#unplanyourbusiness in The Financial Times

My #unplanyourbusiness idea got some coverage in today's Financial Times, in an article called 'When There's No Plan A'. It features contributions from me, David Hieatt, Gary Vaynerchuk, Raj Dey and others. Check it out on FT.com here.


You can grab a copy of the short e-book I have authored with David Sloly here.

RETHINKING BUSINESS

So as I reach the end of SXSW 2010 what's my takeaways from five days?

#1 Staying Authentic: whatever technological developments, whatever trends, new platforms or tools come along, (of course) success is about keeping it real. I was reminded of this many times in the last few days, not least by @garyvee in his keynote/ Q&Afest.

#2 You Don't Have To Grow It Big: I've been evangelising this for a while, that you don't have to build a business big to be a success; you don't have to scale up your people or your reach the whole time, you can grow in other ways. So I loved @jasonfried's message from 'Rework' that instead of building it big, why not focus on building a business that is sustainable, profitable and comfortable. Yep yep.

#3 Reaching out to others: I put 'collaboration' as one of my themes for 2010 and a session here reminded me of the benefits of reaching out to the crowd. @jeffrey and @scottbelsky ran a session on crowdsourcing showing how businesses/ brands can tap into consumer insight and the intellectual capital of the crowd. We're used to outsourcing so much in business today, going out to the crowd is a great resource.

#4 Unplanning our businesses: Of course, my own theme for SXSW was 'Unplanning' your business but it was great to hear this from other speakers, not just @jasonfried but also @Ev who reminded us that 'whatever you assume when you start out (in business), you're wrong'. I'm not anti-planning, just evangelising that passion and vision are more powerful/valuable than a business plan (check out my Unplan blog).

#5 It's all about results: another drum I've been banging is that we need to rethink' work'; that 'work is a mindset, not a place you go'. So I loved the session on ROWE (Results-Only Work Environment) led by @alevit that talked about the cultural change from workers being rewarded for 'just showing up' to instead getting rewarded for results. It creates some opportunities - and challenges - for freelancers and independent consultants to cease being paid by the day, but being paid by the outcome of what they do. That doesn't mean we need to get obsessed with data and analytics to look at ROI, but it's a much more realistic way of looking at productivity.

#6 Business doesn't have to be dull. These are tough times for business and we're having to work harder than ever. But as many speakers reminded us, we should not be total workaholics and we need to learn to 'switch off'. And from all the sessions, parties and connections SXSW reminds me that business can be fun. One SXSW moment sticks in my head; it was the evening I was lucky  (thanks for the invite @espreedevora )to be on Tony Hsieh's 'Delivering Happiness' bus, going around Austin - hip-hop playing, an on-board bar, a woman making balloons, and the senior management of Zappos and their friends having fun. No suits or traditional networking in sight.

#7 Rethink 'Business'. I think it's time we rethink what 'business' is. Someone - I think @jeffrey - said 'business is the mechanism for taking an idea from concept to delivery' and that's a good one. To some, SXSW interactive is about geeks, or technology, or creativity; to me - it's just about business. Not the business of Wall St, The City, your local Chamber Of Commerce or Business Link,not about suits, powerpoint presentations and business plans but THE BUSINESS OF YOU & ME. Doing it your way, your style and you don't need to give a damn about 'the rules' (whatever they are). I got a tweet today that my Unplan idea is 'dangerous rubbish' but I'm seeking to disrupt the assumptions of the status quo and show people you can be successful by doing it your own way. It's like what Tim Ferriss wrote to me in his book when I met him on a rooftop in Austin: 'here's to experimenting often and exploring the uncommon'.

“Word Of Mouth Is On Steroids”

What’s the most important marketing tool out there?

TV advertising? Nope.

Newspaper ads? No.

Twitter? No.

Word Of Mouth.

Whatever the benefits of digital tools and social media, all they’re trying to replicate is good old fashioned Word Of Mouth. It’s what we all aspire to, to grow our businesses, sell our books, our products, our brand. In 10 years of running my own business it’s what I’ve relied on for business development, every single project and client has come via w.o.m.

