Stepping Stones

Tips for Working at Home... Productively

I work from home at least 50% of the time and its a huge challenge... definitely not for everyone.  You have to be self motivated and really enjoy what you're doing, otherwise you're better off finding an office job.  Even if you have what it takes keeping productivity on a consistently high level is a daily struggle.

I came across a list of 30 tips for staying productive while working from home at Zenhabits.  The list is very useful, filled with great ideas to help you stay disciplined and focused on work without hurting quality of life.  My personal favorite is number 17:

"No turning on the computer for a quick email check or to do 1 little thing until you’ve gotten “ready for work” as mentioned above. The nuance is if you have nowhere to be, that 1 little thing leads to showering at 2 in the afternoon with a splitting headache because you’ve forgotten to eat etc." - I couldn't agree more!

The only things tip I would add to the 30 is:

• Do some light exercise in the morning... jogging, pushups, situps... whatever you feel your body needs most.  Its critical to be physically active for at least 20 minutes a day, otherwise your only exercise will be clearing a paper jam. 
  

The Key to Succesful Presentations: Be More Like Gumby

The key to success in all your presentations is being more like Gumby.  No, not Ghandi... I mean Gumby the 1950s cartoon character made of clay.  This may sound like a strange conclusion to come to, but after having presented to VCs, Angel Investors, potential customers, at  elevator pitch competitions and at conferences I've come to realize that the one quality that separates the best from the rest is flexibility, being able to adjust your presentation on the fly.   

To illustrate my point: Today I pitched my company EyeStride to a VC and was expecting to go through my PowerPoint and follow it up with a product demo.  All my materials and practice runs were focused on giving a pitch with this traditional format.  When I got to the presentation I immediately understood that this simply wouldn't work out, the audience wasn't interested in a formal pitch.  They wanted to get to know me and in the process explore my project.  I had to adjust on the fly, refocus my energy on a casual encounter where the agenda wasn't predetermined by the order of my PowerPoint slides.   A few months ago I would have been lost and uncomfortable, today I can easily adjust and know when to make these adjustments.  Here are my quick tips for achieving Gumby like flexibility in your pitches:

1. Know the Material - this is basic and should be a given, but that's hardly the case.  I've been in  situations where I'm not sure about the topic I'm presenting and without confidence in knowing material there is no hope of being flexible. 
2. Don't Over-Prepare on Format - don't expect to do things a certain way unless you are 100% sure of the format and know the audience well.  If you do too many practice runs in a certain format the information (words) get set in your mind and you'll have a harder time being flexible. 
   
3. Real Time Analysis - try to study your audience while you pitch, the clues are always there about when its time to shift directions or change the tone of the pitch.  It may be as slight as someone quickly checking their watch or as blunt as them reading their blackberry, but if you see that your audience is loosing interest change the topic, try to recapture their imagination.
4. Talk to People - talk to as many people as you possibly can about your business.  Don't pitch to them just talk; see what interests them, see how they react and practice your real time analysis (see tip three) when the stakes aren't high.  The more you talk it through with different people the more comfortable you'll be changing direction on a dime. 
5. Keep Trying - Don't let a bad presentation discourage you, we've all had our successes and failures.  Public speaking is more frightening to many people than death, its hard and it takes time to build your speaking skills.  Even if you think you're an ace, don't relax keep looking for new approaches.

If you don't have someone to practice with, contact me. I'll be glad to hear your pitch and give you my honest opinion and some constructive advice. 

Working with a Good Designer (Part 2 of 3)

So now that you found a good designer its time to sit back, relax and watch him/her work! Not so, this is when the real challenge starts because at this point the outcome depends as much on you as it does on your designer.  No matter how brilliant and talented the person you hired is they won't deliver the result you expect without your help and support.  This is especially true for passionate entrepreneurs who have a specific vision for their product and want the design to reflect that vision either stylistically or even more importantly functionally.  The challenge at this point is conveying that vision and having the designer add creative value and dress everything up.  To help achieve the end goal of beautiful and functional design and a strong working relationship with your designer I wrote the following pointers based on my personal trial and error:

General Tips:

1. Spec Everything - Start the project by writing as much as you can about what you want.  If you're creating a website make sure to make a site map, wireframes and send plenty of examples of styles you think will work well.  The process of preparing this information will give you time to filter your ideas and likely generate some new ones.  Be meticulous in your descriptions and if possible let someone else (brother, sister, friend) read what you wrote to check it for clarity.  Sometimes its easy to get lost in your thoughts.
2. Emphasize Creativity - When you send your detailed design spec make sure you make it perfectly clear that you don't want the designer to simply replicate what you wrote in graphic form. Your designer should be a creative force, not an input/output device.  Sure you wrote a detailed spec, but anyone good will only use that as a starting point.
3. Be Patient, Thoughtful - When you see the first comps, don't rush to judge them.  Even if you love what you see take a few hours, maybe even sleep on it before replying with your first comments.  It's usually the case that the first comp won't be  as good as you expected.  That doesn't mean that there aren't good elements in the design it or that theres nothing to work with.  You need to be patient and let everything sink in, after a few hours you'll have a different perspective and be ready to give constructive criticism not an emotional kneejerck response. 
4. Be Respectful and Constructive - Whenever you comment work that has been sent you must be respectful and kind.  Most designers, like any creative person have a difficult time separating themselves from the work they do, so if you're too harsh it will often be treated as a personal attack.  Some designers will take any criticism, even the most kindly worded and constructive, personally, but like I mentioned in part one of this three part series such action should immediately tip you off that this relationship won't work.  Try your best to work things out and find the right tone, if it doesn't work cut your losses.
5. Keep the Lines Open - Once you've exchanged ideas and opinions on the first comp keep  your communication as smooth and open as possible.  The creative process is all about flow.  One of the biggest mistakes I've made is taking too long to respond and comment on work sent to me. Don't delay beyond the time you need to let the ideas sink in, otherwise your designers interest in the project and creativity will drop. 
   
6. It's a Process - Good design doesn't happen overnight.  It will take at least 3-4 iterations to get quality work done.  Don't get discouraged... Fight ON! =)

Extra bit of Advice for the Fiery Entrepreneur:

1. Be Objective and Open - You have a strong vision of what you want from your design and thats fantastic, but its important to remember that you hired a designer to add value to your creative process, so give him/her a chance to show what they can do.  You'll always have time to adjust and get your way later. 

Feel free to add your thoughts and suggestions on improving the client/designer relationship.

Finding a Good Designer (Part 1 of 3)

Its easy to find a designer, but extremely difficult to find a good designer.  I'll mention some good places to search for a designer, a few tell-tale signs of good and bad designers,  and some basic questions to ask during the interview process:

Places to Look:

• CarbonMade - this is a site I'm happy to have discovered.  It offers designers a community to share their portfolio in.  Not all designers listed are looking for work, but the ones who are have green banners that say "available for freelance" so its easy to spot candidates.  When browsing the site look for designers with a large portfolios that contain a variety of visual styles.  Also, make sure to check that they have the skillset required to finish the project you have in mind (flash, illustration, 3-d, AJAX, CSS etc) Overall this is a great place to look for and find a good designer but it will take some digging.  The search features on this site could be improved. 
• DesignersTalk - Is a forum for designers and those seeking them.  I've been here a few times and found inspiration for design work and some potentially interesting people to work with.  Use with caution and always remember to ask to see a portfolio and some references.
• LogoPond - an awesome site for those of you looking for a corporate identity designer. Not only will you get inspired by the other logos on the site, but you'll also see (in many cases) who did the work.  Designing a logo is one of the most personal and challenging design tasks you'll face when starting your company.  This is a great place to start.
• Craig's List - Many people turn to Craigs List and its the first place I went when I started looking for a designer. My general advice would be to look at CarbonMade, DesignersTalk and LogoPond first, chances are you'll find plenty of candidates who seem like a good fit.  The hard part is narrowing one down...

Tell-Tale Signs of Good & Bad Designers:

General Word of Caution: design is a subjective thing, so theres no one size fits all formula.  Most designers just copy what they see elsewhere, while good designers add their own touch and invest a little bit of themselves in every job they do.  These are some of the very basic parameters I use for evaluating a candidate:

• The Portfolio: This is the first place to look when evaluating a designer. 
  
  • The Good: A well structured, well designed portfolio with a wide range of work represented...  Testimonials and personal information (a photo & bio) are also good signs that the person is open and friendly.
    
  • The Bad: Poorly designed portfolio...  The work itself may look decent, but if the designer didn't put an effort into his own portfolio (website) that should tell you something.  Pay attention to details.
  • The Ugly: No online portfolio....  Believe it or not I've been contacted through Craig's List by several designers who don't have anything online.
    
• Timeliness: After you've selected several candidates its time to contact them.  The
  
  • The Good: 1-2 Days to respond...
    
  • The Bad: 4-7 Days to respond...
    
