Trip Planning

Business owners often find that they don't have much time for travel. Their business demands constant, unbroken attention. This photo is from a trip I was on a few years ago to Rehobeth, DE with friends. There were a bunch of us who were auctioned off at a fundraiser as strippers/models. I did bring in a nice price I might add. You can see me with the hat on in the back.

For all of us, try to book time to travel when you can combine business and pleasure. Meet with clients for a few days and when it is time to relax with friends, then enjoy that as well. You can often fit both in. What you don't want to do is NOT vacation. You really need to recharge your insights and perspective. So go ahead - plan a trip! I just did!

Detox Cleanse - Personal & Business Choice

Mid day Monday (03/29/10) I decided after much thought and reflection to do a detox. For those of you who know me well, this might seem kind of funny given my history! I really felt with news my mom gave me about her physican's concern over health issues (not to mention being a cancer survivor), my dad's battle with prostate cancer, my own age and my need to take a more natural approach to body building/sculpting, a cleanse and diet change seemed in order.

Following the guidance of my friend and tranier Barb over at Beach Fitness, I opted for a cleanse focused on vegetables (no white/starchy), a few nuts (mostly almonds and some pinenuts/cashews as sesonings in cooked vegetables), Macrogreens supplement drink and a high quality protein powder. I am still only drinking water outside of the supplement shakes. That has eliminated all dairy, meat, processed food, refined sugar, soft drinks, additives, gluten, grains and most fats. This is day 5, and I feel AMAZING!

Day 1 was very tough. I was hungry and unsatisfied most of the afternoon and evening. Did 30 of cardio in the AM and lifted legs in the afternoon. By Day 2, I was irritable and my sleep patterns were disrupted. My energy level was very low and training was hard, though I did 30 minutes of cardio, lifted chest and then took a 30 minute kettlebell class! Day 3 brought some feelings of change in my energy level for the better, but I was definately irritable and I only could manage cardio for 30 minutes. That night sleep was the worst of the week - I only managed about 4 hours and then was up around 3:30 am. Day 4 brought continued feelings of lastitude, though my attitude was better and my hunger was far more manageable. I worked a 16 hour day and then just had to collapse in bed. I did manage to lift back lightly.

Today was a shoulder day and I woke up after a full 9 hours of sleep feeling incredible and super positive. So THIS is what it is supposed to feel like! I like it - A LOT. I was able to train shoulders and I weighed myself - a solid 5 lb. drop with a + change in body composition. NICE!

What this week has taught me about business and life is the following:

1. Changing it up and forcing yourself to do what you know you need to do is the right thing.

2. We all could use a cleanse now and again - both personally and in our businesses.

3. The first few days of fairly radical change are hard, and Mother Nature is amazing, we adapt to the new lifestyle. We can do the same in business - we expand our efforts to inculde the optimal result if we only stay focused on it.

4. You have NO time to waste. If you are ready to make changes in your life, don't wait for New Year's Day, your birthday or your doctor(consultant) telling you to cut stuff(waste) out of your life(business).

5. Results are worth it. It produces a positive feeling of causality between effort and result.

You know what you need to do to produce positive change in your life. Just go do it!

April Fool's

Today is the day when we commit hoaxes and other practical jokes of varying sophistication on friends, family members, enemies, and neighbors, or sending them on a fool's errand, the aim of which is to embarrass the gullible. Traditionally, in some countries, such as the UK, Australia, and South Africa the jokes only last until noon, and someone who plays a trick after noon is called an "April Fool". Elsewhere, such as in France, Ireland, Italy, South Korea, Japan, Russia, The Netherlands, Brazil, Canada, and the U.S., the jokes last all day. The earliest recorded association between April 1 and foolishness can be found in Chaucer's Canterbury Tales (1392). (Thanks Wikipedia for that overview!)

