Past to Present

I just got off of the phone with an old college friend. We hadn't spoken in about twelve years and I found out last week that my mother and his wife work at the same school in Los Angeles. He and I played phone tag for the past week and then had the chance to finally speak today. Our conversation was only about ten minutes long, but it was great to catch up with someone from my past, learn about his current life and share a bit about mine.

We all live such busy lives and rarely take the time to catch up with people from our distant past, but when we do it can be quite refreshing. Personally, I love hearing about old friends' successes and even struggles. It helps to put my own life into perspective.

The awareness for today is to embrace the opportunity to catch up with old friends, classmates or colleagues. I am not saying you should track them all down, but when the opportunity presents itself, it can be helpful to see the paths that others have taken. Some easy places to find people from your past are MySpace, LinkedIn, Facebook and alumni directories.
~Paul

Paranoia

Paranoia is a funny thing. I end up with people sending me direct comments, e-mailing or even calling me to find out if a specific blog I posted was about them. More than often it is not, but I think what is fascinating is how we can all relate to some basic topics and in turn learn from others.

I know my own paranoia sets in when I hear or read something that could possibly relate to me and it is a relief when I learn that it is not about me, however, I try to take away new knowledge from the lesson; if I didn't act or respond a certain way, I would not be paranoid on that specific subject.

The awareness for today is to learn from our, as well as others', mistakes and even if we are not responsible for something, we should always be working to improve ourselves.
~Paul

Panic Situations

Today I was involved in a situation that appeared to need immediate action. After discussing it with various advisors, I was ready to jump into action. That action would have created a much more tense and dramatic situation than was needed. Before I did jump, I spoke with one more advisor who cooled me down and in a very rational way helped me to look at the situation from a different perspective.

After that discussion, I went back to the drawing board and decided to not function from a place of panic, but rather measure the situation and give it some time to self correct before jumping into action. The situation still needs to be dealt with, but it can be held off for a short bit and handled from a place of stability rather than panic.

The awareness for today is to breathe when necessary and gather as much information as possible before making drastic decisions.
~Paul

Length Does Matter

I have been paying attention to other people's blogs and e-mails and I have to admit, I like my own...I might be a bit biased.

The issue that I am really referring to is length. Some blogs are just too long. I try to keep mine short and sweet and if there is more to write about on a specific subject, then I will break it up into parts. It is one thing to keep readers coming back often to read a couple of paragraphs, but when it turns into pages and pages, I just tune out or stop reading altogether. This is the same for e-mails. A quick concise e-mail is great, but when someone writes a tome it ends up only being quickly scanned because there is just not enough time to read it word for word.

The awareness for today is to not write a page if a paragraph will do. If a paragraph will not do, then break it up into manageable parts. Your readers will appreciate it.
~Paul

Professionalism Above All

Not all people get along...plain and simple. We all have different personalities and approaches. I often tend to be very straightforward and that does not sit well with some. I am okay with that. I am a business professional and when I am working with people, we are working together for business purposes. Not everyone needs to be my buddy. The important thing is that we all act like professionals and treat each other with respect.

There are times when we do connect and relationships move beyond business towards friendships. However, that is not a requirement of my business relationships.

The awareness for today is to be, above all, professional in your business relationships and recognize that not everyone you work with will have the same personality or interests as yourself. Business relationships can be friendly without being friendships. Just remember to have respect for those who you work with.
~Paul

More on Internal Customers

A frequent reader and commenter, Jennie, responded to my post Internal Customers here.

Jennie wrote:
"Thank you, thank you, thank you! I have been on this soapbox for a long, long time at my workplace. Employee satisfaction is directly linked to how they perform on the job and how they relate to external clients. Unhappy, unsatisfied, unappreciated employees will leak out their negative feelings which could have small impact, or very large impact. Those employees won't stick around. What costs more, the amount of time and money it takes to advertise for a position, do a search and train a person or the time and expense of express appreciation, improve communication and increase morale?"

I really appreciate that Jennie took the time to respond, but she also brings up some good points that I neglected to mention. If your employees are not satisfied, it will show in their work which can have a ripple effect out to your external customers and their satisfaction with your products or services. There hits a point where the dissatisfied employees will either quit on their own or possibly become such a problem employee (dragging the business down with them) that they will need to be let go.

As Jennie points out, it is much more expensive to replace an employee than it is to ensure their work satisfaction.

The awareness for today is to pay attention to employees (and yourself) and look for ways to improve the work environment. If you cannot come up with any ideas on your own...why not try asking your employees directly?
~Paul

Requesting and Providing Information

I often get e-mails from associates that simply ask, "can you help get funding for my client?" Hopefully I can, but I can't even guess if I do not have more information.

When you request information from someone, ask for what you need. To follow up with my example question, I would expect someone to write me saying that they need US$12 million to consolidate debt and fund the expansion of a widget factory in China. I would then ask that they share some basic financial information for the past few years as well as pro forma figures for the future. I would also like to know if there is equity in the company and if the principals have put in any money themselves.

To put it in more general terms, ask for what you need, why you need it, how you will use it and what you are offering for it.

The awareness for today is to be thorough in our requests for help from others. Let's be specific about our needs and wants and then we can better manage our expectations.
~Paul

Attitude

Your attitude can make a big difference towards how you are perceived by clients and customers. If you want their business and act like you want it, that will be recognized. However, if you want their business, but act as though you could care less, that will be noticed as well and most likely they will not be interested in doing business with you.

One needs to work (that is why it is not called play) in order to build relationships, maintain and grow them. Do not take your clients or customers for granted, but rather recognize that without them, you would not have a business.

The awareness for today is to put the extra effort in to let your clients and customers know that you appreciate their business and will do whatever you can to help foster that relationship.
~Paul

Honest Budgeting

Recently, while working with a client, I was helping to develop a budget for spending. It was simple enough...I had the client collect past information so that we could then figure out what his monthly crunch was. He listed all of the expenses he believed he had on a monthly basis and then I pushed him for a few more that I believed he had left off of the list; I even asked him for confirmation that there was nothing else he had not mentioned. From there, we came up with a number that he needed to meet on a monthly basis. Sounds easy.

A couple of weeks later, I learned of some new expenses that were not listed in the budget and yet were quite important for him to cover. The client had known about them all along, but he had been in denial of the need to account for them on a monthly basis. By not being honest with himself, he put himself in a sticky situation where the budget we had created was outdated from the start.

The awareness for today is to be honest with yourself. There is no shame in the truth...it is simply that, the truth. By trying to hide things (like expenses), we put ourselves into much more precarious situations than need be. If we are honest from the beginning, then we are truly aware of the big picture.
~Paul

Responding Whether Positive or Negative

The year is starting out quickly with looking at deals for debt financing. I have worked with people in the past who do not feel it is important to return phone calls in a timely manner or even at all. These people feel that if they are interested in working with you, they will call you back, but otherwise they will not.

I strongly believe in courtesy calls and if I cannot help someone fund a deal, I will let them know that. I am always happy to look at any deal that someone sends me; as I wrote, if I can help connect them to funding, great, I will let them know...if I cannot help connect them to funding, too bad, but I will still let them know.

For me, it is important to close out a project and know when it is dead or funded, without having to chase down other people.

The awareness for today is to think about how you would like to be treated by others and ensure that you offer that same amount of respect; if you want to be sure that people respond to you, make sure and respond to others.
~Paul

Consistency is Powerful

I was told the other day that I was sure tough on specifics. Yes, it is true, I believe that consistency is extremely important in a business setting for staff. It is not fair to allow one employee a free sick day while charging another for missing the day. Therefore, rules and policies need to be set in place and followed. The more that is left up to interpretation, the higher the chances of creating problems.

I do not like that I fall into the role of the stickler, but I do it for the bigger picture in looking out for every one's interests.

The awareness for today is to appreciate those defined rules that create consistency and to recognize that while they may not always be in our favor, over time they create less confusion and a more stable environment.
~Paul

Business Intuition

Intuition is defined at dictionary.com here. The first listing is "direct perception of truth, fact, etc., independent of any reasoning process; immediate apprehension." (Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.)

Recently, I have been working on listening to and trusting my intuition. I have found that if a person rubs me the wrong way upon my first impression, even if they have done nothing overtly to cause it, I should listen to my gut...much more than often it is right. I have noticed my reaction to business ideas, potential employee interviews and even involvement with a board of directors. I cannot always explain it, but when I have not listened to my intuition, or a client has not listened, a lot more damage is done than if Paul's gut had been adhered to.

I have been working on finding a way to incorporate intuition into my business practice. While I believe we also listen to our guts, I don't believe that I do enough and would like to change that. I am going to experiment with this a bit.

The awareness for today is to trust your intuition and find a balance to see how that helps improve your business (and other) decisions.
~Paul

This Blog, like Life, is a Work in Progress

I try to keep up with blogging technology, but I am aware that I am a novice in this arena. I am consistent with maintaining fresh content throughout the week, but I do not have all the bells and whistles set up, nor do I even know what they are.

Funny enough, some of the most popular blogs out there are on blogging and how to make money doing so. I read some of them and I pick up tips here and there. Everyone once in a while you (the reader) may notice some formatting changes on my blog; I just added video at the bottom today. Please let me know if you do or do not like a particular element of my blog as I want it to appeal to my readers.

The awareness for today is that life is always a work in progress. While being as present as possible, we are always moving into the future and need to adjust our present accordingly as we go.
~Paul

Picking and Choosing Websites to Join

It is difficult to keep up with the Internet. There are always new blogs to read, websites to join, articles to read, etc. I wrote about some of the networking sites a few months ago here. Recently, I have been receiving invitations to join new social/business networking sites from people I am already in contact with. Many of these sites are still in beta or simply do not have many registered users yet. Personally, I just do not want to join every site and every group that is out there. I am happy to register for proven sites that I believe my business will benefit from.

Today I even learned that a site I was debating joining (I had been sent an invite from a colleague) has closed. Everyone I know has a great idea. Generally, that is all they are...great ideas. It is actually executing the idea into a sustainable business that is the trick part.

The awareness for today is remain focused on our goals and not spread ourselves too thin by "needing" to be connected with every website out there (obviously that is not even possible). Take some time to choose where you want to participate and be active with your time.
~Paul

Compassion

Today I returned a call from a colleague in London and I felt that I left a curt message; I was swamped and running in many different directions and I believed that that had come across in my message to him. About ten minutes later, I called him back to apologize for being short on my message to him. He answered the call and had had no issue with my message. He had understood that I was busy and felt that I had conveyed that appropriately to him.

I learned that I am more sensitive to how I treat others than they may be themselves. Interesting thought.

The awareness for today is that while we may at times rub people the wrong way, when we are conscious of it our true intentions can shine through.
~Paul

A Funding Deal on the Edge

I may have already written about this and if I have, forgive the repetition, but I did want to vent a bit and this is a great medium for me to do so. About two years ago I met a very nice, sharp business consultant, I will call him Frank. He was very interested in the connecting that I do for debt financing and we have tried to work together several times.

Frank sent me a deal to look at in April of 2006. The deal was not strong enough for my sources, but the seed was planted. Frank and I kept in touch over the years and just checked in with each other every so often. After some major modifications to the business model and plan, Frank came back to me in August with a very solid business plan. I shared it with a few of my connections and there was interest immediately.

By the middle of October, one of my contacts had provided Frank and his client with a loan package and simply needed the client to submit the application. Nothing has happened yet. I check in every other week with Frank and he keeps trying to push his client, but the client has just sat on the paperwork.

Today, the lender contacted Frank to see if there was still interest and I sent over my own e-mail to Frank. Frank is as frustrated as I am. He put in a lot of time and effort, yet he cannot get his client to follow through with the application. To add to the situation, Frank has shared that the client needs the money at this stage to stay alive, yet he isn't doing everything he can.

All I can do is keep in touch with Frank and hope that his client will submit the paperwork so we can get this deal closed.

The awareness for today is that sometimes it eases frustration to write out the situation...just as I have done here.
~Paul

Excuses

People use excuses all the time. They are used to blame others or to explain why someone did not do what was promised. I am sure that have all had an excuse at one time or another. I have no problem with acceptable excuses. I understand that people cannot always fulfill their promises.

Where I do have an issue is with people who use excuses to get out of doing things. As I said, excuses can be acceptable at certain times and in certain situations, but they cannot become the norm.

If you are one always coming up with excuses, stop promising more than you can provide. If you are the one receiving excuses, look at what is creating the holdup.

The awareness for today is understand that some times an excuse is acceptable, but not always and you need to find that balance for yourself.
~Paul

A Glitch in Communication

I must have some wires crossed internally today as I do not seem to be communicating well with others. I am not arguing with people, but somehow what I am saying or writing (in e-mail) is not being heard. I have answered others questions and yet I am asked the same question again by the same person. I have also had a few e-mail responses where the person replying did not even read my notes or questions.

I guess it is just an off day for me; they happen. Perhaps I am the problem, perhaps it is others; maybe too much turkey, weather shifts, Monday, whatever it is. This too shall pass.

The awareness for today is to recognize that we cannot always have the best day ever. Tomorrow will be better!
~Paul

Cultural Tolerance

Thanksgiving Day is Thursday here in the US. With that being said, many of my US associates are traveling this week or simply taking time off to be with their families or friends; I myself will take a half day on Wednesday and take off work on Thursday and Friday. Because of this, the weeks pacing is quite off. I have received very few calls thus far this week, but I have been very busy with e-mail, mostly the e-mail is international.

While thinking about this, I realized that there have been times when I have contacted associates of mine who were unavailable due to their own traditions even though I needed to get work completed. I am okay with this.

The awareness for today is simply to be tolerant of other cultures' and countries' traditions and holidays.
~Paul

Business Integrity

I was contacted this morning by a man looking for funding to assist his company in the buyout of another company; we will call him Franklin. I had been introduced to Franklin by an associate of mine at the Institute for Independent Business International. After originally being introduced to Franklin a couple of months ago, he never provided the information promised to me and after he did not respond to a couple calls or e-mails, I simply let it go.

Upon receiving the message from Franklin today, I immediately let the associate who made the introduction know that Franklin had contacted me. I asked if he was still in contact with Franklin, but the main reason I checked in is that I did not want him to feel that I have circumvented him. I will still plan on sharing fees (if there are any earned on this!) with the associate who made the introduction, even though Franklin came to me directly. This is how I would want someone I made an introduction for to treat me.

The awareness for today is to remember to give credit where credit is due...especially if that credit involves any sharing of fees.
~Paul