As of 8 AM on April 19th, 2011, I am officially part of the team at Turning Minds, and I will serve as the Marketing Technology Strategist, doing many of the same things I’ve done on my own for much of the past 6 years.

Don’t worry, I’m not giving up my dream of being an entrepreneur. I’ve simply decided I can help my clients achieve more by working with a small nimble team, and there are TONS of reasons I’m excited to work with the team at Turning Minds.

Here are a mere 5 reasons I’m excited to be joining Turning Minds

1) Working with a team – One of the things I enjoyed about corporate America was working on a team of like-minded individuals. I worked by myself for much of the last 11 months since I left corporate America full-time, and there were times I got lonely. That led me to being less productive than I could be, and it wasn’t good for my clients, or for me.

2) Faster service for clients – I’m still going to do as many speaking engagements as I can, as that’s how I meet new potential clients and how I can share my best case studies about how social media really works. But while I’m doing that, I often can’t serve my clients needs as well as I’d like to. Having a great team who share my client-first attitude with me will allow me to comfortably have someone else serve clients while I’m working on other things.

3) Ability to Focus on What I’m Good At – As a solo-preneur, I’ve had to do every piece of client work by myself, or at least manage the partners I’ve worked with to ensure things are done with the same care I would give my clients. I’m sure I did some micromanaging, and probably some none managing, of my outsourced partners. Now that I’m part of a team, I can invest the time on the front end to explain the project and let each person on the team do what they do best, and get out of the way for things I don’t do well at all.

4) Constant collaboration – I’ve already this in action and I’m excited to see more of it. Things that I’ve done on my own I’ve shared with some of the folks at Turning Minds and I am impressed with the results. I love that I can now pick up the phone or send an e-mail and get feedback on what I’m working on and not have to worry about compromising client secrets.

5) Accountability for Results – Part of working with other people that I enjoy is the accountability I put on myself when other people are counting on me to produce. I haven’t written as much as I’d like lately, and now that I have a team counting on me, you’ll see more writing and more ideas from me. We’re finalizing our editorial calendar and will be bringing some great topics to light that can help you grow your small business faster.

One change you’ll see that may require a change from you, my dear readers, is my writings on social media and small business will be shared at Turning Minds. I’ll still be writing articles here about networking and public speaking and other random thoughts.

Go check out Turning Minds and sign up for the RSS feed and the newsletter. We’re going to share some great stuff there and I’m confident it will help your business grow.

Questions/comments/concerns? Let me know in the comments.

What follows is a guest post by Carmine Gallo

NOTE from Phil: I enjoy Carmine Gallo’s work immensely. It’s always thought provoking and it helps me learn more about myself and my work. This article would have been more helpful to me a few years back, though I think for many, this is the perfect time for this article. I hope you enjoy it!

The global recession has forced many people to reconsider their careers and life choices. In these turbulent times, where does one turn for career advice? As I was researching the material for my new book, The Innovation Secrets of Steve Jobs (McGraw Hill) I realized that many of the principles behind Jobs’ breakthrough success at Apple apply equally to the management of one’s career. Jobs has had his share of setbacks and skeptics. He started what would become a multi-billion dollar brand by sharing his parents’ kitchen table, he was fired from the company he started, and he rebounded from two near-death experiences to become one of the most iconic business leaders in corporate history. He’s learned a lot along the way and he has a lot to teach the rest of us. Here are just a few ways Jobs can teach you to ‘think differently’ about professional and career success.

Put a dent in the universe. Steve Jobs has never underestimated the power of vision to move a brand forward. Vision inspires new ideas and attracts evangelists to your cause. In 1976, Steve Wozniak was captivated by Jobs’ vision to "put a computer in the hands of everyday people." Wozniak was the engineering genius behind the Apple I and the Apple II, but it was Jobs’ vision that inspired Wozniak to focus his skills on building a computer for the masses. Jobs’ vision was intoxicating because it had four components that all inspiring visions share: It was 1) bold, 2) specific, 3) concise and 4) consistently communicated.

