Wednesday, December 31, 2008

New Year's Resolutions

Our single most important resolution happened to be featured today in the Toilet Paper Entrepreneur's blog - a listing of the best of what entrepreneurs are doing for resolutions.

You should definitely check these out - this blog it is perfect for all entrepreneurs and the resolutions are really interesting. Also, FYI: Mike, of "TPE" has a TON of great resources.

Our resolution (#15 on the TPE list) was: "This year we are going to put every new idea through a 10 question filtering system to help decide whether or not we will/should do it."

You might be wondering what the questions are so we will share them here. Keep in mind that these are our own questions we came up with so if a business idea got an affirmative answer to at least 8 but preferably all 10 then it would fit with our mission, our desires, goals, and direction.

1. Is it something we like doing or want to do?
2. Will it make us healthier?
3. Will it move us closer to our 5 yr business vision?
4. Will it move us closer into industries and people we want to work with?
5. Will it result in greater financial freedom?
6. Will it provide ample ROI?
7. Could create passive income?
8. Will it allow us to spend time together?
9. Will it allow us to be creative?
10. Will it challenge our comfort zone/help us grow?

So hopefully we've spurred some of your own thinking about how you make decisions in your life and your business.

Oh, one other resolution that we saw on the blog that fit so perfectly in the Go for No world of thinking: "I resolve to hear every no with grace and every yes with humility." - Rain Fordyce, President of Authentic Times, Inc.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Thursday, December 18, 2008

The Greatest Shoe Salesman

Here is a guy who is a "Lion" and embodies the "go for no" philosophy. To him, "SELL" is not a four letter word; and he brings a wonderful passion to what he does. A model for anyone who sells!

Saturday, December 6, 2008

Helping Entrepreneurs Succeed by Failing

The other day we were interviewed for a podcast at http://strugglingentrepreneur.com/
by Matrix Solutions Corp.

The Struggling Entrepreneur is a free podcast series that deals with the issues, challenges and problems of the individual who wants to be an entrepreneur, but who may face a difficult path and appears to be struggling. But the podcast series also looks at the opportunities that await an inspiring and dedicated individual who wants to be an entrepreneur, and provides recommended resources.

Truth be told, I think our interviewer was a bit skeptical about bringing us on. I think he might have felt that our approach was negative and that a lot of entrepreneurs would be turned off. After all, we were talking about "failing" and when you use the word entrepreneur and failure in the same sentence - well, all bets are off.

But, after we got into it and had a chance to explain the "go for no" concepts and ideas I think our interviewer was as big a fan as anyone. We certainly appreciated his having an open mind, and I give him a lot of credit for being willing to dig into a concept that, on it's surface, seems a little strange. Fail more?

The line I liked the best, said by Richard, was that people who start a business should make the decision to not start a business, they should make the decision to be in business. That way, even if one business does literally fail you bounce back and try something else. Business is all about risk, uncertainty, and failure. For us, those words equal: challenging, exciting, and daring!

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