About the Author: John J. Walters is a freelance associate at Wasabi Ventures and CEO of MeetingCaptain.

I realized while I was filling out my invoice for last month that I’ve been working freelance for Wasabi Ventures for nearly a year now.  It’s been an education experience to say the least, and I thought I’d jot down a few things that I’ve learned from my boss during that time.  Not all of them will work for everybody (see numbers four and five), but hopefully you’ll find a few of them helpful.  Oh, and they’re in no particular order, for the record.

1.) Never be late to anything.  This usually means showing up early by as much as 15 minutes, as travel times can be unpredictable.  But lateness can ruin a first impression, or erode a long-standing one.

2.) Keep up with your email and your personal network.  It reflects very poorly on you when you can’t be bothered to answer a simple email — so no matter how many emails you get and how many people you have to connect with, do your best.

3.) Take short breaks/vacations.  Regularly scheduled time off is all well and good, but try to stay on top of emails and small projects in your spare time during these anyway, and don’t plan very many long trips that will keep you out of the loop for too long.

4.) Don’t sleep too much.  It seems like no matter what time I send my boss an email, day or night, I get a quick response.  This includes 4 am on a Sunday.

5.) Don’t go to bed when you travel.  I’ll admit I’m not sure exactly how he does this, but my understanding is you schedule as many meetings as possible during the day and keep up with the rest of your work at night.

6.) Enjoy life while you work.  Even though my boss seems like a workaholic robot sent back in time from the future to work way too hard, I frequently hear about short trips he’s taken with his family or quality time he’s spent at home.  Find some balance.  I guess the way he does this is by working hard at odd hours.  Scheduling is key.

7.) Make mistakes.  This is how you learn.  I can’t tell you how many times he has said this to me.  It’s both empowering and nerve-wracking, but it helps.

8.) Do stuff right away.  If you have a moment and identify something that needs to be done, do it right then and there or send a quick message to the appropriate agent.  This avoids too many things falling through the cracks.

9.) Stay up on the news.  Read quick articles and send them around to your coworkers to keep people in the loop and promote conversation.

10.) Know when to be formal and when to be informal.  Adopt the appropriate style for dealing with each scenario and individual to get the type of outcome you desire.  Different people like to deal with things differently.  If you go the distance for someone that will put them at ease.

11.) Go in a lot of directions at once.  Not every project will pan out, so don’t put all your eggs in one basket.  Test the waters, do your research, and don’t be afraid to try new things (see number seven).

So there you have it.  Eleven quick (and random) rules that you may or may not be able to easily integrate into your own work life.  I’m sure there are plenty more, but those are the ones that stuck out to me as I was mulling over my past year’s employment.  Best of luck folding them into your daily routine.

About the Author: Tracy Campbell is CEO of Simplicated, LLC, Productivity Consultant, trainer and speaker.

I recently spent an extended period of time in a small Montana town with a surprising selection of gastronomic offerings; Mexican, Thai, Italian, Greek, wonderful bakeries and at least two creperies.

During a conversation with a local grad student she summarized her reluctance to visit one of the creperies by commenting “I prefer food without the anger, thank you very much.”   Her comment referenced an employee who worked for one of the creperies and practiced the consistent habit of taking an order without even the glint of a smile (more likely one of annoyance).  Pouring the batter on the griddle, this employee would proceed to slap the customer’s chosen ingredients on the crepe with an attitude of anger and unrest.  Extra cheese??? (heavy sigh), Ham…Ka-whack!  Detaching the delicate creation from the griddle this employee would slap it on the plate and shove it towards the intended recipient before proceeding to delight yet another customer…..yes, this was consistent, predictable behavior, not just one bad day.

Wow, what a story and what a poignant end result: a non-raving fan.  Looking for the learning in this story?   If you own a business where you and/or your employees interface with the public, be mindful of the attitude you portray to your customers.  Sure, all of us have challenging moments (a recent Jet Blue flight attendant comes to mind) and times when we are not at our best, but in this case the behavior was so predictable that the patron opted to no longer frequent the business.

I believe every business with a public/consumer interface will experience invaluable benefit (and ROI) from integrating personality profiling into their hiring practices. A simple profile can provide accurate information about an individual’s skills and temperament, enabling you to place them in a position where they and your business will thrive.  Well known profiles include DISC, The Keirsey Temperament Sorter, Meyers-Briggs and my personal favorite, the PREP Profile, which can be customized to job position and existing management personalities.  In Jim Collin’s phraseology: It’s about “getting the right people in the right seats on the bus.”

