I cannot begin to tell you how often I am asked about writing a business plan. It’s true, you do need one. But it is not what you think and you can get wrapped up in writing a plan so much that you forget to build a business. In fact, my general response to the notion of writing a business plan is that one should write an outline and then focus on building a business.

First Contact
Think in terms of military tactics. I like this idea first because I am a former military operator who specialized in guerilla warfare training. Now, before you go to sleep, remember something – every great business strategy employed since the industrial revolution can be traced to military strategy. There are tomes of work on military strategy which is adapted to warfare, most notably The Art of War by Sun Tzu. Read the rest of this entry »

Interview With John McLeod, Card Game Enthusiast And Internet Business Expert

 
We recently caught up with a friend of ours to see how he was doing with his hobby/website on card games www.pagat.com. What he shared with us was quite an elaborate and encouraging story that we wanted to take the time to share with you. His inspiring tale reinforces what we’ve been saying on our site for quite some time – you can build an internet business around your hobby or interest and make money at the same time.

This is John’s story:

John decided one day that he needed a place to put all this information so it was available to everyone, and he didn’t have to keep cluttering up his spare room with stuff. The year was 1995, and the internet was still in a fledgling, but John saw the potential, and began loading all of his playing card information onto web pages, and then assembled those pages into a website. Read the rest of this entry »

Throughout my entire adult career, I listened to many of my co-workers express that they could never work with their wives. I always thought that either that person could not separate their personal and professional life, or they simply did not understand business. Perhaps it was both. In any case, I worked with my wife at my side for 20 years and I can tell that if you can treat your wife like any other business partner, you will never find a more loyal partner.

YOUR WIFE AS A LIFE PARTNER AND AS A BUSINESS PARTNER
Your wife is your greatest advocate and there is nobody, not even your mother, that wants you to succeed more than your wife does. Read the rest of this entry »

Your passion is extraordinary.
How you spend your time should be, too!

Do you want more time, or do you want more money? You see, the problem with time and money is that if you want more of one, you must give up more of the other. This is why the best balance between the two is simply having a job. Unfortunately, when you have a job, your compensation is never based on excellence (unless it is heavily incentivized, i.e. sales, trading, etc.). Yes, you read that correctly. Miffed yet? If so, you better stop reading, because you are going to get upset if you go on. Read the rest of this entry »

Knowledge Useless is Not Necessarily Worthless

I have said it before and I will say it again.  The seemingly most innocuous, trivial knowledge you hold is valuable to someone.  And now a new company has created an online platform where you can share it with others.  Skillshare is a new community marketplace where you can learn anything from anyone.  The flipside of this is that you can also teach anything to anyone and that means that somebody somewhere wants to know that little tidbit of knowledge that you may find absolutely useless.  This may be the easiest way to start a business since, uh…business. Read the rest of this entry »

The Power of Association – It’s All Just Common Sense

If you are like me, your parents said to you at some point to be careful about your selection of friends.  The maxims “you are who you are with” and “guilty by association” are more than just words.  They are truisms that are time tested and are revealing of the another fault of human nature: “no book should be judged by its cover”.  The question is, how can you make your association or affiliation pay dividends?  One of the best ways is through affiliate marketing.  It is simple (notice I did not say easy) and can be very rewarding if you use a little common sense in your approach. Read the rest of this entry »

Got Satisfaction?

I just finished Keith Richards’ autobiography “Life” and it was a great read.  Especially when he discussed the development of his songs and how he actually came up with the song ‘Satisfaction’, which his peers voted as the greatest rock & roll song ever written.  John Lennon himself once stated that it was the only song he and Paul McCartney wished that they had written.  Adding insult to injury is the fact that Richards wrote the song while sleep walking.  How awesome is it to say that you can write the greatest rock & roll song ever – in your sleep?  If only it were that easy in business.  I know, there are many tall tales out there of dynamic people in the business world who can execute difficult challenges seemingly “in their sleep”.  But, there is one thing that will keep awake the most dynamic business person – customer service issues. Read the rest of this entry »