Many years ago, when my business partner and I started our company, we did like many other new entrepreneurs and took a big leap. We jumped off the cliff and into the great unknown. We learned as we went, and made as many mistakes as we did things right. We were in it before the days of social media, when the web was still for the most part, a burgeoning industry. It was easy to feel alone.

One thing I wished had existed back then was a way to learn from other entrepreneurs who’d “been there, done that”. Sure, there were some workshops around but they were really focused on the nuts and bolts – writing a business plan, accounting, and sales training – all important stuff, but what I really wanted was to be able to sit in a room and talk with people about the day-to-day things – like refining and developing the million or so ideas we had, using technology to more effectively market ourselves, or simple productivity tips. I wanted a place where I could feel safe, around people who were going through the same things I was going through as a new entrepreneur.

Well, I’m hoping that this new group is going to help us all do just that.

On May 25th, 2011 from 6:30pm to 8pm, we are launching Nighttime @ TheCodeFactory. For those of you who aren’t familiar, The Code Factory is an amazing co-working space in downtown Ottawa that’s become a real hub of activity, not only for Ottawa’s startup and entrepreneurial community, but for many great events as well.

Nighttime @ TheCodeFactory is a place where anyone with a business idea they’d like to develop, refresh, or bring to the next level can come to learn some new techniques and share their experiences, and have a chance to network with fellow entrepreneurs.

I’m so thrilled to have been asked to participate in this great new group. The format is simple – three sessions will be offered each evening on a variety of topics of interest to those of us who want to build and grow businesses. Then the last half hour will be a chance for all of us to convene and connect, and discuss what we’ve learned.

On the inaugural night, the inimitable Shawn MacDonell from Creativision will be leading us through a session on idea generation and how to recapture your childhood ways when it comes to thinking creatively. The super smart Patti Church from WhyHire.me will be talking to us about some office productivity “gems” that she’s discovered since striking out on her own. I am excited to be showing everyone what the big deal is about social media, especially for entrepreneurs.

I really hope you can join us, and as a special introductory offer, Nighttime @ The Code Factory is offering 2 for 1 admission – so, you get to bring a friend and get three informative sessions plus the group discussion for just $50. All the details and sign up info is right here…. http://nighttimetcf-eorg.eventbrite.com – seating is limited, and it’s filling up fast, so book your spots!

Let’s do what we can to help each other build incredible things. Hope to see you there!

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Everyone’s talking about execution these days. Seth’s talking about it over here. Ok, well it’s mostly Seth, but well, we should all be listening to him anyway.

Execution is critical to success in business, and it’s the very thing that many people fall short on. Lots of people get wrapped up in the thrill of the chase, but once they’ve landed the gig, actually executing on what’s been promised proves to be a challenge. Projects fail all the time because of failure to execute. Personal goals fail all the time for the same reason. Failure to execute.

Often, the failure happens long before the point of execution. We meet a prospect. We have a great chat, about all the possibilities. Both parties walk away feeling inspired and excited. Perhaps you even get to the point of putting together a proposal that outlines how execution can happen, but by the time you deliver it to your prospect, excitement has waned, other priorities have taken hold, and execution might seem impossible. In this case, it’s easy to blame the other party. After all, you worked till 2am to deliver that gorgeous proposal, how dare they not call you back right away! They were so excited about what you had to offer last week – why aren’t they making you a priority now?

Eventually, the prospect fades, but your resentment doesn’t. So you continue to go through the process – prospect, proposal, crickets. Prospect, proposal, crickets.

So, what’s wrong with your prospects?

Well, absolutely nothing.

What’s wrong is your approach. You see, the problem is we’re hungry. Our focus is on the prize (the paycheque, and/or the glory). So, we just want to skip a bunch of steps. We want our prospect to just say yes and sign on the dotted line, and we’ll figure out the rest later. It’s like calling someone your girlfriend when you haven’t even had a first date yet.

Patience is not my bag. I’ve never been an exceptionally patient person. When I get something in my head, it’s all I can think about. I dream about it, imagine it happening, becoming a reality in front of me. I feel the joy it will bring. I’m showered in good feelings.

And then I just want it to happen, like, NOW.

