The funny thing is that people will read this.  They probably should be handling their stuff instead.  So, that’s the subject here.  Since this is my blog, I’ll be preachy.  You have to handle your stuff.  Sometimes you might think you’re overwhelmed.  Forget it.  You are not overwhelmed.  Make a list and start checking things off that list.  You will feel so much better after having done so.

It’s not even advice. In fact, I’m going to go after my list now.  What’s on yours?

Specifically, I’m talking about the way you approach people and paper.  When we are introduced to people, we tend to think more about whether we like someone as opposed to the quality of the conversation.  Think about the last five people you’ve met. How have you evaluated them?  Most people look to the person first regardless of the presentation, the idea, the content.  You have to come across as a decent, genuine person or your idea doesn’t mean anything.

when it comes to formal mean of communication, it’s a whole different story.  Take email.  Less is definitely more.  Stick to the story and get it over with quickly.  The more you give in email or in another document, the more vulnerable you make yourself.  This is important stuff kids.  Informal communication is about you.  Formal communication is about whatever it is that you’re pitching.  You do not need to be nice.  Just get your point across professionally and you are good to go.  Save the niceties for personal interaction.

There are so many ways we communicate these days and it will serve you well to understand the different contexts involved with each.  For the most part, I advocate friendliness and openness when in person.  When it comes to more formal mediums, keep it all business and be one hundred percent unapologetic for doing so.

A watch that tells you it’s day or night can help lend perspective to your on and off time. Daytime = working. Nighttime = not working. I think that was the principle philosophical goal of the watchmaker as well (not to mention some smart marketing). If we evenly split our 24 hours into two distinct 12 hour blocks we have on duty and off duty or as the Website puts it:

A new interpretation of Time based around two Tourbillons operating sequentially. The Day Tourbillon operates during the day, defining the wearer’s period of activity, and stops after twelve hours, handing over to the Night Tourbillon dedicated to man’s own private sphere.

Makes a lot of sense since many of us normally work 12 hour days. But that’s just for regular people like you and me. What can we learn from this philosophical timepiece?

For the super wealthy, they have actually bought a lot of time for themselves. Time is a resource that can be bought, borrowed, sold or lost. We buy time by having someone else launder our clothes. We borrow time when we engage in reciprocal favors. We sell time when we offer a product or service that reduces a consumers expenditure of time. And, we lose time when traffic is heavy. As one builds wealth, time itself moves from something concrete and tangible (think “I have two more hours before I can go home.”) to the abstract (think “I’m not bound by time commitments so I have many choices as to how I’ll spend my time.”). The abstraction of time enjoyed by the filthy rich is a reflection of the fact temporal boundaries can be overcome. If you don’t have time, it means you do not have choices of how you will spend your time. You have to go to work, you have to prepare meals, you have to walk the dog etc.

What does this mean for us mere mortals? Principally, we need to have a tangible understanding of what our time is worth. One could start by calculating one’s earnings per hour, but I feel that’s a little too simplistic of an approach. Rather, I would look at the likely hours you will live and divide those hours into your lifetime earnings from this day forward and your accumulated assets.

The average life expectancy (based on 2004 CDC data) for males was 75.2 and 80.4 for females. For the sake of a simple example, let’s say I earn $150k annually from age 35 to 65 with no salary increase. That’s $4.5M in earnings. Along the way I invest 5% of my earnings and yield a lousy 6% annually. Add to that the value of my home with no mortgage at $500k. That would be about $5,227,000. How many more years do I have? About 40. How many hours in a year? About 8,760. So, I have 350k total hours left. Now, let’s net out that useless luxury called sleep to get 234k waking hours. That means my time is currently worth about $22.34/hour ($5.227M/234k). Compare that with $25.68/hour if you just divided your wage by your waking hours in a year. An interesting side note here is you can clearly see the importance of making wise investments. If you can get your lifetime dollar per hour to equal or exceed your annual wages per hour, you are probably making sound financial decisions for your future. However, I digress.

What’s the point? The point is that if I can save an hour by paying $22.34 or less for that hours’ time, I’m actually gaining some time for myself. If the time costs more than $22.34, then I’m actually losing time I’ll have to recoup elsewhere or I’m making a choice to value that time more highly than I value my own. How do you value time with which you do whatever it is you like? Well, that’s for the philosophers. I’d simply say you can’t put a value on time you spend enjoying life. It truly has no value.

All that being said, it would appear making $300k watches might be a good use of all that free time.

Like everyone else trying to make money online, I read every worthy MMO blog out there. Some are well established such as John Chow and others are relative newcomers like Neil Turner.  Unfortunately, just as Monika at Easy WordPress expressed her frustration with MMO blogs I’m also growing more wary of what I’m seeing out there.  As a result, I’ve taken down my “Who I read” section for the moment.  Over the next couple of days, I’ll be adding it back and reviewing each blog I ultimately include in my list of trusted resources.  The only requirement for inclusion is to truly add value to the Internet marketing and blogging community.

