lobby art in "The Monarch" condo, downtown Austin

I’ve been juggling a bunch of balls for quite some time now. Here’s a quote from a previous blog post I wrote in 2007: The Law of Gravity: as it applies to Entrepreneurialism:

I compare all my businesses/projects to balls. I continuously throw up as many balls in the air as I can. Right now, all the balls are different shapes, sizes, and colors—-but there’s probably about 6 of them right now. I’ve learned to accept (and to look forward to) the realization that most of the balls will fall, roll around on the floor, and then ultimately get squashed. As a positive, that’s when you no longer have to pay attention to them. But in your heart, you know that you gave them a chance to fly…no regrets on your part. Some balls, though, stay up for longer than you would expect. However, the longer they stay in the air, they gradually grow in size and begin to get heavier and thus, harder to manage along with the others.

Lately, I’ve been feeling a bit overwhelmed about new “opportunities” that have come to me, that a year ago I would have jumped at—effectively adding them to juggling exercise. I’ve reached the point, it seems, where my mindset has shifted. I’ve now become a lot less interested in picking up new projects and more focused on the ones I’m already working on—those that I’ve grown exceptionally passionate about and have a high potential for sustained success. I still have a tremendous curiosity with the new projects that I’m teased with—and am in fact, admittedly addicted to curiosity. I would even make the bold statement that I’ve never met anyone more curious than myself. So, now as I’m refusing to allow myself to get wrapped up into these new ideas, I’ve realized that what has drawn me to them in the past has been my sheer curiosity of “what if” and perhaps my lack of full belief in my other projects.

Now, though, I’m confident and sure that the projects in front of me right now, are the ones I want to focus my time on. Yes, it stings a little bit to say, “no”, but perhaps the only way to reach massive success with one thing in life is to say no to countless others.

What balls are you juggling right now? Do you find yourself adding more and more to your collection? If so, maybe you should explore the true reason why. And if you’re not adding more and just focusing on one or two, then perhaps you’re a step ahead of me.

Every once in a while I go on a reading rampage. In fact, for a three month stretch during my last year in college, I was consistently reading four to six books per week (non course work related) and regularly checked out 15-20 books at a time from the library. In fact, it was a bit of an unhealthy obsession—and I felt quite consumed by my addiction to knowledge.

I’m able to read pretty quickly because of a speed reading technique my dad taught me years ago that he learned while in the US Air Force Academy.

A couple months ago, I was on one of my reading rampages and went to one of The University of Texas libraries (they have an amazing collection books and honestly, it’s kinda neat to be in there and know that you’re one of the ONLY people in there reading for leisure) and found a bunch of books that facsinated me. I plopped down for a long while and read them all, taking notes of the most memorable passages from each book. Here’s an AMAZING quote from one of them:

Thoughts are cold, but feelings are warm, alive and vital. So don’t “think” I am strong. Feel it! Stir up your nature to its depth until you can really feel you are indeed strong and possessed of the radiant energy of mentative force. - Mind Power: The Secret of Mental Magic by William Walker Atkinson.

This was the quote that inspired me to have the realization that I wrote on previously: Clarity is feeling, not thinking

So many people live within un-happy circumstances and yet will not take the initiative to change their situation because they are conditioned to a life of security, conformity, and conservatism , all of which may appear to give one peace of mind, but in reality nothing is more damaging to the adventurous spirit within a person than a secure future. The very basic core of a persons living spirit is their passion for adventure . The joy of life comes from our encounters with the new experiences, and hence there is no greater joy than to have an endlessly changing horizon, for each day to have a new and different sun. If you want to get more out of life, you must lose your inclination for monotonous security and adopt a helter-skelter style of life that will at first appear to you to be crazy. But once you become accustomed to such a life you will see its full meaning and its incredible beauty. -- Christopher McCandless, Into the Wild

Food for thought…chew on that.

“Clarity is feeling, rather than thinking. The pureness of existing is feeling the sensation of life, not thinking about its intricacies.”

I pulled this “note to self” from my journal, which is a realization I had on May 14, 2010. Frequently, I catch myself overthinking so many things. Truly experiencing the moment, though, comes only when the mind is completely silent. That’s when you feel the moment. And when this happens, oh my, it feels brilliant.

