You have to have faith, you have to be encouraging. While reamaining as the figure head of the group you have to let your employees know that they are here to work with you not for you. (There is a huge difference there)

It is when an employee starts to feel that they are robots in a grand plan, when they start to become disconnected from the sense of team that they become disenchanted and unmotivated. Sure they are going to show up everyday and do the work that is asked of them, that’s it. Shortly a feeling will start to creep in, a feeling that they could do it better. That someone else would be more likely to listen and allow them to have more control over the project. That is when you will begin to notice that you have an employee who is on his/her way out. That’s when you start to loose your most valuable assets.

In my experience it makes a lot more sense to play the coach than it does to play the traditional manager. You are there to facilitate the forward motion, develop the common goal and facilitate the improvement.

Happy employees who feel useful want to keep up the good work and constantly improve the work. They are motivated to come to work everyday. They feel a part of something.

Motivated employees are productive employees who in turn make you the boss a better looking guy in the grand scheme of things.

It makes a lot more sense when people want to work for you not have to work for you.

Think about it.

That being said it is that you pair yourself with the right vendors. Do the research and find the right people.

When I started an apparel company a few years back I did one thing wrong in this respect and one thing right.

What I did wrong. I jumped in with a vendor that was not a good match because I was excited to see my product materialize. While this vendor was more than capable of offering top of the line product we turned out to be somewhat incompatible. While there where a number of reason we were incompatible the main reason was size. The level of business did not match. Of course I would love to blame it on the vendor but having had the time to look back on this I am able to admit that it was no fault but my own. I got excited about the prospect of having real tangible product in my hands and failed to properly research the vendors with which I paired my business.

After some time I was able to take a step back and repair myself with a new vendor. This vendor could offer a similar quality but more importantly they could easily accommodate my currently level of business as well as a bit of growth. Note hear that in my opinion it is very important that you choose a vendor who will be able to scale as your business scales.

What I did right. In the second part of the above experience you will notice that I learned from the first. After making one mistake I realized it was time to take a step back, stop rushing things and really research the best fit.

Before you begin however it is of utmost importance that you identify exactly what you need. While I think it is important that you launch your product or service in a highly polished state, you will be surprised what you can eliminate from the needs category to attain this polished state. The needs category is a list of things, that while they may seem like a good idea are not necessary in order to launch with the best possible product. For example, while buying that shiny new printer that doubles as an espresso machine may give you the feeling that you can now compete with the big boys, it it really necessary. You get the idea.

How to conduct your research. There is an endless supply of good information out there from which you can start researching your vendors. For example when I was conducting research for my venture I hit the forums, the related blogs, trade shows (both local and national) and last but not least got out and talked with people. I talked with potential vendors as well as the people who have had experience with those potential vendors.

The single most helpful aspect of my research was good old fashioned customer reviews and experiences. I’m not talking about the kind that are incentivized, I am talking about real people in real situations similar to my own.

How did the vendor suit their business. Was it a good fit. Did they have any problems. Was the vendor able to meet their needs?

In summary: Slow down, no one knows better than I the excitement of creating a new business or a new product. Contain it and step back. Do your research and pair yourself with the vendors that are going to make it possible for you to succeed. Sure you are going to stumble but the fewer hangs the better the chance of a successful partnership and the more likely your new product will succeed.

The Moral: Let it be known that while I did in fact find a vendor the more suited my business, I believe the damage was already done. My startup capital had essentially been drained and it may have already been a bit too late.

If you don’t know, I am pretty active on Twitter and have adopted the habit of reading a lot of what comes across my twitter stream. That’s what I get for following interesting people. (If you are a client of mine, not to worry, I use Instapaper so I can continue to get the work done on time.)

Anyhow in thinking about where to go with this blog I have been diving into a lot of business blogs and startup articles lately. One I found particularly motivating was this one on the Outright.com blog.

For those of you that are not familiar with Outright I highly recommend you check it out. It has made the otherwise boring and laborious task of accounting extremely easy for my small business. (boring is my opinion, I’m not a numbers guy.)

Anyhow it talks about taking risks in small business and why you should be doing it. I particularly like the portion about Co-Branding. Personally I think it super important for the small business or sole proprietor to form good relationships and partnerships with others inside and outside of their own market. Like they say, you can’t do it all yourself. Having these strategic partnerships can do wonders for moving your business forward.

Enough from me, have a look at the article Why You’re Not Taking Risks with Your Small Business (And Why You Should)

Having just recently started a personal blog at jeremyjaymes.com I have come to realized that sharing my own personal ideas and business experiences in two places would be overkill. So I started brainstorming in an attempt to pin down where viral thinking could fit into all of this. Then I started to think back to how it all started.

What I wanted to create with Viral Thinking was a place that focused on small business ideas, experiences and startups not necessarily of my own creation. A place where people could share and discuss those ideas and experiences as a learning experience.

While I am still not exactly sure how that might look at this point the seed is planted and I am ready to move forward.

