“Not enough time” is a reason for not doing an enormous number of things. I’m convinced it’s 99% untrue.  Seems to me … we do what we really want to do. So don’t tell me what you don’t have time for. Tell me what you do have time for.

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Have you noticed how many people in business for themselves use an email address that’s not connected with their website? They’re using the email they get through their internet service provider.  Or they’re using one of the free email services. So their email extension (the bit after the @) is something like cox.net, san.rr.com, gmail.com, yahoo.com, [...]

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Strategy. After asking around a bit, I’m pretty much convinced that most people don’t really know what it is. I’m also pretty sure that a lot of small business owners and independents secretly believe it’s not necessary.  That it belongs in big corporate boardrooms and gets developed on expensive corporate retreats … and that it ultimately [...]

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Earlier this week, I had the pleasure of going to my dentist for a routine cleaning and checkup. Note two things:  I said “pleasure” and meant it, and I said “my” dentist, not “the” dentist. I’ve been going to this dentist for over 12 years – ever since I moved to Southern California.  He’s not [...]

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What is it that makes someone decide to jump off the employee bandwagon and become self-employed? For those who’ve been caught up in the economic turmoil of the last few years, it’s often been a case of being pushed off the employee bandwagon.  I know many people who have chosen self-employment after being laid off.  Whether they’ve gone [...]

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Is there a small business owner or independent consultant who’s never struggled with pricing? If so, I’d like to meet him or her. Especially in the early stages of your business, deciding what prices to charge for your services and products can become the subject of a huge inner debate. What’s it really worth?  Who will pay that for [...]

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No one wants to look dumb.  Everyone wants to have an answer.   Preferably, of course, the right answer – but at least an answer. I see it all the time.  People rushing wildly towards an answer.  There’s a classic story of how NASA developed an extremely expensive pen that would allow astronauts to write in the [...]

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My newsletter article this week was about reality – allowing reality to be your business partner, letting it tell you what’s happening so you can adapt what you’re doing to be more creative, more effective, and oh yes, have more fun! Reality as a business partner.  The idea came to me from seeing myself, as well as colleagues [...]

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As I’ve said before, and will undoubtedly say again, following up is crucial. Crucial for networking success, which is where I jump up and down about it the most. And crucial for your business (and/or career and/or personal life) success as well. There are three key reasons why I keep jumping up and down about it: It’s important It’s really relatively [...]

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So by now I’ve written two blog posts and a newsletter article about the importance of following up.  (Links to all three are at the end of this post.) Am I beating a dead horse, or are y’all still with me? Because I’m absolutely serious when I say that if you’re not going to follow up, you might as [...]

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