Introducing Open Source Entrepreneurship (aka OSE)

You heard it here first – today I am coining a new term …

Open Source Entrepreneurship

More than 600,000 new businesses are started every year in the United States (an average of 40 a day here in the Richmond, VA area alone) – and the overwhelming majority of them will fail within a few years. That is unacceptable. A new model is needed to do a more effective job of helping small businesses succeed. One component of that new model will be what I refer to as “Open Source Entrepreneurship” or “OSE” for short.

OSE is …

“The collaborative pursuit of opportunities by individuals through free and open access to resources, knowledge, and experience.”

The best definition of entrepreneurship is from Harvard Business School Professor Howard H. Stevenson – “Entrepreneurship may be defined as the pursuit of opportunity without regard to resources currently controlled.” – So I am borrowing partly from that line of thought (thanks Howard).

Stay tuned for more on this movement – and I would love your thoughts on my definition (that’s a part of collaborating!).

What’s your Networking Agenda?

Being a successful networker has a lot to do with your frame of mind, and what your agenda is.

First it’s important to realize that sales and networking are two different things. Networking is about building relationships and impacting others.Where I see folks get into trouble is with their personal agenda. If your agenda when you’re out networking is to make a sale you’re going to have a very hard time and be disappointed. Too often we look at a room full of people in a networking event as a room full of prospective customers. This is a dangerous trap. If our agenda is to sell to these people we’re going to miss out on the bigger opportunity. There may be a few dozen people in the room, but if we look at the number of people that they directly influence it can be in the thousands!

My agenda when I’m at a networking meeting is to do two things. First, build relationships. I want to get to know a couple of people a little bit better at each event. This often leads to us getting together for a 1-2-1 meeting later to really begin to build our relationship. Second, I’m looking to help 2-3 people. This can take many forms. I might be able to refer them to someone. I may be able to suggest another meeting or opportunity that could benefit them. It can take a lot of forms. Really I just want to be able to make an impact, even if it’s a small one.

So what’s your agenda?

Create Shazam! Moments by Asking “What’s Your Resolution This Year?”

It’s a New Year and it presents a great opportunity to refocus, refresh, and refer. That is, a great opportunity to find some robust referrals for your referral partners by asking one simple question of everybody you know and meet in the next week …

So what’s your New Year’s Resolution?

Asking this simple question of your clients, patients, friends, families, and those you meet will generate many opportunities to help solve problems or challenges (aka referrals). It will also start the process of creating a new habit for the New Year (if you’re not already doing so) that I call the “SHAZAM!” moment.

Remember that show in the 1970s (dating myself here a bit because I sure do) called Shazam!? When the main character, Billy, spoke the magic word “Shazam!,” he was struck by a magic lightning bolt and was transformed into the World’s Mightiest Mortal, Captain Marvel. There were no super-villains he would fight, Captain Marvel would just help people out of difficult situations of their own making (remember the problems & challenges?). When he needed help, Billy would speak directly to the elders that empowered him – who appear as animated characters: Solomon, Hercules, Atlas, Zeus, Achilles, and Mercury (remember your referral partners?).

Get into the habit of talking to someone and when they tell you about a problem, challenge, opportunity – or simply their New Year’s Resolution – SHAZAM!, think of your referral partners who can help with that. Isn’t that great feeling? AND isn’t it great that the person you’re talking with is appreciative? AND isn’t it great that you will establish yourself as a tremendous center of influence? It’s a WIN-WIN-WIN!

Here are some ways to make that SHAZAM! moment happen more often.

Your clients & patients:

Whether in person or on the phone, once your business with them is concluded, you can say “You’ve mentioned your business challenges/problems/goals to me, what is the first hurdle you need to jump to get that resolved or move towards your goals?”

People you meet networking or at social events after you’ve spent a few minutes getting to know them:

“If I was a genie and could fix one problem you’re facing personally or in your career right now, what would that problem be?”

Family and Friends:

This is the easy one… “So, tell me what’s been going on with you?” Doesn’t this result in an outpouring of medical complaints, home improvement issues, financial concerns, job frustrations, etc.?

Asking the question, So what’s your New Year’s Resolution?, is a simple way that we can all create more referral opportunities … be truly interested in the people we come in contact with … and look like a hero.

Go out this week and ask this question to see just how many SHAZAM! moments you can experience.

Need a Great Speaker Video Just Posted

I just posted a new promo video – thanks www.MightyLime.com for the excellent work!

Commit to Focus

Look, there goes a shiny object …

…Stop it, stay focused Mark!

Beginning today, I’m re-committing to Focus. I hope you’ll join me if you’re not already there because it is absolutely amazing what you can achieve when you are focused in any facet of life.

Since I am quite often asked how I can get so much done, you might be thinking that I’m good at this, but (like many people) it’s a big challenge for me – I too suffer from shiny object syndrome. Focus requires constant vigilance. (Can you imagine how difficult it’s going to be when our future generations raised around instant messaging, tweeting, and constant distraction get out here in the working world with us?)

I’ve included several specific thoughts and ideas below on what I’ll be doing (many of which are continuations of strategies that I already have in place) . I hope some of them will be helpful to you.

My Focus Commitments and Affirmations…

Email… I will not check email first thing in the morning (there’s nothing worse than starting my day working on someone else’s agenda), I will keep email alerts turned off, I will check email only twice a day (9:00am and 2:00pm), and I will not receive email on my smart phone (I got rid of the Blackberry over a year ago & I didn’t enable the email feature on my droid now). When I think that’s impossible because people need to reach me because I’m so very important, I’ll remember that I’m not as important as I think I am.