Here is a quick breakdown of some thoughts I had, feel free to add your own ideas in the comments.

• Interviews with entrepreneurs, inventors, innovators etc.
• An open platform for people to come together and share ideas. (A community brainstorm perhaps.)
• Twitter integration of some sort???
• Tips

That’s the short version. I would love to hear some thoughts on this, perhaps you would like to be involved somehow? I would definitely be interested in people looking to contribute in the early stages and as it grows (we hope).

Regardless of what the late night television commercials or the one page web sites might claim, the internet is not going to make you rich overnight. Sure there is a pot of gold to be found but it’s not going to jump into your lap, it’s going to take hard work and a good map to find it.

In theory I don’t think business and entrepreneurship on the web is any different than the traditional form of business you might be used to. Sure the avenues through which you foster and realize success may behave in a drastically different way, the tactics are not what you are used to, but the principles by which you succeed remain relatively unchanged. If you are willing to adapt. It is going to take hard work, dedication, and a good plan. Just like you had to learn how to market your business through traditional avenues you will again need to learn to market your business through the rapidly changing avenues that make up the world wide web.

The amount of cash need to fund this start up may seem minute in comparison to what you may have doled out to start something similar brick and mortar style, but the building of the business is the same none the less. You wouldn’t close up shop at the first sign of trouble on the outside, you can’t be so quick to close up shop in the inside.

Devise a plan, put aside time and money for marketing, take time to learn the business and get all of your ducks in a row. Business is business, regardless of whether it be conducted on the internet or on the street.

One thing that I am not terribly afraid of when approaching my own business is the thought of making mistakes. In fact over the past ten years I have made mistakes in business on a fairly frequent basis, some that have certainly cost me money. Call it lack of experience but none the less it doesn’t bother me, I am ok with the thought of failure. Still to this day.

The reason I tend to be embracing of failure is because when I look back at the failures I have had, I can not think of a single instance that has not taught me something. Not a single instance that has not helped me to improve the next time around.

In all honesty I would say that I have learned more from a single failure than I have from a handful of successful attempts. If you are not experiencing failure, no matter how minute, then you are not pushing yourself to take the necessary risks. It is the necessary risks that will help you to move forward and take the next step.

Sure you would rather not make it habit to consistently fail in what you do. You would prefer that the success far out weight the failure, but learn to embrace the times you do make mistakes. Don’t give up because there is one bump in the road. Take that bump and learn to mold it into something more useful for the future.

Failure can be harnessed as a lesson which in turn teaches you how to do it right the next time around. Failure shapes a better product and a better business.

So you finally have your chance. You have a nice looking blog, it’s hip to your audience and you are all set to start pumping out article after article. You know your audience and you know what they like. So let’s have at.

A few weeks go by and it’s just not hitting the mark, something must be wrong. Is this thing on?

That advertising you paid for definitely kicked in, the dollars are moving out and it shows right here that it is sending traffic to the site. You check the stats and the visitor numbers show promise. Wait, the last 30 visitors came in through your main page and only stayed 2 seconds or less?

Let’s have a look at that page. Hmm the site title tells me that this is Bob’s Blog The Marketing Guru, might be interesting. Let’s find out. Scanning, scanning, scanning. Wait a second, I don’t get it, the “logo” says marketing but not a single title here gives me any indication that I am about to dive into a genius marketing article. Ah well time to move on, after all I have things to do.

People are scanning, sifting, shifting and moving fast. They rarely have time to decipher cutesy and creative. They want a headline that is going to grab and convince them that reading through this article is totally worth the risk that they might get caught taking a little too long of a lunch hour this afternoon.

Be concise, be direct and get some attention.

Oh and search engines forget it. They came to your site expecting market trends, ROI, and social media. You have given them red ball, green banana and blue sock?

Ok this was a bit harsh but it makes you think about what you’ve been writing doesn’t it?

I would be lying if I were to say that I am not guilty of this myself. I to have often found myself clearing a space on the shelf for my award having just been recognized for this clever piece of genius I have written.

Oh yeah back to reality. People are not scanning to see how clever you can be with that play on words you passed off last week as a title, they want you to get to the point. They want to know why the hell they just landed on your blog after endless searching and they want to know now.

Exercise Forget, for a second, what it is that your blog focuses on, clear your head of the articles you have published in the past week and take a quick glance at your front page. From the viewpoint of an outsider, is there anything that grabs you? Can you figure out what is there for you to read?

It’s ok, happens to the best of us. Now focus on how you will make it better in the weeks to come.

To start I am guilty of this myself. Back when I started my graphic apparel business some 4.5 years ago I tried to jump in every direction I possibly could. I thought I could tackle all of the trends, incorporate all of the latest technologies and take on the big guns from the starting gate. Wow, what was I thinking.

The problem here was that I tried to take on too much at once. I started with what I thought to be a pretty unique idea. Although I was not necessarily the first one on the scene with the idea, I did seem to recognize something early on. It would soon be apparent that many of the larger companies in this space had been working on similar ideas.

What did I do wrong? I failed to focus my efforts on that one thing. I let the trends around me dictate what I did. I ended up trying to stretch in too many different directions and please too many audiences with barely the resources to please one.

Maintaining focus may or may not have allowed the business to eventually realize success, however it would have given me a better chance.

How does this relate to what I do now and ultimately what you may be planning to do?

I see it often in working with businesses and building out their web presence. Whether it be chasing trends that may not fit the audience or having no clear cut path to their objectives, they are struggling to maintain focus on what they set out to do in the first place.

The point is, if you are starting small or from scratch as we like to call it, focus on doing one thing and doing it very well. Maintain your view of the bigger picture (your ultimate objective) but start at point A and work your way up.

Whether it be a tangible product, a killer service or a content driven website, focus on building it right expand when the timing is right. Create a strong foundation and you will have a better chance of weathering the storm ahead.

I was having a peaceful moment earlier this afternoon, watching a deer graze in the field and I started thinking about the decisions I have made in the past ten years and how I got where I am.

It was interesting to me to remember how many of those decisions have been rather split second. I more or less had a vision of what I wanted to be doing, believed I could do it and went for it. Sure I put thought into what making those decisions would mean and how they would effect my life, but in doing so I realized that we tend to over analyze. We start out having faith in our ability to accomplish something and then go about breaking it down until we talk ourselves out of it and instead pursue the safer, less passionate route.

In doing this we end up hurting ourselves in the long run. We hinder our ability to grow and ultimately end up becoming more fulfilled in our lives, careers, hobbies, whatever the case may be.

Not ever choice you make our opportunity you decide to pursue is going to result in the pot of gold that you envisioned, but if you fail to pursue the chance you can never learn from the hardships, the failures and the mistakes. The things that truly teach you what you are capable of and will ultimately help you to succeed in the long run.

Making the decision to join the military before an inevitable war and choosing to go with a highly deployable unit that often times finds itself in the middle of some of the most dangerous situations could have ended badly. The experience is something that I will never forget and would never trade for anything.

Creating a product in one of the tougher markets out there, dumping a lot of hard earned money into to it and watching it fail miserably can certainly set you back a bit. It is also something that I do not regret, the amount that I learned about business during this time is not something you can pay to learn in school.

Jumping out on my own instead of choosing the safer more secure path of full time employment when I had a child on the way was thought to be stupid and possibly even irrisponsible. I had faith in my ability to succeed and asked that others give me a chance to prove that. I have not taken a look backward.

Sometimes it is extremely hard to talk yourself up instead of down and away. Coming up with the idea is only half the battle, convincing yourself to take action is when it counts. Don’t be afraid to take the leap and pursue your passion, even if it means hardship you will come out ahead in the long run if only you learn from the experience.

I think there are a lot of us out there that would react by hitting the delete key without a moments hesitation. But, is this always your best bet?

Personally I think you have to learn to take the bad with the good in this case. I usually advocate approving all comments even if they are not so shiny. (I do have rules, see below).

Why would I open myself up to bad reviews if I had the choice? For several reasons.

First off, if someone is upset with something you have written, a product you have produced or a service you have rendered and you don’t allow them to voice their opinion, chances are you will only fuel the fire. This can lead them to finding other venues to voice their now even stronger opinion. Worse case scenario, they have now made it their mission.

Secondly and this follows should you decide to approve the comment. Doing so on your own blog gives you a public place to control how it is handled. My advice, handle it immediately upon approval and handle it professionally. If you are in the wrong and there is something you can do to remedy the situation, then consider offering to do so. Possibly even taking it offline via email or phone to handle the situation.

Would you prefer to handle an angry client in the comfort of your own place of business or in line at the local grocery store?

The combination of the above will show your readers and customers that you are willing to accept the minor failures of your business as well as handle them promptly and professionally. This displays a certain level of transparency that consumers are slowly willing to expect from a company.

My Rules
I do follow a few important rules in making the decision to allow the bad or downright ugly.

1. I look for a professional tone in the reader when voicing their opinion. I don’t mind if some angry shows through but to leave a comment filled with cuss-words and other forms of obnoxious behavior will probably not make it through.
2. Comments sprung from a battered ego. – You have a successful site, the product is a hit, things are going well. Along comes a former co-worker that wasn’t one of your biggest fans to start with. Unfortunately this guys leaves a half assed comment just to bash you because you are who you are. Sorry, deleted.
3. The last and final is touchy. On occasion I will review another product and once in a blue moon I will get a rather unhappy user of that product to stop by. On one hand you don’t want to discourage your readers, on the other you don’t want to cause an issue with the creator of the product. Rules 1 and 2 apply here.

This is my take on blog comments and how they should be handled, I would be very interested to here how others handle the not so nice. Feel free to comment below.