charge millions if they just went in and told Pepsi, “Yea, we kinda rotated your old logo a little bit, and made the wavy white line thingy in the middle go diagonal.” Instead, they prepared this 27-page document, titled “BREATHTAKING Design Strategy,” to prove that this logo is a veritable Da Vinci Code of branding, drawing on everything from magnetic fields to the “Golden Ratio.” Highlights:

Internal Memos: ‘Breathtaking’ Document Reveals Pepsi’s Logo is Pinnacle of Entire Universe

Phone-to-Phone Combat

Due to the virtual world conference calls are becoming increasingly popular and are frequently where you make your first impression in business. Unlike meetings, there are a different rules to play by in order to have things run smoothly and the margin for error is higher.

I love relating things back to simple concepts to demonstrate strategies; since business is a lot like playing a game, it’s only fitting that I came up with a 4-point strategy that can help you with your conference calls…

Know the Players

You have to know who you’re talking to and what “they do” and their “role” as well. Look them up on the Internet beforehand, google them (I should not even have to say that!). As long as you find the right people this is usually easy to accomplish, but this concept is double edged. Even more importantly to knowing the players on the other team is knowing the players on your team.

Now you are probably saying, I know the players on my team and hopefully you do! But how well do you know them in a conference call setting? Meetings are different; we use eye contact, hand signals, verbal cues and even under the table leg taps sometimes. All these tactics are used to keep control of the meeting and call the plays. When you are on the phone in a group setting you loose all of these indication opportunities.

Call the Plays

So how do you call the plays? You have to go more on instinct here and a lot of that comes down to the first point…Knowing “Your” Players. Learn to focus and intervene only on your specialties and let your peers do the same for theirs. If you have built a good team and you work well together, this will eventually come together with time.

The second part of calling the plays comes down to knowing when to change direction. Conference calls work when only one person speaks at a time and the others pretty much wait their turn. The problem with this is that you can’t always tell if someone has a point or is headed for a tangent/brain fart. Calls can get boring and if you don’t pay attention you can miss these redirection opportunities and may end up on something sour that is really unimportant, but causes friction none the less. Have a plan and keep the call on track!

Watch for the Blitz

There is an art to discussion and we all know some people are smoother than others. In business there tends to be a lot of smooth people on the phone and this results in possible “trick questions”. What I mean by this is you may get asked a question just because they want to hear the way “you” answer it, not really what the actual answer is. Reason being is that they want to know something else but don’t want to ask you it directly. I call these blitz questions, sometimes you can see them and call a new play and sometimes you can’t and may get sacked!

Get to the Playoffs

Keep moving forward no matter how good or bad you think the call went. The whole point of these calls is to get to a real meeting that eventually results in some sort of deal. This may not apply to all calls since conference calls are done everyday for many different reasons, but here we are talking about the initial calls for obtaining business.

Try to identify and push towards the next step. Listen to what the other party thinks the next step is; maybe it’s better than yours! Stay open towards the end of the call and let people add their concluding thoughts before you push to hard in one direction.

Practice, Review and Learn

In conclusion, you need practice by being a part more and more conference calls, review the calls and then learn from your mistakes. My peers and I have a system for this; we do post conference call “conference calls”. Usually immediately after the call we all jump back on another call with just ourselves and discuss the previous call.  In the beginning you may want to even record the call so you can listen to it at a later time and hear where you possibly went wrong or missed and opportunity. I use a great service called freeconferencecall.com, it’s free and allows you to record conversations and then have them emailed to you in an mp3, pretty nifty.

Conference Calls about Conference Calls!?!?! Who said business is always exciting?

This Life can be a Roller Coaster!

Trying to make it on your own is a concept that many people experiment with.  It is a road less traveled but one where you have to make your own way. At times it can be slow, boring or feel like it’s a waste of time, but this is where the true leaders prevail. It’s easy to make it when times are good. It’s the down time where people usually bug out and quit or all out lose it.

Like the title says, “It’s not a diet, it’s a lifestyle. A phrase commonly uttered in the weight-loss industry that I feel fits perfectly with the attitude of someone trying to make it in on their own. If you really want to make it then it has to become a lifestyle for you. You have to learn to love the good times with the bad. You are on your own and trying to make it in this world and that’s already a big step.

Give yourself some credit for where you are even if it is just the beginning of your journey. Make the first step and feel good that you actually had the confidence and fortitude to make that first step. It takes a lot of courage to make it on your own and the beginning can be one of the hardest parts for some people. Think about it this way; you spend time and money trying to take this first step when most people wouldn’t even dream of trying something so daring!

Ups and Downs

Learn to live with the ups and downs, the good and bad and the pretty and ugly. This isn’t a job so don’t think of it as one.  There are no benefits and cushy weekly or bi-weekly paychecks to fall back on. If you spend your money, your fu*ked and need to either hustle or borrow (which always sucks).  Just remember that things may not always go your way; so learn to deal with delays and slow times and you will be fine…or so I am told.

Learn to Self Motivate

OK, this is a lot harder than it sounds and may take a long time. It has a lot to do with a principle discussed in “Think and Grow Rich” by Napoleon Hill called self-hypnosis. It sounds kooky and crazy but I think it can be done, I mean it all comes down to controlling your mind to a degree. I am not going to go into it here but check out the book if you like, it’s one of my favorites.

Keep Trucking

It’s a lifestyle plain and simple and if you decide to go for it then go for it. One of the main things that keep me going is that I don’t want to be old on my death bed saying I wish I kept trying until I made it.

Anyone can make it… Try, fail, learn and persist until you succeed.