  • The Ugly: No response...
• Flexibility: Once you start a conversation with a designer, ask him/her some tough questions, make some demands and see how flexible they are. 
  
  • The Good: Moderately flexible... a balanced approach is always best, you want to develop a relationship and that means giving and taking. 
  • The Bad: Bends at your will... this is a bad sign, it shows that there is desperation for work.
    
  • The Ugly: Overly sensitive... this is a ticking time-bomb, if someone takes trivial things and negotiation personally they won't take well criticism of their work, steer clear.  I've had some horrible experiences with sensitive designers, they really can't differentiate between constructive criticism of their work and a personal attack.
    

Important Questions to Ask:

1. How long have you been freelancing?

It all depends on what you're doing, but most likely you want someone young who has a few years of experience, but still has a fresh perspective and is keen to impress.

2. How many projects are you working on right now?

This is a good indicator of how 'creatively available' someone is at this point in time.  If they have more than 1 or 2 other projects going on at the same time its doubtful that they will do a good job for you.  Good design takes more than just time. 

3. How often will you update me on the amount of time spent working on my projects?

If you're paying your designer on an hourly basis (most cases) its important to receive frequent updates from him/her about the time spent working on your project.  I suggest at least a weekly update, otherwise you could be in for a big surprise.  Someone may seem very cheap at first, charging only $20-30 an hour, but it could take them two or even three times as long to produce good work.  The only way to avoid this is to get updates often and identify the problem early on.

So thats the first installment in my design series, the second installment Working with a Good Designer is coming tomorrow (hopefully).

 

Finding, Working with and Keeping a Good Designer (Introduction)

Over the past year I worked with 10 graphic and web designers. To me that seems like a big number for such a short period of time. That tells me that either I'm doing something wrong or that its incredibly hard to find and keep a good designer. 

The truth of the matter is that like most people the majority designers are just out to make a buck, and do so as quickly as possible.  They take on more clients than they can handle and end up jumping from project to project each time loosing their creative drive and end up sacrificing quality for quantity.  When you combine an overworked designer who is spreading his creative capacity thin and an entrepreneur who is passionate about his business and wants that to show in the design you get a dysfunctional relationship and most likely lost time and money. 

Having experienced this failure multiple times and learned from it I decided to blog about; finding, working with and keeping a good designer.  Stay tuned for the first of a three part entry about the often turbulent, but essential relationship between entrepreneurship and design tomorrow.      

The Perfect Nap

Although we all work hard, and taking a nap almost seems like a sin to most of us sometimes its an unavoidable part of our day and can help significantly boost our productivity.  Recently I came across an effective technique for taking... 'The Perfect Nap':

1. Find a light object, something that you can easily hold on to.
• An empty bottle of water (my choice)
2. Lay down in your favorite spot in a way that you can hold the object off the edge of the surface you're laying on.
3. Passively hold the object.  Its easy to forget its there.
4. Fall asleep

The key to this trick is as soon as you begin to fall into a deep sleep your hand will let go of the object and when it falls you will wake up.  This usually happens within 15-25 minutes, which leaves you refreshed and with the exactly the right amount of sleep for your body. 

You'll wake up refreshed rather than groggy and ready to  start working again fast.  I've tried this a few times and its been very effective for me! Give it a shot, you only have your strength and concentration to gain :)

Dealing with Pressure

Recently, I've been feeling the squeeze from every direction; investors, potential customers, partners and dreaded public presentations.  Pressure is something every entrepreneur has to deal with at one point or another, its part of the game, but few know how to manage it well (myself included).  Recently, I've noticed a few behavioral traits that exacerbate the problem the avoidance of which help

1. Don't rush to talk about it - this is one of my biggest mistakes.  As soon as I start to feel extreme pressure, I rush to talk about it with someone.  This helps me offload some of the pressure immediately, but unfortunately I tend to do this with friends, family and people I love, creating a negative environment.  This is the worst possible things you can do because it doesn't help solve the root of your problems and only spreads it out among those who don't deserve it.  I'm trying hard to avoid this, and if you have a similar behavior pattern try to follow my advice; you’ll look like a stronger professional in no time. 
2. Look at the situation from another perspective - This is simple, but often overlooked when the adrenaline is pumping and your getting hit with pressure.  Try to take a step back and see what’s really happening to you.  There is always a silver lining to all situations; sometimes it’s obvious and other times you have to really have to zoom out of your mind and see the different angles.  That’s a hard thing to do when you're boiling, but if you can it will help you manage difficult situations and even spot new opportunities.

