My TEDx Irvine talk “Transition”.
Special thanks to the TEDxIrvine team for asking me to speak and for putting on an amazing event. If anyone has ever wanted to know what’s in my heart, this talk is as transparent as I’ve ever been about where I want to go.

He was a modern DaVinci, the Thomas Edison of my time. Without his inspiration I wouldn’t have the tools to make my living. Without his vision I couldn’t communicate with family and friends the way I do. The list of products he brought to market is staggering, the influence of those products can never truly be grasped. To name a few: a graphic based interface, the mouse, a computer friendly and approachable, the iPod, iPhone, iPad, Pixar. He changed the way we hear music, the way we watch movies, the way in which we interact with each other…the list goes on and on. RIP Steve Jobs your inspired leadership will be missed.

- posted from my iPad

I have to admit, I’m a sucker for spirit. I love when people do what they love and I will go out of my way to show my support. It’s why I have an office full of artwork. It’s also why I buy the brands I love. Something about their brand spirit is contagious to be around and that is great for business.

One such brand is fellow graphic designer Steve G. from RDQLUS Creative. I met Steve last year in Denver at a conference I spoke at. After watching him interact with his fans, I can say that his spirit is definitely contagious. It’s not only in how he interacts with people, but also in his work.

I recently picked up a couple of t-shirts from his store. Not only do I love the designs, but like the artwork hanging in my office, I will be reminded of the spirit that went creating them each time I don my RDQLUSthreads.

A few weeks back, I had the privilege of speaking to a great group of IT service company owners at Kaseya Connect in Las Vegas. My talk was titled “Branding Your Companies Unique DNA” (if you’re interested, you can download the simple slide deck here).

Over the past couple of weeks, some of the content has sort of settled in and I wanted to take an opportunity over the next few posts to address some of the questions that were asked at the end of my talk and in the hallways after.

One of my points in the talk was about how company culture is very much a part of your brand, which brought up a great question: “How do you retain culture as you become a bigger company?”

As I thought about this question a bit deeper, I came up with a few pointers based on what I’ve seen in the marketplace, mainly as I’ve witnessed with some of my favorite clients and how they lead the companies that they own.

1. Share your vision
Even when your company is growing, you can still share your vision for the future and keep your staff in the loop. This can be hard if you’re growing at a quick pace and your schedule is always full, but I think at least once a quarter, you should rally people together either in person or virtually and share how things are going from a top level. Show them that you have vision and that you understand where your business is and where it’s going.

You might also start an internal blog or email chain where you can talk candidly about things that are happening in the business. This could be especially helpful if you are larger than 25 in staff or running a company with multiple locations.

Either way, people want a leader that has vision. If you have goals for the company, share them with everyone. If you’re working with a new business consultant to better the company, introduce that person to your staff. If you’re working on a new product, let everyone know (not just the sales staff).

We all need to be a part of something big. So, let your people know how deeply you care about them and the future of the company.

2. Go to the front lines
I think back to the days of knights and swords when kings used to lead armies into war. Think about how much different our world would be now if this was still the case. A staff loves a leader that is willing to charge to the front lines with them. If you as a company owner are still willing to go to the front lines, that will inspire your people. It shows that you are in the trenches with them, even if only for a little bit. When was the last time you went out on a sales call? Or took a customer service phone call? Or helped clean up after an office party? When you as a leader show that you are happy to get your hands dirty, you give your company a sense of togetherness. Don’t just stop with you, though. Encourage your managers to get in the trenches with your people too.

3. Share time
I know someone that used to put together a team of walkers for the Race For The Cure event every year. They would invite staff, clients and vendors to participate in the event together and they provided a cool t-shirt for everyone involved. Whether it’s participating in a charitable event or having a quarterly company lunch, you should make a conscious effort to do things together as a staff. Ask your staff for suggestions; maybe they’re already involved with a charity that you can volunteer with. Making an effort to spend time together takes time and resources, yes, but your brand culture will thank you for it. And if you can involve clients, even better.

Some final thoughts …

Study companies that have gone before you, and ask your colleagues and fellow business owners what they do to build their culture. Read books about great companies (“Delivering Happiness” by Tony Hsieh is a great one to start with). Also, ask your marketing people for ideas on how to engage staff. I’ve played part in a few fun internal campaigns with the sole purpose of building some excitement amongst a company’s staff.

One culture caveat: while I haven’t seen it happen very often, it is possible to completely ignore common sense and your company’s financial health for the sake of culture. Like anything, you can swing the pendulum too far the other way. But I believe you can have culture and make money, no matter the size of your company.

I’m currently in Las Vegas for Kaseya Connect where I will be speaking to a group of IT service professionals tomorrow about branding their unique DNA. In a business where the product is service, I believe each company is unique (whether they choose to believe it or not).

In the end, if you are selling service you are selling relationships both on an individual and a company brand level. Because people are unique (some more than others) it stands to reason that the companies they work for are unique as well. You may never know this by reading some marketing materials.

During my talk I will share some key points which I feel are essential to building a service company brand.

Brand Positioning – this is answering who you are in the prospect’s mind.
Brand Consistency – a company should always examine how they look, act, and what they say.
Brand Culture – in service, it’s about your people, and your culture will bleed through to those client relationships.

I will expand on this idea of Unique DNA branding later. Stay tuned! Until then I’m looking forward sharing tomorrow, hope some folks are ready with some great questions as well.

