Juggler Stories #3: Rajeeb Dey

My book 'Juggle!' is full of stories from people who have created multi-dimensional work lives that reflect their talents and goals. I love meeting new jugglers; last week I met Raj Dey. Raj only graduated from Oxford University in 2008 but already has carved out an impressive portfolio of business interests. He’s Founder and CEO of Enternships -a service connecting talented students and graduates to start-ups/SMEs; he sits on the Education Advisory Board at Channel 4; he’s a partner at Hereward Peer Ventures; a Trustee of UnLtd; an Advisory Board Member of the UK India Business Council; Founder of the English Secondary Students' Association and last year was named O2 Entrepreneur Of The Year. 

I chatted to him about why he chose to embrace plurality in his working life. Raj has found that having a diverse range of interests is really valuable as he can cross-pollinate ideas and contacts. Here's the video:

If the video above does not display properly, watch it on YouTube here.

Don't Over-Engineer It!

What is about an organisation that complicates what should be simple? Why when a small group of people grows to an organisation, do they become blind to simplicity? Why over-engineer problems and introduce unwieldy systems and operating procedures?

So I was in a restaurant in a hotel recently when I discovered the chicken I’d been served was undercooked. I called the waitress over and the meal was taken away. Then nothing much happened. So I called over the Maitre D’ and expressed my disappointment that what I thought was a decent establishment had a poor attitude to food safety. A few feet away from my table was the open-plan counter of a kitchen where the food was prepared. Somewhere around the corner was a chef. I felt like going off to find him or her to get answers to my question, it seemed so simple. The Maitre D’s response? “I’m very sorry sir. You can be sure I’ll be sending lots of emails tomorrow morning to sort this out”.

What the …?

All three people in the equation were there, just feet away. The chef. The customer. The manager.

Emails? A conversation would be a good start.

I figured that if I’d been in a small family or owner-run business it would have been sorted out quickly - and there’d have been no emails in sight.

So at all costs: if the problem is in the kitchen (or the sales office, or wherever), don’t send emails. Just walk in there and sort it out.

Don’t complicate something when it's really quite simple.

Sometimes It Can Get Tiring Doing All The Driving

I was explaining to a new friend what it’s like running your own business: that feeling of being in control but at the same time the relentless need for energy and enterprise to drive things forward. I equated it to always being in the driving seat, never able to be the passenger.

For me, being in the driving seat means I have to be constantly proactive, whether it’s delivering a project, coming up with ideas, networking, looking out for opportunities, just staying on top of admin, or searching for the next gig/project. It’s relentless, so it can get tiring.

Here are my tips for avoiding running-your-own-business fatigue:

1. Take a break. Life running your own business can be all consuming  so switch off from time to time. A friend of mine finds horse riding the only part of her week where she can really switch off, work out where you can do the same.
2. Get support. Ok, so you might never be able to be a passenger but get others to support and help you where you can. Delegate, outsource, try and lessen the demands on you and your time.
3. Avoid overload. Be realistic with your workload and try not to take too much on at once.
4. Aim to enjoy what you do because when you’re working that hard, you’d better like – at least most of - it. And if you’re really not enjoying it, maybe you’re not cut out for it?

Ten Things You Need To Know from Rework

I really enjoyed ‘Rework’ by Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson, the founders of 37signals. I found some similarities in my own book ‘Juggle!’ in the theme of rethinking work and business. I have already evangelised about ‘Rework’ on my Unplan Your Business blog so to give you some value, here are my Ten Things You Need To Know from Rework:

1. Ignore people who say you’re wrong.
2. Forget business planning, forget about the details early on. Scribble ideas with a marker pen not a fine pen!
3. Rethink success. You don’t have to build a big business, why not build a profitable, sustainable and comfortable business instead?
4. Scratch your own itch: design a product or a solution for something you need yourself.
5. Put everyone in your organisation on the front line from time to time. Don’t let people remain in their departmental silos.
6. Lo-fi works. You don’t need comlex gadgets or over-engineered solutions. look at the success of the Flipcam – very basic, does what it needs to with ‘no bells or whistles’.
7. What are the by-products of what your business does? Sell those by-products.
8. Meetings can be toxic. A one hour meeting with 10 people is not one hour lost, its ten hours. Have shorter more focused meetings. If it only takes 7 minutes, don’t waste 30 or 60 minutes.
9. Long lists don’t get done – focus on attainable goals for better productivity and morale.
10. Inspiration is perishable – if you want to do something, do it now (later, you won’t be pumped): so if you’re inspired on a Friday, do it on a weekend. When you’re high on inspiration you can do two weeks work in 24 hours.

 I really think Jason and David are on to something, seeking to redefine ‘business’ and ‘entrepreneurs’: 

“You don’t need an MBA, a fancy suit; just an idea, a touch of confidence and a push to get started”.

"An Englishman In Austin"

I have just written a column about my experiences in Austin Texas at SXSW for The Hospital Club's website. If you want to know what I was doing on a customised American school bus with the senior management of Zappos, check out the piece here.

Rethinking Results & Productivity

Here’s a guest video post I did for my friends over at Red Cube Marketing; recorded last week at South By South West Interactive with my take on Results & Productivity.

Whether it’s in our jobs, in the social media space, or our roles as suppliers and consultants, success is not just about showing up. In the old days (whenever they were) career success was about turning up and sitting at your desk all day. With new trends such as ROWE (Results Only Work Environment) employees are giving the freedom to work when and how they wish; they are accountable on results. I’m trying to introduce that spirit into how I work as a business coach and marketing expert: not quantifying my value in man hours but instead in results. But to balance that, another takeaway I got from the festival is that we must not get obsessed by data and analytics; some things are easier to measure than others and too much analysis can kill creativity. Anyway here’s the video version:

If the video is not displaying above watch it on YouTube 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'.