Yellow Dog Consulting

Sales & Marketing Consulting for solo-preneurs.

5 Lessons we can Learn from Kids about Business

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This weekend I spent a lot of time with kids under the age of 4. They were a great reminder of why we are a “just the dog- no kids” family. Kids are great and you can learn a lot from them, especially about business. Here’s 5 things I noticed this weekend:

1. Take Time to Warm Up to Scary Stuff. The 22 month old girl at our house yesterday was SO EXCITED to see Hank. Unless he stood up, looked in her general direction, or was within 10 feet of her. She was SO excited to see the doggy, but he’s big and kind of scary to a toddler. The other kids were playing and crawling on him, but she wasn’t ready. By the end of the day, she was petting him, and able to be right next to him without freaking out. Sometimes, we need to give our

needless to say Hank slept well last night
needless to say Hank slept well last night

self time to warm up to the scary stuff in our business. Having friends show you the way is always helpful.

2. Sharing Sucks. My toys, my mom, my spoon, MINE. I was reminded yesterday that this doesn’t change as adults, especially in business. My trade secret, my idea, I want credit, I want the sales, it’s MINE. But we have to share. Collaborate, share ideas, be an adult and not always get our way. It sucks, but it’s part of life. You know this, we all learned it when we were 3.

3. Take a Timeout. One of my favorite 3 year olds (I have 2 favorites for the next 4 months) puts himself in time out. “I think I need to go upstairs” he likes to say. A kid who knows when he’s having a bad day and can be self aware enough to leave the situation to regroup is pretty amazing. We should do this more. Take a walk around the block. Walk away from the computer. Go to the bathroom in the middle of a meeting. MOVE the annoying email out of our inbox. Take a timeout and walk away from the drama.

4. Be Comfortable. Saturday night we had dinner at a friends house and their kid (3 1/2) likes to watch a TV show before bed. As the adults sat outside visiting on the patio, he showed up at the screen door a minute later in his underwear. Smart kid. This was HIS time to do what HE wanted to. no clothes necessary. I’m not suggesting you take your pants off at work, but  find ways to be comfortable. Is it wearing jeans or sweats while working on a project? Leaving the house or office to work somewhere without distractions? Reward yourself for making it through the day with a glass of wine (or no pants?) Be comfortable.

5. Listening will never get easier. When there are a lot of people around and a lot of distractions (and toys and TV and food, and a dog around) it’s easy NOT to listen to mom or dad. Usually it gets you in trouble. This doesn’t change as we get older. We need to be better at listening, to the boss, to our clients, to our colleagues, to the speaker at an event we’re attending. Listen, it’s amazing how much time it’ll save you!

Keeping Focused in the Summer

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IMG_3573I’m having a hard time coming up with a blog post for this week, and I’m also having a hard time focusing with great weather, and a recent trip down to Oregon. It’s always a challenge to stay focused when the sun shows up in the Pacific Northwest. Yesterday I worked outside at Starbucks for a couple of hours. The window in my office is wide open and I can hear the neighbors and construction going on around me.

So, how do you stay focused in the summer? I haven’t mastered it yet, but I do notice I often wake up earlier in the summer, which means I start working earlier, which means I can finish earlier and go outside. I also take my laptop outside and work. Find a coffee shop, sit on your patio, do what works for you.

How are you staying focused this summer?

is your email address costing you?

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One of my clients has a couple of team members who STILL use an AOL email address. Others use Gmail but none were using an @company email when I was hired.

A few years ago at PSBJ I taught a workshop with a resume coach. One thing she said was that if you have an AOL email address on your resume, she’s probably going to stop reading your resume. SERIOUSLY. We judge people based on their email address. Don’t lie, you do it too. Sure you’re a better person than me, most people are. When your job hunting have a REAL email address. firstname.lastname@XYZ.com is ideal, or some combo of that-my personal email has my middle initial in it. If you work for a company, there’s no reason you shouldn’t be using an @company email address.

As a company owner here’s WHY you need to have employees using a company email address:

1. They quit and take all your clients with their gmail account

2. They DIE and no one knows their email PW (it happens, you never know)

3. If I contact a company via their website and yourmom85@aol.com replies to me, I’m going to take my business to mom@company.com.

4. they die and no one knows who to contact to get access to their email account

You don’t think it’s costing you business, but you’d be surprised at how petty people are. It’s unprofessional, trust me.

My client is now transitioning to company email accounts, but it’s a much slower process than expected, and I have one person who’s refusing and bothered I’m asking them to look professional. It’s an uphill battle, so start off your company on the right foot.