In 1979, Jobs took a tour of the Xerox research facility in Palo Alto, California. There he saw a new technology that let users interact with the computer via graphical icons on the screen instead of entering complex line commands. It was called a "graphical user interface." In that moment, Jobs knew that this technology would allow him to fulfill his vision of putting a computer in the hands of everyday people. He went back to Apple and refocused his team’s effort on building the computer that would eventually become the Macintosh and forever change the way we talked to computers. Jobs later said that Xerox could have "dominated" the computer industry but instead its ‘vision’ was limited to building another copier.

Innovation — the kind with a big "I" that moves society forward — doesn’t happen without a bold vision. Just as Jobs had a vision for his brand, you must have a vision for the most important brand of all — yourself. What vision do you have for your company or your career? Yes, you need to follow your gut and do something you are passionate about — doing what you love is Steve Jobs’ first principle for breakthrough success — but while passion gives you energy to overcome skeptics and obstacles, vision points you in the ultimate direction.

Kick-start your brain. There’s no dispute that Steve Jobs thinks differently than the rest of us. His creative ideas have transformed not one industry, but four — computing, music, entertainment, and telecommunications. Innovation — in products or careers — requires creativity and creativity requires that you think differently about…the way you think. Scientists who study the way the brain works have discovered that innovators like Steve Jobs do think differently but they use a technique available to all of us — they seek out "diverse experiences." This reminds me of the story behind Apple’s name. The idea fell from a tree, literally. Steve Jobs had returned from visiting a commune-like place in Oregon located in an apple orchard. Apple co-founder and Jobs’ pal, Steve Wozniak, picked him up from the airport. On the drive home, Jobs simply said, "I came up with a name for our company — Apple." Wozniak said they could have tried to come up with more technical sounding names but their vision was to make computers approachable. Apple fit nicely.

Steve Jobs creates new ideas precisely because he has spent a lifetime exploring new and unrelated things — seeking out diverse experiences. Jobs hired people from outside the computing profession, he studied the art of calligraphy in college (a study that found its way into the first Macintosh), meditated in an Indian ashram, studied the fine details of a Mercedes-Benz, and evaluated The Four Seasons hotel chain as he developed the customer service model for the Apple Stores. Look outside your industry for inspiration. Bombard the brain with new experiences. Remove the shackles of past experiences.

Say no to 1,000 things. Steve Jobs once said the secret to innovation comes from "saying no to 1,000 things." Steve Jobs is as proud of what Apple chooses not to do as he is about what Apple chooses to focus on. The lesson — don’t spread yourself too thin. Find the career that intersects your passion, skill and the ability to make money doing it. Once you find it, focus on it, work at it, and dedicate yourself to excellence in that area. Say "no" to anything else that will distract you from pursuing that career. If you are looking for a work or frustrated with your current job, there will be plenty of friends, families and colleagues who offer unsolicited advice on what’s best for you. Filter out the ideas that might derail you from the career best matching your strengths and passion.

Master presentation skills. Steve Jobs is considered one of the greatest corporate storytellers in the world. His presentations inform, educate and entertain. By giving extraordinary presentations, Steve Jobs stands out as a leader and communicator. You are being judged to a large degree on your ability to communicate what you do. The big difference between extraordinary communicators like Steve Jobs and the average leader is that people like Jobs use presentations to complement the message. The speaker is the storyteller; PowerPoint slides serve as a backdrop to the story. That means you must learn to avoid bullet points and to think visually about bringing a story to life. Read The Presentation Secrets of Steve Jobs (McGraw Hill, October 2009), for tips and techniques to create a presentation that would make Steve Jobs proud.

Don’t let bozos get you down. Steve Jobs knew he had the skills to build a computer that would be simple enough for the average person to enjoy. Few others shared his vision. Ken Olsen, the founder of Digital Equipment, once told Jobs "There is no reason why anyone would want a computer in their home." Thank goodness Jobs didn’t listen. When Jobs returned to Apple in 1997 after a 12-year absence from the company he started, Apple was close to bankruptcy but Jobs rallied his employees, customers, and investors with the vision of what Apple could become. Millions of Apple fans have Jobs to thank for not listening to critics who believed Apple was destined to fail. If he had, consumers would not be enjoying Macs, iPods, iPads, and iPhones which popularized touch-screen technology. Many people around you think they know what’s best for you. Only you can be true to your own heart and intuition.