About the Author: Elinor Stutz is CEO of Smooth Sale, LLC, International Author, Sales Trainer & Coach, and Motivational Speaker.

Do you handle an upset with confrontation or with relationship building that gets results?

Last month, I registered for a two-day intensive coaching session. I was a bit surprised to receive neither thank you note nor recognition of my registration. Even more surprising: the details weren’t forthcoming. I became concerned because hotel and flight arrangements were necessary and the date was the beginning of a national holiday.

The situation grew worse. I called the office several times on several different days and explained that I would cancel my payment if I did not hear from anybody. Not only did I not hear from anyone, I was treated as an annoyance. The coaching for which I registered was not inexpensive. The coach himself receives praises wherever he goes, so I couldn’t understand why he would allow such poor customer service. I arranged to cancel payment.

Wondering if this gentleman knew what was happening back at the office, I wrote Brian, the coach, a factual and detailed email describing what took place. I advised poor customer service will sink a thriving company faster than almost any other criteria. For final measure, I added, “I’m writing this as a friend because I admire what you stand for and do not wish to see you hurt.”

Within minutes of receiving my email, Brian returned my call.

Brian executed his response perfectly:
1. He first apologized
2. Brain then shared, “Never employ family; you try to help but it becomes tricky.”
3. In gratitude that I held a helping hand rather than expressing 4 letter words, Brian told me he would be my mentor for the entire year!

Brian turned an almost lost prospect into a repeat and returning client, who has already begun communicating how terrific he is.  When you strive to help people turn lemons into lemonade you get what you wish for!

It becomes a win-win for all concerned and a very Smooth Sale!

About the Author: John J. Walters is a freelance associate at Wasabi Ventures and CEO of MeetingCaptain.

I ran across the 100 Thing Challenge not too long ago and since then the idea has intrigued me.  My father had a colleague that strived to never own more stuff than he could fit into the back of his Honda CRX, which I guess is a personal variant on the idea of whittling your possessions down to a nice, round 100.  But are such goals merely artificial ways to achieve happiness through less attachment to physical things?  What about just a general goal of decluttering your life?

Regular Wasabi Ventures blog contributor Barbara Hemphill has written a couple good posts for us about the importance of simplifying ones workplace.  It’s amazing how good organization and self-management can help you get richer.  But where do you go from there?  What’s the point of being rich, besides providing for your loved ones and buying more toys?  Why did we get into this game?

J.D. Roth, the patient-yet-effective blogger behind Get Rich Slowly, asks these exact questions in an excellent article about the third stage of personal finance.  His answer, in a nutshell?  We all seek to get rich so that we can have the kind of life we want — not so we can have the kind of stuff we want.  Stuff may factor into that (I certainly wouldn’t mind having a garage full of well-polished cars and fancy motorcycles) but we need to remember that stuff can become a source of stress just as easily as a source of satisfaction.

The entrepreneurial game — and it is a game — has the potential to be far more satisfying than working your standard nine-to-five.  We get to be our own bosses; call the shots in our work lives as well as our personal lives.  That’s a big deal.  But it comes at the price of constant competition and frequent stress.  We need to know that we’re working towards something that really matters to us or else we’ll find ourselves wondering what the point of it all was when our own, personal sun begins to set.

Bill Gates and Warren Buffet recently announced that 38 other wealthy individuals (of which 30 are billionaires) have signed the Giving Pledge to give away half their fortunes.  Most of us will never be billionaires, but that doesn’t mean our gifts would be insignificant.  A lot of good can be done in this world with far less than a billion dollars.

My personal interest in the power of a few committed individuals started when I read Mountains Beyond Mountains, a book that chronicles the efforts of Dr. Paul Farmer and his quest to bring modern medical care to the impoverished nation of Haiti.  His incredible work (which has since spread to other poor countries such as Russia, Rwanda, Lesotho, Malawi, and Peru), was funded largely by one man — a wealthy business owner looking to do something worthwhile with his fortune.

If that isn’t a reason to play the entrepreneurial game then I don’t know what is.  Follow your bliss, start your own business, create some jobs, live like you want to along the way, and then find something truly meaningful to do with the proceeds when you’re finished.  Something great from something small.  Inspiring.