That’s it for now, since I don’t expect the pressure to stop anytime soon I’ll update this post with new advice, based solely on my personal behavior patterns and experience. Good Luck!

My Very First Sales Pitch

After many months working with software developers (having no prior experience in doing so) and leading design, testing and planning initiatives at my stealth startup, I delivered my first sales pitch.  I was nervous and I over prepared, only to realize that I didn't prepare the right things and my time could have been spent more effectively.  I made mistakes prior to the pitch and during the pitch which I combined into 6 talking points & suggestions below:

1. Pitch as soon as possible - It’s easy for student entrepreneurs and young entrepreneurs to get caught up making the product or service perfect before pitching it to their target customers.  Don't fall into that trap, as a student you're hard-coded to do everything perfectly before "turning it in".  Think of your first sales pitch as a draft of an important research paper.  Your professor will see it and he is the one who grades the paper, but usually he's willing to help and will be able to see the potential.  Many customers will act the same way, and chances are they won't even see the minute faults that bother you about your      product/service/presentation.  Now, I'm not advocating going to a sales pitch empty-handed, you should do your best, just don't put it off until you think its perfect...because as an entrepreneur you never will.     
2. Ask the questions you're most afraid to ask - I was very nervous about asking for a letter of intent.  I'm not a natural sales man, I don't have that booming charisma that you see from salesmen in movies like Thank you for Smoking (first example I could think of, see it if you haven't).  And guess what you don't need to, if you can ask a question, remain calm and seem somewhat confident people will respond positively.  Its really not that hard, although admittedly I struggled to steer the conversation in that direction, but it paid off.
3. Listen and Observe - if at all possible try to pay as much attention to the person(s) you are pitching while you talk.  Pay particular attention to the moments when they are truly connecting with what you're saying; these brief moments will substitute for hours spent hunched over your laptop doing market research.  Although it’s hard to abstract your mind from the immediate concerns of speaking coherently and not forgetting the intricacies of your value proposition (simplify!) you have to try. And with a little practice and a little confidence it will become easier, as you go further into your pitch you'll relax more and see the situation   more clearly. 
4. Be Flexible - Based on  your observations try to adjust your pitch. Now this takes some real   skill, especially when you're nervous, but you know your product better than anyone else and you can always expand on the points your audience finds most compelling.  They'll appreciate your slight detour. 
5. Don't Over prepare - prepare, but don't overdo it.  Like I mentioned before, you know your product and chances are that if this is one of your first pitches you won't get it right anyway.  Go with your instinct and pick up the rest as you move along.   
6. Take it easy - you're making progress no matter what the outcome of your sales pitch is.  At worst you'll learn a lot and will be able to come back to the customer later with a powerful presentation that truly speaks to them. Even if you can't, you've learned a lot, the key like I mentioned in point #3 is to be aware and learn from the experience. 

Feel free to add to this, email me some thoughts, particularly if you're a sales ace and have advice for younger troops. I'll update this post with your thoughts and link to your site/blog...

See you soon...

 

Rules of Engagement:

I’m finally back to the blog (no one is going to read this entry when I post it, but hopefully in the future a dedicated reader(s) will trek this far back ;)  What I wanted to share in this entry are a few rules, suggestions really, for reading and interacting with this blog.

I don’t want to say anything too cliché, but I hope Stepping Stones will become a powerful tool for young entrepreneurs to interact with each other, ask questions and discuss important issues that will help them feel they have a support group behind them every step of the way.  Being an entrepreneur can be very lonely, particularly when everyone around you seems to be taking a very different path.

I decided to lay down a few rules/suggestions that will help make this a reality and a positive experience for everyone involved:

 

1. Contact  me. Don’t be shy; I know your parents taught you never to talk to strangers, but make this an exception.
2. Comment. I encourage constructive, creative, helpful comments, so please… post away.
3. Learn from my mistakes. I’m not going to be shy in sharing the errors I make along the way, as a matter of fact I’m going to highlight them and write at length about what I have learned.  It will help me to make improvements in my own life and it can do the same for you.
4. Generate Ideas. If you have a suggestion for an article or want to share your experience here, let me know.  I will interview you and we can talk about your idea.  No project is too small or large.
5. Be Critical.  If you know a better way of doing something, find a mistake in what I’ve written please tell me about it. It goes back to rule/suggestion #2, but its important to encourage criticism separately since there are a lot of shy people (myself among them) who occasionally hold back their opinion in the effort not to offend.   

 

So that’s all I could come up with as far as rules go, the rest is up to you :)  Stay tuned for posts that are actually about entrepreneurship...