Do you ever feel that the day is April Fool's Day and the joke is on you? Well, today really is that day and you might want to be sure you are not a joke in someone else's book! A few keys to ensuring the joke is not on you with a client:

1. Underpromise & overdeliver - make sure you have what you say you will do and focus on delivering it.

2. Communicate clearly - use the KISS (Keep It Simple Stupid) principle

3. Be efficient - Don't waste the client's time. Most likely you are being paid by the hour as well.

4. Don't be a "yes" man - The client is paying you for results in their business. These results are usually tied to financial performance. Do not be afraid to tell her a "no" and why.

5. Respect the work - Remember it has your name on it. It better be good!

6. Thank the client for the opportunity to work with them.

So yes, all of those points seem obvious, but all too often we forget one or more of them at critical times. It can devestate your cleint/consultant relationship if you do.

Lyrical Business

Last night I went to the Walt Disney Concert Hall to hear Emanuel Ax on piano and Lionel Bringuier (who is quite young and handsome I might add) conduct Chopin, Berlioz and Shostakovich. It was lyrical, transportive and sublime. It always amazes me the dynamic between conductor and orchestra. Add to that the courtesy and majesty of a pianist like Ax into the mix and it becomes a true auditory treat.

The reason I was able to attend this was due to the largess of a friend and business mentor, Beverly Pearce here in Seal Beach. She is a season ticket holder and couldn't make it. I was the lucky beneficiary of her tickets. The trip reminded me of the importance of culture for all of us, but particularly entrepreneurs. We tend to become filled in our own world and lose sight of the need to enrich our life experience.

When working with teams in business, do not think your role is just the obvious one of the conductor. You may be a member of the orchestra which is working to the greater success of a larger player. As Piers Anthony asks via his character Stile in his Apprentice Adept series - who is greater, the artist who ascends to the heights, or the players which allow him to reach them? You must work diligently to extract not only the best performance out of everyone, but you must be prepared to do it with courtesy, style and aplomb.

Business makes a difference

This past Saturday was a very full day. The new Seal Beach Fire Station #48 open house and dedication was at 9 am, the 3rd Annual Seal Beach Health Fair was at the Shops at Rossmoor from 10 am to 3 pm, and the St. Baldrick’s event at Hennesey’s on Main Street ran that afternoon as well.
What do all of these things have in common? They are demonstrations of businesses and government working together to produce improvements of the quality of our lives and the lives of others. Business PAYS and facilitates many things in our city.
Millard Fuller said it well, “For a community to be whole and healthy, it must be based on people's love and concern for each other.” Business plays a vital role in that objective. Did you know that “shopping local” helps the city pay for essential services? Here’s how:
Under California sales tax law “Bradley Burns” 1% of the purchase price is returned to the local government based upon point of sale. Every time you shop local, our City gets more revenue to pay for services and projects – like street paving or emergency services. In the City of Seal Beach budget, this “local return” amounts to over $4 million, of $26 million budget. On top of this, there are license and use taxes – like business license fees and the transit occupancy tax (TOT) which also
One of the city’s top 25 sales tax producers, Energy Tubulars, recently announced their recommitted to Seal Beach, signed a 40-month lease. This is great news for our town! Good long term business tenants equal a stable, viable and flexible form of revenue for Seal Beach.
Did you know that Dendreon, a new manufacturing center is coming to the Boeing Center and is creating nearly 500 biotech, management and light manufacturing jobs? The Chamber of Commerce is working with Dendreon to try to fill some of those positions.
The Health Fair was the largest ever with nearly 100 vendors and close to 700 people who made it in and through the sea of tents and businesses. They were not just “hawking” their wares, but providing information, screenings and free services to our residents and visitors. It helps drive traffic to those merchants and the Shops at Rossmoor shopping center particularly. We are proud of our synergy with both the Los Alamitos and Cypress Chambers of Commerce who participated this year.
St. Baldrick’s at Hennesey’s shaved over 100 heads, raised over $15,000 for childhood cancer and helped provide excitement in our Main Street area, which all merchants enjoy. Where did all of those fabulous gift baskets come from? Our merchants. It was remarkable seeing what the event did for those children who attended and are affected – they were transformed with joy and love. Hopefully this will be an annual event and something you might attend in the future.
One of the issues our community might wish to ask more clearly is what kind of business do we want in Seal Beach? Some years ago, there was a proposal for a Costco - what kind of sales tax revenue might that have generated for our City?
All of this circles us back to Fire Station #48. It was paid for by our tax dollars and it is a credit to our community. I would not suggest that only business paid for it, but I would say that business participated in it, though taxes. We are proud of it, and I am optimistic that all of us in town are as well.
Finally, I would remind us all that the TOT tax, again as a business tax, went to provide resources for the storm drain management improvements. Based on what I saw at the last City Council meeting about flooding in Bridgeport, we will need all the funding resources we can get for yet more storm drain improvements. Please remember to shop local – it helps us all!