I was going through some old papers when I came across a page I literally ripped out of a magazine while I was traveling in Australia from a couple years ago. from the article:  today’s backpacker is no longer a “worthless, party-addicted wanderer, roaming Australia in a Combie Van.”

If there were no limitations or consequences, what would your perfect average day look like?

I learned an interesting visualization technique after watching a video taped speech from the uber internet marketer, Frank Kern. He shared what worked for him to help him realize his ideal future. His words were so impactful to me, that it encouraged me to do exactly as he did.

The key is every day – you could do this stuff every day and not die or get sick of it. Many people visualize their future in order to help it come true. However, in order to fully realize that future, it’s important that you don’t just visualize the physical things like that fancy car you want to drive, but also how driving it makes you feel, what you’re thinking about as you’re driving it, what music you listen to while you’re driving, who’s in the car with you, etc. The more detailed you can get, the more your mind’s eye can begin to piece it all together and realize how possible it is.

I’ve been visualizing my perfect, average day in great detail, from waking up in the morning to going to bed at night. I’ve been writing it all down in detail on a sketch pad about 36″ x 18″. I never expected to write as much as I have so far. In fact, I’ve been working on it for weeks and am only up to 12:30pm. It’s a very surprisingly difficult process, actually.

Photo 1 – Here’s a photo of me working on it while I was in my backyard on my picnic table. This is after having just started, so I haven’t filled up that much space.

Photo 2 – A close up – it reads, “in the future…a day in the life of davidhwalker, if i had to live this day over and over again, what day would make me happy”:

Photo 3 – I moved inside and wrote quite a bit more. I just kept going and going…was an immense amount of fun, actually! :

Note: what you see at the bottom is the word “SLEEP.” Before I had started, I had assumed that I would be able to do the entire visualize from “AWAKE” to sleep on that one page. In fact, at the point that I’ve finished writing in this photo, I’m only up to 10:30am. Didn’t realize how detailed I was going to get, but the more detailed I got, the more real it became, and the more my mind’s eye was beginning to accurately take a grasp of what my future can be.

Photo 3: This is where I am currently–page 2 (I was able to fill up the entire first page before going to page 2). I’m a bit stuck and find myself writing a new sentence every few days. But at this time I’ve having a hard time visualizing what my perfect, average day will be like after 12:30pm. I know what it will begin to look like around 6pm, but for some reason, I’m having a hard time filling that gap.

Here’s a list of some of the questions that guided me along the way. Remember, the key is don’t think about stuff—think about experience. our experiences help shape our identity.

1. Where would you live?
2. What would your house look like?
3. What time would you wake up?
4. What would I do in the morning? Think about? First words of the day?
5. what would i have for breakfast
6. what does the mundane stuff look like – what you’re thinking about, etc
7. what would you spend the first half of your day doing
8. what would you have for lunch
9. who eat with
10. what would your friends be like
11. what would you do for personal fulfillment
12. what life purpose would i strive for
13. what would your business be
14. what time would you start work
15. what would actually do at work?
16. what is your relationship like
17. what would you do for family time
18. what would you have for dinner
19. where would you eat
20. who would you eat with
21. what would you talk about
22. what would you do at night
23. who would you do it with
24. what would your thoughts be as you went to sleep
25. etc

For older entrepreneurs, the vastness of the Internet may seem daunting, and rightfully so. Since almost anybody can disseminate anything to an audience, monitoring your online reputation is more important than ever.

Online reputation management means keeping close watch of public commentary and opinion regarding your product, services and brand. Mitigating negative reviews or slanderous commentaries can seem like an overwhelming task. But it’s simpler than you might expect when approached with a few basic steps.

Without ORM, someone is sure to wrongfully ridicule you or your company. Because of the anonymous nature of the Internet, anybody can have a voice without real consequence. Sadly, that means vengeful customers and disgruntled employees have a way to criticize you, no matter how irrational or mundane the reason.

At the same time, the Internet gives you the chance to check yourself and respond to malicious content. Follow these steps and you’re sure to maintain a good online reputation.