Instant messaging… I will not use it as a conversation tool. This would be like allowing someone to jump up on my desk anytime they want and interrupt my workflow (and I certainly don’t want to do that to anyone else). After all, I’m a grown-up. It’s only to be used for quick, logistical notes like “I’m on my way” or “C U in 5 mins.”

Web… I will not use the web personally during my money hours (mine are between 8 am and 6 pm each work day with a break for lunch sometimes). When this gets tough because of my shiny object syndrome, I’ll remind myself again that I’m a grown-up.

Phone… I will not give my attention to my phone when people I know are around me. If it vibrates when I’m in a face:face conversation, I will ignore it and give it attention when I’m alone.

Television… I will not channel surf. If I want to watch something, I will watch that thing and that’s it. If I need downtime, I’ll read a book, magazine, or something on the web (being careful here too, of course).

Commitment: When things get tough, I’ll remind myself that I want to succeed professionally, financially, and personally. And, if I do these things, I’ll likely contribute more, make more useful things happen, earn more, and enjoy more as a result. (It’s a better bet.) When I make a mistake (check my email, look at the web, etc.), I’ll stop, re-commit, and remind myself that I want to make good things happen (rather than living in a state of busy distraction).

These are for me and my workflow. If your work really requires more attention to email or a phone, then adjust accordingly. As you make these commitments, be sure to let people know so they understand you’ll be responding to them, just at a different interval than you did before. Let them know that if they need you urgently, they should call you – yes, even most smart phones actually still have a “calling” feature! If they don’t like that idea, remind them that you still love them and they’re important to you but you are trying to make good things happen and that requires hard work and focus. Maybe they’ll be inspired and join you in your commitment to focus and we’ll all win.

One last thing…

If I missed you with this, here’s Louis CK (http://goo.gl/I2FYW) on Conan reminding us to pay attention to the life in front of us. It’s a hilarious couple of minutes. He cusses a couple of times so if that bothers you, you’ll want to skip it.

(NOTE: I was inspired to write this post based on an email I received from Sam Parker at GiveMore.com – I recommend checking out his blog at http://blog.givemore.com/)

Got an idea … get your domain … build a site with GoDaddy.com and HostGator

Every time I have a brilliant idea for a new product or service (which is at least once a day), one of the first things I do if I believe it is viable, is buy the associated domain (website) name. GoDaddy.com (affiliate link) is the best place to that – it’s where I buy all of my domains.

The next thing I do is if the idea has merit, is build a basic website to test the idea with a Minimum Viable Product – ala The Lean Startup (amazon affiliate link) – and I host my sites with HostGator (affiliate link) - they are by far the best combination that I have found of value, dependability, and ease of use.

The reason I’m specifically mentioning this today, is that GoDaddy.com & HostGator are running major promotions for Black Friday (only good til the end of today).

The deals are:

GoDaddy.com:  $5 .com domains – Check it out here:  http://x.co/Y9cb (affiliate link)

HostGator:  50% OFF on ALL hosting services for Unlimited Web Hosting … which means for me about $2.48/month to host a bunch of sites. – Check it out here:  http://goo.gl/dgnWA  (affiliate link)

Now those are some deals.  Check ‘em out today.

Got an idea … get your domain … build a site … do it NOW!

PS – Hope you are enjoying your Thanksgiving holiday.

Getting More out of Networking Mixers

There are dozens of ‘networking’ events every day in Central Virginia – and you can run yourself ragged just going from event to event. So why not make sure that you’re getting the most out of these events? And the key to getting more out of networking mixers is simple – Triage – yet I find that most people are horribly ineffective when it comes to understanding this simple concept. Likely this is simply because it can seem so overwhelming. It’s not unusual at all to walk away from a lunch meeting or business after-hours with 10 – 20 plus business cards in hand, maybe more. The quantity from a trade show or multi-day conference can be frightening.

Let’s eliminate that pressure right now – don’t feel like you need to follow-up with everyone.

Frankly, that’s just not productive and creates a ton of work if you’re going to do it right. You’re much better off prioritizing those that you’d like to reconnect with, and in this case, less is more. Oftentimes, having met just 1 or 2 of the right people who know the people you want to know (ala your Bull’s Eye Market or BEM), can be incredible IF you now own the follow-up and execute on the appropriate steps when you triage.

Wait … What are the appropriate next steps? Typically, you’ll know when you’re talking to the right person in that moment.

Here’s what I mean. If the person you’ve been talking with has access to your BEM and is a ‘connector,’ rather than having the focused conversation you really want to have with your new found friend during the mixer, say something like this: “Susie, it’s been great meeting you and I’d really like to continue our conversation, but I’m sure you’d like to spend time meeting some other people while you’re here. I’ll call you tomorrow so we can schedule a time to sit down for coffee or lunch and talk about how we can help each other. Is that okay?” Simply get their contact information, move on to the next person, and DO NOT FORGET TO FOLLOW-UP the next day.

If the person you’re talking with is not able to help you or vice versa, just say something like this: “Susie, it’s been great meeting you, but I’m sure you’d like to spend time meeting some other people while you’re here. Enjoy the event.” Exit stage left.

It’s as simple as that.

Use the mixer or event as a way to triage potential contacts and schedule the follow-up meeting. That’s it. NOTHING IS FOR SALE. If you start selling to people at events, you will be disappointed – you are there to meet connectors and then build a mutually beneficial relationship with them. As soon as you start selling, you’ll start repelling. Have a meaningful conversation, determine if there is a fit for a future relationship, and you’ll attract people.

If you execute this simple process, you’ll be well on your way to being far more successful in your networking efforts at mixers!