Innovation sits in a lonely place because very, very few people have their courage of their convictions and the self-confidence to tune out negative voices. Perhaps the greatest lesson Steve Jobs teaches us is that risk-taking requires courage. Believe in yourself and your vision and be prepared to constantly defend those beliefs. Only then will you be able to lead an "insanely great" life and career.

© 2010 Carmine Gallo, author of The Innovation Secrets of Steve Jobs: Insanely Different Principles for Breakthrough Success

About the author: Carmine Gallo, author of The Innovation Secrets of Steve Jobs: Insanely Different Principles for Breakthrough Success, is a presentation, media-training, and communication-skills coach for the world’s most admired brands. He is an author and columnist for Businessweek.com and and a keynote speaker and seminar leader who has appeared on CNBC, NBC, CBS, MSNBC.com, BNET, RedBook, Forbes.com, and in the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal and Investor’s Business Daily, as well as many other media outlets. Gallo lives in the San Francisco Bay area and is a former vice president for a global, top-ten public relations firm.

For more information please visit www.carminegallo.com

I can’t believe it’s already Blog Action Day, a day where bloggers from around the world support one cause and write about it. This year, it’s all about WATER, more specifically clean water.

What really hit home with me was this statistic:

Diarrhea remains in the second leading cause of death among children under five globally. Nearly one in five child deaths – about 1.5 million each year – is due to diarrhea. It kills more young children than AIDS, malaria and measles combined.

Diarrhea?!? No way!

The good news is it’s preventable by just having more clean water available. Interested in learning more? You can read many more facts and figures here.

So how can you support the cause?

Buy 1 copy (or more) of Age of Conversation 3, a book I contributed to, that is giving ALL the profits to charity: water. I’m buying a few copies today to share with friends, and I encourage you to do the same!

Find a charity of your choice and share your resources with them, be they time, talents or money.

Get involved in your local community’s efforts to share clean water everywhere.

Find a way to get involved NOW! Support this cause, and make a difference in your world today!

I am so amazed how much I can learn, read and write on the internet in mere seconds. It’s crazy to me to realize we have more powerful computers in our hands than our parents and grandparents ever thought possible.

There’s so much about this great big world that we live in that blows my mind. Rather than tell you all the things I am amazed by, I found this nifty video (updated not long ago to show the 2009 numbers) that will show you all the amazing things in our world today.

It’s only 4:46, and if you pay attention, it’ll open your eyes to all the cool changes happening around the world.

If you’re reading via e-mail or RSS, click here to watch the video.

Videos often say what I’m thinking better than I can, and this is one of those videos.

If you were wondering why it’s more important than ever to embrace and try new things, this video is a great reminder. Enjoy

Reading via e-mail or RSS? Click here to enjoy Shift Happens.

Love is the Killer App is one of my favorite books of all time, as it changed my thinking about the way I treat people and how much being a lovecat can make a difference in folks lives. It’s no stretch to say if I hadn’t found this book, you wouldn’t be reading this blog.

Tim’s new book is called Saving the World at Work. It’s all about what each one of us can do to make our work world a better place. Simple premise, but a hugely powerful message!

I came across Tim’s video via his blog, and I knew I needed to share it with you. The video is called  The Timberland Story, and it’s 8 minutes and 7 seconds long.

Tim speaks of the ripples we can each make by doing something small for someone else. I’ve lived this ripple. I’ve reached out to folks with huge success, and had many folks reach out to me. It’s amazing what we can do if we just give a crap enough to reach out and help.

Please watch the video, and think about how YOU can be the change you wish to see in the world.

More information: You can read a little more about what Tim’s philosophy is in this article on Fast Company called Love is the Killer App.

Note from Phil: This is a wonderful guest article from Andrew J. Sherman, author of Road Rules: Be The Truck. Not the Squirrel. As this year comes to a close, this is the perfect article (and the perfect book) for you to pick up and think about for 2009. I hope you enjoy this article.

Navigating Through Volatile Times

These are volatile and unpredictable times for all of us.  The forecasts for 2009 and beyond are murky at best and we all need to prepare for the worst and hope for the best.