More than anything, having my own business has proven one thing to me. Good things DO come to those who wait. The longer a prospect takes to make a decision, the more comfortable I feel that they have done their homework, comparison shopped, dotted their I’s and crossed their T’s, and secured their funding. It’s an absolute fact that it always takes longer for someone to say “yes” then it does for them to say “no”. And that’s a good thing. I’d much rather my clients make an informed decision that they feel good about than to dive in with both feet and realize they’ve made a mistake halfway through.

So, be patient. Be really, REALLY patient. Out-patience your competition, and be the one who is still around when the prospect finally comes back and is ready to move forward.

But being patient doesn’t necessarily mean you have to sit back and wait forever. Follow up is still important. Dropping a line to say hi, I’m still here, is more than acceptable. Inviting your prospect to lunch, or coffee, is perfectly fine. Keep the relationship moving, let the prospect know you’re still there, is a very good thing. Often, it’s just the small tap they need to get the ball rolling again. Time it well though – use your instincts to guide you to the right next step.

Bank accounts are not patient. You’re right. Bank accounts are notorious for not being patient. So are those insistent people you have to pay your bills to. They don’t really get the whole “Well, I’m just being patient until my prospect makes a decision” thing. So, that just adds to our pressure, our hunger to get a decision out of people.

So what to do in the meantime? Well, keep pursuing new prospects, for sure. But find something else to do, to ease the financial pressure. Pick up a freelance gig. Heck, get a part time job, or keep your full time one. Don’t put yourself in a position that you’re starving. I work several days a month for a project management consulting firm. It’s a side gig, where I can make my own hours and work from home. I’m given assignments, deliverables, and deadlines, and as long as I meet them everyone is happy and I get a cheque every couple of weeks. I keep this job going because it provides me with a buffer zone, and makes me less anxious about signing that next deal. Plus, I really like the people I work with over there. Plus plus, it’s provided me with some new opportunities for my own business. But ultimately, my sales cycle is not dependent on me making the bills for the month – so I have some room for patience, negotiation, and a bit more time to build that comfort level and relationship with my prospects.

Growing a business is a process. It may seem to you like other peoples’ businesses are overnight successes, because we only get to know about them once they’ve landed the huge client or made a million bucks. Nothing could be further from the truth. The formative years of your business are right now – where you’re building your portfolio, creating long term relationships and expanding your referral network.

The rest is just patience.

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Ok, alright. The title of the post might be a bit misleading. I am a firm believer that anything you do takes a certain amount of trying. Real work, I call it. But I’ve been thinking about success a lot lately…about what it is that makes people successful and what makes them unsuccessful. What I’m discovering is, it’s not about succeeding without really trying…it’s about figuring out the right stuff to try. So here are a few things that I’ve been learning about how to succeed. It’s stuff I’m trying, and it seems to be working for me.

Never, ever, ever take things personally. I’m lousy at this…truly lousy. I think the reason I’m not great at it is because I find it to be a bit of a contradiction. This is my business. I’ve invested a great deal into it, emotionally, physically, and financially. It is intensely personal.

The ironic thing is, it’s that very emotional attachment that can get you into trouble. If a crisis hits, then it’s far too easy to let emotions take over. Suddenly you are in a reactive state, and all proactive reasoning goes out the door.

My brilliant business partner and I had a discussion about this the other day. She is one of the calmest people I know when it comes to dealing with a crisis. I asked her how she does it. She said “It’s easy. You need to become aware of the fact that your first instinct is to have an emotional reaction. Then you need to let it go.”

When you think about it, it makes perfect sense. Of course there’s going to be an emotional reaction to the adversity. That’s just human nature. It can’t be avoided. But take a moment to acknowledge that reaction. Then, take a deep breath, and let that emotion go. Push it aside. What lies beneath is sound judgement, reasoning, and, remarkably, the solution.

Being an entrepreneur is just about the most personal thing you can do. But it’s that very thing that can mean the difference between a good decision and a bad one. Cooler heads prevail, always.

Try to stop taking everything so personally. You’ll soon see that success is just one calm reaction away.

Lift people up. Business, to some people, is first and foremost about making gobs of money. I’ve always considered that business is about people first. The most successful businesses are the ones where people are put at the top of the heap. The way I see it, if I have happy staff, they will do good work, and then I will have happy clients. And if I have happy clients, I will have gobs of money. Kinda makes sense, eh?

It’s not hard to have happy people. Of course you have to pay them appropriately and on time, but there’s so much more to it than that. You need to lift them up. Genuinely. Effortlessly.

