Given it’s the SMEs of this world that really drive the Economies of our Countries and our World, it’s high time we exerted our power through unity and have great fun doing it! Together we can better
1) Collaborate,
2) Exchange and
3) Prosper…

Would you like my short list to guide Entrepreneurs and Leaders of Business, Charity, Government and Community in how to do what you do better, easier, faster? Even more effectively? It’s as simple as Love, Light and Joy! And I believe these 3 things apply equally to your Life and your Enterprise, in fact everything you do…

1. Love – Start with loving yourself and whoever you’re with, and wherever you are. Then choose to — Do what you love and love what you do! You’ll soon find your best Team Members, Clients and Strategic Partners will show up, step up and give back as those who also love themselves and what you and your Enterprise does!

2. Light – Learn to tread (more) lightly on our precious Earth. As you do others who’ve gone ahead will light the way for you to learn what you seek to know, confirming what you already know, plus teaching you what don’t yet know and don’t yet know you don’t know. Be grateful, be a respectful student and learn well. You must also become the ‘Teacher’, lighting the way for those who want someone to follow. The world cannot wait until you know it all or have it perfected – that day may never come – others have much to learn and you already have much to give. Our responsibility to ourselves and our planet is to learn, teach, grow. And like every living breathing organism in this world, if we’re not growing, we dying! You already have the power to have whatever you want, just begin with:
1) Knowing what it is you most want – the more you feel good about what you want, the more you will believe it’s possible, the more you will keep moving toward having and allowing it;
2) Know what you have to give – we each have something to give no matter where you are now at – time, expertise, money;
3) Give of what you now have to give (rather than what you want to give) – and specifically to those who will most value what have to give to ensure your efforts are not wasted and truly appreciated.

3. Joy – As Human Beings, when we reconnect with our true selves, our source energy and what feels good to us, we remember the key reason we are in this world is simply to En-Joy our Life Experience! Think of the 3 Key Characteristics we most admire in Children:
1) Curiosity;
2) Daring; and
3) Fun!
Choose to re-discover your Inner Child, and your life will BE more enjoyable, your Business Ventures will BE more enjoyable, and you and your Enterprise will BE more attractive and prosperous!

1, 2, 3 simple steps. Give them a go! You’ve got absolutely nothing to lose and much to gain. You’ll never know until you do. After all, YOU could BE the ONE you have been waiting for! Whatever happens, know that the world is watching and anticipating… the true YOU! So be true to yourself and we’ll all be grateful!

I trust my contribution works for you and would love to hear your feedback.

PS: And contrary to popular belief, I believe all feedback is good feedback. The positive stuff enables us to feel good and know we’re on track. The negative stuff enables us to review our chosen direction and make any necessary adjustments.

1) Do it! Just do it!
2) Don’t pitch VC’s like one size fits all
3) Have answers ready, but don’t oversell to anyone
4) People want to be heard, let them speak. Internal and external to your business
5) A good product will sell, but a visionary product takes time. Don’t confuse the two
6) Make lists, and make sure you inform everyone what you have already rejected or sorted out of priority for the company. It saves cycles when bringing on new people, and if its a great idea that was shelved at least you know why you did and can re-evaluate with some history
7) Ass in seat is not how a startup runs. Monitor results not time
Know all business need to make the choice on how to grow. Rest assure you will always face these issues, as a sole owner or VC backed company. Just be sure you focus on why you are investing or getting funding and how its to be used
9) Sometimes being a fast follower is better than first mover.
10) Have fun. If it’s not fun on par, change course. Why keep trying to play the back 9 when the first 9 made you feel like S*&it. Don’t just beat your head against the wall.
10.1) Never take these lists for action, balance them and your daily life.

No pejorative tone and “smarter than you” attitude intended; sorry if it read that way to you. Why did I pick these 10 things? Because I see them again and again in my work with smart, scrappy entrepreneurs. Sometimes, the obvious isn’t so obvious when you are in the thick of things.

As for your list: outstanding! Great advice and exactly the kind of discussion I hoped to foster with this post.

Thank you for taking the time to add your perspective.

- Chris

If there is anything we have to learn from Social Media, it is that we want to do business with people whom we trust and feel comfortable with.

Liars and manipulators need not apply.
–Shari Weiss

1. Your own board members and investors can be the biggest de-focusing force. Their skills to envision product strategies and their market insights will almost never match yours; they’ll pattern match with other portfolio companies and draw conclusions that can steer you way off course. You’ll have to be the ballast in the board room and it may not be easy.

2. If you have a bold or long-range vision, your customers may NOT be able to tell you what to build. You’ll have to imagine it yourself and bring them along with you. They can describe their situation, desires, and their challenges, but rarely a brilliant product solution. That’s your job and hopefully your great talent.

3. To quote someone else, “it takes a dictator to make an iPod”. It’s ok to want your product and customer experience to be perfect, but it is not going to make you popular. Learn to live with it.

4. Being the leader is lonely. Even with great people around you. Your partner at home makes a HUGE difference.

5. Practice compartmentalization because you’re going to need to be great at it. It is hard and, if you’re a first time CEO, you will need to keep far more to yourself than you’re used to.

6. It is not enough to hire great people, you have to hire for skill mix. On the e-staff in particular, you do need uniform ambition and IQ, but you also diverse mental models. Things will go wrong without uniform ambition and they’ll go wrong with smart people who all have the same mental model.

7. Never market to your board. If you’re a first time CEO, it’s tempting to want your committee of bosses to like what you’re doing or to share your optimism. This will bite you in the ass. Balance your enthusiasm with candid, clear discussion of risks and challenges you face. Make them your partners rather than another form of customer.

8. Drive diversity across your team — diversity in age, experience, cultures, genders AND industry experience. The richness of reference and vantage points will result in much richer innovation. If everyone on the team is the same, you’ve set the boundary of the company’s imagination too low. It’s harder to do and it means not working with people we’d naturally be friends with … but it’s a better way to build a company.

I could go on, but these are my favorites…
-Deidre