A lot of my recent blog articles have been inspired by the book “Rework” written by Jason Fried & David Heinemeier Hansson, the founders of 37Signals. One of their mini-chapters hits on the topic of learning how to say no. While reading this, it was like getting sucker punched in the gut. The entire chapter was written entirely for me. It’s like they knew me without ever meeting me.

The chapter explains:

That it is so easy to say yes. Yes to a short deadline, yes to a new feature, yes to one more round of revisions on a logo, yes to a meeting you just really don’t want to go to, yes to answering the phone after 5pm, yes to lowering your proposal. It wont be long before the pile of items you said yes to will bury the work you should actually be doing. Have you ever had that feeling? The feeling of “I should really be doing X but I’m stuck on doing A through W”

We as humans, employees, and business owners tend to over commit. You know why? Because saying “No” is much more difficult than saying “Yes”. Why is that? Because we hate confrontation. Saying no means we’ll have to more than likely explain why and it could become uncomfortable. But do you know what’s worse? Dragging a project out, underperforming, or getting irritated because you’re doing something you just flat out don’t want to do. How many clients do you think your current client is going to send you if your work is poor?

The book gives the example of breaking up a relationship. Sure its really tough, and one person is probably going to cry, but it’s better to end the relationship and cry for a day or two than to live out an unhappy relationship for 50 more years.

I encourage everyone out there to learn how to say “No”. You’ll respect yourself more, your clients will respect you more, and you’ll find yourself a little less stressed with a little bit more free time. Now you’ll have time to work on things that really matter.

This video walks you through how to change Wordpress’ Permalinks. Permalinks are what control the way your URL through wordpress is displayed. A quick change to the default settings can clean up a messy URL.

Do you remember when Lil Jon came out with his first, what I would consider main stream, hit “Get Low” It swept the club scene during the spring/summer of 2003, but most people had never heard of Lil Jon. I know I hadn’t. Which leads you to think, “Who is this guy? He comes out with one popular song and now he is well on his way to selling a million albums! Man, he is lucky. Why can’t I do that?” Actually, if you dig deeper you’ll learn that Lil Jon was a part of the original crew of Element Skateboards back in the 80’s, which is now one of the largest and well-respected companies in the skateboarding industry. He was also the DJ in a small group in Atlanta, “Mass Prophets”. Turns out, Lil John had been rapping on street corners, small clubs, and underground scenes for 20 years before he finally made it big. Same goes for the band Maroon 5. Most people think Maroon 5 was a band put together by a record label, backed by marketing dollars, and set out to sell a million albums. Wrong. Maroon 5 started as a high school garage band “Kara’s Flowers” and stuck together for close to 15 years before making it big and selling over 10 million records.

What’s my point? My point is that in business, or anything in life for that matter, you have to stick with it. Rome wasn’t built in a day, Lil Jon didn’t sell a million plus records recording his very first song, and Maroon 5 didn’t top the billboard charts with their first album. You are not going to become a millionaire, or even turn a substantial profit overnight. It takes years of dedication. I use this analogy all the time, but the Indian rain dance works because they kept dancing until it rained. Never give up. Work smart and stay on track. In the end, if you do the rights things, the right way, you will get the right results. It may not happen tomorrow, but it will pay off at some point.

Every day I struggle with staying focused and dedicated to MEDIAPLUG, it is tough to stick with something long term. I believe this is why there are only a handful of people who are actually really successful. I do it though, I’ve done my best to stay dedicated and on task because I know that in the long run it will pay off.

While running a business I have learned that meetings are the Chinese Finger Traps of a company. It looks like you can easily escape, but you’re wrong. Meetings last far too long and get off topic faster than a Nolan Ryan fastball.

A few reasons as to why meetings are “Chinese Finger Traps”

-       Meetings almost never stay on topic

-       One person does all of the talking and the other sits and listens

-       It takes just as much time to “prepare” for a meeting as the actual meeting

-       A meeting with 10 employees costs the company 10 hours of productivity every hour, leading to decreased production and overhead costs

-       Meetings tend to snowball and lead to follow-up meetings. Ever heard the phrase “Let’s have a meeting about the meeting”

If you must have a meeting, here are a few ways to make it productive.

-       Set a timer, once it dings, meeting’s over. No if, ands, or buts about it.

-       Actually pull in a computer or meet at a location that the problem/situation can easily be discussed and explained. Show real issues and explain real problems.

-       Brainstorm a solution and assign 1 person to fix the problem.

-       Invite as few people as possible. A room full of 10 employees can get out of hand in a hurry.

Bonus Material: Scheduling Meetings.

Ignore Outlook’s, Gmail’s, TumbleMe’s way of blocking out time. These programs have been built to schedule on the hour and ½ hour. If a meeting should only take 12 minutes, schedule it for 12 minutes instead of 30 minutes. You’re wasting valuable time talking about non-related topics.

