You can’t do it all:

In the beginning, you could. You could mop the floors, take a call, make a sale, and then grab lunch at your desk. And you could wait months for a paycheck if you needed to.

Now, you’ve built an expanded version of your little successful company (and maybe sold the dream to any number of new investors). You’ve had to bring in the experts to make that expansion a reality. Your take home pie percentage-wise is smaller, but your net dollars more. (oh ya… that!) Take that into consideration before you nation build and layer secrets.

Trust in your choices:

To expand sales and production, you have to expand the team that brings about those actions.

Meet, funnel, filter, and start over again until that team is solid. Then go with it and never look back. You can’t drive forward if you’re always looking in your rearview mirror. It takes a lot of time and energy to continually review decisions. Make them. Move on.

Don’t Nickel and Dime:

Going back to the first part.  Petty arguments over the cash fuel that drives your team will instantly diminish your overall effectiveness and the cohesive structure of the new team will peel quickly. If part of your team resides off site, then expect that you’ll have a tougher time monitoring their activities. See note on trust above. There’s a reason they call it “field” sales.

Meet. Funnel. Filter. Then get out of the way.

If you have a bigger support stream than you allow early on, especially in dollars, then the petty moves are even more painful. See next item.

Your team knows everything:

In today’s hyper info driven world, we will find out. Cop out early and often.  Humbleness is the call of the day.  “Oh shucks I forgot” doesn’t hack it.

A humble anecdote to a grim decision is much easier to accept than a 3d hand story of same. In fact, every comeback story usually starts with an ugly act. If customers are telling those 3d hand stories, all the more awful outcome long term.

Now let’s get on with it:

We came together for one purpose: to better ourselves and the people or entities we call customers.  So much of our day has to be spent on the things that make good customers great ones.  We don’t have time for anything else.

Interesting.  A museum to the go-go “aughts” that we all lived through recently.  Big nice resort slung along the craggy coast of Palos Verdes near what Angelinos call “the south bay”.   Word has it that one of the big guns that left Starwood has the $500M note on it.  Desperate times.  Cheap rates for the time being.  Go get it.

In those same go-go aughts, we went to a lot of these types of resorts.  My fave being Hualalai on the Kona coast big island style.  Terranea wants to be that place.  Someday it might.  The polish isn’t there.  The Four Seasons allure and hushed quiet delivery of basically everything you do isn’t there.

The main difference between an acme named resort (anything without a badge of luxury) and a Four Seasons or Ritz Carlton is just like the difference between the sound proofing being much thicker and what I call “small edges”.

You see, just (NOT) like you, I look along the baseboards as I walk around and I notice if the team got the small stuff.  At the Four Seasons, they always do.  At places like Terranea they are too busy paying the bills to get there.  I notice how many little kid band-aids I see along the edge of the pool.  The other guys never miss them.

I digress.

The visit was good.  The restaurants ok.  If you stay more than 48 hours, you get bored with “Nelson’s”. It has the veiw and firepit.  It also has a wait staff that is primarily “college I don’t care”.  Lots of waiting around to get some simple food.  But gosh oh mighty do you get a twing if you like or have anything to do with “Sea Hunt” and Mike Nelson’s travails as a scuba diving special-guy.  I loved that show.  My brother did too.  I sent a bunch of the picture of Mike to him while I was there.  We then watched a bunch of Hulu when we got home.  The old “Marine World” was situated on this same craggy coast years back and Sea Hunt used the aquarium for lots of underwater work.

The main bar was nice and twinkly with jazz but VERY expensive.  A single espresso is $5.  Watch for the double $10 one.  Whiskey neat $20.

I digress.

The boy lost his favorite bear there.  Put between the sheets to keep kid bro out of it.  I did my major topple everything in the room before I cleared out but never got between the sheets on his separate bed.  Awful but a lesson we had been trying to teach on all things that want to come out of the bedroom and follow us around.  This time, we gave in and of course catastrophe!

Called.  Emailed.  Dug around and called the basement departments. Almost drove there to get into myself.  Got a nice connection to the GM and she worked hard in all areas to find “Remy”. 

No dice.

Got a card today with $50 to ToysRUs.  Not the same but a very nice gesture.  The boy can have his favorite bear replaced…. or maybe a new DS game.   So, I’d say try Terranea.  For LA, it’s the best place to get away without driving 2 to 5 hours for Santa Barbara, Big Sur, San Diego, or north.

