Blacked out & Red hot

The past week around here has been newsworthy for sure--from a weather standpoint. Wed & Thur, storms came through, taking electricity from over half a million people in the St. Louis metro area. As if that weren't bad enough, it occured just about the time a 100+ degree heat wave was smothering the area, like only the humidity of a St. Louis summer can bring.

I finally got the completed list of local biz owners to call, and that should start this week or next at the latest. I want to set some specific target numbers to shoot for between now and the end of the year, to see how effective that partnership is going to be. I feel pretty good about the possibilities there. As far as the other partnership goes, I'm already seeing some good things--I've set the first appointment for later this week. It's a biz owner who has two locations, and seems to be receptive to meeting. There must be some level of success there, for multiple locations in a relatively new business.

There are some old challenges that are creeping up again this week. Last-minute changes to my schedule due to changes (or maybe just a lack of planning) on the part of someone else's schedule. I tell you, it can make it pretty tough to do business when you don't even have complete control of your own time. It's bad enough trying to get someone to find time in THEIR schedule to meet with you...to not be able to keep time set aside in my own schedule just makes everything that much more challenging.

Enough bitching, though. Negative venting doesn't usually lead to much in the way of productivity, to be honest. Besides, I still have to finish the dishes, wrap up the laundry I've got going, get the baby's dinner ready, get the trash together, clean out the litter box and get something ready for dinner before running errands tonight...Gotta send out some EMails. More later, stay tuned!

Aaahhh, the life that is the business of life in this business.

Yesterday's got nothing for me; Tomorrow never dies

Well, it's been a decent [past] week. Got a call from a potential client who I wasn't sure if he would ever come through or not. It's a guy who I used to work with, who told me, "Oh, I'll call you, I'll call you...". If I had a penny for every time I've heard that, I'd be paying someone to type this while I dictate it. But, he called this week, we met, and it's going to be some good business! I'm pleased, but that was a couple of days ago, and I woke up this morning unemployed--gotta focus on what's in the pipeline coming up. One of the guys in my office (who I have tremendous respect for) says, "What's a barber say when he's finished giving a haircut? "Next." " That's so true in this business. It matters not what happened today, but what's in store for tomorrow and the next week is paramount. You're only as good as your last appointment, and for many people that's a problem. Not for me. Since I am never quite satisfied with what's at hand today, I strive for the next level, stretching to attain that higher quality of life for my clients and myself.

This coming week, I'm going to take the first step toward breaking into the business market. A plan I've had in place for weeks, even months, but finally is about to come to fruition. Sometimes I spend too much time planning the attack, which leads to a perfect attack that never quite gets implemented. I believe it was Patton who said "A good plan executed today is better than a perfect plan executed tomorrow." Truer words never spoken, so even though things aren't 100% where I'd like them to be, my partner and I are going to start calling on small & mid-sized companies on Monday. My goal is quite low, actually--I am hoping to schedule two appointments.

[Cold] Calling on businesses has two features that cannot go unnoticed. First, they are, by nature, not on the "do-not-call" list. Therefore, they're 'fair game' for cold calling...not a favorite pastime, but running your own business means you do what it takes to succeed, period. So, anyone can call any business anytime...that's great, but the problem is this: Unlike calling a person out of the phone book, when you call a business, you're almost invariably speaking with a "gatekeeper". This person plays the role of receptionist/office manager/administrative assistant...etc. What he/she does all day is probably get coffee, fax stuff, send a few EMails, and maybe gossip while texting on her cellphone, but the most significant role in her job description is to keep me out. There's no question in my mind that the person whose voice I will hear when I call Monday (the "gatekeeper") was told explicitly upon their initial interview for that position with the boss, not to let [people like me] get through to the boss.

Here's the rub. If I don't talk to the boss, I am not in a position to do business. If I don't do business, I don't get paid. If I don't get paid, my baby doesn't eat, and my wife doesn't continue her [lifelong] shopping spree. Actually, my wife is going to shop, come hell or highwater, so I'd better be making some money!

So, the first challenge is getting past the gatekeeper on Monday. The second challenge is that if the person I'm looking for is really as important as I think they are, it won't be easy to get in touch with them on the phone...might to have to make a personal appearance. Oddly enough, I've created a strategy that actually includes making a personal visit to the decision maker (aka. boss). The beauty is: That strategy is designed to gain the gatekeeper as a serious ally. It might take time (a few days, perhaps a week), but on paper, this is a pretty good strategy...at least, here in St. Louis. I'll soon write about the differences between doing business in Chicago and St. Louis. But, just to save time (and hopefully entice you a little bit), I'll go ahead and tell you the similarities now: The work I do is the same and the company I work "for" is the same.

That's it.

Since being back home, I am astounded at how different things are here. Maybe I'll be able to capitalize on it, who knows?

One point oh

Ok, first blog post. I haven't done this before, and as I approach 30 years old, technology confounds me more and more. So, I hope you've got patience--you're going to need it.

My primary purpose for posting this blog is as a vent for my ideas, frustrations, challenges and victories that come with running my own business. I am constantly trying to improve efficiency and all aspects of business operations, from marketing to administrative work, so any ideas are always welcome. I am hopeful that at least some traffic will make its way here, and someone out there might be able to give me a different insight or spark an idea to help me grow. At the very least, should I stay committed to doing this, I hope to look back in several months and periodically thereafter, hopefully in awe of how far I've come, and the progress made.

That said, I'll conclude my first ever blog post.

(Is that what it's called? A "blog post"??)