Lifting someone up is not about putting them on a pedestal, telling them how great they are all the time. For many people, that just makes them uncomfortable. Lifting someone up is about really listening to what people are saying. It’s about helping them find their passion. It’s about understanding what they may need from you in order to help them meet their goals. And then, it’s about genuinely, gently, placing them up so the world can see the amazing things they can do.

Try lifting people up on a daily basis. Listen, help, and give. It will come back to you tenfold.

Allow yourself to be lifted too. Often as entrepreneurs, we spend a lot of time focusing on other people. We’re so busy with our heads down, pushing forward, dealing with everything we need to do in a given day, week, and year, that we forget sometimes that other people are watching us.

This morning I received a couple of really nice messages from a friend. The words he said resonated so much with me, and were so kind and sincere, that it actually made me a bit emotional. I took myself completely by surprise at my reaction, but I was overwhelmed with the sudden realization that someone could see me this way – and that my friend probably wasn’t alone in his observation.

I am terrible at taking compliments (almost as lousy as I am at not taking things personally). But I am learning that as I’m spending all of this time putting it out there; whether it’s in the work I’m doing for my clients, through my blog, or in my online and offline relationships with people, that somehow, even in my own small way, I’m making an impact. I may not be changing the world with everything I do, but I know that all of the work that I’m doing right now, all of the sacrifices that I’m making and that my husband is making and that my family is making are worth it. Because as much as I’m lifting others, I’m being lifted too.

Try allowing yourself to be lifted up. And be grateful for the people in your life that are there to lift you. I know I am.

So what are you going to try next on the road to success?

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You want it all. You want it now. You’ve done everything right. Read all the books. Taken all the workshops. Shaken all the right hands. So why hasn’t your dream come true yet?

Your dream could be anything. A better job, a nicer house, a better girlfriend, or that next big client. Dreams are a good thing to have. They give us a reason to get out of bed in the morning. But dreams are difficult to achieve.

When we see other people achieving their dreams, and ours still remain just out of our grasp, we get very frustrated. That woman just bought a beautiful cottage. That guy just sold his startup for ten million bucks. Those two seem so happy together. Other people’s dreams have come true, and you’re left wondering if yours ever will.

The Rollercoaster from Hell. I don’t like rollercoasters. Never have. Having the wits scared out of me is not really my idea of a good time. Neither is cheating death.

I’ve been an entrepreneur full time for almost 3 years now. Every single day of my life is one continuous rollercoaster ride. We reach the highest highs and the lowest lows all at the same time. The loop de loups are unbelievable. I wish that my days could have fewer ups and downs. I wish I could spend all my days celebrating success and that I’d never have to worry about failure. Or do I?

The rollercoaster ride is fundamental to dream achievement. I am truly passionate about what I do. I am completely emotionally invested in my business. It makes me laugh big fat belly laughs. It makes me cry in my pillow. It makes me want to dance with joy. It makes me want to throw things. It doesn’t make me like rollercoasters any more. But now, I just tolerate them and accept them, because they are part of the deal. No dream worth having was ever achieved on a straight road.

Hot Pursuit Never Gets You Anywhere. I remember back in high school I had a HUGE crush on this boy. He was my first love. Man, I really dug this guy. (Oh how I hope he isn’t reading this post, as I realize suddenly we are still Facebook friends.) I chased after this boy in a big way. I went out of my way to call him, to be around him, to talk to him. I was what you would call, in hot pursuit.

I chased and I chased and I chased. He was, after all, my dream guy. I was lucky he was a good person. Even though I “loved” him, the feeling was not mutual. For all my chasing, all we ever became was good friends. I was grateful for that (and still am). That experience I had at the ripe old age of 13, is a metaphor for the pursuit of dreams.

Chasing a dream never works, for a couple of reasons. First, when you chase, it’s obvious. Others notice, and they don’t see the chasing of a dream. They see desperation. And nobody wants to do business with or start dating desperation. It helps if you are a nice person, of course, because then the chasing isn’t as obvious. If you’re fun to be around, people won’t mind. They will like you. But they will always keep you at arms length because they sense your ulterior motive (i.e. I am desperate for you to be my boyfriend/client/wife/boss!) And in the end, like me and dream boy, what you may end up with is a good friend, but you won’t get your dream.