A dear friend of mind smacked me upside the head yesterday….in a good way. We started to discuss a “power circle” as most people call them, I  prefer to call it a ground of friends who happen to pass business to each other. I proceeded to invite my friend to be apart of my “power circle” explaining that “It’ll be great, I’ve got 15 people who I trust and can invite to this group. We’ll go around the room and say who we are, what we do, and who we are looking for. And then, people can go out looking for referrals for everyone, and they’ll come back and pass the leads to others. We can also do presentations each week where one person gets to talk about their business in front of the group for 10-15 minutes”And that’s where he stopped me with “It sounds like another attempt at a networking group that will ultimately fail” I looked back at him and questioned “Fail?” His reply, “Yeah, most of these groups fail because no one ever gains any trust because everyone sells to each other and no one is buying. I don’t want to attend another networking group where the goal is to pitch someone’s company. Business is built on trust and relationships, not on sales pitches. I want to be educated. Teach or show me the opportunity costs of me not having a well organized website. Discuss how the latest Health Care bill will affect small businesses. Don’t sell me on why you are the best (insert occupation here) in the tri-state area because I’m not buying from that guy.”

Man, did this hit me hard. He’s a genius because he is completely right. Take a look at the next networking event that you attend, take a step back. Look at what’s going on, everyone is scurrying around trying to make their next sale. Heck, I went to a networking event this evening and I have a stack of business cards piled up next to me from 10 Tom, Dick, and Harry’s who want to follow up, e-mail, call, and book an appointment just so they can tell ME how awesome THEIR business is so that I’LL buy from THEM.

I’ll be doing things differently from now on, and I’m excited to see the changes.

So, today I had a little fun. Well, some thought it was fun. Others were completely annoyed and I think one was in fact upset, it might of ruined Monday for this person. Most of us in the Twitter scene in Indianapolis have heard of the Social Media Breakfast. Today they released 30 more tickets to their event on Thursday geared around using social media in the toursim/travel industry. Let me play out what happened, and then I’ll make my point about why this turned into a blog post.

1. The first thought that went into my mind was “Oh look, another IndySMB. I should go.” I click on the eventbrite link, I read the event info and say to myself “Well, I probably shouldn’t go to this because I am not in this industry”.

2. I turn to twitter and tweet out “Not going to go to this month’s IndySMB since I am not in the tourism Industry. I’ll save that spot for someone who is”

3. I chat with a one, Noah Coffey (no, you can’t have his number) and he convinces me (yeah, it’s all his fault) to at least grab a ticket in case I change my mind. I bring up the fact that I already posted that I’m not going. So he comes up with the genius idea to use a pen name, just like Mark Twain. You all do know that wasn’t his real name, right? History lesson: It was Samuel Langhorne Clemens.

4. I agree that I should snag a ticket before they sell out so I proceed to the eventbrite page to register and I use Mustache Hardison as my pen name, I’m surprised people even knew it was me. I mean, what gave it away? Why did I pick Mustache? Because I planned to show up with a huge fake mustache and walk around saying “Mustache you a question”. Plus it was a tribute to this guy, whoever he is.

5. So the tweet indeed went out and said Mustache Hardison just registered for the Indy Social Media Breakfast. No one replied. Shew I was safe! I then shot myself in the foot. I Retweeted the announcement and saw a tweet from IndySMB- “You’ve started a dangerous precedent my friend.” Although, I wanted to reply with “Danger was my middle name” I figured they weren’t happy with “mustache” So I said I would change it if I decided to go.

6. I then see a tweet from someone, who to my knowledge, has nothing to do with IndySMB that read (and I read this in a stern voice, as if from the Principal) “If you don’t plan to attend the event, please don’t get a ticket”

7. My response was “I’m undecided and the tickets are going to sell out, at least this way I have a ticket if I decide to go, right?” His response: “Whatever”

Anyways, the whole debacle actually didn’t bother me because I run events and people get tickets all the time and don’t show up. People are indecisive, something comes up, or they just flat out don’t go. That’s why you release more tickets than the venue can hold. I highly doubt a free event will yield a 100% attendance rate based on “free” ticket sales.

But what did bother me? Well, it didn’t hit me until later that twitter allows for people to just think they know the situation and feel the need to add their two cents. I get it, its part of it, but is this one of twitter’s downfalls? I’ve had to explain myself 3-4 times because a 140 character filled tweet was taken out of context, someone didn’t understand, or someone thought I was thinking completely different than what a 140 character tweet can explain. The simple line of “If I decide to go” threw this whole situation out of proportion. Until now, if you even read the blog post only myself, Nicole, and Noah knew that I was unsure if I wanted to go only because I didn’t want to take someone’s spot within the industry.

By the way, thanks for the awesome e-mail IndySMB. See you all Thursday morning. Maybe, just maybe, with a mustache on.

I’ve never been one to follow the crowd. Everyone wore red, I’d wear blue. I hated the game “follow the leader”. I’m not big for falling into what’s popular. I can even, with a clear conscious, say that I have never set foot into Abercrombie and Fitch. Wanna know something hilarious? They were one of the only companies interested in hiring me out of college. Gag.

I guess my “going against the grain” attitude is why I don’t work in a cubicle like most of my friends. When everyone from my high school went to small colleges (although I tried one for a year for sports reasons) and came home every other weekend to see old friends and to visit High School basketball games, I went 600 miles away and visited home twice a year.