Search Thyself. Don’t think typing your name into Google search is good enough either. Google doesn’t encompass the entire Internet, only its servers. Try other search engines, such as Dogpile, Yahoo! and even AskJeeves. However, it’s a good idea to set up Google Alerts for your name, its derivatives and your company name. Go to Yelp and find out if there are more bad reviews than good ones about you. The purpose of searching for content about you is to find anything that disparages you. Though you cannot delete that content, you can counter it with positive content, such as a blog of testimonials for your company.

Think prevention. To keep from always being on the defensive and having to produce new content, stop reputation-destroying web users before they start. A common practice is to buy domain names that are similar to your business’ site. For instance, buy different extensions (mybiz.net, mybiz.org), any abbreviation of your company name, several domains with your name in it and maybe unflattering site names (yourcompanysucks.net) by doing this you’re stopping some content from ever existing. You can also purchase and build simple customer review sites to help counteract potentially damaging online postings.

Be a social (networking) butterfly. You can’t expect to have one website with sufficient traffic anymore. Make use of the free social networking sites (SNS) to attract potential customers. Having tons of usernames and passwords can be difficult to manage, but free programs like HootSuite let you juggle all of your SNS accounts from one place. At the very least, you’ll need Twitter, Facebook and blog accounts. Don’t just use SNSs to manage your reputation because they’re great places to show off your personable side. You’re allowed to be more casual with your SNS interactions.

Embrace it all. Technology has come a long way, and as an older entrepreneur you might remember the days when computer towers filled a room and car phones’ one function was to make calls. No matter how scary, it’s time to make use of everything, especially the internet to manage your reputation. Regularly check what’s out there that might hurt your cash flow. Stay educated on your industry and post stories, your reactions or questions on your blog. Use SNSs to put a face with your name. Customers need reminders that you’re a person, too. Given your experience and wisdom that you’ve acquired for years, they won’t mind seeing a gray hair or two.

——————–
This is a guest post from Chris Birk.

An old friend of mine contacted me out of the blue one day and we chatted about what we’ve both been up to. It was a great conversation and a memorable chat. Afterward he sent me an email and said he wanted to send me a business book that was very valuable to him. He said, “it’s like having a $300/hr consultant sitting by your side.” So, being the avid reader that I am, of course I said, “sure, send it my way!”

Reading it is like opening your eyes to a new way of looking at old things. It challenges some preconceived notions, which is certainly a good thing. Here’s some notable quotes from the book that I’ve read thus far. I’m on page 133 of 360. Will post a follow up with the next installment:

Getting Everything You Can Out of All You’ve Got
by Jay Abraham

• Instead of giving the salespeople 10% of the profit on a sale to a new first time client, give them 100% of the profit on the first sale.
• Clothing stores, auction houses, jewelry stores, and others hold private “by invitation only” sales events for preferred clients
• If in your field these people are referred to as customers, that’s fine. But whatever you call them, always think of them as a client.
• Determine who in your marketing area is already selling to the clients you want to be reaching, and who has their trust, respect, and goodwill.
• If you sell software for a company, you could contact a salesperson who works for a corporation that sells the computer hardware to the same client base and develop a mutually beneficial relationship.
• Tell your clients that you enjoy doing business with them and that they probably associate with other people like themselves who mirror their values and quality. If you acknowledge your client’s value and importance to you, they’ll be eager to reciprocate.
• Willingly offer to advise, talk to, or meet with anyone important to that client. In other words, offer to consult their referral without expectations of purchase, so your clients see you as a valuable expert who they can put their friends in touch.
• Why do clients stop buying from you?
  • Reason one: They stop buying temporarily and just never get around to dealing with you again. Out of sight, out of mind.
  • Reason two: They become dissatisfied. The important thing to realize, though, is that rarely did you intentionally offend or dissatisfy that client
• When you recognize that over 80% of all lost clients didn’t leave for irreparable reasons, you can instantly take action and get many–even most—of those clients back.
• I want you to stop accepting your present-day business circumstances as the way it has to be. You’re going for major breakthroughs.
• The Strategy of Preeminence is quite simply the ability to put your clients’ needs always ahead of your own. When you master that your success will naturally follow.
• The Strategy of Preeminence is a powerful yet simple strategy that almost single-handedly can transform your business or career.
• If you use the word customers, that’s fine. But always think of them as clients. And when you start to serve clients rather than sell clients, the limits on your business success will disappear.
• One of the biggest mistakes, probably the biggest mistake, people make in any business is that they fall in love with the wrong thing. They fall in love with their product, service, or company. You should believe passionately in your product, service, or company. but you should fall in love with your clients.
• Falling in love with your clients means taking responsibility for their well-being. Putting their best interests ahead of your own.
• It means following up after the sales–not just to patronize but to contribute, acknowledge, and assure that client that you care about them.
• I guarantee that when you practice the Strategy of Preeminence the rewards you will accumulate with astonish you. And I don’t mean just financial rewards. There is no question that you will generate more money than you ever imagined when you start putting your client’s needs first. But it won’t stop there.
• Acquiring clients at a breakeven or a slight loss and making substantial profits on back-end repurchasing is one of the most overlooked and underutilized methods of client growth and generation available to you.
• It’s important to get clients into the buying stream as quickly and easily as possible.
• Most businesses and people make it far too hard for clients and employers to start a relationship with them. They make it too difficult to get prospects to start using their products or services to the maximum advantage. If you lower or totally eliminate the hurdle in starting a relationship, far more people will begin one with you.
• They want to do everything possible to make it easy and attractive to get you started buying and using their service in the first place.
• Make a list of every product or service you or your company sells. Then figure out how you can lower the resistance barrier to a prospective client, employer, or prospect by lowering the entrance fee you ask.
• Picking a USP: speedy service, a longer and more comprehensive warranty or guarantee than the norm.
• The bottom line is this: Develop a USP and extol it in everything you do. It can put you head and shoulders above your competition forever.
• One of the biggest “competitive-edge” advantages you’ll ever gain is to always make it easier for the client to say yes than it is for them to say no. You do it by taking away the financial, psychological, or emotional risk factors that are always attached (stated or unstated) to virtually any decision-making proposition you ever ask a client to make.
• Assume the risk in every transaction you have with your clients. Let them know that, if they are ever dissatisfied, you will give them their money back, redo the job at no charge, or whatever else it takes to demonstrate your total, passionate commitment to their satisfaction.
• You must totally and completely guarantee the purchase for your client.
• Offer them an exceptional money-back guarantee, but allow the client to keep the bonus if he or she asks for a refund.
• Their biggest discovery is that the primary reason people don’t buy is that they don’t want to look bad in the eyes of their peers, and they don’t want to make a mistake.
• If there’s no risk in doing something, a lot more people tend to give it a try. Once they try it out, if your product or service performs as you say, most people will continue buying again and again.
• Usually a sixty-day guarantee will outproduce a thirty-day guarantee by 20-100%.
• Sample guarantee: “No Questions asked, 100 percent money back guarantee anytime within sixty days if my product fails to perform exactly as promised.”
• a tv set distributor offers to back any sets not sold by his retailers in the first 180 days
• I’ve seen strong risk reversal double and triple sales while only adding .5 to 3 percent in additional refunds to a company’s numbers.
• Look at your business, products, services, or employment skills and talents. Make a complete list of every obstacle to your clients or employers that might prevent them from purchasing, dealing with, or choosing you over your competition. Mitigate them or even better—Eliminate them!
• Instead of simply selling cars, most dealers offer their clients the opportunity to add on a stereo system, convenient financing, security devices, a sunroof, car phones, an extended warranty, and all kinds of other options to the basic purchase.
• Watch what people themselves do with your service or product after they buy it, and offer to do it for them for a fee.
• Can you offer a client a larger unit of purchase–perhaps a family size month’s supply, or  a three month, six month, or a year’s supply?
• Put in add-ons when they go up to the next step – ex: receive an extra business building report
• By merely offering people three different choices, 2/3 of the buyers bought a higher unit of sales.
• “Since we don’t know exactly what you have on the shelf now, we’ll send over one hundred books on consignment. Just send back those you don’t want”
• The important point here is to always focus on the increased profit–not lost profit—that an add-on transaction brings you.
• Consider offering three times the average volume being purchased now for two and half times the price. Offer three month, three year, etc.
• Bundle your products together to achieve the end result. Clients will thank you for it and you’ll profit tremendously by doing it.