In my book, Road Rules:  Be The Truck.  Not The Squirrel.  I discuss the twelve (12) strategies for navigating the highway of life.  In Chapter 8, the road rule known as “Be An All Weather Driver” is discussed and focuses on the need for all of us, regardless of our professions, our family situations, our unique assets or our special challenges to be ready to drive down the road of life during all types of weather conditions.  To expect or assume that you will always get to drive on a clear or sunny day is a misnomer and will leave you unprepared for the challenges that life brings to us everyday.  The weather in our lives will never remain constant and we are all suffering from what has been the “perfect storm” on an economic front.

The skills and discipline to understand how adverse weather conditions affect your path in life is critical to both survival and success.  When the going gets tough, the tough get going.  You will not always have a warning sign when weather conditions change quickly and you will need to adjust your driving style accordingly.  The ability to adjust your driving skills and the characteristics of your vehicle to current weather conditions is also a metaphor for how you need to live your life.  We put snow tires or even chains on our vehicles to adjust to snow and ice in the harsh winters and then take them off when Spring approaches. 

What adjustments do you need to make to your outlooks, perspectives and actions as weather conditions or seasons in your life change?

The successful people that I know and respect are durable and flexible.  They avoid “one trick ponyism” and pay careful attention to weather and road conditions and adjust accordingly.  They instinctively know when it is okay to drive faster on a clear and open road and when to slow down when navigating an icy downhill path.  Others seem to have been built to move at only one pace – they travel only at high speed and eventually crash and burn or move too slowly and the opportunities pass them by.  Others often carry cargo which is either too far ahead of its time or which is stale, rotten or obsolete by the time it reaches its destination.

As discussed in Road Rules, being the truck and not the squirrel depends on your willingness to be decisive as part of your commitment to being an all weather driver.  Trucks have drivers that are willing to make decisions fairly quickly and be accountable for the results of their decisions, good or bad.  They neither make decisions too quickly nor vacillate until it is truly too late.  They are trained to understand the consequences of their actions (or inactions).  Colin Powell said “if you have less than 40% of the information you need to make a decision, then it is probably too soon.  If you have more than 70%, it is probably too late.”  General George S. Patton said “a good plan passionately executed today is far and away better than a perfect plan tomorrow.”  These were both generals who understood the difference between losing a battle and winning the war.

Being a truck demands that your decision-making systems (who makes decisions, how they are made, when they are made and what adjustments are made in response to road blocks) must allow for (and tolerate) lost battles as long as the focus long-term is on winning the war.

In our travels down the road of life, we will encounter winter driving conditions (some of us more than others).  There is no safe speed when driving on snow and ice.  Every stretch of highway will appear differently depending on the time of day, the temperature, the severity and intensity of the snow, the angle of the sun, the degree of salting and road treatment, etc. – but you can be assured that it will be dangerous.  You will need to adjust your driving style and provide more space between you and the other drivers.  You will need to start slowing down sooner before you come to an intersection or make a turn.  You will need to keep special supplies on hand in the event that you get stuck or the weather intensifies.  You must take the time to really get a feel for the roadway and test your brakes from time to time to find out how well you can stop.  Your critical fluids – anti-freeze, gasoline, oil and windshield fluid should all be filled to capacity.

Stormy weather conditions may mislead you into thinking that you are reaching your destination faster than you really are and that the challenges may increase as you get closer to home.  There is a difference between moving forward and just spinning your wheels in snow or ice.  You may be applying the same pressure to the accelerator, but are not making any forward progress.

Think about the challenges and situations in your career or at home that are akin to driving in snow and ice – did you adjust your driving style?  Will you next time?  Or did you skid out of control, with your driving wheels losing traction on the pavement, only to glide left or right but certainly not forwards?

Be an all-weather driver.