Gary Vaynerchuk reminded me this week in London about the importance of w.o.m. and how Twitter et al have super-fast-tracked the spread of buzz; for good, and for bad. In his words, “word of mouth is on steroids”.

Here’s my two minute video of Gary talking about word of mouth and the film ‘Bruno’.



If the video above is not displaying properly, you can watch it on YouTube here

If You’re Looking For Success, Get Over Sticking To One Thing!

One myth I aim to bust in Juggle! is the notion that you can only be good at one thing in life or business: you find a single talent or profession and you stick to it. Crap.


But encouraging plurality does not mean diluting your talents. You need to stay focused to make sure you’re good at one skill, project or venture before adding another one to the mix. It’s a tricky juggle but what successful entrepreneurship is all about.

You don’t need to think like a plural brand such as Virgin to spread your expertise from one business to another. It’s about taking an honest approach to your juggling. Taking on a new project because you know you have a compelling business idea, because you know a lot about a subject or just because you’re passionate about making a success of something. Passion should not be underestimated as a tool in the proverbial entrepreneurial tool kit. It’s the essential ingredient to drive success, especially where you are trying new ventures.

I’ve been talking to entrepreneurs recently about how they’ve transcended their core specialism. Look at Gary Vaynerchuk, morphing into new business areas beyond his core specialism of wine. He’s making a success of juggling other ventures because he’s passionate about his portfolio reflecting his - multi-dimensional - dna. Last week I met up with Sarah Beeny (a Juggle Tapes video of our chat will be ready later in November). Most people in the UK know Sarah as the ‘property development expert’; as presenter of TV’s Property Ladder and author of a handful of books on property development. But like Gary she’s transformed her portfolio beyond her core specialism to include new ventures including her dating website mysinglefriend.com. Just because you’re good at property, doesn’t mean you can’t do dating too. Why did she set up a dating site? Because she wanted to, because she had a good idea and thought she could make a success of it (she was right).

So don’t place too many limits on your talent, role or project portfolio. Follow your dna, your passions and transfer your success to new areas.

Forget The Planning. Focus On Doing.

I’ve spent much of my career busting myths about the way things *should* be in life and business. In most organisations there’s a lot of effort devoted to the tradition of business planning. Five year plans, forecasts, projections. But now more than ever, I don’t see the point of long term planning. Sure, I understand the rationale: the importance of investor and shareholder accountability and of measuring performance. But it seems so academic in an ever changing world: better to be pragmatic and reactive in a world where things change in a flash.


It’s a subject that I hope to be talking about at SXSW 2010 with David Sloly – ‘How To Unplan Your Business’. I also talked to Gary Vaynerchuk about it on his recent trip to London (video here, go to 08:11):

"A 5 year plan is impossible in a world where what 5 years represents is so different than it used to”.

And then this week Stefan Stern in the FT talked about ‘The Death Of The Five Year Plan’:

“..markets are unpredictable. The economic outlook is uncertain. The world has changed. If old-style strategy formulation is not exactly dead, then it is hardly in the best of health”.

So I say forget long plans and just focus on DO-ING. Put the damn idea or start-up or new product into the market and test and tweak as you go. Forget projections about what it’s going to make in Year 2, who knows until you get started? Who knows how market forces will change, how technology will change the game?

Let’s remember how technology has changed business lifecycles. I can launch a web business in a couple of hours. I can shoot a video on my Flip and post it up straight away. Here’s another example of the game-change. On Monday evening the songwriter Dave Stewart said let’s write a song on Twitter. Followers had just five minutes to write the lyrics and 24 hours later, the results are up = a demo of the song ‘Love Tower’ (featuring my lyrics). And it’s good! Download it here.

So quit the big planning and the big plans and just GET DO-ING.

Crushing It With Gary Vaynerchuk

Here’s the second part (well actually it was shot first) of my brand new video interview with Gary Vaynerchuk that I recorded on the M4 from Heathrow to Kensington when Gary was in London earlier this month.