Relax. Go Do It. So what’s the solution? If I don’t actively chase my dreams, how will I ever make them happen? Well first, stop. Take a deep breath. Then stop trying so damn hard.

It’s easy to get caught up in the idea of dreams coming true. You imagine yourself on that podium getting the big award. You envision bags of money all around you. You see yourself walking down the aisle. But if the actions you are taking are only about achieving that ideal, then you are coming from a place of lack. You are wanting to be somewhere you are not. You will only be happy once you achieve your dream. And that’s the wrong place to be.

This is the downfall of dreamers. They always want to be someplace else, when where they really need to be is right where they are. Ever hear the story of the guy who was an overnight success? Flash forward two years and he’s on the street, having lost all the fame and fortune he wasn’t ready for to a life of depression and drugs.

The reason you haven’t achieved your dream yet is because you need to spend your time preparing to be able to handle it. That means working hard. Making connections. Appreciating what it’s like to be broke, or lonely (or both). Feeling exactly the way you need to feel in the situation you are in right now.

The bottom line is, you need to have dreams. You MUST have them. But until you stop demanding they come true this minute, you will be stuck in a pattern of chasing. Once you let go of your want, and start doing what you need, you’ll suddenly see a shift. And your dreams will seem closer to reality than ever before.

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Just recently,  our company passed its 2nd anniversary (in its current, full time version – we ran as a part time entity for 4 years prior to that). We’ve come a long, long way in 2 years. We’ve surpassed many of our expectations and are on a course now to exceed even more over the next little while. It’s exciting, exhilarating, and scary as crap. I’ve been doing a bit of reflecting lately on what I’ve learned over the past couple of years, and I’m in the mood today to share some of these things.

Too few new entrepreneurs share their lessons with each other. It IS scary striking out on your own. It IS risky. You ARE going to make plenty of mistakes. But for some reason, many of us feel like we need to keep our fears to ourselves. That if we don’t ever say we’ve made a mistake or ten, then somehow we are stronger. In fact, I think the opposite is true. So, here are a couple of things I’ve learned so far.

Get Over Yourself. I used to be the kind of person that took EVERYTHING personally. If a clerk in a store was snarky to me, I’d worry about what I’d done to tick them off. Heaven forbid one of my friends or colleagues should disagree with me; I’d feel bad about it for DAYS!

When you are running a company, people are going to disagree with you every day. Lots of people are going to try and shoot you down. Others are going to talk behind your back. People will say no to you a lot. The last thing on earth that you should do in any of these situations is take it personally. I’ve learned that taking things personally is actually a sign of self-centeredness. If you stop taking things personally, a really cool thing happens. You are able to start seeing the other person’s perspective. And then, you are able to make rational choices based on that. Suddenly, the naysayers and backstabbers don’t matter anymore. And the people saying no, start to say yes.

Ask for Help. I was just about to start in on this entrepreneurial adventure full time when I met the person who was responsible for introducing me to all of this social media stuff. He’s a super busy guy, but he spent a lot of time giving me snippets of advice, feedback on what I was doing, and basically just being encouraging and supportive. For that, I’m infinitely grateful. I remember one day I was struggling with something. It was a technology issue, and I wasn’t sure how I was going to overcome it. I was terrified that my project was going to fail because of it. I sent a message to my friend, to ask his advice. He said something really simple – “why don’t you ask Twitter?” Seems obvious now, however Twitter was pretty new to me (and everyone) two years ago. Always ahead of his time though, my buddy had already figured out the power of the network. I did as he suggested, and posted a message. Within minutes I had advice, contacts, and was on the road to a solution. I wrote back to my friend and said “Wow! It worked!”. He replied with a bit of advice that has stuck with me to this day:

“You have a whole network of people available to you now. Use it.”

Never, ever, ever, ever be afraid to ask for help when you need it. Successful business ventures are successful because there are PEOPLE behind them. You can’t and don’t (and shouldn’t) possess every skill you need to accomplish everything you need to do. A good leader is someone who can surround herself with good people. Hire people who are better at what they do than you are. Ask your network for advice, contacts, or just their opinion. But don’t forget to give advice and help and time when asked, too (because nobody likes a Needy Nelly). We now have instant access to more help and advice and resources than ever. Use your network. It works. And your business will be better for it.

That’s what I’ve learned – what about you?

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