• Know how to adjust your speed and style to the road conditions which lie ahead.
• Plan.
• Prepare.
• Adjust.
• Keep Moving Forward, Not Side to Side.
• Don’t get caught driving too fast or too hard on a surface with thin ice.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Andrew J. Sherman is a Partner in the Washington, D.C. office of Dickstein Shapiro LLP, with over 400 attorneys nationwide.  Mr. Sherman is a recognized international authority on the legal and strategic issues affecting small and growing companies.  Mr. Sherman is an Adjunct Professor in the Masters of Business Administration (MBA) program at the University of Maryland and Georgetown University where he has taught courses on business growth, capital formation and entrepreneurship for over twenty (20) years.  Mr. Sherman is the author of seventeen (17) books on the legal and strategic aspects of business growth and capital formation.  His eighteenth (18th) book, Road Rules Be the Truck.  Not the Squirrel is an inspirational book which was published in the Fall of 2008.  Mr. Sherman can be reached at 202-420-5000 or e-mail ShermanA@dicksteinshapiro.com.

By Vince Poscente, Author of The Age of Speed

You flinch . . .  you lose.

Imagine skiing at over 130 mph on skis and you catch an edge. One instinctive flinch to catch your balance and you lose any chance at winning the race.  The challenge is overcoming the protective instinct to throw your hands out for balance while maintaining stability and maintaining your line.
In a sale, negotiation or even a debate, flinch and you lose ground.  In a world of incredible speed the lost ground might be too much to recover from.
Imagine you are a sales person selling a high-ticket product and the prospect questions your intentions. Picture negotiating a deal where the other side gets the notion you might settle for less. Suppose you are debating a point and you pause with a wide-eyed blink at a critical point. In any of these three situations a shrewd challenger will likely counter punch with his agenda.

How then do you overcome instinct and not flinch?

Think of something in your job or life where you would benefit from not flinching. There are three approaches that can assist in your quest for flinchlessness:

1. Expand your risk tolerance — When speed skiing it was clear that being mentally tough would translate into better results. Overcoming the instinct to flinch on the racecourse could be prepared for in unconventional ways.

On my non-speed skiing days I would take to the slopes on short, flexible slalom skis at high speed. Skis made for slower finesse turns would become chaotic boards akin to squirrels on crack. I would train my body to relax while the skis drastically shot every which way.

In the summer I would rocket down rocky slopes on my mountain bike. Instead of putting a death grip on my handlebars I would teach my nervous system to relax and let the bike bounce and shimmy underneath me.

Expand your risk tolerance by putting yourself in higher risk situations.

In sales, expand your risk tolerance in a variety of ways. If a prospect says something that if incorrect, don’t smile and nod. Beg to disagree. Appreciate their point of view and then show value in looking at it in a different way. People love to be right but love it more when someone proves that they are cared for.

Try prospecting in a new way. Back when I was selling real estate I was comfortable doing cold calls on the phone. Then I learned a technique by the amazing Bill Nasby. Here is the script that he teaches.

Sales Guy: "Hi, I’m with ABC Real Estate. When are you folks planning on moving?" Followed by a big toothy smile and a flinchless gaze.
Prospect: "We’re not." They look back in absolute wonder.
Sales Guy: "Great. Well how long have you lived here?" More teeth. More smile.
Prospect: "Five years." Still wondering what you’re up to.
Sales Guy: "Cool. Well, if you did move, where would that be?" Teeth and smile continue.
Prospect: "Lakewood."
Sales Guy: "And when would that be?" Still smiling with those pearly whites.
Prospect: "In a couple of years."
Sales Guy: "Perfect. Well this is what I’ll do for you. I’ll put you on my mailing list and give you monthly updates one the recent sales and listings in your neighborhood. When you do plan on moving, you call me and I’ll do a comparative market analysis so you’ll know what money you have to work with. Sound like a plan?" Still smiling.
Prospect: "Sounds great." Now they’re smiling.
Sales Guy: "It’s a deal. Here’s a magnet for your fridge."

Amazingly, every twenty houses or so, when a prospect was asked when they’d be moving, they’d look back in astonishment and say, "How did you know I was moving?" Bingo. You have a hot lead.

Stretching your comfort zone involves taking some risk now and then. In this case, the meek inherit very little. Go for it!

2. Anticipate problems — Before your sale, negotiation or debate, anticipate inflection points, objections or problem areas. By simply being aware of what might happen during real time speed, you can get the feeling "Hot dog, everything is going as planned." as opposed to "Oh crap, now what do I do?"
In the Age of Speed, if you are not prepared you lose. The fly-by-the-seat of their pants people will not be able to get away with their careless ways nearly as much. A rule of thumb here is to slow down before you speed up. Anticipation does not have to be an unconscious attribute. Anticipate scenarios. Pilots do it by ensuring they go through a pre-flight checklist. Doctors use well rehearsed sequences before any Emergency shows up on their door step or hospital bed. Physicians remember many sequences by using acronyms.