In the video I chat to Gary about his new book ‘Crush It! Why Now Is The Time To Cash In On Your Passion’ – he talks about how social media has put power into the hands of the individual and covers:

- the importance of publishing ‘old school’ and how he doesn’t get ‘romance by a platform’. ‘I don’t care if it’s smoke signals or a laptop’.
- how social media has changed the game, gatekeepers have lost their power and now everyone is in play.
- it’s all about niches; ‘everyone’s passion is more narrow than they think’.
- the fact that you can still crush it if you’re quiet; you don't have to be loud like Gary.




if the video is not displaying properly above, you can see it on YouTube here

Me and Gary V: Part 1

Last Friday Gary Vaynerchuk and I took a ride from Heathrow to central London together. Gary had come to London from Hawaii (via LA) to speak at the Future Of Web Apps Conference. Having interviewed Gary in Paris last year (download the video free on iTunes here) and connected again in Texas at SXSW it was great to welcome him to London. I shot two videos with him; one about his new book ‘Crush It’ that I will post on October 20th and this one below.

For anyone who doesn’t know who ‘Gary V’ is, he’s the New York based wine entrepreneur who’s reinvented himself as a social media star. Having made his name presenting the daily wine tasting video blog Wine Library TV , Gary became an expert on social media and web 2.0 speaking at conferences around the world. His first book ‘Crush It: Why Now Is The Time To Cash In On Your Passion’ is out this month (part of a $1m multi-book deal), he now runs a consulting business Vaynermedia and has recently launched a wine club website and a food retail website GourmetLibrary.com. He’s a true juggler and he also has about 850,000 more followers on Twitter than me.

In the video Gary talks about:
- the importance of change in his life and business.
- his ‘layer cake’ notion where he juggles a lot of different business interests.
- how social media is changing the agenda for businesses; they can’t dictate to people anymore.
- staying flexible in business and the impossibility of the five year plan.




*If the video is not displaying correctly, you can watch it on YOU TUBE here

Managing Your Identity

(This is an excerpt from my book ‘Juggle! Rethink Work, Reclaim Your Life’)

Wearing different hats can get confusing. Some people see you as one thing, others might see you as something completely different. But if you define your personal brand as YOU – beyond the job titles, beyond the labels - then that's much more authentic.

If we heard that the CEO Worldwide of Saatchi & Saatchi was also a lecturer in Business Studies and Chairman of USA Rugby we might wonder what on earth that has to do with being head of a global advertising agency; but as his brand is personified – ‘Kevin Roberts’ is the brand not ‘Saatchi CEO’ - then why can't this bloke called Kevin juggle nine different balls? He’s defined by who he is not a bunch of job titles.

Since you may be judged by perceptions (and the reality of your professional offering might be quite different from its perception), in a Juggle life your identity is really important. In all you do, you need to communicate your breadth. If you don't, people might think you are a one trick pony and that will limit your potential. Be honest; your work life should be a mirror of the real you; don't hide your talents – be your (full) self.

So if you only have a reputation for one thing; start shouting about the other bits. Communicate your personality. This new media space offers fantastic opportunities to communicate our multi-dimensional selves and to be really transparent. As Gary Vaynerchuck said:

‘I think that every person is multi-dimensional and has enormous things they are good at and many different interests and I think that the best way to communicate in this new social era is to talk about all of them, don’t hide anything. … I think people will always embrace ‘real’ and ‘authenticity’ and I think the more things you talk about that you are passionate about, I think the more people are going to get to know who you are. So please don’t fear being multi-dimensional.. Expand what you are talking about’.

Use whatever platforms you have at your disposal to tell YOUR story. Communicate your passions and don’t be afraid of mixing it all up together. Tell it like it is: Work, Play, Family, Hobbies = This is me.

Playing Where You Play Best: Part 2

I did a blog post last week about the importance of being ruthless in how you manage your time - focusing on what you enjoy & are good at in your job. I got some good comments back on Twitter and a question from @Leggetter, 'how do you persuade people to let you do that?'

He’s right. Focusing on ‘playing where you play best’ might be easy for jugglers like Gary Vaynerchuk and Kevin Roberts who are at the peak of success. But what if you'd love to apply this mantra to your own working life, but don't know where to start? Here are a couple of tips that I've learnt through my own career.