If you’ve been in business for any length of time, you know the feeling of a cash crunch. You’re busy working but, for whatever reason, the math just doesn’t add up this month. And you find yourself thinking about the mailbox a lot, hoping that it’s good to you today.

We’ve all been there and will likely be there again at some point in our freelance careers, but there are some things that we can do to make that dreaded cash crunch more bearable.

Read more at The Creative Freelancer Blog

Is your business evolving? Are you evolving personally? Or are you just sitting still? These are very valid questions.

Whether things are going good or bad, you should always be looking for things you can change, make better, do better.

When business is great, look for ways to grow or start new things. Use your success as a way to open up other doors instead of getting fat and lazy. Sometimes, success causes people to get comfortable and lose that edge, the thing that got them there to begin with.

When things are bad, you might need learn some things. You may need to reinvent yourself or your product. We’ve certainly seen a lot of this lately. Maybe the sliver lining for this economic mess is that people are switching things up; the way we work, the way we live, the things that in the end will make us better.

So in good times or bad, evolve. Always question if things should change. By the way, a great book to read about change is “Who Moved My Cheese”. It’s been out for awhile, but it’s still a great and relevant read.

I promised in an earlier post that I would share my system and my favorite tools for keeping up with my reading of digital goods such as blogs, articles, e-news, etc.

For blogs.
I love Google Reader. It works really well on all of my devices (laptop, iPhone, iPad) and stays in sync regardless of where I access it. Within Google Reader, I use folders to keep things organized. I have a folder for “must read” stuff like things related to clients. Then I have folders such as Marketing, News, Business, Friends and Design Inspiration. Finally, I have a cluster called Waste Time. This serves as a home for those wacky sites that I simply enjoy looking at when I want to zone out, sort of like that time spent watching TV.

A couple of things about reading blogs. First, accept that you can’t keep up and don’t feel like you have to read every post as it’s written. I block out a certain amount of time each day and read whatever I can during that time. This is where a good headline helps since I skim those first and decide what I might like to read. I will also star items when looking on my phone and come back to read those later. Second, if you find that you’re never reading posts from a certain blog or feed, just unsubscribe. Too often, I’ve hit the “mark all as read” button over and over again only to finally realize that I just don’t read that particular blog anymore. It’s fine. You can always unsubscribe and reconnect later. But don’t you dare unsubscribe from my blog.

For e-news.
I created a separate “read” email address where I direct all e-newsletters and other things I want to read later. During my morning reading time, I simply pull one or two things out that I want to read. Blog rules apply here too. If you’re always deleting e-news stuff without reading it, go unsubscribe. You can always sign up again later.

For others.
I send links, articles and other things I want to read or look at to that same “read” email address. Once I’ve read it, I will either bookmark it, save it to a job folder or simply hit delete.

Having a stack of stuff to read is nice, but only when you realize you don’t have to keep up. Most of things I read don’t expire right away. That marketing article is just as good a week from now as it is now. At the end of day, you have to find what works for you.

P.S. Another reason I love my iPad is that I can read all of the above items along with my books, Facebook and Twitter all in one place. As I mentioned in an earlier post, the iPad is the perfect device for consuming content…not that I’m trying to sell you one or anything.

How potent are you when you show up to perform? What would it look like if we always gave things our best versus giving our most?

Giving your “best” means you’re like a ninja when you show up. You perform with such accuracy that people are simply amazed. You are a specialist at what you do and when that one thing needs to be done, you show up and deliver the goods. Your down time is spent dreaming and thinking; it’s spent sharpening those skills for when you’re called to perform.

Giving your “most” means you just continue to throw hours at something until it gets done. You think if you can just find six more hours in each day, you will get ahead. If you could just work seven days a week, things would turn out better. But at some point, you have to take a break. Better to do it before burn out sets in.

For me, taking a two-hour bike ride in the morning before work allows me to more than gain back those hours in the work day. Something about the endorphins and time to think just works for me.

Whatever it is you do, please don’t just show up and give your most. Take time to stay fresh so you can show up and give your best!

I once hated reading, but I disciplined myself to do it anyway and now have a genuine love for books. I always ask people what they’ve read recently and I’m always shocked when they respond with something like “Oh, I haven’t really read many books since college.” Oh really? Not only is that just plain sad, it’s a quick way to get passed up in the marketplace.

There are so many smart people out there writing such great stuff. Honestly, too much great stuff. I would read for hours if I could, but I’ve found that an hour a day minimum keeps me satiated. Here are a few tips for making reading a part of your day:

Commit to a time.
I personally like mornings. I get in early and clear a few things off my list. Then around 8:00 am, I take an hour for reading at the local coffee shop. I also enjoy an hour outside in the park as a great way to mix up my day.

Have a system.
My reading consists of blogs, e-newsletters, articles and books. I’ve given up on trying to stay current and clear out my RSS feed. I just commit to that hour. In that hour, I dedicate 40 minutes or so to my current book and another 20 minutes to the digital stuff. (Stay tuned for a future post where I will describe in detail my system for collecting and reading digital content.)

Share.
Finally, I share with my friends what I’ve been reading. I find it addicting to give away books or share a title that may prove helpful. You’re not just reading for you. You’re also building knowledge that you can give away.

So, speaking of sharing…read any great books lately? Feel free to comment about your favorites.