If you methodically slow down before the time you need to be "on" you will be a high performer at speed.

3. Breath deeply — Use simple physiology to your advantage.  Oxygenate that five inches between your ears. There’s a part of the brain called the amygdala and it is triggered into fight or flight with shallow breathing. Fight or flight is an instinctual stress response. If you hand over your reactions to instinct, get ready to flinch. Stay calm and flinchlessness is yours. So breath deep before and during your sale, negotiation or debate.

Breathing is actually an anchor to your physiological state. Breath heavily in short, sharp breaths through the mouth and you send a signal to the amygdala to get ready for danger. Breathe slowly through your nose and your physiological anchor will react with a lower stress response.

Now get out there and conquer the flinch.

©2008 Vince Poscente

Author Bio

Vince Poscente is best known for his ability to provide an invigorating message to organizations across the corporate landscape. Company leaders call on him to inspire employees to embrace speed when they feel compelled to resist it and to produce faster results in ways they find rewarding. When companies come face-to-face with speed, Poscente helps them understand the challenge and turn speed to their advantage.

To learn more about harnessing the power of speed, join the ever-increasing community of people who subscribe to Full Speed Ahead, a weekly eBrief that will help you discover how the force of speed can be put to use in your life and business.

Chris Guillebeau offers a fantastic little manifesto called “A Brief Guide to World Domination,” available as a free PDF download. At 29 pages, it’s hardly all encompassing, but it is certainly brief. Thanks to Jonathan Fields of Awake at the Wheel for the link.

The Decision to be Remarkable is one of my favorite articles that I found by looking around Chris’ site a little more. He offers some great tips for those of you who, like me, want to stand out and stand up to the world as we see it. Among his tips:

• Stop Making Excuses
• Take Responsibility
• Take It Up a Level

and a few more. Sounds like a guy after my own heart!

A caution about Chris’ tale: it’s not for everyone. If you’re not willing to take life up a notch and make it great, please don’t read A Brief Guide to World Domination. Then again, if you’re not willing to take life up a notch, you’re probably not reading this blog.

Go get your free copy of A Brief Guide to World Domination and tell ‘em Phil “Make It Great!” Gerbyshak sent you.

Has this ever happened to you…

A big change is coming down the pike, at work, or at home, and though you think things will be better long term, you’re just not sure about the outcome? So you start stressing out, you start feeling afraid of what COULD happen, instead of leaning into it and enjoying what IS happening?

Recently I’ve been afraid of a few things, a few really big changes in my life that are going to be great for me long term, but changes that short-term are very painful for me to handle. They’re scary because I don’t know exactly what the outcome will be when things are over, just that things will be…different.

One of my friends shared this quote with me:

"Feel the fear and do it any way." – Susan Jeffers

This helps a lot, as it doesn’t deny my fear, doesn’t deny the feelings I have. In fact, it validates them, and reminds me that it’s okay to be afraid. I still can get through it, in fact I WILL get through it, if I just face the fear, and give it a name.

Some names of my fear are:

• change
• rejection
• uncertainty
• newness

What are some of the things you call your fears?

I’ve found if you can name it, you can claim it, so I encourage you to take a little time and claim your fears today.

Need a little more help, maybe some insights from someone smarter than me, smarter than you? One great resource for this is Lorraine Cohen’s audio program titled Transform Your Fear Into Power. Lorraine offers a no nonsense approach to getting out of your own way and being power-FULL, a great way to look at things. You can learn more about Lorraine at her PowerFULL Living blog or on her PowerFULL Living radio show.

I listened to Lorraine’s program a few weeks back, and it helped me understand some new things about overcoming fear and how to turn those fears into powerFULL thoughts and powerFULL actions. If you need a little extra power to help you make it through your fear, I recommend Transform Your Fear Into Power as another expert outlet.

And remember…If you can name your fear, you can claim your fear!