First, it's about communicating your talents to your boss, co-workers or clients. In my 20’s I joined a company at a junior level with aspirations to rise to the management team (a goal I realised a few years later). But I had to be proactive to get noticed. I displayed my appetite for management wherever I could, producing a monthly report, coming up with ideas, being visible and vocal in team meetings. Of course, alongside that I had to deal with all the stuff I didn’t enjoy so much, but it gave me a new focus. Suddenly people realised I had bigger potential and the organisation started to take me more seriously. I was able to get promoted to take on new responsibilities and focus on what I was good at (and what I enjoyed). Then - and only then - I could start to leave some of those other tasks behind. Success didn't happen over night, but by showing what I could achieve I'd got the opportunity top focus on my passions.

Second, it's about knowing what you're not so good at and communicating that too. It's about being honest and saying 'that's not for me, it's not my strength'. That can be tough in a competitive environment where everyone is looking to prove themselves, but success is not about blindly taking on every task, project and responsibility that gets thrown at you. It's about sticking to your strengths and also knowing your limitations. That honesty shows vision – your boss would rather give a task to someone who was passionate about it than someone who was indifferent. And I do the same in my business - you have to know when to delegate or outsource tasks to suppliers or other team members who can do the job better, or when to turn opportunities or clients down because you know you won’t enjoy them that much.

So start by proving your talents, then be honest about what's not your strength, and then you can focus on playing where you play best.

Everything You Wanted To Know About My Book ‘Juggle!’

I've had a few questions recently about my latest book ‘Juggle! Rethink Work, Reclaim Your Life’ so have put together some FAQs:

1. What’s the book about? ‘Juggle!’ is about carving out work lives that reflect our multi-dimensional talents, of going beyond a single job title where the Work You becomes the Real You.
2. So it’s not about juggling balls or circus skills? Nope.
3. Does it feature anyone I might have heard of? It features contributions and anecdotes from a range of jugglers including @garyvee, @mikesouthon, @roxannedarling, Saatchi & Saatchi CEO Kevin Roberts and Hollywood talent manager Melanie Greene.
4. How’s the book going to change my life? Good question. If you’re stuck in a rut in your career, this book will give you the courage and inspiration to re-craft your working life based on what you love and what you are passionate about. It’s not always about making choices about whether you quit your job to run an eBay business; you can juggle both at the same time. Juggling can make you happier and more fulfilled as well as more of an asset in the job market if you have more than one skill to offer.
5. What practical advice is in the book? There’s a whole section on tactics to improve your juggling from time management to staying fresh and stimulated.
6. Can I see a free preview? Sure, there’s a free sampler here
7. Is it a conventional ‘business book’? Not at all, it’s written in a really accessible way, no jargon, in short punchy chapters that you can deep in and out of. It’s an easy, but stimulating read!
8. So you say it’s great, but can I read some impartial reviews? Sure, there’s a review from @macala here and one from blogger Jon Knight here
9. Got anything I can listen to? Sure, there’s a podcast interview with @800ceoread here and a radio interview here.
10. Got anything I can watch? Yep, there’s video interviews with Gary Vaynerchuk, Kevin Roberts and Mike Southon here

11. Where can I buy it? All good bookstores (and crap ones too) and here on Amazon.com and here on Amazon.co.uk
12. So have you written anything else? Yes, my first book was ‘Leap! Ditch Your Job, Start Your Own Business & Set Yourself Free’

Build Your Sweat Equity (Whilst Avoiding Burnout)

I’ve been thinking a lot about how we’re all having to work harder than ever to survive and succeed. I was interviewed by a journalist on this subject this morning; considering how we avoid becoming workaholics as the job market gets tougher.

Of course, it’s a given that in order to be successful you have to excel at all you do; to over-deliver to your boss, your clients and organisation. There are no short cuts and putting your feet up is not an option.

Success is all down to what I call ‘hard graft, or what Gary Vaynerchuk has billed ‘sweat equity’, but whatever you call it, it’s about investing time and effort in your talent to ensure you’re a success. It’s like the local coffee shop owner who gets up early 7 days a week to open-up for their customers; it’s like the time I got up at 4am to get the first Eurostar of the day to Paris to interview Gary V. It’s what you have to do if you’re going to ‘hustle’!

