Month: May 2008
Are you on a Hamster Wheel?
How did you make your last career move decision, whether between companies or within a company? Are you considering a career move soon? Will you take the next step up (a promotion/upgrade in your current function) because it’s easy and will be more immediate money, or will you decide to look for a right, non-obvious…
[CEOFlow] New book: “Why Work Sucks, And How to Fix It: No Schedules, No Meetings…”
Is your demand for your people’s office facetime and amount of effort actually hurting your employees’ productivity? Do you demand quantity of work over quality? This morning, Tim Ferriss posted a great entry about a new book on Best Buy’s ROWE project (“Results-Oriented Work Environment”): No Schedules, No Meetings—Enter Best Buy’s ROWE I remember reading…
Work can be energizing. It doesn’t have to be exhausting! (And PebbleStorm’s “three phases”)
…and it’s true whether you’re an entrepreneur or CEO. True, in the past work did have to be exhausting – no one ate unless the fields were planted. But the only reason we still make work so damn hard on ourselves is our conditioning and cultural habits. We’re trained to believe that “enjoyment” and “success”…
The power of “Why not?”
I’m living as virtually as possible these days. As my Small Pebble, Big Wave Self-Manifesto says, my “perfect working world” includes working on what I want, when I want, and with whom I want (and I’ll throw in now, ‘from where I want’). I’ve structured my work and projects (both setting expectations or turning down…
Upcoming PebbleStorm events (LA, SF, DC, Kauai)
Here’s our first batch of PebbleStorm events that are coming up in the coming weeks. If you’re interested in any of these and would like to find out more about them (especially the Kauai retreat), or would like to get updates as they’re organized, please contact me at aaron (at) pebblestorm (dot) com. Los Angeles:…
The PebbleStorm Los Angeles Meetup
I just created a Meetup for people in LA. It’s the best way to find out about the events, or to let people you think would benefit know about them: PebbleStorm LA Meetup
[CEOFlow] “Pull Management” vs. “Push Management” systems (v1.0)
Are we working harder, under more pressure, but running in place? The internet has changed business – in helpful and challenging ways: * We have more information and metrics – and more confusion from all the clutter. * We can develop and deploy products faster – far beyond our clients’ ability to absorb them. *…
“Drama-less success” presentation
In 2006 I gave this presentation to my old sales team when they asked me to come speak. Although it could use refreshing to make it more self-explanatory, its intention is still exactly on point for what I’m talking about today through PebbleStorm. It was one of those epiphany decks…it came to me in a…
The 3 things that block people from making money through enjoyment
1. Lack of awareness of what they enjoy, their purpose, their unique genius… or that they could even begin envisioning a 5th Work Option. It never occurs to most people (at least until they get fired or have some other serious life change) that until they step back and clearly rethink what their ideal working…
The PebbleStorm business plan; Nancy Allan’s “inspiration & sacredness”
(I woke up this morning with my head buzzing on a topic – well, a few, as usual – that have been germinating the past few days. Ideas and conversations and people come to me, and I just keep writing things down in a notebook I carry around until a bunch of the pieces click…
PebbleStorm taglines/missions – your opinions?
What’s the best way to explain PebbleStorm’s mission, when someone asks “Who/what is PebbleStorm, and why does it matter?” I’m not sure about the best way to describe it yet, but it’s progressing. Here’s a sample of the progression… The original was: how work can be “more fun, more money, less stress” Then it was…
“How will PebbleStorm [or insert your business here] make money?”
When I tell people about PebbleStorm, a common question is “how will it make money?” It’s a good question. And I have no idea. And I don’t care (yet) – both because I already have income, and I’m doing what I LOVE in a way that excites both myself and other people (notice – it…
“The 4-Hour Workweek” and PebbleStorm
Have you heard of “The 4-Hour Workweek”, by Tim Ferriss? His premise: people don’t want to be millionaires, they want to be able to live like millionaires. So – start a business that creates passive income (income you earn while you sleep), that only requires a few hours a week to maintain, and you can…
Fear is natural; Just get started (and – Oprah)
Letting Go Of Fear One of the most natural fears we go through in nurturing a passion or new business is “will people accept it?” “What will they think?” We hold back talking about it…which only holds the business back. What we find is that the people who are our real friends will be accepting…
The “More Results, Less Stress Guide To Bootstrapping”
I do some free coaching of small businesses through SCORE (www.score.org), the coaching arm of the Small Business Association. I’ve also talked with many many first-time entrepreneurs while living in Silicon Valley and working at Alloy Ventures. I’ve started my own companies and worked in startups. From all these conversations, here comes version 0.1 of…