So, typically I do the advising but today I come to you, my loyal readers and summon thy advice

From the lack of posting you’re obviously aware that I’m 1 cheese slice away from pulling my left eye brow out during our latest launch - boy has it been a TON of work and I’m not even near done yet. Once again, it seems it will be down to the wire…

Here’s the thing though, for the first time in a long time, “I’m a nervous wreck.” Hear me out…this is easily my fifth or sixth major product launch. Of all the product launches I’ve ever done, the response from our readers has been about 10 times more positive and radiating on this one than ever before.

All sounds good, right?

Then, why the heck do I have knots in my stomach?

My only wish is that we had a few more promotional partners banging away at this with us - the response has been so incredible that the launch could have been even bigger.

I guess my fear is that we don’t have enough MASS attention to make it a home-run, but that the ones that are observing our pre-launch are going to definitely buy. My god, I sound like a 16 year old girl before her PROM dating wondering if she looks pretty or not…(I’m not used to this feeling, I don’t like it).

My question to you:

When you get nervous or feel a bit trapped - what do you do to snap out of it?

Popularity: 8% [?]

Hey Everyone, so sorry I have not written, the good thing is that I’ll have TONS to write about probably starting next Wednesday. I’ll try to get a few posts in this weekend as well - just have been SLAMMED : /

Need that vacation soon!

Popularity: 7% [?]

Have you gotten into the blackberry craze yet?

Since the Treo 600 came out, I’ve been a Treo 600 user and I finally switched to the Blackberry 8830 World Edition a couple of months back. Honestly, I didn’t understand what the big deal was. It seemed that most of what the Blackberry could do, the Treo could do (except the Treo is fatter than the Blackberry).

My attitude completely changed now that I’ve been using the Blackberry more and more and I can proudly say that “Yes! I am officially a Crackberry!” 

Here are some things that I can now do with my Blackberry that I either had a hard time doing or could not do with my Treo:

1. Integrate easily with Gmail.
2. Integrate with Google Calendar <– LOVE this.
3. Use my phone internationally on local networks (by replacing the SIM card).
4. Have much better navigation of the internet
5. Have seemless integration with my work mail server.
6. Use many social networking applications on my Blackberry (they have special software for Blackberry).

However, there are some things I miss about a Treo, the most of which is the TOUCH screen. At the same time, I’m very surprised at how easily I’ve adapted to surfing the net withOUT the touch screen.

One major tip if you’re thinking about using a blackberry: You better be VERY disciplined with yourself about NOT consistently checking your e-mail. It will consume your life if you are not careful!

Popularity: 6% [?]

Many people really confuse these two into being the same thing. The more and more I learn about business, I’ve learned that they are actually two VERY different things. An Entrepreneur has a mind that seems to race - they are full of ideas, exuberant and a bit hard to control (of course there are exceptions).

Now, of course, by default, when an Entrepreneur starts a business, they are the CEO by default. But, what you find overtime is that many entrepreneurs are not fit at all to remain a CEO (I’ll explain why in a second). Many of these start-ups eventually go hire a “professional CEO” and the entrepreneur takes a different more targeted position (many times either technical in nature or marketing related).

Now, of course with that said, there are also many Entrepreneurs out there that have proven to be a great CEO, every day, I strive to be that Entrepreneur (and have to say that I’ve done a fairly good job at it so far).

See, a CEO is a manager. A CEO is good at building organization, structure, watching the details, the financials and keeping a “company afloat.” A CEOs entire job is to keep the company in the right line. A CEOs biggest responsibility is to build “share-holder value,” most entrepreneurs could, by nature, care one flying hoot about “shareholder value” - they just want to paint on the canvas!

The biggest difference I have personally experienced and seen between an entrepreneur and a CEO is that an entrepreneur can be FULL of ideas and always generating new ones as well. However, new ideas can give CEOs headaches (since new ideas challenge structure and organization).

Of course, again, there are many cross-overs here. Most “start-up” type CEOs can be close to an entrepreneur, but they still have a very structured way of looking at business.

It’s like someone said to recently… “Entrepreneurs are like artists…a business is their art, and we all know that most good artists don’t paint for the ’selling price’ - they paint to fulfill something inside them.”

Popularity: 10% [?]

So this is my first post, bare with me as I find my niche in what to talk about. Ideally I want this blog to be about “high level” business thinking. Not “how to start a home business” - but how to start a $100 Million business.

As the days go, I’ll add more information about myself and my own business and what my future plans for this site are - for now, let’s just hear about my recent “first board meeting experience.”

====

I won’t lie - I had avoided having a board of directors to date mostly out of the fear of having a group of old grumpy men tell me what to do and also simply out of laziness (rather than sit around fumbling with excel files and charts, I’d rather be out making products and building a business).

Anyways, our company has reached such a point at which “proper governance” is important. The whole “Because Nick said so…” mentality has to go and we need to show that all shareholders are represented in our decisions.

Naturally I asked my business mentor and close friend (who also happens to know our industry very well now) to be the first member of the board. Just to be clear, I didn’t ask him because he’s my “friend” - that would be idiotic and bad judgement. I asked him because as it already is, he’s typically the one that advises me on all “board type” matters anyways…

We had our first board of directors meeting officially on Friday, February 15, 2008 at 2 PM ET (quite a monumental day for me really, I felt like such a big boy with my briefcase, notes, reports and excel printouts).

For those of you who think that board meetings are held in fancy buildings with big tables, think again - this is a new age. We were surrounded by chickens, a dog (a.k.a the wolf), 2 cats, squirrels, blue birds and 5 children. If you didn’t figure it out yet, yes, we were in a home at a kitchen table.

I don’t care how big my business gets, I hope I can continue to meet in such a fashion - it brings a certain “calmness” to the entire meeting. I mean, think about it, it’s hard to fire people if you have little kids playing nearby

====

Our board meeting started with a quick company update and then we went through the financial plans and some other HIGHLY confidential material that I just cannot share (but wouldn’t you love to know).

In custom with the beginning of most things I do for the first time with my friend and mentor, we started with a brief lesson about WHAT exactly happens at board meetings. His 5 minute explanation completely corrected my misunderstanding - so that’s what I REALLY want to share today.

What Is Supposed To Happen At Board Meetings?

Company strategy?
..
..
Nope.

Hiring strategy?
..
..
Nope.

Financial planning!
..
..
Wrong again!

Those are all things I thought as well, but actually those above are all things that MANAGEMENT is supposed to do. The board meetings are about one word and one word only…

GOVERNANCE

See, like with any country that has a set of laws, each company has what they call their “articles of incorporation” - these are the laws by which the company must abide.

The point of the board is simply to make sure those laws are being abided by and that the decisions being made are in the best INTEREST of the shareholders (that does not necessarily mean that they are the right decisions - anyone can be wrong - but they can’t be sneaky/malicious decisions).

Here is a perfect example.

The board does not decide whether a certain position is hired. The board simply “empowers the management to pursue that hire” - meaning it’s still management’s job to make the final decision - the board just acknowledges that they understand why the position is being hired.

So, when you have your first or next board meeting…remember.

GOVERNANCE…not strategy.

Popularity: 51% [?]