Business and Friendship don't mix...

For most of my adult life I have owned businesses and been pretty happy with them.  Admittedly until the last few years, my businesses were based on stuff I was "pretty good at".  As long as you can figure out how things work you can always build a business, it might not be the right business, but you can still build it.

One of the things I hear over and over is "You can't do business with your friends." or "Don't mix business and Friendship".  This is a very strange concept to me.  If you trust your friends and they trust you, why can't you do business?  Most of our waking hours are at work, why not work with your friends.  Yes I have had a couple of deals go south and partnerships fall apart that started as friendships.  The real friendships survived the unraveling of the business involvement.  The people that just be-friended me for a "deal" went by the wayside and I am not that much worse off for it.

Building a killer business.

George Foreman is someone that most people think of as a "lucky" guy.  He made it as a boxer, and spent it all, then he made it again as a boxer and spent it all.  By his own admission he never liked boxing, he liked helping people.  George Foreman was also a minister, and it was during his time as a minister that he spent his boxing fortunes.

When George was approached with the Lean Mean Grilling Machine, he took that to the mat. It is an excellent lesson in rebuilding for both people and business.  If you missed the CNBC Bizography special there are some clips here worth watching if you are thinking of starting a business or own a business.

Are you a mile wide and an inch deep?

Every day you get out of bed, you have choices to make whether you realize it or not. The funny thing is how many choices we make subconsciously without even realizing we are doing it. We are always heading in some direction with every choice. As the old saw goes, “If you don't know where you are going, any road will take you there.”

I had an excellent conversation a few days ago with Robert Menard. An industry expert in purchasing negotiations and systems for over a decade, Mr. Menard has a depth of experience that few posses. He has spoken to Congress about better ways to purchase. Mr. Menard and I talked at length about how he built his business to be one inch wide and a mile deep. I asked him about buying a car, and he referred me to someone else. He isn't a buying expert, he is a purchasing expert.

After the conversation I walked by a repair on our family house that I had made 10 years ago. The previous owners had a large dog and right at the front of the house was a dog door big enough for most 5 year old children to walk through. One day someone walked in and helped themselves to a bunch of my stuff, and now the dog door is gone.

Living with the iPhone 4 Day 68

When the first sliding windows touchscreen phones arrived I have to say I was almost giddy. I had been carrying a Motorola Razor (that I still keep as my back up phone) and a huge laptop. The new windows phone was going to solve my problems. I traded my sleek little Razor for a phone that by comparison was a small laptop.

The first windows phone I picked up was from HTC and as a phone it worked pretty well. The internet features and speed left a lot to be desired. It turned out for the next year I was carrying a bigger phone and the laptop. When my first HTC windows phone quit working due to “water damage”, I waited and got the “tilt”. I have beard from many people that the “tilt” was a significant improvement over the original Windows slider phones.

Living with the iPhone 4 day 57

Living with the iPhone 4 has been a challenge for me. Having been spoiled by the first two windows phones and then completely ruined by the BlackBerry curve, the iPhone has been an adjustment.

Last week or maybe even the week before, I had an AT&t employee and an Apple store employee suggest that I would be happier going back to the BlackBerry and getting the new Torch. Not being one to give up that easy, I continued to try and solve the issues I was having with the iPhone.

Using the iPhone as a business tool

I was on the computer in the early hours of the morning waiting to pre-order my iPhone 4. After the two hours of frustration getting all the way through the order process to click "Buy", only to get an error screen and start over, I gave up and headed to the ATT store.

When I arrived at the AT&T store, I found the computer system was down there too. My wife and I wandered next door for a great burrito at Mission Burrito, it was already noon. By two pm I got my name on the mystical pre-order list and was told that I was lucky since they just sold out, I was one of the last to make the list.

Are You Too Busy To Make Money?

It is amazing how busy we are and how little we really get done. There are just so many things to do, laundry, house keeping, get gas in the car, buy dog food and the list goes on and on. It is a wonder any of us have any time for our work. We start our morning with the shave-shower-shine routine and for those with long hair, there is some coiffing to do.

Next there is the whole breakfast ritual with coffee or tea, and some quick bite because there just isn't time for breakfast any more. How did people ever survive before cars sped us off to work, and cell phones brought the office right to our pockets? By the time most of us get to work, at least a couple hours of the day are already gone. The start of the office day is usually slowed down by clearing out all of the spam in our inbox that made it past the filters and reading a couple of jokes from our friends so we start the day with a smile.

Jeeez, where has the time gone, now it is already time to start planning the lunch run to squeeze in a couple of errands while grabbing a sandwich and a soda. We just have to much to do. Have you ever heard anyone say something like “I am just too busy to make any money.”

They are probably right, and probably blaming the wrong person. If you truly wanted to be hyper successful, it is your choice. All of this “busyness” is due to a lack of focus and preparedness. People are confusing “busy” activities with “achievement” activities. There is only one way to get things done, and that as the Nike slogan says is to “Just do it.”

I meet people that are managers and business owners who are stuck in a rut and can't figure out why. The why is clear to everyone around them. The why should be very clear to them and it isn't until someone just puts it right in front of them. The why is a simple problem of setting priorities.

When people have a clear set of “achievement” goals for every day, every week and every month they are more likely to actually achieve something. When the choice is write the article that is due or stop and dry cleaners, the choice becomes simple. When the choice is call three clients or go to the ball game, the choice is simple. When you set your goals and stick to them your priorities stay in the right order automatically. Only you can change them.

Achievement, no matter how small leads to success of an equal magnitude. Like investing, if you only achieve 7% more each year than your peers, in 10 years you will have achieved twice as much due to the effects of compounding growth. Before you go to bed to night, write out a list of 3-5 goals for tomorrow, two or three slightly larger goals for the rest of the week. Then tomorrow, get started on your goals first. Skip the water cooler chatter and facebook time, get your goals done and see how much better you feel at the end of the day.

Real achievements give you energy and focus to achieve more. Start small and work bigger a little each day. The sky is the limit if you just put your mind to it.