A British Entrepreneur in America

We've just incorporated Franklin - Spirko and although it looks like an eccentric combination of myself and Crazy Jack, I can assure everyone that there is a sane (nearly), group of highly talented people alongside us.

We will offer specialist design marketing, PR, SEO,with a focus on revenue generation.  We believe that too much client money is being spent on design and not enough on marketing that provides direct revenue - this is the 'gap'. Many companies are talked into the creative design and logo story that costs a small fortune, seriously impacting monies left for marketing and I should know as I was one of them!  I talked before about how much corporate time is spent agonizing over 'which logo is better' and over precision 'copy' - again, my business was one of them so I am directly qualified to talk about how wrong this process is.

Companies need to adopt the strategies of our future generation of marketeers - these people do not graduate from universities with high powered qualifications, instead they are 'street smart' and know how to attract the attention of people by appealing to their human nature - they will be schoolchildren who are not frightened to try anything because if it doesn't work, they change it.  They will be far removed of today's 'paralysis by analysis' corporate mantra of "we have nothing to lose, so let's not do it"!

Here is another amazing story that I heard from the latest addition to the team - our Director of Internet Marketing, 'Mad' Mark Barrera (got to have someone to keep Crazy on his toes)!  Mark told me of a client of his who after embarking on a specific Internet strategy phoned him and told him he had to cancel the service - he was getting too much business!

Now there are problems in life, but that one doesn't make my shortlist!

 ~ Neil

Technorati Tags: Internet Marketing, SEO, Design, Sales, PR, Business, Problems

When giving a speech about the definition of an entrepreneur, I opened with the statement that i couldn't define it because the term was not in the dictionary - I was however looking under 'O'!

I have deliberately mis-spelled the term because I think that one of the most common mistakes that entrepreneurs and businessmen in general make is working 'in' their businesses rather than 'on' them.  Over the years, this has been probably one of my biggest mistakes and I have often stifled the people working alongside and underneath me because of my incessant interference.  The trouble was that I just couldn't help it - instinct tells me to get involved if I think something is wrong, but often at the expense of the management team, who are searching for the solution and will find it in their own time.  

I have also tried to 'back off' completely and let people get on with their jobs, but that approach can also lead to problems.  So their needs to be a balanced approach and as obvious as it seems, it has taken me nearly 15 years to get near to it!  I realized that their is no point in paying people good money to do a job and then try to do it yourself - you pay far more than 'twice' in the long run, but I have worked out that my skills are in vision, strategy, sales and marketing, coaching and motivation and I leave pretty much everything else to those best qualified to do it, it's not easy and I often have to restrain myself from 'diving in'.

I have explained to the management team that the best way to work with me is to just listen to what I have to say, when I say it, because I will rarely remember the thoughts and ideas as they flash through my head - especially the good ones. Many good ideas fall by the wayside when people are not encouraged to speak up when they occur, especially in meetings.  Many managers insist that the thoughts are written down and discussed at a later stage and this is so wrong.  When you postpone this 'creativity', you lose the emotion and feelings behind it and also the context  In turn, I am being 'trained' by my team to 'get out of the way' and let them do their jobs - as I said it is difficult because of the nature of the beast, but it is actually beginning to work very well!

Working 'on' your business is far more satisfying and you achieve far more.  The role of an entrepreneur should never be confused with the role of running a business - they are two completely different skills as I have learned, sometimes to my cost!

Finally, I must thank Mr De La Hoya, Mr Mayweather and the 'thundersmonster' (my three year old daughters name for a thunderstorm!)  The first two individuals for renewing my motivation for early morning workouts and Mr Monster for the wake up call!

~Neil 

Technorati Tags: entrepreneur, vision, strategy, sales, marketing, coaching, motivation, thunder

Woke up this morning to find a 3 feet rat snake that was happily resting just outside my back door - immediately called Crazy Jack, who is somewhat of a snake expert (he owns over 40 of them) to ask his advice.  "Describe it to me", he says, "well it's about 3 feet, black and brown and looks as if it's going to take up permanent residency", I replied.  He then went on to tell me to leave it alone (call me old fashioned, but I have absolutely no interest in getting acquainted with my new visitor) and asks if I have birds nests nearby, to which I say yes and then tells me that it's 'hunting'.  "Don't kill it under any circumstances, leave it alone and it will go away", he adds, telling me that he could do with a rat snake for his collection!  "Yours", I reply!

The fight on Saturday was excellent as expected, with the decision going to Floyd Mayweather and as I said before, with such great classy fighters, it could have gone either way.  The English Soccer Premiership battle was also concluded, with Manchester United taking the title.  It proves that money can't solve all problems - Chelsea were the other team in the battle and are owned by a Russian billionaire, whose 'check book' style of team building has finally cracked.  It proves that you cannot 'buy' a team - it must be nurtured and sculpted and people must play out of passion first, then success follows!

Crazy Jack and I are about to write a book on selling - how to sell effectively, by selling naturally.  We will address the three most important aspects of selling - passion, belief and being natural and we will explain in detail exactly how to 'transfer belief' - the true definition of selling!

 ~ Neil

Technorati Tags: snakes, selling, soccer, boxing, money, success

I'm a huge boxing fan and I'm looking forward to tonights clash between Floyd Mayweather and Oscar De La Hoya. Normally I have a favorite, but not for this one - they are both such great, classy fighters!

Watching the build up has motivated me to get up early in the mornings and start training - I have been a little lazy recently and found excuses, but in business, you need to stay sharp and focussed.  There is definite edge to be gained from early morning, punishing workouts, it is easy to find excuses to stay in bed and back in the UK during winter, I would drag myself out of my warm bed to train in a cold garage at 6am, just to prove I could 'do it'.  Now to add even more madness to the mix, I would start my workout by pouring a bucket of ice cold water over my head!  This is a practice I read about and the theory is that the cold weather and water forces the body to heat up rapidly to a temperature that kills viruses.  My medical friends are however skeptical and state that I must be crazy and that it could be dangerous, so if anyone is tempted to try this, please get a medical check up and remember there is absolutely no scientific or medical proof that it works.  I must say though, that I never had a cold or flu throughout the UK Winter!. 

Seriously though, many of us never push ourselves to anywhere near our limits and I believe the only limits we have exist in our minds.  Working out is a great way to develop mental strength, provided you do so with a purpose.  I am in favor of short, hard workouts that push you to near exhaustion…But again, anyone trying this MUST get the OK from their medical doctor first.  

One of my other passions is drumming and I have come across a great website operated by Jared Falk.  I have just ordered his Jazz drumming course and for me, if you can play Jazz, you can play anything.  What caught my attention on the trailer, was the comments about teaching musicality and simplicity.  My drumming is definitely simple, so I'm half way there!

~ Neil

Technorati Tags: Boxing, Martial Arts, training, exercise, cold water, business, Jazz, drumming

We are just about to release the Martial Arts DVD Ballistic Striking, featuring Val Riazanov.  Now this has been an interesting and exciting project for me, not least because I am on the receiving end of Val's fists!  Enter Crazy Jack.  Jack wanted to get an in-depth understanding of striking to help him market the product in the most effective way, so he took all of the footage home and decided to learn.  Literally one week later he excitedly runs into my office telling me that he has 'got it'.  Got what, I say…BANG, I am now wearing my left lung on my shoe!  So trust me, this stuff works.

Val was a former operative in the KGB and I'm sure that everyone has a little interest in this infamous organization and from my perspective, having seen Val's capabilities not only in the Martial Arts, but in psychology, everyday life and even spirituality, my interest is high.  I asked him what makes this organization so special and he says that it is because they are ordinary people, just going about their business.  "Come on Val", I say, "they are hardly ordinary".  He says that they are; they are taught to survive in any situation and the skills they learn are based on firstly learning this important principle.  He says that we must apply this to everyday life and stop this obsession about 'winning', because if you don't try to win, then you cannot lose!  Very interesting words. 

I further questioned him about all of the elite athletes, especially in the former Soviet Union, where they dominated the world for so long, surely they wanted to win.  As a former Olympic judo athlete himself he said "of course", but it is how you go about winning.  First, take away the notion of the word 'win' and learn how to survive the situation.  For a world champion boxer defending his title, you usually have a situation where the challenger comes out 'all guns blazing' and this is where you have to survive.  Val further states that through survival comes opportunity and through opportunity comes success, or your own definition of 'winning'.  He says that when you focus on purely winning and you lose, the psychological damage can be irreparable and I'm sure many of us can recall great sporting champions who can never recover from defeat.  One last point…Val states that you are never in a 'passive' survival state…you are always searching for those opportunities.  Food for thought and I'll post more from Val in the future.

Finally, I am looking forward to the end of the Soccer season in the UK, although I'm more of a Rugby fan (being of Welsh ancestry), I love the pressure of top class Soccer and in most cases have more interest in how the managers deliver results, than the game itself.  This battle is between London team Chelsea and Northern side Manchester United…under the leadership of two great coaches.  One team however has an owner with seemingly unlimited finances and the other, somewhat less.  For me, I always believed that you cannot 'buy' success, you have to nurture it from within.  

In a few weeks we will see!

~ Neil 

Technorati Tags: Olympic, winning, survival, KGB, Football, Rugby, success, Chelsea, Manchester United, Judo