Management

We broke this news on our Facebook Fan page yesterday (come & “like” it) and today we announce it to the world. We have officially expanded our operation to Latin America by opening an office in Mexico City, Mexico. The office and the Latin America operation will be run by Fernando Braojos – you can read about him on the About Us page.

I’m extremely excited by this news, we have already executed one project in Mexico and are in the process of signing more clients as I write.  This is a major step for a company that only celebrated its two year anniversary at the beginning of this month.

What next?  Over the next year we will continue to expand our operations across the US & in Latin America. Our next obvious target is Europe and I am looking at various options for partners in London with which to gain a foothold there. There also a couple of individuals on my radar who I think would be an awesome fit for the IncSlingers team so we will see where things go from here.

Speaking of awesome individuals, our other major news is that Aronado Placencia of Startup Lucky has joined the IncSlingers US team as Creative Strategist – again you can read about him on the About Us page. Aronado will lead our sales & marketing efforts in the US. Seeking new clients that are looking to partner with real communicators who will ensure that their message is delivered.  See why Aronado decided to join IncSlingers in his video.

I took part in the Alltop promotion by signing up and allowing the site to send Tweets out under my name. I did this for a few reasons, I thought it was a neat way of marketing something and I wanted to see if it worked, I like Guy Kawasaki’s approach to business and figured this was a way to be a part of something he was setting up and because I couldn’t see the harm in it. I believe I got all of those reason correct. What I also got, which I wasn’t expecting was a free copy of Reality Check, Guy Kawasaki’s book.

I am on my second time through it at the moment. Now I am a voracious reader, but to be honest, I don’t much go in for business books. I see them in the bookstores, I see them at the airports, I even occasionally see someone reading one of them. For the most part I have always felt they were part of the “must be seen to be doing” effect. Like owning certain gadgets, or other brands.

Don’t get me wrong, I am not disrespecting business writers or business books per se. I am sure many of them have a lot of value. I just prefer to get my business knowledge by doing rather than reading. Of the few business books that I have read, which include things like “In Search of Excellence”, Reality Check is a stand out book. Most notably because it isn’t a business book. Although it is sub-titled, quite cleverly, The Irreverent Guide to Outsmarting, Outmanaging, and Outmarketing Your Competition, I would have sub-titled it (with a nod to Dr Reuben’s book) “Everything You Wanted to Know in Business School – But Were Too Afraid To Ask”.

I have never been a fan of B-School. There, I have said it out loud, go on get over it. Perhaps its a cultural thing, the MBA has yet to really catch on in the UK (we are perhaps more like Missourians – we are the Show Me country). I’d rather hire someone who has actually done it than someone who has sat and listened to someone who hasn’t and then taught them how it might be done.

That’s not to say I haven’t encountered some very smart people who have MBA’s, Guy Kawasaki has one! But it is my belief those people were smart before they went to B-School, not because of going to B-School.

So having set the stage, what did Reality Check teach me?

1. Its cheaper than an MBA and a lot more useful: Ok so I have already shared my thoughts on MBA’s, not going to beat that subject. Reading a book that so encompasses the business mind set like this, that takes you from concept to launch to daily operations, do you really need $000’s of student debt and two years out of your life, why not read this book and then invest that money in yourself and your idea. You will learn a lot more from reading the book and then actually doing than sitting in a classroom.
2. It isn’t just about the technology: My company is a service provider, we don’t develop or produce technology (although that is my background – yes I am a geek). So does any of the start up part of this book really apply to me and my company? Yes absolutely. Just because the references are to technology ideas, the principles that Guy shares in the book apply to any organization of any size, from a tech startup to a florist. The product you are developing is going to go through all the same stages.
3. Whether You Believe You Need Funding or Not, You Need To Know How VC’s Think: A lot of focus in business writing concerning VC funding centers on the next great “killer app”. Well if you aren’t in the business of producing the next great killer app or you have a big enough bank account of your own to bank roll your idea why do you need to know about VC’s. In my opinion what Guy shares about VC’s is not just about investors in the traditional sense, its about anyone investing in your company, and that most certainly includes your customers – especially your early customers. Treat them like VC’s, talk to them in a way that recognizes the risk they are taking and be aware that they are quite likely experienced and can smell Bull-Shiitake from a considerable distance.
4. Why Money Isn’t All That Important: Ok we all know this is a lie, money is the one thing every business, especially new businesses need buckets of, or at least that is the conventional thinking. Guy points out how that paradigm has changed, how he started Truemors & Alltop for less than the average “traditional, VC funded” startup spends on having their business cards designed. Guy shares that it cost him approx $10,000 to start Alltop. How many credits at B-School would that buy you?
5. Entrepreneurs are everywhere: This is the really interesting part of the early chapters of the book for me. It recognizes that not everyone either wants to or has the drive to go out and start their own business. However, it doesn’t mean they shouldn’t think and act as though their piece of whatever organization they work in isn’t their own enterprise. Invest in it, not with money but with time, attitude and approach. If more organizations encouraged rather than stifled their Intrapreneurs, as Guy calls them, then they would find a resource that would truly help them Outsmart, Outmanage and Outmarket their competition.

Of course to some this will simply seem like a lovefest for Guy Kawasaki, it isn’t, though I happen to think he is one of the smartest marketers in the world, mainly because he is so honest about how and why he does things. Don’t believe me, come back tomorrow and read the five things I asked Guy Kawasaki and what his response were.

image via Amazon

According to the United States Marine Corps, 3 is the magic number.  The Marine corps operates on the rule of three’s.  Each leader is only responsible for three units at any one time.

This got me thinking, how many things are you trying to control at once.  Do you ever manage to control more than three successfully, do you ever manage as many as three at once?

If I think about my day today, I am trying to build out our marketing plan, seeking new partners, seeking new customers, thinking about tomorrow’s blog entry, waiting for responses from potential vendors, getting organized for Innotech-Austin.  In other words more than three things.  Which begs the question am I doing any of them effectively? I see lots of posts, tweets and comments that contain remarks about how busy everyone is at the moment.

What if I determined at the beginning of the day that I was only going to focus on three things that day, but really focus on them. Would I be better at them, would I get better results?

There seem to be no end of self-help business management books, websites and blogs out there all with their own recipe for how to achieve success, or to build effective habits.  I am sure some of them work.  But trying to take those on, wouldn’t that be one of my three things?

I like the simplicity of the rule of three’s, I don’t have to think about it too much, I don’t have to learn any complex matrix formats into which I have to push my work day.  Do effective things have to be complex?  Or is that just a myth perpetuated by business schools?  That’s not meant as a knock at business schools, I just wonder at the sometimes extremely complex solutions that come from some of my colleagues. 

But perhaps therein lies the problem, perhaps the rule of three’s isnt complex enough. Perhaps it over-simplifies very complex issues.   I would counter that by saying its possible to utilize the rule of three’s even for even extremely complex thought processes.  By breaking them down into sets of three problems, clearly identifying individual stages and grouping those by like, related, associated or dependent problems.  Revisiting my day, perhaps I should focus on only three prospects today, only three vendor solutions, and three blog topics as a short-list.

Of course the question is how I organize the other things on my to do list under those three things in not more than groups of three.  Now my simple system is starting to sound increasingly complex! Or perhaps thats the point, I am, like so many others, trying to do too much.  Perhaps this is what the rule of three’s can teach us, once you get beyond trying to control three things you are trying to do too much. So fall back, regroup, reorganize and refocus. 

So if you were only going to try and control three things today what would they be?