While many MMO bloggers are giving back, many are simply writing about MMO and getting paid by luring the uninitiated to click a “gozillian” affiliate links.  I guess that’s OK, but it’s too bad there isn’t more transparency.  Plus, outside of the “A-listers”, it can be hard to separate the wheat from the chaff.  There is plenty of wheat though.  For example, I almost fell over when Neil posted an actual Facebook MMO tutorial the other day.  It’s worth a read and the link I gave it because it’s actually informative.  Neil presents an actual offer, strategy and landing page.  Sure, the campaign may not have been a huge success, but it’s a great example of the foundation work needed in order to build successful campaigns.

The truth is, this is a hard business and a wide variety of resources and skills are required to survive and flourish.  Sick of the MMO scene?  Tell me about it in the comments below.  In the meantime, I’ll be working on my own campaigns and looking forward to sharing my failures… and successes with you soon.

The good news is that most service providers will negotiate a termination fee if they think you are unlikely to pay or if you are well into the term of the agreement (say half way or more). Note: I am not a lawyer so get qualified advice before doing this, but my general approach has two steps. First, let the other party know that you want out and are aware there is no clause for convenience. They’ll generally tell you they aren’t inclined to let you out. The key is to not offer you are willing to settle via a termination fee. Finally, follow up and suggest a termination fee if they did not suggest one previously. Do not state an amount you are willing to pay. Let them come up with a number and, if it’s reasonable, write up the paper work, execute and pay the fee. If they ask you for an amount you’d be willing to pay, use the opposite strategy you would in an interview–namely, low ball them and then negotiate if need be.

Most of these agreements were written specifically so that you are bound to the term of the agreement. The reality is that this kind of settlement is negotiated and consummated all the time. Of course, you could choose simply to not pay, but I suspect you like nasty letters from lawyers about as much as I do.

Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t, but it’s a pretty solid approach if you really need an exit.

Most of us have one job.  We go to work each day and diligently perform the duties before us.  If we’re smart, we participate in our employer’s 401(k), contribute to an IRA and save at least three month’s salary.  That is the most common strategy work-a-day slaves guard against loss of income and plan for retirement.  And, that’s fine for most folks.  However, it’s a position I find to be untenable in my situation for the short and long term.

There is no guarantee if you lose your job you’ll be able to find a new job that matches your skills, interests or even expected income level within your three month cushion.  Sure, you can take a penalty a draw against your 401(k) or IRA, but you pay a steep penalty for doing so and it probably won’t buy you  a lot of time anyway.  Take my wife for example.  She left a job nearly six months ago and has not found a suitable place to land since.  Granted, she has had the advantage of my income to cover her expenses, but imagine if that were not the case.  What would she have needed to do in order to meet her monthly outlay?  Anything from working a couple part-time jobs to temping to taking a lower paying full-time job are all options she might have needed to exercise.  That just sucks and it happens to lots of people every day.

If you are an executive, three months’ salary won’t cut it.  You need to have a six to twelve month reserve.  The higher you soar, the harder you fall and the more difficult it becomes to find the right fit as well as adequate compensation.  That’s me in a nutshell.  As I mentioned in my post on transitioning, if you are forced to move on, you have to have a game plan to replace your current income.  In my case, it’s my start-up.  What if you knew that you wouldn’t have a job in six months?  What would you do?

It’s crazy not to diversify your income sources.  It’s crazier still to accept your current income as sufficient.  If I’m hiring a sales guy or business development guy, I always ask him what his income target is.  If I get a response that isn’t titanic (better yet, infinite), it’s a real turnoff.  Where is the hunger?  You must be hungry to succeed and excel at whatever it is you do.  It’s about passion.

Run through all the “what if” scenarios you can think of in your own life and start to consider how you can take active steps to mitigate risks.  Think about it, it’s the very reason we buy insurance or extended warranties on big ticket items.  Start working on an insurance plan for your income and do it today.  The only thing that’s in your way is you.  Find a few hours here and there and just get moving.  Then, let that momentum carry you forward.

What are you doing to actively diversify your income?  Tell me in the comments below!

Why do ninety percent of businesses fail?  Two reasons:

1. Vision
2. Execution

These two reasons are not mutually exclusive.  You can have a great vision, but no execution.  You can have great execution, but no vision.  However, you can’t have success without both great vision and execution.  Visionaries who lack execution are one of my greatest pet peeves.  Another would be the purveyors of wisdom through generalization such as the basis for this post.

If you only have vision, find someone who can execute for you and vice versa.  Some of the greatest advice I’ve ever received came via an interview with the founder of Level 3.  He was talking about how he started the company.  He brought the vision and when asked how he was going to pull off the execution he said, “by finding people who are a lot smarter than me.”  If you’re weak in one area, fill the gap with someone who is not.

The truth is, you will fail if you can’t execute your vision.  Now, hopefully within that vision lies a business model that makes sense.  Oh, and you might want to add in a good measure of passion.

Can you really explain to a fish what it’s like to walk on land? One day on land is worth a thousand years of talking about it, and one day running a business has exactly the same kind of value.

- Warren Buffett