Could you go 60 days without using Social Media? No blogging, tweeting, fb status updates, etc.? Well I did it....kinda. Here's what I learned. In some areas I was more successful than others. I haven't blogged in two months. As for tweeting and fb the longest I went without using them was 30 days. Honestly it was harder than I thought it would be. So Why Did I Do It? 1) I wanted to unplug. It was time to take a step back from being "plugged in" and just take time to think.  I turned 37 this past May, which puts me closer to 40 than ever before :) I really wanted to take a break from some of the noise that was in my day to day life and just take some time to reflect on where I've been and where I'm going. 2) I wanted to really see if "technology" was hindering or helping me to have a "better" life.  I can honestly say that being unplugged from social networks for a long period of time left me feeling out of touch with people.  As humans we have a basic desire to connect and have relationships.  I will write on this more later but to sum it up, being connected, even if only by a status update, is a good thing. 3) I wanted to get a sense of whether Social Media was indeed here to stay or just a fad. Without a doubt Social Media is not going anywhere...ever. I know that's a big claim but I believe it. It aligns too closely with basic our human needs to have relationships and be connected. Who we are and who we want to be are all played out using Social Media channels.  It certainly will evolve but it's not just a passing trend. 4) Is Social Media consuming all of my time? The answer was no.  Moderation, balance, prioritize...are all words that come to mind when I think about using Social Networks, blogging, etc.

In 1989 our company had a great idea for a completely new product.  Not only did we have an idea for a completely new product, but also a new business model that was going to allow us to build at a quality higher than anything on the market. We introduced both...and got nothing. No support. We had designed and engineered a completely new way of yachting in a product unlike anything else.  We took that new design to several dealers assuming they would be as excited about the new product as we were.  They weren't. In fact they said it would never sell. Faced with a product we were confident in and without a sales channel to sell it through we decided to create our own distribution network.  So that's what we did and in the process ushered in direct selling from manufacturer to customer. Now selling direct surely isn't something we invented there were even other boat companies doing it at the time.  However it was a business model that we had not initially wanted to explore.  We never thought we would be selling direct and be successful. That's the reality of being an entrepreneur.  Where you start isn't where you end up.  That's the beauty of creating something and having the courage to change it as you move along. Look at flickr, originally developed as a way to share screenshots for a game, now it's one of the largest consumer photo sharing sites. Look at Twitter, originally developed as an texting tool only, now a computer integrated communication platform. Look at Post It notes, originally a failed experiment by 3M researchers to find a stronger glue turned into one of their most successful products ever. It's not where you start that matters, its the fact you start. Speaking of start, download "10 Reasons Why Now Is The Best Time To Start Your Business" photo credit

Are you interested in selling something? Products, services, ideas, brands, charities, organizations, even yourself are all things that as entrepreneurs we focus on selling. In fact the very essence of being an entrepreneur is selling.  If you want to take something and turn it into a business then at some point you will need to sell. Sales is as old as time and while there are certainly timeless truths and techniques to being successful at making a sale, one thing that has changed over the centuries are the methods and tools. 1995 Seems Like Another Lifetime When I started my business career full time over 15 years ago the tools we had at our disposal for making sales were, TV, the phone, fax machine, direct mail, print media and trade shows.  There really wasn't any Internet to speak of.  Sure it existed but it hadn't made its way into the average household. Fast forward to 2010 and the sea of Internet tools available to small businesses is deep and wide.

On day 1 of any job, endeavour or project how much knowledge about it did you have? Now having been well into it compare your day 1 knowledge to what you know today. I'm sure the years, the challenges you faced, the experiences you've had all lead to your knowing much more today than you did on day 1. That's why  rookies in sports are looked at the way they are. Sure they have the raw talent and skill but it goes without saying that they will make rookie mistakes. If you track the history of any all-star you will see a progression of getting better and better from rookie to seasoned pro.  It takes time and it's not something that happens on day 1. Now take your business ideas, your projects, that charity you're working on. You may have aspirations and plans of great things.  Certainly you have others that you look to as a comparison, someone you aspire to be like. You aren't going to know everything you need to know from day 1, so stop waiting and get started. The challenge comes in realizing that and moving forward anyways.  You aren't suppose to have all the answers, all the ideas, even a complete picture of where you want to go.  On day 1 you just need the willingness and desire. That's what day 1 is all about, getting started. photo credit

The only way you're going to launch that idea, that business, that website is to create a tunnel vision focus and get it done. Today the noise and  distractions that surrounds us are overwhelming.  Twenty four hour news, instant updates, tweets, friends, phones and everything else are all fighting for your attention.  Unfortunately for most people those distractions are succeeding at pulling you away from what needs to be done. If you think the distractions are bad for you, they are even worse for businesses.  Many companies fail to have tunnel vision when it comes to launching products and services. Of course you'll here the argument that keeping an open mind, listening to the masses and constantly changing are all important characteristics of a successful company. Certainly those are successful traits, however the ability to block all things around you, all distractions and noise and apply a tunnel vision like focus to the problem is the difference between a company headed in the right direction and a company headed in too many directions Many of the arguments Jason Friend makes in his book Rework require companies to have tunnel vision.  Things like putting less instead of more features into products, not focusing on the competitions business but instead your own, and proper time management all require tunnel vision. What are the things that keep you from achieving your goals?  What are the distractions that eat away at your time? You need to practice some tunnel vision on your highway to success. photo credit