Have you ever not done something because it fell outside of what everyone else was doing? Have you had a desire to try something out of the ordinary but scared of what others might think? I say go for it. Make it happen. Don’t worry about what people think along the way. You know, most people who criticize others are jealous. Go out and own your ideas. Hopefully they go against the grain and become very successful.

I wont lie to you, I’ve failed. Many times over to be honest, but my most recent failure was a business. I tried to start a clothing company back in the fall of 09. Disaster. I had zero industry experience (unless you count the three months I worked at a sports store), zero industry connections, and not a clue about what I was doing.

I honestly thought I could make it big with a clothing line. I’ve read books on guys like Ken Block and Damon Way the owners of DC Shoes, and Bobby and Ben Hundreds the owners of The Hundreds and how they all made it big starting out with nothing. Well almost nothing, ever heard of a guy named Danny Way? One of skateboarding’s most profound skaters. He did just happen to be the brother of Damon Way…Anyways, point is, all four of these guys had zero industry experience, started with nothing, and now own multimillion dollar clothing/shoe companies.

My problem: The industry I chose was the only one I had decent connections in, but unfortunately they are styled 10 years behind. Black shirts, black pants held up by shoestrings for belts, black shoes, and a black hat make up the outfit of a BMX rider. They didn’t swing for the green shirt with yellow/white design. One thing I couldn’t figure out though is everyone I met, knew, and talked to LOVED the designs, but no one was buying. Was it because it didn’t have a DC logo, Nike Check, or an Atom Bomb anywhere? Are people that into brands that they dare not sway their loyalty to a shirt that looks good but doesn’t carry the right logo? I know they’ve done studies with Nike shoes where they approach a pack of high school kids and show them a shoe without a Nike sign and the kids hate them, but another pack is shown the same shoe with a Nike sign and told they are the next (insert NBA superstar here) signature shoes and the kids are ready to drop $300 just to have the first pair on the block. Priorities.

All I can say is that I learned my lesson and I am currently rebuilding my confidence to launch yet another business venture in June. No, it’s not another clothing line, although one day I will own skateboard deck company. Ever wonder why the Indian Rain Dance always worked? They kept dancing until it rained…

While out networking, do you get tired of Chatty Cathy who throws up all over you about their business for 15 minutes? Have you ever stopped to think about how much that person could be costing you in positive connections that could very well lead to sales?

Something to think about, limit your time while networking to 3 minutes per person. That allows you to meet 20 new people an hour. 3 times a week, you just met 60 new people. How long would it take you to get the attention of 60 people a week by cold calling?

*A side note, take into consideration the amount of people at the event. If there are 10 people at the event, obviously you’ll want to spend more time with each person than if there was 100 people in the room. Don’t get caught up in conversations with people that you already know. Spend 75% of your networking time with people who you don’t already know.

Ok, back to the topic. Here is how to handle the situation of only spending 2-3 minutes per person.

1. Approach your prospect, more than likely they’ll have a nametag on, and say their name followed by the question “Tell me about your business/job and who you are looking to meet?”
2. They’ll rattle off their 30 – 60 second commercial and then ask you in return “What is it that you do?”
3. You give them your polished 30 – 60 second commercial and now you are two minutes deep into the conversation. (This is where it can get out of hand)
4. Now you have to make a decision. Is this someone worth getting to know? Are they a good strategic partner? Are they going to start selling their services to you? This is where you either say, “Hey Mr. Networker is was a pleasure meeting you this morning. I hope you make some good connections this morning. I’ve got a few more people to meet.” OR you say “Hey Mr. Networker is was nice meeting you this morning, sounds like we could possibly be good strategic partners. If it makes sense to you too, why don’t we set up a time to get together for a one-to-one meeting.”

There is no need to get into a 15-minute conversation during the event about that person’s business, how they started, where they worked before, where they grew up, and where they went to high school. During the networking event, that is all irrelevant. You’re there to make the most of your time and meet as many connections as possible.

If you haven’t heard yet, networking is the new wave in developing referrals and clients. It’s also a fun and effective way of keeping a pipeline full of new business.  If you’ve never ventured out to the networking world, it can be a fairly intimidating environment if you’re not prepared.

Before starting to network it’s important to have a few things in place. One, figure out exactly the type of contacts you’re looking to meet. Two, how you can help introduce others to people they need to meet? And three, your elevator speech or what you want others to know about your company.

Whether you have an extroverted or introverted personality, there is a place for you at networking events. Those with outgoing personalities don’t have much of a problem with approaching individuals and striking up conversation.  On the other hand, introverted people might find that challenging. In that case, offer to be a volunteer at the event or a visitor host.  This will make it easier for you to approach people and for them you approach you.

Another option that some people are starting to use is online networking. With online networking there’s no need to leave the comfort of your office. For an example of this you can check out www.introduceme360.com .  The downside to this type of networking is that it diminishes the chances of building deeper relationships with people and earning their trust. This is why face-to-face networking is still the best option.