Category Archives: Business

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4 Changes That Wrote My Wife’s Love Story (With Our Business)

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Last week over a glass of wine with friends in Franklin, TN, my wife Christina just kind of blurted out… “I’m in love with our business again.” I just posted a recap from the recent Platform Conference on creating wow moments. Well, this statement from my wife was a real wow moment for me and I knew then that I had to capture the ‘why’ of the statement. Who knew then that this expression of love would become my ‘just a bit belated Valentines Day’ post?

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I love my wife. We work together in our various businesses. She is about the most capable, talented, passionate, genuine person I know in any business. We have worked together for over 10 years now. She is a tower of support to me. I am passionate about business and entrepreneurship and she has long ago learned how to be me my virtual sous-chef in the business, taking care of all the things that end up making me look good. The secret to my success? It’s all due to the support she gives me every day. I couldn’t do anything without her.

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Platform Conference Recap: 2/10 – Ken Davis: More Wow Less Whoa

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Session #2 of Platform Conference was presented by Michael Hyatt’s business partner, Ken Davis. It was titled, ‘Creating WOW.’ In a field of younger presenters Ken is the proverbial elder statesman, but his topic really resonated with what all the subsequent speakers would talk on.

As an aside, while in Franklin, TN, my wife and I stayed with our longtime friends, the McKeehan’s. Toby is now better known by his stage name TobyMac, but over 20 years ago he was a struggling artist working to get his first band, DC Talk, booked onto shows. Chatting with Toby one night I listed the speakers at Platform Conference. Ken Davis was the name that suddenly jumped out for him, almost his ‘wow’ moment. Toby recounted that one of DC Talk’s early gigs was performing at an event organized by Ken Davis, a booking that Toby remembered he gained through sheer persistence and hard dogged tenacity. Well, DC Talk, and later TobyMac, have gone on to wow many since those early days. Through it all the principles of wow still hold. Talent will get you so far. Contacts may get you a little further. However, it is tenacity, authenticity, openness and a passion for what you do that will see you to the goal. Please read on for my recap of Session #2 by Ken Davis.

Ken Davis

Ken started by noting examples of where leaders who really ought to have had more of an imagination ended up making fairly poor predictions. These included:

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Platform Conference Recap: Part 1/10 – Michael Hyatt

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Wednesday was the last day of Platform Conference. I decided to attend, forgoing my annual trip to the American Rental Association trade show as these both overlapped. I am so glad that I made that decision.  I have been so inspired by the speakers. I know also that the decision was the right one for my fledgling blog, and my businesses. The content delivered by the speakers was priceless, as were the connections made over those two days in Franklin, TN. I initially thought that I would do a full recap post to pass the information on to my readers. This would also serve as a personal record for future reference of the key points that moved me. However, with around 50 pages of notes that idea has had to be revised.  I am going out on a limb here, bravely stepping out. This post will only be on the conference opening session by Michael Hyatt.  I will then publish follow on posts covering each speaker in the order that they spoke, providing the weblinks that they gave where appropriate. I plan to turn back to these posts often for the guidance I know they will give me and I urge you to do the same.  Keep in mind, though, that these notes are in no way a replacement for actually attending this conference. So much content is delivered and you simply cannot replicate the relationships you establish while chatting and breaking bread with fellow attendees and presenters. Enjoy my recap of Platform Conference Session #1 with Michael Hyatt.

Platform Conference

Michael Hyatt produced the conference along with his longtime business partner, Ken Davis. His presentation was: Platform: Developing a Framework for Success. The presentation was quick a walk-through the key areas of the Michael’s book ‘Platform: Get Noticed In A Noisy World’.

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That Is Just Dumb!

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Have you ever said that after experiencing something for the first time? Normally tech related, right? Well yesterday I found out that I was not alone in this and that even thought leaders can make incorrect assumptions about a new idea. I’m attending Platform Conference, a conference on developing a ‘platform’ for your business, product, or personal brand. It is being hosted by Michael Hyatt, author of the book “Platform: Get Noticed In A Noisy World”. Last night I found out that we had something in common. We both started out thinking Twitter was ‘dumb’. Read on.

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Michael admitted that when he first heard of this thing called Twitter he really did not know much about it, could not see the application for it, and labeled it ‘dumb’ in a conversation. Very quickly after he revisited the application and, realizing the potential, changed his thoughts on its practicality. Today he used Twitter as an integral part of his platform and has many blog posts on how to better use the technology.

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What Can We Learn From Pirates?

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A lasting organisation has to be a sustainable organisation.

With Pirates Week starting today here in Cayman its a reminder that an organisation can’t be all about the here and the now. OK, the pirate analogy is probably a bit of a stretch. That said, at least around these parts there are now no pirates. So, what happened?

Well, piracy is a ‘business’ built on the foundation of no ethics. Thats the first clue that an organisation will not be around for long. Perhaps they could get away with it for a while, but the tipping point comes when unethical behaviour is just too much for the surrounding society to bear and a concerted effort is placed on removing the offending person, group, or business.

No business is going to stand the test of time unless it is firmly and culturally rooted in ethical decision making. What do you do to encourage ethical decision making in your life and your business?