Consultant tips. . .

So everyone wants to be a consultant lately. Lost your job, hate your boss, tired of working for others - sure, go ahead and try to be a consultant. But do you have what it takes? Maybe. Sologig.com is an interesting posting and resource site for those who might want to get a client feed. I have never gotten one from it, but occassionally it does provide some good insight. This is from an eblast today:

In addition to advanced degrees and a significant amount of industry experience, these skills are "must haves" for any professional consultant:

1. Sell your analysis: In addition to being able to analyze problems down to their most granular levels, you also need to "sell" your analysis to your client.
2. Stay cool: Changes in any organization can lead to emotionally charged meetings. Keeping your cool will help you and the client to get the work done.
3. Be ethical: Always maintain the strictest confidentiality regarding sensitive information and document any situations where you feel someone has acted questionably.

Your professionalism, even in the most difficult circumstances, will ultimately lead to your success and the success of your client.

Should I drop my price? - thank you Altus Agency!

We use an outside vendor to provide extranet services for our clients. We'd been with them for over five years.

We recently discovered a better solution. Not only is it better, but it’s also less expensive. It wasn't so much the fact that it was cheaper that sold us. It was the ease of use for our clients.

But don’t get me wrong, cheaper certainly doesn't hurt. And this was cheaper by a couple hundred dollars a month. When I contacted the old vendor to cancel our service, guess what their immediate response was. "We can match their price."
What? So you've been overcharging me for years? Or you magically just had a price reduction to the very dollar amount of my new vendor and you were about to call and tell me about it?

We’re still leaving but now, instead of feeling a little guilty about leaving our old vendor, I’m feeling a bit used. If they’d valued our business - why didn’t they offer us this new price while we were still their customer?

Talk about leaving a bad taste in my mouth.

Dropping your price just to keep a customer is never a good strategy. It makes everyone feel a little cheap. In the end, no one wins and you can kiss any sort of recommendation goodbye.

Your pricing strategy is one of the key components of your marketing message. It speaks about things far beyond your cost. It communicates value, customer attentiveness and how you view the relationship, both short and long term. It's not something you should just stumble into.

And it's not something you should damage by mishandling a situation, like our old vendor did.

VIP Reception & Commissioning

This week has been an incredible series of events from the Dewey Crew BBQ on Monday, the Commissioning Committee reception on Thursday and the incredible VIP reception at Boeing on Friday and finally the actually Commissioning & VIP breakfast on Saturday. It was simply amazing.

What was also incredible was the opportunity to meet the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff - Mike Mullen and his wife Deborah. They are remarkable people. Courteous, respectful, calm and very insightful. Clearly Mrs. Mullen as sponsor of the ship had an impact on the crew and the officers. The second photo is my family with Mrs. Mullen and one of the officers from the Naval Weapons Station. I had the opportunity to connect with Chairman Mullen on the Don't Ask - Don't Tell policy and his support of the repeal and my gay brethren was deeply satisfying. He concurred that it was the right thing to do. Mrs. Mullen was remarkably kind to Anthony and my mom & stepdad. Really a class act!

Our community really did a great job for our sailors and Naval personnel. I was proud to be a part of the commissioning committee and a big thank you to all of them! They know who they are. Also, some of my business contacts were able to be part of the event through the Chamber of Commerce. Again, a great opportunity to connect business with our armed forces! So great!

Changes by the Sea

Recently, I have had the opportunity to look closely at the visual history of Seal Beach. From the early 1880’s to the present day, seeing the ebb and flow of change is both humbling and instructive. Our town has been through many eras of size and shape. “They say time is the fire in which we burn,” spoke poet Delmore Shwartz and it is true, the one thing we can never get back is each moment.
Seal Beach has been burning in the fire of time for nearly 95 years now. Where is it going? I would suggest to you that it seems to be growing – perhaps cautiously and with some resistance, but it seems to be changing ever so slightly. We seem to have deepened a relationship with the Seal Beach Naval Weapons Station and the USS Dewey. The weeklong activities, from tree planting on Lampson Avenue to a reception at Boeing, culminate on Saturday March 6th, at 11 am when the ship is formally commissioned.
We have an award winning school district that is the envy of much of Southern California and the business community is busy supporting Project Seek and other fundraisers for them. It does seem that the business community continues to step to the plate when asked by events. PONY baseball had an amazing opening day, filled with business sponsors of teams and the field. I especially want to thank those who sponsor so many wonderful Chamber events and those this week for the Dewey commissioning like O’Malley’s and Grace Community with the LIONS who did the crew BBQ on Monday.
We have begun a community discussion about what might happen with the DWP property and the committee is interested in what the public has to say on the issue.
We are talking this month about Title 11 – the complete zoning code for the City. Who can forget the over 24 months of hearings, battles and bombastic proclamations from all sides during both City Council and Planning Commission hearings? Those study sessions are happening and are posted at City Hall. Do you have any issues about zoning? Now is your time to have your voice heard.
What does this have to do with time as “the fire in which we burn?” It is simply that: change comes. It will come to our town. It is inevitable. Just as we will rebound from the recession (hopefully sooner rather than later), so will we go through periods of growth and expansion. Equally, we will have contraction and stagnation.
In the 1920’s, Seal Beach was an entertainment and vacation destination. Over 20,000 people a week came from all over Southern California to visit the Joy Zone, the rollercoaster from the 1915 San Francisco Exposition and the Jewel Café which could comfortably seat 500 diners at a time. Seal Beach has had a huge boom time!
We have had gambling casino boats and dancing girl clubs! Seal Beach has had its period of even a “Red Light” district Main Street.
All that may be history, but it is part of the “fire” that exists in our past. Shouldn’t it be recognized and honored for what it was? We don’t need to return just to casinos but our centers of shopping and Main Street need to stay vibrant to both residents and visitors.
Along with that change, isn’t the crosswalk pedestrian sign on Main Street between Electric and PCH great? You can be less fearful of being hit and cars have really been slowing down rather than just worrying about the light.
Change is coming to Seal Beach, slowly and inexorably, but that is as it should be. For times change, people live, grow and pass and our Seal Beach continues to evolve. It was the Founder’s Day Publicity committee which really created the drive to write this column, and they know who they are! I for one am glad Seal Beach is such a remarkable place, and through all of our participation and support in community, it will continue to be our “Jewel by the Sea.” Remember as always, SHOP LOCAL!

A great paper of statistical analysis

One of my Twitter friends sent me this link: http://www.columbia.edu/~jrl2124/Lax_Phillips_Gay_Policy_Responsiveness_2009.pdf

Check it out if you want to know more about gay rights and public policy issues. Let me know if you have comments. Thanks to @skekoa for sharing it!