But remember that sweat equity doesn’t have to be about being a slave to the corporation, working 12 hour days at your desk, 5 days a week. Instead it’s about the mental commitment to your job, having the right attitude and approach to all you do. It’s sweating to yield results: coming up with ideas, super-serving clients, leading teams, winning business, whatever.

But Sweat doesn’t mean your life, family or health has to suffer. Planet Juggle is not all-or-nothing territory: it’s about working hard but working smart. That might mean you’re checking emails or doing research at 10 o’clock at night but you can do that at home on your iPhone with a bottle of wine, once you’ve had dinner with your husband or read the bed-time story to your toddler. But when the pressure gets turned up, be prepared to get up at 5 am to attack that to-do list, get on that ‘plane to salvage that client relationship or to prepare for that key meeting.

How do you avoid burnout while you’re building sweat equity? Here’s 5 tips:

1) If you’re going to sweat, first make sure you love what you do. And if you don’t, reframe your work life so you do, because there is nothing worse than sweating over something that you hate.
2) Make sure you find time for ‘play’ when you are working hard, whether a run, the gym or just some fresh air at lunchtime.
3) Step back from the day-to-day once in a while for a reality check. Ask yourself if you are fulfilled, are you getting the results you want? If not, change tack.
4) Get some ‘me time’. Don’t spend all of your commute on the BlackBerry, pick up a novel or listen to a podcast once in a while. Spending every minute of every day obsessed with work will not consistently yield results. You have to stay fresh, so get stimulated from other sources.
5) You may be happy working 24x7 but what about your partner or family? Don’t get so narrow in your focus you forget those important people around you. Ask how they’re doing too.

Happy Juggling…….

Juggle Tapes on iTunes

'The Juggle Tapes’ is a series of videos featuring people in business that have been successful juggling different disciplines and roles in their working lives. The series explores how entrepreneurs put passion at the heart of what they do, to go beyond a job title to ensure their work identity reflects their personality. The series is now available as a free download at the iTunes music store by following this link http://tinyurl.com/itunesjuggle

The series includes: Martha Lane Fox, Mike Southon, Gary Vaynerchuk and Kevin Roberts.

Implement The Juggler’s Manifesto

We live in uncertain times; the world of work and business is increasingly unpredictable and there’s no single recipe for success. But there's a new trend evident in 2009; it’s clear that more of us are juggling more than one role or venture, whether we are CEOs of corporations or freelancers running multiple projects. Not only does plurality make us more enterprising it also makes us more passionate about what we do, as we go beyond a job title to carve out a unique work life. Juggling is about creating a work portfolio that reflects our multi-dimensional talents. This theme is at the heart of my book ‘Juggle!’ where I interviewed business leaders including Kevin Roberts, Worldwide CEO, Saatchi & Saatchi and Gary Vaynerchuk, wine entrepreneur & internet star.

My book explains how to reframe your working life through The Juggler’s Manifesto:

1. DO MORE THAN 1 THING, discover the value of being across more than one discipline. Sticking to just one thing limits your potential; place no limits on what you do and you’ll be more fulfilled.
2. BE PASSIONATE about all you do; let your passions and desires inform and shape your work life. Go beyond a job title and carve out a unique You-role. Do it your way.
3. BE AUTHENTIC, the Work You can be The Real You.
4. MIX UP WORK & PLAY. Forget work/life balance! Being a successful juggler is about integrating work and play, not aiming to neatly segment them.
5. BE A CHAMELEON, FLEXIBLE AND ADAPTABLE. Re-think all you do, be happy to change the rules again and again. Don’t stay entrenched in rigid ideas of how things should be done, be happy to learn new stuff, embrace new ideas.
6. THE BEST PLAN IS A NON-PLAN. Success in this new economy is about making it up as you go along, so forget a fixed long-term plan.
7. DEVELOP A PERSONAL BRAND to unite and communicate your strengths. Think and act like a big brand, sell yourself and blog/tweet/shout about your multi-dimensional talents.
8. DON’T PUT YOUR DREAMS ON HOLD, start living your dreams now and start incorporating them into your work life.
9. HAVE PURPOSE IN ALL YOU DO. Focus on making a difference and leaving a legacy.
10. RE-THINK WORK. Work is not a place you go; it’s a mindset you dip in and out of. Redefine success; it’s not just about your salary but a bunch of other stuff too like quality of life and flexibility.