Other parts not to miss: The bird wrangler.  He has a golf cart loaded with a Hawk, an Owl, and a few other predatory birds.  Keeps the roofs clean ya know?  The pool for kids is good.  The slide so-s0.  Runs along the paths are good but the first time you will keep it slow.  Then go out again and get it on. Food?  Like I say, pretty good.  They had a seafood buffet one night.  Dunno how that makes them an “eco resort” — lots of waste of seafood and mini-desserts — but it was good, especially the King Crab.  (RIP – Deadliest Catch guy…)

My bet is on the DS game.

I have read his book “Peak” and have stayed at numerous different Joie de Vivre hotels.

Check it out. And then peruse TED if you haven’t before. Really good stuff.

I was getting in the car today in a part of LA that is 15 miles from home.  I had been thinking that I’d call my hair stylist on the way home and try to “sneak in”.  She hates it when I do that .  Nice salon.  Been there for years.  Part of a big brand that I’ve been loyal to for more years.  Do a lot of business gabbing with the owner and I like her. But then I saw a new looking salon across the street. So,  I plugged in more quarters in and jay-walked to see how it checked out.  [I can do that b/c Pasadena got me on a jay-walk recently for $ and I have loaded my jay-walk bank I figure].

I viewed and smelled the scene from afar and then closer and closer.  [yes, smelled.  salons can't smell like old ladies.  they need to smell like cool product] I decided by the modern look and feel, I’d go in.  There was a few signs welcoming walk-ins too.

Met a guy at the counter and he took me in right away.  Anyway, the appointment went well and my baldness was masked and abated for another four weeks.  The guy was cool.  The haircut pretty good. The owner also cool.  She took my notes on a few of my old tricks like “pay what you want” and we discussed in detail how Groupon worked. 

Boy, well worth the effort.

My point of this post is that old thing I harp on all the time.

GET OFF YOUR PLANET.

Basically every success I’ve had has been the result of a planet departure.  Sometimes you go for a day. Sometimes you go for a long time and never come back.  But you gotta continue to go.

Someone I know recently said “Charles, you HAVE to be friends with and know everybody!” I’m glad he said that but it couldn’t be farther from the truth.  Those that get me say “Charles, it’s not the money in the sale that drives you, it’s the sense of the kill and the resulting experience”. 

Exactly. 

I didn’t set out to kill and drag home the info I wanted on Groupon, but it came about because I did what I always [try to] do — be nice and ask questions.  When you ask questions of people, it shows you’re a freaking human and you might care what they have to say.  If they have nothing to say, then there’s no loss but you’ve exercised your manners.

I may never see that salon owner again, but I do know that she will have a “pay what you want” event next Tuesday and do well by it.  It’s so much better to trade information than pay for it.  It was our secret little barter.  That’s exactly what I do.  It has nothing to do about knowing everyone.  Of course those folks are always the ones that call you to get a connection they need. LOL

The people that annoy us the most in life are those people that don’t get out and see what the other side is doing, especially if you have.  If you’re like some I know and you get yourself tangled in a political brawl or a sports team brawl, it’s probably because you – or they — haven’t seen what the other side has done, smelled, felt, and seen with their own eyes.  While these types of conversations are at least 1/2 emotionally driven, you can come out cleaner and smarter by having a sense of opposing EXPERIENCES.  Notice I didn’t say VIEWS.  I can have  very intelligent conversation about Groupon now which I need for current business.  At 3:35 I couldn’t.  Sure, I could have Googled it, but a first hand in person account is something Google can’t replace. [thank goodness]

Get out and scare yourself once a week.  I guarantee it will pay off.

Why do you stupid Americans make it so easy for the Hothead?

This wholesale bailing on Toyota as a country has got to stop!

First things first:

The fact that we all of a sudden buy American cars because Toyota has a massive recall is call for an examination of our complete process of capitalism.  GM up 14%.  Ford up 25%.  Toyota down 16%.  Whatever the numbers -… so, tell me, we RUN to the domestics we wouldn’t buy in November because Toyota stumbles?  This wreaks of NFL+NBA+MLB+Olympic Over-board American competitive overload.  The yanks don’t build em so hot – and that’s OK last year (and oh btw, we won’t buy them so much they’ll go bankrupt), but when the guys from across the Pacific stumble, we run into the streets to our nearest Chevy dealer?  C’mon!

Are we living in 1949?  The war is over.  Ike is coming on stage.  We hate the Japs.

Are you kidding me?

Toyota still builds a great car.  Have you seen the clips on mega-TV of Toyota City?  They BLEED Camrys. When’s the last time we had a good clip on TV of Detroit?  And don’t blame Toyota or other foreign jobs (as my dad would have called them).  Detroit sold us a bill of goods for more than  20 years, maybe 30 and Toyota is to blame for their demise?  You bought Toyotas and Nissans folks! Not the country of Chile!

In fact, their AMERICAN Toyota jobs will be effected if this recall continues beyond it’s apparent nadir.  You shouldn’t wish it so badly.  Toyota jobs mean mega-more in a 12% unemployment economy.

Let’s all take a breath and relax.  After all, we all know someone that gets into a 10 cent accident and it becomes a hundred-thousand dollar or million-dollar ordeal and if you listen to the media, they are saying it’s gonna be a bloodbath!  So, if some accelerator pedals stuck – or are sticking (and my mother-in-law could be a candidate with her crashed 08 Camry) – how many will result in death and dismemberment?   Probably 1%, maybe 2.  According to the folks that know the details, it will MAYBE kill a few folks.  MAYBE.  I’m sorry for those that may suffer but it’s not going to amount to much.

I remember when the crappy saddle gas tanks of the Chevy pickup trucks of yore (and of my teenage driving age) blew up daily.  I remember the Pinto.  And I can top that — I DROVE A PINTO!  We didn’t run FROM the Pinto.  We bought one!  The Pinto was an embarrassment for Ford, but they continued on just fine.

Transpo Secretary’s Lahood’s remarks today were uttered like a cranky old man says things to his college-aged daughter —  “Stop driving that thing and call Bubba to fix it before he goes to lunch!… and tell ‘em I sent cha!”.  But CNN + friends caught it as per usual and put it into rewind.  It was a stupid remark but please people.  RELAX.

Go down to your local Toyota guy, hopefully a great guy like Paul Lunsford at South Coast Toyota, and just get the damn thing fixed.  Slowly.  Smart.  Just like you drive Sunday mornings when I’m behind you on the way to Starbucks… like there’s no friggin rush.

Tell ‘em I sent cha.

Since 2006 we’ve had a service put up lights in our front yard for the Christmas season.  It’s not a company really — just Bill and his crew.  They did a marvelous job and Bill would always call a few days after Thanksgiving and schedule us.  Then, a few days after New Years, he would come back and neatly put everything away.  He was affordable and it’s my favorite part of the holiday.

Seems after many calls Bill sold his business to a guy who doesn’t want other business.  I can’t imagine buying a list of Christmas light customers and then not calling them but that’s what he did.  Apparently Bill got new employment as a cop in a city far away.  He didn’t bother to send out an email or call when he handed us off.  He said he would have the new person call me, but two days have passed.

Since the new guy hadn’t called, I needed a new service.  Craig’s List is chok full of unemployed people that think putting lights on houses and trees is an easy and doable thing.  They cut and paste pictures from those ads you see on TV with the mega-watt houses in millions of lights.  Sure.

I called one that looked ok.  “He’ll stop by at 3 to 3:30″, his wife said. ” Today”? “Yes, today.  He’s coming by from his job”.  [Seems he has a "day job".]  uh oh.  Time came.  Time went.  Called.  “oh ya… he was actually near you at 2 so I called and called and your phone rang 25 times… no answer!” in a gruff voice.  I said “sure lady”.  I Hung up.

The next guy I found was out of an ad driven by what I thought was  a more formidable company in NorCal.  They had a crew doing work down in LA.  Found more info — they are a window washing company with some good real photos of their Christmas light work.  

“He’ll come around 10 ok?…and then… “hey Mr. Martin, this is Trevor… I’ll be an hour late…”  Trevor showed up.  He looked around for about 90 seconds and said “It’s a decent job.  It’ll be $800″. 

wwwwWHAT?!  “oh ya… I just booked a $3200 job he said smugly…”

See ya Trevor.

Back to Craig’s List.

Ring.

“Hello? [loud TV in background].  “ya… saw your ad on Craig’s List…”  “Oh ya… hold on”. 

[screaming at kid for his phone not ringing properly]

“Hey this is joe”.

“Hey joe – saw your ad… – [interrupts] — “ya… can you shoot me your address by email so I can check a picture of your house on Google Maps before I waste a trip out there”?

“Well joe I can assure you I have a nice job.  Been done 3 years in a row and there are lots of lights to do but nothing really on the house.  It’s all yard…”

“Oh – well can you give me the address and I’ll call you right back after I check it out on Google…”

“NO!.  Goodbye Joe”

You see, guys number 1 and 3 were guys trying to make a buck while working other jobs at something that doesn’t make the grade or they are doing this until something better comes along since they’re laid off.  I can understand wanting to make a few extra bucks.  We all do it.  It’s a great idea.  But do something you’re talented at and if you have never worked with the public, then stay away from the idea.  And your wife doesn’t equal customer service.  I saw an ad that was so misspelled that my 6 year old had him beat. 

Guy number 2 isn’t working in reality.  That CORPORATE gig at $3200 is fine but how loyal are they?  I looked forward to Bill’s call.  I have a nice house and I’m motivated to keep it looking great.  Trevor was all of 25.  He didn’t get it.  He also revealed his overhead and then I saw a $500 markup.  Your markup can be whatever the market will bear and if that’s $500 then you’re doing well my man.  You’re not getting it here.  I offered a much lower but nice number and he laughed at me.  Cool.

Ron is going to help me.  He took care of me in one phone call and answered another email in 2 minutes.  He’ll be here tomorrow.  Stay tuned.

The unemployed are not always employable.

I don’t know how great the book is, but check out this slide presentation.

Great reporting from the Economist.

Michael Pollan brings up many good points in his op-ed for the NYT.  Health care is costly mainly because we are a people spoiled on instant gratification and what the head of Johnson County Maryland’s Health Board called yesterday on NPR “an insatiable appetite for health care”.  We’re doctor junkies and it’s because we eat too much.

Political opines aside, it’s really true.  In fact, I’d go one further and say that if we could somehow stop purchases at fast food for one day a week (all closed Sundays just like Chik-fil-a), we’d probably see a dip in Diabetes, if not many other heart related maladies.  Roll that up into some guidelines as to where these places can build and you’d see more drops.  People plainly need to get out and exercise and eat half the calories they now intake.

When I began running as a hobby, I was amazed when I learned from a very astute coach (head of training for the LAPD) that the minimum daily caloric intake for someone like me running 30 miles a week was about 1500 calories.  Most of the rest? — Stored.  Wasted.  Never used.  Carried along until my body builds so many maladies I’m in City of Hope Cancer Center.

WASTEFUL NATION ::

The fast food nation — those that imbibe such empty calories on a daily if not many times a week basis — create more trash, more pollution and more food waste than other part of the food cycle.  For every meal that is served at fast food establishments (defined as those restaurants with cheap ingredients with no long-term value usually festooned with a 24 hour drive-thru), there are copious amounts of  trash that go along with the process, a gigantic amount of natural resources wasted, and of course the resulting health issues begin anew another cycle of discontent at hospitals, clinics and doctor’s offices.  I am a trash Nazi and if you’re like me, you notice that what’s thrown out of cars in intersections is almost always fast food containers and bags.  People that eat this stuff litter more than any other group out there.  It’s true.  Fast food companies should pay the cities to clean up their mess.  If you’ve ever done a cleanup day for your local beach or town, you’ll also notice that cigarettes are the main ingredient in trash.  The municipalities have figured out a way to tax people for smoking.  Maybe we should do that for fast food eateries.

There’s no end in sight.  Since the economy has tanked, the places like McDonalds have seen an increase in sales.  What we don’t understand is that the savings is just a very small down payment on the resulting train wreck of health care issues.

I was recently conversing with a young man that was so in love with cruises.  You know — the big ships that leave Florida and provide 24/7 entertainment and 24/7 food.  He was amazed and delighted that, because he could try each and every option the massive buffet offered each hour, he could just “taste” different things on a whim.  He spoke of how everyone brings a plate back with one steak, one chicken, one fish, a bunch of lobster, and then everyone just nibbles a few bites here and there.  Average people in America — those that can cruise a week around the Caribbean for $500 — think they are Caligula.  Really.

When he was waxing on, my first thought bubble was of the MASSIVE amounts of trash bags being taken off that ship in port just full of 1/10th eaten food.  What a shame.  Is this what we’ve become?  A nation of overeating, bored out of our appetites kind of people?  It sure seems that way.  I’m not crying constantly for the unfed (which are an important part of this debate) but gosh, our place in the world sure would improve if we weren’t throwing away so much food.

I think Obama could prove his plan worthy if he added more work on helping American’s cut back on the things they really don’t love at all.  This is the shot in the arm health care needs.