"I've Got a Golden Ticket!"

This is success. A clear and defined plan with specific (timeline and financial) measurable goals to track success. Hallelujah

Mr. Lütke determined before the competition that it would have to inspire at least 600 new accounts to be successful. New customers, he figured, would spend a minimum of $24 a month for six months to compete, translating to at least $86,400 in revenue for Shopify…So far, Shopify has signed up more than 1,000 new Web stores, already exceeding the expectations of Mr. Lütke, who expects 50 to 100 more participants to sign up by May 1.

Courtesy of NY Times

ShoeBoxed and Pre Planning on an index card – no joke. A-M-A-Z-I-N-G.

Shoeboxed is the Netflix for receipts and business cards. I do my hustle thing, getting sh*t done, place the receipts and business cards in a big shiny blue Postage Prepaid  envelope and wahla a few days later I get the most amazing organization of accounting and contacts I have EVER seen. I know too.  I meet A LOT of people.  I used to have my assistant scan everything using Neat Receipts. Even bought their super Desktop machine. But still with all the scanning errors it was costing me to have someone go through every contact and piece of paper for accuracy. Then through the golden gates of resources I met the owner of ShoeBoxed at SXSW. It took me close to a year to actually start using the system. My ego was probably stuck on the $500 bucks I spent on Neat Receipts when I could have been spending only 10 bucks a month with ShoeBoxed and no assistant cost!!! I am telling you. If you run a  business, meet people and don’t use Shoe Boxed you are just simply crazy. You want to be wasting time.

And those simple plain boring INDEX cards are a goldmine of productivity. Don’t believe me? Just look at the famous GTD (Getting Things Done) blog . Yea I was going crazy keeping 10 to do lists on dry erase boards in my office, house, sticky notes, JOTT express, RTM (Remember the Milk) until a friend who seems to get EVERYTHING done said I just write it all on an index card the night before for that day and order them in sequence of priority after I’m done writing each task.  “Come on… that’s it?” I said.  He informed me that keeping multiple to do lists devalues each one and by having to open a to do list in a computer makes it not so accessible. So with an index card in his pocket at all times he just crosses off each task as they are completed.  Then at the end of the day he transfers anything not done to the new index card for the following day and rips up the one for that day.  And let me tell you ITS BEEN WORKING!!!  I complete just about everything.  Only difference. I think I’ll start burning each card when I’m done.  Lots more fun

My new friend @Ribeezie direct messaged  me, (also known as “DM”), on Twitter this morning and told me to “Now bring back some of that good stuff and share ” about Zappos Insights inaugural conference.  Zappos, a billion dollar online commerce destination, is known for their leadership in customer service.  Insights was created as an educational forum to guide entrepreneurs to successfully attain milestones. It was a privilege to be a part of their LIVE event, a revolution in leadership and corporate happiness. One of the speakers at the event, social media maven Brian Solis,  said it perfectly, “In the end we’re measured by our actions, not our words.”

Three huge takes aways from the event that will transform the productivity and efficiency in our organizations.

1. Share….Stop self promoting and start listening. Share information that you know delivers value because you have been listening. Whether it be employees, personal relationships, twitter followers or facebook friends. The way to effectively intrigue people to  take action is fueled by being inspired.
2. Discover your foundation before you start building.… The most crucial component in determining success in a company and in your personal development is first discovering what matters to you most.; Your core values.  It starts with you, outside of your professional life. The business owner behind closed doors.  When you look in the mirror what do you see? Integrity, Transparency, Adventure… Deceit…? In order to grow we must be honest with ourselves.  It is so clear to me now that if I had taken the time to discover, write down, and share my core values with my team  it would have reduced management, increased productivity and complimented my company vision. But instead I found ego was something in my company that created road blocks for our success. What’s interesting is ego is so far from my personal values. If I had taken the time to write down what’s important to me, I would have quickly discovered my team mate  strayed from our core values and that situation could have been remedied with eloquence and efficiency.

Zappos Core Values: Direct Link

1. Deliver WOW Through Service
2. Embrace and Drive Change
3. Create Fun and A Little Weirdness
4. Be Adventurous, Creative, and Open-Minded
5. Pursue Growth and Learning
6. Build Open and Honest Relationships With Communication
7. Build a Positive Team and Family Spirit
8. Do More With Less
9. Be Passionate and Determined
10. Be Humble

3. Half of the world is searching for the other half of the world, but don’t know how to find them.  Brian Solis emphasizes that before even planning an online marketing strategy establish your identity. Most brands don’t even strategize, they just jump on a band wagon. But lets say you are developing a strategy, before that DISCOVER your identity that you plan to communicate in this strategy. I LOVE that Brian reinforced this. I hadn’t even thought of charting out my brand identity before planning. I figured my identity is obvious. Surf brand means you’re a surfer right? No, not necessarily. You must establish your brand to stand for something. A Cause. Something bigger and selflLESS than selling a pair of board shorts.

I discovered the value of delegating somewhere between reading Four Quandrants by Robert Kiyosaki and The Four Hour Work Week by Tim Ferriss.  Kiyosaki explained the differences between someone self employed and a business owner (see image below). That if a good business owner leaves their company the productivity maintains. A key owner injects advancement in the organization, not maintenance.  Then in Ferriss’s book he shares that when he stopped being so hands on and started trusting a team by delegating, his company actually increased revenue and he had more time to do other things.  If each owner of McDonalds had to be in daily attendance Mickey Dees wouldn’t be known for the effective automated hamburger franchise it is today.  That being said, each day I think of ways to delegate. This isn’t to be lazy. Not at all. Delegating enables me to scale my businesses more efficiently.  I try to find a common theme in my various ventures that will allow the same team to mimic their core competencies in each project so that I don’t need to find a new team each time I start something new.  Needless to say, its very exciting and allows a lot more time for me to focus on my own core competencies. After all, there is only so much you can do if you try to do everything yourself.

Entrepreneurs are taking steps to rejuvenate our economy. If we want to see change we must be change. And once again believe anything is possible just as we did when we were kids and didn’t know any other way.

Thank you @jolieodell for Tweeting about this awesome video made by Grass Hopper.