Celebrate Your Multi Dimensional Talents

Here's the latest in the series of ad hoc excerpts from my book, 'Juggle! Rethink Work, Reclaim Your Life'

Many executives have managed to create their own portfolios by mixing skills, roles or even jobs. Others have hobby interests or business interests on the side.

I know Jugglers who mix stuff up. A business consultant who chose to work three days a week when she returned to work after having kids. A woman who works two shifts a week producing radio shows; the rest of the time she produces her kids’ lives. An HR Manager three days a week who makes jewellery and organises arts events when she is not sorting out employment contracts. A head-hunter who has a side-job playing in a band that he hires out to his day-job clients. Mixing up his passions. By day the BlackBerry, by night a very different kind of keyboard.

The reality is that most of us have a plurality of talents to match our plurality of tastes. Look at anyone's iPod track listing – we do listen to hip hop and classical music; we do watch The Simpsons and period dramas; we like Atonement and the Sex And The City movie. It's a not a case of either/or. We are multi-faceted. That is part of our personality and our richness informs our professional tastes, portfolios and abilities.

In a post on his website Gary Vaynerchuk observed how he was getting lots of comments from people surprised that he was knowledgeable about technology as well as wine:

‘…And I gave that a lot of thought. How people are branded and pigeon holed into being able to do one thing. I don’t think people realise - we are multi-dimensional people.
I know about the Jets, I know about wine, I know about cheese and tea and other things. And yes I know about business and philosophy. Yes I have built a lot of businesses’.


That plurality is not just driven by our tastes and passions. There are also good economic reasons to have broad talents. A business with multiple products generating multiple revenue streams, or an executive with strengths in more than one area have the potential to be more recession proof.

If tough market conditions threaten the viability of one activity or skill, you can migrate to another. Because if they are getting rid of Operations people but you also ‘do’ R&D, then that can help you survive. You are less disposable. A friend of mine qualified as an accountant but rather than just stay in finance, he migrated to become a general manager, commercial director, and then a CEO. His financial skills are very much part of his DNA but he’s a broader animal. And compare that with his peers from accounting class who have stuck to finance.

It’s like when I was MD of a division of a group. I ran other (unrelated) projects for the group at the same time because I could - and more importantly - because I wanted to. My predecessor just filled the MD post and stopped at that. But why stop there when you have no boundaries? Consider how much more value this offers the employer, they get two jobs doing for the price of one.

So it’s a matter of Narrow Focus Vs Breadth.

I know who I’d rather have in my team.

Juggle Tapes #1: Gary Vaynerchuk

Finally - finally! - I am pleased to launch my video series to accompany the new book 'Juggle!'.

‘The Juggle Tapes’ is a series of videos interviewing people in business who have been successful juggling different disciplines and roles in their working lives. They explores how entrepreneurs put passion at the heart of what they do, to go beyond a job title to ensure their work identity reflects their personality. Future episodes include Kevin Roberts, Martha Lane Fox and Mike Southon. These videos will inspire you and get you thinking!

The first interview is with Gary Vaynerchuk. Gary Vaynerchuk is co-owner and Director of Operations at Wine Library, a $50m wine retail business. He presents Wine Library TV, a daily wine-tasting video blog that has made him into an Internet celebrity with various appearances on US television. More recently, Gary has become known for his talents outside the wine world as a commentator on entrepreneurship, Web 2.0 and social networking. I went to Paris to interview Gary whilst he was there to speak at Le Web conference.

These videos will also be available as a podcast at iTunes music store. The release schedule for the next 3 is as follows:

Kevin Roberts, Worldwide CEO, Saatchi & Saatchi - 6th February

Martha Lane Fox, entrepreneur - 13th February

Mike Southon Financial Times columnist and entrepreneur - 20th February

Anyway enough of all that, here's me and Gary: